Ana Aldekoa University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) Gure Ikastola en Tres Languages*: The Teaching and Learning of Trilingual Oral Expository Skills by Means of a Didactic Sequence** A b s t r a c t The aim of this paper is to analyze the development of trilingual oral expository skills in sixteen-year-old students of Spanish (L1), Basque (L2), and English (L3) in the framework of a trilingual didactic sequence. Initial and final oral expository texts produced at the begin- ning and at the end of a didactic sequence by trilingual students constitute the empirical data of this study. We followed text genre-based criteria in order to analyze students’ trilingual productions (Dolz & Schneuwly, 2016). Results show that students improved their oral expository texts to different extents: among the aspects that showed a greater improvement, we can name: explicit mention of core ele- ments at the introductory section in Basque, more consistent use of topic introducers regard- less of the language and more regular use in English of resources to clarify those concepts whose meaning could be difficult to grasp for foreign students. Among those aspects where improvement is notably poor, we could mention that students hardly ever addressed the audi- ence in English and thus failed to catch their interest; also, the production of target-deviant past tense verb forms in English remains quite problematic. We conclude that well-defined language alternation and integration, which in our case occur both in students’ productions and in the classroom activities, lead, overall, to the de- velopment of the three languages. We will further argue that this kind of language alterna- tion and integration fosters interlinguistic transfer, resulting in the development of students’ multilingual competence (Cummins, 2008). Keywords: Basque, English, Spanish, trilingual oral expository skills, trilingual didactic se- quence, language alternation and integration, interlinguistic transfer, multilingual competence Theory and Practice of Second Language Acquisition vol. 4 (2), 2018, pp. 73–92 * We called the didactic sequence Gure Ikastola en tres languages, which is a name made up of different words from the three languages that constitute the didactic sequence, and means “Our school in three languages.” ** Beneficiary of a pre-doctoral grant from the Basque Government (Pre-doctoral Pro- gramme to train the researchers who are not doctors 2015–2016). This paper has been supported by the project IT983-16 /HIJE-2 from the Basque Government. Ana Aldekoa74 Introduction Multilingualism is an undeniable reality nowadays and there is no state in Europe in whose territory there is only one living language (Idiazabal, 2011). García-Azkoaga and Idiazabal (2015) state that what is natural is plurilingual- ism. Even if the ubiquity of multilingualism is considered a reality, in the last years, the fact that languages are taught from an often too monolingual per- spective has been criticized (Cummins, 2008), standing up for the adoption of a more multilingual approach to language teaching. For example, Leonet et al. (2017) report on a study in which students learn compounds in Basque, English, and Spanish by comparing the three languages. This integration of more than one language in the classroom, however, cannot assume just any form but has to be handled taking into account the specific sociolinguistic characteristics of each context (Cenoz & Gorter, 2017). This is especially relevant in a context in which a majority and a minority and minoritized language coexist and the use of the minority language has to be promoted. The aim of this paper is to study the acquisition of Basque, English, and Spanish oral expository skills by making a comparison between the initial and final texts of a didactic sequence. In fact, in this paper we introduce a didactic sequence based on the alternation of languages and on the interlinguistic trans- fer principle, and present some of its outcomes. In the first section the project is contextualized: we talk about the multilingual Basque Educational System and we also give some theoretical background information. The second section focuses on the didactic sequence that was implemented, called Gure Ikastola en tres languages, and gives details about the participants, the activities involved (from now on we will refer to this as the modules of the didactic sequence) and the analysis procedure we used to examine the data. The Findings Section shows the results that we have come up with, giving examples and commenting on them. In the Conclusions, we draw some conclusions from the experimenta- tion of the trilingual didactic sequence. Multilingual Basque Educational System This project takes place in the Basque Autonomous Community, where both Basque and Spanish have an official status and, according to the Basque curriculum (Basque Government, 2015), students need to attain a B2 level in those languages by the end of Secondary Education. English is included as the first and main foreign language, and students must achieve a B1 level by the end of Secondary Education. The promotion of multilingualism including a minority language (Basque in this case) is a major specificity of the Basque Gure Ikastola en Tres Languages… 75 educational system (Cenoz, 2009; Idiazabal et al., 2015). In the Basque edu- cational system, parents can choose among three different models: A, where the language of instruction is Spanish, except for language lessons; B, where some subjects are taught through Spanish and others through Basque; D, where the language of instruction is Basque except for language lessons. English is also used in those three models as the language of instruction for some non- linguistic subjects. Our students, who are in fourth grade of secondary school, on a weekly basis, take three hours of English language arts classes, two hours