Categories and social meanings: An analysis of international students’ language practices in an international school

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernadett Jani-Demetriou
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Diversity ◽  
Summer School ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Additive Models ◽  
Language Practices ◽  
Internal Factors ◽  
English Only ◽  
Linguistic Resources ◽  
Language Choices ◽  
Social Meanings

Bilingual educational programmes in recent years received criticism from translanguaging or superdiversity scholars. These programmes follow either the subtractive or the additive models of bilingual education (García 2009), in both of which the languages are considered as separate systems. This distinction is considered as “inadequate to describe linguistic diversity” (García 2009: 142) and masks the real diversity of difference by focusing only on languages. Thinking in terms of plurilingualism and multiculturalism “might contribute to a continuation of thinking in terms of us-versus-them, essentializing cultural or ethnic differences” (Geldof 2018: 45). The present study argues that a critical ethnographic sociolinguistic approach provides a more relevant analysis of children’s language practices. From this critical perspective, speaking is highlighted instead of languages and considered as action in which the linguistic resources carry social meaning (Blommaert–Rampton 2011). This paper introduces the findings of an ethnographic fieldwork set in an international summer school where linguistic and ethnic diversity is a commonplace, although a strict English-only language policy applies in order to achieve the school’s pedagogical goals. The aim of the research has been to find out how students from various cultural background are dealing with ethnical and linguistic diversity and to analyse how the processes of normalisation (Geldof 2018) among students and teachers create values and categories accepted as norms by the group. By analysing the emerging social values and categories within the group, this paper focuses on how internal factors such as emotions, attitudes and identity contribute to the language choices of the students.

Reclaiming the Multilingual Narrative of Children in the Borderlands Using a Critical Integration Approach

2020 ◽  
pp. 22-44
Author(s):  
Kevan A. Kiser-Chuc
Keyword(s):  
Literacy Practices ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
School Setting ◽  
Student Experiences ◽  
Emancipatory Education ◽  
Cultural Wealth ◽  
Linguistic Resources ◽  
Integration Approach ◽  
Theory Of Multiple Intelligences ◽  
Innovative Curriculum

By joining together different methods and curriculum delivery in an elementary school setting, the author defined a unique critical integration approach to address questions of inclusive multilingual literacy practices. The author encouraged students to build upon their prior knowledge, ways in which to show that knowledge, and specifically, their linguistic cultural wealth, which generated a respect for the linguistic diversity of all students. The author created a collaborative pedagogical space in which the students constructed an innovative curriculum by co-mingling student experiences, their cultural and linguistic resources, and their interpretive frameworks. The teacher-research project involved a Funds of Knowledge orientation, the use of a variety of pedagogical tools influenced by the theory of Multiple Intelligences, gifted strategies, community cultural wealth, emancipatory education, critical and culturally responsive pedagogy, and visual arts aesthetics.

scholarly journals Challenging the monolingual mindset: Understanding plurilingual pedagogies in English as an Additional Language (EAL) classrooms

2020 ◽  
pp. 136216882093881
Author(s):  
Yvette Slaughter ◽  
Russell Cross
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Pedagogical Practices ◽  
Language Practices ◽  
Language Mapping ◽  
English Only ◽  
New Knowledge ◽  
Linguistic Repertoire ◽  
First Languages ◽  
Teacher Positioning ◽  
Vital Resource

Current theories of bilingualism argue that the language practices of bilinguals are drawn from a single linguistic repertoire, and that enabling access to the full breadth of students’ language practices can be a vital resource for further language development. This challenges commonplace practices within English as an Additional Language (EAL) education in Australia, where curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment are predicated on monolingual (English-only) structures. Even though many teachers identify with the need to draw on students’ linguistic repertoires, a lack of pedagogical guidance can result in disengagement with this issue. As we move towards identifying and systematizing plurilingual practices, it is imperative we understand teacher stance towards the use of languages other than English in the classroom. This research, therefore, sought to explore the use of language mapping to build teachers’ awareness of their students’ communicative lifeworlds, and to reflect on their stance towards students’ languages (other than English) in contexts where the focus is learning English as an additional language. The findings illustrate pedagogical practices which go at least some way to subverting the dominance of English-only structures, as well as demonstrating that teacher positioning towards the use of first languages is dynamic in that it is responsive to changes in student context, as well as to new knowledge, as gained through the language mapping activities.

scholarly journals Bilingual intercultural education and Andean hip hop: Transnational sites for indigenous language and identity

2012 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 499-525 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy H. Hornberger ◽  
Karl F. Swinehart
Keyword(s):  
Hip Hop ◽  
Intercultural Education ◽  
Language And Identity ◽  
Indigenous Language ◽  
Master's Program ◽  
Language Practices ◽  
Linguistic Resources ◽  
Globalizing World ◽  
El Alto ◽  
Bilingual Intercultural Education

