ERIC Number: EJ1036138
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2014
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1367-0050
EISSN: N/A
Silencing Bilingualism: A Day in a Life of a Bilingual Practitioner
Robertson, Leena H.; Drury, Rose; Cable, Carrie
International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, v17 n5 p610-623 2014
Based on sociocultural theories of learning, this paper draws on findings from a research project "a day in a life of a bilingual practitioner". It explores how two multilingual practitioners in English early years settings supported the learning of young 3-4 year-old children, and their parents and teachers. The paper challenges the current binary opposition of viewing the development and maintenance of home languages and English as existing at two ends of a spectrum in young children's lives and their learning. The data reveal the tensions between this perceived opposition and the silencing of multilingualism enacted by bilingual practitioners in early years settings. We argue that while bilingual practitioners have the potential to draw on their "funds of knowledge", the reality in these classrooms does not allow them to support bilingual learning. The paper concludes that bilingual children's, parents' and practitioners' untapped "funds of knowledge" need to be opened up in order to inform a new bilingual pedagogy in the early years.
Descriptors: Bilingualism, Preschool Teachers, Language Usage, Bilingual Teachers, Multilingualism, Educational Practices, Foreign Countries, Language Maintenance, Urban Schools, Social Theories, English, Cultural Influences, Language of Instruction, Public Policy, Bilingual Students, Ethnography, Student Diversity, Teacher Attitudes, Case Studies, Participatory Research
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Preschool Education; Early Childhood Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: United Kingdom (London)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A