Plenary Session: The Multilingual Mindset in Language Teaching
The concept monolingual mindset is a way of thinking that privileges the possession and use of a singular linguistic code and considers multilingualism problematic. This concept has long influenced language learning and teaching. It has done so by the way the teaching of language, especially English, has been framed towards achieving an ideal monolingual speaker. Although the multilingual turn in language teaching has been influential in questioning and reframing the monolingual mindset in language teaching and learning, there needs to be a more consistent framework to guide how we move forward and consider language teaching and learning that empowers students beyond the classroom. To achieve this, in this talk, I argue for a shift towards a multilingual mindset, a way of thinking about language learning, language teaching, and language use expectant of variations in our learners’ language repertoire, language use, and language features. I further argue that the multilingual mindset can extend to multilingual habitus, an institutional stance that views linguistic diversity favourably and reflects this at the levels of principles, policies, and practices in (English) language learning and teaching. Such an approach highlights the benefits multilingualism engenders, especially, for example, in intercultural communication, and how it facilitates a more inclusive society.
Plenary Workshop: Adopting the Multilingual Mindset in Language Teaching
In this workshop, participants will have an opportunity to query and discuss further the multilingual mindset and multilingual habitus presented in the plenary. In addition, participants will then have an opportunity to work in small groups to identify how the concepts can be implemented in principles, policies, and practices in their respective educational institutions.
Multilingual Mindset for Social Participation
Loy Lising
This year’s JALT conference theme, in consonance with the previous years’ themes, invites us to consider our language teaching profession as a call to prepare our students for engagement beyond the classroom—with global impact. What does this mean for us? I offer in this piece three ways we can meaningfully respond to this call: a shift in our mindset, a shift in our policies, and a shift in our practices.
Before I do, let me foreground this piece with four linguistic realities necessary to contextualise our profession. First, most of the population in the world is bi/multilingual (Maher, 2017). This multilingual reality is engendered by the linguistic diversity present in many societies in the world. Beyond these societies, multilingualism has been facilitated by many factors, such as globalisation and international education (Lising, 2026), which have infused and enriched otherwise monolingual-dominant societies with ethnolinguistic diversity. Preparing our students to understand and appreciate this reality is an important first step in our language teaching.
Second, because of the high rate of migration in the world (de Haas et al., 2020), the contexts for our students beyond the classroom will be highly diverse and complex. Sociolinguistics research has shown us that internal variations in language exist due to various social factors such as gender, age, socioeconomic stratification, and education, among others. This variation is further intensified when one considers the diverse ethnolinguistic backgrounds of people whom our students will interact with, especially in the workplace. Embedded within all of this is the need for our students to be skilled in intercultural communication to successfully navigate contemporary societies.
Third, for those of us who teach adult language learning, we understand that language learning is not only an individual and cognitive challenge but is also a struggle for social and institutional recognition (Piller et al., 2024). Our approach to language teaching, therefore, needs to encompass this challenge.
Fourth, the multilingual turn in second language learning and teaching (May, 2014) shifted the lens in our profession from the monolingual approach that used to dominate. The monolingual approach privileges the possession and use of a singular linguistic code and considers problematic both variation at a micro level and multilingualism at a macro level. This approach has long influenced language learning and teaching. It has done so by the way the teaching of language, especially English, has been framed towards achieving an ideal monolingual speaker.
Although the multilingual turn in language teaching has been influential in questioning and reframing this monolingual approach to language teaching and learning, there remains a need for a consistent framework that guides how we move forward and consider a language teaching and learning approach that empowers students beyond the classroom. To do so, it is crucial that we constantly reflect on our language teaching and reevaluate our principles, our policies, and our practices.
What principles govern the way we conduct our language teaching profession? Here, I offer the multilingual mindset (Lising, 2026) as an alternative conceptual framework to guide how we do language learning and teaching. The multilingual mindset is “a way of thinking about languages that is mindful and expectant of variation in language proficiency, variation in language repertoire, and variation in language practices. And these have implications in terms of language attitudes, language practices, and language policies across various domains” (Lising, 2026, p. 46). To adopt this conceptual framework in our language teaching means that we fundamentally shift the way we think about language learners and their language learning, in ways that align with the global linguistic realities. In doing so, we make ourselves mindful of ensuring that our own students are also learning language that reflects today’s reality. The adoption of this conceptual framework requires a shift in our policies.
What are the current language teaching policies in place in our respective institutions? How does our institution view linguistic diversity? Do our policies recognise the diversity in our students’ trajectories and, more importantly, the pathways they can take? Relative to language teaching and learning, policies are often the practical articulation of the beliefs institutions have regarding linguistic diversity. In other words, they reflect the institution’s value systems. How are the policies translated into practices?
What are the language practices in our respective institutions that shape our teaching and our students’ learning, so that our students are trained not only to become global citizens but also to achieve full social participation? In other words, are our students trained to be intercultural mediators? To become intercultural mediators, our students need to first recognise and value (ethnolinguistic) diversity. In doing so, they need to be experts of their own language(s) and recognise that others can operate in multiple languages in their repertoire. Making linguistic diversity the norm also means recognising the language ideologies that render languages unequal due to the economic (de)valuing of linguistic codes relative to the benefits they can engender for their speakers.
As we prepare for JALT2026, I hope that what I offer in this piece—a shift in our mindset, a shift in our policies, and a shift in our practices—invites reflection and genuine consideration as we strive to equip our students for full social participation beyond the classroom. I hope to be able to engage with you on these come November.
References
de Haas, H., Castles, S., & Miller, M. J. (2020). The age of migration: International population movements in the modern world (6th ed.). The Guilford Press.
Lising, L. (2026). Language in skilled migration. In S. Canagarajah (Ed.), Handbook of migration and language (2nd ed., pp. 296–311). Routledge.
Maher, J. C. (2017). Multilingualism: A very short introduction. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/actrade/9780198724995.001.0001
May, S. (Ed.). (2014). The multilingual turn: Implications for SLA, TESOL, and bilingual education. Routledge.
Piller, I., Butorac, D., Farrell, E., Lising, L., Motaghi-Tabari, S., & Williams Tetteh, V. (2024). Life in a new language. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190084288.001.0001
Loy Lising is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Linguistics, a Graduate Research Supervision Fellow at Macquarie University, and a Senior Fellow with AdvanceHE. As an applied sociolinguist, Loy’s research interest is centred on multilingualism and social participation. She investigates this intersection with a focus on two strands: language features (micro sociolinguistics) and language use (macro sociolinguistics) of multilinguals in both diasporic and homeland contexts, particularly in the domains of family, education, health, and law.
