Using translation to develop plurilingual competence in high- complexity schools

The guiding thought behind this chapter is that an inclusive society starts in inclusive schools. With this is mind, a team of researchers set out to explore how to empower teachers and how to develop learners’ plurilingual competence and plurilingual identities in six high-complexity schools in Barcelona (Spain). The research team applied a sociocultural approach to their research and developed their own formative model based on socioconstructivist premises and a cyclical process of analyzing beliefs and actions to help teachers and learners gradually introduce natural plurilingual practices, specifically use of translation for other learning contexts, that is, translation to acquire linguistic and intercultural mediation skills in fields other than translator training proper. The main findings of this ongoing research project, based on an integrated plurilingual approach to language learning, will be outlined. According to the results, this approach also favors social integration and the co-construction of plurilingual identities.