Investigating sociohistorical contexts and practices through a community scan: a Canadian Punjabi–Sikh example

Children as Co-ethnographers of their Plurilingual Literacy Practices: An Exploratory Case Study

“…After creating their self-portraits, students then create family language maps inspired by the work of Dagenais and Berron (2001), as well as Smythe and Toohey (2009). In this activity, students create a family language map to illustrate patterns of language use among their family members at home.…”

“…At the same time, Ontario's three main public schooling models each have distinct linguistic mandates: mainstream English schools use English as the language of instruction for both anglophone and English-language learners; French-immersion schools aim to support students' French-as-a-second language development by using French as the language of instruction across the curriculum; and, French-language schools provide education in French (as a first language) to francophone minority students. Research over the last decade has highlighted the increasing need to support CLD students within each specific school model: mainstream English schools (Cummins, 2001;Goldstein, 2003;Heydon & Iannacci, 2008;Smythe & Toohey, 2009); French-immersion schools (Dagenais & Berron, 2001;Dagenais & Moore, 2004Swain & Lapkin, 2005;Taylor, 2009); and French-language minority schools (Prasad, 2012;Farmer & Labrie, 2008;Gérin-Lajoie, 2003Masny, 2009). Although researchers have examined perspectives and practices within specific school models, there is a gap in Canadian scholarship comparing CLD children's language learning across English, French and French-immersion schools within a province or territory.…”

“…Following recent studies including Dagenais, Moore, Sabatier, Lamarre and Armand (2009) and Smythe and Toohey (2009), students first worked in groups to document through photography their reading and writing in any language or mode at school. As coresearchers, student then analyzed photos by categorizing them according to studentgenerated themes.…”

Power and Agency in Education

“…This illuminates the need for addressing the power relations that exist among teachers and students, as well as with respect to students' families and home communities. A variety of tandem theories are represented amid these studies, including third space theories that point to the hybridity of knowledge production processes that are neither exclusively school-nor community-based but recontextualized by students as a result of more inclusive learning opportunities provided via the FoK approach (Calabrese Barton & Tan, 2009;Fitts, 2009;Hammond, 2001;Moje et al, 2004;Smythe & Toohey, 2009); critical literacy theories that combine with FoK approaches to increase the consciousness of teachers (and students) toward multiple forms of literacy and facilitate students' ability to "read the world" (Camangian, 2010;Fisher, 2006;Freire, 1970Freire, /1993Keis, 2006;Pirbhai-Illich, 2010;Rogers et al, 2004;Street, 2005); sociocultural theories that are linked to the potency of FoK approaches to bring situated and socially mediated learning into relief, particularly for preservice or novice teachers and parents of preschool-age children (Dantas, 2007;Monzo & Rueda, 2003;Nathenson-Mejia & Escamilla, 2003;Riojas-Cortez, 2001;Riojas-Cortez & Flores Bustos, 2009;Riojas-Cortez et al, 2008;Wang, Bernas, & Eberhard, 2005); and social justice and community empowerment theories that link FoK practices to broader critical consciousness imperatives involving the reformulation of social arrangements and the fostering of interdependence among community members (Henderson & Zipin, 2010;Kurtyka, 2010;Sugarman, 2010;Upadhyay, 2009;Zipin & Reid, 2008;Zipin et al, 2012).…”

Second Language Learners Making Video in Three Contexts

“…Our previous research with child L2 learners in Canada produced inventories of outside-school multilingual literacy practices in communities in metropolitan Vancouver (Dagenais, 2008;Dagenais & Moore, 2008;Smythe & Toohey, 2009a, 2009bMarshall & Toohey, 2010). Children in these communities were highly engaged in a variety of sometimes multilingual literate activities outside school, as well as interested and involved in digital technologies (e.g., video games, Internet social networking); we also noted their blending of media (including print) in these activities.…”