Abstract:

Multilingualism and multiculturalism are the main attributes describing the Educational System in the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia (UTAG), region of Moldova. The autonomy of this region implies, among others, three official languages: Romanian (the state language in the Republic of Moldova), Gagauz (the native language of the majority population) and, last but not least, Russian (still maintaining its status of lingua franca). As a direct consequence of this state of facts, UTAG witnesses a multilingual educational environment as follows: the language of tuition is Russian, while Gagauz and Romanian are less privileged, rather having the status of second or third language, not to mention that, starting from the 2nd grade, students learn foreign languages, as well (English, French, Spanish, Italian or German). They even have national exams testing language skills in Romanian, Gagauz, Russian (at the end of 4th grade, 9th grade and 12th grade) and foreign language (12th grade). The paradox here is that, most often than not, this multilingualism becomes burdensome and students cease to show interest in learning any other language beside Russian. Therefore, considering our experience of previous educational projects carried out in UTAG, the purpose of the present paper is to identify solutions and teaching strategies to overcome these barriers in learning, in order to help them turn their multicultural burden into a privilege.

Keywords:

Multilingualism, multiculturalism, learning barriers.