Facilitating agency and engagement: Visual methodologies and pedagogical interventions for working with culturally and linguistically diverse young people

Abstract

<jats:p> The 21st century has brought rapid global change to the cultural and linguistic landscape of many nations; this rapidly changing landscape has prompted educators to argue that the lived and evolving reality of contemporary classrooms demands a re-examination of current curriculum, pedagogies and assessment practices. Australian classrooms now include young people who speak many different languages and dialects of English; these young people draw on multiple ways of learning and understanding and are increasingly mobile and connected across time and space. Over the last two decades, rather than building on this linguistic diversity Australia’s national assessment program has relegated difference to a problem fixed by further commitment to standardized English curriculum and assessment practices. In this environment, attention is given to what is perceived as limited or lacking in young people’s knowledge of the English language and literacies practices most valued in school. This article presents research that aimed to acknowledge and build on the foundational linguistic resources of young people in super-diverse mainstream primary classrooms through the application of visual methodologies (language mapping) and corresponding pedagogical work. This research, undertaken in Western Sydney, one of the most diverse regions in Australia, offers possibilities for perpetuating and fostering a pluralist present and future in 21st century classrooms. </jats:p>

Plurilingualism and language and literacy education

“…Young people are producing multilingual, multimodal texts that include, for example, drawing and mapping, music and drama, video, and creative works and performances (e.g. Choi & Slaughter, 2021;Cummins & Early, 2011;Dutton & Rushton, 2021;D'warte, 2021;Ollerhead et al, 2020;Slaughter & Cross, 2021).…”

University Instructors’ Enactment of Professional Agency in Teaching Spoken English as a Foreign Language

“…Previous studies on teacher agency have broadened its connotations and manifestations by incorporating socio-cultural perspectives and life course notions, explored teacher agency from the perspective of the interaction between teachers' personal attributes and social contexts, and provided an effective approach to probing into teachers' inner voices and understanding teachers' experiences. Teachers' cognitive factors have been analyzed from multiple dimensions such as beliefs, efficacy, agency, and emotions (Billett, 2007;Imants et al, 2013;D'warte, 2021). Among these studies, teacher agency is a critical concept within the literature on professional learning and development (Goller and Paloniemi, 2017).…”

Drawing on students’ diverse language resources to facilitate learning in a Japanese–English bilingual program in Australia

“…In 2017, a whole-school professional learning day was provided to the school by the researcher. Language was discussed in relation to the language practices of the students in a holistic sense, and all the teachers in the school were encouraged to guide their students to visually map these practices (see D’warte, 2013, 2020; Somerville et al, 2016). After participating in this professional learning and engaging their students in the language mapping activities, Nick and Rieko, two English-medium teachers who taught Foundation and Year 5/6 respectively (see Table 1; names are pseudonyms), consented to take part in the study, and prepared a lesson sequence that incorporated their students’ expanded linguistic repertoire.…”