CULTURAL DIVERSITY AND MULTILINGUALISM IN THE TEACHING OF

ENGLISH
Juan Ignacio Oliva

Provided that language learning takes place at a global scale, it involves not only
specific curricular abilities or skills in a limited space of knowledge, but quite on the
contrary, it needs an ever-increasing capacity of continuous development in multiple
learning strategies, from phonetics to syntactical structures and the immersion in the
lexicon of a language. As Teun A. van Dijk proclaims for the socio-cognitive school of
criticism, there needs to be an interaction between mental and environmental values and
actions to comprehend and apprehend the socio-linguistic dimensions of knowledge.1
The interdisciplinary and multilateral approach will help to understand, relate and cope
with such a complicate task. The use of literary texts and other artistic disciplines (such
as music, painting, theatre or creative writing) in the language classrooms will prove a
very important tool to develop learning strategies. Not only can it be used as a
secondary source to spread one’s ability in the knowledge of languages, but also as a
means of broadening other linguistic aspects, such as vocabulary, idiomatic expressions,
fluency and other skills. The main value of these interdisciplinary approaches resides in
letting them act by using subjective and personal perspectives, thus implicating students
in the task of teaching as well as in the task of learning for themselves. These artistic
tools have to do with the students’ own wishes as well as with the interaction between
students among themselves and their teachers. Although it is necessarily a time-
consuming effort, it can be used in practical classes and specific sessions in which the
main focus lies in the oral, reading and writing skills.
On the other hand, living in multilingual Europe makes it absolutely important for
would-be professionals to acquire a certain solvency in at least two, three, or more
languages of the European scene. Notwithstanding the supremacy of English as a lingua
franca in the world nowadays, it seems not to be enough for future specialized
professionals to compete with high standards, without the learning of a second, third,
and other languages to interact. The ideal situation could indeed be a capacity to
communicate in one well-spread language and in a minority one, apart from the mother
tongue and English, as a sort of Esperanto-like language. This focusing helps us with
our proposal to follow multicultural and multilingual designs in the teaching of
languages.
Finally, although these strategies would of course be accessory and supplementary to
the main syllabus in language sessions, we shouldn’t diminish their importance in the
subtle development of passive learning and continuous intellectual inputs. As Catherine
Belsey points out, when talking about criticism in literature:

Common sense urges that ‘man’ is the origin and source of meaning, of action
and of history (humanism). Our concepts and our knowledge are held to be the
product of experience (empiricism), and this experience is preceded and
interpreted by the mind, reason or thought, the property of a transcendent human
nature whose essence is the attribute of each individual (idealism).2

In effect, the empirical quality of this procedure brings about the possibility of
interconnecting, in a practical way, what has been more theoretically imparted in class.

1
Teun A. van Dijk, Discourse, Racism and Ideology, La Laguna: Monografias RCEI ediciones, 1996.
2
Catherine Belsey, Critical Practice, London: Methuen, 1980: 7.
Following brain systems every usage can have semantic adjoining and conjunct which
will amplify and multiply the process of learning. Also, through interdisciplinary skills,
curiosity is aroused in the learner and linguistic subtleties can be implemented more
easily. It establishes a dialogue between languages, between arts, between audiences,
between teacher and learners and, most of all, in the language itself, which shows as
something rich, complex but also apprehensible and recognizable. The Russian
formalist, Mikhail Bakhtin refers to the importance of dialogism for literature,
something which can apply here to the function of language: “There is neither a first nor
a last word and there are no limits to the dialogic context (it extends into the boundless
past and the boundless future). Even past meanings, that is, those born in this dialogue
of past centuries, can never be stable (finalized, ended once and for all) –they will
always change (be renewed) in the process of subsequent development of the
dialogue”.3
Let us see how this brief theoretical approach can be implemented in practical
sessions. Having into account the intimate interconnection between poetry and music,
projects like the Socrates/Lingua 1 inspired by the Institute of Foreign Languages at
Vilnius University, “Open to Every Citizen”, show how learning languages could spread
multilaterally through the interaction of languages and music. We will, thus, use the
main ideas of this project to implement language sessions at a more ambitious and
global scale. A Three-year project (2004-2007) interrelate six languages through choirs
representing Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Italy, Great Britain and Spain. The choir singers
will act as language promoters themselves with the help of leaflets made in this project:
one for each song, to a total of 18, and 1 booklet including five main lessons (called as
musical notes, DO-RE-MI.-FA-SOL). The six target languages will be tasted and sung
through three songs in each language. Languages will be introduced not only in concerts
but in other kind of performances, such as class visiting in schools, academies and other
institutions. In addition, there will be bilateral visits among choir singers who will
experience “other” languages, some of which are very different to their cultural
environment. They will see themselves as absolute beginners in these “exotic” scenarios
and meet people from very different cultural educations. Through the implementation of
thematic language activating sessions in these contexts of the class, the stages and other
extra-curricular spaces of the country visited, language awareness in real-life conditions
will be proved and, what is most important, the culture of each country will be shown.
The intercultural and interdisciplinary approach is the basis of the following example
proposed. Through the form of quizzes, vocabulary plays and other entertainments,
music and texts go together in a didactic, but also ludicrous, way. Take, for instance, the
lyrics of a famous traditional English song: “O No John!”, one of those included in the
project, that goes as follows:

