A lesson in teaching English while White

Joke’s on You : So-called undocumented students in the US

This chapter focuses on the experience of undocumented college students in the USA. While K‐12 education has been opened to undocumented students, at least on paper, since the landmark case Plyler vs. Doe, college education remains a highly precarious terrain for undocumented students, which offers little to no legal protection. Within the United States, the situation of undocumented college students differs greatly among individual states. This chapter provides an overview of national‐level policies or nationally relevant work in the area, as well as insights into some successful local initiatives. peerReviewed

Does Finland Need Raciolinguistics?

A growing number of applied linguists and language educators in the US/North American context advocate for and from a scholarly perspective which views language issues in relation to racial issues and vice versa. The emergent field of raciolinguistics highlights the relationships between language and race/racism and has brought about research that investigates their intersections. Should scholars in Finland adopt (and adapt) such an approach to scholarly work? Three Finland-based scholars explore this question in a question ("prompt") - response format.

“It’s Practically a Must” : Neoliberal Reasons for Foreign Language Learning

Towards Socio-material Research Approaches in Language Education

AbstractThis chapter outlines the socio-material framing of the book that it opens. We situate this volume materially not only in the discipline of applied linguistics and language education, but also in the long tradition of applied language studies at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland and the community there. In doing so, the book builds on the authors’ roots in social constructionist thought and explicates why an orientation towards new materialism may be useful for a consideration of equity issues in language education. Socio-materialism fosters a critical, transformative perspective and encourages an ontological ethical grounding of research, thus providing a starting point for re…

Stop the Deficit: Preparing Pre-service Teachers to Work with Bilingual Students in the United States

This chapter explores the education of bilingual students from an American teacher education perspective. Bilingual students in the United States are often diminished to their student status of “English Language Learner” (ELL). Not only does this ELL designation assume a onesize-fits-all approach to education for and understanding of bilingual children, but the label itself implores a deficit perspective which neither captures nor values bilingual children in the United States. Driven by the goal to model and introduce assets-based pedagogies to our pre-service English as Second Language (ESL) teachers, the main question guiding our work was, as teacher educators, how can we challenge pre-s…

Knowledge is power is knowledge : Can we break the cycle of epistemic and epistemological injustice?

Challenging constitutional bilingualism with 'what if ...': Counterfactual histories and at-risk minorities in Finland

Translanguaging as a Key to Socially Just English Teaching in Finland

This chapter discusses opportunities for multilingual and social justice-based pedagogies in the context of teaching English in Finnish compulsory schools. Recent changes in Finland’s national curriculum (FNCCBE, Finnish National Core Curriculum for Basic Education. English version 2016. Finnish National Board of Education Publications 2014/2016) promote a language-aware approach that is inclusive of students’ multilingual backgrounds. The document understands multilingualism as variation in any language system, including subject-specific languages, different modalities, and explicit language education. Against this backdrop, we ask: What opportunities for multilingual education are opened …

Editorial

Can you imagine? An imaginary of Finland's higher education as anti-oppressive, intersectional practice

This chapter presents an imagined future scenario following a tweet by Minister of Interior Maria Ohisalo in June 2020 on Finland’s Government Action Plan for Gender Equality. In our counterfactual imaginary, the government resigns and new elections result in a victory of the Left and Green parties, which were leading the polls at the time. We examine how Finnish higher education (HE) could develop in response to calls for intersectional and anti-oppressive practice on the basis of existing research, the Government Action Plan for Gender Equality, and the Higher Education Accessibility plan. Our counterfactual framework critically examines historical processes and possible futures emerging …

Assemblages of language, impact and research

Three scholars—of languages and knowledges, of translation and writing, and of higher education—discuss societal impact as a higher education policy goal and the language ideologies that link with that discussion. We first criticize the problematic notion of impact that is common in higher education policy and discuss language and impact in terms of their assumed predictable, definable, and linear nature. From there, we move on to advocate for a multimodal, multidirectional, locally, and globally relevant impact that is focused on direct engagement, participatory approaches, support for promoting community activities, and introducing more epistemologically just understandings of the relatio…

What is effective pedagogy for multilingual learners? Observations of teaching that challenges inequity-the OPETAN project in England

There is little empirical evidence regarding how best to prepare general education teachers for the challenge of supporting multilingual learners. This is both regarding helping learners develop the language of schooling, and achieving academic success (Faltis & Valdés, 2016). Similarly, little is known about what in-service teachers should know, and what pedagogical perspective they should adopt, to achieve these aims (Faltis & Valdés, 2016; Takanishi & Le Menestrel, 2017). However, there is a promising line of research that proposes an observation tool to evaluate classroom pedagogy: ‘The Standards for Effective Pedagogy’ (the ‘Standards’ 2014; Teemant, 2015). The OPETAN project (Observat…

