Apples - Journal of Applied Language Studies
Apples - Journal of Applied Language Studies is a peer reviewed international Open Access journal housed by the Language Campus at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland. Apples transgresses disciplinary boundaries and invites submissions that broadly relate to issues of language in society. We welcome manuscripts from all areas and fields that discuss linguistic and discursive phenomena and their societal embeddedness, by addressing in/equity, exclusion/inclusion, societal challenges and developments, or language rights.
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This linguistic ethnography compares discourses circulating among civil servants in Norway’s public health and welfare system with the lived experiences of migrant women living with disabilities. The article investigates how discourses and experiences of vulnerability influence organizational and subjective health literacies. Vulnerability emerges as a dual phenomenon: i) a structural phenomenon, discursively racializing, gendering, and disabling subjects and ii) a collective, relational, and deeply embodied experience illuminating the universal nature of vulnerability as a human phenomenon. The first form of vulnerability sheds light on discursively structured inequalities in health and welfare spaces, and the ways that multiple social factors increase subjects’ exposure to health-related risk through lack of access to health information. Moreover, normalizing discourses of vulnerability produce and order knowledge hierarchies, adding more value to scientific, state-directed information than diverse and experiential health literacies. When internalized by subjects rendered vulnerable (in this case migrant women living with disabilities), such discourses may further victimize, pacify, isolate, and exclude, thus obstructing rather than enabling subjects to enact more relevant health literacies for themselves. The second form of vulnerability identified in the study, sheds light on vulnerable experiences not as marginalizing, but universal. Such experiences of vulnerability enable novel forms of microlevel agency – wiggle room – to recast existing knowledge hierarchies and pursue more relevant literacies. A deeper exploration into discourses of vulnerability will contribute to the undressing of epistemic injustices that regulate subjective and organizational health literacies at the intersection of migration and disability in Norwegian welfare and beyond.
Copyright (c) 2021 Ingvild Badhwar https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Building Bridges: Educators’ Perspectives of Mediation in Language Education
Mediation has emerged as a crucial component of language education in response to the growing demand for multilingual, intercultural collaboration, particularly following its inclusion in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). This study investigates how primary school foreign language educators conceptualize mediation and perceive its role in the context of early language education. Data (N = 60) were collected from primary school foreign language educators through an online questionnaire in four countries and analysed using deductive qualitative content analysis. Results indicate that although some educators demonstrate a thorough grasp of mediation, most have only partial or unclear understandings of the concept. Additionally, while mediation is already being incorporated into many classrooms, its role is not fully recognized and carried out. This incomplete understanding suggests the need to broaden educators’ awareness of mediation’s scope and significance in diverse educational contexts. Moreover, the findings underscore the importance of targeted professional development and explicit pedagogical strategies to guide teachers in systematically applying mediation. By revealing that mediation is already present in classroom practices, though not explicitly recognized as such, this study emphasizes the need for a more systematic application of mediation to enhance students’ communicative competence and learning outcomes. The results further point to the growing imperative for teachers to refine their mediation knowledge to better support students in increasingly diverse and multilingual classrooms.
Copyright (c) 2021 Ritva Kantelinen, Laura Fielden Burns, Zainab Elgundi, Kirsi Wallinheimo, Kati Kajander, Mari Kuusimäki , Yali Hu https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Administrators’ views on supporting newly arrived students in Finland
This study examines Finnish municipal-level administrators’ (N = 4) insights on organizing and administering education for newly arrived students. The data were gathered through interviews and analyzed using thematic content analysis. All the municipalities where the participants worked had good practices for preparatory education for newly arrived students. However, variations in these practices indicate that more coherent national guidelines are needed. Post-preparatory education practices were less developed. Overall, there are some effective practices related to organizing and administering education for newly arrived students in Finland, which could be implemented internationally; however, further practices need to be developed to promote educational and social justice for all students.
Copyright (c) 2021 Jenni Alisaari, Raisa Harju-Autti, Mervi Kaukko, Leena Maria Heikkola, Sanna Mustonen, Maria Petäjäniemi https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Building a culture of assessment in the speech of Finnish as a second language teachers
This study examines the construction of an assessment culture in the discourse of teachers of Finnish as a second language and literature at the broad level of the work community. The research material consists of thematic interviews conducted in 2021 (N=9). The interviews have been analyzed by means of interpretative discourse analysis. The construction of an assessment culture is the sum of many elements. In this study, these components are described by three dominant discourses: the discourse of direction, the discourse of goal-direction and the discourse of shared expertise. Based on these discourses, it can be concluded that the construction of an assessment culture should be based on assessment guidelines that are commonly shared in basic education practices. The cornerstone of this is pedagogical participation and open discussion of assessment principles and practices between different members of the working community. This requires a dialogical interaction within the work community. Through this, it is possible to achieve a common assessment culture. A new way of building a culture of assessment requires a new kind of community building, an opening up of assessment concepts, a clarification of curriculum texts and cooperation across disciplines.
