Language and Identity through
Plurilingual Language Awareness Education
in the Nordic and Baltic countries
Heidi Layne & Fred Dervin
Petra Daryai-Hansen
University of Helsinki
Roskilde University
ALA 2014
Learning Spaces for Inclusion and Social Justice:
Success Stories from
Immigrant Students and School Communities in
Four Nordic Countries (2012-2015)
http://skrif.hi.is/Learningspaces/
Prof. Fred Dervin
PhD student Heidi Layne
Project leader:
Hanna Ragnarsdóttir, University of Iceland
Työpajan tavoite
• Kielenopetukseen ja identiteettiin liittyvien
teemojen ja termien pohdintaa
• Teemaan liittyvien projektien ja
opetusmateriaalien esittelyä
Aluksi:
• Teidän ajatuksia kieleen ja identiteettiin
liittyvistä teemoista, kysymyksistä sekä
taoitteista?
ALA 2014
Johdatus teemaan: The story
of a
• A mouse was walking around the house with her baby mouse. All of a
sudden, they heard a cat. The baby mouse was very frightened. The
mother mouse said to her baby: « Don't be afraid. Listen! » And to the
young mouse's greatest surprise, she started barking: « Woof, woof, woof!
» Now, it was the cat's turn to be scared, and it ran off… The mother
turned to her baby and said : « See how useful it is to be bilingual! »
Eine Mausegeschichte
• Eine Maus geht mit ihrem Mausekind durch das Haus. Plötzlich hören sie
eine Katze. Das Mausekind hat große Angst. Die Mausemama sagt zu
ihrem Kind: « Hab' keine Angst und hör mir gut zu! » Vor ihrem erstaunten
Mausekind fängt sie an zu bellen: « Wau wau, wau wau… » Jetzt hat die
Katze große Angst und läuft schnell weg. Da sagt die Mama zu ihrem
Mausekind: « Siehst du, wie nützlich es ist, zweisprachig zu sein! »
ALA 2014
As a starter, how do you understand...
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Language identity
Culture / culturality
Intercultural
Multiculturalism vs. Pluralism
Singular approach to language learning
Pluralistic approach to language learning
Multilingual school
Migrant languages/minority language/
hierarchies
Plurilingual and pluricultural competency
intercultural encounters
Social identity
Non-verbal communication
Representations
• PLURILINGUAL AND PLURICULTURAL COMPETENCE (EU, 2007)
Pluri, understood as "more than two", has quickly revealed itself
in many analyses as a concept of unmanageable and
uncontrollable complexity. It has thus necessitated recourse to a
unifying or dominant authority chosen from inside or outside the
framework of multiplicity. Just as in formerly colonised countries
where large numbers of languages co-exist, the language of the
former coloniser may long remain the language of schooling. In
the same way, in a foreign-language class where pupils are of
many different linguistic origins, this multiplicity justifies exclusive
use of the target language. Similarly, in many countries the
establishment of national unity has historically involved a
reduction in the number of "regional" languages and in specific
cultural features. Multi/pluri (many) sometimes entails an appeal
or return to uni (one). Questions are already being widely asked
about the possible or supposed (dis)advantages of early
bilingualism; one can imagine what suspicions, in terms of the
cognitive health of individuals or the good governance of a
country, might therefore surround the promotion of
plurilingualism (which would cease to be the exclusive preserve of
those exceptional individuals whom common usage describes not
as pluri-lingual but as polyglot).
Pluralism
• Pluralistic approach,
meaning the recognition of
difference, open
curriculums, along with
different intellectual,
political and cultural
perspectives where there is
no single explanation of the
truth (Brooker, 1999).
Pluralistic approaches to languages and cultures
1. Singular approaches, taking account of only one
language or a particular culture and dealing with
it in isolation.
2. Pluralistic approaches to languages and cultures
using teaching/learning activities involving
several (i.e. more than one) varieties of
languages or cultures. (Candelier et al. 2007: 7)
Four pluralistic approaches
Eveil aux langues/ Awakening to languages
(cf. Candelier 2007)
Integrated didactic approach
(cf. Hufeisen/ Neuner 2004)
Intercomprehension between related
languages (cf. Meißner et al. 2004)
The intercultural approach
(cf. Byram 2003)
Bourdieu’s linguistic market
Linguistic capital
Legitimate languages
Languages with positive distinction value
Illegitimate languages
Languages with negative distinction value
Do you agree?
• The intersection of ethnicity and economic
situations tend to prevail in the capital area/big
cities?
• “ghettos”
• Some ‘Finnish parents’ check the schools
beforehand – fears (language!)
• Children of immigrants tend to have lower levels
of school achievement at the end of
comprehensive school than the majority (PISA).
• Problems with language(s) in education
– Not same pressure on everyone to learn Finnish/Swedish –
not same opportunities depending on language
– “encouraged to maintain their own language”
• Home/Heritage language: who decides? Singular?
–
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Plurilingualism of certain immigrants seen as an obstacle
Labels = FSL = Second?
“Segregation”? FSL on A Levels document?
Competent teachers (HL + L2)
Separationalism = avoidance of code-switching and -mixing
– impure!
