Debate 2:
Standard Language in the School? Perspectives from Sociolinguistics, Educational Science and Contact Linguistics
- Date: June 27, Tuesday
- Time: 16:00-17:30
- Location: Harmonie Building, Marie Loke Zaal (1313.0034)
- Moderator: Janet Fuller (University of Groningen)
- Discussants: Dr. Khalid Mourigh (Meertens Institute), Irma Westheim (OSG Hugo de Groot; University of Amsterdam), Irem Duman Çakır (University of Berlin)
In this debate session, we will discuss the role of the standard language in the contemporary school context.
The Western model of education has grown dominant to the extent that it is nowadays, together with the institution of the nation-state, one of the pillars of Western civilization. The standard version of the dominant language is very central to this system, and may very well be considered its pivot. Multilingual students and students with a migration background are known to struggle in educational institutions. Their socioeconomic and linguistic background as well as the ideologies and attitudes of the community of educators determine both an educational and achievement gap for this group within the school population. In particular, the proficiency in the main language of the environment plays a big role in the accessibility of the study materials and also in the perceptions of the teachers. Recently, especially in the urban context, the emergence of multiethnolects is recognized as a new factor complexifying the ecology of the multilingual classroom. This is the case of Kiezdeutsch or Straattaal, for example, varieties of the majority languages German and Dutch, spoken (natively) by members of multilingual, and in some cases segregated, communities within the main cities of Germany and The Netherlands, also increasingly spoken by youth without multilingual/migration background.
What is the perspective of sociolinguistics, educational science and contact linguistics with respect to the role of standard languages in educational institutions?
Short bio moderator:
Janet Fuller is a sociolinguist who has worked on language contact phenomena, social identities, language ideologies and discourses of migration and integration, including research on children in bilingual primary education programs. Her research has focused primarily on speakers of German (in the US and Germany), Spanish (in the US), and Dutch (in the Netherlands), looking at how language use positions speakers in various ways in society.
Short bio Khalid Mourigh:
Dr Khalid Mourigh: I am a language researcher at the Meertens Institute, a Berber teacher and a writer with an anthropological and linguistic background (PhD, 2015). I have done research on Ghomara Berber, Riffian Berber (Tmazight) and Moroccan Dutch slang (straattaal) and culture. I give lectures and workshops about straattaal. More information (in Dutch): www.khalidmourigh.nl
Short bio Irma Westheim:
Irma MH Westheim: I am a teacher of Dutch and Spanish. I teach Dutch in mainstream education havo/vwo at OSG Hugo de Groot in Rotterdam. Meanwhile, I’m researching multilingual language learning (PhD, University of Amsterdam). A study on promoting language awareness and target language development through the implementation of multilingual language didactics in Dutch and modern foreign languages.
Short bio Irem Duman Çakır:
Irem Duman Çakır: I am a sociolinguist interested in linguistic ethnography, urban linguistic diversities, the construction of identity and belonging in multilingual and multiethnic settings, and language and register variation; with teaching experience in qualitative methods of sociolinguistics and language structures of heritage languages (in the multilingual school context of Germany). I was born and raised in Istanbul, Turkey and have been living in Berlin, Germany since 2013. Currently, I am writing my PhD thesis at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin on the linguistic ethnography of a highly diverse Berlin street market with a focus on identity/belonging constructions and working as the coordinator of the Research Unit “Emerging Grammars in Language Contact Situations: A Comparative Approach” (RUEG).