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Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 736

Part of Session 183: Contesting and reconstructing language policies in urban educational settings (Other abstracts in this session)

Language and Space in the multilingual school – Contestations of language regimes in the social space of a Slovene-German primary school

Authors: Purkarthofer, Judith
Submitted by: Purkarthofer, Judith (University of Vienna, Austria)

Schools provide spaces for learners and speakers of diverse languages and through both explicit and implicit language policies and related or contradictory practices, local language regimes come into place. Looking at social space with Lefebvre’s set of spatial aspects (1991), offers new insights into language as local practice (Pennycook 2012) and the interwoven discourses and practices (van Leeuwen 2008) of a translocally connected, heteroglossic social space.

Drawing on qualitative research in the form of a multimodal school language profile (Busch 2010), both individual’s experience and repertoire and the construction of this multilayered, heteroglossic space are accessible to understand negotiations of language policies. Visual and verbal data (language portrayals, drawings, photographs, linguistic landscapes, interviews and group discussions) were collected and give insights into the school’s teaching practices as well as into the aspirations and intentions of students, teachers and parents. Biographical, discourse-analytical and visual approaches are combined to understand the construction of a social space in school that fosters heterogenous language practices, within and beyond the classroom setting.

This case study deals with a German-Slovene primary school in a regional capital in Austria, where Slovene is recognized as a regional minority language. Over the last 20 years of its existence, the public of this school has changed from mainly slovene-speaking parents who want a bilingual education for their children to parents with different and more heterogenous backgrounds. Families who speak German and/or languages other than German or Slovene consider this school to be an option for the multilingual education for their children and the local language regime of the school has (been) adapted to these needs. The experiences of bilingual teaching are found a valuable ressource to deal with a multilingual body of students and to be prepared to take into account the different levels of language competence and practices.

Situated in a regional urban center, the school’s surroundings are object to changing language regimes due to globalisation and negotiations of multilingualism between minority, majority and migrants‘ languages find their way into the educational institutions. The presentation will focus on these competing regimes in the discourses of parents, teachers and students and the policies of the school regarding its language regimes.

References:

Busch, Brigitta (2010). "School language profiles: valorizing linguistic resources in heteroglossic situations in South Africa." Language and Education 24(4): 283 – 294.
Lefebvre, Henri (1991). The production of space. Malden, Oxford, Carlton, Blackwell.
Pennycook, Alastair (2010). Language as a Local Practice. London, New York, Routledge.
Van Leeuwen, Theo (2008). Discourse and Practice. New Tools for Critical Discourse Analysis. Oxford, New York, Oxford University Press.