– Groupism
– Culturalism-Linguism = anthropomorphic ideas (Heinich,
2009)
• Ambiguity around the word “immigrant”
• Immigrants tend to refer to both those who
were born in Finland to migrant parents and
those who were born outside Finland.
• Geographical, ethnic, linguistic biases.
Immigrant identities????
– Uusi suomalainen / Nyir Islendingar
– “””””””colour””””””””””
– Name
– Language
– Social class
– 2nd, 3rd, 100th generation
– Hierarchy among immigrants/languages
– ….
Learning Spaces for Inclusion and Social Justice:
Success Stories from
Immigrant Students and School Communities in
Four Nordic Countries (2012-2015)
http://skrif.hi.is/Learningspaces/
Prof. Fred Dervin
PhD student Heidi Layne
Project leader:
Hanna Ragnarsdóttir, University of Iceland
Background
• Mismatch between shared fundamental values in the Nordic
countries, such as democracy, social justice and inclusion which are
frequently stated in educational policy documents and the reality in
many schools in these countries. Loop holes in educational policies
for language teaching?
• While findings of research in all our countries has revealed the
marginalisation of many students with an immigrant
background, research has also shown that there are some
examples of the opposite, i.e. individual students and particular
schools have succeeded in spite of what could be expected. How is
this related to language hierarchies?
• By mapping current situations in the respective participating
countries, focusing on the success of individual immigrant
students contrary to expectations and good practices in schools we
are better equipped to lay down a roadmap for schooling in our
societies in the 21st century. What could this mean in the framework
for language teaching?
Success?
• Language learning; language as a tool to succeed
• “learn the language” – main marker of integration
– what skills? What level? What achievements? What
objectives?
• Empowered to do what with the language(s)?
– Intersectionality > Language + social class + gender + age +
life experience + religion + individuality!
– Opportunities?
• Language standard (myth of the native?)
• Dichotomy native-non-native = skin colour? Racism?
• Foreigner sin/complex? (Rushdie)
Plurilingual Language Awareness Education
in the Nordic and Baltic countries
Heidi Layne & Fred Dervin
Petra Daryai-Hansen
University of Helsinki
Roskilde University
ALA 2014
What is it about?
• http://www.ruc.dk/institutter/cuid/forskning/
forskningsprojekter/delanoba/httpwwwrucdk
delanoba/
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP7eGRKt
X_Y&feature=related
ALA 2014
The language flower – grade 2 and 3
(Denmark)
Language autobiographie, grade 6
(Demark)
Language autobiographie, grade 6
(Denmark)
Language autobiographie, grade 6
(Denmark)
What did you like about the activity?
(grade 2 and 3)
(Denmark)
Parents perspective on language
learning and on minority
languages/ Turku, Finland 18
respondents
• The languages, that the parents were fluent with
was Finnish, English, French, German, Swedish,
Lingala, Tshiluba and Spanish. In one questionnaire
the respondent has basic skills in Finnish. Other
languages with basic skills were lot of similar to the
languages that some parents were fluent with such
as English, French, German, Swedish, but then also
three parents had basics in Italian language.. There
were 21 set languages in the questionnaire and
then open space for adding other languages.
Lingala and Tshiluba were added to the open space
for other languages.
Parent’s questionnaire: Turku,
Finland
• Languages that parents speak at
home: Finnish, Swedish, French,
Lingala and English.
Parent’s questionnaire: Finland
• The languages that their children
speak in general, and they are:
English, French, Finnish, Spanish
and Swedish.
Parent’s questionnaire: Finland
• Languages parents speak with their
children at home: 16 of the
questionnaires/families the Finnish
language was spoken at home. In 4
questionnaires French was also
mentioned as language spoken at
home, and in one English and in
one Swedish.
Parent’s questionnaire: Finland
-All 18 respondents find that the
other languages support in learning
new languages
-15 respondents do not think that
other languages hinder the learning
of new languages (three were left
blank).
Parent’s questionnaire: Finland
• Languages that their children study at school and
about languages that their children would like to
study at school.
- These children are studying English, French,
Finnish, Swedish and Spanish at school
- The languages that these children would like to
study are mainly the languages they are already
studying at school. On a top of these languages the
parents mentioned that they would like to study
Sign language, German, Italian and Chinese. What
about minority languages?
Parent’s questionnaire: Finland
• According to this survey the
children seem to be little more
interested in the language itself
than the cultures and traditions or
at least their parents see their
interest in this sense.
Parent’s questionnaire: Finland
• The question about the languages used at school
most discussed at home (17)
• Second popular topic was the questions about the
languages in general (16)
• questions about the foreign languages and culture
(14)
• About the languages used at home (13)
• questions about their family roots (13)
• questions about the languages in the family in
general (8)
Parent’s questionnaire: Finland
Parent’s views – pre experience
Parents in Denmark, Iceland (by Samuel Lefever)
and Finland overwhelmingly agree that:
• it is important for children to be introduced to
different languages at school (I: 100%, DK: 95%,
FIN:95%)
• it is important to know a variety of languages
(I: 100%, DK: 95%: FIN95% )
• knowing other languages helps you to learn new
ones (I: 97%, DK: 98%, FIN 100%)
ALA 2014