Creativity in the community languages classroom

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Creativity in the community languages classroom
Community and Lesser Taught Languages (COLT)
Conference (Manchester) Wednesday 18 and
Thursday 19 November 2009

• Jim Anderson and Yu-Chiao Chung
• j.anderson_at_gold.ac.uk / edp01yc_at_gold.ac.uk

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Overview

• Conceptual framework definitions and research
  directions
• Research design and emerging strands
• within the data
• 3. Implications and professional development
• resource for teachers
• 4. Your questions

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1. Conceptual framework definitions and
research directions

• In what ways is creativity understood and
  defined?
• elitist ? democratic
• emphasis on individual ? emphasis on
• social context (participation in
  communities
• of practice, co-construction of knowledge)

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• arts specific ? universalised
• a culturally saturated concept (Eastern
  Western
• perspectives)
• an ability increasingly required within a
  competitively oriented global economy

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• NACCCE definition in All Our Futures
  Creativity, Culture and Education (1999)
• Imaginative activity fashioned so as to produce
  outcomes that are original and of value
• (National Advisory Committee on Creative and
  Cultural Education, NACCCE)
• This definition informs interpretation of
  creativity in the current National Curriculum at
  KS1-2 and KS3-4
• http//curriculum.qcda.gov.uk/key-stages-1-and-2/i
  ndex.aspx

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• Student comparing normal learning experience with
  learning in the project
• It is like you are on a motorway and there is
  no way down or out. It is the same all the time,
  not something differentThis makes it more.. sort
  of up and then down and then left and then
  something else and then up and then right.
• 
  (Student, LMS)

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• Perspectives from theories of second language
  teaching and literacy which emphasise
• engaging and cognitively challenging content
  and tasks (Byram,
• 1997 Coyle, 2000 Ellis, 2003)
• holistic approaches which recognise affective
  as well
• as cognitive approaches to learning including
  the importance of
• learner agency (Stevick, 1996 Arnold, 1999)
  
• potential for drawing on funds of knowledge
  in the home and
• community (Moll et al., 1992 Gregory et al.,
  2004)
• need to re-evaluate pedagogies for community/
  heritage
• language learners (Peyton, Ranard and
  McGinnis, 2001
• Hornberger, 2005 Anderson, 2008
  Brinton,Kagan and
• Bauckus, 2008).

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2. Research design and emerging strands within
the data

• The study investigates
• the value of integrating different creative works
  (stories, art works, dance, drama, multimedia)
  into community/heritage teaching programmes
• the potential for using such works as a stimulus
  for childrens own creativity.

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• Ethnographic approach (qualitative data,
  interpretive methods)
• Fieldwork in 4 London schools where Arabic,
  Mandarin, Panjabi and Tamil are taught 2
  mainstream (one primary, one secondary) and 2
  voluntary, community based complementary
  schools
• Data collected on series of 3 tasks involving
  creativity carried out in each setting

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The schools and tasks
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• Data collection
• Video recordings and photos
• Fieldnotes
• Semi-structured interviews
• Teaching plans and resources
• Outcomes of students work

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• Emerging Strands
• Language and literacy
• Cognition
• Intercultural understanding
• Personal and social development

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• Language and Literacy
• Understanding of how cultural meanings are
  communicated through different media
• 2. Drawing on diverse student backgrounds
• and providing scope for different
  linguistic
• and cultural perspectives to be
  integrated,
• valued and understood
• 3. Enhancing communication skills and developing
  confidence

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• Year 7 Arabic class at Sarah Bonnell School
• Mainly non-background learners
• Very diverse backgrounds (including Bangladesh,
  Egypt, Jamaica, Kenya, Mauritius, Morocco,
  Pakistan)
• High proportion of Muslim faith
• Linked to work on countries, colours, flags

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The line at the right hand side means you are my
best city and each time I go there, I feel my
soul very pleased. The line at the top left means
in Western Arabic countries, the mosques and the
restaurants are the best. The design of the gate
is a very famous Islamic design. It is used
commonly in buildings and mosques. The common
colours are bluish green, red and orange.
Our piece of art is about Morocco. We liked its
fascinating designs which can be seen on its
buildings, dishes and even clothes. Hajar is
from there and she told me a lot about it. We
tried to represent, in our piece of art, a
beautiful gate in Marrakesh ( ????? ?????). It
got a beautiful design. We also drew two women
with the traditional Moroccan dress ( ????
??????? ). Hajar also wrote few words to
describe her love to Morocco (her country).
By Elham and Hajar
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The students mixed flags together in this piece
of work. The word in the middle means Allah and
the two small words next to it are Arabic (left)
countries (right). At the top right corner, it
is the flag of Egypt the bottom right corner is
the flag of Iraq the top left corner is the flag
of Pakistan.
Our piece of art is about Arab countries. In our
piece of art we used lots of colours. In the
middle, we wrote the name of Allah (God) as it
represents the religion of the majority of Arabs
and ourselves. We liked to show a couple of
countries instead of one as we thought that it
will make the piece of art nice and that no one
would think to use them like this. This would
make our piece of art stand out and be different
than the others!! The colours we used were white
( ???? ), yellow ( ???? ), red ( ???? ) and lots
of others!! By Anisa, Mariam
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• Cognition
• Generation of ideas through collaborative
  discussion and process of development
• Rich context and links made between
• different areas of the curriculum
  leading to greater engagement and depth of
  understanding
• 3. Bilingual approaches

