Multilingual interaction and minority languages: Proficiency and
language practices in education and society
Durk Gorter University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU - IKERBASQUE
d.gorter@ikerbasque.org
In this plenary speech I examine multilingual interaction in a number of European regions in
which minority languages are being revitalized.Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University, on 28 Oct 2019 at 07:42:30, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of
DURK GORTER: MULTILINGUAL INTERACTION AND MINORITY LANGUAGES 85
2.1 Focus on multilingualism
The ideas of Williams, Baker, Garcia, Canagarajah, Li Wei and others were an inspiration
for the studies of multilingualism I have undertaken with my colleague Jasone Cenoz.Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University, on 28 Oct 2019 at 07:42:30, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of
DURK GORTER: MULTILINGUAL INTERACTION AND MINORITY LANGUAGES 87
interconnected world, in which the local and the global merge to become the GLOCAL in a
networked society (Castells 2000; Wellman 2002) in which people are increasingly 'always
on' (Baron 2008).The paper is based on my experience of over 30 years of research into the
Frisian language in the Netherlands (Gorter 1987, 2001, 2008a), in addition to several years of
comparative work on minority languages across the European Union (Sikma & Gorter 1990;
Revised version of a plenary address given at the International Conference on Bilingual and Multilingual Interaction,
Bangor, Wales, 30 March-1 April 2012
use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms.It is interesting to note that speakers of European minority languages, such as Basque,
Frisian, Welsh, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Breton and Catalan, share certain characteristics that
distinguish them from speakers of majority languages, especially the fact that they all become
fluent bilingual speakers.This way of conceptualizing the idea of repertoire
fits with our focus on multilingualism because we also want to take into consideration all the
languages in the speaker's repertoire, ranging from the language maximally known, to the
languages in which a speaker develops partial or minimal competence or can only recognize a
language, even if we are aware that 'languages' are constructed entities (Makoni & Pennycook
2007).Theories and models about revitalization or about loss and maintenance of minority
languages are often based on a vision of a society in which only two languages play a role, one
being the minority language, such as Basque, Breton, Catalan, Frisian, Irish, Scottish Gaelic
or Welsh, and the other the dominant language, such as Spanish, French, Dutch or English.The definition in the European Charter for
Regional or Minority Languages of the Council of Europe (1992) is frequently quoted in
the literature (e.g. Dunbar 2001: 91; Extra & Gorter 2001: 19; Hult 2004: 192; Darquennes
2011: 549; Nic Craith 2012: 377).Education is seen as a crucial variable for the revitalization
of minority languages: Fishman (1991, 2001), in his influential multi-stage model of the
GIDS (Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale), emphasizes the importance of language
acquisition, learning and education.The associated language
institutes, such as the Alliance Fran,caise for French or the Goethe Institut for German, actively
promote their languages and cultures to learners in numerous countries across the world,
and in part explain their spread.The
project is carried out in collaboration between the Faculty of Education of the University
of the Basque Country in Donostia-San Sebastian, the Basque Autonomous Community in '
Spain and the Mercator Research Centre of the Fryske Akademy in the province of Friesland
in the Netherlands.For my discussion I will draw on
the results of the long-running project on the 'Added value of multilingualism and diversity
in educational contexts', in which the teaching of languages in the Basque Autonomous
Community in Spain is compared to that in the province of Friesland in the Netherlands
(Arocena et al. 2010). Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University, on 28 Oct 2019 at 07:42:30, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of
8 4 PLENARY SPEECHES
definition contains the word 'state' no less than four times, which demonstrates the power
of the state authorities to give official recognition to a minority language on its territory (or
to deny such recognition).Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University, on 28 Oct 2019 at 07:42:30, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of
DURK GORTER: MULTILINGUAL INTERACTION AND MINORITY LANGUAGES 89
and other languages (such as immigrant languages).A multi-method approach was used, including questionnaires, classroom observations,
student essays, language diaries and photographs, to collect quantitative and qualitative data
on such matters as language proficiency, language use and attitudes, in a sample of secondary
school students aged from 14 to 16, as well as among their teachers.A number of research
reports were produced for the Basque government and are available online (Arocena et al.
