In applied linguistics, multilingualism has become an established—and largely uncontested—ideal. Concepts such as translanguaging, linguistic repertoires, and challenges to monolingual norms are now widely discussed in scholarship and policy.

In the second blog entry for the Multilingual Stance series, Marianne Turner from Monash University and Ester de Jong from the University of Colorado, Denver discuss the benefits of thinking about multilingual stance as a continuum, rather than in opposition to a monolingual stance.

In today’s increasingly unquiet, unstable and interconnected world, it is more vital than ever to engage productively with difference. There has been a great deal of scholarship on harnessing the language resources that multilingual learners bring with them to school, and we know this to be beneficial for these students. However, we also know that the devil is in the detail when it comes to bringing these ideas into the classroom.

As a bilingual teacher, researcher, and mother, I have long been involved in children’s language education, both in theory and in practice. Over the past decade, I have worked with children aged six weeks to eight years. Since 2019, my research has focused on bilingual programs in early childhood education. In 2025, with the birth of my daughter, this professional interest became deeply personal as I began raising a child in three languages: Chinese, English, and Greek.

Recently, Dr. Mobina Sahraee Juybari spoke with A/Prof. Julie Choi (ARTP Lab leader), Dr. Raf Cleeve Gerkens, Dr. Shu Ohki, and PhD candidate Melissa Slamet. The discussion offered insights into how plurilingual, arts-informed, and holistic approaches can come together to support learners across educational contexts.

When I first joined an English bridging program as a teacher in Australia, I quickly learnt the unwritten rule: real learning happens in English. Even a stray browser tab showing Chinese text could raise eyebrows. I knew this because a coordinator reminded me that Chinese text should not appear in a classroom computer's browser history. I am Chinese-born and raised, and I felt like an imposter, as if my Chinese-ness was a liability that needed to be carefully managed.