Session Information
31 SES 14 B, How Do Learners Experience and Negotiate the Language Classroom Environment
Paper Session
Contribution
Although cultural and linguistic diversity is not a new phenomenon in the German education system, recent immigration since 2015 (once again) challenged schools and teachers. Schools are required to adjust continuously and constantly to this changing diversity, including multilingualism as being usual. However, the education system in Germany is still characterized by monolingual norms (Fürstenau 2015). Recent research shows evidence that language prohibition daily arises in German schools (Huxel/Fürstenau 2017: 273). Those practices stand in contrast to the advantageous impact of multilingualism in language and subject-based learning, described in the research literature (Becker-Mrotzek&Roth 2017: 27; Cummins 2013: 302; Dirim 2015: 31). Thus, scholars request schools to draw on the linguistically diverse environment in which they operate. This is especially the case when pupils newly arrive in school and still have to learn German. Their (language) learning processes can be largely influenced by a learning environment, which may (or may not) favour linguistic diversity.
Embedded in this paradox of multilingual reality and monolingual norms, my question is how language ideologies, dominant in school, shape language learning processes of newly arrived pupils. Based on ethnographic data provided by my dissertation research project, the study aims to outline language learning processes of multilingual pupils at the transition between preparatory and mainstream class. One of the aspects influencing language education are ideologies, present in school. Hence, the paper presents language ideologies of a secondary school in Hamburg in order to explain subsequently, how they influence language learning processes of newly arrived pupils.
The research objectives are embodied in the following research questions:
- How do language ideologies, dominant in school, shape language learning processes of newly arrived pupils?
- Which normative notions of language use do the pupils face in school?
- How do pupils deal with those ideologies?
The theoretical framework builds upon scientific findings of research in language learning. In order to investigate the social context of learning as well as the personal initiative of the pupils, the project relies on the Model of Investment (Norton 1995; Darvin/Norton 2015). According to this model, learning is a social as well as a cognitive process with the activity of the learner in its centre. Inspired by the work of Bourdieu, the model demonstrates that the investment in learning a second language consists of an interplay between ideology,capital and identity. Thereby, the concept takes into account that the (formal) learning and the (informal) acquisition of language proceeds in a dynamic dependence of 1) socio-political power structures, 2) existing and changing linguistic capital and 3) the social (self- and external) positioning of the learner. The model combines a linguistic and a sociocultural perspective and, thus, allows taking into account the special conditions newly arrived pupils are subject to when learning the majority language.
The paper will focus on the influence of dominant ideologies on language learning processes. With regard to the research question, I will investigate “the socio-political contexts […] and the shifting values of linguistic capital” (Darvin/Norton 2015: 43) in school.
Method
The study takes place in a school in Hamburg that educates newly arrived pupils in an integrative way (Dewitz/Massumi 2017: 32): After a few weeks, the pupils are assigned to mainstream classes and get once per day a language support in a preparatory class. Background information to the specific organisation will be given. Due to the social embeddedness of the field and the research interest, the study is based on an ethnographic approach. In order to get in-depth insights into the ideologies at school and the pupils’ dealing with them, the research of two years consists of participatory observation, informal conversations and qualitative interviews. After an explorative study of three months from May to July 2018, three key participant children were chosen whom the researcher would accompany during the two years. Once a week, the preparatory class is visited in order to continuously observe and analyse the language learning process. Additionally, five times a year the researcher spends an entire week in the schools. On this occasion, the key participant pupils are not only observed in the preparatory class but also in their mainstream classes and during the day. Informal conversations with the pupils, their teachers and other educational staff occur during these periods. Additionally, guideline-based expert interviews with teachers, school administrators and educational staff offer another perspective on their language education and the educational opportunities of the school. The paper presents findings and data from the first year of research: Observation protocols of the first five research stays as well as the continuous visits, protocols of informal conversations and transcripts from eight expert interviews. The data is presently being analysed in order to reconstruct the ideologies dominant in school as well as their impact on the pupils’ language learning processes. Therefore, data is analysed by combining coding methods of the Grounded Theory (Charmaz 2014) with sequence analysis (Rosenthal 2015): Firstly, protocols are coded in order to gain first analytical themes (Breidenstein et al. 2015:117). Thus, highly relevant text passages are identified. Secondly, these passages are sequentially analysed in order to reconstruct the underlying structure of the data. Thirdly, the in-depth-analysed passages are re-embedded in the context and key categories are generated through selective coding (Charmaz 2014: 38). As the expert interviews aim at the shared knowledge of the interviewees, transcripts are primary coded and not sequentially analysed. MAXQDA is applied in processing and analysing the data.
