Elin Arfon

Research student,

: arfone@cardiff.ac.uk

: Siarad Cymraeg

Ymddiheuriadau, nid yw’r ddolen Gymraeg yn gweithio ar hyn o bryd.

I am currently a PhD student looking at the understandings of plurilingual competence, the development of plurilingual education and the recognition of plurilingual competence in the secondary school curriculum in Wales. My PhD is part of a 1 + 3 studentship funded by the Welsh Government and the ESRC Wales Doctoral Training Partnership. As part of this, in 2019 I completed an MSc in Social Science Research Methods with Distinction at Cardiff University. I have also received financial support from the British Council to carry out international fieldwork for my PhD. I am based in the School of Modern Languages and the School of Law and Politics at Cardiff University.

I completed a BA in Welsh and French with first class honours at Cardiff University in 2018. During my BA degree I completed a year abroad as a British Council English Language Assistant in a secondary school in Québec, Canada. I speak Welsh, English and French fluently. I have also attended beginners courses in Spanish and Irish.

ESRC Wales DTP profile: http://walesdtp.ac.uk/profile/arfon-elin/

Research interests

Ymddiheuriadau, nid yw’r ddolen Gymraeg yn gweithio ar hyn o bryd.

Plurilingual education: how do we understand, develop and recognise the plurilingual competence of secondary school students in Wales?

The purpose of my doctoral research is to explore the understandings of plurilingual competence, the development of plurilingual learning and teaching and the recognition of plurilingual competence through assessment and qualifications in the secondary school context in Wales. This research involves work with secondary school students, secondary school languages teachers and other language education stakeholders in Wales. This research supports the work of the Area of Learning and Experience: Languages, Literacy and Communication for the teaching of Welsh, English and International Languages in the new Curriculum for Wales 2022.

Research interest

Bilingual / Multilingual / Plurilingual education

Home and community languages

Education in Wales

Language assessment and testing

Language qualifications

Minority languages

Multilingual identities

Plurilingual and pluricultural competence

Second language acquisition

Welsh language

Current projects

Establishing and leading the UKALTA (UK Association for Language Testing and Assessment) PGR Network with Olena Rossi (Lancaster University) and Jane Lloyd (CRELLA). See website: https://ukalta.org/pgr-network/

Established and leading the Multilingualism Research Network at Cardiff University with Dr Jon Morris (School of Welsh), Kaisa Pankakoski (School of Welsh) and Eira Jepson (School of Modern Languages).
- List of previous webinars by the Multilingualism Research Network:
  - "Researching Multilingually" - Dr Judith Reynolds
  - Multilingualism in Education - Dr Siôn Jones https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GuEYZr4mT0
  - Multilingualism and SHAPE - Lucy Jenkins and Tallulah Llewellyn Machin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BW1qtvt5cPQ

Publications

Arfon, E. 2020. The curriculum for Wales' plurilingual journey: from policy to practice, Language Trends Wales 2020, British Council Wales. Available at: https://wales.britishcouncil.org/en/blog/curriculum-wales%E2%80%99-plurilingual-journey-policy-practice

Arfon, E. 2020. PhD in lockdown: my today-tomorrow thinking; my ever-changing research; and the Greenland Shark. Available at: https://blogs.cardiff.ac.uk/doctoral-academy-blog/phd-in-lockdown-my-today-tomorrow-thinking-my-ever-changing-research-and-the-greenland-shark/

Arfon, E. 2020. Llefrith neu laeth? Available at: https://www.ystamp.cymru/post/2020/06/23/ysgrif-llefrith-neu-laeth-elin-arfon

Arfon, E., Jepson, E, and Pankakoski, K. 2020. Multilingualism and multi-identities in Wales: a creative approach to research and practice conference report.

Arfon, E., Jepson, E, and Pankakoski, K. 2019. Multilingualism and multi-identities in Wales: a creative approach to research and practice conference blog. Available at: https://www.creativeml.ox.ac.uk/blog/exploring-multilingualism/bilingualism-multilingualism-promoting-language-learning-wales

Funding awarded

2021. Funding received by UKALTA (UK Association for Language Testing and Assessment) to establish the UKALTA PGR Network with two other doctoral colleagues. Co-leading the network with Olena Rossi (Lancaster University) and Jane Lloyd (CRELLA).

2019. 1k funding received to organise a conference with two doctoral colleagues at Cardiff University in 2019 by Creative Multilingualism (Creative Multilingualism is a multidisciplinary project funded by the AHRC under its Open World Research Initiative led by the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages at the University of Oxford). Conference title: Multilingualism and multi-identities in Wales: a creative approach to research and practice. Cardiff; Cardiff University, 6 November, 2019. See link to news item: https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/news/view/1739574-exploring-multilingualism-and-multi-identities-in-wales Conference organiser along with Eira Jepson and Kaisa Pankakoski.

Papers and presentations

Arfon, E. 2021. PhD gymnastics - researcher flexibility (paper). MLANG PGR meeting. Cardiff; School of Modern Languages, Cardiff University. Online. 23 April, 2021.

