07. Social Justice and Intercultural Education
Paper
Multilingual Students' Language Play During Literacy Assignments. Perspectives for Learning and Teaching
Kirsten L. Kolstrup1, Helle Pia Laursen2
1University College Copenhagen, Denmark; 2University of Aarhus, Denmark
Presenting Author: Kolstrup, Kirsten L.
In schools and teacher education in Denmark, ‘cooperative learning’ and similar learning methods are often designed in a manner where group roles are clearly assigned, and interactional progression is scripted. Such patterns are said to function as a guard against “off-task behavior”, and thus aid students in solving the assignment and facilitating learning (e.g., Stenlev 2003; Kagan and Stenlev 2010). In this conceptualization, talk not directly oriented at the assignment is viewed as undesirable. Moreover, such directives are thought to be crucial for multilingual students’ learning, who are considered to lack key linguistic resources when the language of instruction is not their first language. However, such recommendations run counter to findings in studies of language play (Cook 2000; Tarone 2000; Belz 2002; Cekaite & Aronsson 2005; Pomerantz & Bell 2011), which have found language play is not necessarily a distraction to communication, but rather often functions as a facilitator for language learning, identity work, and student wellbeing. For example, Pomerantz and Bell (2011) showed how a group of foreign language learners “constructed new ways of interacting and new subject positions” (158) through language play and humor. This paper aims to demonstrate how students’ interests and identities are inherent in their language play during different researcher-generated literacy assignments in the classroom. It argues that language play, rather than being universally disruptive can aid students’ learning processes by synthesizing findings from three consecutive, iterative studies of different peer-groups of multilingual students participating in a large-scale longitudinal project, Signs of language (Laursen & Kolstrup 2018a, 2018b, forthcoming). The participating students in two of the groups were in year 7 (age 12-13) while the students in the third group were in year 9 (age 14.15).
In the three studies, different and intersecting forms of language play, as described by Cook (2000), stood out: We observed language play 1) with linguistic form, when one group repeated syllables from a word in the text in focus accompanied by explicit statements of joy; 2) with semantics, when another group, while visibly amused, created an imaginative world where one of the students was an Egyptian princess who had died and was about to be mummified – a process that paralleled the scientific process of mummification explained in the text at hand; and 3) with pragmatics, when the third group continuously engaged in stylizations of accents and gender, and when they tested out racial and national categorizations on each other, making their own and their peer’s identities an item of play.
The first part of the paper demonstrates how language play in the three groups is not a mere distraction to the interaction or the assignment at hand, as implied by Stenlev (2003), but rather a means to the students’ continued interest and personal investment in doing the assignment well. The second part of the paper discusses the implications of these findings for teachers and teacher educators, drawing on previous literature of language play and creative language use (Kramsch 2009; Cook 2000; Laursen 2019) and translanguaging pedagogy (García et al 2017). In this discussion, we focus especially on how those in teacher education can use such research to challenge teachers’ oftentimes conservative viewpoint of student language, and accordingly soften dichotomies between on-task and off-task behavior. In this way, the paper adds to current scholarship in educational research by showing how this research-based view of language play dovetails with efforts to conceptualize student interest as dynamic and continuously developing during classroom activities. Its findings also specify the pedagogical and epistemological benefits from embracing a holistic view on student identity to encompass students full linguistic and cultural repertoires.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThe data in this paper comes from the largescale longitudinal study, Signs of language, a 10-year qualitative project (2008-2018) focusing on exploring and improving multilingual children’s literacy skills in Danish schools (Laursen 2019). The study followed the same five school classes in five different cities from their first year through to their final tenth year of compulsory schooling. All five classes were characterized by high linguistic diversity.
Twice a year, each class participated in two researcher-generated activities and a lengthier activity developed by their own teachers and a research assistant. The researcher-generated activities were developed by the project’s PI, in close collaboration with the five research assistants who were employed at different teacher education colleges nearby the participating schools. The interventions were characterized by focusing on exploring classroom designs that would create more opportunities for multilingual students to participate in the classroom, e.g., pushed output, drawing on students’ linguistic repertoire; and/or on gaining insight into students’ thoughts, feelings, and attitudes about literacy. All interventions were video recorded, and student products were collected or photographed.
