Creative Bilingual Writing Clubs: Applying the Concepts of Engaged University and Cultural and Intercultural Learning to the Internationalisation Agenda.

Author(s):

Maja Jankowska(presenting / submitting)Jon Rainford(presenting)

Conference:

ECER 2016

Network:

22. Research in Higher Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

22 SES 02 E, Academic Writing

Paper Session

Time:

2016-08-23

15:15-16:45

Room:

NM-J102

Chair:

Meeri Hellstén

Contribution

This presentation will focus on the Creative Bilingual Writing Club project as a case study for cultural learning exchange (Myers & Grosvenor, 2014) between the schools, in particular bi/multi-lingual pupils and their teachers, the university (University of Bedfordshire, UK), in particular bi/multi-lingual students from four departments: Psychology, English Language and Communication, Graphic Design and Teacher Training/ Education Studies (working in inter-disciplinary teams) and staff (the Department of Psychology and the Access and Outreach Team and the community, in particular bi/multi-lingual parents and wider community (libraries, immigrant community groups). The project emphasised partnerships and engagement of all participants as a key factor in the facilitation of cultural (and inter-cultural) learning as well as cross-disciplinary learning to look at the ways in which individuals and groups learn both about and through culture and within and across communities (Macnab, Clay & Grosvenor, 2011). The project also addressed pressing educational and social issues – issues, which we believe require HE engagement, especially in terms of searching for novel solutions to the problems that link to the internationalisation agenda. We aim to discuss how the increasing internationalisation of Higher Education has lead to a growing population of international/EAL students and to make a case for the need to move away from a deficient view of those students. Instead we agrue that through such cultural learning exchange programmes international students skills and talents can be drawn upon.This project emphasised the importance of valuing home languages and drawing on them as educational resource. Secondly, it aimed to address the issue of social inequalities and educational disadvantage, which, we believe universities should be particularly concerned with. Children for whom English is an additional language are often seen as ‘problematic’ (requiring additional support) and at risk of underachieving. Therefore the focus tends to be on remedial work and improving their English first and foremost. Similarly university students’ diverse backgrounds often are not utilised/drawn upon in HE. Moreover, both teachers and teacher trainees often do not have enough knowledge and training to support bilingual children appropriately (Ludke & Jankowska, in preparation).This project provided bi/multi-lingual learners with opportunities to experience the sense of achievement and increase their literacy skills as well as confidence and self-esteem, which could lead to an increase in their academic aspirations. Bi/multi-lingual university students acted as role models and mentors, guiding school children in creative bilingual story writing (a programme delivered as after-school clubs in two local schools in Bedford, UK, over the period of 11 weeks), from inception (idea generation) all the way through to design and publishing. The outcome is the creation of over 35 bilingual stories, which, once transferred into an e-format will be offered to the school, libraries, immigrant communities and the university as bilingual resources. The project will culminate in a ‘book launch’ event where school children will launch and present their stories to the representatives of the community (teachers, parents, peers, libraries, immigrant communities’ representatives and university staff and students) and share their experiences of part-taking in the clubs.Apart from reporting on the engagement and cultural/ intercultural learning our presentation will also emphasise the aspect of the project, which aimed to equip university students with knowledge and deeper understanding of bi/multi-lingualism and –culturalism as well as practical skills of working in multicultural/multilingual educational environments and within multidisciplinary teams – all very much required in contemporary, globalised market, yet perhaps still not fully incorporated within the university curricula.

We hope to evidence that this type of cultural/ intercultural learning enables learners (younger and older) to form a richer sense of themselves, their communities and the world around them (Myers & Grosvenor, 2014).

Method

This project adopted an Action Research approach: although there was a plan of 11 weeks delivery of Bilingual Creative Writing Clubs, it continued to be refined and tailored to the needs of the pupils and their teachers: we observed, reflected on every session and planned/designed the following sessions in way that was responsive to the group dynamics, the needs of individual learners and the setting. It run as a pilot in two schools in Bedford, England (Lower: years 3 and 4, Primary: years 5 and 6). In total 36 pupils took part in the clubs. It was supported by Access and Outreach Team who provided funding, dealt with DBS (criminal record checks) and safeguarding training for 8 students involved in the running of the project. Alongside the practical delivery, the team conducted a mixed-method research study, ethically approved by the Psychology Research Ethics Committee at the University of Bedfordshire. Apart from the research questions focused on finding out whether this intervention has an impact on pupils' self-esteem and confidence as well as university students' confidence, knowledge and professional skills, we also considered ways in which universities can engage in cultural learning exchange which can address pressing social issues and needs of diverse community. The research comprised of a set of questionnaires (one for pupils participating in the Clubs, one for the University students engaged in the delivery of the clubs – and one for teachers/key school workers), as well as interviews (with all stakeholders) and observations and reflections of the cultural learning exchange between the university, the schools and the community. This presentation focuses on the data collected from the students (questionnaires, interviews and their personal reflections), project evaluation and the reflections and observations provided by other stakeholders (university staff, headteachers and teachers, parents and community representatives).

