Seminar: Curiosity, agency and participation. Children in multilingual settings
Wednesday 30 August 2023, Lisbon, Portugal
In this SIG meeting we focus on the overall conference theme “Children’s Curiosity, Agency and Participation: Challenges for Professional Action and Development” from a language learning and teaching perspective in multilingual contexts. We have invited three experts in the field who will shed light on this topic from different theoretical, research experiences and multilingual contexts.
Each researcher will give a 20 minutes introduction each. We then invite you all to fruitful discussion on the topic “curiosity, agency and participation” in multilingual learning and teaching settings.
Introductions:
Mila Schwartz, Oranim College of Education, Israel: Child’s language-based agency in early language education
Claudine Kirsch, University of Luxembourg: Researching children’s participation and agency in Luxembourg
Sandie Mourão, CETAPS / FCSH, Nova University Lisbon, Portugal: Curiosity, agency and participation in a foreign language – the relevance of play
Chair: Gunhild Tomter Alstad, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences
Child’s language-based agency in early language education
Mila Schwartz, Oranim College of Education, Israel
The aim of this talk is to promote consolidation of a relatively new field of research—child’s language-based agency, integrating early childhood education and language learning and teaching in the early years. The talk will briefly address child’s language-based agency research conducted in early childhood education. It will outline the main theoretical concepts grounding agency in early language learning: Bronfenbrenner’s human ecology theory, the concept of child well-being in bilingual/multilingual environments, and human agency, in general, and specifically child agency, focusing on young children’s perspectives on early language learning (Schwartz, 2022; Schwartz, Kirsch & Mortini, 2020). In addition, the issues of how to approach young children in research and of research with young children will be briefly addressed. In the end, it will highlight the practical significance of this research on child’s language-based agency for teachers, parents, and researchers.
References:
Schwartz, M. (under review). Child’s language-based agency in early language education. In P. Romanowski & M. L. Pérez-Cañado (Eds,). The Cambridge Handbook of Multilingual Education.
Schwartz, M., Kirsch, C., & Mortini, S. (2020). Young children’s language-based agency in multilingual contexts in Luxembourg and Israel. Applied Linguistic Review. DOI: Impact https://doi.org/10.1515/applirev-2019-0050
Researching children’s participation and agency in Luxembourg
Claudine Kirsch, University of Luxembourg
This paper presents the concepts of participation and child agency. According to the United Nations Human rights, children have the right to express their views, and their voices should be considered. This means for early childhood education (ECE), that children should be perceived as agents who actively participate in the daily life of the institution. Participation contributes to the development of children’s self-esteem, well-being, and self-efficacy (Correia et al., 2019). It is closely tied to agency which is the performative capacity to act with some autonomy and take position in relation to others (Almér, 2017). The theoretical frameworks draw on socio-cultural theories (Vygotsky, 1978) and theories of language socialization (Corsaro, 2018).
Several qualitative longitudinal studies have researched participation and children’s agentic behaviour in ECE institutions in Luxembourg. Data is collected after informed consent has been obtained from the participants, but the researchers maintained the children’s assent by ensuring that they felt comfortable during the observations. Our teams investigated children’s participation in language and literacy activities. Mortini (2021) conceptualized language-based agency on a continuum from “participatory” to “controlling”. Children at the participatory end used their entire semiotic repertoire to engage in activities while those at the “controlling end” changed their learning activities. Based on Corsaro (2005) we found that children enacted their agency by creatively reproducing strategies as well as languaging and literacy practices (Kirsch & Mortini, 2021). Given that children’s participation is closely related to their personal development, it is important that educators perceive children as actors in ECE institutions.
References
Almér, E. 2017. Children’s beliefs about bilingualism and language use as expressed in child-adult conversations. Multilingua 36. 401-424.
Correia, C., Camilo, C., Aguiar, C., & Amaro, F. (2019). Children’s right to participate in early childhood education settings: A systematic review. Children and Youth Services Review, 100, 76-88.
Corsaro, W. (2018). The sociology of childhood (5th ed.). Sage Publications.
Kirsch, C., & Mortini, S. (2021). Engaging in and creatively reproducing translanguaging practices with peers: a longitudinal study with three-year-olds in Luxembourg. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2021.1999387
Mortini, S. (2021) Emergent multilingual children’s agency within translanguaging practices with peers and practitioners in formal and non-formal early childhood education settings in Luxembourg. Doctoral thesis. University of Luxembourg: Esch Belval.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Curiosity, agency and participation in a foreign language – the relevance of play
Sandie Mourão, CETAPS / FCSH, Nova University Lisbon, Portugal
Play has been placed at the centre of the early childhood curriculum for over a century and child-initiated play (or free play), ‘the opportunity to explore materials and situations for oneself’ (Moyles, 1989: 14) is considered essential in children’s development (Wood 2022). Yet, in a forthcoming survey article, charting the field of early foreign language learning in the Language Teaching Journal, reference to play is absent. This confirms that published research on play and foreign language learning is sparse (for exceptions see Robinson et al., 2015; Waddington et al., 2018). In my short introduction to this pre-conference event, I will outline the relevance of play for curiosity, agency and participation in a foreign language. I will then touch on recent research into third spaces (Tatham-Fashanu, 2021) and Conceptual Playworlds (Fleer, 2021) and pose the question ‘How can we successfully bring child-initiated play into children’s foreign language experiences?’.
References
Fleer, M. (2021). Conceptual Playworlds: the role of imagination in play and learning, Early Years, 41:4, 353-364, https://doi.org/10.1080/09575146.2018.1549024
Robinson, P. Mourão, S. & Kang, N-J (2015). English Learning Areas in pre-primary classrooms: an investigation of their effectiveness. London: British Council.
Tatham-Fashanu, C. (2021): A third space pedagogy: embracing complexity in a super-diverse, early childhood education setting, Pedagogy, Culture & Society, https://doi.org/10.1080/14681366.2021.1952295
Waddington, J., S. C. Bernal, and C. S. Jofré. (2018). Creating and Evaluating a Foreign Language Area in an Early Childhood Setting. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 26 (3): 334–346. https://doi.org/10.1080/1350293X.2018.1462998 Wood, E. (2022). Play and learning in early childhood education: Tensions and challenges. Child studies, (1), 15-26. https://doi.org/10.21814/childstudies.4124.
Multilingual Childhoods 