Finnish as a second language and literature
Copyright (c) 2021 Helena Vesaranta https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
In this article, translanguaging as a concept is used to study the negotiation of meaning in Mother Tongue Instruction (MTI) in Arabic in a classroom. The case of Arabic makes translanguaging relevant to the diglossic situation between MSA and varieties of Arabic. The aim of this article is to study classroom interaction in MTI Arabic in relation to students’ space for their varied linguistic repertoires. The material used includes fieldnotes, audio recordings from classroom observations in MTI Arabic and one teacher interview. A seamless shuttling between Swedish and Arabic varieties appears. The diglossic situation in Arabic means that while all students need to learn Modern Standard Arabic, the challenges are greater for those students whose language variety differs most from the teacher’s. In this case, the teacher’s Levantine variety was closer to the variety of some students than of others. The critical and creative aspects inherent in translanguaging put issues of student engagement and participation in focus. In this case, the teacher took a central position and students were rather passive, answering questions and completing set tasks. We conclude that the syllabus and teacher education for MTI need to include issues of linguistic variation and, in the case of Arabic, implications of the diglossic situation.
Copyright (c) 2021 Åsa Wedin, Lovisa Berg https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Embodied language learning through engagement in the arts
Copyright (c) 2024 Sofia Jusslin, Niina Lilja, Eeva Anttila https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Enhancing Language Education through Social Robots
This article explores the long-term child-robot interaction (CRI) in the context of robot-assisted language learning (RALL). More specifically, we examined how robot literacy, the ability to have appropriate relations and interactions with a robot, manifested itself in the use of L2 communication strategies in French as a second language (L2). Our primary research question centres on the role of familiarity with the robot and the development of robot literacy through engagement in L2 interaction. We compared the experiences of fourth graders who had interacted with a social robot over a prolonged period with fifth graders without such experience. A usage-based approach to examine L2 oral communication strategies, including conversation management, was employed. The findings revealed that robot literacy positively impacted learners’ willingness to communicate with the robot and their L2 interactional skills. This improved their communication strategies, and understanding of language structures. Unlike previous studies emphasizing the positive impact of novelty in RALL, this study suggests that long-term familiarity might, in fact, benefit the learners more in a one-on-one setting. The research underscores the importance of robot literacy and familiarity in shaping effective engagement and language development outcomes. It contributes to the CRI discourse and highlights the intertwined relationship between technology, education, and societal progress. Overall, the study posits that enhancing robot literacy equips learners with skills to navigate the evolving technological landscape, fostering social and linguistic sustainability.
Copyright (c) 2021 Liisa Peura, Telma Peura, Maarit Mutta https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Modes of positioning agency in academic writing
This study aims to enhance our understanding of agency in academic writing by examining its multidimensional nature. It takes a holistic socio-cultural and narrative approach to agency, viewing it as a dynamic process that is socially situated and includes awareness of one’s actions, goals, and autonomy. The study is based on interviews and drawings from eight bachelor’s thesis writers at a Finnish university. The data is analyzed through positioning analysis, identifying four orientations to writer agency: instrumental, questioning, self-willed, and solitary. The findings highlight the tensions between individuals and the academic community in academic writing and underscore the importance of institutional support. Trust and positioning are identified as crucial elements in the practice of agency. The research suggests that creating self-portraits as an academic writer during the writing process and sharing them with others can be a practical way to position oneself in the academic community and enhance one’s understanding of agency.
Copyright (c) 2021 Kati Rantala-Lehtola, Mirja Tarnanen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
„Das hat die Angehörigen schwer enttäuscht“ - Stimmen und Positionierung der Terroropfer in der deutschen Tagespresse
Die Auswahl und Hierarchisierung unterschiedlicher Stimmen in der Tagespresse ist als ein den sozialen Machtverhältnissen unterliegender subtiler Konstruktionsprozess zu verstehen. Diese diskursanalytische Studie setzt sich zum Ziel, die Präsenz der Opfer des NSU-Terrors und des IS-Anschlags am Berliner Breitscheidplatz in der Presse anhand zweier überregionaler deutscher Tageszeitungen, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung und Süddeutsche Zeitung, sowie deren publizistischen Ablegern zu untersuchen. Nach der Analyse der repräsentierten Stimmen sollen mit Hilfe der Analyse der diskursiven Positionierung nicht nur die im Diskurs erzeugten Subjektpositionen der Opfer aufgezeigt, sondern vor allem die Verbindung zwischen der Hierarchisierung der Stimmen und den Äußerungsmöglichkeiten der Opfer erklärt werden. Aus der Analyse der Stimmen ergibt sich, dass in opferbezogenen Textstellen der Pressebeiträge eher die Stimmen von Politiker:innen als die der Opfer zu erkennen sind. Die Analyse zeigt deutliche Unterschiede hinsichtlich der Hierarchisierung der Stimmen und den Äußerungsmöglichkeiten zwischen den Terrorfällen auf. Diese Studie trägt zur kritischen Medien- und Terrorismusforschung aus linguistischer Perspektive besonders in Deutschland bei, indem sie die medial erzeugten Konstruktionen von Terroropfern in Deutschland betrachtet.
