This annotated bibliography is reformatted and customized by the Center for Positive Practices. Some of the authors featured on this page include Maria Adelaida Restrepo, Ana Teresa Perez-Leroux, Brian Morgan, Mitsuyo Sakamoto, Christine Raschka, Shelley K. Taylor, Doris Schupbach, Eva Yerende, Aonghas St. Hilaire, and Caroline McGlynn.
(2009). Postcolonial Identity Politics, Language and the Schools in St. Lucia, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. In the postcolonial era, a cultural nationalist movement has sought to elevate the status of St. Lucia's creole vernacular, Kweyol, and with some success–it is now the most visible symbol of St. Lucian national identity. This relatively new development has altered somewhat the historic linguistic status quo between the official, high status English and the historically marginalised Kweyol. Postindependence public debate on the role of Kweyol in the nation has included a focus on a possible expanded role for the language in St. Lucian schools. However, to date colonial language-in-education policy remains unchanged and Kweyol remains officially barred from the classroom. This paper examines colonial educational policy, the development of postcolonial identity politics and the interplay between these politics, on the one hand, and organised efforts and public support to expand Kweyol into the formal educational domain, on the other. [More] Descriptors: Nationalism, Public Support, Educational Policy, Foreign Countries
(2009). "No Vernacular": Tensions in Language Choice in a Sexual Health Lesson in the Gambia, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. The focus of this paper is the small postcolonial country of the Gambia. As in other parts of postcolonial Africa, English plays a major role in the education system. The paper reports on the conflicts and tensions which are evident when "vernacular" languages are used in the classroom. Although the study is based on substantial periods of fieldwork in primary school classrooms in the Gambia, the paper focuses on one particular lesson, in an urban primary school, in which the topic was sexual health. Within this lesson the teacher occasionally breaks the "no vernacular" rule with switches into Mandinka and Wolof. Through an analysis of instances of codeswitching in the lesson, several underlying tensions and conflicts are noted. [More] Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Sex Education, Health Education, Sexuality
(2009). Conclusion: Language and Power "a la" Jim Cummins, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. The conclusion begins with an analysis of the common thread that ties the papers included in this special issue together. The collection hinges on an analysis of issues of language and power in diverse contexts, seen in a perspective "a la" Jim Cummins. Included in the Conclusion is a discussion of how the papers in this collection illustrate or operationalize Cummins' (2001a) empowerment framework. The conclusion also discusses the diverse ways in which the papers examine the influence of societal power relations on educational structures and classroom instruction. Next, the explanatory value of Jim Cummins' empowerment framework is put to the test by evaluating its ability to account for the wide range of contexts of issues of language and power in the various texts. This is followed by a summary of key lessons learned from what the authors identified as constraints limiting bi/multilingual development in their contexts, followed by an analysis of overarching themes emerging from those constraints. Finally, current options for dealing with the constraints identified are reviewed, and recommendations are made as to promising paths of future research in the study of language and power. [More] Descriptors: Multilingualism, Bilingualism, Action Research, Power Structure
(2009). Conflict and Accommodation in Classroom Codeswitching in Taiwan, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. The concept of "English only" as the best teaching-learning method in English as a foreign language classrooms has been promoted in Taiwan over the last decade. During that time, the concept has been queried and debated. Teachers and learners have come to realise that for beginners and slow language learners, the use of codeswitching in the classroom is both inevitable and necessary. This study examines the use of codeswitching in two freshman English classrooms in a university in southern Taiwan. The two primary aims of this study are: to explore the nature of classroom talk, focussing specifically on how teachers and learners use more than one language to talk around monolingual textbooks and thereby successfully accomplish lessons; and secondly to investigate the conflict and accommodation in the use of languages between teachers and learners in English classrooms. This microethnographic study utilised in-class observations, together with field notes and audio recordings. Additionally, three sets of group interviews were conducted at the end of the semester. The study has found that in order to arouse students' interest in learning English, teachers often choose to switch between English and Mandarin in classrooms. Even though many participants have expressed the view that using English only is the ideal teaching and learning method, the teachers commonly choose to switch codes to unlock the meanings from the monolingual English textbooks, for classroom management and to promote harmony in the classrooms. Students, too, were allowed to use Mandarin and Taiwanese in the classrooms. [More] Descriptors: Classroom Techniques, Language Usage, Classroom Communication, Textbooks
