Session Information
31 SES 12 B, Supporting Plurilingualism in Preschool Education
Paper Session
Contribution
The purpose of the present study was to explore teachers' strategies implemented with the aim of creating a language-conducive classroom context to enhance openness to Arabic as L2 in a Hebrew-Arabic bilingual preschool in Israel. In many places where there is an incidence of majority-minority languages and communities, bilingual programs are a parental educational choice. The main objective of many two-way language programs is to promote intergroup communicative competence and cultural awareness. Although programs are established to benefit both language minority and language majority children, a growing number of studies show that combining these two groups of young children does not necessarily ensure that they will communicate in each other’s language (Potowski, 2004). It appears that language-majority children do not experience any authentic need for communicating in the L2.
The preschool examined in this study applied a two-way language program that incorporated instruction both in the social majority language (Hebrew) for the native Arabic-speaking children and in the minority language (Arabic) for the children whose first language (L1) was Hebrew. The Arabic-speaking children displayed incipient bilingual skills, whereas the Hebrew-speaking children in general had some receptive skills in their L2. Hebrew and Arabic were used by teachers in the classroom space without a time/place separation. The language separation was materialized in each teacher’s use of one designated language. This approach was modified, and a unique model was conceptualized and implemented by the teachers: The preschool’s dominant language became Arabic from the moment children arrived until after lunch. Given the change in the model and the implementation of new strategies, it was expected that openness to Arabic L2 would increase children’s motivation and subsequently their output in the target language.
The importance of motivation for young language learners cannot be overstated. In particular, as recently stated by Mihaljević Djigunović & Nikolov (in press) “the younger the learners are the more it matters what happens in the classroom”. However, before any teacher intervention can facilitate motivation enhancement, learners need to be open to the active presence of the L2 in their lives. Thus, we see openness as the initial stage in the development of motivation, which will eventually bring about output.
We examined how teachers, during a seven-month project, created a context conducive for the use of Arabic language as a minority language. Two theoretical concepts have inspired our work: Gass and Mackey's (2014) centrality of input-interaction-output as a description of L2 development process and a recently coined concept of language-conducive contexts and strategies (Schwartz, 2018). We defined language-conducive contexts asclassroom conditions that allow language learning by means of diverse teaching strategies, language-learning activities, as well as the physical and social environment.We draw on van Lier's concept of ecological perspective on language learning (2004) in classrooms, including such key aspects as children's language perception, children's agency, and language teaching quality. We hope that through the identification, description, and discussion of language-conducive strategies might guide teachers struggling to encourage majority-language-speaking children to use the minority language willingly.
Data on how teachers in bilingual schools and preschools attempt to increase language majority children's openness to the minority language in the process of their language socialization is still limited. Therefore, we examined which language-conducive strategies where implemented by the teachers to encourage the use of Arabic as a minority language among Hebrew-speaking children in a bilingual Hebrew–Arabic-speaking preschool.
The following research questions were asked:
- Which strategies did teachers employ in order to increase children’s openness to the Arabic language and willingness to produce Arabic output?
- What is the teachers’ perception regarding the effectiveness of the strategies implemented?
