Navigating Authoritative Discourses in a Multilingual Classroom: Conversations With Policy and Practice

Authors

Lydiah Kananu Kiramba, University of Nebraska–LincolnFollow
Violet J. Harris, University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2018

Citation

Published in TESOL Quarterly, 2018

doi: 10.1002/tesq.493

Comments

Copyright © 2018 TESOL International Association. Used by permission.

Abstract

Using Bakhtinian concepts of persuasive and authoritative discourse, this study reports on science and English language arts instructional practices in a multilingual, rural, fourth-grade classroom in Kenya. Situated in English as a medium of instruction (EMI) and through the use of case study, the study explores classroom discourse data to illustrate how teachers use instructional practices to reproduce, contest, or navigate prevailing institutional monolingual policies when mediating students’ access to literacy and content. By analyzing classroom discourse, the authors argue that restrictive language policies that aspire for fixity disconnect multilingual learners from their daily realities. In contrast, they call for a (re)construction of multilingual pedagogy that capitalizes on the strengths of learners, teachers, and linguistic communities by embracing students’ languages and language varieties in language learning and literacy development. In particular, implications are drawn for the use of EMI for emerging bilingual and multilingual learners. The authors identify the need to prepare teachers for a multilingual reality through legitimizing multilingual pedagogies such as translanguaging.