‘I’m a foreign teacher’: legitimate positionings in the stories of a migrant teacher

This qualitative study examines one migrant teacher’s identity positions in the context of a peer mentoring group setting in Finland. Combining theories of legitimacy and teacher narratives, this study asked which positions were available and legitimate for a migrant teacher. The analysis of three of the stories the teacher (‘Ji Yoo’) shared was inspired by Barkhuizen’s three-step framework for examining positioning in teacher narratives. Findings showed that Ji Yoo’s most legitimate positions were being ‘foreign’, novice teacher, cultural broker, and expert teacher, the latter two being the least frequent and least explicit ones. The authors suggest that migrant teachers’ struggles of havi…

Kielikoulutuksen saavutettavuus eurooppalaisessa perusopetuksessa : pääsyn, mahdollistumisen ja arvon näkökulmia

It´s not messy but it´s not clean either : Reviewing and discussing an Applied Linguistics textbook through a research ethics lens

Got access? : how to improve language education for all in Nordic compulsory education

What are barriers to high-quality language education? How do we increase the variety in languages students learn? How do we promote, support, and foster multilingual, multicultural and other kinds of diversities? These and other hard questions kept the participants of the RECLAS-symposium on Access to language education busy on November 28, 2019. nonPeerReviewed

Language Education for Everyone? Busting Access Myths

AbstractFinland has, rather successfully, promoted an image of itself as a model of educational excellence and linguistic equity. This chapter problematises this image by analysing Finnish language education policies at the comprehensive school level. For our analysis we use a three-fold understanding of access as; (a) having the opportunity to participate in language education (getting in); (b) participating in education that is meaningful and effective for the pupil (getting it); and (c) receiving credentials that are societally legitimate and valuable assets (getting out). We elaborate on each aspect of access by debunking three myths for the Finnish context that: (a) Multilingualism is …

“Come join us, and lose your accent!” : Accent Modification Courses as Hierarchization of International Student

In this article, we examine the hierarchization of international students by bringing together perspectives of linguistic legitimacy and language ideologies. Our data stems from 26 accent reduction (AR) or accent modification (AM) course descriptions and websites from US universities. Based on their analysis, we discuss the socio-political implications of the phenomenon of these courses for international students and the ways in which language-based, particularly accent-based, arguments are used to create or reinforce different categories of students. We argue that while international students are presented as having different kinds of “comprehensibility problems” that AM/AR courses are cla…

Haavoittuneita ja kärsiviä? : siirtolaisnaisten toimijuus osana tutkimusta

The Socio-Material Value of Language Choices in Mozambique and Finland

AbstractThis chapter explores parental choice of language programs from a socio-material standpoint. It uses a DeleuzoGuattarian framework of smooth and striated spaces to understand how parents in Mozambique and Finland position themselves when making choices concerning their children’s language education. We analyzed interviews from Finland and focus groups and policy documents from Mozambique to understand the materialities and social discourses that constitute parental choice. We found that in Finland, materiality as a physical space (e.g., school location) factored into caregivers’ decision making when selecting schools for their children. In Mozambique, in turn, materiality as socioec…

“I want to speak like the other people” : Second language learning as a virtuous spiral for migrant women?

This article contributes to scholarship on migrant women’s second language (L2) education in North America and Europe. Questioning reductionist understandings of the relationship between female migrants, their receiving communities and L2 education, the authors consider existing literature as well as their own qualitative work to investigate the challenges, opportunities and agency of migrant women. Weaving together and thematically presenting previous scholarship and qualitative data from interviews, participant observations and classroom recordings from a mixed-gender L2 adult migrant classroom in Austria and an all-women L2 migrant classroom in the United States, they trouble conceptuali…

Onko kielikoulutus saavutettavaa?

