Collaboration and Co-Construction of Knowledge during Language Awareness Activities in Canadian Elementary School

Autor/inn/en	Dagenais, Diane; Walsh, Nathalie; Armand, Francoise; Maraillet, Erica
Titel	Collaboration and Co-Construction of Knowledge during Language Awareness Activities in Canadian Elementary School
Quelle	In: Language Awareness, 17 (2008) 2, S.139-155 (17 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0965-8416
DOI	10.2167/la442.0
Schlagwörter	Metalinguistics; Official Languages; Focus Groups; Elementary Schools; Sociocultural Patterns; Second Language Learning; Learning Theories; Case Studies; French; Immersion Programs; Interviews; Teaching Methods; Observation; Learning Activities; Classroom Communication; Cooperative Learning; Canada (Montreal); Canada (Vancouver) + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Metalanguage; Metasprache; Office language; Amtssprache; Elementary school; Grundschule; Volksschule; Soziokulturelle Theorie; Zweitsprachenerwerb; Learning theory; Lerntheorie; Case study; Fallstudie; Case Study; Französisch; Immersionsprogramm; Interviewing; Interviewtechnik; Teaching method; Lehrmethode; Unterrichtsmethode; Beobachtung; Lernaktivität; Klassengespräch; Kooperatives Lernen
Abstract	Drawing on Language Awareness (LA) approaches developed for francophone classrooms and a sociocultural theoretical perspective on language and learning that posits the genesis of new knowledge construction is situated in social interactions and shaped by socio-historical context, we conducted a small-scale case study of the implementation of LA activities in elementary school. Fieldwork practices included observing and videotaping classroom interactions among French Immersion students in Vancouver and students from the mainstream francophone programme and classes d'accueil in Montreal, individual and focus group interviews with students, and collecting relevant documents for context description. In this paper, our analysis of data demonstrates how LA activities enabled teachers to engage students in focused discussions about language diversity and fostered the emergence of a community of learners who had access to a repertoire of languages that expanded beyond official languages. We examine how collaborative LA activities encouraged students to draw on collective language resources to approach languages unknown by the majority. We argue that valuing and sharing knowledge of diverse languages in classroom discussions fostered the discursive co-construction of new knowledge about the evolution of languages, relationships between languages, as well as a critical stance on the relative status of languages. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Multlingual Matters. Available from Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10