AbstractExploring contemporary Aymara and Quechua speakers' engagements with multilingualism, this article examines two transnational sites of Indigenous language use in Bolivia—a master's program in bilingual intercultural education in Cochabamba and a hip hop collective in El Alto. Responding to the call for a sociolinguistics of globalization that describes and interprets mobile linguistic resources, speakers, and markets, we draw on long-term ethnographic fieldwork to explore the transnational nature of these mobile and globalized sites, ideologies of Indigenous language and identity present there, and flexible language practices therein. From our analysis of selected narratives and interactions observed and recorded between 2004 and 2009, we argue that these sites, ideologies, and language practices constitute productive spaces for Indigenous language speakers to intervene in a historically and enduringly unequal, globalizing world. (Indigeneity, mobility, translanguaging, flexible language practices, multilingual repertoire, global hip hop)*

scholarly journals Schooling Superdiversity: Linguistic features as linguistic resources in two Manenberg classrooms in the Western Cape

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 78
Author(s):  
Madelynne Madell
Keyword(s):  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Western Cape ◽  
Classroom Context ◽  
Interactional Sociolinguistics ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Working Paper ◽  
Linguistic Resources ◽  
Institutional Settings ◽  
Field Notes

This study is a working paper which addresses the need for the accom-modation of linguistic diversity and mixed linguistic repertoires in the classroom context, due to the rise and changes in migration patterns, as a result of globalization. More specifically, it focuses on linguistic diversity and mixed linguistic repertoires amongst pupils in post- apartheid South African classrooms and investigates how the borrowing of linguistic features by teachers and learners can be used as linguistic resources in the classroom context. By investigating how an informal variety of speech, the borrowing of features across languages, can be utilized as linguistic resource in the classroom context, this paper proposes a move away from formal classroom discourse, to more informal varieties brought to the classroom by learners. Even though scholars such as Woolard (1994) and Ritzau (2014) have highlighted how the ideologies present in institutional settings, perceive the borrowing of linguistic features as an indication of ‘less than full linguistic capabilities’ (Woolard, 1994:63), various other studies have emphasized the benefits of such language practices in the classroom (see Park, 2013; Blackledge and Creese, 2010b, Canagarajah, 2011). My study will thus also investigate how the language ideologies of the teachers in these two classrooms, affect the occurrence or absence of the borrowing of linguistic features, in this space. The research topic was studied in two grade r classrooms in the area of Manenberg, where classroom observations were used as the main research technique, complimented by interviews and field notes. It can therefore be argued that the study used qualitative research techniques and borrowed research methods from the field of anthropology as some of these methods resemble studies ethnographic in nature. Finally, interactional sociolinguistics was used as the analytical tool.

Transnistrian Nation-Building: A Case of Effective Diversity Policies?

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
pp. 983-999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Osipov ◽  
Hanna Vasilevich
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Ethnic Diversity ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
Ethnic Relations ◽  
National Narratives ◽  
Managing Diversity ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
State Apparatus ◽  
The Stability

AbstractThis article addresses the reasons why ethnic diversity has never posed a challenge to the stability of Transnistria (also called the Transnistrian Moldovan Republic), an unrecognized state that broke away from Moldova during the collapse of the Soviet Union. We analyze the major societal and political patterns relevant to ethnic relations in the region and focus on the structure, content, and effectiveness of Transnistrian legislation concerning ethnic and linguistic diversity along with the practices of its implementation. In our view, formal and informal ethnic divisions do not hinder the political stability of Transnistria. We conclude that the stability of ethnic relations in Transnistria in part results from a deliberate policy aimed at managing diversity. This policy provides for the dependence of the populace on the state apparatus achieved through a dense plethora of government-orchestrated activities as well as the reproduction of nonconflictual, eclectic, and thus socially acceptable national narratives inherited from the Soviet past.

Informal bilingual teachers’ language practices and the consequences on pupils’ language choices in a situation of unequal bilingualism: The case of an Upper Sorbian education system

Multilingua ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-191
Author(s):  
Nicole Dołowy-Rybińska
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
German Language ◽  
Bilingual Teachers ◽  
Speech Community ◽  
Language Practices ◽  
Language Choices ◽  
Language Groups ◽  
The Right

AbstractThis paper investigates how bilingual Upper Sorbian-German teachers who belong to the Sorbian speech community (Lusatia, Germany) introduce the minority language during German language lessons in an Upper Sorbian school. In Lusatia, as well as in Sorbian schools, bilingualism is not of equal character; minority language speakers are all bilingual while the German language speakers are not encouraged to speak Sorbian. The language policy of Upper Lusatia gives Sorbs the right to use their language in public life in principle but due to the strained Sorbian-German relations, language ideologies, and hostile attitudes towards the use of minority language in the presence of Germans Sorbs do not benefit from it in practice. The school language policy divides Sorbian-speakers from pupils of German-speaking families and keeps the teaching of Sorbian separate for both groups. Only during the last two years of school are all language groups mixed. Based on participant observation of and in-depth interviews with bilingual teachers during lessons with students of the 11th grade in one Upper Sorbian school this article discusses how teachers negotiate top-down language policy in their classrooms and, introduce bilingualism; and how their language choices affect students’ language practices.

