Preschool education

Abstract

To be authentic and effective, the multilingual turn (May 2014; Meier 2017) should begin in the early years as it is there where “key attitudes towards other languages and cultures are formed and foundations for later language learning are laid” (European Commission 2006). This is the perspective argued for in this chapter and the suggested path is to follow what is labelled Pedagogy of Diversity, which would entail the introduction to the plurilingual and

pluricultural paradigm in a way that is both coherent and respectful with the needs and abili- ties of young learners.

The Pedagogy of Diversity derives from two different perspectives towards very young learners: a developmental perspective and a pedagogic one. The developmental perspective takes into account the literature on well-being at early ages (Siraj-Blatchford and Clarke 2011; Sutherland and Mukadam 2018, among others), which focuses on creating the appropriate

conditions for very young learners at their settings while respecting and promoting their identi- ties, which includes their home language and culture. The pedagogic perspective follows the

integrated plurilingual approach of language learning and teaching, which redefines the role home languages should have in the language classroom and delves into the development of plurilingual and intercultural competencies by looking at the way own-languages are used in

early childhood education classrooms (European Commission 2006; Hall and Cook 2013; Cor- coll and Flores 2018). It also relates to inclusive classrooms. Even though inclusion often tends

to refer to teaching a common curriculum to all students, while acknowledging differences among learners (Westwood 2018, p. ix), actively welcoming language and culture diversity should also be taken into account when building inclusive classrooms. As well as special needs or learning difficulties, language and culture heritage is recognized as a source of diversity in the new trends on inclusive and adaptive teaching (Westwood 2018) and it is also recognized in the pedagogical approach that is at the basis of this chapter, namely, Pedagogy of Diversity.