Main Article Content
Abstract
This article presents conceptual analysis of two multilingual MOOCs developed within the ILLS‑PEC project as a design intervention intended to reframe subject‑teacher education for plurilingual, refugee‑receiving classrooms. Anchored in Pluriliteracies Teaching for Deeper Learning (PTDL), multiliteracies and Fiction and Content Unified Learning (FACUL), it examines the course’s design principles, multilingual task architectures and emerging credentialing mechanisms. At the level of provision, the MOOCs are designed to address a gap in teacher education by reducing linguistic and infrastructural barriers to participation and offering certification of course completion to diverse groups of educators, including those with refugee backgrounds. Informed by participatory design involving stakeholders in partner countries, including input from refugee‑community representatives, the courses incorporate accessibility and equity considerations from the outset. Pedagogically, they seek to move beyond monolingual, transmission‑oriented models towards design‑oriented teaching practices that position learners’ full linguistic repertoires, affective experiences and multimodal resources as central to subject learning. At system level, the project is conceptualised asa mediating layer between policy aspirations and everyday practice, offering a potentially scalable model of equity‑oriented professional learning whose implementation and impact require future empirical evaluation of impact.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Barbara Muszyńska, Stephan-Alexander Ditze

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References
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- Byram, M. (2008). From foreign language education to education for intercultural citizenship: Essays and reflections. Multilingual Matters. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781847690807
- Calafato, R. (2020). Evaluating teacher multilingualism across contexts and multiple languages: validation and insights. Heliyon, 6(8), e04471. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e04471
- Cooc, N., & Kim, G. M. (2023). School inclusion of refugee students: Recent trends from international data. Educational Researcher, 52(4), 206-218. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X221149396
- Cope, B., & Kalantzis, M. (2015). The things you do to know: An introduction to the pedagogy of multiliteracies. In B. Cope & M. Kalantzis (Eds.), A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Learning by design (pp. 1-36). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137539724_1
- Council of Europe. (2022). Recommendation CM/Rec(2022)1 of the Committee of Ministers to member States on the importance of plurilingual and intercultural education for democratic culture. https://search.coe.int/cm?i=0900001680a563ca
- Coyle, D., & Meyer, O. (2021). Beyond CLIL: Pluriliteracies teaching for deeper learning. Cambridge University Press.
- Coyle, D., Meyer, O., & Staschen‑Dielmann, S. (Eds.). (2023). A deeper learning companion for CLIL: Putting pluriliteracies into practice. Cambridge University Press.
- Cummins, J., Hu, S., Markus, P., & Montero, M. K. (2015). Identity texts and academic achievement: Connecting the dots in multilingual school contexts. TESOL Quarterly, 49(3), 555-581. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.241
- Cummins, J., Owens, A. J., & García Gurrutxaga, M. L. (2022). Language and inclusion: Transforming the challenge of linguistic diversity into educational opportunities. Grand place: Pensamiento y cultura, 18, 115-134.
- Dalton Puffer, C. (2013). A construct of cognitive discourse functions for conceptualising content-language integration in CLIL and multilingual education. European Journal of Applied Linguistics, 1(2), 216-253. https://doi.org/10.1515/eujal-2013-0011
- Darling-Hammond, L., Burns, D., Campbell, C., Goodwin, A. L., Hammerness, K., Low, E.-L., McIntyre, A., Sato, M., & Zeichner, K. (2017). Empowered educators: How high-performing systems shape teaching quality around the world. Jossey-Bass.
- Dryden-Peterson, S. (2016). Refugee education in countries of first asylum: Breaking open the black box of pre-resettlement experiences. Theory and Research in Education, 14(2), 131-148. https://doi.org/10.1177/1477878515622703
- Escamilla, K., Hopewell, S., Butvilofsky, S., Sparrow, W., Soltero-González, L., & Escamilla, M. (2014). Biliteracy from the start: Literacy Squared in action. Caslon.
