New Materialist Explorations into Language Education

Description

This open access book analyzes language education through a socio-material framework. The authors revisit their position as researchers by decentering themselves and humans in general from the main focus of research activities and giving way to the materialities that are agentive but often overlooked parts of our research contexts and processes. Through this critical posthumanist realism, they are able to engage in research that sees society as an ethical interrelationship between humans and the material world and explore the socio-materialities of language education from the perspectives of material agency, spatial and embodied materiality, and human and non-human assemblages.  Each chapter explores language educational contexts through a unique lens of (socio)materiality. Based on how the authors conceptualize (socio)materiality, the book is organized in three sections that seek answers to the following overarching questions: In what ways do material agencies emerge in language educational contexts?How are educational choices and experiences intertwined with materialities of spaces and bodies? What assemblages of human and non-human may occur in language education contexts? Each chapter questions, in its own way, the notion of the human subject as rational, enlightened being and sole possessor of agency, and offers examples of allowing for other-than-human agency to enter the picture. Together, the contributors exemplify how researchers who have been committed to social constructionist thinking for most of their careers learn to make space for new theories, thus inspiring and encouraging readers to remain open for new intellectual and embodied endeavors. Acknowledgments Contents Part I: Introduction Chapter 1: Towards Socio-material Research Approaches in Language Education Social Constructionism as a Starting Point This Book as an Assemblage Exploring the Material Problematizing the Assumption of Negotiability and the Risk of Relativism Assumed Negotiability Risk of Relativism Starting Points for Socio-material Research Introducing the Chapters References Part II: Material Agency Chapter 2: Telepresent Agency: Remote Participation in Hybrid Language Classrooms via a Telepresence Robot Introduction Being Telepresent in a Material World Agency and Telepresence Data and Method Analysis Agency and Perception Agency and Touch Agency and Movement Conclusions References Chapter 3: Changes in Language Assessment Through the Lens of New Materialism Introduction The Finnish Matriculation Examination The Danish National Test Material Relationships and Agency in the Finnish and Danish Testing Systems Type of Material Relationship – Space, Equipment and Time Type of Interaction with Modality Transparency of and Familiarity with the Test-Taking Process Awareness of Success and Failure During the Test Freedom of Action and Student Agency During Assessment Conclusion References Chapter 4: “I Have Karelia in My Soul” – Intra-action of Students, Seniors and Artefacts in a Community-Engaged Service-Learning Collaboration Introduction Research Questions, Data, and Methods The Lost Country – An Old School Map Intrigues a Multi-layered Intra-action Multi-layered Understanding of Space and Time, Past and Future Conclusions References Part III: Spatial and Embodied Materiality Chapter 5: The Personal Repertoire and Its Materiality: Resources, Means and Modalities of Languaging Introduction: Learning and Knowing Language Materialism and Embodiment: Old and New Perspectives Know-How for Languaging: From Mental Grammars to Personal Repertoires Know-How for Languaging: Against Mental Grammars Knowhow for Languaging: Repertoire Materiality Within the Repertoire: Social Know-How Is Contextual and Material Know-How Embodiment of Repertoires: Modality-Specific and Multimodal Know-How Personal Repertoires: Materialism, Nature and Nurture Discussion and Conclusion References Chapter 6: Material Change: The Case of Co-located Schools Introduction Monolingual Habitus and the Separation of Languages in Education Schoolscapes and Linguistic Soundscapes The Case of Co-located Schools in Finland Lack of Policy and Co-located Schools Insights from an Investigation of a Co-located High School Campus Changes in the Linguistic Landscape and Soundscape Language Ideological Changes Among the Students Language Ideological Changes Among the Teachers Conclusions References Chapter 7: The Socio-Material Value of Language Choices in Mozambique and Finland Introduction: Examining Choice Theoretical Framework: Smooth and Striated Spaces Context and Data Mozambique: Language Ideology, Policy and Education in a Post-colonial Context Finland: Language Choice in a Public School System Methodological Approach Findings and Discussion Materialities of Portuguese and African Languages and Parents’ Educational Choices in Mozambique: Affordances, Challenges and Dilemmas Parents’ Perceptions and Attitudes About the Value of Portuguese and African Languages Parents’ Language Education Choices and Motivations Challenges of Using Minoritized African Languages in Education in Post-colonial Contexts Language as a Distinctive Strategy of School Choice in Finland Conclusions Materiality Language Choice References Part IV: Assemblages of Human and Non-human Chapter 8: Rhizoanalysis of Sociomaterial Entanglements in Teacher Interviews Introduction Education as Rhizomatic Assemblage: A DeleuzoGuattarian Approach Rhizomatic Analysis of Teachers’ Reflections on Change The Case of Liisa The Case of Tomi The Case of Elisa Discussion References Chapter 9: The Ideal Learner as Envisioned by Can Do Statements and Grammar Revisions: How Textbook Agency Is Constructed Introduction The Potential Material Agency of / in Textbooks and Curriculum and the Learning Ideals Presented by Assessment Textbooks and Their Potential for Enacting Agency New Materialism, Textbooks, and Agency Finnish Core Curriculum Reflecting Language and Learning Ideals Research Questions and Methodology Research Questions Method Data Analysis: Ideal Learner and Ideal Learning as Construed in Curriculum and Textbook Learner and Teacher Agency in the National Core Curriculum Assessment and Self-Assessment in the Scene Textbook and Teacher’s Guide Assessment Description in Scene Textbook Analysis of Two Self-Assessment Tasks in the Scene Materials Discussion References Part V: Epilogue Chapter 10: A Diffractive Reading Diffractions Some Things Come Easy, Others Are Hard Towards an Entangled Ethics We Are Supposed to Be Here References Index