31. LEd – Network on Language and Education
Paper
Multilingual Children’s Resources and Agency in Families and Schools in Iceland
Hanna Ragnarsdóttir
University of Iceland, Iceland
Presenting Author: Ragnarsdóttir, Hanna
This paper aims to explore children’s agency in language policies and practices of immigrant families as well as their agency in their preschools and compulsory schools. This paper addresses the following research questions:
- How is children’s agency represented in multilingual contexts in families and schools in Iceland?
- How do these schools build on children’s multilingual resources?
The theoretical framework of the study includes family language policy and bi- and multilingual education theories (Cummins, 2021). According to King et al. (2008), the research field of family language policy (FLP) focuses on on how languages are learned, managed and negotiated within families. It brings together research on multilingualism, language acquisition, language policy and cultural studies.
While early approaches to FLP emphasized parental discourse strategy, linguistic environmental conditions and language input according to Curdt-Christiansen (2013), there has been a shift of focus towards issues such as why different values are ascribed to different languages, how parents view bilingualism from different perspectives such as sociocultural, emotional and cognitive, and what kinds of parental capital and family literacy environment are likely to promote bilingualism.
Schwartz (2018) has further discussed agency in interactions between children, teachers and parents. Wilson (2020), emphasizes the unique character of every child’s bilingual experience and her research indicates that children’s perspectives may differ greatly from their parents’, potentially leading to disharmony within the family. However, Fogle and King (2013) have explained that to understand children’s agency, interactions between parents and children should be studied.
According to Lanza (2007), children should be viewed as active social agents who contribute to adult society, while at the same time producing their own culture.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThe project is a qualitative research study where the focus is on dialogue and observations with six multilingual children in their family and school settings for four years, 2020-2023. The age of the children is 3-7 years old. Data was also collected in semi-structured interviews with the children‘s parents, as well as teachers and principals in the children‘s schools. Semi-structured interviews were chosen to elicit the views of the participants as clearly and accurately as possible (Kvale, 2007). Finally, parents were asked to write diaries and recordings with examples of their children’s multiple language use at home and share it with the researcher.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThe findings indicate that the children in the study are active agents in developing language policies and practices in their families. They make decisions on where and when to use their language resources. The findings reveal some changes in their language choices and preferences during the four years of the study. In the school settings they appear to have fewer opportunities and appear to lack agency in developing their multilingualism. The findings also reveal that the participating families value their children’s language repertoire and use diverse methods and resources to support language development. The schools in the study were all interested in supporting the children’s multilingualism, while some teachers claimed that they lacked knowledge, training, and support in implementing multilingual and culturally responsive practices in their preschools and facilitating children’s language-based agency (Ragnarsdóttir, 2021a, 2021b).
ReferencesChumak-Horbatsch, R. (2012). Linguistically appropriate practice: A guide for working with young immigrant children. University of Toronto Press.
Cummins, J. (2004).Language, power and pedagogy. Bilingual children in the crossfire (3rd ed.). Multilingual Matters.
Curdt-Christiansen, X. L. (2013). Family language policy: sociopolitical reality versuslinguistic continuity. Language policy, 12, 1-6. DOI 10.1007/s10993-012-9269-0
García, O. & Wei, L. (2014).Translanguaging: Language, bilingualism and education. Palgrave MacMillan.
King, K. A., Fogle, L. & Logan-Terry, A. (2008). Family language policy. Language and Linguistics Compass, 2(5), 907-922.
Lanza, E. (2007). Multilingualism and the family. In L. Wei & P. Auer (Eds.), The handbook of multilingualism and multilingual communication (pp.45-67). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Schwartz, M. & Verschik, A. (2013). Achieving success in family language policy: Parents, children and educators in interaction. In M. Schwartz & A. Verschik (Eds.) Successful family language policy: Parents, children and educators in interaction (pp. 1-20). Multilingual Education 7. Springer. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-7753-8_1.
Spolsky, B. (2004). Language policy. Cambridge University Press.