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- García, O., & Lin, A. M. Y. (2017). Translanguaging in bilingual education. In García, O. Lin, A. M. Y. & May, S. (Eds.), Bilingual and multilingual education (3rd ed., pp. 117-130). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02258-1_9
- García, O., & Wei, L. (2014). Translanguaging: Language, bilingualism and education. Palgrave Macmillan.
- Gee, J. P. (1996). Social linguistics and literacies: Ideology in discourses (2nd ed.). Taylor & Francis.
- Hollands, F. M., & Tirthali, D. (2014). MOOCs: Expectations and reality. Full report. Columbia University, Teachers College, Center for Benefit-Cost Studies of Education. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED547237.pdf
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- Hornberger, N. H., & Kvietok Dueñas, F. (2019). Mapping biliteracy teaching in Indigenous contexts: From student shyness to student voice. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 50(1), 6-25. https://doi.org/10.1111/aeq.12276
- Huertas-Abril, C., & Muszyńska, B. (2022). Learning design preferences in LMOOCs: An international comparative study. International Journal of Computer-Assisted Language Learning and Teaching (IJCALLT), 12(1), 1-17. http://doi.org/10.4018/IJCALLT.291106
- Iniesto, F., & Rodrigo, C. (2024). Understanding accessibility in MOOCs: Findings and recommendations for future designs. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 1, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.5334/jime.897
- Lambert, S. R. (2020). Do MOOCs contribute to student equity and social inclusion? A systematic review 2014-18. Computers & Education, 145, 103693. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2019.103693
- Laurillard, D. (2016). The educational problem that MOOCs could solve: Professional development for teachers of disadvantaged students. Research in Learning Technology, 24, Article 29369. https://doi.org/10.3402/rlt.v24.29369
- Muszyńska, B. (2024). Edukacja dwujęzyczna przez projektowanie. Multialfabetyzacja przedmiotowo-językowa [Bilingual education by design: Content and language multiliteracies]. Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.
- Muszyńska, B., Stewart, M. A. (2026). When language and literacy touch our hearts: Implications for refugee education from a biliteracy stance. Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 25(4), 1172-1189. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2025.2467194
- New London Group. (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review, 66(1), 60-92. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.66.1.17370n67v22j160u
- OECD. (2020). Education at a glance 2020: OECD indicators. OECD Publishing.
- Roth, P. (2010). Nemesis. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
- Stewart, M. A., & Muszyńska, B. (2025). Supporting a Polish teacher of newcomer students: Innovative and contextual literacy instruction for second language acquisition. Reading Research Quarterly, 60(3), e70011. https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.70011
- Stewart, M. A., & Muszyńska, B. (2023). Teaching ideas for biliteracy: Leveraging students’ languages and lives. Forum Oświatowe, 36(2), 77-95. https://doi.org/10.34862/fo.2023.2.4
- Street, B. (1995). Social literacies: Critical approaches to literacy development, ethnography, and education. Taylor & Francis.
- Štremfel, U. (2024). Policies supporting teachers’ social and emotional competencies, and diversity awareness on the European Union level. In U. Štremfel (Ed.), Empowering teachers across Europe to deal with social, emotional and diversity-related challenges. Policy perspectives (pp. 37-53). Waxmann.
- Ting, T., Rieder-Marschallinger S., & Dalton-Puffer, C. (Eds.). (2024). Overview of curricular demands of disciplinary literacies: An exploratory survey and report by CLILNetLE Working Group 3 Deliverable 7. https://doi.org/10.25365/phaidra.532_20
- UNESCO. (2017, February 17). Mother tongue-based multilingual education: The key to unlocking SDG 4: quality Education for All. UNESCO. https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/mother-tongue-based-multilingual-education-key-unlocking-sdg-4-quality-education-all
- UNHCR. (2024). Refugee education: Five years on from the launch of the 2030 refugee education strategy (UNHCR Education Report 2024). United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. https://www.unhcr.org/media/unhcr-education-report-2024-refugee-education-five-years-launch-2030-refugee-education
- Walji, S., Deacon, A., Small, J., & Czerniewicz, L. (2018). Learning through engagement: MOOCs as an emergent form of provision. University of Cape Town, Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching.
