academic and occupational language development of bilingual immigrant students in a teacher...
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Academic and Occupational Language Development of Bilingual Immigrant
Students in a Teacher Education Program
Case Studies
JOSÉ BEIJERFaculty of Education
Research Centre for Multicultural Education Jose.Beijer@hu.nl
My presentation
Method Case studies: charateristic situations Findings Recommendations
Motives
Language problems : ‘First aid Post’ Cure instead of prevention No language development in the curriculum No language development on the workplace Is language the main problem?
Growth of bilingual immigrant students in the faculty (18%)
Language problems: loss of students
Aim
To gain insight into the way students go on in courses andon the workplace:
- To fulfill assignments- Interaction with teachers, coaches- Interaction with fellow students, colleagues
Theoretical frame
(Applied) linguistics• Explicit versus implicit language learning, content-based
approach• Intercultural communicative competence
Learning theory• Social constructivism
Research Questions
How do bilingual immigrant students go about in their study and on the workplace?
How do they solve their problems, particularly language problems?
How do teacher educators and school coaches address the needs of bilingual immigrant students?
Which expertise of teacher educators and school coaches is needed for effectively support in academic and occupational language development?
Data collection
Kind of research: exploratory; qualitative
Period Six months Data Participant observation
InterviewsVideo recordings
Setting Faculty• competence-based training curriculum• seminar of work experience reflection Workplace (school)
Participants
4 Students- 1st year of their study- Identified themselves as bilingual immigrant students- 2 newcomers- 2 born and grown up in the Netherlands
Teachers- 3 teacher trainers- 3 schoolcoaches
Participants
Student Previous education
Admission requirements
Course
Nadya Secondary education in Russia
Foreign diplomaNational exam Dutch as L2
Teacher training program of English
Ghita University studies in anthropology and sociology (India)
Foreign diplomaNational exam Dutch as L2
Teacher training program of English
Mohamed Incomplete secondary and further schooling
Mature student Teacher training program of history
Omer Incomplete secondary and further schooling
Mature student Teacher training program of history
Initial situation(1)
NADYA
. Motivated : – to learn the Dutch language – to become a teacher
. Autonomous language learner
. Aware of using the Dutch language in her study
. Dutch boy-friend
. Home language: Dutch“I come from Russia, then a lot of
questions. So then you always have to say something or to tell
something”
Initial situation (2)
GHITA
-Near native speaker of English-Inadequate information and unrealistic expectations-Dutch husband-Home language: English
“I never anticipated that the teaching material would not be in English”
Initial situation (3)MOHAMED- little academic language proficiency - not motivated to improve his language
proficiency -only contact with Turkish fellow students,
teacher, friends, family- home language Turkish
OMER- little academic language proficiency- not motivated to improve his language
proficiency- contact with Turkish and Dutch fellow
students, teachers, friends - a Dutch girl-friend- home language: Turkish “you understand each other immediately”
Visions on language proficiency
Grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation
StudentsMohamed: “sentence use is what I actually must work on”Omer: “I don’t get on in stories, I don’t finish”.
“I speak too fast”. “I have to look up more words
than Dutch students”.
Teachers“he hardly articulates at all in my opinion” (Omer)
“he doesn’t get on in stories, lots of hesitations, starts sentences again, doesn’t finish sentences” (Omer)
“he repeats his self very much, and I switch off”
Feedback
Comments on language proficiency by students, teachers
and coaches : ad hoc and arbitrary
No language criteria or frames for (new) assignments like: writing a reflective report, a portfolio, essays,
collegial coaching,………………
Teacher “ it’s the content of Omer’s contributions that’s most
important and comments about his use of language might be seen as disqualifying the content of what he says”
Informed about each others notions? (1)
Omer
“I don’t get on in stories, I don’t finish”
Teacher
“he doesn’t get on in stories, lots of hesitations, starts sentences again, doesn’t finish sentences”
“ it’s the content of Omer’s contributions that’s most important and comments about his use of language might be seen as disqualifying the content of what he says”
Informed about each others notions? (2)
Nadya
“I have the idea that if I would say or tell something, then if it works, no one would be interested … or I would say something wrong. I find that it is a bit difficult. Because I have the idea that they can do it better, or they know more … I'm a bit behind or something like that.“
Teacher
“Nadya participates very well and has a very good contribution to the discussion”.
Language training on the job
Coach
(Omer, Mohamed)
“I don’t pay attention to professional language, the students will learn it on their own while doing practice”
Language training on the job (2)
Coach
(Nadya)
The coach works on the development of her professional competencies but does not pay any explicit attention to her language competencies, although he does do this implicitly.
Nadya (beginning of a lesson)
"What you have now done, and it's the first time that I have seen it, is that you actually used their names – and that you see that it helps immediately. Don't say "quiet please" but "Farida …"
Nadya (the difficult group)
[English equivalent of original Dutch:] "In fact they were starting to sabotage things, I thought. And then you can get mad at them or want to win the battle against them, but it's better to say 'OK then, you just don't take part any more'. They think that's in fact much worse."
Is language the problem?
GHITA
Work placement
Start of the lesson: "jackets off, mobiles off,
I have a lot to tell you and I'm waiting patiently."
In her lessons : one-on-one contact
pupils are constantly talking to each other ,
or trying noisily to attract her attention.
Findings
Too little attention for academic and occupational language proficiency
No attention to initial language situation of individual students Limited vision on language proficiency No attention to language training on the job Lack of systematic feedback Lack of criteria for language proficiency for study and profession Teachers, coaches and students are not informed about each
others notions about language proficiency of the student No relations between language proficiency (problems) in different
situations Language problems not always the main problems
Recommendations(1) Language development integrated part of the curriculum
Faculty
Linguistic starting situation part of an assessment Information about programs:
• Attention to language proficiency• Language use
Recommendations (2) Language development integrated part of the curriculum
Teachers/ coaches
Distinguish language problems from didactic, pedagogical and other problems
Should be professionalized in:
- Concept of language proficiency as intercultural communicative competence
- Teaching by content based language instruction
- Creating a safe and comfortable learning environment
Recommendations (3) Language development integrated part of the curriculum
Programs
Framework for language competencies (part of professional competencies)
Attention to language development should be part of the course – and career counseling component
Thank you for your attention!
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