Reimagining English‐Medium Instructional Settings as Sites of Multilingual and Multimodal Meaning Making

Abstract

Challenging the notion that English‐medium instruction (EMI) is necessarily an English‐only space, the authors argue for an alternative vision of EMI settings as spaces that benefit both emergent bi/multilinguals and their English‐monolingual peers. Given that the enactment of EMI varies according to the underlying language ideologies of the educators who implement it, the authors argue for the importance of shifting from deficit‐based monogolossic ideologies to more asset‐based heteroglossic ideologies and of creating heteroglossic “implementational spaces” (Hornberger, , p. 605). In such spaces, all students, particularly emergent bi/multilinguals, are encouraged to act as agents, strategically drawing upon the full range of their semiotic repertoires (Kusters, Spotti, Swanwick, & Tapio, ) in order to participate, learn, and contribute as full members of the classroom community. In this context, the critical question is how such heteroglossic practices can actually be enacted by teachers who are themselves not bi/multilingual. As a contribution to answering this question, the authors present two promising examples from two independently conducted qualitative studies, which were carried out in EMI mainstream classrooms in U.S. elementary schools, to show how such spaces might be actualized in practice. Then, using them as a point of reference, the authors discuss key issues in fostering and sustaining such spaces, and offer recommendations for teachers and teacher educators.

Fifth graders’ use of gesture and models when translanguaging during a content and language integrated science class in Hong Kong

“…Moreover, gestural and tactile moves provided students with alternate ways to communicate and make meaning of the science content, also comparable to the use of L1. This confirmed the findings of Blair, Haneda, and Bose (2018) who suggested when translanguaging, the use of different modes provided multiple pathways to meaning. As gestural and tactile meanings differed from linguistic meanings, they also provided additional details of a meaning via spatial movements and touch.…”

“…Several studies demonstrate that the use of semiotic repertoires afforded emergent bilinguals the capacity to participate in co-constructing meaning, which is a goal of CLIL (Lin 2019). For instance, Blair, Haneda, and Bose (2018) investigated heteroglossic spaces in grades 2 and 4 that enabled emergent bi/multilinguals to draw upon their entire semiotic repertoires and countered the perception that English-medium instruction equalled an English only space. Findings showed a teacher was able to create multiple pathways for students to carry out science tasks by using semiotic modes such as music, tactile materials and visuals (Blair, Haneda, and Bose 2018).…”

“…For instance, Blair, Haneda, and Bose (2018) investigated heteroglossic spaces in grades 2 and 4 that enabled emergent bi/multilinguals to draw upon their entire semiotic repertoires and countered the perception that English-medium instruction equalled an English only space. Findings showed a teacher was able to create multiple pathways for students to carry out science tasks by using semiotic modes such as music, tactile materials and visuals (Blair, Haneda, and Bose 2018). In another study, Unsal et al (2018) explored the gesticulations of emergent bilinguals in grades 3 and 7 in Sweden.…”

On Issues of Discrimination and Xenophobia: What CanTESOLPractitioners Do to Support and Advocate for Refugee Students?

“…Developing stories, coining vocabulary, and selecting images, students saw themselves as collaborators and experts. Finally, creating learning pathways in content areas for linguistically diverse students, Blair, Haneda, and Nebus Bose () presented positive outcomes of bilingual read‐aloud, collaborative assignments, buddy teaching (ESL and content‐based teachers), and allowing students to employ visuals such as photographs, diagrams, and videos to communicate their knowledge. These multimodal literacy‐oriented activities help enrich students' multicultural understanding and language skills.…”

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

“…Studies are increasingly using these kinds of holistic understandings of communicative and linguistic repertoire to focus on showing how attention to expanded meaning-making resources and identity affirmation for minority language speakers can impact on their learning and engagement (e.g. Blair et al, 2018; French, 2016; Ollerhead, 2018; Pacheco, 2018; Turner, 2019).…”