Enhancing teachers’ multilingual language awareness through a course on language learning strategies and multilingual education

Several investigations have explored the effects, on teacher cognition, of language teacher education regarding multilingual approaches. However, the impact of teacher training in using plurilingual education to develop language learning strategies in and across two or more third languages while promoting teachers’ collaboration is scarcely researched. This article explores the changes in a group of pre- and in-service teachers’ beliefs and teaching practices during a university course regarding language learning strategies in both Italian and Spanish as third languages and multilingual approaches. The study aims at understanding teachers’ perceived impact of course participation on the development of their multilingual language awareness. Data were collected through teachers’ diaries and the teaching materials they produced. Results confirm the efficacy of teacher training in language learning strategies and plurilingual education by stimulating teachers’ reflections, making them carry out operative tasks, and promoting their collaboration.