Abstract
This contribution is centered around the following question: What are the various ideologies about language and multilingualism held by teachers of a complementary Greek school in Canada? It focuses on the tensions between the multilingual nature of Canadian society and that of the Greek-Canadian children who attend this nonmainstream school, and the ideologies of teachers about teaching a community language in a Greek complementary school.
Analytical results from four theory-generating expert interviews within the project “Migration-Related Multilingualism and Pedagogical Professionalism” (Panagiotopoulou and Rosen, Professionalism and multilingualism in Greece and Canada: An international comparison of (minority) teachers’ views on linguistic diversity and language practices in monolingual vs. multilingual educational systems. In D. Lengyel, L. Rosen (Eds.), Minority teachers in different educational contexts – Recent studies from three German-speaking countries. Tertium comparationis. Journal für International und Interkulturell Vergleichende Erziehungswissenschaft, 21(2), 225–250, 2015) about teachers’ views on multilingualism and language practices at school are presented. The multilingual context of Montreal, the context of complementary schools, in this case that of a Greek school, the research design, as well as the methodology are described.
The results are discussed with regard to the professionalization of teachers in multilingual and migration contexts. All interviewed teachers are positive that the children they teach are multilingual, and see this as an asset. However, even though all four teachers lead multilingual lives, according to their self-reports, the ways they handle their own and their students’ multilingualism vary greatly. For instance, what has emerged as a particularly interesting result is the fact that teachers with the least academic preparation tend to have the most dynamic views on bilingualism.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Authier, J. (2002). City is bilingual capital. The Gazette, 19, 1–2.
Birdson, D. (1992). Ultimate attainment in second language acquisition. Language, 68(4), 706–755.
Bogner, A., & Menz, W. (2005). Das theoriegenerierende Experteninterview. Erkenntnisinteresse, Wissensformen, Interaktion. In A. Bogner, B. Littig, & W. Menz (Eds.), Das Experteninterview. Theorie, Methode, Anwendung (2nd ed.). Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.
Charmaz, K. (2014). Constructing Grounded Theory. 2nd edition. London: Sage Publucations.
Creese, A., Bhatt, A., Bhojani, N., & Martin, P. (2006). Multicultural, heritage and learner identities in complementary schools. Language and Education, 20(1), 23–43.
Creese, A., & Blackledge, A. (2010). Translanguaging in the bilingual classroom: A pedagogy for learning and teaching? The Modern Language Journal, 94, 103–115.
Creese, A., Baraç, T., Bhatt, A., Blackledge, A., Hamid, S., Li Wei, et al. (2008). Investigating multilingualism in complementary schools in four communities. Final Report for the ESCR for Project No: RES-000-23-1180.
Cummins, J., & Danesi, M. (1990). Heritage languages: The development and denial of Canada’s linguistic resources. Toronto: Our Schools/Our Selves Educational Foundation.
Curdt-Christiansen, X.-L. (2006). Teaching and learning Chinese: Heritage language classroom discourse in Montreal. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 19(2), 189–207.
Curdt-Christiansen, X.-L. (2008). Reading the world through words: Cultural themes in Heritage Chinese Language textbooks. Language and Education, 22(2), 95-113.
Ellis, R., & Sheen, Y. (2006). Reexamining the role of recasts in second language acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 28(4), 575–600.
Fishman, J. A. (1972). Bilingualism with and without diglossia and diglossia with and without bilingualism. Social Issues, 23(2), 26–38.
Fishman, J. A. (1980a). Ethnic community mother tongue schools in the USA: Dynamics and distributions. International Migration Review, 14, 235–247.
Fishman, J. A. (1980b). Minority language maintenance and the ethnic mother tongue school. Modern Language Journal, 64, 167–172.
Foucault, M. (1980). Power/knowledge: Selected interviews and other writings, 1972–1977. New York: Pantheon.
Foucault, M. (2002). The archaeology of knowledge, 1972. London: Tavistock.
Gal, S. (2006). Contradictions of standard language in Europe: Implications for the study of publics and practices. Social Anthropology, 14(2), 163–181.
García, O. (2005). Positioning heritage languages in the United States. Modern Language Journal, 89, 601–605.
García, O. (2009). Bilingual education in the 21st century: A global perspective. Wiley: Malden/Oxford.
García, O. (2014). Countering the dual: Transglossia, dynamic bilingualism and translanguaging in education. In R. Rubdy & L. Alsagoff (Eds.), The global–local interface, language choice and hybridity. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
García, O., & Li Wei. (2014). Translanguaging: Language, bilingualism and education. London: Palgrave Macmillan Pivot.
García, O., Zakharia, Z., & Otcu, B. (Eds.). (2013). Bilingual community education and multilingualism: Beyond heritage languages in a global city. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Hornberger, N. H. (2005). Opening and filling up implementational and ideological spaces in heritage language education. Modern Language Journal, 89, 605–609.
Lamarre, P., Paquette, J., Kahn, E., & Ambrosi, S. (2002). Multilingual Montreal: Listening in on the language practices of young Montreales. Canadian Ethnic Studies, 34(3), 47–75.
Lambert, W. E. (1974). Culture and language as factors in learning and education. In F. E. Aboud, & R. D. Meade (Eds.), Cultural factors in learning and education. 5th Western Washington Symposium on Learning. Washington, DC: Bellingham.
Li Wei. (2006). Complementary schools: Past, present and future. Language and Education, 20(1), 76–83.
Martin, P., Creese, A., Bhatt, A., & Bhojani, N. (2004). Final report on complementary schools and their communities in Leicester. University of Leicester/University of Birmingham.
Marmen, L., & Corbeil, J. P. (1999). Les langues au Canada: Recensement de 1996. Canada: Ministère des Travaux publics.
Mirza, H. S., & Reay, D. (2000). Spaces and places of black educational desire: Rethinking black supplementary schools as a new social movement. Sociology, 34, 521–544.
Otheguy, R., García, O., & Reid, W. (2015). Clarifying translanguaging and deconstructing named languages: A perspective from linguistics. Applied Linguistics Review, 6(3), 281–307.
Panagiotopoulou, A., & Rosen, L. (2015). Professionalism and multilingualism in Greece and Canada: An international comparison of (minority) teachers’ views on linguistic diversity and language practices in monolingual vs. multilingual educational systems. In D. Lengyel, & L. Rosen (Eds.), Minority teachers in different educational contexts – Recent studies from three German-speaking countries. Tertium comparationis. Journal für International und Interkulturell Vergleichende Erziehungswissenschaft, 21(2), 225–250.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Panagiotopoulou, A., Rosen, L., García, O. (2018). Language Teachers’ Ideologies in a Complementary Greek School in Montreal: Heteroglossia and Teaching. In: Trifonas, P., Aravossitas, T. (eds) Handbook of Research and Practice in Heritage Language Education. Springer International Handbooks of Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44694-3_26
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44694-3_26
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-44692-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-44694-3
eBook Packages: EducationReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Education