Expected Outcomes
The paper will present first results of the ongoing study. a) It gives insights into the language ideologies dominant in school: • Language ideologies are characterized by an ambiguity between valuing attitudes and restrictive behaviours towards multilingualism. • Language ideologies are personalized and situational. b) Based on the analysis of lesson sequences, findings will be presented as to how newly arrived pupils deal with those ideologies: • Pupils develop resilient strategies towards monolingual ideologies and draw on their multilingual repertoire. • Pupils take over existing language ideologies. In consideration of the theoretical background outlined above and by presenting selected data, the paper gives deeper insights to the mentioned aspects in order to give first answers on how language ideologies, dominant in school, influence language learning processes of newly arrived pupils.
References
BECKER-MROTZEK, MICHAEL; ROTH, HANS-JOACHIM (2017): Sprachliche Bildung - Grundlegende Begriffe und Konzepte. In: Michael Becker-Mrotzek and Hans-Joachim Roth (eds.): Sprachliche Bildung - Grundlagen und Handlungsfelder. Münster, New York: Waxmann (Sprachliche Bildung, 1), 11-35. BREIDENSTEIN, GEORG; HIRSCHAUER, STEFAN; KALTHOFF, HERBERT; NIESWAND, BORIS (2015): Ethnografie. Die Praxis der Feldforschung. Konstanz, München: UVK. CHARMAZ, KATHY (2014): Constructing grounded theory. 2nd edition. Los Angeles u.a.: SAGE. CUMMINS, JIM (2013): Current research on language transfer. Implications for language teaching policy and practice. In: Peter Siemund, Ingrid Gogolin, Monika Edith Schulz and Julia Davydova (eds.): Multilingualism and Language Diversity in Urban Areas. Acquisition, identities, space, education. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company (Hamburg Studies on Linguistic Diversity), 289–304. DARVIN, RON; NORTON, BONNY (2015): Identity and a Model of Investment in Applied Linguistics. In: Ann Rev Appl Linguist 35, 36–56. DOI: 10.1017/S0267190514000191. DEWITZ, NORA VON; MASSUMI, MONA (2017): Schule im Kontext aktueller Migration. Rechtliche Rahmenbedingungen, schulorganisatorische Modelle und Anforderungen an Lehrkräfte. In: Nele McElvany, Anja Jungermann, Wilfried Bos and Heinz Günter Holtappels (eds.): Ankommen in der Schule. Chancen und Herausforderungen bei der Integration von Kindern und Jugendlichen mit Fluchterfahrung. Münster, New York: Waxmann, 27–40. DIRIM, İNCI (2015): Umgang mit migrationsbedingter Mehrsprachigkeit in der schulischen Bildung. In: Rudolf Leiprecht and Anja Steinbach (eds.): Schule in der Migrationsgesellschaft. Ein Handbuch. Sprache - Rassismus - Professionalität. 2 Bände. Schwalbach: Debus Pädagogik (2), 25–48. FÜRSTENAU, SARA (2015): Migrationsbedingte Mehrsprachigkeit und symbolische Hierarchien in Familien und Bildungsinstitutionen. In: Themenschwerpunkt: Migration und Soziale Arbeit (4), 313–320. HUXEL, KATRIN; FÜRSTENAU, SARA (2017): Sozialraumorientierte Schulentwicklung in der Migrationsgesellschaft. In: Thomas Geisen, Christine Riegel and Erol Yildiz (eds.): Migration, Stadt und Urbanität. Perspektiven auf die Heterogenität migrantischer Lebenswelten. Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 261–277. NORTON PEIRCE, BONNY (1995): Social Identity, Investment, and Language Learning. In: TESOL Quarterly 29 (1), 9–31.
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