This paper focuses specially on two of the researcher-generated interventions: one in year 7, called Legogloss, and one in year 9 focusing on multimodality. Two of the studies in this paper (Laursen & Kolstrup 2018a, 2018b) draw on data from the Legogloss intervention while the third study (Laursen & Kolstrup, forthcoming) draws on the one about multimodality. In the Legogloss intervention in year 7 (age 12-13), students were asked to read a text individually, take notes, and then rewrite the text in collaboration based on their notes. In the intervention about multimodality, the participating group is in year 9, and students were asked to produce a multilingual and multimodal product based on a short introduction showing five examples of multimodal and multilingual advertisements.
Approximately 40 groups of 3-4 students across the five schools participated in each of the researcher-generated activities. Each of the groups in focus here were chosen for further analysis because they stood out by living up to the hoped for academic purpose with the literacy assignments, and they all seemed to be engaged and have fun while doing so. For the analysis, the recordings were transcribed by a student assistant, whereafter we looked through them many times while detailing the transcript. Central excerpts were transcribed according to the conventions of Conversation Analysis (ten Have 2007) to capture both verbal and non-verbal communication.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThe paper discusses three outcomes that are especially relevant for teachers and teacher educators who are concerned with supporting the academic learning of multilingual students. First, enhancing teacher understanding of the connections between, and benefits of, language play and language learning, can help teachers better identify and encourage language play as well as designing for it. Previous research shows how such designs have the benefit of more engaged and motivated students and can support students’ academic learning and metalinguistic awareness (Laursen 2019). This involves a more nuanced view on dualisms about students’ talk being either on-task or off-task, as implied by Stenlev (2003), to take seriously the relevance and learning potentials of creative language use (Cook 2000; Kramsch 2009).
Second, the paper illustrates the value of planning activities that take students’ interests and their investments in the activities and social relations into account. This is by no means a novel suggestion but rather one that has infused the educational system in, at least, a Scandinavian context for decades through Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development and the associated metaphors of scaffolding. In this regard, we wish to further explore the prospects of Martin-Beltrán et al.’s (2017) concept of ‘zone of relevance’.
Finally, synthesizing the two previous points, a nuanced view of language as complex and interest as a dynamic entity can aid the awareness and attentiveness to student identity. In todays’ global societies, the multilingual student is increasingly no longer the exception, and should be positioned as somebody with a repertoire of language and knowledge which they can and are encouraged to draw upon in their learning (García & Kleyn 2016; García et al 2017; Laursen 2019).
ReferencesBelz, J. A. 2002. ‘Second language play as a representation of the multicompetent self in foreign language study,’ Journal of Language, Identity, and Education 1: 13–39. doi:10.1207/S15327701JLIE0101_3.
Cekaite, A. and K. Aronsson. 2005. ‘Language play, a collaborative resource in children’s L2 learning,’ Applied Linguistics 26: 169–91. doi:10.1093/applin/amh042.
Cook, G. 2000. Language Play. Language Learning. Oxford University Press.
García, O. & T. Kleyn. 2016. Translanguaging with multilingual students. Learning from classroom moments. Routledge.
García, O., S. I. Johnson & K. Seltzer. 2017. The translanguaging classroom: Leveraging student bilingualism for learning. Philadelphia. Caslon.
Kagan, S. and J. Stenlev. 2010. Cooperative Learning. Undervisning med samarbejdsformer [Cooperative learning. Teaching with cooperative structures]. Alinea
Kramsch, C. 2009. The Multilingual Subject. Oxford University Press.
Laursen, H. P. 2019. Tegn på sprog. Literacy i sprogligt mangfoldige klasser [Signs of language. Literacy in linguistically diverse classrooms]. Aarhus Universitetsforlag.
Laursen, H.P. & K. L. Kolstrup. 2018a. Clarifications and carnival: Children’s embodied investments in a literacy conversation. In Classroom Discourse 9:2: 112-131. DOI: 10.1080/19463014.2017.1392880
Laursen, H.P. & K. L. Kolstrup. 2018b. Multilingual Children between Real and Imaginary Worlds: Language Play as Resignifying Practice. In Applied Linguistics, 39/ 6: 799822. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amw049
Laursen, H.P. & K. L. Kolstrup. Forthcoming. ‘I’m just saying you are mixed’: Multilingual youth negotiating a sense of belonging during a literacy assignment.
