Collaboration and Co-Construction of Knowledge During Language Awareness Activities in Canadian Elementary School

Abstract

Drawing on Language Awareness (LA) approaches developed for francophone classrooms and a sociocultural theoretical perspective on language and learning that posits the genesis of new knowledge construction is situated in social interactions and shaped by socio-historical context, we conducted a small-scale case study of the implementation of LA activities in elementary school. Fieldwork practices included observing and videotaping classroom interactions among French Immersion students in Vancouver and students from the mainstream francophone programme and classes d'accueil in Montreal, individual and focus group interviews with students, and collecting relevant documents for context descriptiori. In this paper, our analysis of data demonstrates how LA activities enabled teachers to engage students in focused discussions about language diversity and fostered the emergence of a community of learners who had access to a repertoire of languages that expanded beyond official languages. We examine how collaborative LA activities encouraged students to draw on collective language resources to approach languages unknown by the majority. We argue that valuing and sharing knowledge of diverse languages in classroom discussions fostered the discursive co-construction of new knowledge about the evolution of languages, relationships between languages, as well as a critical stance on the relative status of languages.

Foundation for Learning: Engaging Plurilingual Students' Linguistic Repertoires in the Elementary Classroom

“…Key principles of a plurilingualism‐inspired pedagogy include the recognition of students' unique linguistic repertoires, the promotion of plurilingual language practices, and the transfer of skills between languages (see, e.g., García & Sylvan, ; Piccardo, , this issue). Most importantly, effective classroom instruction will draw upon the full range of students' linguistic repertoires and diverse histories as a foundation for learning (Blackledge & Creese, ; Cummins & Early, ; Dagenais, Walsh, Armand, & Maraillet, ; Marshall & Toohey, ). To these principles, we would add the idea that instruction that affirms students' identities exerts a significant impact both on their self‐image and the quality of their language learning (Cummins, ; Norton & Toohey, ).…”

Preschool world language learners’ engagement with language: what are the possibilities?

“…For example, projects in South Africa (Janks, 1999;, South America (Leal, 1998), Europe (Candelier, 2003;Carter, 1990;Perregaux, De Goumoëns, Jeannot, & De Pietro, 2003), and Canada (Armand, Maraillet, & Beck, 2004;Dagenais, Walsh, Armand, & Maraillet, 2008) highlight the range of practical means through which LA-raising goals have been addressed and the variety of learning contexts in which LA is viewed as potentially useful. Among these, only the Canadian Elodil project describes activities for developing LA in preschool-aged learners (Armand, 2011).…”

“…A handful of studies adopt a process orientation and look to classroom discourse and interaction in an attempt to analyse how LA develops (e.g. Dagenais et al, 2008;Razfar & Rumenapp, 2012).…”

A Case of Generativity in a Culturally and Linguistically Complex English Language Arts Classroom

“…Heather's belief that her students needed a curriculum that positioned them as knowledgeable experts by drawing on their cultural knowledge was aligned with research on effective teaching in CLCCs (Ball, Skerrett, and Martínez, forthcoming;Dagenais et al 2008;Lee 2006). However, within her culturally responsive approach, Heather also emphasized the traditions of English teaching (Applebee 1974).…”

“…Research also demonstrates the importance of engaging students in reading and discussing scholarship about language ideologies and sociolinguistics (e.g., Dagenais et al 2008;Godley and Minnici 2008); and teaching linguistically diverse students to code switch, both orally and in writing, to promote meaning making and communication. These practices expand, rather than subtract from, students' cultural and linguistic identities (Greene and Walker 2004;Lotherington 2007;Moore-Hart 2004).…”