The use of multilingual strategies in Dutch reception classes

Abstract This research focuses on several forms of “translanguaging”, the use of multilingual strategies for dealing with the linguistically diverse backgrounds of newcomer students in the Netherlands. By using translanguaging the home languages of students are welcomed into the classroom, and are used as a bridge to learning Dutch and other subject content. The literature shows many positive effects of translanguaging on school language skills, metacognitive and metalinguistic awareness, and on various aspects of pupils’ socio-emotional development. We present a survey among Dutch secondary school teachers that assessed the attitudes of teachers on translanguaging, the extent to which different teachers use different translanguaging strategies, the reasons why they use or don’t use them, the obstacles they may experience in the use of these strategies, and the needs they experience in using the home languages in the classroom. The results show that most teachers have a positive attitude towards a multilingual approach, particularly those that are experienced in working with and in several languages, but that they need adequate materials and practical information about how to make use of the home languages.