Copyright (c) 2021 Anna-Maija Ylä-Mattila https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Walking and mapping methodologies: creative explorations of people’s relationships with space
This discussion note reflects on the experiences of collaborating to produce a hybrid workshop on walking and mapping methodologies (author 1 & author 2, 2023) building on research, scholarship and teaching in this area that we, the authors, have been undertaking over the past decade. The workshop explored how walking and mapping might be used in educational settings, in particular multilingual and transnational environments in higher education institutions. It brought together multidisciplinary perspectives on ‘space’, drawing on creative inquiry and applied linguistics, linguistic landscapes, and social geography. Our workshop was aimed at anyone with interests in creative approaches to research, particularly those engaged with participants’ lives and interactions within, across, and through space; and we intended to examine the challenges and opportunities of these approaches, including applications in their own research, scholarship and teaching. Here we outline the processes and thinking behind them, in the form of a two-part dialogue. We raise questions for researchers and educators about boundaries between research, teaching and scholarship, in addition to how walking and mapping methodologies might be critically engaged with in higher education.
Copyright (c) 2024 Jessica Bradley, Tim Herrick, Tamás Péter Szabó https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
(Im)mobility, literacies and second language education for adults and adolescents with limited previous education
This special issue draws attention to literacy and basic literacy education for adult and adolescent migrants with limited or no previous school background, who are learning a second language. This introduction addresses issues closely related to literacy education for this group of migrants, namely human mobility and immobility, including both horizontal (geographical and spatial) and vertical (social) mobility, as well as the interrelation between the two. Whereas some people’s mobility is considered a threat that must be regulated and restricted, other people’s mobility is encouraged. While mobility and diversity have always been intrinsic aspects of human societies, it can be concluded that social, economic and technological changes have intensified migration, the movement of artifacts and communication between people over vast distances. As mobility and diversity have increased, theoretical perspectives and research in applied linguistics and education have emerged. In this special issue, we bring together seven studies of second language and literacy education for adolescent and adult second language learners in different contexts, illustrating both similarities and differences between educational domains. The studies were conducted in Canada, Norway and Sweden. We are happy to say that the authors’ efforts have resulted in a body of work that contributes to research on literacies and literacy education for adults and adolescents with limited previous education. It is also our hope that the articles will inspire additional research in the area in the coming years.
Copyright (c) 2021 Annika Norlund Shaswar, Birgitta Ljung Egeland, Jenny Rosén, Åsa Wedin https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Suomalaista viittomakieltä käyttävien kuurojen ja huonokuuloisten nuorten mediankäyttö ja mediaympäristöt sosiaalisina ja kulttuurisina käytänteinä
Tarkastelen artikkelissani 25:n suomalaisen viittomakieltä (SVK) käyttävän 13–28- vuotiaan kuuron ja huonokuuloisen (KHK) nuoren median käyttöä ja tekstikäytänteitä digitaalisissa ympäristöissä sosiaalisina ja kulttuurisina käytänteinä. Lähestyn aihetta ensisijaisesti sosiokulttuurisen tekstitaitoperinteen (Uudet lukutaidot, New Literacy Studies, NLS) näkökulmista. Tutkimuskysymykset ovat: Mitä medioita ja mihin tarkoituksiin KHK-nuoret käyttävät niitä? Millaisiin käyttäjäryhmiin nuoret ovat jaoteltavissa? Tulokset osoittavat, että KHK-nuoret ovat mediankäytöltään ja monilukutaidoiltaan heterogeeninen ryhmä, jossa ilmenee kielellisiä, kulttuurisia ja yksilöllisiä eroja. KHK-nuoret ovat jaettavissa mediankäyttö- ja lukutavoiltaan kolmeen ryhmään: 1) visuaalinen ja viitottujen kielten lukija, 2) monikielinen lukija ja 3) puhuttujen kielten lukija. Näiden ryhmien piirteitä voidaan tarkastella kieli- ja lukutaitojatkumolla, joiden päissä painottuvat eri kielet ja modaliteetit. KHK-nuoret lukevat media-arjessaan useita erikielisiä tekstejä monenlaisissa digitaalisissa ympäristöissä. SVK:n lisäksi he lukevat ja viittovat usein muitakin viitottuja kieliä ja kansainvälistä viittomista (International Sign). Mediaympäristöjen saavutettavuus, viittomakielisten tekstien ja ympäristöjen saatavuus sekä KHK-nuoren kieliin, kulttuuriin ja kuulostatukseen kytköksissä oleva lukijaprofiili ovat vuorovaikutteisessa suhteessa ja vaikuttavat myös nuoren toiminnan mahdollisuuksiin. Kotimaisen rajallisen viittomakielisen mediatarjonnan vuoksi KHK-nuoret lukevat usein ulkomaisia viitottuja mediasisältöjä, useimmiten kansainvälisellä viittomisella tai amerikkalaisella viittomakielellä. Tekstitys koetaan tärkeänä osana erityisesti audiovisuaalisissa mediasisällöissä, mutta sen tarjoamat hyödyt puhutuissa sisällöissä eivät ulotu kaikkiin KHK-nuorten lukijaryhmiin. Tekstitys koetaan tärkeänä myös viittomakielisissä mediasisällöissä, sillä KHK-nuorten SVK-lukutaito ei aina ole riittävä tavanomaisella sujuvuudella tuotettujen viittomakielisten mediatekstien lukemiseen eri aihepiireistä, ja myös suomenkieliset tekstit tuottavat osalle KHK-nuorista vaikeuksia. Mahdollisuudet monilukutaitojen oppimiselle eivät siten Suomessa jakaudu tasaisesti.
