Resources, mediators, and identities: Home literacy practices of rural bilingual children

Mkhize, Dumisile

doi:10.2989/16073614.2015.1133248

Cited by 12 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Conversely, Mkhize (2016aMkhize ( , 2016b, studying bilingual fourth-grade children in South Africa, demonstrate how non-school language practices are not inherently poor but rather provide an asset that students can build on to understand their worlds.…”

Section: Monoglossic Ideology: Legitimate Vs Illegitimate Languages mentioning

confidence: 99%

Language ideologies and epistemic exclusion

Kiramba

2018

Language and Education

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Research in educational linguistics is now challenging the efficacy of monolingual approaches that often dominate educational practices in multilingual settings. In most African nations where multilingualism is the norm, there remains a persistent reluctance by educational stakeholders (principals, teachers, parents, and students) to embrace multilingualism in education or to reposition local languages as resources in classrooms. This article draws on qualitative data from a multilingual, rural, fourth-grade classroom in Kenya to interrogate the articulated ideologies and their effects on communicative practices as voiced by the participants and by observing actual classroom practices. Bourdieu's notions of habitus, legitimate language, and symbolic power serve as analytic lenses for enhancing our understanding of the power of language ideologies. From the data, "monoglossia" emerged as the key operating ideology, with time-on-task pedagogical practice helping to consolidate these monoglossic practices. The most visible effect of this ideology was silencing student engagement in the classroom. I argue that an awareness of these articulated ideologies and their observable effects on students' learning and language-use behaviors is important for challenging the subordination of home languages and the epistemic exclusion of the children who speak marginalized languages. Ideological awareness may open spaces for alternative and inclusive educational approaches.

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Section: Monoglossic Ideology: Legitimate Vs Illegitimate Languages mentioning

confidence: 99%

Language ideologies and epistemic exclusion

Kiramba

2018

Language and Education

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“…Ultimately, home and school literacies are always already connected (Dyson, ; Heath, ; Mkhize, ), even if not always put to work. For Mosi, the unappreciated redesigns of his invisible literacies in the classroom embodied his unique and authentic experiential knowledge and practices and marked his place in the classroom, even when he could not participate in its formal, English‐only literacies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Research on African classrooms has underscored how students engage in a myriad of activities in and outside of the classroom. Mkhize () illustrated how fourth‐grade South African bilingual students used a network of literacies, which included designing multilingual birthday cards, reading newspapers, and oral storytelling. Similarly, Kiramba () demonstrated how multilingual children used multiple linguistic resources in composing essays, although such practices were penalized in the classroom.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multilingual Literacies: Invisible Representation of Literacy in a Rural Classroom

Kiramba¹

2017

J Adolescent & Adult Lit

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“…In its place, a monolingual system becomes central. Learners' home languages are not perceived as a pedagogical tool that aids learning but as a hindrance or a problem to overcome (Mkhize 2016;Sahr 2020). These monoglossic classroom practices that give no regard to the acquired linguistic repertoires that a multilingual child carries into the classroom environment are among many factors that negatively impact classroom performance and put more learners at an educational disadvantage (Probyn 2019;Wildsmith-Cromarty & Balfour 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Learners’ reception of translanguaging as a model for reading English L2 texts

Mabena

2023

jlat

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Language is the mediator of two critical aspects of a child's education: identity and knowledge. Through language, learners can make sense of who they are and make sense of the world around them. However, the teaching of English second language in several schools in South Africa is such that a learner's identity, best described in their own indigenous languages, is not mirrored in the classroom and, in its place, a monolingual system (English-only) becomes central. Their acquired linguistic repertoire as multilingual learners is considered a hindrance to learning, not a resource. This paper assesses learners’ reception of translanguaging pedagogy as a model for reading English texts. It further seeks to take the debate about the paradox of translanguaging forward to determine if translanguaging is a unitary, differentiated system, or both. Exploring data in the form of class observations and interviews, the study reveals that translanguaging as a model for reading English L2 texts is well-received by learners as a practical and valuable pedagogical approach that can potentially improve English L2 performance. The results further establish the existence of both the unitary and the differentiated systems of translanguaging. In the end, the study's recommendations for transforming multilingual classrooms are discussed.

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Resources, mediators, and identities: Home literacy practices of rural bilingual children

Cited by 12 publications

References 21 publications

Language ideologies and epistemic exclusion

Language ideologies and epistemic exclusion

Multilingual Literacies: Invisible Representation of Literacy in a Rural Classroom

Learners’ reception of translanguaging as a model for reading English L2 texts

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