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Article published In: Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language Education
Vol. 5:2 (2017) ► pp.157–186

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Bridging academic and everyday language

Multilingual students’ meaning-making in a lesson about Buddhism

 | Stockholm University |
 | University of Helsinki |
Published online: 6 November 2017
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jicb.5.2.01axe
This article presents findings from a Grade 7 religion lesson with 12–13 year-old multilingual Finnish-Swedish students in Finland. Here, focus is on the development of academic language and disciplinary literacy in multilingual environments, as they are crucial to students’ success and an area in need of both attention and support. A total of 117 minutes of six video-recorded group discussions, collected in a classroom study in a Swedish-medium school in Finland, were analyzed. The aim was to explore how students used everyday language and academic language to co-construct meaning of academic text and to investigate resources that were used by multilingual students and teachers to facilitate access to content for students instructed through Swedish. Our findings focus mainly on discussions in one group of four students as they were answering text questions. This group bridged academic and everyday language by creating linguistic chains that linked the two and used multiple resources, such as previous knowledge, the textbook, asking the teacher, and using Finnish in order to ensure each participant’s full understanding of the subject.
Denna artikel presenterar resultat från en religionslektion i årskurs 7 med svensk-finskspråkiga elever i Finland. Fokus i studien är på utvecklingen av skolspråk och ämneslitteracitet i flerspråkiga miljöer, eftersom dessa är avgörande för elevernas skolframgång och ett område i behov av uppmärksamhet och stöttning. Totalt 117 minuter från sex video-inspelade gruppdiskussioner, insamlade under en klassrumsstudie i en svenskspråkig skola i Finland, analyserades. Syftet var att utforska hur elever använde vardagsspråk och ämnesspråk för att tillsammans skapa mening av ämnestext samt att undersöka vilka resurser som användes av elever och lärare för att underlätta åtkomsten till ämnesinnehållet för elever som undervisades på svenska. Resultaten fokuserar framförallt på diskussionerna i en grupp bestående av fyra elever när de besvarar frågor på texten. Dessa elever kopplade samman ämnesspråk och vardagsspråk genom att skapa språkliga kedjor mellan de två och genom att använda flera olika resurser som: tidigare kunskap, textboken, fråga läraren och använda finska för att säkra varje gruppdeltagares fulla förståelse av ämnet.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical framework, study purpose and research questions
    • 2.1Theoretical framework
      • 2.1.1Learning through interaction in multilingual settings
      • 2.1.2Developing disciplinary literacy in a class on the history of religion
    • 2.2Study purpose and research questions
  • 3.Study context and methodology
    • 3.1Context
    • 3.2Data collection and analysis
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Moving between academic and everyday language in group interaction
      • 4.1.1Question 1
      • 4.1.2Question 2
      • 4.1.3Question 3
      • 4.1.4Question 4
      • 4.1.5Summary
    • 4.2Resources students used to make meaning
      • 4.2.1Previous knowledge as resource
      • 4.2.2The textbook as resource
      • 4.2.3The teacher as resource
      • 4.2.4The Finnish language as resource
      • 4.2.5Summary
  • 5.Discussion and pedagogical implications
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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