Cover not available

Article published In: Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language Education
Vol. 10:1 (2022) ► pp.113–138

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB
authorization required

Coordinating, communicating, and combining languages in local immersion education policy reform in Finland

ORCiD logo with link | Åbo Akademi University
Published online: 27 July 2021
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jicb.19027.ber
Abstract
The aim of this article is to examine local enactment of new curriculum policy, paying special attention to combining the language of instruction in the school (Finnish) and the immersion language (Swedish) in an early total one-way Swedish immersion programme in Finland at a programmatic level. The study combines ethnography with educational language policy by focusing on coordinative and communicative discourses surrounding local immersion curriculum. The participatory observation data consist of 36 hours of audio-recorded curriculum working group meetings with immersion teachers and researchers. The findings showed that the curriculum task assigned to municipalities and cities providing immersion education was extensive. They also revealed how discursively oriented policy research on immersion education opens up new ways to develop immersion education. The actual curriculum decisions implied that the Swedish portion of the immersion programme is multilingual and rich in connections between multiple languages, contesting the common belief of monolingual practices in immersion instruction.
Abstrakti
Artikkelin tavoitteena on tarkastella uuden paikallisen tason opetussuunnitelman käyttöönottoa huomioiden erityisesti koulutusohjelmatasolla tapahtuva koulun opetuskielen (suomi) ja kielikylpykielen (ruotsi) yhdistämisen kokonaisuudeksi ruotsin kielen varhaisessa täydellisessä kielikylvyssä Suomessa. Tutkimuksessa hyödynnetään sekä etnografista että kielikoulutuspoliittista lähestymistapaa keskittymällä paikallisen kielikylpyopetussuunnitelman koordinoiviin ja kommunikatiivisiin diskursseihin. Tutkimusaineisto koostuu kielikylvyn paikallisen opetussuunnitelmatyöryhmän äänitetyistä kokouksista (36 tuntia). Työryhmään osallistui sekä kielikylpyopettajia että kielikylpytutkijoita. Tutkimus osoittaa, että kielikylpyopetussuunnitelman laatiminen oli kielikylpyä tarjoaville kunnille ja kaupungeille mittava tehtävä. Tulokset osoittavat myös, että diskursiivisesti suuntautunut kielipoliittinen tutkimus voi avata uusia näkökulmia kielikylpyohjelman kehittämiseen. Varsinaiset opetussuunnitelmaan liittyvät päätökset puolestaan osoittivat, että ohjelman kielikylpykielellä toteutettava osuus on monikielinen ja sisältää monitahoisia yhteyksiä eri kieliin. Tämä tulos poikkeaa selkeästi aikaisemmasta uskomuksesta, jonka mukaan kielet pidettäisiin kielikylvyssä tiukasti erillään.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Discursive institutionalism
  • 3.Immersion education in a changing society
  • 4.The study
  • 5.Findings
    • 5.1Coordinative discourses
      • 5.1.1Collective sense-making about curriculum thinking
      • 5.1.2Deciding on and describing the objectives and contents of immersion language by grade
      • 5.1.3Making sense of multilingual language awareness in immersion education
      • 5.1.4Coordinative discourses: A summary
    • 5.2Communicative discourses
      • 5.2.1Consensus on horizontal and vertical cooperation
      • 5.2.2Subject-specific language awareness
      • 5.2.3Communicative discourses: A summary
  • 6.Discussion and conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
References (31)
References
Bartlett, L., & Vavrus, F. K., (2017). Rethinking case study research: a comparative approach. Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bergroth, M. (2015). Kotimaisten kielten kielikylpy [Language immersion in the national languages]. Vaasan yliopisto. [URL]
(2016). Reforming the national core curriculum for bilingual education in Finland. Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language Education, 4 (1), 86–107. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Björklund, S., Mård-Miettinen, K., & Mäenpää, T. (2012). Functional multilingual competence. Exploring the pedagogical potential within immersion. In M. Bendtsen, M. Björklund, L. Forsman, & K. Sjöholm. (Eds.), Global trends meet local needs (pp. 203–217). Åbo Akademi University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bonacina-Pugh, F. (2012). Researching ‘practiced language policies’: Insights from con- versation analysis. Language Policy, 111, 213–234. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Candelier, M. (2017). “Awakening to languages” and educational language policy. In J. Cenoz, D. Gorter & S. May. (Eds.), Language awareness and multilingualism, encyclopedia of language and education (pp. 161–172). Springer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Council of Europe (2001). Common European Framework of Reference for Language. Learning, teaching and assessment. [URL]
Cummins, J. (2007). Rethinking monolingual instructional strategies in multilingual classrooms. Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 10(2), 221–240. [URL]
European Commission (2019). Council recommendation on a comprehensive approach to the teaching and learning of languages. [URL].