Copyright (c) 2021 Ulla Sivunen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
This paper examines students’ practices in becoming bilingual experts. Students study in bilingual bachelor’s degrees (Finnish-Swedish) at the University of Helsinki. The research questions are: 1) What practices do the students engage in to promote language and content learning? 2) How are language ideologies and perceptions of language learning reflected in student practices? 3) How do learning environments, including teachers’ practices, guide and regulate students’ practices towards bilingual expertise? The data consist of observations during the lessons as well as interviews immediately after the lessons. The data were analysed qualitatively. The main theoretical concepts are content-based language learning, bilingual expertise, language ideologies and the learning environment. The analysis shows that many students pro-actively seek opportunities to enhance and practise their “weaker” language. However, students’ language ideologies, attitudes, and perceptions of what it is to ‘know’ and ‘learn’ a language affect the practices they engage in. In this context, the different status of Finnish and Swedish in the society plays a role as well. The students call for student-centred, engaging teaching methods that offer a safe environment in which to practise one’s expert voice in different languages. The students are mostly content with the language support offered by the Language Centre, but the timing of the support is not always ideal. Integrated language and content courses with co-teaching were mentioned as a desirable practice.
Copyright (c) 2021 Dragana Cvetanovic, Heini Lehtonen, Åsa Mickwitz, Auli Toom https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Developing linguistically and culturally aware pedagogies is essential in increasingly diverse countries, such as Finland, thus needing more attention in teachers’ preservice education. This article focuses on physical education (PE) students’ views on their future profession and how these views may expand toward cultural and linguistic awareness. In addition, it explores how Finnish as a second language (F2L) teachers view their roles and tasks and how they apply embodied and arts-based pedagogies in their language classes. The notion of expanding professionalism is a central concept in this study. It entails attending to teachers’ social responsibilities. In addition, the theoretical framework includes a discussion of embodied pedagogy and language as a multimodal phenomenon. The context is a mandatory equality course in a PE teacher program at a Finnish university. The course included fieldwork where the PE students practiced embodied and arts-based language pedagogies. Drawing mainly from approaches to performative writing, the authors approach the research material and present their findings in narrative form. Based on the study, both PE students and F2L teachers appear to be aware of the need to expand their professional competences and consider embodied and arts-based approaches to be important in teaching language. However, future teachers need courage and skill in embodied and multimodal pedagogies. Moreover, they expressed an awareness of teachers’ social responsibilities within the increasingly complex societal situation. The authors conclude that embodied and arts-based approaches are key to developing culturally and linguistically aware PE. Such approaches have great potential for educating all future teachers.
Special issue: Arts and Embodiment in Language Education
Copyright (c) 2024 Mariana Siljamäki, Eeva Anttila https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
In this article, we review literature on epistemic oppression and justice for colleagues in the area of applied language studies. Based on this, we develop the concept of transknowledging as an entry point for epistemic justice. We draw from personal accounts and experiences as language scholars to consider an epistemic ecosystem of knowledges that challenges monolithic conceptualizations of how knowledge is created, engaged, and shared. In this process, we argue for more horizontal forms of embracing and celebrating knowledge while disobeying, dismantling, and decolonizing currently dominant modes of thinking. Transknowledging, for us, points to a praxis-oriented, transdisciplinary, and transformative understanding of knowledge processes. We consider the ethical, social, and linguistic dimensions of knowledge, keeping in mind that knowledging is not a neutral endeavor but rather influenced by power dynamics and social structures throughout times and places. We envision transknowledging as the process of acquiring and negotiating knowledge by actively transgressing disciplinary boundaries, subverting colonial knowledge frameworks, and working towards societal transformation in the pursuit of a holistic understanding of diverse beings in relation to others and the space we share.
