The main aim of the article is to identify third-grade learners’ perceptions of language diversity. The theoretical part looks at different language teaching approaches which integrate language awareness and positive attitudes towards other languages and cultures. The so-called pluralistic approaches include, among others, the language awareness theory, plurilingual education and a range of initiatives commonly known as “evlang” or “awakening to languages” aimed at sensitizing learners to linguistic and cultural diversity. In addition, the article presents several studies focused on examining perceptions of language diversity with a special emphasis on studying the perceptions of children of different age groups. The empirical part of the article presents the results of a study aimed at identifying the languages perceived by the respondents as part of their linguistic repertoire and the situations in which the respondents are exposed to different languages. The study is based on a survey which was conducted on a sample of 472 third-grade pupils, aged 8/9, from different primary schools in Slovenia which were involved in the “Languages matter” project. On the basis of the results we have argued that third-grade pupils show a considerable level of language diversity awareness and that they experience language diversity
through a variety of situations in different environments, from summer
holidays on the sea to playing games or watching TV shows.