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• Cross-curricular Tamil language and South Indian
  dance project

The essence of creativity is in making new
connections. These possibilities can be
frustrated by rigid divisions in subject teaching
which the current pressures tend to encourage.
(NACCCE, 1999 72)
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• Intercultural Understanding
• Provide a space for exploring and developing
• understanding of different cultural
• perspectives and reshaping these in
  personal
• ways.
• 2. Awareness of spiritual and moral dimensions
  and their relationship to language, culture and
  creativity

It is through the arts in all their forms that
young people experiment with and try to
articulate their deepest feelings and their own
sense of cultural identity and belonging.
(NACCCE, 1999)
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• Personal and social development
• Confidence and empowerment, agency,
• ownership
• Drawing on funds of knowledge in the home
• and community
• The first task in teaching for creativity in any
  field is to encourage young people to believe in
  their creative potential, to engage their sense
  of possibility and to give them the confidence to
  try. (NACCCE, 1999 90)

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Drawing on funds of knowledge in the home and
community (RACP)
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Drawing on funds of knowledge in the home and
community (LMS)
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3. Implications and professional development
resource for teachers

• Openness of teachers to new approaches and to
  taking risks, also to allowing students greater
  freedom and control (official support, but
  conflict with performativity culture)
• Collaboration (between teachers, between students
  and between teachers and students)
• Building creativity dimension into the scheme of
  work

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• Involvement of parents / community members
• Evaluation (including self and peer evaluation)
• Building partnerships between mainstream and
  complementary schools.

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Final thought

• in the UK the school curriculum does not
  fully reflect the creative achievements of all
  the cultural groups it serves. So many young
  people lack role models and learning materials
  with which they can readily identify.
  Disaffection can result. How creativity is
  currently defined and developed in UK education
  and training tends to reflect a mainly white,
  Western approach, rather than our diverse
  society. This not only puts people from minority
  ethnic groups at a disadvantage, it is everyones
  loss
• (Marilyn Fryer, The Creativity Centre
  Educational Trust)

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Your questions

• ?

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References

• Anderson, J. (2008) Towards integrated second
  language teaching pedagogy for foreign and
  community/heritage languages in multilingual
  Britain. In Language Learning Journal, 361,
  79-89.
• Anderson, J. (2009) Relevance of CLIL in
  developing pedagogies for minority language
  teaching. In Marsh, D., Meehisto, P., Wolff, D.,
  Aliaga, R., Asiakinen, T., Frigols-Martin, M. J.,
  Hughes, S., Lange, G. (eds) CLIL Practice
  Perspectives from the Field, pp. 124-132, CCN
  University of Jyväskylä (Finland).
• http//www.icpj.eu/
• Arnold, J. (ed) (1999) Affect in Language
  Learning. Cambridge CUP. (Chapter 1 gives a
  useful overview of the literature related to
  affect)
• Banaji, S., Burn, A. and Buckingham, D. (2006)
  The rhetorics of creativity a review of the
  literature. (A report for Creative Partnerships).
  London Arts Council England.
• http//www.creative-partnerships.com/data/files/rh
  etorics-of-creativity-12.pdf
• Brinton, D., Kagan, O. and Bauckus, S (eds)
  (2008) Heritage language education A new field
  emerging. New York Routledge.
• Byram, M. (1997) Teaching and Assessing
  Intercultural Communicative Competence. Clevedon
  Multilingual Matters.

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• Coyle, D. (2000) Meeting the Challenge
  Developing the 3Cs Curriculum. In S. Green (ed.)
  New Perspectives on Teaching and Learning Modern
  Languages. Clevedon Multilingual Matters,
  pp.158-182.
• Craft, A. (2005) Creativity in Schools  Tensions
  and Dilemmas. Oxford Routledge.
• Cummins, J. 2006, Identity Texts The
  Imaginative Construction of Self through
  Multiliteracies Pedagogy. In O. Garcia, T.
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  Multilingual Schools Languages in Education and
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  51-68.
• Ellis, R. (2003) Task-based Language Learning and
  Teaching. Oxford OUP.
• Fryer, M. (2004) Creativity and cultural
  diversity. Leeds The Creativity Centre
  Educational Trust.
• Gregory, E., Long, S. Volk, D. (eds) (2004)
  Many Pathways to Literacy Young Children
  Learning with Siblings, Grandparents, Peers and
  Communities. London RoutledgeFalmer.
• Hornberger, N. (ed) (2005) Heritage/Community
  Language Education US and Australian
  Perspectives. Bilingual Education and
  Bilingualism 8 (23).

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• Kenner, C. Hickey, T.M. (eds) (2008)
  Multilingual Europe Diversity and Learning.
  Stoke-on-Trent Trentham Books. (Chapter 2)
• Moll, L.C., Amanti, C., Neff, D. and Gonzalez, N.
  (1992) Funds of knowledge for teaching using a
  qualitative approach to connect homes and
  classrooms. Theory into Practice 31 (2),132-141.
• NACCCE (1999) All Our Futures Creativity,
  Culture and Education.
• http//www.cypni.org.uk/downloads/alloutfutures.pd
  f
• Peyton, J., Ranard, D. and McGinnis, S. (eds)
  (2001) Heritage Languages in America Preserving
  a National Resource. McHenry, IL Center for
  Applied Linguistics.