From the acquisition of the mother tongue to the multilingual competences of a child at a younger school age

The aim of the article is an attempt to describe the main challenges for the language development and mother tongue education of a child at an early school age in the context of common multilingualism, resulting from the compulsory learning of a foreign language at the stage of preschool education, international mobility of families and migration. At the heart of the research is the relationship between the mother tongue and other languages of the child. The place and role of the first language in acquisition / learning new languages was discussed in the light of the findings of psycholinguistics and comparative glottodidactics. Theoretical reflection only illuminates the more important aspects of this complex issue. It is guided by the thesis that cultural and linguistic diversity gives rise to the need to think about language education in a holistic way, that is, one in which there is an integration of paradigms, approaches and recommendations of mother tongue teaching with methodologies of foreign language teaching. Scientific assumptions and concepts regarding the development of a child’s multilingual competence are supported by examples of specific didactic solutions used in countries with a rich tradition in the field of intercultural education. The conclusion of the considerations is – it is worth using innovative pedagogical strategies, activities and resources that could support students’ multilingual competence whom we work in schools in Poland.