Languages of Sydney: the people and the passion

Alice Chik, Susan Markose, Diane Alperstein

    Research output: Book/ReportBookpeer-review

    Abstract

    In today’s multicultural classrooms, educators are increasingly entrusted with the education of plurilingual students whose linguistic identities have rarely been foregrounded in classroom interactions. In order to address the ways of knowing and learning of our diverse student population, it is imperative that educators recognise and incorporate the linguistic and cultural heritage of the students in their classes. One way to examine beliefs, values and meanings regarding language learning and linguistic identity is for participants to map language experiences to body silhouettes and to record, through narratives, how their attitudes and perceptions are affected by their own language and cultural background. To this end, this action research project required student-teachers, who were undertaking a unit of study on multiculturalism and education, to reflect on what meanings are constructed, the cultural/linguistic influences on these constructions, and how these constructions guided their thoughts, behaviours and worldviews implicit in their linguistic identities. Hence, this action research project worked with students as reflective practitioners to document their experiences with language – both languages that are part of their heritage and those which they undertook as part of their formal learning requirements. This project includes a toolkit that can be used with learners of any age, cultural, linguistic and educational contexts. The ideas presented in the tool kit can act as an extension of the body silhouettes to further extend student expression of shared language and cultural experiences.
    Original languageEnglish
    Place of PublicationHong Kong
    PublisherCandlin & Mynard
    Number of pages158
    ISBN (Electronic)9780463438664
    ISBN (Print)9781729401309
    Publication statusPublished - 2018

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Languages of Sydney: the people and the passion'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this