From second language pedagogy to the pedagogy of ‘plurilingualism’: a possible paradigm shift? Introduction

Abstract

For nearly two decades, plurilingualism has begun its progressive stance in the way we conceptualize language education, recently becoming a buzzword in the specialized literature. The term is per se an interesting one, not only insomuch as it has taken a less usual path by moving from French into English, but above all as it has transformed the existence of two different but supposedly synonymous prefixes “pluri-” and “multi-” into a lever for a crucial conceptual distinction.