Migration, Multilingualism and Education

Critical Perspectives on Inclusion

Latisha Mary, Ann-Birte Krüger, Andrea S. Young, Latisha Mary, Ann-Birte Krüger, Andrea S. Young

• Publisher: Multilingual Matters
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN:
  9781800412934
• eBook ISBN:
  9781800412965
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Education General
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

This book explores the question of how equitable and inclusive education can be implemented in heterogeneous classes where learners' languages and cultures reflect the social reality of mass migration and everyday plurilingualism. The book brings together researchers and practitioners working in inclusive teaching and learning in a variety of migration contexts from pre-school to university. The book opens with an exploration of the relationship between language ideologies and policies with respect to the inclusion of learners for whom the language of education is not the language spoken in the home. The following section focuses on innovative pedagogical practices which allow migrants to be socially, culturally and institutionally included at school and at university while using their plurilingual competences as resources for learning/teaching and allowing them to fully realise their potential.

Part 1

Ideology Drives Policy: Rethinking Inclusion

1Pushing Back Monoglossic Ideologies of Language: Towards Transformative and Inclusive Pedagogies for 21st Century Multilingual Classrooms

Christine Hélot

In a report published in 2008 by UNESCO, inclusive education is described in the following terms:

Inclusive education is central to the achievement of high quality education for all learners and the development of more inclusive societies. Inclusion is still thought of in some countries as an approach to serving children with disabilities within general educational settings. Internationally however, it is increasingly seen more broadly as a reform that supports and welcomes diversity amongst all learners. (UNESCO, 2008: 5)

Inclusion is the central notion explored in the 14 chapters that compose this engaging book – a book that takes us on an inspiring journey inside linguistically and culturally diverse classrooms across Europe, North America and Japan. The researchers and practitioners who contributed to the volume all address one crucial question: How can we achieve a more inclusive and equitable education for all learners in 21st century multilingual settings? Indeed, most education systems in the world still educate children through one dominant language, and continue to hold on to the belief that this is the best way towards social integration (Van Avermaet et al., 2018). However, in the process, learners lose their own previously acquired languages and, whether these languages are referred to as ‘heritage’ or ‘family’ or ‘languages of origin’, they end up disappearing or, worse, being forbidden. Why, in our multilingual times, should schools remain bastions of monolingualism, ignore the very resources students need to acquire in the age of a knowledge-based society and waste the opportunity to understand that social cohesion can only be born out of inclusive education?

This book is about inclusion and multilingual education and it links the research and practice of new pedagogical approaches that tackle the relationships between language education and exclusion, language use in school and discrimination (Escudé, 2018), language practices and subordination, and the disempowerment and voicelessness of children who are prevented from using their full linguistic repertoires to learn. In the face of the growing inequalities pervading our contemporary societies and affecting our education systems (see Lahire, 2019, for the latest research in France on inequality, for example), the present volume offers a wealth of examples of ‘pedagogies of the possible’ (Hélot & Ó Laoire, 2011), pedagogies that conceive of new practices of inclusion based on the following principles: acceptance of all learners, respect for their singularities and pluralities, and curricula in which they see their physical linguistic and cultural environment as well as their identity reflected.

Alongside such an understanding of inclusion, many of the chapters refer to the notion of equity. Equity is different from equality, a central principle of many education systems. Equity means a fair, inclusive and respectful treatment of all people. It is important to insist that, contrary to equality, an equitable approach to education does not imply disregard for individual differences, but that it acknowledges the individual needs of students who, as social actors, have their own learning biographies and their own plurilingual repertoires linked to their socialization and experiences of mobility. In other words, the many children growing up today in families where various languages are spoken display individual linguistic repertoires including multiple cultural experiences that play a crucial role in their learning journeys, and thus demand individual attention. This point is central for many of the educational contexts under study, where the principle of equality supersedes the notion of equity and makes it difficult for teachers to understand that the specific needs of their multilingual students are a matter of equity and not just equality.

As we have written elsewhere (Hélot et al., 2018; Mary & Young, 2018; Young, 2018), and as clearly illustrated in this volume, all classrooms today across the world are multilingual, not because multilingual education is widespread, but because many children come to school speaking a great diversity of languages. An inclusive approach to education therefore means that teachers are educated to understand what it means to grow up with several languages, and that whether these languages are allowed or forbidden in the classroom, they are an integral part of students’ learning experiences, of acquiring knowledge in all school subjects, including the language of instruction and the languages taught in schools. In other words, multilingual children should no longer be asked to censor some of their languages, because all their linguistic and cultural experiences are part of their identity, part of their understanding of the world around them and therefore part of the acquisition process of new knowledge.

All the classrooms described in this volume, whether in France, Germany, Austria, England, Cyprus, Portugal, Greece, Palestine, Japan, New York or California, and all the settings presented in the interesting personal testimonies illustrate that linguistic and cultural diversity is now the norm in 21st century classrooms. Previous publications refer to similar research in terms of ‘the multilingual turn’ (Conteh & Meier, 2014; May, 2013). The multilingual turn not only calls for a profound rethink of our pedagogies, but it demands that we challenge the conceptualization of language and language education as it was formulated in the 20th century, that is, with the main objective of serving the nation-state. Research on language education and language policy in the 21st century has questioned such ideological borders and reframed our understanding of the role of language and languages in our personal lives and for societal goals. Based on poststructuralist approaches to research, the multilingual turn in sociolinguistic and educational research focuses on the language ...

Table of contents

• Cover-Page
• Half-Title
• Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Contributors
• Acknowledgements
• Part 1: Ideology Drives Policy: Rethinking Inclusion
• Part 2: ‘Actuality Implies Possibility’: New Practices of Inclusion
• Glossary
• Index