2010; Douwes, Hanenburg & Lotti 2010; Bangma, Van der Meer & Riemersma 2011; De
Vries & Arocena 2011).Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University, on 28 Oct 2019 at 07:42:30, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of
9 0 PLENARY SPEECHES
However, the regional government generously supports and facilitates the teaching of Basque,
and parents are free to choose the model they want for their child. Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University, on 28 Oct 2019 at 07:42:30, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of
DURK GORTER: MULTILINGUAL INTERACTION AND MINORITY LANGUAGES 91
Arocena 2011).I draw on the results of a long-running project on the 'Added value
of multilingualism and diversity in educational contexts' among secondary school students,
and show that there are interesting differences and similarities between the minority
language (Basque or Frisian), the majority language (Spanish or Dutch) and English. Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University, on 28 Oct 2019 at 07:42:30, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of
DURK GORTER: MULTILINGUAL INTERACTION AND MINORITY LANGUAGES 83
Extra & Gorter 2001, 2008).Although this definition is widely used, it is not undisputed, because Article 1a of the
Charter explicitly excludes 'dialects of the official language(s) of the State or the languages
of migrants', and such varieties would be described by some as minority languages.Our approach
also implies that 'the goal in multilingual education should be to behave as a competent
multilingual speaker' (Cenoz & Gorter 2011: 367) and the school should adopt a 'flexible
bilingual pedagogy' (Creese & Blackledge 2010: 112).A comparative research project
For the discussion I will draw on the results of the project entitled 'Added value of
multilingualism and diversity in educational contexts', which has run for several years, and
in which the teaching of languages in the Basque Autonomous Community in Spain is
compared to what happens in schools in the Province of Friesland in the Netherlands.The basic aim of the project is to compare the position of the languages
in education in both regions, with a focus on the minority languages Basque and Frisian, but
in both regions also looking at the majority languages Spanish and Dutch, as well as English
use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms.After the end of the Franco dictatorship in 1975, during the period of
transition to democracy, the educational authorities of the Basque Autonomous Community
developed three linguistic models: Model A, in which all teaching is through Spanish, and
Basque is taught for about three hours per week; Model B, in which all subjects are taught
through both languages for more or less equal amounts of time; and Model D, in which all
lessons are in Basque, except when Spanish and English are being taught as subjects.Outside
the Basque Autonomous Community itself, that is, in the other parts of the Basque Country -
the historical province of Navarre in Spain and the area known as Iparralde in the south
of France - advances in teaching the minority language have been much weaker (see also
Zalbide & Cenoz 2008; Cenoz 2009).Language practices comprise the routine selections that speakers make from
their linguistic repertoire (Spolsky 2004: 5), which includes all types of linguistic behaviour
by individuals in a multilingual context.It
is often believed that multilingual communities were once monolingual, a misconception also
applied to countries as a whole, but in reality regions such as the Basque Country, Friesland
or Wales have been bilingual or multilingual at least to some degree for several hundred
years.Garcia (2009: 45), in her book on bilingual education in
the twenty-first century, broadens the scope of translanguaging to all 'multiple discursive
practices in which bilinguals engage in order to make sense of their bilingual worlds'.For Li Wei (2011) the concept of translanguaging has a
different source because it builds on the notion of 'languaging' in psycholinguistics, and
the term also links to Becker's (1988) attempt to move away from language as a noun to
language as a verb.From our comparative studies of autochthonous minority languages in the European Union
(Sikma & Gorter 1990; Gorter 2008a) we concluded that the position in education of most
minority languages covered by the Charter can at best be characterized as weak or very weak.In a comparative perspective
on European minority languages, the Basque language group comes out as relatively strong
and the Frisian language group occupies an intermediate position (Nelde, Strubell & Williams
1996: 65).3.1 Multilingual education in the Basque Country
One of the most significant developments affecting a European minority language has taken
place in the Basque Autonomous Community in the north of Spain, where the main language
of instruction in the education system has changed from Spanish (and only Spanish) to
predominantly Basque.Revitalization processes no longer take place in a bilingual context with one minority and
one dominant language, but increasingly in a multilingual context in which international and
immigrant languages are also present.The language usage patterns of teachers and students can be examined under this
heading, but it is also important to investigate language use in wider society, asking questions
about the development of languages in a specific community of speakers, how speakers use
the languages in their repertoire, how languages interact with each other and how different