of Science in English, and also part of Technology subject. For students who choose the scientific-technological specialty, Robotics is also taught through the medium of English. Integrated Didactics of Languages The Integrated Didactics of Languages is highlighted as a relevant approach for multilingual education both in the Basque and European contexts (Basque Government, 2015; 2016; Candelier et al., 2010). The integrated didactics pro- posal states that the plurilingual communicative competence requires that the learning of all the languages of the curriculum is planned in a coordinated way. This planning is based on the same theoretical and methodological principles so that, according to the linguistic transfer principle (Cummins, 1979), crosslin- guistic transfer can occur (Ortega & Anakabe, 2015). The Integrated Didactics of Languages is based on the communicative approach to language teaching, among which the text-genre-based approach has been considered relevant (Larringan, 2009), and it takes texts as empiric forms of the use of language. Text-genres constitute historically constructed models to use the languages and allow for stabilization of formal elements (Artemeva & Freedman, 2015). The text-genre-based teaching can be found in legal documents regarding educa- tion in the Basque Country and also in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Since the didactic sequence introduced in this paper is about the alternation of languages, it raises the controversial question of whether or not languages should be taught and learnt separately or whether or not an alternation of lan- guages or adopting a translanguaging approach to language teaching is more desirable, seeing that it brings more positive effects to the learning process (Cummins, 2008; Cenoz & Gorter, 2017). As we all may be familiar with, there has been a long tradition in separating languages in language teaching. In fact, at school there is a distinct space, time, teacher and content for each language and, apart from that, there is a tendency to correct students when- ever they switch between languages, which shows that purism is regarded of utmost importance in language teaching. Among the arguments for separat- Ana Aldekoa76 ing languages in educational contexts such as in immersion programs is the protection of minority languages. In sociolinguistic contexts where a minority language exists, there is, as Baker (2017) claims, fear that students will choose the majority language over the minority language. The arguments that, on the other hand, support the alternation of languages and translanguaging are the following, taking these latter approaches, languages would benefit from each other and that these approaches respond better to today’s social exigencies. It is quite clear so far that languages can no longer be treated as isolated entities not being influenced in any way from the acquisition process of another given language and, therefore, it needs to be considered that they should be learnt in interaction because what is acquired in one language cannot be suppressed in the acquisition of another one. It is true, however, that integrating different languages requires certain criteria and, accordingly, cannot be implemented in any way. In fact, for example, there is a certain reaction against using translanguaging in the context of a minority language, and Cenoz and Gorter (2017, p. 910) claim that “the celebration of translanguaging without taking into consideration the specific characteristics of the socio-linguistic context can have a negative effect on regional minority languages.” Having said that, we argue that the alternation of languages has to be precise, in order to be controlled and avoid the overuse of the majority language. Taking the integration of languages to the precise context where the didac- tic sequence is carried out, the Basque educational system assumes a general level of coordination as far as non-linguistic contents are concerned, since the non-linguistic contents achieved through Basque are not repeated in Spanish. However, the didactic materials of Basque, Spanish, and English based on a coordinated perspective are scarce (Apraiz et al., 2012): in some cases, we find explicit interlinguistic references between the different languages (Aldekoa, in prep.); in other cases, coordination is limited to working on a different text genre in each language (Manterola, Almgren, & Díaz de Gereñu, in prep.). Gure Ikastola en Tres Languages: A Trilingual Didactic Sequence The two main research questions addressed in this project are the following: • Is the trilingual didactic sequence outlined in this project effective in pro- moting an improvement of the oral expository skills in the three different languages? Gure Ikastola en Tres Languages… 77 • Do the language alternation and interlinguistic transfer carried out in this project contribute to the improvement of oral expository skills in the three different languages? In this paper we will mainly focus on the development from the initial to the final text of the skills of the experimental group, who did complete the modules, but it does not fall within the scope of this paper to look at the results that the group of subjects who did not complete the modules of the didactic sequence obtained. Participants and Task The participants of our study are students of fourth grade of Secondary Education of a D model school in Bilbao, where English is introduced at the age of three. In total, 21 students constitute the experimental group of our study (nine boys and 12 girls), divided into seven groups of three students each. The students, who have an autochthonous background, are mainly L1 Spanish speak- ers, some are two L1 Basque/Spanish speakers and there are only a few L1 Basque speakers. Very often the use of Basque is limited to the school context and Spanish is predominant in the relationships