“She is a very good child but she doesn’t speak”: The invisibility of children's bilingualism and teacher ideology

Gkaintartzi, Anastasia; Τσοκαλίδου, Ρούλα

doi:10.1016/j.pragma.2010.09.014

Cited by 64 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Extensive research (Berdis, 2015;Bora, 2010;Theologou, 2017;Gkaintartzi & Tsokalidou, 2011;Gkaintartzi, Kiliari, & Tsokalidou, 2015;Gkiouzelidis, 2018;Huseyinoglu, 2012;Kaintatzi, 2017;Malamidis, 2008;Xanthopoulou, 2008;Sakonidis, 2017;Salim, 2017;Spathariotou, 2012;Simeonidis, 2014;Skourtou & Kourti-Kazoulli, 2016) in the area has highlighted the following discrepancies and impediments.…”

Section: Teaching L2 In Minority Primary Schools In Thracementioning

confidence: 99%

Muslim Students Learning L2 and FL in Minority Primary Schools in Thrace: Relational Instances of Tri/Bilingualism

Dimasi¹,

Theologou²

2019

JEL

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The Muslim minority in Thrace is a heterogeneous group of people regarding their cultural and linguistic identities. It consists of Muslims of Turkish origin who speak Turkish as their mother tongue, of Pomaks, who speak Pomak, and of Roma, who speak Romani. Their educational-linguistic situation is fraught with long-lasting problems, which are attributed to the inherent characteristics of ‘Minority Εducation’, a term used to describe a specific group of primary and secondary schools, situated exclusively in the area of Thrace, that operates under a special regime, as stipulated in legal instruments of international law and bilateral agreements, and can be attended only by Muslim minority children. Extensive research over the years has shown that there are serious impediments in these students learning Greek as an L2, even after the implementation of the Project for Reform in the Education of Muslim Children (PEM) and the additional educational material that targeted this particular religious minority. The results show that most of these students do not achieve a language level of A2 in Greek and, thus, exhibit low school performance. Similar results have been recorded in research papers concerning learning English as a FL, which is a compulsory school subject, by Muslim minority students in both public and minority primary schools. These students also fail to achieve the foreign language attainment level set in the school curriculum. The present paper seeks to outline the unchartered causes of this situation, delve into the language situation of Muslim students and suggest possible and viable solutions.

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Section: Teaching L2 In Minority Primary Schools In Thracementioning

confidence: 99%

Muslim Students Learning L2 and FL in Minority Primary Schools in Thrace: Relational Instances of Tri/Bilingualism

Dimasi¹,

Theologou²

2019

JEL

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“…This seems to be the outcome, on the one hand, of the insufficient laws which are restricted only to a 'progressive cover-up' without specific commitment to the rights of immigrant students (Boutoulousi, 2002: 56) and, on the other hand, of inappropriate teaching practices followed by untrained and non-specialist teachers in classes that host both immigrant and local students. In addition, it has been suggested that some teachers have more or less conscious xenophobic attitudes (Gkantartzi and Tsokalidou, 2011).…”

Section: The Discourse Of Monoculturalism Monolingualism and Xenophomentioning

confidence: 99%

Immigrant voices in students’ essay texts: Between assimilation and pride

Archakis

2014

Discourse & Society

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The present study concentrates on immigrants' positionings towards the discourse of the majority in Greece. While facing an influx of immigrants during the 1990s, the Greek majority adopted a particularly racist discourse. My purpose here is to explore how immigrant students attending Greek schools attempt to articulate their voice in relation to the assimilationist, racist discourse surrounding them. Focusing on the functions of the disclaimer I am adjusting myself, but … used by immigrant students in a corpus of school essays, we will argue that it constitutes a particularly effective means of allowing them to raise a complex and polyphonic voice pursuing adjustment to the host country, without, however, losing face and pride. More particularly, the data analysis shows that in their school essays, and under the influence of their immigrant/ethnic communities and their negative experiences in the host country, immigrant students recontextualise the majority disclaimer I'm not a racist, but … used by the majority population. The disclaimer seems to have undergone an entextualisation process that has led to the new disclaimer I am adjusting myself, but …, which is intertextually linked with the former, but reversing its target. While the majority disclaimer is an expression of latent racism, the one discussed here involves mitigated threatening acts against majority assumptions as well as the enhancement of immigrant students' face.

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“…Children who are required to leave an intrinsic part of their identity at the school gate and who do not feel accepted for who they are by the school may feel uncomfortable at school and consequently may be unable to engage fully with learning. In this case, it is not so much the fact that the children do not as yet master the language of the school, but rather the school's attitudes towards their emergent bilingualism (Gkaintartzi and Tsokalidou 2011) which hinder development and prevent them from realising their full potential (Cummins 2003).…”

Section: The Linguistic Landscape Of Strasbourg Schoolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The surprise of the children upon hearing their home language spoken by a mother in the classroom is a particularly powerful image which reminds us that implicit language policies are being practised in schools. If the children were surprised to hear Turkish spoken by an adult in a learning situation at school, this was obviously an unusual event and the monolingual habitus (Gogolin 1994) remains the norm for many practitioners (Gkaintartzi and Tsokalidou 2011;Thomauske 2011;Young 2011; either through ignorance or due to beliefs based on myths (Grosjean 2014) which are not based on research. Clearly assistants are not the only education professionals who could benefit from CPD concerning the care and education of young emergent bilinguals.…”

Section: Assessment and Future Directions/horizonsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Working with super-diversity in Strasbourg pre-schools: Strengthening the role of teaching support staff

Young

2014

European Journal of Applied Linguistics

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In 2009 Strasbourg Council issued a call for tenders for an in-service training course aimed at nursery school assistants working in the city to enable them to better "communicate with non-French speaking children". A small team of teachers and researchers from the University of Strasbourg responded to this call, firmly believing in the pivotal role played by nursery assistants in children's language development given their close daily contact with children and their families. In this article we firstly situate Strasbourg pre-schools within the local and national context, referring to French ministerial policy documents and statistics which reflect the extent and nature of super-diversity in the region. Secondly, we describe, analyse and evaluate the content, approach and impact of this innovative course referring to qualitative data collected from course participants. Findings suggest that nursery school assistants, when empowered with knowledge about language and guided in their exploration of approaches which support language development, can help early learners to bridge the gap between home and school. A deeper appreciation of the complexities of plurilingual repertoire and multiple identity construction appear to reinforce confidence to meet the challenges of super-diversity at pre-school and strengthen nursery assistants in their role as caring professionals.Résumé: En 2009 la Communauté Urbaine de Strasbourg a lancé un appel à proposition de formation ciblant les assistantes (ATSEM) dans les écoles maternelles de la ville afin de les former à mieux "communiquer avec des enfants nonfrancophones". Des enseignantes-chercheures de l'Université de Strasbourg ont répondu à cet appel d'offre, convaincues du rôle important que jouent les ATSEM dans le développement langagier des enfants.Dans cet article nous décrivons la diversité culturelle et linguistique des écoles maternelles de la région, en nous appuyant sur des documents officiels et des statistiques. Dans un deuxième temps, nous analysons et évaluons les contenus, le déroulement et l'impact de la formation à l'aide de données qualitatives recueillies auprès des participants. A partir de ces données, nous concluons que, l'appropriation de savoirs sur le langage et les langues et de stratégies d'étayage MOUTON Brought to you by | Universitaet Giessen Authenticated Download Date | 6/18/15 5:09 PM para responder a los desafíos generados por la diversidad lingüística y cultural en preescolar. Una mejor comprensión de la noción de identidad múltiple y de la de competencia plurilingüe les permite enfrentarse mejor a retos profesionales como la negociación de las diferencias entre las culturas familiar y escolar.

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“She is a very good child but she doesn’t speak”: The invisibility of children's bilingualism and teacher ideology

Cited by 64 publications

References 22 publications

Muslim Students Learning L2 and FL in Minority Primary Schools in Thrace: Relational Instances of Tri/Bilingualism

Muslim Students Learning L2 and FL in Minority Primary Schools in Thrace: Relational Instances of Tri/Bilingualism

Immigrant voices in students’ essay texts: Between assimilation and pride

Working with super-diversity in Strasbourg pre-schools: Strengthening the role of teaching support staff

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