Copyright (c) 2024 Johanna Ennser-Kananen, Sanna Riuttanen, Yecid Ortega https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Exploring mediagrams as a visual tool to encourage teacher critical multilingual awareness through parent-school interaction in Norway
Teachers hold a key position for processes of inclusion and exclusion in parent-teacher relationships. Through teachers’ critical analysis of their own contributions in these processes, inclusion can be enhanced. This article explores how a visual representation of a person’s linguistic and media repertoires, a mediagram, can foster such teacher critical awareness. More specifically, it investigates the research question: How can mediagrams contribute to teachers’ critical awareness related to existing language ideologies in parent-teacher interaction in multilingual settings? To answer this question, an innovative use of the mediagram, where pupils and parents created a shared mediagram, is presented and discussed. Qualitative in-depth interviews with three teachers and four parents who took part in the activity are analysed. Interviews with the teachers are explored in terms of different dimensions of language awareness before and after implementation of the mediagram activity, while interviews with parents complement the teachers’ perspectives with parents’ perspectives. The study shows that the mediagram has promising potential to enhance teacher critical multilingual awareness in an extended understanding of the concept which also includes digital resources in interaction. Yet, it also points to important discrepancies in the parents’ and teachers’ evaluations of the tool.
, teacher critical multilingual awareness
Copyright (c) 2021 Hilde Thyness https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Å tenke med Polanyis kunst- og kunnskapsfilosofi
Taking the Hungarian scientist and philosopher Michael Polanyi’s theoretical framework as a point of departure, this article investigates how the language promoting and developing potential of metaphors may be utilized in classroom teaching. Polanyi sees the metaphorical expressions in poetry and art, and in general the imagination’s ability to synthesize the otherwise ambiguous and chaotic elements of life, as equally valid modes of knowledge as those of science. His most important discovery is the structure of tacit knowing. This structure is described as a “from-to knowing”. By this Polanyi means that what we have in focal awareness, as in a metaphorical expression or an artwork, always bears upon something we are “only” subsidiarily aware of, as for example the tacit understanding of the semiotics, bodily sensations, life-world experiences or historical and theoretical facts. This article investigates three aspects of “from-to knowing” as embodied in art: the functional, the phenomenal and the semantic. The ontological aspect is inferred from these three. Through empirical studies of how teachers and senior college students in upper secondary Nordic classrooms attribute values to metaphors and artworks, the article investigates how the concepts of Polanyi reveal the language learning potential specifically of literature, in “real” teaching and learning contexts. Polanyi´s viewpoints on intentionality, “being in the world” and embodiment intersect with views expressed by other phenomenologists. However, we find that Polanyi´s unique contribution to phenomenology in general, and literature education specifically, is that it gives profound insights into the structure of intentionality that is particularly helpful in making us understand the complexity of levels at work in literature.
Copyright (c) 2024 Elin Aaness, Nikolaj Elf https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Language learners’ drawings and textual commentaries as a way to envision goals and aspirations for future language use
Written and spoken language are not the only ways to illustrate thinking. Incorporating arts-informed and multimodal ways to communicate can offer new insights for higher education language teaching and learning practices. This study investigates how Finnish as a second language students’ drawings as visualizations support an arts-informed approach to knowledge production in the initial years of language learning and proficiency in higher education in Canada. Further, it explores how students of Finnish represent their aspirations and objectives for their future language use and study through these embodied visualizations. The article focuses on how students visualize their aspirations to learn and use language without having to look for support from English. Grounded in reflective arts-informed language pedagogy, this study employs multisemiotic content analysis to examine a selection of students’ drawings. Through drawing, students visualize their imagined potential selves as future language users in different situations, activities and tasks and with different people. While language learners traditionally express their thoughts through oral and written language, and commonly in English, this study shows that drawings offer an alternative and artistic avenue for knowledge transmission and communication in the early stages of the language learning trajectory. Through reflective research practice, his study also addresses some implications of integrating arts-informed teaching and learning practice into second language pedagogy, encouraging instructors to adapt arts-informed teaching methodologies to align with students’ individual learning trajectories.