Wilson, S. (2020).Family language policy: Children’s perspectives. Palgrave
31. LEd – Network on Language and Education
Paper
Interdisciplinary Collaboration Promoting Multilingualism and Diversity in Swedish Compulsory Schools – from a Multilingual Study Guidance Tutors’ Perspectives
Christa Roux Sparreskog
Mälardalen University, Sweden
Presenting Author: Roux Sparreskog, Christa
Previous research on second language acquisition agrees on the importance of first language knowledge and skills when developing literacy in a second language (e.g., Antoniou, 2019; Ganuza & Hedman, 2019). In Swedish compulsory school, the linguistic and cultural background of all students are supposed to be promoted. However, one measure in particular supports multilingual students’ simultaneous language and knowledge development, namely multilingual study guidance in the students’ first language (SOU 2019:18). The concept of multilingual study guidance used in this presentation is derived from the Swedish word studiehandledning (see Reath Warren, 2016) and is a short-term, state-financed support, helping multilingual students to reach the learning objectives of all subjects according to the different subjects’ curricula within the frame of the mainstream classroom (SNAE, 2020).
For multilingual students, multilingual study guidance tutors (hereafter tutors) are important key persons, bearing a big responsibility for their educational success (Rosén et al., 2019). However, and due to lack of official institutional identity issues, the tutors are constantly at risk of marginalization. According to Rosén et al. tutors’ opinions are seldom paid attention to. The variation between the individual tutors’ professional positioning and their individual professional prerequisites were found to differ to a great extent. Further challenges to functional multilingual study guidance, such as the shortage of available tutors, qualitative deficiencies, or inaccurate perception of the importance of this support measure have been identified by the Ministry of Education and Research (SOU 2019:18). Many tutors lack a university degree in teaching and learning (SOU 2019:18). Because of the general shortage of availability of tutors, such qualifications are not required for permanent employment (SNAE, 2020).
Whilst tutors are an important link between school and home culture, especially for newly arrived students (Rosén et al., 2020), mainstream teachers meet the students daily in a classroom situation. It has been argued that the tutors’ and mainstream teachers’ combined knowledge, experience, and backgrounds are needed to be able to support multilingual literacy development holistically (Sheikhi, 2019). Many Swedish schools are thus struggling with the implementation of this multilingual support measure (Author, 2018).
In order to shed light on the challenges in interdisciplinary collaboration between tutors and mainstream teachers, this paper turns to the tutors’ perspectives and focuses on how they describe their professional role, work responsibilities and the interdisciplinary collaboration with mainstream teachers for multilingual support and diverse education.
The aim of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of the interdisciplinary collaboration between tutors and mainstream teachers for multilingual support.
The research questions were:
- How do tutors describe their professional role and their work responsibilities?
- How do tutors describe their collaboration with mainstream teachers?
- Does the tutors’ perception of their professional role and work responsibilities influence the interdisciplinary collaboration with mainstream teachers? If yes, in what way?
The study forms part of a wider research project which aims to get a more in-depth view of multilingual support in Swedish compulsory schools. In this paper, however, only results concerning multilingual study guidance tutors and their perspectives on their interdisciplinary collaboration with mainstream teachers as well as their professional role and work responsibilities are presented. By doing so this presentation tries to encourage dialogues about diversity in education and intercultural education.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThe data of this qualitative study include twelve in-depth interviews with tutors supporting multilingual students in 14 different languages, employed by the Center of Multilingualism in one middle-sized Swedish municipality. The tutors had between 2 and 11 years of work experience as tutors and their educational background varied to a great extent. Some completed several university degrees in teaching and learning others solely finished college.
A “purposeful sampling” for “maximum variation” (Perry, 2011:59) to gather in-depth information was chosen. By gathering information from “a cross section of cases representing a wide spectrum” (ibid.) the highest possible representativeness was obtained. Thereafter, a thematical interview guide with possible questions was designed. After conducting a pilot interview, twelve tutors were interviewed. Thanks to this, first-hand information about the tutors’ experience was collected (Hammersley, 2006). Furthermore, the qualitative approach enabled the exploration of lived experiences of the interviewees work life situation (Obondo et al., 2016). Open-structured interviews were chosen to let the interviewees develop their story about their work life at their own pace (Perry, 2011).