Arfon, E. and Jespon, E. 2021. Creative methods (paper). Global Language-based Area Studies: Short Methods Papers Online Workshop. Cardiff; Global Language-based Area Studies Research Theme at the School of Modern Languages, Cardiff University. Online, 24 March, 2021. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLwjCc3ZcDg&list=PLY0U-_Js-AQfs42CUiFnPC0TwsmxHnlEH&index=1

Arfon, E. 2021. The curriculum for Wales’ plurilingual journey: from learning and teaching to assessment? (paper). Multilingualism on My Mind (MoMM): Exploring Multilingualism in Education conference. Bergen, Norway; MoMM Research Group at the University of Bergen’s Department of Foreign Languages. Online, 18-19 March, 2021. Available at: https://osf.io/5vsmh/ See MoMM2021 page: https://osf.io/meetings/MoMM2021/

Arfon, E. 2021. Plurilingual education in Wales: where next? (poster presentation). ENROPE (European Network for Junior Researchers in the Field of Plurilingualism and Education) Online Study Phase #3. Siegen, Germany; Universität Siegen. Online, 15-16 March, 2021.

Arfon, E. and Jepson, E. 2020. Exploring our multilingual selves (interactive workshop). The Learned Society of Wales Through the Language Prism Conference. Online, 23-25 November, 2020. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toMlygRaQXY

Arfon, E, Jepson, E, and Pankakoski, K. 2020. Multilingualism and multi-identities in Wales: a creative approach to research and practice (presentation). Creative Multilingualism New Perspectives on Modern Language Research. Oxford; University of Oxford. 17 March, 2020. CANCELLED DUE TO COVID-19.

Arfon, E. 2019. Understanding plurilingual students’ linguistic identity and language learning: a case study of a school in South Wales (paper). PGR Modern Languages Research Group Southampton University. Southampton; Southampton University, 03 December, 2019.

Arfon, E. 2019. Understanding plurilingual students’ home and community language learning in school in Wales (paper). UK Association for Language Testing and Assessment: Language Testing Forum 2019. Swansea; Swansea University, 22-24 November, 2019. Available at: https://ukalta.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Elin-Arfon-2019-Plurilingual.pdf See UKALTA LTF 2019 page: https://ukalta.org/ltf-2019/

Arfon, E. 2018. Multilingual literacy in the bilingual classroom in schools in Wales (paper). ESRC Wales DTP Language-Based Area Studies in an Age of Uncertainty, Cardiff University. Cardiff; Cardiff University, 17 December, 2019.

Posters

Arfon, E. 2021. Plurilingual education in Wales: where next? ENROPE (European Network for Junior Researchers in the Field of Plurilingualism and Education) Online Study Phase #3. Siegen, Germany: Universität Siegen. Online, 15-16 March, 2021.

Arfon, E. 2019. Understanding plurilingual students’ linguistic identity at home and in school: a case study of a school in South Wales. Multilingualism and multi-identities in Wales: a creative approach to research and practice. Cardiff; Cardiff University, 06 November, 2019.

Arfon, E. 2018. Evaluating the effects of multilingual literacy learning in the bilingual context in Wales: a case study of practice. Welsh Government and the British Educational Research Association: the future of educational research in Wales. Cardiff, 14 November, 2018. Available at: https://www.bera.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/WG-Conferene-poster-submission-Elin-Arfon.pdf?noredirect=1

Videos

Arfon, E. 2020. Elin Arfon - Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) 2020. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXBAJWlTob4

Teaching

Cardiff University 2020/2021 - School of Modern Languages Seminar Tutor. Teaching on: UG Year 1 Introduction to Translation Methods (French); UG Year 1 Introduction to Translation Theory; UG Year 2 Business French.

Swansea University 2019/2020– French Tutor for UG Year 2 through the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol 2019/2020.

Cardiff University 2017-2019 - Welsh for All Tutor.

Thesis

Plurilingual education: how do we understand, develop and recognise the plurilingual competence of secondary school students in Wales?

Purpose

The purpose of this research is to explore the understandings of plurilingual competence, the development of plurilingual learning and teaching and the recognition of plurilingual competence through assessment and qualifications in the secondary school context in Wales. This research involves work with secondary school students, secondary school languages teachers and other language education stakeholders in Wales. This research supports the work of the Area of Learning and Experience: Languages, Literacy and Communication for the teaching of Welsh, English and International Languages in the new Curriculum for Wales 2022.

Main aims:

To understand more about secondary school students, secondary school languages teachers and language education stakeholders’ perspectives of plurilingual competence, and how such perspectives converge with and / or diverge from current literature in the field;

to explore how plurilingual learning and teaching could be developed across the secondary school curriculum in Wales;

to explore how plurilingual competence could be recognised through assessment and qualifications in the secondary school context in Wales.

Main objectives:

To allow for different perspectives and understandings of plurilingualism to be aired and discussed within the context of Wales education system in theory and practice;