Copyright (c) 2024 Anu Maarit Muhonen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
This article focuses on the meaning of art in embodied language learning. It tackles questions about how art works, what art is good for or—as the heading states— What's art got to do with it?​ The connection between language and embodiment has been established, and the role of art in enhancing learning in various ways has been discussed widely. While this article acknowledges the claims on the educational power of art in existing literature, the guiding question of how art works—especially in educational situations related to language learning—is deliberately open regarding assessable (language) learning outcomes. The article begins by discussing the author’s methodological approach that draws from the notions of sense, sensing, and seeing. This discussion is followed by sections on language, including (trans)languaging, art, and arts education. The author then moves towards practice and, within it, the notion of ‘glowing’ moments, in which she leans on her earlier work related to ‘physical expressive space’​ and the methodological approach and theoretical concepts presented earlier. She takes a closer look at a videotaped excerpt from an art pedagogical project, in which she attends to its material, sensory, and affective elements. Through this inquiry, the author proposes that the notion of (trans)languaging is pivotal to understanding and articulating how art works in educational situations related to language learning and beyond. In closing the article, the author asserts that artistic practice is (trans)languaging and further, that arts education is language education.
Copyright (c) 2024 Eeva Anttila https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The frictions and blessings of doing community arts in schools with multilingual pupils
Ethical reflections are integral to community art, which aims for equitable encounters and collaboration. However, the reality in which many community art projects are conducted creates friction with this aim. The asymmetrical positions of artists and participants and the sometimes limited possibilities for participants to regulate their participation, especially in formal education settings, pose challenges that must be addressed. This article analyses ethical challenges in facilitating community arts projects in primary schools. Data was collected from two projects with multilingual preparatory-class pupils led by two dance and community artists in collaboration with a class teacher. The projects aimed to engage pupils in artistic processes and facilitate Finnish-language learning through participation in artistic activities. Using autoethnographic methods and thematic analysis, we examined the ethically important moments reflected in our work diaries. These often unpredictable and fleeting everyday moments are seemingly unrelated to ethics; however, they have the potential for ethical concerns as they entail the possibility of wrongdoing. We explore critical ethical considerations and possibilities in artistic processes within educational contexts, aiming to offer new insights into the factors influencing such processes.
Copyright (c) 2024 Riina Hannuksela, Angela Aldebs, Niina Lilja https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The aim of this study is to describe and discuss the unique motivational characteristics of adult immigrants and refugees learning Greek as a second language, characteristics related to the concept of investment in second language learning, based on the results of a qualitative study carried out in non-formal educational settings. Seventeen (17) participants attending Greek lessons in non-formal educational settings in Athens, Greece, were interviewed through semi-structured interviews. The data obtained was analysed using thematic analysis. The students were asked about the reasons they are learning Greek and what motivates them to invest in studying the language. The results of the thematic analysis show that the main motives driving the participants to invest in learning Greek in the research settings were threefold: instrumental, integrative, and related to the L2 learning environment. Learning Greek was considered as a chance that could lead to greater job opportunities, empowerment, and greater integration into the host society. Additionally, the results highlight the fact that the atmosphere in the specific educational settings being very friendly and relaxed was very important for the participants and enhanced their desire to invest in learning Greek in the specific settings. Finally, the social aspect was also significant for the immigrants and refugees, who considered participation in the classes as a means of greater socialisation with both locals and other immigrants. The study highlights that non-formal settings are better suited to migrants/refugees’ learning needs and can promote the social inclusion of vulnerable groups and their integration into the host society.
Copyright (c) 2024 Marina Mogli https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The present study explores the impact of the choice of language in tests for girls’ academic performance at monolingual primary and secondary schools in Sub-Saharan Africa. For that purpose, students in grades 3, 6, and 10 (140 girls and 139 boys) from schools in rural Senegal were given a test consisting of three mathematics problem-solving tasks. They were randomly divided into an experimental group if they received the test in a local language, their mother tongue (Sereer for grades 3 and 6, and Joola for grade 10), and into a control group if they received the test in French, the unique language of instruction in the traditional Senegalese public education system. The findings suggest that using a local language familiar to students may contribute to girls’ attainment at school: Girls in the experimental group in grades 3, 6 and 10 outperformed girls in the control group, therefore narrowing the existing gender gap in education. The present study also explores the application of Cummins’ (1979, 2009) theories of language acquisition: The data shows that girls might take advantage of bilingual education systems that promote the transfer of language skills and knowledge. The results presented in this paper show the benefit of introducing local languages familiar to students in the education system of Senegal and other Sub-Saharan countries where only a European language is employed as the language of instruction, especially for girls, by improving their academic performance and contributing to gender equity in education.
Copyright (c) 2024 Alexandre Martin-Chazeaud https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
A schoolscape in the north of Sweden. Visual representations of the national minority languages Finnish, Meänkieli, and Sami
This study investigates how a compulsory school, catering for students from the preschool class to grade nine in the north of Sweden, visually opens spaces in the schoolscape for multilingualism involving the national minority languages, Finnish, Meänkieli, and Sami. The analysed material consists of photographs of language-related images, objects, symbols, and written texts in the school’s common spaces such as entrances, corridors, and stairwells. Geosemiotics is used to analyse discourses and representations of languages in the school environment. Furthermore, the connections between discourses in the schoolscape and the larger context of national policy are explored. The analysis reveals that there is a complete absence of representations of multilingualism in significant parts of the examined schoolscape, and that Finnish, Meänkieli, and Sami are treated as temporary elements with the representations tending to become a museum exhibition, despite the school's ambition to recognise and value the three languages. The study thus demonstrates the complexity of the issue and that the renegotiation of national ideology in a local setting is not unproblematic.
