Adequately responding to linguistic diversity in the classroom is imperative in European school contexts. The intervention study combined insights from multilingual education and L2 motivational research and addressed diversity in a resource-oriented way. The data are promising and indicate a positive effect on attitudinal aspects of learning and vocabulary retention.
Adequately responding to linguistic diversity in the classroom is imperative in European school contexts, not least because of current migratory movements. The article presents the results of an intervention study with primary school EFL learners in Germany (N = 42, mean age = 8.70) of linguistically diverse backgrounds, who participated in a learning unit on the human body (five lessons a 45 min.). Drawing on multilingual education and L2 motivational research, children in the experimental group were encouraged to use their linguistic resources and additionally engaged with two affective-experiential activities aimed at stimulating attitudinal aspects of learning. Intervention effects were investigated via pre-post and follow-up tests. Affect was measured after each lesson. The experimental group reported higher plurilingual ideal self aspirations after the intervention and higher positive affect throughout the intervention. Importantly, the experimental group made significantly larger vocabulary learning gains than the control group, despite less time on task.
