Title: Negotiating Multilingual Identities at School
1Negotiating Multilingual Identities at School
- Rebecca Freeman Field
- University of Pennsylvania
- Caslon Publishing Consulting
- rdfield_at_casloninc.com
2Abstract
- This workshop provides teachers with tools and
strategies to explore how multilingual students
identities are negotiated and displayed through
schooling, with attention to the critical roles
that educators play in this process. - After a brief theoretical orientation,
participants are given a series of guiding
questions they can use to reflect on the
implications of their policies, curriculum
content, materials, organization of classroom
interaction, assessment practices, and
extracurricular activities for multilingual
students social identity construction at school.
- Some examples illustrate how the choices that
educators make can contribute to the
subordination of particular identities at school.
- More importantly, other examples demonstrate how
the choices educators make can challenge and
potentially transform possibilities for
multilingual students identity construction in
their schools.
3Big Idea
- When you understand how identities are socially
constructed through discourse in particular
communities of practice, you can identify
strategies for action ? - Support discourse practices that lead to more
equitable relations among social groups - Challenge and potentially transform social
relations that perpetuate inequality
4Objectives
- Participants will
- Use guiding questions to explore how multilingual
students social identities are negotiated and
displayed at school, with attention to the
implications of the choices that they make in
this process. - Experience a series of instructional strategies
they can use to shelter instruction for their
English language learners (ELLs).
5AGENDA
- BEFORE
- Do now! Quick-write
- DURING
- Mini-lesson Challenging language prejudice
- Guiding questions for reflection and action
Expert jigsaw w/notemaking guide ? carousel - AFTER
- Ticket-out-the-door
- What stood out? What did you learn? What can you
use? What questions do you have?
6DO NOW! Quickwrite(p. 2)
- 1. Quickwrite a short response to the
following - How do students learn what it means to be a
multilingual, multicultural, globally-aware
student? What roles do educators/schools play
in this process? - 2. Exchange papers with your neighbor. Read
their response and, without talking, write a
brief response to their response on their paper. - 3. Give your partner their paper back and read
their response to your writing. Discuss whatever
stands out for you.
7Mini-lesson
- Challenging language prejudice
- on the local level
8What is language prejudice?
- Higher status attributed to the prestige
language, which is used to fulfill higher status
functions in society - Lower status attributed to other languages or
varieties of languages in that society - This social stratification of languages in
society can lead to discrimination against
minority languages and speakers of those
languages
9What do we see/hear when we look locally?
- What language groups do we find in your context?
- How are those groups represented and evaluated in
your school environment, language policies,
language education programs, curricular choices,
instructional materials, classroom interactional
routines, assessment practices, extra-curricular
activities? - What are the implications of these choicesfor
members of these language groups, other students
understanding of those groups, intergroup
relations? - What can you do to contribute to the development
of multilingual, multicultural, globally-aware
students in your context?
10Competing Discourses
PLURALIST
Language-as-resource
Language-as-problem
English-plus
English-only
Mother tongue, DL
ESL
Multilingual literacies
Subtractive bilingualism
Additive bilingualism
Conflict and Controversy
11Its much more than language
- Constructing social identities through discourse
- Position
- Role
- Agency
- It would be a mistake to assume thatpositioning
is necessarily intentional. One lives ones life
in terms of ones ongoingly produced self,
whoever might be responsible for its production
(Davies Harré,1990) - Social identity? Multi-faceted, dynamic,
situated, negotiated, negotiable, structured by
power relations -
12Power as symbolic domination
Society
The ways that we use language can reflect and
perpetuate social relations
Institution
Interaction
The ways that we use language can challenge and
potentially transform social relations
13We have choices in the ways that we use language
to position multilingual students.
- The choices we make have important implications
for our students, schools, and communities.
14Essential Questions
- How are educators at your school positioning
multilingual students relative to the rest of the
school and community? - What are the implications of those choices for
multilingual students social identity
construction at school? - Investigating the representation and evaluation
of languages and speakers of languages at school.
15Expert jigsaw with notemaking guide
- Step 1 Introduce text read aloud first two
paragraphs (p.4) - Step 2 Divide into groups of three to four
people. - Each group is assigned a number, either 1, 2, or
3. Each person in that group reads their
paragraph (p.5), and uses the notemaking guide
on p.8 to make notes about their paragraph.
FOCUS ON MAKING CONNECTIONS! - Step 3 Write down your purpose on your
notemaking guide. - For paragraph 1 How are the languages used by
your students represented and evaluated
throughout your school? What are the
implications of this representation for
multilingual students social identity
construction at school? - For paragraph 2 How are the cultures of the
students at your school related to the
curriculum? What are the implications of this
approach for multilingual students social
identity construction at school? - For paragraph 3 How are the linguistic and
cultural resources of your students integrated
into the curriculum content/classroom teaching
and learning? What are the implications of these
choices for multilingual students social
identity construction at school? -
16Expert jigsaw with notemaking guide (cont.)
- Step 4 Get together with the other two or three
members of your group that read the same
paragraph. Share your notes. Appoint a group
leader that will report a) the purpose of your
reading, b) what the authors say, and c) the
connections you make with your context. - Step 4.5 Get together in a group of at least
three people and no more than six people that
includes at least one representative of group 1,
2, and 3. First the ones, then the twos and then
the threes report out, first reading aloud their
purpose, then the important facts, then the
connections they made. - Step 5 Read aloud the concluding paragraph. RF
shares example of how multilingual identities are
socially constructed at Oyster Bilingual School.
17How are multilingual identities socially
constructed at Oyster Bilingual School?
