Future directions for multilingualism, identity and interculturality in education

This volume has brought together research from a range of contexts in six countries and four continents. Each chapter explores notions of multilingualism, identity and interculturality. Yet as the chapters highlight, there are an array of approaches and ideologies underpinning this work, drawing on different traditions and underlying beliefs. We can see that the nuance in every context is essential as it leads to a different relationship between the intersecting elements of multilingualism, identity and interculturality. Most notably the intersection can be seen in the need to elaborate and expand the ways that all three elements are viewed and approached in teaching and learning. There is a need to diversify the meaning of all three terms, and to draw on de-essentialising work in each strand to further de-construct and individualise approaches to all three elements. Most notably there is a need to amplify voices and theorisation from locations and languages formerly not recognised within academic discourse. Teaching about interculturality has the potential to be a positive step in the support of all languages and identities. It can be more inclusively explored in classrooms by building interculturality upon a multilingual identity approach, using a broader and more inclusive conceptualisation of multilingualism and by amplifying identities which have been (and continue to be) suppressed in educational contexts. By considering how to do interculturality differently, we might begin to redress some of the inequities in relation to language, identity and interculturality, and to open up the conversation to a wider set of participants.