Method
The data were collected and documented by means of ethnographic tools such as observations, interviews, and field notes. Such ethnographic methodology is chosen when researchers wish to situate linguistic data within a social and cultural milieu (Morse & Niehaus, 2009). The data draw on an encompassing examination of life and practices in the bilingual preschool. The study started with an assessment period of two months (December 2015-January 2016) during which we conducted observations in the preschool. The purpose of these observations was manifold: to document teacher strategies before implementation of the language model modification project; to observe and document children’s language use; and to collect teacher reflections. In addition, this period facilitated a familiarization among researchers, teachers and children. It also allowed researchers to observe and understand the pedagogical approaches present classroom. The project initiated by the teachers lasted five months (February 2016-July 2016) and was accompanied by the researchers, who visited the preschool once a week. Enrolled in the preschool were 24 children aged 4-6, of whom 17 were native speakers of Hebrew and 7 were native speakers of Arabic. The teaching staff consisted of two leading teachers: the L1 Hebrew-speaking male teacher, and the L1 Arabic-speaking female teacher. The teachers were fully competent in both languages and had extensive experience in teaching this age group (4-6 years old). We explored teachers' perceptions of the effectiveness of the strategies implemented by interviewing them during the follow-up meetings, which took place approximately every three weeks (overall 7 meetings). The use of reflections permits teachers to reconstruct their professional experiences, identify problems and obstacles in their practice, find solutions, and critically examine their pedagogical ideology and practice (Luttenberg & Bergen, 2008). To examine the teachers' strategies that create a language-conducive classroom context, we used triangulation of data sources: overall 60 hours of weekly video recordings of classroom observations, including outdoor activities, from 9 am to 12 noon; video recordings of ongoing teachers' reflections during periodical formal meetings; and field notes during the beginning stages of the project. Video-recorded observations and semi-structured interviewers with the teachers were transcribed in detail, in table form, allowing inclusion of non-verbal information from the videos by the native Arabic-speaker research assistant who was highly competence in Hebrew (L2). After that, the transcriptions were coded for information about children's L2 use during different classroom activities.
Expected Outcomes
The following language-conducive strategies were identified: the classroom as a community of learners; explicit request to use Arabic; ritual repetition; teacher mediated socio-dramatic play; associative mediator and language area. The teachers in our study consciously adopted an accepting behavior that embraces children's preferences regarding language output. Committing to exclusively one language was not demanded by teachers, whose objective was that children choose Arabic voluntarily. This goal was made to the children by means of the personal example given by the L1 Hebrew-speaking teacher as a successful L2 learner; focus on Arabic; and the change to an intense use of Arabic by the teaching staff. This follows the Happilingual Approach described by Kopeliovich (2013), which stresses the bilingual phenomenon as an asset and not as a difficulty by activating the two child's languages in a joyful and creative way. The context of the kindergarten promoted Arabic output due to its inherent value and not out of necessity. By means of the project, it was expected that children would perceive language "as a resource" (Ruiz, 1984). The child-centered approach implemented by teachers during the project prevented the creation of an atmosphere of anxiety and the formation of negative attitudes towards the language, and reduced willingness to use it. The set of strategies developed and implemented by teachers during the project brought with it a change of pedagogical approach that led to increased openness to Arabic and willingness to produce output in it. No strategy stands alone; rather, the interplay and conjoint implementation of strategies has higher chance of making an impact. In addition, a language program necessitates constant monitoring and self-evaluation by teachers. Finally, one clear pedagogical implication is the connection between type of activity and target language output. Teachers need to leave space and create opportunities for free play.
References
Gass, S. M., & Mackey, A. (2014). Input, interaction, and output in second language acquisition. In B. VanPatten & J. Williams, (Eds.), Theories in second language acquisition: An introduction (pp. 175-199). NY, London: Routledge. Kopeliovich, S. (2013). Happylingual: A Family Project for Enhancing and Balancing Multilingual Development. In M. Schwartz & A. Verschik (Eds), Successful Family Language Policy (pp. 249-276). Springer: New York, London. Luttenberg, J. & Bergen, T. (2008). Teacher reflection: the development of a typology. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 14, 543-566 Mihaljević Djigunović J. & Nikolov, M. (in press). Motivation of young learners of foreign languages. M. Lamb & S. Ryan (Eds.). Handbook of motivation for language learning. NY: Palgrave Macmillan. Potowski, K. (2004). Student Spanish use and investment in a dual immersion classroom: Implications for second language acquisition and heritage language maintenance. The Modern Language Journal, 88 (1), 75–101. Ruiz, R. (1984). Orientations in language planning. NABE Journal 8 (2), 1534. Schwartz, M. (Ed.). (2018). Preschool Bilingual Education: Agency in Interactions between Children, Teachers, and Parents. Series Multilingual Education. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer. van Lier, L. (2004). The ecology and semiotics of language learning: A sociocultural perspective. Boston, US: Kluwer Academy.
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