(Re)defining Success in Language Learning, livre ebook

Unique focus on both teaching processes and outcomes and suggests that different approaches work for different learners

This book follows four emergent bilingual students in an English-medium pre-kindergarten in the US as they navigate the social and linguistic demands of school. It illustrates how students’ differing classroom social positions shaped their participation in interaction and, in turn, their English language learning across a school year. With a unique focus on both processes and outcomes, the book highlights language strategies that are overlooked if the focus is solely on one language or on group participation, and it emphasizes the importance of assessment choice in shaping which learners appear to be successful. It is a powerful argument for recognising the translingual and multimodal abilities of learners, even in education which is officially English-medium and monolingual.

Introduction

Chapter 1: Participation in Interaction and Language Learning: A Layered Approach

Chapter 2: Language and Language Learning as Social Practice

Chapter 3: From Bhutan, Uzbekistan, and Berkeley to River City: Arrivals and Approaches

Chapter 4: Adults as Context-makers: Parents’ and Teachers’ Belief About Language

Chapter 5: The Social Field of Classroom Three: Policies and Practices

Chapter 6: Becoming Students, Becoming Speakers: Social Positioning and Learning in Classroom Three

Chapter 7: Who Learned What?: Three Perspectives on Success in Language Learning

Chapter 8: Beyond English: Multimodal, Multilingual Repertoires at Work

Chapter 9: The Edge Has its Advantages: Participation and Learning on the Periphery

Chapter 10: Concluding Thoughts: Success Stories

References