ERIC Number: EJ1093514
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1467-5986
EISSN: N/A
Identity as a Site of Difference: Toward a Complex Understanding of Identity in Multilingual, Multicultural Classrooms
Stille, Saskia
Intercultural Education, v26 n6 p483-496 2015
Cummins suggested that within a social context of unequal power relations, classroom interactions are never neutral, but located on a continuum ranging between the reinforcement of coercive relations of power and the promotion of collaborative relations of power. Drawing on this understanding, the purpose of this paper is to examine instructional practices and interactional dynamics in elementary English as a Second Language (ESL) classes to explore the impact of the English-dominant instructional context on emergent bilingual students' access to and investment in literacy learning. The paper is based upon a selection of data from a collaborative research project conducted in a multilingual, multicultural elementary school in a large Canadian city. The paper describes students' creation of multimodal, multilingual stories about their migration experiences and explores how making these stories opened opportunities for negotiating understandings of students' identifications. The paper concludes that, though relations of power tend to endure in English language teaching, pedagogical pivot points exist, offering the possibility to transform these understandings through an affective practice and relation.
Descriptors: Self Concept, Multilingualism, Cultural Pluralism, English (Second Language), Second Language Learning, Second Language Instruction, Elementary School Students, Bilingualism, Teaching Methods, Power Structure, Literacy, Access to Education, Immigration, Personal Narratives, War, Conflict, Teacher Student Relationship, Classroom Communication, Foreign Countries, Immigrants, Elementary School Teachers, Refugees, Case Studies
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Canada
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A