The Social Transformations and Education Research Hub UNPACKING EDUCATION

BROWN BAG LUNCH TIME SEMINAR

Conventional views of teaching English as an Additional Language (EAL) often frame languages as discrete systems that speakers switch between. However, state-of-the-art theories of bilingualism have begun to challenge this assumption, arguing that the language practices of bilinguals are drawn from a single linguistic repertoire, and that enabling access to the full breadth of students’ language practices can be a vital resource for further language development. This challenges practices in relation to EAL students across the Australian school system, where curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment are predicated on monolingual (English-only) structures. Yvette and Julie explore these new theoretical conceptualisations through recent research projects within the mainstream school system, intensive language schools and with pre-service teacher cohorts at MGSE. They will discuss pedagogical implications, the need for a collaborative framework for EAL and content teachers within schools, and implications for the MTeach program at Julie Choi and Yvette Slaughter are Senior Lecturers in Language and Literacy Education at the MGSE. Julie is co-editor of the book Language and Culture: Reflective Narratives and the Emergence of Identity, Plurilingualism in Teaching and Learning: Complexities across Contexts, and author of Creating a Multivocal Self: Autoethnography as Method. Her research interests are in language and identity, and translingual educational studies. Yvette is co-editor of Challenging the Monolingual Mindset and her research interests focus on plurilingual pedagogies and multilingualism in education.

Thursday 6th September12:00-1:00pm

Room 713/714,Level 7,

100 Leicester St.

Making space for multilingualism in Australian schools