outside the school, and, in their spare time, they usually conduct their activities in Spanish or, to a lesser extent, English and Basque. Concerning the sociolinguistic background of Bilbao, it can be said that the use of Basque in Bilbao has decreased in the last fifteen years (1989–2016); in Bilbao other languages—Spanish, French or others—are used more than Basque (Spanish 93.6%; French 0.3%; other languages 3.5%; Basque 2.5%) (Soziolinguistika Klusterra, 2016). “A didactic sequence can be defined as a set of teaching periods (or “les- sons”), grouped together in time and systematically organized around a lin­ guistic activity built in an explicit classroom activity, and articulated around a shared and homogeneous learning purpose” (Idiazabal & Dolz, 2013, p. 40, my translation). According to Idiazabal and Dolz (2013), the aim of didactic sequences is for the students to master texts that are placed in social context, and not the ones that are often produced for pedagogic purposes, which means that a selection of real model texts has to be made (Figure 1). In our study, we designed a didactic sequence within which students, in groups of three, were required to produce an oral expository text as the initial text (Gure ikastola en tres languages). “An oral expository text is a formal text genre, whose main aim is the transmission of expertise or knowledge” (García-Azkoaga, 2007, p. 182, my translation). Students had to combine three languages (Basque, English, and Spanish) in their texts. Multilingual expository texts are common social prac- tices, that is, in public conference contexts (Cenoz & Gorter, 2017). The text was Ana Aldekoa78 Figure 1. (Dolz, Noverraz, & Schneuwly, 2001, p. 7) fictionally addressed to students from an Irish High School (exchange-program students) and to our students’ parents. Students were provided with a planning model that contained the contents to be explained and the language to use for each of them, and their oral productions were videotaped and transcribed. In the oral expositions, students essentially had to mention their linguistic biog- raphy, one of the following three topics, depending on the speaker: the general characteristic, the projects or the history of the school, and finally, the most interesting aspect or what should be improved at school. It must be remarked that the instructions to produce the final text were modified in the sense that, in the final text, the use of a PowerPoint presentation was introduced where a summary of what was said in Basque or Spanish was included, so that it was also understood by Irish students. Analysis Criteria of the Initial and Final Texts After producing and transcribing the initial texts of the didactic sequence, some analysis criteria were specified. The analysis criteria for the trilingual texts were established based on Bronckart’s (1997) text architecture model and other works about expository texts, which include the works of J. Dolz, and B. Schneuwly (1998), J. Dolz, R. Gagnon, S. Mosquera, and V. Sánchez (2013); Battaner et al. (1997). Following Bronckart’s text architecture model (Figure 2), three categories were defined, namely, the planning, the adaptation to the com- municative situation and the textuality. In the planning category, a subcategory was included, which had to do with the introductory section, which students produced in Basque, and here we looked at whether the objective of the text was mentioned at the beginning of the oral presentation, an initial contact with the audience was established, the listeners’ attention was caught and the project was Gure Ikastola en Tres Languages… 79 presented. In the adaptation to the communicative situation, three subcategories were included, and the first one we looked at was whether the introductory and final sections were presented on behalf of the group in Basque. The second one had to do with the target audience, whether the words whose meaning might be difficult to grasp for Irish students were explained and whether the target audience was addressed in the text, and if yes, then by which linguistic means, all of it in English. The last subsection was whether the invitation to take part in the forum was addressed correctly in Basque. In the textuality category, two subcategories were included. The first one had to do with connection among different segments; whether topic introducers were used in Basque, English, and Spanish; whether a text organizer that announces the end of the oral exposition was included in English; whereas the second one—whether verb forms were consistently employed to refer to the past when talking about the history of the school and the students’ linguistic biography in English. Bronckart, 1997 Analysis Criteria 1. Planning 1. The introduction in Basque: is the objective of the text mentioned at the beginning of the presentation? Is an initial contact with the audience established? Is the listeners’ attention caught? Is the project presented? 2. Adaptation to the communicative situation 2. Are the introductory and final sections presented on behalf of the group? 3. The target audience: are the words whose meaning may be dif- ficult to grasp for Irish students explained? Is the target audience addressed in the text? By which linguistic means? 4. Is the invitation to take part in the forum addressed correctly? 