groups of speakers use languages.In the Welsh context and for Garcia in the US, translanguaging applies
to two languages, but Canagarajah (2011) uses the term for 'the general communicative
competence of multilinguals'.Li Wei (2011: 1223) applies translanguaging to multilinguals in its widest
sense, since it includes 'any going between different linguistic structures, including different
modalities'.In contrast, we believe that 'if multilinguals have some special characteristics when learning
and using languages, monolingual native speakers of each of the languages they speak cannot
be the appropriate reference' (Cenoz & Gorter 2011: 367).Speakers of Arabic, Turkish, Chinese, as
well as those from European Union countries such as Poland, Bulgaria, Romania and many
others have migrated to countries all over Europe.London, where Baker & Eversley (2000) estimated that school children speak over 300
different home languages, has been used to demonstrate the extensive linguistic diversity of
modern urban settings (Salverda 2002).In many cases a monolingual mindset (Clyne 2005) lies behind ideas that go against
bilingualism; a similar way of thinking occurs among authors on minority languages when
they think in terms of two languages only - the majority and the minority language - ignoring
other languages.Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University, on 28 Oct 2019 at 07:42:30, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of
8 8 PLENARY SPEECHES
a 'bilingual mindset'.For example, many studies and governmental reports mention the importance of teaching the
minority language at school (Oakes 2001; Coluzzi 2007; Kaplan & Baldauf 2007; Council of
Europe 2010; Henn-Reinke 2012).An example is the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, mentioned earlier,
which states in its Explanatory Report (Council of Europe 2010: 43) that 'A crucial factor
in the maintenance and preservation of regional or minority languages is the place they
are given in the education system'.The discussion demonstrates the
complexity of everyday multilingual practices and the outcomes have implications for the gap
between education and society and for further research into the linkages between language
proficiency and actual language practices.In this plenary paper I want to examine the interaction between three or more languages
in a number of European regions in which minority languages are already experiencing
revitalization.Additional
considerations include the aims of language teaching and more complex questions such
as how languages are taught, what teaching strategies are used, how the school tries to
improve the level of proficiency in each of the languages and the desired outcomes in terms of
proficiency.We distinguish three dimensions in the focus on multilingualism: (1) the whole linguistic
repertoire, (2) the multilingual speakers and (3) the wider social context.2.2.3 The wider social context
Today, regions where minority languages are spoken, such as Wales, the Basque Country or
Friesland, can no longer be thought of as closed, traditional societies.The most recent full report available relates to 2006 (Gobierno Vasco 2008), although
some provisional figures for 2011 have been released (Viceconsejer'ia de Pol'itica Lingu?'istica
2012), which show a gradual increase in the number of speakers.The areas of lower density are mainly in the southern half of the autonomous community
and in the urban areas of Bilbao, Vitoria and San Sebastian.Baker (2007: 2-3) examines the potential advantages of using translanguaging in the
classroom to enable the student to develop into a balanced and confident bilingual person.Baker suggests that bilingualism offers communication, cultural, curriculum, cognitive,
character and cash advantages.She further asserts that 'despite curricular arrangements that separate languages, the most
prevalent bilingual practice in the bilingual education classrooms is that of translanguaging'
(Garcia 2009: 304).In the traditional approach, based on a 'monolingual mindset' (Clyne 2005: xi), the
competence of a multilingual person in one language is compared to that of a native speaker.The
second category is 'partial' competence which concerns specialized language, registers and
genres and also touches on the whole range of language skills, with some limitations.Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University, on 28 Oct 2019 at 07:42:30, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of
8 6 PLENARY SPEECHES
no minimum language knowledge.They can be characterized as 'speakers who use their resources when communicating with
monolingual and multilingual interlocutors' (Cenoz & Gorter 2011: 367).He uses an analogy from athletics, in which the high hurdler
blends the competences of a high jumper and a sprinter, but it is unfair to compare one type
of athlete to the other.Another factor in increased linguistic diversity is, of course, the spread of numerous
'migrant' (or community or heritage) languages.Barni (2006: 11) found traces of 24 varieties in the
linguistic landscape of one neighbourhood in Rome, a predominantly monolingual Italian
city.Theories of language revitalization point to education as a crucial variable, and
international legal instruments recognize the right to teach minority languages at school.The Charter refers to 'languages that are traditionally used
within a given territory of a state by nationals of that state who form a group numerically
smaller than the rest of the state's population and [are] different from the official language(s)
of that state'.Multilingual speakers learn and use their
