Multi- und Plurilingualism in School – Insights from Recent Empirical Research

Multilingualism is increasingly recognized as the norm in classrooms worldwide, yet educational systems continue to be shaped by monolingual ideologies that marginalize students’ multilingual repertoires. Despite strong empirical evidence demonstrating the cognitive, academic, emotional, and social benefits of multilingualism, its pedagogical potential remains underutilized. This special issue addresses the tension between monolingual norms and multilingual realities through interdisciplinary empirical studies from diverse national contexts. Using ethnographic, qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-method approaches, the contributions illustrate how translanguaging and linguistically responsive teaching can foster inclusion, identity development, and academic learning, while also revealing persistent ambivalences and structural constraints within schools and teacher education.