Martin-Beltrán, M., S. Daniel, M. Peercy & R. Silverman. 2017. Developing a Zone of Relevance: Emergent Bilinguals’ Use of Social, Linguistic, and Cognitive Support in Peer-Led Literacy Discussions. International Multilingual Research Journal, 11(3), 152-166. DOI: 10.1080/19313152.2017.1330061
Pomerantz, A. & N. D. Bell. 2011. ‘Humor as safe house in the foreign language classroom,’ The Modern Language Journal 95: 148–61. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4781.2011.01274.x.
Stenlev, J. 2003. ‘Cooperative learning i fremmedsprogsundervisningen [Cooperative learning in the foreign language classroom],’ Sprogforum 25: 33–42.
Tarone, E. 2000. Getting serious about language play – Language play, interlanguage variation, and SLA. In B. Swierzbin, F. Morris, M. E. Anderson, C. A. Klee, E. Tarone (Eds.) Social and cognitive factors in second language acquisition: Selected proceedings of the 1999 Second Language Research Forum.
ten Have, P. (2007). Doing conversation analysis. London: Sage Publications.
07. Social Justice and Intercultural Education
Paper
Responding to young children’s diverse semiotic repertoires during collaborative digital storytelling: Extending Play-Responsive Early Childhood Education and Care (PRECEC)
Sofije Shengjergji
University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Presenting Author: Shengjergji, Sofije
Introduction
In our globalized world, multiculturalism is the societal norm for many contemporary societies and according to Turner and Cross (2016, p.289) today’s education reflects an “increasing normalisation of multilingualism”. However, even though multilingualism is now regarded as a valuable asset, there is still a need to identify pedagogical approaches, strategies and practical concepts for teaching in such circumstances. Also, the integration of digital technologies in early childhood education is widely acknowledged as an important aspect of young children’s learning (Berson & Berson, 2010). On the other hand, Kewalramani et al. (2020, p. 163) argue that ‘early childhood settings need more guidance in relation to what high-quality pedagogies with technologies may look like’.
The goal of this design-based research is twofold:
- to develop new pedagogical knowledge oriented towards teaching at the intersection of preserving and developing bi- and multilingual children's languages and integrating digital technologies in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC),
and,
- to further develop the Play-Responsive Early Childhood Education and Care theory (Pramling et al., 2019).
The following research questions are addressed:
1) How are various semiotic repertoires introduced and responded to during collaborative digital storytelling?
2) How is agency negotiated in teacher and children’s interactions during collaborative digital storytelling?
Theoretical Framework
In this study, PRECEC not only provides the theoretical framework for understanding and studying the teaching process in preschool but also its principals are used to analyze the empirical data. PRECEC emphasizes the need of a responsive interaction between teaching and children's play (Pramling et al., 2019). Responsivity is viewed as the core of teaching that supports children’s learning and development. Empirical studies show that when interactions between teacher and children during play activities are characterized by responsivity lead to mutual participation and co-constructions of play because participants are responsive to each other understanding, needs, play scenarios, and negotiate the nature of their participation (Pramling et al., 2019). Teaching from this perspective can denote participation to children’s play where concepts are introduced, play scenarios are developed, and meaning is negotiated. Imagination is key component for both play and teaching. In play children move between acting and thinking in an as if or as is mode. As if corresponds to an engagement with an imaginary reality, how things could be, whereas as is corresponds to an engagement with the reality as it is. PRECEC argues that teaching also should alter between as if and as is mode to be responsive to children’s meaning making. Intersubjectivity and alterity are two dynamic concepts that can be apparent in a play-responsive teaching approach. A common ground - a temporarily sufficient intersubjectivity – between teacher and children is required in a joint playful activity in order for them to engage in it and for their words and actions to be comprehended. However, due to participants’ multiple viewpoints, voices, and actions the activity's direction or meaning is constantly negotiated (alterity).
The concept of semiotic repertoires (Kuster et al., 2017) is employed, which encompasses both named languages and other semiotic modes.
