Navigating Authoritative Discourses in a Multilingual Classroom: Conversations With Policy and Practice

Abstract

Using Bakhtinian concepts of persuasive and authoritative discourse, this study reports on science and English language arts instructional practices in a multilingual, rural, fourth-grade classroom in Kenya. Situated in English as a medium of instruction (EMI) and through the use of case study, the study explores classroom discourse data to illustrate how teachers use instructional practices to reproduce, contest, or navigate prevailing institutional monolingual policies when mediating students' access to literacy and content. By analyzing classroom discourse, the authors argue that restrictive language policies that aspire for fixity disconnect multilingual learners from their daily realities. In contrast, they call for a (re)construction of multilingual pedagogy that capitalizes on the strengths of learners, teachers, and linguistic communities by embracing students' languages and language varieties in language learning and literacy development. In particular, implications are drawn for the use of EMI for emerging bilingual and multilingual learners. The authors identify the need to prepare teachers for a multilingual reality through legitimizing multilingual pedagogies such as translanguaging.

Gender Disparity of Translanguaging in Language Forms—A Case Study of Excellent English Teachers in Chinese Secondary Schools

“…Silverman et al (2017) reported that when learners were beginners or group members shared a language, teachers invited them to co-construct meaning or participate in speech using the learner's native language or shared language; when the group participants had sufficient language knowledge, the teacher used translanguaging to engage students in bilingual conversations. Kiramba & Harris (2019) argued that translanguaging contributed to learners' intellectual and emotional development, social interaction, and academic success. Leonet (2020) found that translinguaging acted as a pedagogical scaffold, enabling students to use a variety of resources to help negotiate meaning with each other, and it allowed them to use multilingual resources to strengthen their identity, promote cohesion, and build harmonious interpersonal relationships.…”

Language‐in‐Education Policies in Japan Versus Transnational Workers’ Voices: Two Faces of Neoliberal Communication Competence

“…The phenomena of multilingualism and plurilingualism have attracted scholars' attention in their research, creating the multi/plural turn (Kubota, 2016b), especially in sociolinguistics (Jaspers & Madsen, 2019). Scholars in TESOL have also discussed plurilingualism (e.g., Taylor & Snoddon, 2013), translanguaging (e.g., Kiramba & Harris, 2019), world Englishes (e.g., Low & Pakir, 2018), and English as a lingua franca (e.g., Matsumoto, 2018), illuminating diverse and fluid language forms, use, and competence. These perspectives question the normative approach to language teaching while shedding light on the multilingual realities beyond English.…”

Transformative interviewing and the experiences of multilingual learners not labeled “ELL” in US schools

“…Research has demonstrated several advantages of encouraging home language use in the classroom (Park, 2013;Reyes de la Luz, 2012;Kiramba & Harris, 2019). Park (2013) showed how a student used a dual frame of reference to critically analyze her learning contexts in Guinea and the US.…”