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Ulrike Jessner-Schmid
University of Innsbruck, Austria
ULRIKE JESSNER is Professor at the University of Innsbruck (Austria) and the University of Pannonia, Veszprem (Hungary). Recently she was appointed Extraordinary Professor at North West University in South Africa. She has published widely in the field of multilingualism with a special focus on the acquisition of English in multilingual contexts. She is the co-author of A Dynamic Model of Multilingualism which pioneered CDST in language acquisition research. She has been engaged in the development of the research area of third language acquisition/multilingualism.
Talk Information:
Multilingual development from a DMM research perspective
March 21, 2025 | 9:00 AM
The Dynamic Model of Multilingualism authored by Herdina & Jessner (2002; DMM), which applies complexity dynamic systems theory (CDST) to multilingual development and use, presents one of the most comprehensive models of multilingualism.
The first part of this presentation provides an overview of some main DMM tenets with a special emphasis on multilingual awareness as a key component of multilingual learning. These basic concepts are then linked to holistic plurilingual approaches in language education that reflect DMM stances. The domains of the multilingual system in which metalinguistic ability and awareness play a crucial role are linguistic development in general, the development of cognitive, metacognitive and information-processing abilities and the development of literacy skills.
In a number of studies of the DyME (Dynamics of Multilingualism with English) – research group at Innsbruck University the role of multilingual awareness in a variety of language learning scenarios ranging from kindergarten to secondary schools in Austria and Italy (South Tyrol) has been focused on. Most recent evidence from research in trilingual kindergartens and primary schools in South Tyrol (Italy) clearly shows that language experience has an impact on cognitive development.