Faculty Beliefs about Multilingualism and a Multilingual Pedagogical Approach

Abstract

Language skills are the ultimate 21st century social skill, linked to creativity, problem solving, and the ability to effectively communicate. Knowledge of teachers’ beliefs is central to understanding teachers’ decision-making in the classroom. In an interconnected and globalized world, foreign language is a global competency, and multilingualism is an essential social skill. Multilingualism plays a significant role in developing the intercultural skills necessary for global talent in a globalized workplace, for an effective and engaged cosmopolitan global citizen, and it is an essential tool in addressing complex global issues. In this study a sample of 151 faculty members participated in the study. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect primary data. The secondary data were collected from the documents in the ministry of Education. Study revealed that faculty beliefs affect multilingualism. The value of R2 of .45 indicates that 45% of the variations in multilingualism in learning is explained by faculty beliefs in general. This means that the universities need to take into consideration the multilingualism while teaching in institutions of higher learning.