The concept of translanguaging is also employed that is a way of communication between bilinguals (Garcia & Li, 2014), as well as a pedagogical approach to bi-/multilingual education (García & Kano, 2014). According to Cenoz (2017, p. 194) there is a distinction between pedagogical translanguaging (a systematic and spontaneous translanguaging and strategic use of flexible languages practices aiming in supporting children’s communication and meaning making and ensuring equal participation and inclusion) and spontaneous translanguaging that denotes ‘fluid discursive practices that can take place inside and outside the classroom’.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThis study employed Design-Based Research (DBR) to advance the PRECEC theory and impact the teaching praxis by exploring the intersection of preserving and developing bi-/ multilingual children's languages and integrating digital technologies (here tablets) in ECEC. The approach was informed by the work of McKenney and Reeves (2018) emphasizing theoretical development in education.
Three groups from two international preschools in a larger Swedish city were the participants of this study. Four preschool teachers, one assistant teacher and 23 children (age 4-5years old) engaged in collaborative digital storytelling activities using the app Book Creator.
The study was collaborative since there was an ambition to establish a collaborative partnership between the researcher and the teachers. This means that the teachers’ workload was respected, and the goal was to negotiate and mutually agree on involvement in the research rather than demanding an equal participation from both the primary researcher and the teachers (see Cole & Knowles, 1993).
The design and the implementation of the digital storytelling activity in one group was thought of as one cycle that ends with the evaluation and reflection phase. This phase took place during data sessions where the primary researcher and her supervisors discussed the research's design and decided potential changes.
The study consists of three different types of data: video recordings of the collaborative digital storytelling activities, audio recordings of teachers' interview (before and after the implimentation), and photographs.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsPreliminary Findings
The analysis shows that both teachers and children were responsive to each other's meaning-making processes by employing translanguaging practices that included shifting between named languages (English, Swedish, German), use of sign language, onomatopoeia (meaw, ribit, woof), hand gestures, and facial expressions. There was a mutual participation and responsivity between teachers and children during the digital storytelling activities. Equal participation does not denote sameness, as this study shows how children can participate in joint activities not only verbally but also through a variety of other semiotic means. Teachers utilized translanguaging to ensure children’s equal participation in and understanding of the digital storytelling activity. Children's translanguaging practices supported their speech and conveyed the story behind their drawings.
Children’s agency during the collaborative digital storytelling activities was expressed through 1) introducing new characters in the story, 2) negotiating the meaning of their drawings with the teacher and their peers, 3) exploring the affortances of the tablets, 4) expressing their unexpected thoughts/feelings for each other.
The teachers attempted to tie together the different characters and events in the story and make sense of what the children introduce by trying to establish temporarily sufficient intersubjectivity. They also encouraged children's agency by positioning themselves as the less knowledgeable, allowing the children to come to the fore as the experts. This happen by asking question like ‘what is a...’, ‘I wonder why…’.
This research provides an empirical contribution to the development of PRECEC theory since it shows how teachers’ work in multilingual preschool environments can be responsive to all children’s semiotic repertoires and integrate digital technologies to gradually establish a socially equitable institution.
ReferencesBerson, I. R., & Berson, M. J. (Eds.) (2010). High-tech tots: Childhood in a digital world. Charlotte, NC: Information Age.
Cenoz, J. (2017). Translanguaging in school contexts: International perspectives. Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 16(4), 193–198.
Cole, A. L., & Knowles, J. G. (1993). Teacher development partnership research: A focus on methods and issues. American educational research journal, 30(3), 473-495.
García, O., & Kano, N. (2014). Translanguaging as process and pedagogy: Developing the English writing of Japanese students in the U.S. In J. Conteh & G. Meier (eds.), The multilingual turn in languages education: Benefits for individuals and societies (pp. 258–277). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.
García, O., & Wei, L. (2014). Translanguaging: Language, bilingualism and education. Blasingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. Pivot.
McKenney, S., & Reeves, T. C. (2018). Conducting educational design research. Routledge.
Turner, M., & Cross, R. (2016). Making space for multilingualism in Australian schooling. Language and Education, 30 (4), 289–297.
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