Plurilingual practice using kotobahakase in a Japanese elementary school

Abstract

This paper reports on plurilingual teaching practice in a public elementary school in Japan, using the multilingual online application named kotobahakase. We first report on two common interpretations of plurilingual education in Japan, and argue that foreign language education has hitherto neglected learners’ reflexivity. After discussing the development of the teaching materials, both students’ and the teacher’s reflexive journals of the practice will be analysed to demonstrate how reflection can be triggered by plurilingual approaches. The study also discusses the implications for teacher training.