This qualitative study was inspired by other qualitative analysis models (e.g., Kvale & Brinkman, 2014). The analysis consisted of four different stages, namely organization, perusal, classification, and synthesis, and proceeded by moving in analytical circles between them. To discuss the categories arising from the abductive analysis, as well as to formulate the aim of the study and the research questions, Bronstein’s (2003) thematical review of the influences of interdisciplinary collaboration, focusing on the professional role, was used. Bronstein’s review is based on multidisciplinary theory of collaboration, theoretical conceptual research from social work and health care, role theory, and ecological systems theory and resulted in a model over factors influencing interdisciplinary collaboration. This model, based on these generic depictions of the components of optimum interdisciplinary collaboration, can, according to Bronstein, as well be used in scholar environments to maximize the expertise of different collaborating professions.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThe interviewed tutors describe themselves as cultural and linguistic interpreters and guides, facilitating the newly arrived students’ access to the Swedish classroom and society. However, when asked about their responsibilities and work-related tasks, the interviewees’ descriptions differ to a great extent, depending on the tutors’ personal attitudes, educational levels, and individual backgrounds. Multilingual study guidance was described as ad hoc translation, as mediation of learning strategies or as a bridge between home culture and Swedish society. Some tutors describe the goal of multilingual study guidance as assimilating the student into the Swedish school system, others aim at academic development and integration and yet others strive towards societal inclusion. The tutors’ descriptions of the collaboration with different mainstream teachers vary between different school settings and between different mainstream teachers. Nevertheless, an ecological holistic view of practices and a clear understanding of the professional role and are crucial to successful co-operation (Bornstein. 2003). Further, the analysis shows how tutors seem to lack professional autonomy, which according to Bronstein is desirable for professionalism. This lacking autonomy seems to affect the tutors’ perception of themselves as subordinate to mainstream teachers. This seems to apply especially for tutors without a degree in teaching and learning. Further, Bronstein (2003) promotes democratically oriented relationships. The described interdisciplinary collaboration for professionality, however, was described as either hierarchical or reciprocal. The tutors without an education in learning and teaching are more likely to describe their relationships to mainstream teachers as hierarchical. The described interdisciplinary collaboration seems to depend strongly on individual factors, such as the tutors’ attitudes and backgrounds as well as the mainstream teachers’ perquisites and willingness to collaborate. Consequently, this implicates a variety of multilingual study guidance practices, diffuse implementations of this multilingual aid. The tutors’ broader education in all the subjects could balance these disparities.
ReferencesAntoniou, M. (2019). The advantages of bilingualism debate. Annual Review of Linguistics, 5, 395–415.
Author, FN. (2018).
Bronstein, L. R. (2003). A model for interdisciplinary collaboration. Social Work, 48(3), 297–306.
Ganuza, N., & Hedman, C. (2019). The Impact of Mother Tongue Instruction on the Development of Biliteracy: Evidence from Somali–Swedish Bilinguals. Applied Linguistics, 40(1), 108–131.
Hammersley. M. (2006). Ethnography: problems and prospects. Ethnography and Education, 1(1), 3–14.
Kvale, S., & Brinkmann, S. (2014). Den kvalitativa forskningsintervjun. Studentlitteratur.
Obondo, M. A., Lahdenperä, P., & Sandevärn, P. (2016). Educating the old and newcomers: Perspectives of teachers on teaching in multicultural schools in Sweden. Multicultural Education Review, 8(3), 176–194.
Reath Warren, A. (2016). Multilingual study guidance in the Swedish compulsory school and the development of multilingual literacies. Nordand, vol. 11, nr. 2,115-142.
Perry, F.L. (2011). Research in Applied Linguistics. Becoming a Discerning Consumer. Routledge.
Rosén, J., Straszer, B., & Wedin, Å. (2019). Studiehandledning på modersmål: Studiehandledares positionering och yrkesroll. Educare-Vetenskapliga skrifter, 3, 1–13.
Rosén, J., Straszner, B., & Wedin, Å. (2020). Användning av språkliga resurser i studiehandledning på modersmålet. Pedagogisk forskning i Sverige, 25(2–3), 26–48.
Sheikhi, K. (2019). Samarbete för framgångsrik studiehandledning på modersmål. Skolverket.
SOU 2019:18. För flerspråkighet, kunskapsutveckling och inkludering. Modersmålsundervisning och studiehandledning på modersmål. Betänkande av utredningen om modersmål och studiehandledning på modersmål i grundskolan och motsvarande skolformer. Utbildningsdepartementet.
Swedish National Agency for Education [SNAE]. (2020). Krav för att få anställning. Skolverket.
31. LEd – Network on Language and Education
Paper
A Study on Children's Perceptions of Social Exclusion and the Structural Drivers of Discrimination in Norwegian Elementary Schools.
