Presentation
The University of Aveiro (UA) invites researchers, teacher education, educators, and other interested parties to submit papers for the International Colloquium on Plurilingualism and Interculturality in Border Regions – Challenges and Perspectives for Teaching and Teacher Education, to be held on November 06 and 07, 2025.
This event aims to deepen the understanding of the complex realities of border regions and the specific challenges they pose for education. It will foster reflections and discussions on teaching, learning, and teacher education in border contexts, emphasizing the impact of linguistic and cultural interactions, pedagogical practices, and language policies that promote plurilingualism and interculturality.
Border regions offer a unique context for analyzing issues related to language, citizenship, otherness, teacher cognition, and pedagogical practice. Geographic contiguity between countries does not ensure close relationships with the language and culture of the other. Studies such as those by Putsche and Faucompré (2016), for instance, in the context of the France-Germany border, demonstrate that social and cultural representations built throughout the school trajectory directly influence the teaching and learning of neighboring languages, highlighting the importance of teacher training that addresses the complexity of linguistic and cultural identities in border areas.
Similarly, recent research by Goenechea, Machín Álvarez, and Belkat (2024) and Gallego-Noche et al. (2023) explores the perceptions of young residents in the border regions between Spain and Morocco, particularly in the Strait of Gibraltar. These studies analyze cultural identities, the experience of multiculturalism, and the dynamics of opportunities and tensions experienced in these spaces.
Still within the European border context, research conducted between Portugal and Spain, such as that by Lourenço-Simões, Araújo e Sá, and Matesanz (2024a and 2024b), Ulhôa and Araújo e Sá (2024a and 2024b), Matesanz del Barrio, Ferreira Martins, and Araújo e Sá (2023), and Castro and Schwambach (2023), critically document and analyze the outcomes of the Bilingual and Intercultural Border Schools Project (PEBIF) between Portugal and Spain, arguing for the relevance of cross-border cooperation in articulating distinct educational systems and building networks for sharing experiences, focusing on the continuous training of teachers.
Pevec Semec (2018) examines a cross-border teacher mobility project in the tri-border area of Slovenia, Austria, and Italy, documenting the impact of multilingual and intercultural practices on professional teacher development.
In the Americas, the MERCOSUR Bilingual Intercultural Border Schools Project (PEIBF, 2005–2016) is discussed by Oliveira and Morello (2019), who underline the political and sociocultural conditions shaping the program, including linguistic asymmetries between Brazilian and Spanish-speaking populations. Other studies, such as those by Santos (2017), Diniz-Pereira and Tallei (2021), Sturza (2019), Guimarães et al (2024) and Ferreira Martins (2022), explore sociolinguistic and cultural dynamics in Brazilian borderlands, addressing linguistic use, teaching practices, and language attitudes. In the Mexico-USA border context, Herrera-Rocha and De la Piedra (2019) reveal how transitional bilingual programs often result in linguistic assimilation to English and the abandonment of heritage languages.
These studies converge on the necessity of collaboratively building knowledge about the structures and characteristics of cross-border relationships, focusing on education and teacher training. Borders are not merely geopolitical dividers but are historical, political, symbolic, and cultural constructs shaping the practices and experiences of their inhabitants (Anzaldúa, 2012). They represent “spaces of symbolic negotiation, cultural exchanges, and transgressions” (Francis, 2017, p. 108).
The border phenomena, therefore, raise various conceptual and practical questions for educators, trainers, and researchers. These stem from language contact and competition, as well as the value of collaboration and cooperation among regions, their actors, and institutions. By connecting border experiences across different latitudes, this Colloquium seeks to create a dialogue to discuss contemporary challenges in these spaces, incorporating the development of interculturality and plurilingualism.
Thematic Areas
- Language Educational Policies in Border Regions: Educational scenarios, challenges, and opportunities in language teaching.
- Cross-border Didactics: Pedagogical practices in multilingual contexts; education, culture, and identity.
- Sociolinguistic Representations: Beliefs and attitudes about neighboring languages-cultures and their impact on teaching-learning.
- Teacher Education: Teacher Education Scenarios in Plurilingual Contexts and Professional Teacher Identity.
References
Anzaldúa, G. (2012). Borderlands/La Frontera: The new mestiza. Aunt Lute Books. [1ª ed. 1987]
Castro, C., & Schwambach, S. (2023). Projeto de Escolas Bilíngues e Interculturais de fronteira: Uma experiência com escolas de Portugal e Espanha. Temas & Matizes, 17(30), 207-237. https://doi.org/10.48075/rtm.v17i29.31840
Diniz-Pereira, J. E., & Tallei, J. I. (2021) A dimensão da formação permanente de docentes que atuam nas escolas de fronteira. Revista Ibero-Americana de Estudos em Educação, Araraquara, 16(4), 2263–2278. https://doi.org/10.21723/riaee.v16i4.14941
Ferreira Martins, V. (2022). Las variedades lingüísticas del español en la frontera Brasil-Bolivia: Por una enseñanza intercultural. Literatura y Lingüística, 45, 485–515. https://ediciones.ucsh.cl/index.php/lyl/article/view/2109.