- An alternative educational discourse that aims to
position Spanish-speaking students more or less
equally to English-speaking students. - This ideological orientation (pluralist/resource)
is reflected in all of Oysters policies and
practices. - Dual language program (50 Spanish/50 English)
every subject taught in two languages - Curriculum content reflects histories,
contributions, perspectives of students at school
(primarily Latino, African American, and European
American - Materials authentic materials in two languages
in classes and library - Student-centered, student-directed classroom
interaction inquiry-based, problem-posing
approach - Authentic assessment for linguistically and
culturally diverse students - All communication to parents in two languages
- All students gain the ability and the right to
participate in the school discourse, and all
students achieve more or less equally.
18Expert jigsaw with notemaking guide (cont.)
- Step 6 Return to your small group and generate
a one-to-two sentence summary of the article
where it says summary. - Step 7 Extension activity ? Continue the
investigation at your school using the guiding
questions (on p. 6 or your loose handout).
19Extension Using the guiding questions for
reflection and action
- How can a schools discourse practices position
multilingual students relative to the mainstream
students and community? - Policies and accountability requirements?
- Program structure?
- Curriculum content?
- Materials?
- Classroom interaction?
- Assessment practices?
- Unofficial classroom/school discourse?
- School/community relations ?
20Carousel
- Step 1 In your smaller group, answer the
following questions about your focal aspect of
the school discourse system. - How can YOUR FOCUS position multilingual
students negatively relative to the mainstream
students and community? - How can YOUR FOCUS position multilingual
students more or less equally to the mainstream
students and community? - Write your answers in the form of a T-chart on
poster paper and post it in the designated part
of the room. Be specific and be prepared to
provide details!
21School environment
- Negative positioning of ELLs
- Positive positioning of multilingual students
- Languages other than English are invisible or
negatively evaluated - Cultural contributions of students other than
native speakers are invisible, or negatively
evaluated
- Languages and cultural contributions of students
and community are visible and audible - In student work on the walls in the halls and in
the classroom - Materials in library
- In content-area instruction
- In school-home-community partnerships
22Curriculum content
- Negative positioning of ELLs
- Positive positioning of multilingual students
- Standardized
- Eurocentric
- Skills-based
- Culture as a lesson or a subject to be taught
(noun) - Linguistic and cultural backgrounds of students
invisible or marginalized
- Multicultural ? includes perspectives, histories,
contributions of groups in school/community/world - Culture as an integral part of curriculum, a
human-rights issue, a social reform movement, a
multi-faceted framework for action (verb) - Power relations are focus of study and action
- Cultural funds of knowledge as a basis for
content area instruction
23Language policy? Program Structure
- Negative positioning of ELLs
- Positive positioning of multilingual students
- No language policy
- No mention of languages that students
speak/cultural expertise they bring to school - ESL only type of language education program
offered for ELLs - ESL teacher exclusively or largely responsible
for education of ELLs (mainstream teachers not
held responsible) - Rapid transition from ESL program to mainstream
program encouraged, without giving time needed to
develop academic English
- Written language policy that is understood and
supported by all - Clear language-as-resource orientation
- Additive bilingualism, multilingual literacies
promoted to the greatest degree possible (mother
tongue classes/programs for ELLs community/world
language programs for English speakers) - Professional development for mainstream teachers
and administrators so they have knowledge and
skills to address needs of multilingual students
in international school.
24Classroom interaction
- Negative positioning of ELLs
- Positive positioning of multilingual students
- Transmission of knowledge Teacher-fronted
- Teacher-dominated
- Lecture format
- IRE routines (initiation-reponse-evaluation)
- L1 invisible
- ELLs marginalized
- Social construction of knowledge
- Student-centered, student-directed
- Cooperative learning, reciprocal teaching
- Inquiry-based, problem-posing
- Variety of interactional routines with students
using language for wide range of purposes - L1 used as resource in and goal of learning (e.g.
preview/view/review dual language books) - ELLs are actively engaged
25Assessment practices
- Negative positioning of ELLs
- Positive positioning of multilingual students
- Standardized testing? assessment of learning
- Separate from instruction
- English-only
- High-stakes
- Designed for monolingual English speakers ? not
valid or reliable for ELLs - Demonstrate what ELLs lack
- Formative assessments complement standardized
tests? assessment for learning - Integrated with and inform instruction
- Performance-based, in L1 as appropriate
- Designed for multilingual students
- Demonstrate what students know or can do
26Carousel (cont.)
- Step 2 Travel in groups around the room. Read
what is written on each poster, and add to it.
If you have any questions or comments, post them
with a post-it. - Step 3 Pulling it all together.
- A schools policies, programs, practices can
contribute to the reflection and reproduction of
the subordinate status of ELLs relative to
mainstream students at school. - A schools policies, programs, practices can
challenge and potentially transform multilingual
students positions and roles at school and in
the community. - Step 4 Taking action. What action steps can
you take to position multilingual students more
favorably at your school? - Â
27We have choices in the ways that we construct our
educational policies, programs, and practices.
- The choices that we make have important
implications for our students, schools, and
communities.
28Revisiting our objectives
- Negotiating multilingual identities at school
- Sheltered instruction strategies for ELLs
- Theoretical orientation Challenging language
prejudice - Guiding questions for reflection and action
- Identified ways that American or British schools
policies, programs, practices can contribute to
subordination of ELLs - Identified ways that international schools
policies, programs, practices can potentially
transform opportunities for multilingual
students and society
- Before/During/After (BDA)
- Think-pair-share
- Quick-write
- Mini-lesson
- Expert jigsaw with notemaking guide ? literacy
scaffold for expository reading - T-chart ? literacy scaffold for expository
writing - Carousel
29Ticket-out-the-door
- What stood out?
- What did you learn?
- What can you use?
- What questions do you have?