Whereas there has been much research on language and identity with respect to learners, teachers, and teacher educators, there has been little focus on the identity of the researcher, an important stakeholder in language education. Our research therefore addresses the following question: To what extent can narrative inquiry illuminate the ways in which researcher identity is negotiated in language teaching research? To address this question, we draw on a digital literacy study in multilingual Uganda to narrate how we engaged in our own storytelling, and the process by which we invited teachers to share their experiences of teaching through the medium of English as an additional language in a poorly resourced rural school. Central themes were our attempts to reduce power differentials between researchers and teachers, and our desire to increase teacher investment (Norton, 2000) in our collaborative research project. Drawing on numerous small stories (Bamberg, 2004; Georgakopoulou, 2006), we argue that several researcher identities were realized, including international guest, collaborative team member, teacher, and teacher educator. Our article supports the case that small stories enrich traditional narrative inquiry, both theoretically and methodologically, and make visible the complex ways in which researcher identity impacts research, not only in language teaching, but in education more broadly.
This study explores how, using a multimodal approach to integrating language and content teaching, high school students with limited English proficiency can be supported to engage in rich, complex interpretations of literary works in English and to realize their interpretations linguistically in written academic discourse. Findings suggest that a multimodal approach, in combination with cooperative group work and L1 use, has considerable potential in promoting ELL students’ academic success.
This article discusses research on ESL for the workplace, identifying gaps in the existing literature and promising directions for new explorations. A qualitative study was conducted in one type of program for immigrant women and men in Western Canada seeking to become long-term resident care aides or home support workers. The study examined the linguistic and social processes at work in the education and integration of immigrant ESL speakers into the workforce and the broader community; the issues participants in such programs face; and the insights that can be gleaned for understanding language socialization in this context. Of particular interest was the contrast observed in one such program between the focus on medical and general English language proficiency, as well as nursing skills, and the actual communication requirements within institutions with large numbers of staff and patients who do not speak English, and who, in the case of the elderly, may also face communication difficulties associated with ageing, illness, and disability. Implications for future research and curriculum development are discussed.
W hile we learn languages to communicate, language is not the only or even (at times) the primary mode of communication. These two simple understandings, which underlie the expanding interest of language educators and researchers in multimodality, and underpin shifts in our thinking about discourse, texts, and language pedagogies, are being reimagined to acknowledge the increasing prominence of nonlinguistic modes. This interest is broad-based, extends across international borders and linguistic communities, and entails much more than the simple addition of visual literacy to the crowded lists of skill sets demanded of English language learners. It is driven by more than two decades of research in education, in linguistics and semiotics, and in fields as diverse as Internet and communication studies; it has led those within the field of language education to more explicitly rethink how language is used in contemporary learning contexts and the world beyond. Our own interest in these issues predates the currency of the term multimodality, and is informed by our years as teachers and researchers across a range of geographic, institutional and cultural contexts; by our work with young children, adolescents, and adults; and by our work with learners privileged and those disadvantaged by contemporary socioeconomic and political conditions. We are very pleased, therefore, to be editing this special issue on multimodality.
Uganda is a linguistically diverse nation where plurilingualism is common. Its language education policy dictates that, except in large urban areas, one local language be selected as the medium of instruction (MoI), to Primary 3, transitioning to English MoI, in Primary 4. Yet, as Ramanathan and Morgan () argue, “the practice of policy encourages us, as researchers and teachers, to read between and behind the lines (cf. Cooke, ), to interpret the ambiguities and gaps … that open up moments and spaces for transformative pedagogical interventions” (p. 448). The purpose of this study, conducted in Uganda with five Primary 4 teachers and their coordinator, was to explore such possibilities. It asks: How do subject‐area primary teachers in northern Uganda use local linguistic and multimodal cultural resources as plurilingual pedagogical tools to enhance students' learning in English MoI/TESOL classrooms? What are the challenges and constraints in employing locally available linguistic and multimodal cultural resources to become plurilingual pedagogical tools in English MoI/TESOL primary school classrooms? Three themes emerged: the teachers' exploratory plurilingual practices, students as plurilingual peer tutors, and integrated multimodal and plurilingual instruction. Challenges related to the larger educational cultural context and to local school and classroom conditions are also discussed.
This article discusses research on ESL for the workplace, identifying gaps in the existing literature and promising directions for new explorations. A qualitative study was conducted in one type of program for immigrant women and men in Western Canada seeking to become long-term resident care aides or home support workers. The study examined the linguistic and social processes at work in the education and integration of immigrant ESL speakers into the workforce and the broader community; the issues participants in such programs face; and the insights that can be gleaned for understanding language socialization in this context. Of particular interest was the contrast observed in one such program between the focus on medical and general English language proficiency, as well as nursing skills, and the actual communication requirements within institutions with large numbers of staff and patients who do not speak English, and who, in the case of the elderly, may also face communication
In seeking to better understand English language learners and their imagined identities, which is the central focus of our article, scholars have drawn extensively on the work of Norton and colleagues. This work has foregrounded the language learner as a participating social agent with complex and changing identities. It is this agentive sense of self that is linked, in narratives, to larger socio-cultural and historical social practices. Our interest here lies particularly in the effects of migration on language learners. With this in mind, we advocate that classroom communities be fostered wherein a range of narrative identities, as sense-making practices, are respectfully harnessed as resources for learners of diverse linguistic histories, to create more socially just and responsive "possible worlds".Articles in the recent 2011 Forum section of Narrative Inquiry (vol. 21, issue 2) demonstrate convincingly how narrative and identity work has flourished across different disciplines and diverse research traditions, partly as a result of the wideranging influence of Jerome Bruner (1986, 1991). Interpretation of constructs such as narratives and narrating (Bamberg, 2010) and constructions of self and identity in and across contexts are also of increasing interest to those of us in language education (cf.
The purpose of this article is to propose the use of key visuals as a technique to prepare students to read content text. Based on a specific Language and Content conceptual framework (Mohan 1986), the use of key visuals as a pre-reading strategy acknowledges the role of schema theory in the reading process. This paper describes the strategy; discusses procedures for the construction and implementation of key visuals in content classrooms with examples from the Vancouver School Board Language and Content Project; and, reports briefly the results of an evaluation study which provide tangible evidence of the facilitative effect of key visuals on reading comprehension.
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