Our Languages: working with sociolinguistics in ESOL a participatory ESOL project and website inspired by the Diasporic Adult Language Socialisation (DALS) project Dermot Bryers, Melanie Cooke, Becky Winstanley Ben Rampton, Lavanya Sankaran
Aims and outline Aims: • to introduce the ‘Our Languages’ project and website materials Outline : • Background to project: the DALS research • Some key terms in sociolinguistics • Our Languages: the course • The website www.ourlanguages.co.uk • Try out activities and materials • Encourage people to try out the website
The DALS research • Part 1: interviews and questionnaires with Sri Lankan Tamils living in London. Interviewees: established first generation, second generation and ‘newcomers’ (although these terms proved problematic) • Aim of Part 1: to find out more about how multilingualism develops in homes and communities shaped by transnational mobility. • Part 2: to explore how this knowledge might inform and benefit the mainstream teaching and learning of English among adult migrants, i.e. in two participatory ESOL classes.
Read more Our Languages draft report: https://www.academia.edu/35839204/WP234_Cooke_Bryers_and_Wi nstanley_2018._Our_Languages_Sociolinguistics_in_multilingual_partic ipatory_ESOL_classes Chapter 5 in Brokering Britain, Educating Citizens: exploring ESOL and citizenship (eds. Cooke and Peutrell, 2019) http://www.multilingual-matters.com/display.asp?k=9781788924610 Paper by Rampton, Cooke and Holmes on linguistic citizenship in the UK context: https://www.academia.edu/35716664/WP233_Rampton_Cooke_and_ Holmes_2018._Promoting_Linguistic_Citizenship_Issues_problems_an d_possibilities
Participatory ESOL • Participatory approaches are not usually planned in advance – the syllabus is emergent, themes and language work come from the concerns of students. • Particular tools and activities are used to draw these concerns themes and language out. • Texts and other materials tend to be used after themes and language have emerged, not before. • More info: English for Action www.efalondon.org
The Our Languages classes Two groups: • Site 1 ; state funded college of further education; intermediate level, 16 students originally from Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Morocco, Burundi, China, Italy. (Previous countries of residence: Spain, Italy, Denmark, Ireland) • Site 2 ; community class based at a primary school; mixed level; approx. 20 students from: Poland, Indonesia, Philippines, Morocco, Algeria, Gaza, Czech Republic, France, Italy, Spain, Colombia, São Tome, Romania, Pakistan, Bangladesh. (Previous countries of residence: Spain, Germany, France, Portugal, Saudi Arabia)
The ‘Our Languages’ course outline • Introduction : what is research? Intro to Sri Lanka, ‘diaspora’ • Session 1 : official language policies in different countries; communicative repertoires. • Session 2 : use of languages other than English in public spaces; domains; codeswitching • Session 3 : 2nd generation learning heritage language, intergenerational issues • Sessions 4 and 5 : attitudes to languages other than English: convivial multiculturalism, language discrimination • Session 6 : using other languages in the classroom vs. English Only • Session 7 : what helps and hinders the learning of English • Session 8 : evaluation
The Our Languages materials website Four main sections : • Ourselves • Our Homes • Our Communities • Our Classrooms Each section consists of : • Two participatory tools • Follow up activities • Two texts (reading or listening) www.ourlanguages.co.uk
Information for teachers on the website • Accessible sociolinguistic concepts relevant for ESOL teachers with a short introductory paragraph explaining each one. • Information about participatory pedagogy, including further reading and training. • Classroom materials and resources for teachers to use, download and print for use in ESOL classrooms. These are adaptable at different levels. • Links to more detailed reading related to sociolinguistics for teachers who want more information.
Why sociolinguistics and ESOL? • Applied linguistics is the main theoretical underpinning of ESOL and EFL, i.e. focus on linguistic system, acquisition of skills. • But the social aspects of language are important for understanding ESOL students who are concerned with: • learning English to settle in the UK • their identities as minoritised speakers of other languages • the status of their first languages/mother tongue in the UK and elsewhere • intergenerational questions about what languages their children should acquire • language and power – how speakers of other languages are valued/judged by majority speakers. • Much theorisation of language and politics is often unavailable to those communities who are theorised (Stroud & Heugh 2004) • An enhanced understanding of sociolinguistic processes should be central to an emancipatory politics for ethnic and linguistic minority communities
Communicative repertoires • Our ability to draw on a range of resources, i.e. different languages, varieties, genres, styles, registers etc. to communicate in different contexts. • Repertoires are biographical and reflect where we have lived, worked and spent time and who we have mixed with. Migration can create an unpredictable mix of linguistic capacities and practices, especially in ‘ superdiverse ’ environments. • Seeing an individual as having a ‘repertoire’ challenges the idea that language competence can only be counted as mastery of discrete and well- formed named languages (‘French’ ‘Urdu’ ‘Arabic’) and the myth that languages are finished products spoken by a native speaker.
Communicative repertoires: The ‘stepping stones’ tool • What is your strongest/first/main language? • If there is not a stepping stone for your language make one (or two or three or…) • Cluster round the language which you regard as your first language/mother tongue • Follow the instructions to move from one stepping stone to another • Reflect on the activity
Your languages? • your main/strongest language(s) • a language you speak well but learned as an adult • a language your parents or grandparents (or great-grandparents) speak but you don’t • a language you can speak ‘a bit’ • a language you can understand but not speak very well • a language you can read but not speak • a language you mix with another one • a language you feel an emotional attachment to
Discuss • What issues/concepts did the activity raise? • anything interesting or surprising? • was the activity/tool effective at raising awareness of linguistic repertoires? • any other ways you can think of to explore this with students? • any follow up activities you could do?
Urdu
Danish Sardo
Spanish
Our Homes Nithya “ I would blame the parents like, not to be harsh but I would blame the parents. If you if- if you’re Tamil and you’re brought up Tamil and you came from Sri Lanka or South India or something and you did not teach your.. children that language, then.. isn’t it - I find- I just ask that question- isn’t it embarrassing for you like you haven’t taught your mother- tongue.. to your children?” Lin
Discuss • What issues do these two listening texts raise? • Do they resonate with you? • What are some of the other issues (practical and theoretical) in the field of intergenerational language transmission, i.e. kids learning their parents’ language(s)? • What activities might you do to explore these issues with your students?
Our Communities • Language map to explore students’ domains • Problem posing with a code (Paulo Freire inspired) to go deeper into the sub-topic of linguicism • Video on the Bullring Market in Birmingham • Newspaper article
Our Classrooms • Speaking wheel • Iceberg (English only in the classroom/lots of languages in the classroom) • Student produced texts • Blog on other languages in class
Benefits of the ‘Our Languages’ project • Highly generative, interesting • Voice • Shifting awareness • Exploring alternatives to existing practices, i.e. using all their linguistic resources in class • English language development • Taking action
Try it out? • We would like to encourage people to try out the materials once the website is finished – hopefully teaching the whole course over a term or an academic year • Feedback
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