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.

PhD project

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

The purpose of this research is to explore the understandings of plurilingual competence, the development of plurilingual education and the recognition of plurilingual competence in the secondary school curriculum in Wales. This research will work with students, school practitioners and other (language) education stakeholders in Wales.This research will support 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 interests

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

Publications

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

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

Funding awarded

Funding awarded 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). Conferece 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

Arfon, E. 2019. Understanding plurilingual students’ linguistic identity and language learning: a case study of a school in South Wales. 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. 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. ESRC Wales DTP Language-Based Area Studies in an Age of Uncertainty, Cardiff University. Cardiff; Cardiff University, 17 December, 2019.

Posters

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