Leveraging Students’ Communicative Repertoires as a Tool for Equitable Learning

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 477-499 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danny C. Martinez ◽  
P. Zitlali Morales ◽  
Ursula S. Aldana
Keyword(s):  
Transformative Learning ◽  
Students Of Color ◽  
Learning Experiences ◽  
First Century ◽  
Children And Youth ◽  
Language And Literacy ◽  
Language Practices ◽  
Learning And Development ◽  
Classroom Discourse Analysis ◽  
Linguistic Resources

Leveraging is often described as the process of using the home and community languages of children and youth as a tool to access the “academic” or “standard” varieties of languages valued in schools. In this vein, researchers have called on practitioners to leverage the stigmatized language practices of children and youth in schools for their academic development. In this review, we interrogate the notion of leveraging commonly used by language and literacy scholars. We consider what gets leveraged, whose practices get leveraged, when leveraging occurs, and whether or not leveraging leads to robust and transformative learning experiences that sustain the cultural and linguistic practices of children and youth in our schools, particularly for students of color. We review scholarship steeped in Vygotskian-inspired research on learning, culturally relevant and culturally sustaining pedagogies, and bilingual education research that forefront the notion that the language practices of children and youth are useful for mediating learning and development. We conclude with a discussion of classroom discourse analysis methods that we believe can provide documentation of transformative learning experiences that uncovers and examines the linguistic resources of students in our twenty-first-century classrooms, and to gain a common language around notions of leveraging in the field.

scholarly journals Ideophones

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Dingemanse
Keyword(s):  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Functional Load ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Linguistic Resources ◽  
Order Of Magnitude ◽  
Word Classes

Many of the world’s languages feature an open lexical class of ideophones, words whose marked forms and sensory meanings invite iconic associations. Ideophones (also known as mimetics or expressives) are well-known from languages in Asia, Africa and the Americas, where they often form a class on the same order of magnitude as other major word classes and take up a considerable functional load as modifying expressions or predicates. Across languages, commonalities in the morphosyntactic behaviour of ideophones can be related to their nature and origin as vocal depictions. At the same time there is ample room for linguistic diversity, raising the need for fine-grained grammatical description of ideophone systems. As vocal depictions, ideophones often form a distinct lexical stratum seemingly conjured out of thin air; but as conventionalized words, they inevitably grow roots in local linguistic systems, showing relations to adverbs, adjectives, verbs and other linguistic resources devoted to modification and predication.

scholarly journals Codeswitching auf einem hochdiversen urbanen Wochenmarkt: Kommerz, Kommunikation und Identität

2021 ◽  
Vol 110 (5) ◽  
pp. 157-192
Author(s):  
Serkan Yüksel ◽  
İrem Duman
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Language Attitudes ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Cultural And Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Linguistic Resources ◽  
European Cities ◽  
Video Recordings ◽  
Bilingual Communities

Today's European cities exhibit a great cultural and linguistic diversity. Highly diverse urban areas bring together people from different sociolinguistic backgrounds and thus facilitate intense language contact, with speakers accessing diverse linguistic resources that they creatively use and mix (cf. e. g. Wiese 2020; Otsuji/Pennycook 2010; Pennycook/Otsuji 2015). Such linguistic practices include code-switching. In previous research on code-switching the focus was on relatively homogeneous settings, mostly bilingual communities (cf. Poplack 2015; Torres Cacoullos/Travis 2015; Bullock/ Toribio 2009). As a part of a larger project, we collected spontaneous speech data through audio and video recordings from a highly diverse street market in Berlin-Neukölln that is popular among locals and tourists, the “Maybachufer-Markt”. The analysis of our data reveals new insights with respect to sociolinguistic motivations underlying code-switching. In light of commercial intentions, vendors try to switch to a language according to how they construct the customers’ identity (cf. Bucholtz/Hall 2005; Pfaff-Czarnecka 2011). Besides vendors also commodify specific languages or multilingualism (Heller 2010) based on their and others’ language attitudes or they switch to a language for the purpose of maintaining the communication in sales conversations. Correlating these different factors, we will argue that code-switching is used with a commercial motivation in interactions between vendors and customers.

scholarly journals Grammatical Errors Made by Students in Speaking English

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 15-22
Author(s):  
Susi Damaiyanti
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Department ◽  
Internal Factors ◽  
Common Error ◽  
Parts Of Speech ◽  
Linguistic Resources ◽  
Grammatical Errors ◽  
Qualitative Descriptive ◽  
Descriptive Method

This study is aimed to reveal the types of grammatical errors made by students in speaking English in the English department of IAIN Takengon. When speaking, students generally did not realize and understand the classification of errors they were making. Thus, it is deemed necessary to identify, classify, and describe the various grammatical errors as an attempt to build their awareness of using structured and standardized English rules. This research was conducted using a qualitative descriptive method. After analyzing the errors proposed by Dulay, the findings showed that the most common error in students’ grammar is misuse or misplacing of verbs, nouns, conjunctions, pronouns, prepositions, and parts of speech. Based on the error category, students' most common error is omission, followed by overgeneralization, over-regulation, and misordering, completed by other errors such as carelessness. Meanwhile, the causes of grammatical errors were the internal factors; anxiety, limited linguistic resources, and motivation deficiency; the external factors were an unsupportive environment and the stressful teaching and learning process.

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