Challenging Social Injustice in Superdiverse Contexts Through Activist Languages Education

Abstract

In a current world of rapid change and immense global mobility, communities are experiencing unprecedented increases in population diversity that have dramatically heightened the challenge of ensuring social justice for linguistic minorities,

Introduction: Arts integration and community engagement for intercultural dialogue through language education

“…This link between the children's language learning that occurred in the NGO and their community engagement in the here and now is a pillar in intercultural citizenship education (Byram et al, 2017). Furthermore, from the perspective of the teacher educators and student teachers involved, this project enacted a social justice basis in language education (Byram and Wagner, 2018;Lamb et al, 2019) and contributed to the teacher educators' professional development and the student teachers' development of a situated social justice praxis (Porto, forthcoming b).…”

Feminisation, masculinisation and the other: re-evaluating the language learning decline in England

“…Our other route to the intersection is through the notion of 'the other'. A hostility, part of a monolingual mindset or ideology, has been identified towards both languages taught in schools and the languages of communities within the UK (Lamb, Hatoss & O'Neill, 2020;Lamb & Vodicka, 2017;Nuffield, 2000;Wei, 2011). Skutknabb Kangas & Phillipson (1986) refer to linguicism, the structural inequalities perpetuated on the basis of language, and we can read this in the languages given a place on the school curriculum, which are rarely those of minority communities within England.…”

Teaching Bilingually: Unlocking the Academic and Cognitive Potential—Teachers’ Insights

“…Prejudice towards linguistic minorities and political considerations contribute to the perception of bilingualism as a problem. However, Lamb et al (2020) [11] argued for a more outward-looking approach, challenging monolingual frameworks and working towards improving social justice, and Charoenphon (2023) [12] makes a strong case for greater cultural awareness, social integration, and self-esteem as improved secondary outcomes for minority students working towards creating understanding of bilingualism as a right. Furthermore, Skinner and Meltzoff (2018) [13] found that imagined contact with members of different groups and structured intergroup contact were two key factors in reducing childhood intergroup bias.…”