ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines and discusses the principles behind a cross-linguistic and multilingual pre-service teacher-training program implemented in 2002 and modified in 2015 at Innsbruck University, Austria. In line with current demands for multilingual education and the preparation of teachers to linguistic and cultural diversity in the foreign language classroom, the program is considered a ‘milestone’ for multilingual teacher education. It provides trainees of five modern language programs (English, French, Italian, Russian, Spanish) with two cross-linguistic, theory-driven and research-based courses facilitating approaches on language learning, teaching and assessment. These umbrella courses follow a team-teaching approach. In accompanying language-specific workshops, trainees are enabled to put the principles and theories acquired in the cross-linguistic umbrella courses into the practice of the specific language they study. To complete the program, the model offers a one-semester school-based traineeship as well as further language-specific courses. The cross-linguistic courses are team taught involving colleagues from all five languages offered by the program. The multilingual team approach already reflects multilingualism on an institutional level and mirrors the languages the trainees study. Furthermore, these courses correspond to the highest end of cooperation in team teaching by being co-planned, co-taught and co-evaluated, whereas the accompanying language-specific courses point to the lower end of cooperation, being co-planned and following evaluation criteria agreed upon by the team. The team as well as the multilingual approach for teaching are transferred to the trainees by means of group works to be performed by cross-linguistic. Selected findings of quantitative and qualitative research on the students’ perspective are presented and discussed in the chapter.