Tutkijat totesivat, että vaikka kielikoulutusta olisi saatavilla, se ei aina ole saavutettavaa. Saavutettavuuteen kuuluu tarjollaolemisen lisäksi opetuksen laatu ja opitun arvostus. nonPeerReviewed

Imperial straightening devices in disciplinary choices of academic knowledge production

Abstract In this piece, the authors question whether critical language research, in its complex collection of researcher choices, is possible beyond the discursive imaginary of critical academic scholarship. In other words, how do (allegedly) anticolonial efforts re-orient towards contribution to the imperial record? We present three vignettes, through which we grapple with the notion that researcher choice exists within the solipsism of academia. In doing so, we frame research and scholarship as a collection of choices, which we believe are better understood as a collection of fraught dilemmas. These dilemmas recognize that all academic scholarship production and its processes are birthed …

Are we who we cite? : on epistemological injustices, citing practices, and #metoo in academia

The #metoo movement reaching academia and Applied Linguistics creates a need for discussion on how we as scholars react to oppressive ideologies and behaviors in our community. However, this is not merely a question of processing cases of sexual harassment and assault. More deeply, we need conversations on who we do and do not know, read, and cite, and how to make our field more epistemologically equitable. This article hopes to elicit comments, reactions, and dialogue. nonPeerReviewed

Akateeminen hyvinvointi mitattavana ominaisuutena ja mittaamattomana kokemuksena

Tarkastelemme tässä luvussa akateemista hyvinvointia kahdelle monitieteisen yliopiston laitokselle tehdyn Wellness 360°indeksi -hyvinvointikartoituksen avulla. Peilaamme kartoituksen tuloksia laitosten työhyvinvointikyselyihin ja akateemista hyvinvointia koskevaan tutkimukseen. Tarkastelemme tuloksia eri uraporrasvaiheiden sekä tuki- ja hallintohenkilöstön hyvinvoinnin näkökulmasta. Etenkin väitöskirjatutkijoiden ja tutkijatohtoreiden hyvinvointi oli heikompaa kuin muiden. Tuki- ja hallintohenkilöstön palautuminen oli muita heikompaa. Muun tutkimuksen perusteella tiedämme, että hyvinvointi on yhteydessä erilaisiin resursseihin, joita akateemisessa työssä ovat esimerkiksi pysyvä tai pitkäaik…

‘My skin is hard’ - adult learners’ resistance to racialization and racism

This article analyzes experiences of racialization in stories of adult learners with refugee experience who attend a basic education program at a Finnish community college. Throughout a two-year ethnographic study, several students shared stories and thoughts on racialization and racism with the white researcher on site (the author). This article tells and theorizes their stories to gain a deeper understanding of the workings of everyday racialization and racism in a Finnish educational context. Theoretically, the article draws on a Critical Race Theory (CRT) framework, which recognizes the inherence of racialization and racism in society and underlines the importance and legitimacy of BIPO…

Ambivalent English : What We Talk About When We Think We Talk About Language

The ambivalence of English manifests itself in the discourses that surround it. English may be a resource and consume resources; it empowers and oppresses. The dichotomous discussion around the usefulness or dangers of English as a “global” or “world” language erases problematizations of the layered societal implications of English in localised contexts. English needs to be analysed not (only) as a language but (also) as the ideologies and societal structures intertwined with it. We examine English in two higher education contexts. Our first case deals with the so-called Accent Reduction courses offered for international students in US universities. The second one analyses English as a lang…

That German Stuff : Negotiating linguistic legitimacy in a foreign language classroom

This qualitative case study of one German suburban high school classroom in the Midwestern United States examines how learners of German negotiate their linguistic legitimacy, which is defined as discursively constructed acceptance or validation for their language use. Specifically, it investigates how the students negotiated legitimacy for using their target language German in their classroom. Based on the premise that linguistic legitimacy is crucial for the maintenance and development of speakers’ languages, data was collected and analyzed from classroom recordings, semi-structured interviews, and participant observations. Findings revealed that, while English dominated the lessons as th…

A Diffractive Reading

AbstractTowards the end of the editing process, we started to see the book as something more than a collection of chapters around a theme: as an assemblage, which included, of course, the community of authors. When we put out the first call for contributions in May 2018, most authors volunteered a contribution rather quickly, others joined a bit later, and some dropped out for different reasons, underlining the dynamic nature of our assemblage. In pre-pandemic times, we met on and off campus, introduced some of our ideas at conferences, and had a workshop day to brainstorm, plan chapters, and reflect on the process and the purpose of the book. We were connected by common meals, jokes, writi…

“No, I’m Not Reading”: How Two Language Learners Enact Their Investments by Crossing and Blurring the Boundaries of Literacy and Orality

This chapter makes an argument for bridging the gap between Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and Literacy Studies from the perspective of so-called transmodalities, i.e. ways of using language that merge and blur the modalities of writing, speaking, listening, and reading. This argument is based on data from a qualitative case study that describes the transmodal practices of two trilingual high school students in a German classroom in the Midwestern US. More precisely, the study investigated how the high school students Jana and Karina (both pseudonyms), users of English, Latvian, and German, engaged in activities that mixed and blurred oral and literacy modalities in their German classroo…