References
Bergroth, M., Llompart, J., Pepiot, N., van der Worp, K., Dražnik, T., & Sierens, S. (2022). Identifying space for mainstreaming multilingual pedagogies in European initial teacher education policies. European Educational Research Journal, 21(5), 801-821. https://doi.org/10.1177/14749041211012500
Byram, M. (2008). From foreign language education to education for intercultural citizenship: Essays and reflections. Multilingual Matters. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781847690807
Calafato, R. (2020). Evaluating teacher multilingualism across contexts and multiple languages: validation and insights. Heliyon, 6(8), e04471. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e04471
Cooc, N., & Kim, G. M. (2023). School inclusion of refugee students: Recent trends from international data. Educational Researcher, 52(4), 206-218. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X221149396
Cope, B., & Kalantzis, M. (2015). The things you do to know: An introduction to the pedagogy of multiliteracies. In B. Cope & M. Kalantzis (Eds.), A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Learning by design (pp. 1-36). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137539724_1
Council of Europe. (2022). Recommendation CM/Rec(2022)1 of the Committee of Ministers to member States on the importance of plurilingual and intercultural education for democratic culture. https://search.coe.int/cm?i=0900001680a563ca
Coyle, D., & Meyer, O. (2021). Beyond CLIL: Pluriliteracies teaching for deeper learning. Cambridge University Press.
Coyle, D., Meyer, O., & Staschen‑Dielmann, S. (Eds.). (2023). A deeper learning companion for CLIL: Putting pluriliteracies into practice. Cambridge University Press.
Cummins, J., Hu, S., Markus, P., & Montero, M. K. (2015). Identity texts and academic achievement: Connecting the dots in multilingual school contexts. TESOL Quarterly, 49(3), 555-581. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.241
Cummins, J., Owens, A. J., & García Gurrutxaga, M. L. (2022). Language and inclusion: Transforming the challenge of linguistic diversity into educational opportunities. Grand place: Pensamiento y cultura, 18, 115-134.
Dalton Puffer, C. (2013). A construct of cognitive discourse functions for conceptualising content-language integration in CLIL and multilingual education. European Journal of Applied Linguistics, 1(2), 216-253. https://doi.org/10.1515/eujal-2013-0011
Darling-Hammond, L., Burns, D., Campbell, C., Goodwin, A. L., Hammerness, K., Low, E.-L., McIntyre, A., Sato, M., & Zeichner, K. (2017). Empowered educators: How high-performing systems shape teaching quality around the world. Jossey-Bass.
Dryden-Peterson, S. (2016). Refugee education in countries of first asylum: Breaking open the black box of pre-resettlement experiences. Theory and Research in Education, 14(2), 131-148. https://doi.org/10.1177/1477878515622703
Escamilla, K., Hopewell, S., Butvilofsky, S., Sparrow, W., Soltero-González, L., & Escamilla, M. (2014). Biliteracy from the start: Literacy Squared in action. Caslon.
European Education and Culture Executive Agency, & Eurydice. (2023). Key data on teaching languages at school in Europe – 2023 edition. Publications Office of the European Union. https://eurydice.ba/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Key-data-on-teaching-languages-at-school-in-Europe.pdf
García, O., & Lin, A. M. Y. (2017). Translanguaging in bilingual education. In García, O. Lin, A. M. Y. & May, S. (Eds.), Bilingual and multilingual education (3rd ed., pp. 117-130). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02258-1_9
García, O., & Wei, L. (2014). Translanguaging: Language, bilingualism and education. Palgrave Macmillan.