3. Textutality 5. Connection among the different segments: are topic introducers and a final marker used? 6. Are verb forms consistently employed to refer to the past when talking about the history of the school and the students’ linguistic biography? Figure 2. Bronckart’s architecture model Then, we analyzed those initial texts, so that we could design the trilingual modules that would help the students overcome the most prominent difficulties that they had encountered in the initial texts. The modules were designed ac- cording to the interlinguistic transfer principle (Cummins, 2008), so the aspects to be improved have not been worked on in every single language (Basque, English, and Spanish), even in those cases in which we wanted them to improve in more than one language. Ana Aldekoa80 Aims of the Modules of the Trilingual Didactic Sequence After the production of the initial texts, students received instruction in order to improve their oral expository texts. The skills worked on in the didactic sequence were divided into three different modules, each one of them targeting a specific aspect of the oral expository text. The aim of the first module was “Giving a sense of entirety to the oral exposition.” In this first module students were taught to contextualize the oral exposi- tion at the introductory section in Basque, because that is the language students were asked to use at the introductory section. So they learnt how to mention the project within which the oral exposition took place, to outline the aim of the oral exposition and to set an initial contact with the audience in Basque, attracting their attention. Apart from learning how to contextualize the oral exposition, they also learnt to talk on behalf of the group at the introductory and final sections in Basque. The third and last learning they acquired in this first module was using topic introducers to connect the different segments in Basque, English, and Spanish. With regards to the topic introducers, they learnt two different forms of topic introducers: the first type were topic introducers such as concerning, regarding or with reference to, that is, short phrases to let the audience know what the next topic will be. The second type of topic introducers were more complex, such as Now I’m going to talk to you a bit about the history. Within the acquisition of this second type of topic introducers students were taught to do three different things. First, in Basque and Spanish they were asked to use other verbs rather than the common ones such as esan, azaldu, zerbaiti buruz hitz egin; decir, explicar, hablar sobre algo (“say,” “tell” or “talk about something”) and in English the verbs “tell,” “talk,” and “explain” were the ones that were taught, since the Basque curriculum Heziberri 2020 states that students must attain a higher level of competence in their L1 and L2, that is, in Basque and Spanish, than in their L3 English. Leaving the verbs aside, in the topic introducers section they also learnt how to modalize in order to somehow “justify” the little amount of information they were providing their audience with, because if, say, they were asked to talk about the history of the school, it is clear that some historical facts would be skipped, so modalizers were another teaching topic but only with regards to the amount of information they were giving (i.e., “I’m going to talk to you a bit about”; “I’m going to slightly explain to you…”). The third and last aspect that was taught within the topic introducers was to make reference to the audience. Since we witnessed that when they made reference to the audience in English the reference to the audience was sometimes incorrect (they said things like “*talk you,” “*explain you,” “tell” without object), they were also taught to refer to the audience cor- rectly. Not only did they have to use topic introducers just before mentioning the Gure Ikastola en Tres Languages… 81 main topic of the oral exposition (the history of the school, the characteristics or the projects), but also when letting the audience know that the exposition was about to finish. The aim of the second module was “Taking the audience into account.” This module had to do with interculturality. We need to bear in mind that the speakers and a part of the audience (the Irish students) belong to two differ- ent cultures and, thus, have different social and cultural references. This can clearly be seen in the initial texts when they mention Basque culture-specific terms that have to do mainly with both Basque culture and education system (DBH—secondary education, ikastola—school, euskalki—dialect of Basque, batuera—the name of the standardized form of Basque, etc.). Students were taught to make sure that the Irish students understood what they were talking about, using the phrase which/who + to be in English. Also within this second module, students were taught how to catch the listeners’ attention in a particular way in English: after spotting a word whose meaning could be difficult to grasp for the Irish students, they had to define it using the phrase just mentioned, then if the word could lead to a comparison between the Basque and the Irish soci- ety, students were expected to raise a question and tell the Irish students how interested they were in knowing more about it (We study in bizkaiera, which is the dialect spoken in the largest part of Biscay. Do you too have dialects in Ireland? You’ll tell us when you come here/ We would really like to know about that). Lastly, students were taught to address correctly the invitation to take part in the forum (specify how to take part and do it tactfully) in Basque. The aim of the third module was “Telling correctly the events in the past” and here students were taught how to use correctly in English the verbs to make reference to the past, that is, to consistently use the past verb forms to refer to the past. Didactic sequence based on the alternation of languages and the inter- linguistic transfer. As we can see, this is a didactic sequence based on the alternation of languages and interlinguistic transfer. There are three dimensions of alternation in it. The first dimension of alternation regards the fact that the target text itself proposed in this project alternates Basque, English, and Spanish. Here the alternation remains at a textual level. The second dimension concerns the fact that the modules implemented in this project are also trilingual because they combine the three languages, but the combination here does not yet happen at the exercise level. In this second dimension we would include the forms they have produced in, say, Basque in the initial text, have been worked through in Basque in the modules and have been produced in Basque again in the final text, and the same with each language. The last dimension regards alternation within the exercises of an individual module, that is, the use of more than one language within the same exercise. Ana Aldekoa82 As we have previously seen in the explanation of the aims of the didactic sequence, the way language alternation occurs in this project has been the outcome of a thoroughly thought-through process and it serves the purpose of giving each language the exposure that this specific sociolinguistic context requires (Idiazabal et al., 2015). That is why Basque is the most widely used language, because this didactic sequence is held in an immersion model and because Basque is a minority language in this certain sociolinguistic context. English is the second most widely used language, in the Basque country, be- cause it is the main foreign language and students have little exposure to the language outside school. Lastly, Spanish is the least used language, because it is their L1 and students already have adequate exposure and motivation to learn the language (Cummins, 1979). The modules work with the three languages jointly and, as a working strategy, at certain times interlinguistic transfer is fostered, more specifically, within the exercises of the modules. It occurs at two specific moments: the first one is when teaching about topic introducers. Students are taught to use topic introducers both in Basque and English, not in Spanish, even if improvement is also pursued in Spanish. In this moment interlinguistic transfer is promoted from Basque and English to Spanish, that is, from their L2 and L3 to their L1, because it is only in the control list that students are asked about how they would do it in Spanish, without having been given instruction of any kind about how to do it in Spanish. In this case interlinguistic transfer is encouraged to see if they also improve in Spanish. The second moment of interlinguistic transfer occurs when teaching students to consistently use past verb forms in English. Here the exercise in which they have to realize that they mix present and past verb forms to make reference to the past is in Basque, and then the next exercise in which they have to fill in the gaps with the correct form of the verbs is in English. In this moment interlinguistic transfer is stimulated from Basque to English, that is, from their L2 to their L3. In this case interlinguistic transfer is supported to see if doing metalinguistic reflection in a language, in this case the language they master better, causes that the knowledge acquired in that language is transferred to another. The final texts were transcribed and we conducted a thorough analysis of them. With this analysis we wanted to know what the influence of the didactic sequence had been, and therefore, to what extent the students had improved their oral productions, especially regarding the aims that were foreseen, but we also wanted to identify those aspects where improvement was notoriously less. Moreover, we wanted to know if the alternation of languages suggested in the project had given way to provoking the intended interlinguistic transfer, and therefore, to achieving the goals set for each language, and also if there was any other aspect where interlinguistic transfer had occurred and to what aspect of the oral exposition that transfer belonged. Gure Ikastola en Tres Languages… 83 In the following section we will introduce the findings of the final text, by establishing a contrast with the initial texts. Findings The Planning The first analysis criterion concerns the introduction of the oral exposition in Basque: whether or not the objective of the text is mentioned at the begin- ning of the presentation, an initial contact with the audience is established, or what is the same, whether the listeners’ attention is caught, and the project is presented. In the initial texts, 4/7 groups include no introductory section what- soever and only 3/7 groups mention any of the three parts that were included in the introductory section, that is, they mention the objective of the exposition, set an initial contact with the audience or present the project within which the oral exposition takes place. Example number (1) is a typical illustration of what students usually do at the introductory section in the initial texts, which is limited to introducing the group briefly. (1) e: kaixo gu / n1 Ikastolako ikasleak gara / e: laugarren / DBHko ikasleak / eta x y eta z gara /  a: hi / we are students from n Ikastola / a: DBH / four students / and we are x y and z / In the final texts, however, there is a significant improvement in how they produce the introductory section. All the seven groups include an introduc- tory section and all the seven groups mention any of the three parts. As we can see in example number (2), in the final texts the introductory section is no longer limited to only briefly introducing the group, but they also men- tion the project, its aim and they set an initial contact with the audience by trying to catch their attention. (2) egun on gu x e: y eta z gara eta: e: n:ko hiru ikasle eta: orain gure ikastola en tres languages deitutako proiektu bat aurkeztuko dizuegu / e:m eta gure ikastolaren aurkezpena egitea da proiektu honen helburua 1 n, x, y and z have been employed so that both the school and the participants preserve their anonymity. Ana Aldekoa84 beraz berari buruz informazioa emongo deutsuegu / eta: / e: / hemendik gutxira: Irlandatik etorriko zarienentzako: erabilgarria izan daiteke /  good morning we are x a: y and z and we are three students from n Ikastola and now we are going to introduce you a project called Gure Ikastola en Tres Languages / a:m the aim of this project is to present our school so we are going to give you information about it / and / a:m / it can be useful for those of you who are coming from Ireland / Adaptation to the Communicative Situation In this section we will focus on three different analysis criteria. The second analysis criterion was whether or not the introductory and final sections are presented on behalf of the group in Basque. In the initial texts only 3/7 groups talk on behalf of the group at the introductory section (mostly because in the remaining four groups there is no proper introductory section in the initial texts) and 5/7 groups do at the final section. In the final texts, however, all seven groups talk on behalf of the group at the introductory sec- tion and all seven groups do it at the final section too. Examples (1) and (2) perfectly illustrate how, in the initial texts (1), the introductory section lacks any of its core elements most times, that is, the presentation of the aim of the text and of the project, and the setting of an initial contact with the audience are missing. In fact, if they talk on behalf of the group, it is only to introduce the group briefly or sporadically introduce any of the three core elements of the introductory section. At the final texts (2), along with the introduction of the core elements of the introductory section, there comes the use of the first person plural. The third analysis criterion focuses on the target audience, whether the words whose meaning may be difficult to grasp for Irish students are explained in English. It should be reminded that the audience of the texts were, on the one hand, the students’ parents and, on the other hand, Irish students. In the initial texts, orally in English, 49/84 concepts are clarified, that is, 58.3%. However, in doing so no group uses the phrase which/who + to be. Instead of that, it is very common to use *that + to be in non-defining relative clauses. Also, in 4/84 concepts, despite trying to clarify a given word which they guess could cause some degree of incomprehensibility among the Irish students, the comprehensibility of the definition is questioned, as in example number (3). (3) here we study in bizkaiera / that is a euskalki / that it’s only spoken in Bizkaia / Gure Ikastola en Tres Languages… 85 We can see that, apart from using incorrectly the pronoun that, in an attempt to describe the word bizkaiera (the name of the dialect spoken in Biscay), the student introduces another word—euskalki (which means “dialect of Basque”)—equally difficult to understand for Irish students. In the final texts, in English orally, hints of progress can be seen. 61/85 words are clarified, or what is the same, 71.76%. Six out of seven groups use the phrase which/who + to be sometime. However, it is very common to use *that + to be in non-defining relative clauses, therefore, we can say they have developed consciousness about explaining the difficult words, yet their form has not been fully assimilated. Again, as happens in the initial texts, the com- prehensibility of the definitions is questioned in 3/85 concepts. Examples (4) and (5) are two good illustrations of what can be seen in the final texts. In (4) the correct form of the relative pronoun which is used, whereas in (5), in order to define the word “polikiroldegi” the pronoun that, which cannot be used in non-defining relative clauses, is applied. (4) we study DBH 4 / which is the secondary education here in Biscay / (5) and finally the polikiroldegi that is e: like a normal sport centre but only with a: football couch / In the PowerPoint presentation in English 37/93 concepts are clarified, that is, 39.7%, with the same problems as in English orally with regards to cor- rectness of the relative pronoun and the comprehensibility of the definitions. Besides, also with reference to the target audience, we looked at whether or not the target audience was directly addressed in English, and if it was, by which linguistic means. As we have mentioned in Section Aims and modules of the triangual didactic sequence, we taught them to make reference to the audience in quite an explicit way, and in the initial texts no groups makes such explicit reference to the audience. In the final texts, only 2/7 groups make such explicit reference and each only once. One such example can be seen in (6). (6) e:m e: do you too have e: school programmes i:n in i- in Ireland? e: we: you will tell us when you come here / The fourth analysis criterion concerns whether the invitation to take part in the forum is addressed correctly in Basque. In the initial text no group specifies how to take part in the forum. However, 4/7 groups expand on the invitation, 6/7 groups make reference to the audience and also 6/7 groups use polite expressions in the invitation (in one group the invitation is addressed as an order). In total, 14 modalizers are used: the verb invite, conditional clauses and phrases with can and if you want constitute the main modalizers. Ana Aldekoa86 Overall, the tendency in the initial texts is to make a very short invitation to take part in the forum, as in (7). (7) gogoratu e: joan ahal zariela / e: for- parte har- tu ahal dozuela foroan / e: ba agur /  remember that you can go / a: that you can take part in the forum / a: and goodbye / In the final texts, there is a significant improvement in how they produce the invitation to take part in the forum: 2/7 groups specify how to take part in the forum, 4/7 groups expand on the invitation although they do not say how to take part, so almost every group expands on the invitation; all seven groups make reference to the audience and 6/7 groups use polite expressions in the invitation (in one group the invitation is addressed as an order). In total, 18 modalizers are used: besides the verb invite, conditional clauses and phrases with can and if you want, we remind you and with pleasure are also included. As we can see in example number (8), the tendency in the final texts is to elaborate more on the invitation, introducing the forum as a chance for the audience to deepen their knowledge about the school while expressing their willingness to solve any doubt the audience may have. (8) […] e: gogoratu e: nahi dizuegu e: […] e: zalantzak e: badituzue e: e: webgunean foro bat e: daukazuela […] e: diapositiban ikusten denez e: link horretan e: sartze:n bazarete e: / e: forora e: sartu ahal izango zarete eta guk e: prest egongo gara zuen zalantzak e: argitzeko / […] […] a: we want to remind you that a: if you have a: any question […] you have a forum in the website […] a: if you go into the link a: you can see in the slide a: / a: you’ll be able to go into the forum and we’ll be a: willing to solve your doubts / […] / Since the invitation to take part in the forum is expressed in Basque in all seven groups, when this section is presented in the PowerPoint in English, it can be observed that the polite forms acquired in Basque in the modules have been transferred to English. Four out of seven groups mention the invitation to the forum in the PPT and 3/7 groups copy the forms they have learnt in Basque. As we can see in example number (9), the modal verb “can” or the polite form “with much pleasure” have been transferred from Basque to English. Gure Ikastola en Tres Languages… 87 (9) If you have any questions you can get in the schools web where you’ll find forum and there, we will resolve your doubts with much pleasure. Textuality In this section we will be looking at two analysis criteria. The fifth analysis criterion concerns connection among the different seg- ments, more precisely, whether or not topic introducers are used in the three languages when introducing different topics of the oral exposition: the linguistic biography, the main topic (that is, the history of the school, the characteristics or the projects), the interesting aspect/to be improved and subtopics, and also, whether or not a final marker which announces the end of the oral exposition is employed. In the initial texts, in total, 13 topic introducers are produced: in English 5/7 groups produce some, and they produce 6; in Spanish 3/7 groups produce some and they produce 4; in Basque 3/7 groups produce some and they produce 3. The final marker is introduced in 6/7 groups. In the topic introduc- ers, the verbs that are used in Basque or Spanish can be considered common verbs among the language users, since they do not demand a high command of the language from the speaker. The verbs used are hitz egin, hablar (“talk”). In their L3, English, the verbs they use are speak, talk, explain. Concerning the modalizers, 2/7 groups use them in English and Spanish, and 1/7 groups make reference to the audience in Spanish. In the section of the oral exposi- tion where each student had to let the audience know what they were going to talk about, we found out that the reference to the audience was wrong most of the times, since they used the verbs ungrammatically (*explain you, *talk you, *tell without object). In the following example (10), which is taken from the initial text, the speaker finishes talking in Spanish about the general characteristics of the school and he starts right away talking about the most interesting aspect of the school in English, without introducing the new topic. (10) las obras empezaron en mil novecientos ochenta y uno y duraron once meses / e: now e: the thing that I like the most from: the school is that we don’t work as: only class and the teacher explaining […] In the final texts, there is a clear improvement from the initial text. In total, 48 topic introducers are produced: in English 7/7 groups produce some, and they produce 18; in Basque 7/7 groups produce some, and they produce 16; in Spanish 6/7 groups produce some and they produce 14. The fact that in Spanish not all seven groups produce a topic introducer does not mean that Ana Aldekoa88 one group uses no topic introducer in Spanish, but that for the topic they have to explain in Spanish they use a topic introducer in English. The final marker is introduced in 7/7 groups. The verbs they use in the final texts in Basque or Spanish are still hitz egin, azaldu, esan, explicar (“talk,” “explain”) and, to a lesser extent, some that were taught in the didactic sequence: aipatu, mencionar, referirse (“mention,” “refer to”). In English they use explain, speak, talk. Five out of seven groups use modalizers in Basque, English, and Spanish and 5/7 groups make reference to the audience in Basque, English, and Spanish. In the final text the reference to the audience is produced correctly within the topic introducers, although in the section of the oral exposition, where each stu- dent had to let the audience know what they were going to talk about, it seems that students still have difficulty addressing correctly the audience in English. Example number (11) belongs to the final text version of the same group and speaker as example number (10). We can see that while in (10) the speaker does not introduce the new topic, in (11) he does let the audience know what he is going to talk about next by saying “Now I’m gonna talk to you about…” (11) que tardaron: once: meses en construirlo y fue también gracias a: un benefactor de: la iglesia / e: ok and now I’m gonna: talk to you about the things that I like the most o:f this school / that’s for example the personal / the projects that we do in the school The sixth and last analysis criterion takes into consideration whether past verb forms are consistently employed to refer to the past when talking about the history of the school and the students’ linguistic biography in English. In the initial texts, when they do their linguistic biography or the history in English orally, in 6/7 groups we can find target-deviant past tense verb forms in English, that is, it is very usual that students mix present and past to refer to the past in English. (12) In ninety seventeen a group of parents built a school in m and they call it n Ikastola / some years ago the number of pupils increased and they build another school bigger than the first one In the final texts, when they do their linguistic biography or the history in English orally, in 4/7 groups we can find target-deviant past tense verb forms in English. In the PowerPoint in English, the production of past verb forms in writing is performed more successfully than in speech. Gure Ikastola en Tres Languages… 89 (13) It was founded on 1970 A group of parents was founded First built in neighbourhood called m but then they transported to other neighbourhood called k At first the school only has a 13 students but now has more of 1193 students In example number (13) even if the form is sometimes wrong, the tense is correct. It should be taken into account that in Basque and Spanish students produce correctly the verbs in the past. Conclusions The goal of this paper was to analyze the development of trilingual oral expository skills in the framework of a trilingual didactic sequence. To achieve this goal, we designed a trilingual didactic sequence based on the alternation of languages and the interlinguistic transfer. After students produced the initial oral expository text of the didactic sequence, some modules were outlined tak- ing into account the most prominent difficulties that were found in the text, and then the final text was produced. From the perspective of the Integrated Didactics of Languages, we will conclude that the contrast between the initial and final text shows that teach- ing oral expository skills from an integrated perspective fosters multilingual development, being language alternation and interlinguistic discursive transfer relevant didactic resources (Cummins, 2008). Among the aspects that showed a greater improvement from initial to final texts are the following: the explicit mention of core elements at the introduc- tory section in Basque, talking on behalf of the group at the beginning and at the end of the exposition in Basque, the more consistent use of topic introduc- ers regardless of the language, the more precise way of inviting the audience to take part in the forum in Basque, and the more regular use in English of resources to clarify those concepts whose meaning could be difficult to grasp for foreign students. Among those aspects where improvement is notably less, the following can be mentioned: students hardly ever addressed the audience in English and thus failed to catch their interest, and the production of target-deviant past tense verb forms in English remains quite problematic. The reason of mixing present and past to make reference to the past can either be caused by fossilization of the Ana Aldekoa90 form or by lack of automaticity (Thornbury, 2005). With the lack of automa- ticity we mean that students do know these forms because they perform them well in writing, but they have not automated these forms orally, so the students resort to a form which, even if it is not correct, enables them to communicate. Interlinguistic transfer seems to have occurred at three different points. The first two have been consciously promoted by alternating languages in a specific way: when working on topic introducers from Basque and English into Spanish, and when working on the past verb forms in English: from Basque into English. The last, however, has happened unexpectedly, when working on the invitation to take part in the forum: from Basque into English. We argue that in our didactic sequence the role of each language is very precise and well defined, and therefore, specific and reliable control can be exerted over the results. The text genre employed in this project gives the op- portunity to combine the languages, and the didactic sequence, for its part, to insert correctly the common and specific aims of the languages. The possibility that our text, as a target text, could be considered some kind of translanguaging practice can be pondered (Cenoz & Gorter, 2017). If that would be the case, it seems that a well-limited alternation of languages which prioritizes the minority language and gives each language the exposure that the specific sociolinguistic context demands when setting the aims and designing the modules of the didactic sequence fosters multilingual competence, and thus, can lead to an improvement in the three languages. References Apraiz, M. V., Pérez, M., & Ruiz, T. (2012). 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Ana Aldekoa92 Ana Aldekoa Gure Ikastola en tres languages: Beibringen und Erlernen dreisprachigen Sprechvermögens mittels didaktischer Sequenzen Z u s a m m e n f a s s u n g In dem Beitrag wird die Entwicklung des dreisprachigen Sprechvermögens bei 16-jäh- rigen Schülern mit Spanisch als Muttersprache, Baskisch als Zweitsprache und Englisch als Drittsprache mit Hilfe didaktischer Mehrsprachsequenzierung untersucht. Das Bildungssystem des Baskenlandes fördert die Mehrsprachigkeit mit besonderem Nachdruck auf baskische Sprache (Conoz, 2009; Idiazabal et.al, 20015). Der Unterricht erfolgt der Idee des integrierten Unterrichts zufolge (Gobierno Vasco, 2015; Troncy, 2014). Die vorliegende Studie beruhte auf deskriptiven Tests, deren Ergebnisse haben aufgezeigt, dass die Schüler ihre Sprechfähigkeiten im Bereich der Darlegung des Themas und Erläuterung von neuen Begriffen verbessert ha- ben. Ein nicht so großer Fortschritt wurde dagegen im Bereich der öffentlichen Auftritte und Anwendung von englischen grammatischen Strukturen erzielt. Schlüsselwörter: Dreisprachigkeit, Sprechvermögen, dreisprachige didaktische Sequenzierung, Sprachintegration, zwischensprachlicher Transfer, Mehrsprachfähigkeit