Ljouwert/Leeuwarden May 2011 We know, but do they listen...?

J A R M O L A I N I O P R O F E S S O R M Ä L A R D A L E N U N I V E R S I T Y & S T O C K H O L M U N I V E R S I T Y , S W E D E N

Jarmo Lainio, Mälardalen & Stockholm University 2020-04-30

Main parts of the presentation

  First reflection: our argumentation is targeting the change of values, that are seen as logical and natural, and are normative and transmitted/heritage; And, we want to promote a new normative way of valuing things….     What do we know about bilingualism/bilingual education?

What is language used for?

What is the role of language?

How are they learned? Jarmo Lainio, Mälardalen University 2020-04-30

Additional issues of the presentation

+ What is the role of the school?

 We wish to affect Monolingual Habitus (I. Gogolin)  And affect/convince different levels, political and administrative:  International   National Regional   Local Schools, leadership, teachers, parents Jarmo Lainio, Mälardalen University 2020-04-30

Conclusive part

One type of conclusions will be that…

 Some will not be convinced, never will, about the role of language for learning  Our task is never-ending, recurrent restarts needed  But there are bits of impact and good examples to be found Jarmo Lainio, Mälardalen University

If that is nots enough, there are new challenges

 …and we have to add and include new knowledge into our argumentation, e.g.:  Impact of social constructuvism, or,  ”set of linguistic resources” pro ”language” 2020-04-30

What do we – language scientists – know about language and languages

 

Thinking The main way to learn and produce learning outcomes



Communication, interaction and structure



Socially construed

  

Political load Social marker Social and human capital



Structured/systematic at different levels



Symbolic value



Ethnicity - group



Nation



Treated as rigid and homogenous, socially, educationally, and through print, but studied as variable and dynamic in context Language as such is ”innocent”

Jarmo Lainio, Mälardalen & Stockholm University 2020-04-30

Language learning and acquisition

   How are languages acquired and learned by young children and adolescents?

And how are bi /multilingual children considered in this?

Is language only acuired by imitation?

 At least four factors are needed to explain how it takes place:  Biological predisposition   Interaction Imitation  Cognitive development – language development are interrelated

Consequences for schooling and literacy?

Jarmo Lainio, Mälardalen & Stockholm University 2020-04-30

Some beliefs and stereotypical views on bilingualism and bilingual education



Against (selection…)



For (selection…)

       Bilinguals mix languages and thus are seen as more stupid ”It is too expensive” ”If Chinese in Kiruna do not receive instruction in the MT, then you Finns should not have it in Botkyrka” ”The children will be isolated, the key to integration is the language, Swedish” They already know Finnish/ X The more Swedish they get, the faster they learn ”In Sweden we speak Swedish” Jarmo Lainio, Mälardalen & Stockholm University        Bilingualism may have additional positive effects It may cost more now, but we will have it in return later on Identical treatment is not equity The children may not become bilinguals, but they need a break from the assimilation pressure (iD) Bilingualism gives access to several worlds They learn Swedish and other Ls better if they first learn their MT No, we don’t only speak Swedish 2020-04-30

Paradoxes from Germany

  Hartmut Esser (2006) – report and other research (against?) bilingualism (AKI = Arbeitsstelle Interkulturelle Konflikte und gesellschaftliche Integration, Berlin):

Migration, Sprache und

Integration (2006)  No effects of bilingualism on labour market merits, + for niches and English Jarmo Lainio, FinSKC, MDH There is no statistical evidence for positive or negative effects of L1 on educational achievement, except in cases where bilingualism is achieved, which correlates positively with educational results 2020-04-30

Esser (2)

 The factors that seem to correlate positively with

bilingualism and thus educational progression

 Age of migration (= high level of L1)    Educational level of parents Ethnic context Concentration of children with migrant background to same schools and classes 2020-04-30

Comments to Esser

   There is no clue to the understanding of the writer of language-connected issues in the report (Critical age threshold, Interdependence Hypothesis are discussed and part of the analysis) The fact that there are no positive or negative statistical effects of L1 + L2 learning, but one learns two languages, is not discussed Research results are highly contextually interpreted – Germany Jarmo Lainio, Mälardalen University 2020-04-30

Relation between language and cognition

Language Cognitive development Monolinguals

Jarmo Lainio, Mälardalen & Stockholm University 2020-04-30

(

Relation between language and cognition (2-3 years for fluency, 5-8 years for age level achievements in L2)

Language Cognitive development Bi-/multilinguals, when language shift takes place

Jarmo Lainio, Mälardalen & Stockholm University

Initial reactions

…which are repeated for later groups 

NN came from Finland at the age of 14. He was directly placed in a Swedish class, where he redrew from interaction and became apatethic. He seldom came to school. At the age of 15 a decision was taken that NN should be relieved from compulsory schooling, since he by the school psychologist was understood to have poor marks and suffering from severe psychological problems and delinqient behaviour” (my translation, JL, 1967)

-> Who had the problems…? Jarmo Lainio, Mälardalen & Stockholm University 2020-04-30

Strong support for bilingual education for both minority and majority language background children.

