Managing Bilingual Interaction in a Gujarati Complementary School in Leicester

Martin, Peter W.; Bhatt, Arvind; Bhojani, Nirmala; Creese, Angela

doi:10.1080/09500780608668707

Cited by 75 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…A similar situation can be found in the burgeoning studies of CS in complementary schools. For example, Martin et al (2006) examined the issue of how bilingualism is managed in classroom interaction in a Gujarati complementary school in Leicester (UK) and reported that 'participants spontaneously juxtapose Gujarati and English in order to create learning/teaching opportunities' (2006, 5, our emphasis). Clearly, this idea of the spontaneous juxtaposition of languages implies a local-level view of language choice, or at least does not signal any status differential between the languages involved.…”

Section: Code-switching (Cs) In the Classroom: What Is Switched From?mentioning

confidence: 98%

‘Medium of instruction’ vs. ‘medium of classroom interaction’: language choice in a French complementary school classroom in Scotland

Bonacina

Gafaranga

2011

International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism

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The aim of this paper is to account for language choice and alternation phenomena we have observed in a French complementary school classroom in Scotland. In this classroom, talk can be conducted in French (the official medium of instruction), in English (the other language in contact) and in both French and English. A critical review of the literature has revealed that current studies of bilingual classroom talk are conducted either from a 'local order' perspective or from an 'overall order' perspective. While the local order perspective is indifferent towards the phenomena we have observed in the target classroom, the overall order perspective can account only for part of the data, namely, cases where talk is conducted in the medium of instruction. Therefore, drawing on ethnomethodology and conversation analysis, this paper suggests an alternative view. Building on Gafaranga, we demonstrate that the notion of 'medium of classroom interaction' is a more appropriate 'scheme' for the interpretation of the bilingual practices we have observed.

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Section: Code-switching (Cs) In the Classroom: What Is Switched From?mentioning

confidence: 98%

‘Medium of instruction’ vs. ‘medium of classroom interaction’: language choice in a French complementary school classroom in Scotland

Bonacina

Gafaranga

2011

International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism

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“…As in the research of Martin et al (2006), we found that bilingual strategies, rather than Bengali alone, were often being used to help second and third generation pupils transfer understandings between languages. We then worked with the children's primary school teachers, bilingual assistants and the community teachers to devise tasks that children could do bilingually in mainstream school, drawing on children's knowledge from community class as well as linking with the mainstream literacy and numeracy curriculum.…”

Section: How Can Bilingual Learning Help Second and Third Generation mentioning

confidence: 74%

Bilingual poetry: expanding the cognitive and cultural dimensions of children's learning

Kenner¹,

Al-Azami²,

Gregory³

et al. 2008

Literacy

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Stories and poetry have long been considered a resource for the language and literacy development of bilingual children, particularly if they can work with texts in both mother tongue and English. This paper demonstrates that bilingual learning is also beneficial for second and third generation children whose English is often stronger than their mother tongue. Presenting data from an action research project in East London primary schools, we show how children investigated metaphor and cultural content in a Bengali lullaby, clarifying concepts through dialogue with their parents.Comparison with a lullaby in English from North America generated additional ideas concerning different cultural values. The learning process enabled children to use their bilingual skills and draw on different aspects of their bicultural identities. Finally, we explain how bilingual poetry can be used to stimulate learning in a multilingual classroom context, through the example of a whole-class lesson based around Bengali and English lullabies.Keywords: bilingualism, biculturalism, poetry, metaphor, Bengali, learner identities Introduction We introduce this paper by considering key ideas emerging from research on bilingual approaches to stories and poetry in primary school. This discussion highlights the contribution that bilingual work can make to cognitive development and cultural understanding, and we focus on the potential (often unrealised) for enhancing the learning of second and third generation children in particular. We then describe how a group of ten-and eleven-year-old British Bangladeshi children in a London primary school, studying a Bengali lullaby in transliteration and translation alongside the original version, were able to explore the content with additional support from their parents. This process deepened their understanding of metaphor and consolidated their knowledge of Bangladeshi culture -a cultural background to which they were strongly attached but which was partly unfamiliar to them due to growing up in the UK. Comparing the poem with a lullaby in English from North America, known to them through school and through popular culture, sharpened their understanding of different cultural values. To fully investigate the meanings in the Bengali poem, children used both languages in their discussion, making use of bilingual skills that are at risk of being lost unless they are valued in mainstream education. By operating bilingually and drawing on their complete range of linguistic and cultural knowledge, children also broadened their learner identities. We conclude by examining how the children's classmates, including those who did not speak Bengali, benefited from a whole-class lesson developed around the Bengali and English lullabies.

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“…Research indicates that there is a significant relationship between language, culture and identity (Martin et al 2006;Tsolidis and Kostogriz 2008;Wu 2006). Most students in this study feel that learning Chinese is linked to their ethnic identity.…”

Section: Learning Chinese As a Marker Of Ethnic Identitymentioning

confidence: 98%

Asia Pacific Education : Diversity, Challenges and Changes

Chan¹

2012

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Managing Bilingual Interaction in a Gujarati Complementary School in Leicester

Cited by 75 publications

References 9 publications

‘Medium of instruction’ vs. ‘medium of classroom interaction’: language choice in a French complementary school classroom in Scotland

‘Medium of instruction’ vs. ‘medium of classroom interaction’: language choice in a French complementary school classroom in Scotland

Bilingual poetry: expanding the cognitive and cultural dimensions of children's learning

Asia Pacific Education : Diversity, Challenges and Changes

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