University Teachers’ Challenges and Expectations in Bi/Multilingual Disciplinary Literacy Instruction: A Qualitative Cross-disciplinary Study
16th International Conference on The Future of Education, FOE 2026, Florence, İtalya, 18 - 19 Haziran 2026, (Tam Metin Bildiri)
- Yayın Türü: Bildiri / Tam Metin Bildiri
- Basıldığı Şehir: Florence
- Basıldığı Ülke: İtalya
- Anahtar Kelimeler: bi-and multilingual disciplinary literacies, disciplinary literacies, foreign language instruction, teachers’ challenges, teachers’ expectations, tertiary education
- Yıldız Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
In today’s linguistically diverse higher education contexts, teaching bi/multilingual disciplinary literacies (BMDLs) becomes more challenging when both teachers and students are non-native speakers of the language of instruction. This leads to university teachers’ increased expectations for students’ secondary education in disciplinary literacy (DL) development. Considerable BMDL studies [e.g. 1, 2] have focused on secondary education, yet challenges and demands in higher education settings remain significantly under-researched. This study explored university teachers’ perspectives on the challenges they and their students face regarding BMDL practices. It also investigated teachers’ expectations of both their students and the students’ secondary education regarding BMDL development. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews conducted across countries, disciplines, and languages of instruction, and were analysed both inductively and deductively. The participants were 41 university teachers from Türkiye (n=10), Albania (n=13), the Czech Republic (n=10) and Kuwait (n=8), who taught natural (12) and social sciences (29) in a language other than their first language. The languages of instruction were English, German and Arabic. While most participants encountered challenges adapting pedagogical strategies to meet their students’ needs for BMDL development, some reported difficulties stemming from teaching in a foreign language. Perceived student difficulties involved aspects of DL comprehension, learning, and application, and these reported difficulties differed across disciplines. Findings demonstrated that expectations from secondary education reflected the challenges the participants experienced; however, they varied across disciplines, mostly centring on basic discipline-specific knowledge and skills, familiarity with concepts and analytical skills, and students’ equipment with the necessary language skills. By identifying challenges university teachers face in bi/multilingual classrooms and shedding light on their expectations, this study contributes to a better understanding of current issues in BMDL instruction and offers valuable insights for future pedagogical practices and policy development in both secondary and higher education.