Work

Transition space: navigating dilemmas between mainstream and minority language classrooms

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: From policymaking to classroom practices, educational language policy implementation is a complex process filled with a cacophony of voices. This article examines policy implementation as it unfolds in micro-level transitions between mainstream classrooms and lessons in Sámi, Kven, or Finnish as a second language (SKF) in Norway. In such situations, SKF pupils need to leave their mainstream classes to receive their language instruction. To examine these transitions, I draw primarily from ethnographic data (e.g., classroom observations and semi-structured interviews) collected over several months in public schools in a town in Northern Norway. The findings suggest that organizational circumstances construct an in-between space, which I refer to as transition space , in which classroom actors can or need to negotiate and make choices about which of the theoretically co-available classes/activities will be chosen at which times. Such choices involve dilemmas and consequences on different scales. In this study, (1) I demonstrate how (non)movements between mainstream and SKF classes are made in time and space, and (2) I propose transition space as a new conceptualization for researching micro-level transitions in educational settings.

Source: Educational Linguistics

DOI: 10.1515/eduling-2024-0005

Author: Lukas Espenes Kosner

Institution: UiT The Arctic University of Norway

Language: English

Topic: Multilingual Education and Policy

Subfield: Linguistics and Language

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Quality education, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $2,489