On yonder hill there stands a creature;

Who she is I do not know,
I’ll go and court her for her beauty;
She must answer Yes or No.
[O no John! No John! No John! No!] (refrain)

My father was a Spanish captain—

Went to sea a month ago.
First he kissed me, then he left me—
Bid me always answer No.
3
Mikhail Bakhtin, in Pam Morris (ed.), The Bakhtin Reader, London: Arnold: top cover.
 [O no John!...]

O Madam, in your face is beauty,

On your lips red roses grow.
Will you take me for your lover?
Madam, answer Yes or No.
[O no John!...]

O Madam, I will give you jewels;

I will make you rich and free;
I will give you silken dresses,
Madam, will you marry me?
[O no John!...]

O Madam, since you are so cruel,

And that you do scorn me so,
If I may not be your lover,
Madam, will you let me go?
[O no John!...]

Then I will stay with you for ever,

If you will not be unkind.
Madam, I have vowed to love you;
Would you have me change my mind?
[O no John!...]

O hark! I hear the church bells ringing;

Will you come and be my wife?
Or, dear Madam, have you settled
To live single all your life?
[O no John!...]4

This piece of lyrics has a lot of grammar, vocabulary, rhythmic patterns, and other
items to get the most out of it:

1. Take the beginning of the second stanza and fill in the gap with national
names: My father was a ........................ captain (German, Italian, Estonian,
Latvian, Lithuanian, Swiss, Norwegian, Irish, Welsh, etc.) Let them choose
and sing in rows. Derive to the name of the nations, or to Local and Regional
names, as well (Spanish: Canarian, Castilian, Galician; or Italian: Tuscan,
Roman, Parmesan...) Use the map to locate places of interest and talk about
their habits, identities, artistic manifestations, sports, etc. Also, family names
can be played, as well: my ............ was a Spanish captain (my mother was a
Latvian lady / my brother was a German soldier...)
2. Plays with grammatical structures: there are lines which will definitely help
to the study of English verbs (in comparison with other languages, do not
forget that the Spanish references and the sailing topic invite us to
multinational shores): a) First he kissed me, then he left me (skill: first
he........, then he .......... me / first he played with me, then he became a friend
4
English BBC, English Traditional Songs, Madrid: Alhambra, 1973: 18-19.
 of mine / first (s)he talked to me, then (s)he said goodbye...). b) I will make
you rich and free (skill: it is valid not only for the learning of the future tense
as well as for vocabulary choice: I will make you......... & ........... in pairs,
happy and glad, sensible and easy-going, etc.)
3. Went to sea a ......... ago. (Skill: temporal clauses, since.... but also time
expressions: a minute ago, three years ago (that is, since 2004), twenty
minutes ago, and then the hour can be refreshed. And let us not forget that
singing is always interacting, either choral or individually or in little groups.
4. Questions. The whole song is based on questioning and answering, and
manipulating the content in one’s benefit: will you...? would you...? have
you...? Also let the pupils form their own questions to get an accurate answer
to their wishes...
5. Use names in the song to make students enliven the topic. Change John for
other real names of people in the class; let them choose which one is going to
ask and which one is going to answer. Do stage performance with the lyrics
for fun.
6. Musically speaking, this song can be repeated in the form of a canon, like
other traditional songs, of the “Are you sleeping / Brother John” type. The
refrain can be done collectively and the stanzas in small groups, or with solo
singing, in all its variants.
7. Semantic field study: Hill / sea (geographical accidents: mountain, cliff,
ravine, valley, ocean, river, rivulet...); silken dress / jewels (wearing: shirt,
skirt, blouse, jacket, coat, and also accessories: collar, earring, piercing... and
materials: diamond, emerald, linen, nylon, wool...), and so on. Also the study
of colours is possible, if we use the line that states, on your lips, red roses
grow (in your mouth there are white teeth, in the forests green bushes
grow...).