languages while participating in language practices that are shaped by the social context.I prefer the view put forward by Blommaert & Backus (2011), for whom repertoire is based
in someone's biography and comprises the individual's current language resources, their
actual skills and competences.The competence
of multilingual speakers is fluid, not fixed: difficult to measure, but real (Cenoz, Arocena &
Gorter in press).Young minority language speakers may
not be aware of concepts such as 'minority language', 'dominant language' or 'international
language', but as speakers they soon become aware of the social inequalities of the languages
they speak; they pay attention to the significance of language choice and to the role of
languages in social relationships.English is followed
at some distance by a limited number of widely used languages such as French, German,
Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic and Chinese.To complement this plenary,
I will use the outcomes of this sub-project to illustrate the next generation's awareness of
the importance of multilingualism.We held interviews with a number of
teachers and carried out classroom observation in different schools (see also De Vries &
use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms.Introduction
Activities to protect and promote minority languages are common throughout Europe and
beyond.However, early efforts to secure the survival of minority languages showed that revitalization
cannot be achieved by schools alone; society at large is at least as significant.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444812000481
Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444812000481
Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core.Thus it is not the speakers of a minority language, or activists
or language experts, but the state that has the power to determine the status of a minority
language, including whether it officially exists at all.My emphasis is on European minority languages, in particular Basque and
Frisian.One of the most creative concepts of recent years is probably TRANSLANGUAGING
('trawsieithu' in Welsh): a skill that aids the development of bilingualism.Baker (2001) attributes
its origins to Cen Williams, for whom it means (2002: 2) '(i) receiving information in one
language and (ii) using or applying it in the other language'.It is a skill that bilingual
Welsh-English children already use in everyday life, but one that should also be developed
systematically at school, because it reinforces not only the two languages, but the relationship
between them.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444812000481
Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core.In this plenary
speech I want to apply our ideas to a comparison of Basque and Frisian and other European
minority languages.2.1.1 The whole linguistic repertoire
Our focus on multilingualism makes us look again at the concept of REPERTOIRE: 'the totality of
linguistic resources available to members of particular communities' (Gumperz 1986: 21-22).The
third category is 'minimal' competence, which depends on the kind of encounters a speaker
experiences, and may be merely temporary knowledge, such as learning the odd word when
visiting a country.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444812000481
Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core.Cook (1992, 2003)
and Grosjean (1985, 2008) proposed some time ago that multilingual speakers have different
characteristics from monolingual speakers because they have more than one language in
their repertoire.Similarly,
Grosjean (2010: 75) states that the 'bilingual is not the sum of two (or more) complete or
incomplete monolinguals'.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444812000481
Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core.The origins of this vision are based on concepts like DIGLOSSIA (Ferguson 1959; Fishman 1967)
which take account of only two languages.This limited set of languages also appears in many less
expected places, such as an option for the operating language of an electronic device in the
home, its instruction booklet and guarantee document.This way of thinking is common and, following Clyne, I want to label it
use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444812000481
Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core.Policies to promote minority languages are in operation throughout Europe and elsewhere.But he also warned that a 'narrow education framework
within which language maintenance retrieval and revival activities have been grounded is
doomed to failure' (Fishman 2001: 417).Only a few minority language groups control their own
fully-fledged school system, or have relatively strong provisions at different levels of education.Nelde, Strubell & Williams (1996: 6) noted that education as social
agency may contribute more to endangerment than to revival.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444812000481
Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core.We also collected data about the advantages and disadvantages of multilingualism, as
seen by different groups of university students in both regions.The disadvantages mentioned include 'knowing a word only in one language and borrowing
it, polluting the language with that word'; 'you might reject your native language (Basque
in my case) if you learn another one that is more useful' and even 'I cannot think of any
disadvantages'.In the early 1980s Model B and Model D together were offered to
less than 25% of all students, the remainder being educated under the Spanish Model A.
