Contesting Languages in Learning: Multilingual Experiences of Chinese, South Korean, Ethiopian, and Cameroonian Learners

Group Submission Type: Panel Session

Proposal

This panel will discuss language diversity in various learning environments through examination of the complexities of language learning and languages-in-learning with four presentations - one quantitative and three qualitative researches - from different regions of the world - the United States, South Korea, Ethiopia, and Cameroon. The primary aim of the panel is to understand the local and global challenges in communication due to the difference of a language in education and home/mother-tongue language and disclose the link between social outcomes and individual achievement of learners in the multilingual contexts.
More specifically, Chinese study abroad students in English Language Program in Philadelphia seek development in English-speaking ability as well as the access to global citizenship through an understanding of the local center of diversity in the United States. Similarly, members of self-organized English Study Group in South Korea practice the socially pervasive discourse of self-enrichment through regular participation in English-mediated communicative activities. In both cases, the English-learners engage multilingualism longing for social advancement. On the other hand, the study in Ethiopia is an empirical investigation of the extent of language heterogeneity in Ethiopian primary classrooms. It will compare background variables and outcomes in classrooms where the language of instruction is different from that spoken by the student, and the teacher. In this way, the goal is to provide evidence for policies and programs that seek to improve learning in multilingual contexts. Meanwhile, the study in Cameroon examines the challenges faced by a local education nonprofit as it navigates two official languages (English and French) and a multiplicity of idiosyncratic indigenous dialects while engaging in literacy activities with children in formal and informal learning environments. The goal, in this case, is to explore both the difficulties and opportunities afforded by cross-linguistic interactions in diverse settings.
Through the examination of similar and different aspects of multilingualism with complexly intermingled social discourses, socioeconomic variables, and individual experiences in four different regional contexts, this panel addresses following questions. How do different encounters of multilingualism reflect changing dynamics of education/learning in the era of globalization? Moreover, how do these experiences of different languages (re)produce the social discourses of education/learning?

Sub Unit

• SIG: Language Issues

Chair

• Dan Wagner, University of Pennsylvania

Individual Presentations

• The linguistic insecurity of Chinese study abroad students in Philadelphia, PA - María Paredes Fernández, University of Pennsylvania

• Discourse of self-enrichment and translanguaging within South Korean English study group - Jay Jo, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania

• Effective early literacy instruction in multilingual classrooms: Insights from Young Lives data - Pierre De Galbert, Harvard Graduate School of Education; Charles Gale, Harvard University

• Navigating multilingual boundaries: Challenges faced by a local nonprofit while educating children in Cameroon - Gordon Divine Asaah, University of Pennsylvania

Discussant

• Gareth Smail, University of Pennsylvania