Abstract:

Pedagogical innovation is at the centre of higher education (HE) priorities, with a view to renewing its practices and thus motivating students and providing experiences in line with their professional context. Improvement in foreign languages (FL), especially with students who are not likely to receive further language training, requires awareness of this query, inasmuch as competences in FL in the work environment are unanimously recognized as vital and so rightly included in the training plans. The project-based learning approach in an interdisciplinary and collaborative work perspective, using multimodality in communication, is a consistent asset that allows for work to be carried out, comprising the various dimensions of language in French and English, in their connections with cognitive representations. JASM (Open window onto the world: foreign languages, multimodal creativity and pedagogical innovation in higher education) project aims to develop an experience of active pedagogy at the School of Education of Viseu with students of the 1st cycle in Media Studies enrolled in the various FL curricular units. Among the subjects of the study plan, students work on photography, digital art and cultural communication. The students start off by collecting information on the cultural and linguistic diversity of the city of Viseu (Beira Alta, Portugal). The project enhances the acquisition of multilingual skills and the development of plurilingual awareness, due to attention given to the various dimensions of language (aesthetic and emotional, in addition to cognitive), in a creative, collaborative and interdisciplinary work environment. Based on an interview, students write the story (in the two FL) of the life of migrants. Through captioned photographs, in French and English, students highlight the aspect of the migrant family’s life path which stands out more. Based on an object (associated with a cult practised by the family or a tradition or ritual), students create an animated film, also in both languages (exploration of material culture and digital scenography). The outcome of such productions will be the subject of publications on social networks, exhibitions, also being displayed at events and in an e-book. In this project, the topic of interdisciplinarity is highlighted, combining FL with digital art. The evolution, both of the student's learning and of the teacher's role in the whole process, is evaluated, using tests carried out at the beginning and at the end of the project, including monitoring in the middle of the project’s development.

Keywords:

Pedagogical innovation, higher education, project-based learning approach, foreign languages and linguistic and cultural diversity, multilingual and multimodal.