About the programme
A great need exists for knowledge about multilingualism as a resource in education. Mi Lenga recruits ambitious student teachers with any linguistic background who aim for a leading role as future professionals in the development work of multilingualism in education.
In these master projects, the students:
- Explore current issues regarding multilingualism in various subjects at the secondary school level or adult education;
- Develop creative designs where they collect their own data in collaboration with the field of practice; and
- Draw on their own and/or others’ multilingual repertoires to access different experiences in school
“Mi Lenga” means “my language” in Papiamento, which is a Creole language spoken primarily in Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao in the Caribbean. The origin of the language is unknown, but it has common features with Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and West African languages. For many, therefore, the word feels both known and unknown at the same time. It is also the title of the poem “Mi Lenga Papiamentu” (“My Language Papiamento”) by Philip A. Rademaker, in which he describes the meaning of language for the individual.
Mi Lenga is founded and led by Joke Dewilde, Professor of Multilingualism in Education, Department of Teacher Education and School Research, University of Oslo. Read more about the programme in this book chapter.
Community
Mi Lenga students form a community with current and former students around multilingualism in education. A key part of this process is the analysis seminar, where students engage in data workshops to explore themes across projects and subjects.
Mi Lenga students also attend relevant conferences and events.
Interdisciplinarity
Master’s theses within the Mi Lenga programme cover various school subjects, primarily Norwegian and social studies, but also English, natural science, and mathematics. Students are encouraged to integrate knowledge from other subjects and learn from one another. This interdisciplinary approach reflects the need for collaboration to address societal challenges, making teamwork essential for their future professions.
Many Mi Lenga students leverage their multilingual skills to collect data in languages other than Norwegian, offering valuable insights into the experiences of students and parents with minority backgrounds. Others collaborate with multilingual research assistants, gaining experience in working with intermediaries.
Key themes explored in the theses include the use of multilingual texts, multilingual writing practices, and digital tools in multilingual classrooms. Social science didactics students contribute perspectives on culturally responsive teaching and critical literacy, while Norwegian didactics students focus on teaching fiction in multilingual classrooms. Several theses also examine the roles and experiences of multilingual teachers.
Collaboration with schools
Mi Lenga maintains strategic partnerships with selected schools. In 2020–2021, students, teachers, and teacher educators participated in seminars with international experts in multilingualism—a collaboration that continues through a permanent seminar series by The University School Partnership (Universitetsskolesamarbeidet).
Master’s projects involve students in various collaborative roles, such as co-designing and implementing multilingual lesson plans with teachers or developing research activities in close cooperation with subject teachers.
The National Centre of Multicultural Education (NAFO) and the social enterprise Magisk Kunnskap are also key partners in several projects.
Dissemination
Dissemination is an important part of the Mi Lenga programme, both to fellow students and more junior student teachers and to teachers and researchers. Mi Lenga has its own podcast series, called The Mi Lenga podcast (in Norwegian), where findings from the master’s projects are disseminated.
The Mi Lenga students disseminate the findings back to the field through video snippets to students who have participated, with presentations at staff meetings, and in NAFOs film series on multilingualism as a resource for teaching and learning.
As a community, we are active in the debate on multilingualism in education, and have for example written a piece on 'semi-lingualism' for the journal Periskop.
Professional relevance
Mi Lenga students’ competence is in high demand by both schools and other actors. Several students have been given responsibility for introductory classes and become part of the school's resource team for multilingual students. In addition, several have contributed to the development and testing of Hugin and Munin, a multilingual learning resource for newly arrived young people.
Awards
Several Mi Lenga students have been granted the Center for Multilingualism in Society across the Lifespan MultiLing's MA grant, Fatima Reda was selected to hold the prestigious Anne Hvenekilde lecture, and Tina Vu Ha received Kirsti Engelien's MA grant.
In 2022, Dewilde received the Factulty of Education's Teaching Prize for the Mi Lenga programme after being nominated by her students.
Funding
In 2020 Mi Lenga received internal seed funding to further develop research and development collaboration between the university and university schools.