Copyright (c) 2021 Theres Brännmark https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
A qualitative study on identity work and positioning of a Swedish-speaking Finn in the Swiss diaspora
This study examines a Swedish-speaking Finn’s identity work and positionings in the Swiss diaspora. Based on a qualitative case study approach this study analyses three interviews with a Swedish-speaking Finn, Lia. Using positioning theory as a framework, six central positions that shape Lia’s identity construction were found: patriotic, distanced, diasporic, settled, emotional, and mediated. These positions manifest through her interactions, linguistic environment, and cultural attachments. They shed light on Lia’s complex relationship with her native Finland and adoptive Switzerland, revealing strategies she employs to negotiate her sense of self. Linguistic resources, social networks, and digital communication are vital tools in her identity work. The findings showed that a broader national, Finnish identity in the diaspora setting overshadowed Lia’s identity as a Swedish-speaking Finn. However, preserving and mediating her mother tongue, Swedish, remained paramount. The study illustrates the experiences of this linguistic minority navigating identity in a non-native setting and highlights the significance of the mother tongue when its use is not self-evident.
Copyright (c) 2021 Jessica Rosenberg https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Multilingual pedagogies ― towards more equitable education?
I scrutinise six multilingual pedagogical approaches (MPA), such as translanguaging pedagogy, language awareness and linguistically responsive teaching, which promise to make education more equitable by encouraging students to employ all their linguistic resources. Equitable education enables the same opportunities and access for everyone and it is reached through practices guided by the principles of social justice, but whether and how these aims are concretely achieved varies from MPA to another. In the analysis, I examine their strengths and weaknesses and ask whether multilingual pedagogy can make education more equitable. For the MPAs, representation of languages, acknowledging students’ language skills and scaffolding access to the academic register are the main instruments in advocating for a socially just school. Some of them acknowledge aspects of cultural or racial inequity, but in general they focus mainly on language(s). Power, empowerment, and criticality are frequently mentioned, but comprehensive discussion on how to address them in school is not provided. Therefore, there is a danger that the multilingual pedagogies will be implemented as supporting celebratory multilingualism. Thus, I argue that the multilingual pedagogical approaches cannot effectively promote equitable practices unless the question of equity is centred and other categories for inequity are recognised.
Copyright (c) 2024 Venla Rantanen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Embodied and arts-integrated languages and literacies education in primary teacher education
Embodied learning and arts integration have recently gained more attention in research on languages and literacies education. Researchers have stressed that teacher education can act as a catalyst for bringing new perspectives on teaching languages and literacies to school practices. This study builds on a workshop series about embodied and arts-integrated languages and literacies education implemented in primary teacher education in Finland. Engaging with posthumanist and rhizomatic theories, the study explored becoming-teachers’ diffractions of opportunities and challenges in using embodied and arts-integrated teaching approaches in languages and literacies education. The study was methodologically conducted as arts-based research, specifically by creating poems with data as an analytical approach. The opportunities and challenges created friction between each other and became intertwined as opportunities-and-challenges. As such, the becoming-teachers recognized their value and adopted a critical perspective on the teaching approaches. Illustrated with four poems, the analysis indicates that the becoming-teachers’ engagement with these approaches set in motion thoughts about opportunities-and-challenges concerning (un)learning conceptions of teaching and learning languages and literacies; balancing pedagogical acts and realities; the friction of differentiating the teaching; and a mixture of (un)certainties regarding future teaching practices. In conclusion, implications for languages and literacies education, as well as teacher education, are discussed.
Copyright (c) 2021 Sofia Jusslin, Kaisa Korpinen, Riina Hannuksela, Charlotte Svendler Nielsen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Bedeutungsaushandlungen in deutsch-finnischen technologievermittelten Bildungsexportverhandlungen
In dieser Studie werden Bedeutungsaushandlungen in deutsch-finnischen Bildungsexportverhandlungen untersucht. Die Studie basiert auf einer Nexusanalyse, in der die Perspektiven situierten Handelns und Diskurse der Bildungsexportverhandlungen untersucht werden. Zu den Forschungsmaterialien gehören Videoaufnahmen von Situationen, in denen ein finnisches Bildungsexportunternehmen sein Produkt für Schulen in Deutschland und Österreich verkauft. Die Studie beleuchtet, welche Art von Bedeutungsaushandlungen sich finden und wie sie während der Verhandlungssitzungen entstehen. Die während der Verhandlungen geführten Diskurse betrafen Produkteigenschaften, technologische Lösungen, Finanzierung, pädagogische Praktiken sowie Benchmarking in Bezug auf die Situation an Schulen in Finnland. Die Analyse zeigt die Komplexität der Bedeutungsaushandlungen, die in einer technologiegestützten Verhandlungssituation geführt werden. Es wird auch deutlich, dass Bedeutungsaushandlungen eine zentrale Rolle spielen, wenn über die mögliche Einführung des Produkts in den Kundenschulen verhandelt wird. Die Studie bietet für den technologiegestützten Bildungsexport neue Perspektiven, die bei der Erneuerung aktueller Praktiken im Bildungswesen und in Unternehmen in diesem Bereich angewendet werden können.