Wayne P. Thomas & Virginia P. Collier, 1997

Jarmo Lainio, Mälardalen & Stockholm University 2020-04-30

Dual or two-way bilingual education



To catch up:

   Language development Cognitive development Subject matter, i.e. academic content  = Grade and age level acquisition/learning and development  Wayne Thomas & Virginia Collier (1997, 2002) 

Results:

         Evaluations – when, what (5 8 years)?

Time perspective Positive for both languages Positive for subject matter Dicreased social and ethnic distance Sociocultural support needed Sizeable groups needed Supports findings from other research (also Immersion programmes) Supports CLIL-perspective Jarmo Lainio, Mälardalen & Stockholm University 2020-04-30

Relation language and cognition

(Jim Cummins; Ellen Bialystok)

Language Cognitive development Bi-/multilinguals when bilingual development takes place

Jarmo Lainio, Mälardalen & Stockholm University

Bilinguals’ proficiency

Jim Cummins & Merril Swain (1986) Jarmo Lainio, Mälardalen & Stockholm University 2020-04-30

What is the task of the school?

     

Secondary socialisation

Offer equity and adapted teaching as well as promotion of knowledge for educational careers Present equal demands on pupils, irrespective of background Develop language beyond the family’s capacity Increase language awareness in all subjects of schooling, for higher levels of language skills, orally and in writing/reading (EUCIM-TE -project) Support pupils’ well-being – holistic views and treatment Jarmo Lainio, FinSKC, MDH 2020-04-30

NESSE reports

http://www.nesse.fr/ne sse/activities/reports Network of Experts in social sciences of education and training  Friedrich Heckmann (2008)

Education and Integration of

Migrants (NESSE Analytical Report 1 for EU Commission DG Education and Culture). www.efms.de

(University of Bamberg)   16 recommendations (NB: Most of which have been described as typical for immersion programmes and well functioning schools in general) Jarmo Lainio, FinSKC, MDH 2020-04-30

Rec’s abbreviated from Heckmann’s report on ”integration”

1) Effective pre-school and day-care system needed 2) Later selection of specialisation needed 3) Integrate elements and symbols of the culture or the immigrant country; consultations 4) Improve the general quality of school  5)

Desegregate schools

 6)

Special attention for special education for migrant children

 7)

Teacher training should be adapted to migrant children; assistants, home work centres

 8)

Additional funding, as investment, not extra costs

Jarmo Lainio, FinSKC, MDH 2020-04-30

…from Heckmann’s report (2)

9) Teachers should have high expectations 10) More migrant background children into teacher education 11) Liaison officers of schools (same background as parents) involve parents 12) Ethnic mentoring by outsiders in school (parents, assoc.)    13) Involve families in early childhood language learning programmes 14) Authorities should set up goals and monitor them (rates of school leaving cert’s, migrant background teachers etc.) 16) Develop programmes for highly talented migrant pupils Jarmo Lainio, FinSKC, MDH 2020-04-30

Heckmann continued

Lack of understanding of how learning and language connect  15) ”Migrant children should come to a full demand of the lingua franca of the immigration country as early as possible. Language training should be a central part of pre-school education. Priority should be given to the common language of the immigration country, since full command

of the first language does not seem to be a necessary condition for learning the lingua franca of the immigration

country. The lingua franca should be the language of instruction from the beginning of schooling. Since multlingualism is of high value the first language should be further

developed in general language

learning in school. ” Jarmo Lainio, FinSKC, MDH 2020-04-30

Research on language and school

 Summary of results

Joana Duarte (2009; incl. in EUCIM-TE project) dual bilingual education, Portuguese and German in Hamburg

 “It can thus be concluded that school achievement seems to be related to certain aspects of a cognitive academic linguistic style and not to a language proficiency related to colloquial everyday speech. In this study, the students showing a high use of certain linguistic structures representative of this style, presented better results in reading comprehension. In the promotion of this school language, the importance of the students’ first language, in the form of a two way bilingual education model, seems to be beyond dispute; after six years of two-way bilingual education in German and Portuguese, the students with different language presuppositions cannot be statistically distinguished from each other.” Jarmo Lainio, FinSKC, MDH 2020-04-30

So why do we not provide bilingual education based on L1 + L2?