Anabel Corral-Granados, Eli Smeplass, Anna Cecilia Rapp
NTNU, Norway
Presenting Author: Corral-Granados, Anabel
Following the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, children have the right to be heard in matters concerning them (United Nations, 1989). Students' perspectives on their lives, are often overlooked (Fylkesnes et al, 2018). There is a contingency among the relational processes of children's socio-cultural environment and the different powers involved around children. Therefore, there is a great need to contextualise their voices within their social, economic and cultural context (Horgan, 2017). Therefore, this article focusses on identifying the structural drivers of discrimination in two contexts that differ significantly along different dimensions. The main goal is listening to the children voices by examining their own experiences (Aldgate, 2010).
In a nation like Norway where inclusive education is an important aspect of ensuring children’s welfare and future possibilities, it is an educational problem when there is not enough knowledge of how exclusion can be generated in an everyday school context. We employ a research design that includes schools from contrasting areas, in order to make visible hidden factors that help create new inequalities for children. Based on prior research and the lack of awareness of how exclusion can generate unequal childhoods in the Norwegian society, we ask: How do children perceive discrimination within their school culture, and which structural drivers for discrimination can be identified in two Norwegian schools?
Critical race theory in the Norwegian context
With the goal of providing a qualitative account of how children perceive discrimination within the school culture, our analysis is informed by intersectionality as an aspect of critical race theories (Gillborn, 2015). Critical race theory (CRT) is a theoretical framework and organizing tool for social justice that base its premises on a notion of white supremacy as the white-ness considered the norm, while all others are anchored in stereotyped racially stigmatised communities (Dixson and Rousseau Anderson, 2018; Yasso, 2005). The aim of this approach is to highlight intersections between race and ability, in order to discuss equity and analyse the context in which social systems reproduce inequality through policies, culturally sustained pedagogy, organisational culture and structured oppression (Alim and Paris, 2017; Cabrera, 2019). Critical race theory contributes to the visibility of racism and white dominance, which is evident in several educational systems (Bonilla-Silva, 1997; 2015; Christian, 2019; Öhrn and Weiner, 2017). An issue in the Norwegian context is also how strong normative cohesion can lead to new forms of exclusion, even though the ideal is to create universal learning opportunities through ignoring cultural differences (Viruru, 2001). Critical race scholars in the Nordic context have responded to egalitarian principles with a contribution of students' participation in the research (Chinga-Ramirez, 2017; Pihl, 2018). This research is scarce and only few scholars have focused on children’s perceptions and experiences of social exclusion or discrimination in primary schools in Norway. Current research mainly focuses on immigrant's self- identity (Chinga-Ramirez, 2017), power relations embedded across students' ethnic, gender, and class identities (Thorjussen and Sisjord, 2018) and racial discrimination (Hagatun, 2020; Hansen et al, 2016). This article investigates the children's perception of diversity and multiculturalism (Leonardo and Grubb, 2018) and Whiteness (Sleeter, 2001, 2016).
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThis research is an exploratory qualitative design (Creswell and Creswell, 2017). The focus group interviews with children in two different schools was the research tool implemented (Brodsky and Given, 2008). The semi-structured interviews (Lewis, 1992) guide is included in Appendix 1. No questions were directly addressing ethnic, ability or cultural discrimination, with the goal of participants not othering perceptions (Moffitt, et al, 2019).
This study is a part of the larger research project "Nordic Unequal Childhood" from The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). The project leaders were in touch with the school leaders, who contacted the children's families, and researchers submitted a summary of the project together with a parent's ethics authorisation in line with national research ethics.
We selected a strategic sample (Robinson, 2014) of children from the suburban school in term of resources in the suburban area and children from the upper-status school in the city centre. The inclusion criteria were that children should be ether in grade 4 or 7 (from 9 until 12 years of age) and it was the parents who decided to accept the invitation of taking part of the research. The focus group interviews were conducted with an aim to elicit the children's experiences, beliefs and opinions, and the two interviewers tried to stimulate discussion among the participants (Gibson, 2012; Guest et al, 2017; Lewis, 1992). The children knew each other and created meaningful social interactions during the sessions (Bagnoli and Clark, 2010). Interviews took place at school during children's break time.
This interview study included students (n=46) in years 4 and 7, in a total of 15 focus groups in the city area (50% girls and 50% boys), with a mean age of 11.2 years. All interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim (Greenwood et al., 2017) and analysed with heading constant comparative analysis (Cohen, Manion, and Morrison, 2017).