Expected Outcomes

At this stage the project data collection is on-going and we are only able to make some early predictions. We hope that this will be an interesting case study in terms of cultural and intercultural learning (learning about and through culture) and learning within and across communities and disciplines. We also will suggest that the concept of engaged university is particularly important when it comes to the internationalisation agenda. This project was driven by the university being engaged and embedded within its local community and we will provide some recommendations in terms of successful complex partnership (btween the university, the school and the community). We hope to see some difference in terms of the pupils’ self-perception (their self-esteem, confidence and overall-wellbeing) captured in the post-programme date collection. We believe that the Bilingual Creative Writing Clubs have a potential to provide children with opportunities to use their hope languages, showcase their talents and experience a sense of achievement and pride. We also hope to increase EAL/ bilingual learner’s visibility in the system of education, therefore contributing to the change in perspective (from a deficient view of EAL to a more positive view, focused on the children’s strengths and abilities). The data from the teachers/ key workers will capture any shifts within this dimension. However in this presentation we will focus on the data collected from the students and other stakeholders in order to assess the gains in cultural, intercultural and interdisciplinary learning through which we can celebrate our collective achievement (bilingual resources and celebration of diversity). It is envisaged that lessons will be learned from the first phase of the project to improve the programme for the following years and expand it to other schools within the region.

References

Alladi, S. et al. (2013). Bilingualism delays age at onset of dementia, independent of education and immigration status. Neurology, 82(21): 1936-1937. DOI: 10.1212/01.wnl.0000436620.33155.a4 Bialystok, E., Craik, F.I.M., & Freedman, M. (2007). Bilingualism as a protection against the onset of symptoms of dementia. Neuropsychologia, 45: 459–464. Cummins J. & Early, M. (2011) Identity Texts: the Collaborative Creation of Power in Multilingual Schools. Trentham Books: Stoke-on Trent. Facer, K., Manners, P., Agusita, E. (2012). Towards a Knowledge Base for University-Public Engagement: sharing knowledge, building insight, taking action. NCCPE: Bristol. Flynn, N. (2013). Encountering migration: English primary school teachers’ responses to Polish children. Pedagogies: An International Journal, 8(4): 336-351, DOI: 10.1080/1554480X.2013.829273 Dakin (2012). Writing Bilingual Stories: Developing children’s Literacy Through Home Languages’, in D. Mallows (Ed.) Innovations in English Teaching for Migrants and Refugees. British Council. http://englishagenda.britishcouncil.org/books-resource-packs/innovations-english-language-teaching-migrants-and-refugees Jankowska, M. (2015). On bilingualualism in (monoligual?) English classroom environment - the challenges for Polish-English bilingual children, their parents and schools, Sustainable Multilingualism, 5, 99-131. Krashen, S. and McField, G. (2005). ‘What works? Reviewing the latest evidence on bilingual education’. Language Learner 1(2): 7–10, 34. Macnab, N., Clay, R. & Grosvenor, I. (2011). Cultural Learning: from pedagogy to knowledge exchange. Project report available at https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16522669/Cultural%20Learning%20April%202011.pdf {last accessed 15/01/2016] Multilingual Families. (2014). http://www.multilingual-families.eu/ [Last accessed: 02/06/2015] Murphy, V. (2015). A systematic review of intervention research examining English language and literacy development in children with English as an Additional Language (EAL). Education Endowment Foundation Myers, K. & Grosvenor, I. (2014). Culture learning and historical memory: A research agenda. Encounters/Encuentros/Rencontres on Education, 15, 3-21. Naqvi, R. (2008). Opening Doors to Literacy in Canada’s Multicultural Classrooms: an introduction to dual language books research and the database project. http://www.rahatnaqvi.ca/files /poster.pdf Safford, K. & Drury, R. (2013). The ‘problem’ of bilingual children in educational settings: Policy and research in England. Language and Education, 27(1): 70-81, DOI: 10.1080/09500782.2012.685177

Author Information

Maja Jankowska (presenting / submitting)

University of Bedfordshire, United Kingdom

Jon Rainford (presenting)