2012 TESOL Seminar 1: Growing up bilingual in multicultural urban Australia: A bilingual approach to TESOL

Bilingualism and languages learning in Australian schools:

A bilingual approach to exploring issues and implications in TESOL

Dr Criss Jones DíazUniversity of Western Sydney

Saturday, 17h March: UTS, SydneyTESOL

The role of L1 and L2 in learning.

OverviewThe global cultural, social and economic context of languages.

Globalisation of English

Benefits of being bilingual

Languages as cultural and social capital

Subtractive bilingualism and its impact on bilingual children

Findings from research (Jones Diaz, 2007) investigating

– Children’s experiences of and perspective in being bilingual and learning languages

– Dispositions of learning

What is globalisation?The globalising of cultural, social and economic systems for the benefit of trade, commerce consumerismThe global articulation of technology, free trade, open markets, consumerismProfit making agendasCommunication and information technologiesPower relations that exist between nation states in our society are directly linked to modes of production, trade, commerce and media that operate at global levels (Tierney 2004, Robinson & Jones Díaz 2006)

Globalisation of English

English as a global language

Constituted in modes of production are communication and media technologies

These technologies are dominated by the English language English has generated most of its power within the last 50 years (Christie, 1997; Pennycook 1998)

English as a global language

English is the 2nd most widely spoken language in the world5 4% of the world’s population speak English (Nettle & Romaine, 2000)

English has not become a powerful language because of inherent linguistic / grammatical features. Or because of the numbers that speak itIts dominance is due to the political, economic and military might of the nation states that adopt it as their official language (Crystal, 1997)

Its popularity is due to the social, cultural and economic power yielded through its use

English as a global languageAnglo-phone countries, i.e. U.S & Britain are able to dominate global communication technologies, finance, trade and means of production and they have ‘considerable power relative to those that do not control these resources’ (Singh, 2002, p. 17). - ‘Different languages have different political rights, which are not

depending on an inherent linguistic trait but on the social structures and power relations that exist between speakers of the different languages’ (Skuttnabb-Kangas 1988, pg, 41)

As a consequence - English-only policies in education have emerged in the US, Britain and Australia (Crystal, 2000; Gutierréz, Baquedano-Lopez & Asato, 2000). Examples:- Dismantling of Indigenous language programs in the Northern

Territory and Bilingual Programs in California in 1991.- Legislation in California in 1998 led to dismantling of bilingual

programs in schools.- Limited funding allocations to CL schools and programs- No mandatory policy of languages support in prior-to-school

settings

Impact of globalisation on Indigenous and minority languages

Within a context of globalising English, language still remains a significant marker of identity (Robinson & Jones Díaz, 2006) Questions of identity are linked to how we understand ourselves and others. This has political, social and cultural consequencesThere are more bilinguals in the world then monolinguals. - Monolinguals represents a small but powerful minority - They can function at all levels of society through the medium of

their home language and have never been forced to learn another language

Disappearance of languages remain a serious threat to the diversity of cultures and identities. Of the 5,000 – 6,000 languages spoken in the world, half these languages will be extinct by the next century (Nettle & Romaine, 2000).Language loss/language shift

- Sudden: Environmental disaster or genocide- Gradual: Intergenerational loss or subtractive bilingualism

Being bilingual builds cultural and linguistic capital

Bilingual children have diverse linguistic and cultural knowledge, skills, resources & potential Cultural & linguistic capital (Bourdieu, 1990, 1991)

- Human resources that have value within a social context (field)- Human activity is understood as exchanges that occur within an

social and cultural practices which can yield or not yield material and symbolic ‘profits’ (Bourdieu, 1990, 1991; Olneck, 2000).

Cognitive, social & linguistic gains from being bilingual are linked to

- self esteem & cultural identity- socio cultural knowledge- cognitive and linguistic advantage- cultural diversity & difference

Being bilingual builds linguistic capital L1 facilitates L2 learning (Cummins, 1984, Skutnabb-

Kangas, 1979, Bialystok,1991). Interdependence Hypothesis (Cummins, 1993)

Positive transfer from the 1st language.

Partly dependent upon conceptual development and proficiency already achieved in the first language (Baker & Prys Jones 1998).

Visual, linguistic & cognitive strategies are transferred to 2nd language literacy

Early literacy development is enhanced by early bilingual experiences (Manyak, 2006).

Related to the three cueing systems: semantic, graphophonic and syntactic.

Three forms of cultural and linguistic capital (Bourdieu, 1990)

Embodied – Modes of interaction and expression, dialect, accent, body language and ways of knowing and reasoning. All become ‘embodied’ by the individual.

Objectified – Representational artefacts and cultural texts. Books, arts, music, drama, media etc.

Institutionalised – titles, qualifications and certificates. Authorised by institutions, which are legitimised by state, corporate and professional institutions.

Metalinguistic awarenessDíaz and Klinger (1991)

Knowing about language & how language works.Awareness of other languages.Ability to switch from one language to the other.Awareness of arbitrariness of labels attached to concepts

Meanings can be translated.Words can sound & look the same but have different meanings.(Hymophonemic awareness)Analytical thinking about language

Thinking task . . .Share with the person sitting next

to you different examples of how

your students exchange the various

forms of cultural & linguistic

capital through their home language

Subtractive bilingualism in Australia

Children learn the 2nd language at the expense of the 1st language (Cummins, 1991; Wong-Fillmore, 1991)

Factors involved in subtractive bilingualism– loss of interest in speaking the home language– proficiency in English increases– early exposure to English-only prior-to-school

and early years education– home language is not valued– misinformation about bilingualism and biliteracy

Legitimacy of English at the expense of other languages

Languages other than English may not have ‘capital’ in an ‘English only’ setting

Bilingual children have the capital but if not valued it can be wrong currency

Depends on the exchange rate of the home language

Not all children enter prior-to-school and school settings with identical configurations of capital

Legitimacy of English at the expense of other languages

Distribution of capital is connected to the use of languages in different types of social contexts/fields- Bilingual children move across different social

fields/sites, i.e. day care, school, church, community events, extended family

- Capital must be activated in a social field in order for it to have value.

Not all social fields give currency to linguistic capital- Exchange for other forms of cultural/linguistic capital, i.e.

EnglishBilingual children ‘cash in’ their home language in exchange for English. - Language shift and/or subtractive bilingualismMonolingual and monocultural pedagogies sustain and legitimise this process

Habitus (Bourdieu 1990)

Individual’s disposition, practices and behavioursthat make use of capital in any given social field.

Habitus is formed by: The values and dispositions gained from our cultural history.The result of social and cultural conditions within which they are acquired.Dispositions that are durable and transposable and stay with us across contexts.The ability to respond to cultural norms but are largely determined & regulated by where we are located in a culture.

Habitus operates momentarily through social practice on a partial level of unconsciousness and consciousness. It is

“a feel for the game”. (Bourdieu, 1990, p. 66)

Shaping the habitus for languages learning

Bilingual children’s views of their language shape a negative or positive habitus towards their home languageWhen children are encouraged to speak their home language this fosters positive experiences with and dispositions towards the use of their languageWords used by the children to describe their feelings about using Spanish (Jones Diaz, 2007)

happy, free, good, normal, fun, great, smart, proud and confident weird, crazy and different

Children’s experiences of and perspective in being bilingual and learning languagesDiego and Ariel compared their learning of Spanish with learning Japanese and Chinese: C: Is it a similar kind of feeling, experience?D: When you’re learning Spanish?C: Yeah. To learning Spanish, when you are learning Chinese or Japanese?D: No because you’re learning a different language.C: What about, what do you think Ariel?A: I think Spanish is easier, it’s your culture and you’re mostly used to it.D: >>> and you’re learning a whole different culture..C: >>> So is it a lot harder?D: >>> and your parents are not gonna speak it and none

of your relatives .

The connection between identity and habitus is found in systems of dispositions

For both boys the use of Spanish in their homes provided them with a sense of cultural history which gave meaning to their cultural practices

For Diego & Ariel, Japanese and Chinese were not part of their cultural history, they systems of past dispositions, and consequently these languages did not have the same connection or legitimacy

Ariel’s disposition of familiarity, ‘you’re mostly used to it’.Connections between cultural history and disposition. For these boys there was a strong sense of history constituted in their dispositions of past and familiar experiences with their experiences of using Spanish at home

The conversation continues …

R: So what do you mean, it’s your culture, it’s easier?A: You got the knowledge and Spanish is in your >>>D: >>> you got Spanish in your blood. You got the knowledge.

So it’s easierR: Oh right. So what do you mean, you got the knowledge?A: You already know it and you have been raised by >>>D: >>> by Spanish people, so you’ve heard them talking.

Habitus operates as collective and individual expression of cultural history.The individual habitus tends to represent and manifest many group-specific characteristics and is a variant of a collective root.For Diego and Ariel, this variant is found in their individual and different trajectories in learning to speak Spanish. Their shared history and similar dispositions suggests a common ground upon which their close friendship was based.

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ReferencesJones Díaz, C. (2007) Intersections between language retention and identities

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