Rendezvous with students’ and teacher’s linguistic repertoires in two Icelandic as a second language university summer courses during COVID-19: Teacher’s reflections

This article examines teacher’s reflections on teaching Icelandic as a second language (L2) at a university summer course. The research questions of this inquiry are: How can the teacher utilize their linguistic repertoire to teach L2 in diverse groups of adult language learners? How can these diverse groups of adult language learners utilize their linguistic repertoires to learn L2 Icelandic and fulfill the requirements of the summer course? Findings indicate that the teacher’s and students’ linguistic repertoires are indeed utilized in multiple ways, i.e., for information flow, explanations and understanding of grammar, and understanding of tasks. Students who were the only speakers of their languages could not rely on linguistic resources shared with others yet even they could utilize their mother tongues (L1) and linguistic repertoires for learning. Plurilingual approaches in L2 teaching can be empowering for language learners and the teacher, and they can support L2 learning in multiple ways.