Publications

ABSTRACT

In this article, we used holistic and analytic measures of assessment in writing considering the three curricular languages in the Basque Autonomous Community (Basque, Spanish and English) to explore 1st (ages 6-7) and 2nd (ages 7-8) grade primary education students’ writing before and after an intervention based on a multilingual approach. In order to do so, we analysed 873 compositions written in Basque, Spanish and English using quantitative methods. Using analytic measures, we analysed their lexical richness and, using holistic measures, we explored their overall writing competence considering four different dimensions. The results of the analyses showed that experimental students outperformed students in the control groups in both the 1st and the 2nd grades of primary education. Consequently, we argue that teaching languages using pedagogies with a multilingual approach is more beneficial than using pedagogies that isolate the languages students know.

KEYWORDS: multilingualism; multilingual education; minority languages; literacy; writing; primary education; Basque Autonomous Community.