Mehrsprachigkeit in Europa: Plurilinguismo in Europa ... - EURAC

Swedish for Finnish speakers, and an integrated theory
Motivation is the critical variable, and different students have different motives for learning,
and as we have seen need different approaches. This means that with a teacher governing
and dominating the class, it is generally not possible to get successful outcomes. This way of
working succeeds for only a selection of us. Most of us need another type of motivation in order
to be successful.
For different multilingual contexts and for different individuals the motives for acquiring
other languages are different; Canadians seem to learn their other national language because
of their need to stick together, Finns learn the other national language mostly because of the
practical needs. But in some respects the consequences seem to be similar. In most cases we
tend to regard those speaking another language as normal human beings if we have learned
their language. One cannot learn any other language without acquiring something of its culture.
One who learns another language successfully also tends to create a sympathy with those
speaking that language. Culture and language are embedded in each others.
And, those who can look at the world via many languages tend to be able to look at
phenomena from many points of view; they understand that the linguistic expression of their
fi rst language does not have any necessary, any God-given ties with the content; thus, they have
acquired a central element of an intelligent and intellectual way of looking at the world.
The students in our immersion classes and their parents would never change from immersion
to regular classes when they have experienced the results. And we do not use any selection
criteria other than that the kids should be regarded to be ready to start school as normally and
they should not already be bilingual.
We have only one minor problem. Even if the results are excellent and we have research
results enough, dissertations and other reports, some people cannot understand why less hours
can give better results for L1, and they cannot accept that L3 starts at fi rst grade in immersion.
The programme IS effi cient. And to start with the language of the neighbours is the most
effi cient way on the road towards many languages and towards accepting the fact that different
cultures are different, and this difference is per se a contribution to humanity.
A theory
There should be a theory combining teaching and learning. Those two processes should be
regarded one and the same process. My proposal, taking into account what has been mentioned
above, has this quality. (A) Radical constructivism is for me the basic theory of learning behind
that integrated theory: every individual builds his language skills by interaction; (B) language
IS social interaction, and, (C) the effi cient situation is characterised by real and for the learner
new and, hence, motivating cognitive territories to interact about. A good theory usually seems
to be self-evident once it has been formulated.
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