Teachers’ viewpoints of multilingualism in Switzerland

The present study provides qualitative insights into the multilingual sociolinguistic reality in the Swiss educational arena by introducing Q-methodology to explore the ways primary school teachers in Switzerland understand the concept of multilingualism. Particular understandings can lead to misinterpretations of language policy documents, where individual multilingualism is understood as a repertoire of linguistic abilities which is continuously accessed, varied, and developed (Lüdi & Py, 2009). Q was used to identify the currently predominant viewpoints and explicate them in a systematic, holistic and qualitatively-rich fashion (Watts & Stenner, 2012). Lo Bianco (2015) describes Q as a valuable research method in the field of language policy and planning to explore and define ‘the nature and complexity of communication problems’ by mapping out the field of arguments, positions, and the underlying discourses in debate about multilingualism. Teachers from three primary schools (n= 67) participated in the rank-ordering process of 39 statements on the understanding of multilingualism and 32 statements on pedagogical suggestions with multilingual students. With the support of the dedicated computer package PQMethod (Schmolck, 2014), factors were extracted and qualitatively interpreted. Results indicate a large consensus on the understanding of multilingualism and a wide variety of suggested pedagogical action. Implications of the findings for a successful implementation of multilingual educational language policy are discussed. References Lo Bianco, J. (2015). Exploring language problems through Q-sorting. In F. M. Hult & D. C. Johnson (Eds.), Research methods in language policy and planning: A practicle guide (pp. 69-80). Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. Lüdi, G., & Py, B. (2009). To be or not to be ... a plurilingual speaker. International Journal of Multilingualism, 6(2), 154-167. Schmolck, P. (2014). PQMethod. Release 2.35. Retrieved from http://schmolck.userweb.mwn.de/qmethod/downpqmac.htm Watts, S., & Stenner, P. (2012). Doing Q methodological research: theory, method and interpretation. Los Angeles; London: SAGE Publications