This project gave rise to our pedagogical approach and led to the creation of the Pluri-L AppEALS Laboratory. Its main objective is to study the effects of an innovative crosslinguistic approach in teaching additional languages (Lx). This approach promotes the interaction between all the languages of a learner’s linguistic repertoire, in order to maximize the acquisition of a new language. The project includes both a pedagogical- and a specialization component.

Participants were students of a Bachelor program in Second/Foreign Language Teaching in a Quebec university who had registered for a Lx class. Instead of using the monolingual approach traditionally favoured by their educational program, this language class was based on our novel crosslinguistic approach.

The first goal of the study is pedagogical and aims at drawing an accurate portrait of the crosslinguistic awareness-raising tasks at the heart of our approach. A pilot study (2017) identified different conditions leading students to notice and describe parallels between the languages they knew. This preliminary work demonstrated the need for students to engage in crosslinguistic reflection in small groups, since the collaborative nature of the task encourages the negotiation of meaning and forms, and allows them to share hypotheses about how the targeted structures work. Further data collected in 2019 resulted in a (preliminary) classification of the types of meta- and crosslinguistic reflections that arise from targeted pedagogical activities. A last round of data collected in 2021 aimed at documenting the complete range of reflections that arise from the use of our approach.

The second goal of the study concerns specialization, and examines the tangible effects of reflective activities on participants. The experience of new pedagogical practices in their own learning process leads participants to re-examine their views on Lx teaching. More specifically, they are brought to reflect on pedagogical practices pertaining to the exclusive use of the target language in class, which is one of the principles of traditional Lx teacher training. It is thus through a new learning experience that our project inspires future teachers of Lx to adopt a reflective stance on their own professional practices.