(2009). What Next? Towards an Agenda for Classroom Codeswitching Research, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. In this issue, aside from the introduction, there are six papers on classroom code-switching (CS), covering a wide spectrum of geographic and pedagogic contexts: two from Africa focussing on switching in content subject lessons; two from Taiwan looking at CS in EFL language subject classrooms; and two further papers, one looking at written CS and another exploring CS in UK complementary schools. Diverse though the settings covered may be, they are unified by a shared focus on the pedagogic functions of classroom CS and by a common interest in attitudes to CS, particularly on the part of educational authorities and teachers. This author makes two methodological points on the topic of functions: (1) how functions of classroom CS come to be individuated and identified; and (2) the treatment of CS as a linguistically relatively undifferentiated phenomenon. This article ends with a summary list of suggestions for further classroom-related CS research. [More] Descriptors: Learning Strategies, Foreign Countries, English (Second Language), Code Switching (Language)
(2009). Interrelationships of Non-Formal Mother Tongue Education and Citizenship in Guinea and Senegal, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. Guinea and Senegal are multilingual countries that use French as a language of instruction in the formal educational sector with some significant exceptions. As in many other African countries, such exceptions in Guinea and Senegal, use local African languages primarily in the non-formal sector for a variety of purposes, such as adult literacy and basic education for youth. In this chapter, we examine mother tongue (MT) education as it contributes to a type of citizenship education, focusing on the ways that MT education can, with varying degrees of effectiveness, redefine local communities and forge alliances with communities of near and distant places and at local, regional, national, and global levels. The two case studies presented here, of the N'KO schools in Guinea and the "Ecole Communautaires de Base" programs in Senegal, offer examples of different approaches to MT education and its impact prevalent not only in Guinea and Senegal but also other countries in the immediate region of West Africa and beyond. [More] Descriptors: African Languages, Citizenship, Citizenship Education, Language of Instruction
(2009). Revitalising the Essay in an English for Academic Purposes Course: Critical Engagement, Multiliteracies and the Internet, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. This paper describes a content-based English for academic purposes (EAP) course, "Language and Public Life", and its major assignment, a research essay that critiques media coverage of a current event or social issue. The pedagogical context in which this assignment is realised underpins the forms of critical inquiry expected. The selection of course materials integrates a variety of print- and image-based media, complemented by readings that encourage a multiliteracies framework with which to analyse and compare the various informational domains employed. Other important elements of context are the university setting and the formal expectations that arise in any EAP programme. Drawing on the work of Benesch, the course is conceptualised in terms of critical EAP, a dual strategy in which academic language learning and critical inquiry co-develop, towards the added goal of encouraging English as a second language (ESL) students to question the institutional arrangements in which they are positioned. The final section of this paper provides an example of a student essay. One of the key features of this particular essay is the utilisation of the internet, which offered access to diverse voices excluded in the mainstream media. The implications for the course and critical EAP are then developed. [More] Descriptors: Academic Discourse, Social Problems, News Reporting, Internet
(2009). The English Language, Multilingualism, and the Politics of Location, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. Drawing on Pennycook's frameworks for understanding the global role of English, we discuss the paradoxes of English language usage in what Canagarajah terms "periphery communities" internationally. This analysis is complemented by Canagarajah's work on a "politics of location", which provides powerful insights into a periphery community's local and global investments in English. This notion is explored with particular reference to Norton's work in South Africa and Pakistan, which suggests that creative responses to the dominance of English, whether through codeswitching, appropriation, or subversion, defy essentialist analysis. We argue further that the notion of a politics of location can provide insights into English language usage not only in periphery communities, but also in center communities as well. In this regard, there is urgent need for the ongoing research of such scholars as Cummins, who has sought to better understand the challenges to bilingualism and multilingualism in center communities. [More] Descriptors: Language Usage, Multilingualism, Foreign Countries, English (Second Language)
