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1LAP Basics
Working Definitions
Children in linguistically diverse learning contexts
A linguistically diverse learning context includes children with different language backgrounds: some are newcomers, others are monolinguals and some are bilinguals. Let’s have a closer look.
•Newcomers: Learners of a ‘new’ language. Terms of reference for children who arrive in classrooms with little or no command of the school language remain uneven and varied across countries and contexts (Cummins & Early, 2011). In most cases, education policy and curriculum documents are used as guides, and newcomers are identified and labelled as learners of the school language. Here are two examples: in Ontario (Canada) the term English language learners (ELLs) is used, whereas in Sweden new arrivals are referred to as Swedish as a second language learners (SSLLs).
New arrivals have also been referred to as emergent bilinguals (García et al., 2008). Promoted by New York based bilingual researcher Ofelia García, this term accurately describes children’s ability to navigate and manage a new language, extend their language repertoire and ‘emerge’ or grow bilingually. Although widely used by bilingual researchers, this term remains unknown to most teachers.
In preparing this book I was aware of the limits and inequity of identifying children as learners of the majority or the school language. For this reason, I use the term ‘newcomer’. Here’s why.
The ‘new’ in ‘newcomer’ refers to the language children encounter, making them ‘comers’ to a ‘new’ or different language. The term ‘newcomer’ is simple, inclusive and temporary. It focuses on children’s encounter with a ‘new’ language, regardless of their immigration status, country of birth, country of origin or home language situation. As they navigate their new environment and manage the school language they will, with time, discard the newcomer status and become, to various degrees, bilingual – managing both home and school languages.
•Monolinguals: speakers of the school language. Monolingual children are speakers only of the school language.
•Bilinguals: navigating two languages. Multilingual classrooms also include bilinguals or children who manage two or more languages. It is important to remember that the actual use of two languages varies significantly across bilingual children. Many start out as newcomers and over time they learn the school language, continue to use their home language and become active bilinguals. Others show preference for the school language, move away from their home language and become passive bilinguals.
Linguistically appropriate practice
•LAP is an approach to teaching in linguistically diverse learning contexts. It invites teachers to reflect on their current practice, let go of ‘tried and true’ monolingual teaching and respond to the diversity of their classrooms. LAP views newcomers as creative and competent learners, acknowledges and builds on their language and literacy skills and helps them engage with the curriculum.
•LAP is also known as multilingual teaching, teaching through a multilingual lens (Cummins & Persad, 2014), linguistically responsive teaching, and humanizing pedagogy (Salazar, 2013). In this book the term LAP is used interchangeably with multilingual teaching.
•LAP was originally developed as an instructional practice to be used with newcomers or children who are new to the school language. However, my follow-up journey quickly and clearly showed me that LAP is for everyone. It supplements and enriches the prescribed curriculum and extends everyone’s knowledge about world language and literacies.
•In LAP classrooms, thinking shifts from the local to the global, and the understanding of ‘other’ is enhanced. LAP helps all children develop ‘intercultural understanding’ and ‘international mindedness’ (Gallagher, 2008) and prepares them for the globalized, interconnected world in which they will live and work. A summary of LAP can be found in Table 1.1.
| Table 1.1 LAP at a glance |
| LAP: Background |
| The Language Portrait shows us that immigrant children: • are emergent bilinguals; • have language lives beyond the classroom; • can successfully navigate two (or more) languages; • have dual-language and literacy needs; • often risk losing their home languages; • experience isolation, loneliness and language shock; and • often remain silent and hide their home languages. |
| Three different kinds of practices are currently used with immigrant children: • Assimilative: Monolingual focus: teaching and learning the school language. • Supportive: Monolingual focus with acknowledgement of home languages. • Inclusive: Multilingual focus and the promotion of multilingualism and multi-literacy. |
| What is LAP? • an inclusive, multilingual instructional practice for linguistically diverse classrooms; • views immigrant children as far more than learners of the school language; • builds on their language and literacy skills; and • is grounded in dynamic bilingualism, a theory that focuses on bilinguals’ unique language use. |
| Setting the stage for LAP |
| Prepare the classroom for LAP: • Take the LAP challenge: commit to multilingual teaching. • Create a language policy: a set of rules to guide classroom language behaviours. • Collect information about children’s languages and home literacy practices. • Showcase home languages in charts and graphs. • Create a centre where languages are explored, discovered, compared and shared. • Ensure that classroom displa... |
