Session Information
23 SES 14 C, From Policy to Practice of Second Language Learning: Challenges and Solutions in Implementations
Symposium
Contribution
The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 10.3 aims to “ensure equal opportunity and reduce inequalities of outcome, including by eliminating discriminatory laws, policies and practices and promoting appropriate legislation, policies and action in this regard” (United Nations, 2015) and SDG 4.5 aims to “(…) ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations” (ibid.). Despite this, language learning policies sometimes follow exclusionary practices, such as segregating students with beginning skills in the language of instruction (LoI), even though they are often referring to aim equal opportunities and inclusive education (Bunar & Juvonen, 2022; Hilt, 2017). These policies are released in the context of education, politics, and ideologies (Cross et al., 2022) and they are intended to be implemented by schools and teachers in the classroom in accordance with legal regulations (Cushing, 2023). However, language learning policies are subject to the interpretation of school leaders and teachers and can be influenced by school resources, ideologies, and other contextual factors (Bunar & Juvonen, 2022; Cushing, 2023). For example, German language support classes for students with beginning skills in the LoI in Austria are implemented in different ways from inclusive to segregated, which deviate to a greater or lesser extent from the current legal requirements (Schwab et al., 2023). In Sweden, teaching newly arrived students is more often based on the school's routines and school-specific solutions than on the student’s individual needs (Nilsson & Bunar, 2016). Therefore, the implementation of language learning policies is not always straightforward. The resources of the school, including personnel and spatial resources, and the interpretation of language learning policies by teachers, based on their ideologies, play a crucial role in ensuring that these policies are implemented effectively (Bunar & Juvonen, 2022; Cross et al., 2022; Cushing, 2023).
Noting the dependency of the implementation of language policies on the context and the responsible persons, the symposium aims to provide insights into the challenges and solutions of implementations of language learning policies for students with beginning skills in the LoI from a transnational perspective. Furthermore, the symposium will take into account a multilevel perspective with each contribution focusing on national, regional, and/or individual contexts of the implementation of language learning policies: the first contribution will examine the interaction of context and policy implementation at different organisational levels; the second contribution will emphasize public administrations as an interface between politics and schools and their regional peculiarities; the third contribution will analyse teachers’ different understanding of the implementation of language policies in a specific region.
The symposium comprises three contributions that address the issue of second language learning policies in educational research. The first contribution analyses the extent to which contextual factors and language learning policies affect the integration or segregation of students with beginning skills in the LoI in the US. The second contribution investigates the feasibility, effectiveness, and legitimacy of German language support policies for students with beginning skills in the LoI from the perspective of employees in public administrations operating in different Austrian federal states. Finally, the third contribution focuses on how Norwegian teachers estimate the inclusion process of students with beginning skills in the LoI in upper secondary schools framed by educational policies. Overall, the results presented in this symposium will aid in the ongoing discussions about second language learning policies in educational research.
References
Bunar, N. & Juvonen, P. (2022). ‘Not (yet) ready for the mainstream’ – newly arrived migrant students in a separate educational program. Journal of Education Policy, 37(6), 986-1008. https://doi.org/10.1080/02680939.2021.1947527 Cross, R., D’warte, J., & Slaughter, Y. (2022). Plurilingualism and language and literacy education. The Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 45, 341-357. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44020-022-00023-1 Cushing, I. (2023). Policy Mechanisms of the Standard Language Ideology in England’s Education System. Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 22(3), 279-293. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2021.1877542 Hilt, L. T. (2017). Education without a shared language: dynamics of inclusion and exclusion in Norwegian introductory classes for newly arrived minority language students, International Journal of Inclusive Education, 21(6), 585-601. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2016.1223179 Nilsson, J. & Bunar, N. (2016). Educational Responses to Newly Arrived Students in Sweden: Understanding the Structure and Influence of Post-Migration Ecology. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 60(4), 399-416. https://doi.org/10.1080/00313831.2015.1024160 Schwab, S., Resch, K., Gitschthaler, M., Hassani, S., Latzko, D., Peter, A., Walczuch, S., & Erling, E. (2023). From Policy to Practice: How schools implement German language support policy in Austria. Current Issues in Language Planning. https://doi.org/10.1080/14664208.2023.2269726 United Nations (2015). Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. A/RES/70/1. https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/migration/generalassembly/docs/globalcompact/A_RES_70_1_E.pdf
Search the ECER Programme
- Search for keywords and phrases in "Text Search"
- Restrict in which part of the abstracts to search in "Where to search"
- Search for authors and in the respective field.
- For planning your conference attendance you may want to use the conference app, which will be issued some weeks before the conference
- If you are a session chair, best look up your chairing duties in the conference system (Conftool) or the app.