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsUrban school and Reproduction of Racial Inequality
We will present five themes explaining our main findings from the urban school, we find that the school rules are quite rigid and goal-oriented – while descriptions of a strongly integrated community illustrate how segregation occurs. The last theme shows that a competitive environment between children promoted by families to a large extend influences the childhood of our respondents at this school. Further, including how children are assimilated in a homogenous school culture, making the individual child's identity undistinguishable.
A Suburban School Affected by Racial Segregation
In the following section, we will present four separate identified themes from the suburban school. In their narratives, the children disclose challenges experienced at different organisational levels. The home culture and values, the school's formal and informal rules, the teacher's pedagogy and peer-to-peer relationships were viewed by the children as essential in influencing their social recognition, creating barriers and preventing equality at school.
It is therefore important to investigate intersectional issues to understand margins of oppression within the educational system (Annamma et al, 2018). A culturally sustaining pedagogy should be relevant, practical and inclusive, based on children’s backgrounds, experiences and children’s lives (Alim and Paris, 2017). Like Cabrera (2017), we therefore see the need for bridging different research fields to engage in a deeper understanding withing education. Also, in combination with perspectives on race, the Norwegian educational system needs to include critical perspectives on diversity and disabilities within the existing framework of Nordic universalism. The conclusion to be drawn from this study is that children seek to play freely and wish to have opportunities to develop a positive self-identity (Schofield, 2006). Schools should offer opportunities for children to grow individually, value their potential and help them succeed in a diverse society to prevent social exclusion. We find that the children in both school contexts need additional recognition.
ReferencesAldgate, Jane. "Child well-being, child development and family life." Child Well-Being: Understanding Children’s Lives. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers (2010).
Alim, H. Samy, and Django Paris. "What is culturally sustaining pedagogy and why does it matter." Culturally sustaining pedagogies: Teaching and learning for justice in a changing world 1 (2017): 24.
Annamma, S. A., Ferri, B. A., & Connor, D. J. (2018). Disability critical race theory: Exploring the intersectional lineage, emergence, and potential futures of DisCrit in education. Review of Research in Education, 42(1), 46-71.
Assembly, UN General. "Convention on the Rights of the Child." United Nations, Treaty Series 1577, no. 3 (1989): 1-23.
Bagnoli, Anna, and Andrew Clark. "Focus groups with young people: a participatory approach to research planning." Journal of youth studies 13, no. 1 (2010): 101-119.
Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo. "Rethinking racism: Toward a structural interpretation." American sociological review (1997): 465-480.
Cohen, Louis, Lawrence Manion, and Keith Morrison. Research methods in education. routledge, 2002.
Creswell, J.W. and Creswell, J.D., 2017. Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Sage publications.
Dixson, A.D. and Rousseau Anderson, C., 2018. Where are we? Critical race theory in education 20 years later. Peabody Journal of Education, 93(1), pp.121-131.
Fylkesnes, S., 2018. Whiteness in teacher education research discourses: A review of the use and meaning making of the term cultural diversity. Teaching and Teacher Education, 71, pp.24-33.
Gibson, J.E., 2012. Interviews and focus groups with children: Methods that match children's developing competencies. Journal of Family Theory and Review, 4(2), pp.148-159.
Gillborn, D., 2015. Intersectionality, critical race theory, and the primacy of racism: Race, class, gender, and disability in education. Qualitative Inquiry, 21(3), pp.277-287.
Greenwood, M., Kendrick, T., Davies, H. and Gill, F.J., 2017. Hearing voices: Comparing two methods for analysis of focus group data. Applied Nursing Research, 35, pp.90-93.
Guest, G., Namey, E., Taylor, J., Eley, N. and McKenna, K., 2017. Comparing focus groups and individual interviews: findings from a randomized study. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 20(6), pp.693-708.
Hagatun, K. 2020. Silenced Narratives on Schooling and Future: The Educational Situation for Roma Children in Norway. Nordic Journal of Comparative and International Education (NJCIE), 4(1), 118-137
Hansen, K.L., Minton, J.M., Friborg, O. and Sørlie, T., 2016. Discrimination amongst Arctic indigenous Sami and non-Sami populations in Norway: The SAMINOR 2 questionnaire study. Journal of Northern Studies, 10(2), pp.45-84.
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