Learning English Out of School: An Inclusive Approach to Research and Action

Abstract

Official indicators suggest that English as a Foreign Language is one of the school subjects that is most telling of social inequalities in Catalonia, this being the geographical and educational context where the research presented in this volume was carried out. Similar findings are reported in other areas of Europe. This monograph reports on the main findings of the research project 'Inclusive epistemologies and practices of out-of-school English learning (IEP!)' , funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and led by the author of this chapter, which ran from January 2019 until June 2021. The project responded to low attainment levels for English as a Foreign Language among socioeconomically disadvantaged youth in a municipality in the metropolitan area surrounding Barcelona. As part of this project, the contributors to this volume: 1) collaboratively researched teenagers' existing practices of using and learning English out of school time; 2) implemented new, inclusive, nonformal English language educational initiatives; 3) evaluated the impact of the nonformal English language educational initiatives implemented; and 4) supported the sustainability and transferability of the initiatives. The project embedded collaborative and creative ways of working and building knowledge into its methodology, and in this sense, it aimed to contest traditional researcher-researched and logocentric hierarchies of knowledge, and to foster not only inclusive educational practices, but also inclusive epistemologies.

“Soc massa bo”: Pràctiques plurilingües i de pluriliteracitat empoderadores en un programa extraescolar

“…La recerca local disponible indica que aquestes activitats tenen el potencial de reduir, però també d'augmentar les desigualtats entre aquells que hi poden i no hi poden accedir, assenyalant la necessitat de fomentar-ne l'accés als infants d'entorns desfavorits. Aquesta necessitat sembla guanyar rellevància en el context actual de pandèmia, guerra i encariment de la vida, que podria ampliar les desigualtats socioeducatives dels sectors més vulnerables (Moore et al, 2021).…”

Foregrounding co-artistry in an aesthetic and plurilingual/pluriliteracies approach to additional language teaching and learning

“…1.1 Language teaching and learning as aesthetic action and interaction Piazzoli's (2018) approach to action and artistry in additional language education, framed within her own work on drama in language teaching, is highly influential to our understanding of aesthetics in our disciplinary field (see also Moore et al, 2021). In her work, Piazzoli frames language teaching and learning as art forms, materialised in the design of lessons, in the improvised interactions between teachers and learners (who she refers to as 'co-artists'), and between learners, in the artefacts used and produced, and so on.…”