Simone Smala

Languages, cultural capital and school choice: distinction and second-language immersion programmes

This paper argues that languages, increasingly marginalised in schools in English-speaking countries, are gaining ‘elitist’ ground as part of the ‘value-added’ marketisation of schools and parents’ desire for their children to gain ‘positional goods’ through schooling. In arguing our case, the paper draws on survey and other data derived from second-language immersion programmes in two Queensland secondary schools, where key learning areas such as mathematics and science are taught through the medium of another language. As a corollary, we also argue that some schools – in our case, government schools – are using their immersion programmes as markers of distinction in a period of post-comprehensive schooling and emerging school markets, which includes both government and non-government schools. There is also a global policy context to such programmes in respect of countries such as Spain, China and Germany supporting the teaching of their respective languages in nations around the world.

Aligning pedagogy and technology: A case study using clickers in a first-year university education course

Abstract This paper presents the results of a case study which focuses on lecturers’ use of a learner response system (clickers) with students enrolled in a first-year university education course. Data is drawn from interviews and questionnaires with guest lecturers, including the course coordinator and an author of the paper, who is also the principal lecturer in the course. Within the body of research that links clicker use with positive student engagement, this paper focuses on the lecturers’ experiences in preparing for, and using clickers with their students. The study focused on the research question: How do pedagogical decisions affect the way clickers are used with students in an education course? Taking into account the locatedness of individual lecturers’ pedagogical frameworks, the results of this study indicate a connection between lecturers’ teaching pedagogies, the way these inform their interactions with students and also how they incorporate clickers in their teaching. This paper therefore argues that the objectives of using clickers need to be made explicit in pedagogical dialogues of teaching teams comprised of lecturers and guest lecturers, and clearly linked to the overall pedagogy informing course delivery.

Sole fighter mentality: stakeholder agency in CLIL programmes in Queensland

This study presents an insight into content and language integrated learning (CLIL) practices in the Australian state of Queensland. The article comprises four main sections. The first section outlines the context of CLIL in Australia and Queensland; there follows a brief review of the literature on stakeholders in CLIL programmes, such as programme directors, teachers and parents; a third section presents the methods used in the study; and finally a summary of the findings will be presented. Based on semi-structured interviews, the research set out to uncover the views of programme directors of 11 different CLIL programmes regarding their pedagogical decisions and contextual experiences in a societal climate that tolerates but does not prioritise the study of second languages. The article concludes that CLIL programmes exist as individual programmes without an umbrella organisation supporting them and that, as a consequence, there is a necessity and mentality amongst programme directors to fulfil more roles than just those of leading teachers, including advocacy, recruitment and coordination of translations for teaching units. The article makes two claims: that stakeholder agency in CLIL programmes in Queensland is characterised by a ‘sole fighter mentality’; and that this mentality is fostered not only by a generally marginalised role assigned to second language learning but also by contextual factors that merge language learning with language maintenance concerns in many of the existing CLIL programmes.

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) pedagogies in Queensland

Abstract This paper presents insights into Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) programs in Queensland. CLIL programs use a second language as the medium of instruction to deliver mainstream subjects, such as science, maths or history, as a form of intensive language learning. The paper presents an analysis of pedagogical considerations and domains, elicited from interviews with CLIL programs directors at different Queensland schools, using a variety of second languages in their CLIL programs. The analysis is guided by a synthesis of CLIL pedagogies and theories of bilingual education, as well as a research framework inspired by three concepts: Fields of Visibility, Technical aspects of program enactment, and Forms of Knowledge. The paper concludes that CLIL is a promising teaching design model as a response to renewed calls for languages learning in Australia. However, the demands of CLIL programs require CLI program directors and teachers to apply a multitude of pedagogical considerations: subject-specific concepts; available teaching resources in the second language; translation and simplification of materials; students’ access to learning through modified language. CLIL programs therefore need to be supported through resources and focused professional development opportunities.

The governmentality of reconciliation: adult education as a community relations technique in Northern Ireland

Despite a successfully negotiated peace agreement in Belfast in 1998, tensions between different community groups continue to exist in Northern Ireland. This situation creates a governmental need to find solutions to problems such as segregation, inter- and intra-group violence and other forms of sectarian antagonisms. On the one hand, this is attempted by disciplinary measures such as ‘peace walls’ and an increased presence of state powers such as police and armed forces. On the other hand, community relations discourses remain a common refrain in Northern Ireland with their focus on a ‘conduct of conduct’ approach. In this article, I seek to understand adult community education through community relations initiatives and designated anti-sectarian courses as a governmental technology in Northern Ireland designed to change technologies of the self. The article highlights the possibilities for a way forward inherent in this approach and links community relations to broader contexts of policy developments in Northern Ireland.

Digital Tool Use and Self-Regulated Strategies in a Bilingual Online Learning Environment

This chapter details the investigation into how Year 9 students experience and negotiate a technology-enhanced learning environment in their bilingual classroom. The study investigated how their translanguaging practices (using both German and English to communicate in bilingual education settings) contribute to the self-regulation of their learning in a scientific open inquiry process. Data for this study were collected via voice recordings, a student-designed questionnaire, and focus group interviews with 22 Year 9 students who studied 18 Biology lessons during 6 weeks and over 2 consecutive years. The study revealed that students’ self-regulatory practices during open inquiry processes developed in specific ways through the exposure to a bilingual classroom setting, for example, by being exposed to unknown terms in German which led students to search for translations and then on to further self-initiated and self-regulated research to find explanations online. Students favored the teacher prepared German language biology content in guided customized simulations using computer software than their own self-initiated practices. The tool use also appeared to be reliant on students’ prior disposition to using such a tool. Thus, the results of this study have implications for the future customization of online learning spaces for high school students and educators in bilingual settings as well as in other fields.