IOE academic delivers seminar on the benefits of multilingualism

The seminar, held in Livorno, Italy, explored whether having multilingual children in the classroom is an advantage or disadvantage.

Dr Filippi provided a historical perspective on multilingualism research and highlighted the misinformation surrounding the topic.

He described the most recent scientific findings showing the beneficial effects of multi-language acquisition in terms of social interaction and cognitive development. He also shared the experiences and challenges that Italian educators in primary schools have to face on a daily basis.

Italy has experienced a significant wave of migration in the last three decades and Italian educators therefore have to deal with a large variety of cultures and linguistic experiences.

Dr Filippi stressed that it is crucial to build solid collaborations between teachers and scientists. This is the main aim of Bilingualism Matters, an international network of scientists operating in the field of multilingualism.

Dr Filippi is one of the founders and co-director of the Bilingualism Matters London Branch, in collaboration with the Institute of Modern Languages and the University of Westminster.

Dr Filippi said: “Social and cultural diversity is a characteristic of the modern world. For example, in the UK, diversity is primarily instantiated in the more than 300 languages spoken on a daily basis. Their speakers bring with them a variety of cultures and economic resources.

“Despite theoretical and political attempts to celebrate diversity, and despite the omnipresence of diversity in biological and eco-systems, it is widely acknowledged in many EU countries that linguistic and cultural diversity constitute a societal challenge.

“Still today, there are cases in which educators discourage multilingual families to raise their children as multilinguals. Such behaviour should be rendered unacceptable, and it is – at least in part – the responsibility of the scientific community to provide research-based counter-arguments against such discouragement.”

Links

• View Dr Roberto Filippi’s research profile
• Department of Psychology and Human Development
• Centre for Language, Literacy and Numeracy: Research & Practice
• Multilanguage and Cognition Lab
• Bilingualism Matters London