In Chile, Haitians correspond to the largest immigrant community whose first language is not Spanish, which operates as a nuanced hindrance to social cohesion. Hence, this study examines how Haitian students’ learning of English as a third language is discursively mediated and negotiated by their parents, English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) teachers, and peer interactions in multicultural classrooms to unveil how their agency in their learning trajectories, as well as their attitudes and perceptions are promoted and/or hindered by their linguistic practices and valuation hierarchies. To this end, I conducted a study in five different schools, in which I collected, analyzed, and triangulated eight interviews with EFL teachers, 15 Haitian parents, and 45 pedagogical hours of classroom observation using Wodak’s framework for the analysis of identity (Wei. (2011). Moment analysis and translanguaging space: Discursive construction of identities by multilingual Chinese youth in Britain. Journal of Pragmatics, 43, 1222–1235; Wodak et al. (2009). The discursive construction of national identity (2nd ed.) Edinburgh University Press). Results show that complex sociocultural factors intersect with the role of language, identity, and interaction. First, language does not seem to hinder social cohesion in these educational contexts, but racial and ethnic differences do. Preconceptions of identities and characteristics mediate EFL teachers’ and parents’ experiences in their expectations of Haitian students’ learning trajectories. Regardless, these actors seem to be oriented toward promoting agency differently, based on their constructions of self-identity.

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Language Learning, Identity, and Interaction: Findings from Multicultural Educational Contexts in Chile

  • Carolina Pérez-Arredondo

摘要

In Chile, Haitians correspond to the largest immigrant community whose first language is not Spanish, which operates as a nuanced hindrance to social cohesion. Hence, this study examines how Haitian students’ learning of English as a third language is discursively mediated and negotiated by their parents, English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) teachers, and peer interactions in multicultural classrooms to unveil how their agency in their learning trajectories, as well as their attitudes and perceptions are promoted and/or hindered by their linguistic practices and valuation hierarchies. To this end, I conducted a study in five different schools, in which I collected, analyzed, and triangulated eight interviews with EFL teachers, 15 Haitian parents, and 45 pedagogical hours of classroom observation using Wodak’s framework for the analysis of identity (Wei. (2011). Moment analysis and translanguaging space: Discursive construction of identities by multilingual Chinese youth in Britain. Journal of Pragmatics, 43, 1222–1235; Wodak et al. (2009). The discursive construction of national identity (2nd ed.) Edinburgh University Press). Results show that complex sociocultural factors intersect with the role of language, identity, and interaction. First, language does not seem to hinder social cohesion in these educational contexts, but racial and ethnic differences do. Preconceptions of identities and characteristics mediate EFL teachers’ and parents’ experiences in their expectations of Haitian students’ learning trajectories. Regardless, these actors seem to be oriented toward promoting agency differently, based on their constructions of self-identity.