Background and Purpose: This perspective article supports the need of an alternative plurilingual model to teaching languages to assert immigrants’ identities in Canada. Approach: It examines the interplay between language and identity in immigration contexts, and investigates current language teaching models, including limitations, adopted in Canada. Although the article discusses the case of Quebec where the official language is French, it is not limited or restricted to a specific context. The case of Quebec is only given as an example to illustrate potential challenges immigrants might face in Canada. Results and Implication: This article sheds light on advantageous future research orientations pertaining to immigrants’ identities in the language learning process. It can also inform language policies and pedagogies in Canada and other immigration contexts.
Although Lebanese use different languages, mainly Arabic, English, and French, in their daily interactions, the Lebanese educational system continues to adopt monolingual-oriented practices to language teaching. In English language classes, teachers and students are expected to exclusively use the target language as the language of instruction. Such a practice hinders students’ engagement in the learning process, especially during early stages, as they often face vocabulary and pronunciation challenges. Hence, there is a discrepancy between linguistic norms prevailing outside the classroom and the teaching strategies implemented inside the classroom. In an attempt to bridge the gap and maximize students’ English learning, I utilized my position as an English instructor to teach through the implementation of multilingual strategies. This article draws on my experience and on my students’ feedback to provide insights into implementing multilingual strategies to teach English language, with a focus on design and affordances of specific strategies.
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