(2009). Language Transmission Revisited: Family Type, Linguistic Environment and Language Attitudes, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. This article revisits factors in intergenerational language maintenance and shift within the family. It does so through an in-depth analysis of what 14 migrants to Australia from German-speaking Switzerland reported in written life stories and subsequent life story interviews. The participants represent four family types and a wide age range, and they migrated over several decades. Whether they transmitted Swiss German to the children and if so, to what extent, cannot be unequivocally correlated with either the family type or the time of migration. However, participants who migrated and raised their children during a more assimilationist period in Australia tended to transmit their language to a limited degree only or not at all. The analysis of the personal narratives also considers the specific language variety in question (Swiss German) as well as the role of the parents' attitudes and their beliefs about language, bilingualism and language learning. The paper argues that a life story approach is a valuable complement and extension of macro-level research into language transmission, highlighting the diverse experiences and the complexity of the variables involved. [More] Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Migrants, Family (Sociological Unit), Age Groups
(2009). Polite Chinese Children Revisited: Creativity and the Use of Codeswitching in the Chinese Complementary School Classroom, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. The ideology of monolingualism prevails throughout society, including within minority ethnic communities who are bilingual and multilingual. Some minority ethnic communities in Britain believe that the response to the dominance of English language is to replace it with other languages. Complementary schools–language and culture classes organised by minority ethnic communities–often impose a One Language Only (OLON) or One Language at a Time (OLAT) policy. There is still widespread fear of bilingual and multilingual practices such as codeswitching. Drawing on data from a large research project on multilingual practices in complementary schools, this paper examines the use of codeswitching by Chinese-English bilingual children as a symbolic and creative resource. A particular focus is on the tensions between the school ideologies and policies and the actual practices by the teachers and pupils, as well as the differences between the teachers and pupils' language proficiencies and preferences. Examples of codeswitching will be used to show how the pupils resist the OLON and OLAT policies; how they manipulate their language proficiency to undermine the teachers' authority and gain control of classroom interaction; and how they use codeswitching creatively and strategically to push and break the boundaries between the old and the new, the conventional and the original, and the acceptable and the challenging. [More] Descriptors: Multilingualism, Ideology, Language Proficiency, Bilingualism
(2009). Maintaining Two Worlds: The Relevance of Mother Tongue in Brazil's Amerindian Societies, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. This article explores mother tongue awareness among several Brazilian Amerindian societies in contrast with the perception of the importance of the vernacular according to policy makers and academics. The perception of the vernacular as important is discussed in the light of continuing debate among Brazil's educators concerning appropriate educational intervention within traditional societies. Two case studies are presented. One illustrates the Jarawara people's appropriation and use of writing in their own language, even as academics were debating the pros and cons of literacy for an oral society. The Jarawara incorporated writing into their culture in an unique manner, communicating with each other in ways that oral communication inhibited for cultural reasons. The second illustrates the Xerente's perception of their written language as a means of cultural affirmation and resistance in opposition to the majority culture. These two cases represent opposite poles on a continuum in the ongoing struggle of traditional societies to find acceptance and equality in Brazil's multicultural mosaic. The studies reveal cultural, sociolinguistic and human factors which must be considered by policy makers if the practical educational needs and aspirations of minority groups are to be respected. Clearly, there are implications for mother-tongue language issues worldwide. [More] Descriptors: Educational Needs, Speech Communication, Native Language Instruction, Written Language