Many other minor possibilities can be found for future sessions. For instance, ask the
pupils to bring another song with the same or similar characteristics to the one studied.
Compare both and find out the reasons for this choice. Offer your own alternatives:
“Soldier, Soldier” or “Billy Boy” (with the same patterns of questions and answers), or
perhaps “What shall We Do with the Drunken Sailor”, they all share the same tone and
can be more or less parallel to the previous one. Following the project structure, five or
six key words can be chosen to compare with those of your own mother tongue and of
other secondary languages in which some of the students may be competent. In order to
broaden the scope, antonyms and synonyms, and derivatives can be also used. For
instance, if we choose i.e. beauty, captain, lover, mind, church, wife, we can work with
“pretty and handsome” or, on the contrary, with “ugliness”; or with “lieutenant,
sergeant, general”; or with “boyfriends” and “foes”, and so on; an analysis of plurals
would be interesting, especially regarding the formation of “beauties, churches, and
wives”. Moreover, each word can provide further food for thought: dealing with church
can lead to religious discussions, different types of creeds and dogmas, broadening
vocabulary and writing skills through matters of judgment; dealing with wife could
derive in discussions about divorce, abortion, or similar.
To end with, several statements could be inferred from these strategies, so far. Firstly,
the study of languages should be taken comparatively and multilingually, for as Vivian
J. Cook puts it, “Many bilingualism researchers furthermore describe the benefits of
bilingualism over monolingualism, such as the cognitive and social advantages, and
extra skills such as code-switching.”5 Secondly, the focus of language teaching should
be primarily learner-oriented to evoke, amplify and widen the open scope of language
acquisition. Thirdly, cross-linguistic similarities and differences will help to fix
grammar patterns and to cross-reference the semantic study of both lexicons. Fourthly,
the interdisciplinary and multicultural approach, as Teun van Dijk puts it, concerns the
apprehension of knowledge, something which is absolutely basic for the study of
languages, because “knowledge is obviously related to other beliefs, such as opinions,
attitudes or ideologies, among others”.6 And lastly, the interaction with personal and
artistic sensitivity, through the medium of music, painting, performing, and other
disciplines, provides language learning with an easier and more reachable access, and
helps to acquire the ‘encyclopaedic gaze’, so necessary in every aspect of human
apprenticeship.

APPENDIX

A brief account of the description, main characteristics and objectives of this European
Project is offered.

SOCRATES/LINGUA ACTION 1
PROMOTION OF LANGUAGE LEARNING
European Commission

REFERENCE: 117083-CP-1-2004-1-LT-LINGUA-L1

TITLE: Open To Every Citizen

DESCRIPTION: The song has always been an inspiring way of communicating a

language. “Open to Every Citizen” will use this reliable method to expose languages,
both widely and less spoken, to people who are reluctant to learn them. Using songs in
six different languages, the project will raise the awareness of young disadvantaged
people and direct their steps towards language resource centres.

The main tool for conveying the beauty of the language will be performances by
choirs from Estonia, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Spain and the United Kingdom. The choir
singers themselves will be the first to “taste” the target languages through three songs in
each language.

The project involves exchange visits of language promoters and choir conductors
to introduce a language in the form of a word and a song. It also involves exchanges
between choirs who, during their stays in foreign countries, will have an opportunity to
use the target language in its natural environment. Thematic language activating
sessions for choir members, target groups and the general public will also add some
extra “spice” to the process of language promotion and the development of survival
competence in real-life conditions.

The project will also include a number of concerts that are intended to increase
people’s motivation for learning a foreign language through enjoyment. The final

5
Vivian J. Cook, “Monolingual Bias in Second Language Acquisition Research”, Revista Canaria de
Estudios Ingleses 34,1997: 46.
6
Teun A. van Dijk, Ideology: A multidisciplinary Introduction, London: Sage, 1998: passim.
 products are expected to comprise a CD and the publication of a “Selection of National
Songs” (in all target languages) to remind the target audience that learning a language is
fun.

