The Pivotal and Peripheral Roles of Bilingual Classroom Assistants in Sweden

• In Event: 66.058 - Roundtable Session 28
  In Roundtable Session: 66.058-2 - From Participatory Praxis to Policy: English Learning and Bilingual Education in Local Contexts

Abstract

Language ideologies emerge in complex ways in multilingual and multicultural school contexts (Ricento 2000), yet relatively little attention has been payed to teachers’ beliefs about language in relation to their cultural identities and social relations within these contexts. In this presentation, we will present data from a study of how bilingual classroom assistants in Swedish schools position themselves in response to their multiple roles and in relation to their evolving language ideologies in ways that both mirror and challenge larger discourses about language, education and social integration. Data were analyzed using the theoretical constructs of positioning (Harré and van Langenhove 1999) and language ideology (Blackledge 2009; Jaffe 2009). Implications for teacher education and pedagogical practice will be discussed.

Authors

• Liv Thorstensson Davila, University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign

• Nihad Bunar, Stockholm University