use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444812000481
Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core.In the language surveys four different sociolinguistic zones are distinguished in terms of the
proportion speaking Basque: (1) less than 20%, (2) 20-50%, (3) 50-80% and (4) over 80%.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444812000481
Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core.Education is a crucial variable, but the wider
society is equally significant.The context of revitalization is no longer bilingual but
increasingly multilingual.Of course, language learning continues outside the
classroom, mainly through language use, so how the different languages are used has great
significance.In this plenary paper I will be looking from a multilingual perspective at these two
axes: language practices and proficiency on the one hand and education and society on
the other.Theoretical approach
Work on bilingualism and multilingualism has been inspired in many ways by research
in Wales.Translanguaging, in its original formulation, is a teaching method in which,
for example, the listening, singing or reading taking place during a lesson is in one language
(Welsh), and further work, such as discussion or writing a summary, is in the other (English).They make use of all their linguistic resources and navigate between their languages in
interaction (see also Kramsch 2006).This perspective can be applied to research into the
acquisition of languages as well as to the classroom in multilingual education.Just as there is no absolute maximum, there is
use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms.The repertoire of a multilingual speaker comprises his
knowledge of all languages taken together.Multilingual speakers are not different monolingual people when
they use each of their two, three or four languages at different times or on different occasions.A multilingual speaker uses different languages for different purposes,
sometimes using one language at a time, and at others mixing languages.Monolingual majority language speakers, in contrast, find only
one language in their surroundings and grow up using that language, their 'mother tongue'.At the time of these early contributions it was
useful to apply a schematic representation of two languages to such societies.However, over
the last decades societies have changed, becoming ever more linguistically diverse, so there
are several reasons why we can no longer simply talk of 'bilingual societies'.Words from
these languages might also be used for the name of an exotic restaurant, a type of food, on
a label inside a piece of clothing, or the name of a distant location, habit or product, which
reaches us through the daily flow of news from every corner of the world.Instead, we need improved models to represent complex multilingual
societies in which major and minor languages are present.Several international legal agreements contain provisions for teaching minority languages.It is clear that in areas where a minority language is spoken, the majority language often
dominates the educational system.The advantages they mentioned include 'to understand
cultures around the world'; 'to communicate with other people'; 'possibilities for travel'; 'more
job opportunities'; 'access to more information'; 'making it easier to learn other languages'.In the school timetables the languages are allocated to different slots and are taught
separately.Teachers of other subjects also contribute to this
goal, even if they do not focus on teaching the language per se in the course of, for example,
mathematics, history or music lessons.The
use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms.Minority language speakers are multilingual by nature, or by necessity, from a young age.use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms.Cenoz and I want instead to focus on the whole repertoire of languages and take into
consideration the relationships between them. They distinguish four broad categories of competence (2011:
16), which can be read as a sliding scale of language knowledge.'Maximum' competence is
comprehensive and refers usually to the mother tongue and to school learning and covers
the whole range of language skills.It is clear, however, that there is no absolute maximum
because the perfect knowledge of the ideal hearer-speaker does not exist in reality.This is
the ability to identify a word or text as belonging to another language, such as recognizing
a different script such as Chinese or Greek.2.2.2 Multilingual speakers
The second dimension of our focus on multilingualism is that of 'multilingual speakers'.Cook (1992) suggested the concept of 'multicompetence' to denote a unique
form of language competence that cannot be compared to that of monolinguals.They are part of an
use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms.These examples summarize the arguments in favour of and against multilingualism.How
do we characterize them?1.2.3.