Multilingual Virtual Talking Books (MuViT): Supporting multiliteracies, plurilingual awareness & critical thinking in the primary language classroom

Abstract

Multilingual Virtual Talking Books (MuViT) is a project that aims at the development, promotion and exploitation of multilingual virtual talking books in primary school. MuViT is computer-based storybooks in five different languages (English, German, Russian, Spanish, and Turkish). It has been developed for children at primary level. Corresponding tasks, aiming at language sensitivity and the development of language awareness, are designed to motivate learners to work with the books in at least two different languages. The tasks initiate cross-linguistic comparisons as they focus on inter- and intra-linguistic phenomena. Workshops for teachers and teacher trainees are organized to introduce them to the software and ensure the correct usage of it in class. The software has been tested and evaluated in terms of local feasibility and teacher's acceptance in all of the project partner countries. Moreover, an instrument for self-assessment, focusing on language awareness development, is developed during the project's lifetime. It has been found from the initial workshop that children are able to play a story and switch to other languages instantly. They like the `player' because it is easy to use and both, the features and the story are interesting.