Francis, M. (2017). A fala do mensú nos contos de Horacio Quiroga e sua tradução ao português rio-grandense. In N. P. P. Prata et al. (Orgs.), Espanhol em pauta: Perspectivas teórico-analíticas (pp107–115). Editora Apris.
Gallego-Noche, B., Goenechea, C., Gómez-Ruiz, M. Á., & Machín-Alvarez, M. (2023). Towards intercultural education: Exploring perceptions of cultural diversity and identities of adolescents living in the border area between Spain and Morocco. Education Sciences, 13(6), 559. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13060559
Goenechea, C., Machín Álvarez, M., & Belkat, S. (2024). Interculturalidad e identidad en la frontera sur de Europa: La visión de sus habitantes jóvenes [Interculturality and identity on Europe’s southern border: The vision of its young inhabitants]. Estudios Fronterizos, 25, 1-28. https://doi.org/10.21670/ref.2404140
Guimarães, T. F., Buin, E., & Garcia, R. I. D. (2024). Práticas de translinguagem com estudantes multilíngues em uma escola de fronteira. Temas & Matizes, 17, 289–314. https://doi.org/10.48075/rtm.v17i29.32001
Herrera-Rocha, L., & de la Piedra, M. T. (2019). Ideologies of language among ELLs on the US-Mexico border: The case of a transitional bilingual programme. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 40(8), 665–678. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01434632.2018.1544638
Lourenço-Simões, C., Araújo e Sá, M. H., & Matesanz del Barrio, M. (2024a). Enfocando la interculturalidad: Revisión de literatura sobre proyectos y estudios de educación en lenguas realizados en contextos de frontera. Revista de Investigación Educativa, 42(2). https://doi.org/10.6018/rie.565531
Lourenço-Simões, C., Araújo e Sá, M. H., & Matesanz del Barrio, M. (2024b). Interculturalidad sin fronteras: hermenéutica del concepto en proyectos de aprendizaje desarrollados en la raya luso-española. [Manuscrito submetido].
Matesanz, M., Ferreira, V., & Araújo e Sá, M. H. (2023). Projeto Escolas Bilingues e Interculturais de Fronteira (PEBIF): Um projeto transfronteiriço e integrador na Península Ibérica. Revista Iberoamericana de Educación, 93(1), 45–65. https://rieoei.org/RIE/article/download/5998/4765/13616
Oliveira, G. M. de., & Morello, R. (2019). A fronteira como recurso: o bilinguismo português-espanhol e o Projeto Escolas Interculturais Bilíngues de Fronteira do MERCOSUL (2005-2016). Revista Iberoamericana de Educación, 81(1), 53–74. https://rieoei.org/RIE/article/view/3567.
Pevec Semec, K. (2018). Mobile Teachers at Border Schools – multilingualism and interculturalism as new challenges for professional Development. Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal, 8(4), 47-62. https://www.cepsj.si/index.php/cepsj/article/view/551
Putsche, J., & Faucompré, C. (2016). Formation des professeurs de langues en région frontalière: Croyances et représentations des futurs professeurs d’allemand en Alsace face à l’enseignement de la langue du voisin. Education et sociétés plurilingues,40, 47-60. https://doi.org/10.4000/esp.817
Santos, M. E. P. (2017). Portunhol Selvagem: translinguagens em cenário translíngue/transcultural de fronteira. Gragoatá, 22(42), 523-539. https://periodicos.uff.br/gragoata/article/view/33483
Sturza, E. R. (2019). Portunhol: língua, história e política. Gragoatá, 24(48), 95–116. https://doi.org/10.22409/gragoata.2019n48a33621
Ulhôa, A., & Araújo e Sá, M. H. (2024 a). Interações docentes transfronteiriças nas raias entre Portugal e Espanha: Uma experiência de formação contínua a partir do Projeto Escolas Bilíngues e Interculturais de Fronteira (PEBIF). EduSer, 16(2). https://doi.org/10.34620/eduser.v16i2.292
Ulhôa, A., & Araújo e Sá, M. H. (2024 b). Projeto Escolas Bilingues e Interculturais de Fronteira (PEBIF): Educação transfronteiriça nas raias entre Portugal e Espanha. Boletim da Appele. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0583-6179
Venue
The Colloquium will take place at the Department of Education and Psychology at the University of Aveiro, Portugal. The program will include roundtable discussions based on accepted communications, exploring multiple perspectives on linguistic and intercultural education in border contexts.