COORDINATOR: VILNIAUS UNIVERSITETAS

Universiteto 5
LT-01513 VILNIUS
Phone: +370 5 268 72 63
Fax: +370 5 268 72 65
Email: loreta.chodzkiene@uki.vu.lt
Internet site address: http://www.uki.vu.it
CONTACT: Loreta CHODZKIENE

PARTNERS:

• VILNIAUS UNIVERSITETO MERGINU CHORAS ''VIRGO'', LT

• CORAL UNIVERSITARIA DE LA LAGUNA, ES
• TARTU ÛLIKOOLI AKADEEMILINE NAISKOOR, EE
• RIGAS KAMERKORIS, LV
• SURREY COUNTY COUNCIL, UK
• LIETUVOS NACIONALINIS RADIJAS IR TELEVIZIJA, LT
• COMUNE DI AREZZO, IT

GRANT AMOUNT: 308562 €

APPROVED BUDGET: 411417 €
CONTRACT DURATION: 36 (in months)

The importance of the task in which choral conductors and language promoters are
involved is shown in the following schedule:

1. Presenting the UE Project “Open to Every Citizen” (Socrates/Lingua 1: 2004-2007).

This is a brief description of how it started and its importance in the promotion of multi-
linguistic activities. A Three-year project conveys the beauty of the language through
choirs representing Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Italy, Great Britain and Spain. The choir
singers will act as “guinea pigs” to prove the efficiency of the leaflets made in this
project: one for each song to a total of 18 and 1 booklet including five main lessons
(called as musical notes, DO-RE-MI.-FA-SOL). The six target languages will be
interrelated and tried simultaneously through three songs in each language. Through
bilateral exchange visits of language promoters and choir conductors, languages will be
introduced and tested not only in concerts but in other kind of performances, such as
class visiting in schools, academies and other institutions. It also involves exchange
among choir singers who will have an opportunity to use the target language in its
natural environment and meet people from very different cultural educations. Thematic
language activating sessions will be held not only to choir members, but also to the
target groups and the general audience of the country visited, to prove language
awareness in real-life conditions and, what is most important, to show the culture of
each country inside the European mosaic.
2. Aims and Participants. Exposing six languages, both widely and less spoken, to those who
are incapable of learning languages themselves. Three songs in six different languages will
raise the language learning awareness of young people and direct their steps towards
 language resource centres. The three-year project will entail a number of choir concerts that
are intended to increase people's motivation for learning a foreign language through
enjoyment. The project is expected to end in the release of a CD and publication of a
“Selection of National Songs” (in all target languages) to remind every language learner
that learning a language is fun. Participants will be six choirs, one from each of the
countries already mentioned and six language promoters and other official institutions, such
as Surrey County Council, Vilnius Institute of Foreign Languages, Arezzo’s City Hall, the
University of Vilnius and La Laguna, among others.
3. Interaction between songs and words. A “special” Logo supports the project idea as well,
symbolizing a European choir conductor in the role of a foreign language promoter. Its
main symbol is openness to every European willing to learn Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian,
English, Italian and Spanish. The webpage is also one important tool to convey the goals of
interaction and enjoyment of the linguistic and the musical. Each song has up to five key
words extracted and translated in the other five languages; its lyrics are also spelled in
syllables, to facilitate the access to the pronunciation and the meaning. A short summary of
the content is also offered in each of the leaflets that accompany them. Together with it, a
leaflet divided in five lessons (Do-Re-Mi-Fa-Sol) gives basic vocabulary and cultural
information on each language, town and country involved, starting from “Me” and followed
by “My School”, “My Town”, “My Country” and “Us, Europeans”. Basic and elementary
vocabulary, grammar and other extra-linguistic knowledge forms a general panorama of
each group visiting the other’s social milieu, until a whole criss-crossed mosaic is made.

REFERENCES
BBC. English Traditional Songs. Spanish Edition. Madrid: Alhambra, 1973.
BELSEY, Catherine. Critical Practice. London: Methuen, 1980.
COOK, Vivian J. “Monolingual Bias in Second Language Acquisition Research”.
Revista Canaria de Estudios Ingleses 34,1997: 35-49.
DIJK, Teun A. van. Discourse, Racism and Ideology. La Laguna: Monografias RCEI
ediciones, 1996.
DIJK, Teun A. van. Ideology: A multidisciplinary Introduction. London: Sage, 1998.
HOFFMAN, C. An Introduction to Bilingualism. London: Longman, 1991.
JURADO SPUCH, Adelaida (ed.) On Language Acquisition. La Laguna: Revista
Canaria de Estudios Ingleses 34, 1997.
KLEIN, Wolfgang & Clive PERDUE. Utterance Structure: Developing Grammars
Again. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1992.
MORRIS, Pam (ed.) The Bakhtin Reader. London: Arnold.
VALDEÓN GARCÍA, Roberto A. “A Redefinition of Authentic Material and its Use in
the Teaching of English”. Revista Canaria de Estudios Ingleses 30-31, 1995: 227-
239.