Gee, J. P. (1996). Social linguistics and literacies: Ideology in discourses (2nd ed.). Taylor & Francis.
Hollands, F. M., & Tirthali, D. (2014). MOOCs: Expectations and reality. Full report. Columbia University, Teachers College, Center for Benefit-Cost Studies of Education. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED547237.pdf
Hornberger, N. H. (Ed.). (2003). Continua of biliteracy: An ecological framework for educational policy, research, and practice in multilingual settings. Multilingual Matters.
Hornberger, N. H., & Kvietok Dueñas, F. (2019). Mapping biliteracy teaching in Indigenous contexts: From student shyness to student voice. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 50(1), 6-25. https://doi.org/10.1111/aeq.12276
Huertas-Abril, C., & Muszyńska, B. (2022). Learning design preferences in LMOOCs: An international comparative study. International Journal of Computer-Assisted Language Learning and Teaching (IJCALLT), 12(1), 1-17. http://doi.org/10.4018/IJCALLT.291106
Iniesto, F., & Rodrigo, C. (2024). Understanding accessibility in MOOCs: Findings and recommendations for future designs. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 1, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.5334/jime.897
Lambert, S. R. (2020). Do MOOCs contribute to student equity and social inclusion? A systematic review 2014-18. Computers & Education, 145, 103693. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2019.103693
Laurillard, D. (2016). The educational problem that MOOCs could solve: Professional development for teachers of disadvantaged students. Research in Learning Technology, 24, Article 29369. https://doi.org/10.3402/rlt.v24.29369
Muszyńska, B. (2024). Edukacja dwujęzyczna przez projektowanie. Multialfabetyzacja przedmiotowo-językowa [Bilingual education by design: Content and language multiliteracies]. Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.
Muszyńska, B., Stewart, M. A. (2026). When language and literacy touch our hearts: Implications for refugee education from a biliteracy stance. Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 25(4), 1172-1189. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2025.2467194
New London Group. (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review, 66(1), 60-92. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.66.1.17370n67v22j160u
OECD. (2020). Education at a glance 2020: OECD indicators. OECD Publishing.
Roth, P. (2010). Nemesis. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Stewart, M. A., & Muszyńska, B. (2025). Supporting a Polish teacher of newcomer students: Innovative and contextual literacy instruction for second language acquisition. Reading Research Quarterly, 60(3), e70011. https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.70011
Stewart, M. A., & Muszyńska, B. (2023). Teaching ideas for biliteracy: Leveraging students’ languages and lives. Forum Oświatowe, 36(2), 77-95. https://doi.org/10.34862/fo.2023.2.4
Street, B. (1995). Social literacies: Critical approaches to literacy development, ethnography, and education. Taylor & Francis.
Štremfel, U. (2024). Policies supporting teachers’ social and emotional competencies, and diversity awareness on the European Union level. In U. Štremfel (Ed.), Empowering teachers across Europe to deal with social, emotional and diversity-related challenges. Policy perspectives (pp. 37-53). Waxmann.
Ting, T., Rieder-Marschallinger S., & Dalton-Puffer, C. (Eds.). (2024). Overview of curricular demands of disciplinary literacies: An exploratory survey and report by CLILNetLE Working Group 3 Deliverable 7. https://doi.org/10.25365/phaidra.532_20
UNESCO. (2017, February 17). Mother tongue-based multilingual education: The key to unlocking SDG 4: quality Education for All. UNESCO. https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/mother-tongue-based-multilingual-education-key-unlocking-sdg-4-quality-education-all
UNHCR. (2024). Refugee education: Five years on from the launch of the 2030 refugee education strategy (UNHCR Education Report 2024). United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. https://www.unhcr.org/media/unhcr-education-report-2024-refugee-education-five-years-launch-2030-refugee-education
Walji, S., Deacon, A., Small, J., & Czerniewicz, L. (2018). Learning through engagement: MOOCs as an emergent form of provision. University of Cape Town, Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching.