Jantien Smit is Professor of Applied Sciences within the research group Multilingualism and Education (HU University of Applied Sciences). Her research focuses on translanguaging in school subjects, teacher professional development, newly arrived students in education, multilingual tutors and multilingual assessment.
Since 2008, Jantien has investigated language-oriented content learning in subjects like mathematics. Nowadays, she focuses on how to use home languages (e.g., Turkish, Tigrinya) for learning and development, and which factors promote multilingual education.
"A multilingual approach contributes to accessible, meaningful and equitable education."
Jantien is dedicated to contribute to better educational opportunities for all young people. She envisions a world in which multilingual students feel seen and heard, realize their full potential, are able to use all their languages, and are encouraged to pursue their dreams.
Fields of expertise
- Multilingualism in education
- Scaffolding language
- Design research
Publications
- Inclusive STEM teaching from a language perspective Teacher learning in a professional development program
- Scaffolding genre-based writing in the subjects Lecturers’ learning processes in a design-based research project
- Practicalizing principled knowledge with teachers to design language-oriented mathematics lessons A design study