ERIC Number: EJ1279238
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2020
Pages: 25
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-1945-0222
EISSN: N/A
Examining Students' Co-Construction of Language Ideologies through Multimodal Text
Bokhorst-Heng, Wendy D.; Marshall, Kelle L.
L2 Journal, v12 n3 p77-101 2020
French immersion (FI), one of the hallmarks of French as a Second Language education in Canada and mandated in New Brunswick, Canada's only officially English/French bilingual province, is often the target of language ideological debates surrounding its purposes and expected outcomes. Yet, notably absent in FI scholarship has been a focus on the ideologies informing students' investment in French, including what bilingualism might mean for their language learning and identity. In this article, we discuss nine Grade 8 French immersion students' co-construction of language ideologies regarding bilingualism. In a focus group, these students created a promotional video regarding the merits of bilingualism whose audience was comprised of fictional peers in a predominantly Anglophone province. Our analysis was guided by Darvin and Norton's (2015) model of investment. We employed the tools of multimodal critical discourse analysis to consider the students' construction of language ideologies through their video production. Through macro and micro analyses, we identified five primary ideologies: Bilingualism (a) is a matter of personal decision; (b) provides access to jobs; (c) provides access to economic capital; (d) provides access to Francophone communities of practice; and (e) provides access to symbolic capital. We discuss how the students have "remixed" the dominant provincial ideologies on bilingualism into their own, considering the implications of these ideologies on their investment in French. Finally, we suggest how multimodal practices provide a means to develop language students' meta-cognition and expand their investment in their target language.
Descriptors: Grade 8, French, Immersion Programs, Language Attitudes, Student Attitudes, Bilingualism, Foreign Countries, English, Official Languages, Self Concept, Video Technology, Audiences, Student Developed Materials, Discourse Analysis, Employment Opportunities, Communities of Practice, Decision Making, Economic Factors, Metacognition, Marketing
Berkeley Language Center, University of California. B-40 Dwinelle Hall #2640, Berkeley, CA 94720. Web site: http://escholarship.org/uc/uccllt_l2
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education; Grade 8; Junior High Schools; Middle Schools; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Canada
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A