- P R O J E C T - O R S H O R T T E R M S O L U T I O N S , - N O N - P R I O R I T I Z E D , - N O T E A S I L Y A C C E S S I B L E , - F L U I D , - I N C O N V E N I E N T

   

Inconvenient in relation to

other teaching,

Inconvenient for the planning of pupils’ school days, Inconvenient from the ideological point of view of assimilation/”integration”/ mainstreaming, the Monolingual habitus, Inconvenient or impossible for involved teachers of L1

2020-04-30 Jarmo Lainio, Mälardalen & Stockholm University

National Agency of Education, Swe, 2008

To understand the situation of multilingual children and improve study results

 Three parts:  Survey to all primary schools (n=1201; 75 % answered)  Interviews with 13 schools in 4 municipalities  Statistical data and knowledge from a longitudinal study, grades 3-9 (GU) Jarmo Lainio, Mälardalen University

Two paradoxes

 Paradox 1:  Very little provision of L1 instruction makes a difference, even if MTI is randomized, pushed out of the school context,  Paradox 2:  Multilingual schools are better equipped to deal with the issue, but parents want their children to leave exactly these schools 2020-04-30

NAE: Some main results

What was found

     Great variation between schools, leadership/principals and teachers crucial Proportion of migrant children crucial + Lack of equity in education Mother tongue instruction correlates with better school results L2 instruction =compensatory

What is needed

 Similar to earlier studies, and partly overlapping with Heckmann’s study, but also Cummins (2010), Little (2010), Gogolin s( 2009): Jarmo Lainio, Mälardalen University 2020-04-30

NAE: what is needed x 9…

        

Clear formulations in legal framework Clear division of labour between municipals and schools Cooperation between L1 teachers and other teachers Long-term perspective and reflection on the needs of multilingual children Integration of language and subject matter See multilingualism as a resource, not a burden Manifold activities maybe better than big leaps Need for awareness and knowledge in school leadership, further training of teachers Involve all staff and teachers

Jarmo Lainio, Mälardalen University 2020-04-30

NAE 2008

More about the results…

Jarmo Lainio, Mälardalen University     In all subgroups as well as in main results, children with (several years of) MTI scored better on the Merit rating for secondary education (access to sec. edu.) Other factors may contribute: motivation and educational background of parents/children choosing L1 instruction Only L2 instruction at the other end of the continuum: lowest scores No differences boys - girls 2020-04-30

A recent study by The National Board of Education, states that mother tongue instruction makes a difference, by resulting in higher ratings for marks, for entrance to secondary school (age 15-16;

To sum up, mother tongue tuition appears in the study on the one hand to have possible importance for the students’ general knowledge development and, on the other hand, to be an activity that for the most part takes place outside of other school activities and that can almost be described as marginalised.

Thus far, the possible effect of participation in mother tongue tuition, apparent in the generally higher merit ratings, appears almost to be a frontal collision with the image of the the tuition’s marginalised position in Swedish compulsory school. (Eva Wirén, 2009)

With another

mother tongue,

2009. Rapport 321, English summary; www.skolverket.se

It seems however, that the pupils who participate, may be more motivated in what takes place in school – but surely this is the task of school, to create motivation?

Jarmo Lainio, Mälardalen & Stockholm University 2020-04-30

On the other hand…. -What does ”teaching” and conditions of learning look like today?

• • • • • • •

Is the desk left?

Teacher left?

Child left?

Children collectively, individually or in interaction?

Classroom left?

Other people involved?

Role of all teachers evaluated?

•

Evaluations increasingly difficult to generalize

Jarmo Lainio, FinSKC, MDH 2020-04-30

What about the challenges?

New understanding and analytical tools

   Social constructivism and superdiversity Language, heritage, identities, culture -> ”sets of linguistic resources” Differential understanding among subjects and in-depth analyses of practices Jarmo Lainio, Mälardalen University

Old practice and science ideological argumentation

  Nevertheless, there are people, infrastructures, decision-makers and studies which contest the contesting new views… The new knowledge needs to be transformed to accessible arguments (see also Blackledge & Creese 2008) 2020-04-30

Like for me…

T I M E I S R U N N I N G O U T , F O R M U L T I L I N G U A L

O R P O T E N T I A L L Y M U L T I L I N G U A L C H I L D R E N I N E U R O P E … L A N G A U G E S D I S A P P E A R A N D T H E U N I Q U E W I N D O W O F O P P O R T U N I T Y I S C L O S E D F O R M A N Y C H I L D R E N

Jarmo Lainio, Mälardalen University 2020-04-30