Eurydice (2019). Integrating students from migrant backgrounds into schools in Europe: National policies and measures. Eurydice Report. Publications Office of the European Union. [URL]
Finnish Government (2012). Decree on national objectives and distribution of teaching hours in basic education. [URL]
Genesee, F., & Lindholm-Leary, K. (2013). Two case studies of content-based language education. Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language Education, 1(1), 3–33. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gorter, D., & Cenoz, J. (2017). Language education policy and multilingual assessment, Language and Education, 31(3), 231–248. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Halinen, I., Harmanen, M., & Mattila, P. (2015). Making sense of complexity of the world today: Why Finland is introducing multiliteracy in teaching and learning. In V. Bozsik. (Eds.), Improving literacy skills across learning. CIDREE Yearbook 2015 (pp. 136–153). HIERD.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hardy, I., & Melville, W. (2018). The activation of epistemological resources in epistemic communities: District educators’ professional learning as policy enactment. Teaching and Teacher Education, 711, 159–167. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hult, F. M. (2015). Making policy connections across scales using nexus analysis. In F. M. Hult & D. Cassels Johnson. (Eds.), Research methods in language policy and planning. A practical guide (pp. 217–231). Wiley Blackwell. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Johnson, D. C., & Johnson, E. J. (2015). Power and agency in language policy appropriation. language policy, 141, 221–243. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Johnson, D. C., & Pratt, K. L. (2014). Educational language policy and planning. The encyclopedia of applied linguistics. (2014, December 3). Wiley Online Library. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Johnson, D. C., & Ricento, T. (2013). Conceptual and theoretical perspectives in language planning and policy: Situating the ethnography of language policy. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2013(219). 7–21. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Levinson, B. A. U., Sutton, M., & Winstead, T. (2009). Education policy as a practice of power: Theoretical tools, ethnographic methods, democratic options. Educational Policy, 23(6), 767–795. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McMillan, B., & Turnbull, M. (2009). Teachers’ use of the first language in French immersion: Revisiting a core principle. In M. Turnbull & J. Daily-O’Cain. (Eds.), First language use in second and foreign language learning (pp. 15–34). Multilingual Matters. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Morton, T. (2017). Reconceptualizing and describing teachers’ knowledge of language for content and language integrated learning (CLIL), International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 21(3), 275–286, Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Priestley, M., Minty, S., & Eager, M. (2014). School-based curriculum development in Scotland: Curriculum policy and enactment. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 22(2), 189–211, Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schmidt, V. A. (2015). Discursive institutionalism: Understanding Policy in Context. In F. Fischer, D. Torgerson, A. Durnová & M. Orsini. (Eds.), Handbook of Critical Policy Studies, (pp. 171–189). Edward Elgar Publishing. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2010). Taking ideas and discourse seriously: Explaining change through discursive institutionalism as the fourth ‘New Institutionalism’. European Political Science Review, 2(1), 1–25. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Soini, T., Pietarinen, J., & Pyhältö, K. (2017). Shared sense-making strategies in curriculum reform: District-level perspective. Improving Schools, 21(2), 111–126. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Spolsky, B. (2004). Language policy. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Uljens, M. (2018). Understanding educational leadership and curriculum reform – Beyond global economism and neo-conservative nationalism. Nordic Journal of Comparative and International Education (NJCIE), 2(2–3), 196–213. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Uljens, M., & Rajakaltio, H. (2017). National curriculum development as educational leadershop: A discursive and non-affirmative approach. In M. Uljens & R. M. Ylimäki. (Eds.), Bridging educational leadership, curriculum theory and didaktik. Non-affirmative theory of education (pp. 411–438). Springer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wahlström, N., & Sundberg, D. (2018). Discursive institutionalism: Towards a framework for analysing the relation between policy and curriculum, Journal of Education Policy, 33(1), 163–183. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wei, L. (2018). Translanguaging as a practical theory of language. Applied Linguistics, 39(1), 9–30. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Nyqvist, Eeva-Liisa, Anne-Maj Åberg & Siv Björklund
2025. Immersion teachers’ perspective on grammar instruction in language immersion in Finland. Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language Education 13:1 ► pp. 164 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 13 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue