Creating a bilingual pre-school classroom: the multilayered discourses of a bilingual teacher
Year: 2015
Type: article
Abstract: Teachers have an agentive role as they interpret, evaluate and develop language policies and practices. In the current study we interviewed a bilingual pre-school teacher in Finland during the first year of implementing a new way of working bilingually with a class of monolingual children. Applying nexus analysis, we explored the teacher discourses on the trajectory of the development of the new approach; the concepts, places and people that were circulating in her reflections; and how these connected with larger societal discourses. The analysis showed that the teacher's new bilingual language practices demanded the renegotiation of previously held personal and professional beliefs. The teacher reflections were aggregates of discourses presenting different perspectives and voices. While her bilingual practices challenged prevailing norms in society – especially those on separating languages in teaching – she also recycled discourses which confirmed the idea of Finland as a society built on parallel monolingualism. We argue that it is important to acknowledge the perspectives of teachers, and that there are all kinds of factors which drive and affect the work of a bilingual pre-school teacher. We also call for cross-cultural studies, as teachers' work is always embedded in a sociolinguistic setting.
Source: Language and Education
Authors: Åsa Palviainen, Karita Mård-Miettinen
Institutions: University of Jyväskylä, University of Vaasa
Language: English
Subfield: Linguistics and Language
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
Funder: Svenska Kulturfonden
OpenAlex ID: W2084790018