Copyright (c) 2024 Maarit Leskelä https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Teaching literacy to adult migrants in Norway. An interview study exploring teachers' reflections on professional practices
Through an interview study, this article explores teachers’ reflections on professional practices when teaching Norwegian and literacy to adult migrants with little or no previous formal education. Data were collected from ten experienced teachers at three learning centers. The interviews were individual, based on a semi-structured interview guide and conducted on Zoom during the Covid-19 pandemic 2021–2022. The study builds on sociological and pedagogical theories of professional practices in which teaching is seen as a profession between macro and micro challenges. The curriculum for teaching Norwegian to adults is a regulation to the Integration Act, which requires teachers to contribute to an “early integration” and “a lasting connection to working life” in addition to transforming the subject content into forms that works for their group of students. Specific language requirements (CEFR B2 level) to obtain Norwegian citizenship add pressure to the teaching situation. The interview study made it possible to explore professional practices as described by the teachers themselves, from within the profession. The analysis uses Biesta’s (2015) three purposes of education as a lens: qualification, socialization and subjectification. All teachers describe their practices as a matter of balancing between choosing and transforming content and caring for their students. They also act as bridge-builders between the adult migrants in their situation as newcomers and their situation as future citizens of Norway, thus reflecting a strong dedication to their students’ lives as adults in Norway and combining all three of Biesta’s purposes of education in their professional practices.
Special Issue: Literacies in second language education for adults & adolescent
linguistic repertoire as teaching resource
Copyright (c) 2021 Lise Iversen Kulbrandstad, Anne Marit Vesteraas Danbolt https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Towards the adoption of a balanced approach to literacy instruction in LESLLA classrooms in Québec, Canada
The current study reports on an action research project taking place in two Quebec adult education centres and aiming to create learning opportunities for LESLLA learners of French to pursue their literacy development journey beyond the advancement of their technical skills. More specifically, our research objective was to highlight the challenges and affordances faced by the participating teachers during the study in order to show how instructional change in favour of a more balanced approach to literacy instruction can occur during an action research project involving close mentoring for teachers. To do so, we first described the participating teachers’ meaning-focused literacy teaching practices during non-participant observation sessions in four teachers’ classrooms over the course of 6 weeks, totalizing 25 hours of observed teaching practices. Although the vast majority of all practices observed were code-focused, some instances of meaning-focused teaching practices were identified. During two training sessions, these practices acted as a starting point for exploring new meaning-focused practices that were then piloted with their students. We observed that, in the course of an action research project consisting of iterative cycles of reflection, action, and evaluation, implementing activities aligned with a more balanced approach to literacy instruction seems possible among teachers who typically rely on code-focused activities.
Copyright (c) 2021 Catherine Maynard, Suzie Beaulieu, Véronique Fortier, Carl Laberge https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
“I feel like I cannot manage without her”
This study explores how a teacher at a Swedish language introductory school is perceived as a literacy mediator or literacy broker (Brandt, 1998) by a group of migrant adolescents with limited prior formal education. Beyond traditional language acquisition elements like grammar and vocabulary, these students are navigating emergent literacy in a second language while adapting to a new society (Gee, 2005). My research is guided by two main questions: (1) How do the students report that their teacher supports their engagement in literacy practices? (2) What do the students think about the fact that certain literacy practices seem to be enabled while others are hindered? Conducted during the 2017/18 school year as an ethnographic case study in an introductory language class, the investigation utilizes field notes, recorded interactions, field conversations, and formal interviews with nine students. The analysis reveals the students’ appreciation for the teacher’s support in meeting new literacy standards, while also highlighting their acceptance of the devaluation of some prior literacy practices as a strategic choice to facilitate engagement in mainstream society’s literacy practices (Nocon & Cole, 2009; Janks, 2010). The study also discusses the students’ opportunities to express themselves, both in interviews and within the classroom, in connection to these findings. Additionally, the concept of literacy sponsorship is explored in relation to these discussions.
Copyright (c) 2021 Anna Winlund https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0