(2009). Individual Differences and Language Interdependence: A Study of Sequential Bilingual Development in Spanish-English Preschool Children, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. The purpose of the current study is to examine language influence in sequential bilinguals. Specifically, this study evaluates whether performance in a first language predicts success in the acquisition of a second language nine months after exposure to the second language begins. Forty-nine Spanish-speaking children attending English-only pre-kindergarten classrooms participated in the study. Children were assessed in Spanish at the beginning of the school year using the Spanish version of the Bilingual English Spanish Assessment (BESA), MLU in words, and a lexical diversity measure, D, obtained from a language sample. Nine months later, children were assessed in English using the English-BESA. Analyses indicated significant correlations between semantic and grammatical measures across languages. Stepwise regression analyses found that grammatical and semantic measures in the first language robustly predicted grammatical and semantic measures in the second language. We propose that native language skills predict the success in second language acquisition, not because of linguistic transfer, but by virtue of individual differences in language learning abilities present in typical populations. [More] Descriptors: Semantics, Grammar, Individual Differences, Preschool Children
(2009). Conflicts and Tensions in Codeswitching in a Taiwanese EFL Classroom, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. This paper focuses on codeswitching (CS) as a strategy employed by teachers in their EFL (English as a foreign language) classrooms in two commercial "bushibans" or "cram" schools in Taipei, Taiwan. More specifically, we are concerned with the perceived functions of CS in the EFL classroom context and the extent to which these constitute sources of conflict and tension. CS can be evaluated both positively and negatively. Policy makers, at both the national and school level, tend to view CS as undesirable within the language learning classroom, favouring an "English-only" rule. However, the prevalence of CS among experienced teachers seems to suggest that it has some positive function in the educational process. Functional and temporal analysis of transcribed classroom interactions reveals the strategic ways in which the teachers use CS to shape and guide their classes. We conclude that "English-only" is a lazy rule in that it means that we do not have to think about when and where CS is valid and useful and where and when it is pedagogically invalid and less than useful. [More] Descriptors: Foreign Countries, English (Second Language), Code Switching (Language), Second Language Instruction
(2009). Mother Tongue First Multilingual Education among the Tribal Communities in India, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. India's rich multilingual, multicultural society creates a complex challenge to the Government as it attempts to address the educational needs of its tribal communities. Although access to schools has increased and enrolment rates are improving, the dropout rates are still alarmingly high and achievement levels are low compared to their non-tribal counterparts. One of the reasons for this is that education is conducted in a language they do not understand using an unfamiliar cultural context. Research has demonstrated that an education which begins in the mother tongue and builds competence in the second language before using it as the medium of instruction, thus reducing the linguistic and cultural barriers faced by students when entering school, is a key component in increasing the educational attainment of speakers of minority languages. In order to address these challenges the governments of several states in India have chosen to develop and implement education programmes using the local languages, tribal context and environment in several of their minority-language communities. This paper outlines the processes used in creating multilingual education programmes in an attempt to offer an improved quality of education and examines the challenges to success and sustainability. [More] Descriptors: Educational Needs, Native Language Instruction, Dropout Rate, Educational Attainment
(2009). Steps Forward and New Challenges: Indigenous Communities and Mother-Tongue Education in Southern Africa, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. Two international conferences held in southern Africa in 2005 gathered education and language experts to discuss practical, theoretical, and political aspects of the development of African languages for education. Despite the diversity of the participants, there was unanimous agreement that the economic and social benefits of providing mother-tongue education far outweigh the costs. Furthermore, the predominant view was that mother-tongue education in minority languages should be seen as valuable in its own right, and not merely as a bridge to the dominant language, and that it should continue beyond the first few years of schooling. These meetings represent a major step forward, ushering the movement toward mother-tongue education into a new phase of priority and collaboration. However, with this new phase come new challenges. As the movement toward mother-tongue education gains steam, and as national governments, local and global non-government organizations, and international donors get on board, we must remain attuned to the need for projects that are flexible, process-oriented, and firmly embedded in the communities they aim to serve. Using an innovative mother-tongue education project in Namibia as a case study, this paper highlights some important considerations and potential pitfalls. [More] Descriptors: African Languages, Language Dominance, Language of Instruction, Foreign Countries