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Article published In: Linguistic Landscape
Vol. 4:2 (2018) ► pp.101–127

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Increasing multilingualism in schoolscapes

New scenery and language education policies

 | Queens College & Graduate Center, City University of New York
 | Brooklyn College, City University of New York
 | Graduate Center, City University of New York
Published online: 27 August 2018
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https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.17024.men
Abstract
In this qualitative research study, we examine changes made in 23 New York City schools that participated in a project for which participating schools were asked to regard bilingualism as a resource in instruction and develop a multilingual linguistic landscape. Findings document efforts made by schools to change their linguistic landscape in ways that recognize students’ many languages and cultures, significant corresponding ideological shifts by school leaders from monolingual to multilingual views of language and language learning, educators’ incorporation of students’ home languages in instruction, and new formal language education policies resulting from these efforts. We document the impact of all of these changes on students and their families and suggest that research on linguistic landscape conducted in schools should consider not only the physical landscape but also its connections to pedagogy, programming, and language policies.
Abstracto
En este estudio de investigación cualitativo, examinamos los cambios llevados a cabo en 23 escuelas en la Ciudad de Nueva York que participaron en un proyecto en el cual se les pidió a los planteles participantes que considerasen el bilingüismo como un recurso en la instrucción y que desarrollasen un paisaje lingüístico multilingüe. Los hallazgos documentan los esfuerzos hechos por las escuelas para cambiar su paisaje lingüístico reconociendo las muchas culturas y lenguas de los estudiantes, cambios ideológicos significativos y correspondientes por parte de los líderes escolares de perspectivas monolingües a multilingües sobre el lenguaje y el aprendizaje del lenguaje, la incorporación por parte de los educadores de los idiomas de los hogares de los estudiantes en la instrucción y, como resultado de estos esfuerzos, nuevas políticas formales de la enseñanza del lenguaje. Documentamos el impacto de todos estos cambios en los estudiantes y sus familias y sugerimos que las investigaciones sobre el paisaje lingüístico llevadas a cabo en las escuelas deben tomar en cuenta no sólo el paisaje físico, sino además sus conexiones con la pedagogía, la programación y las políticas del lenguaje.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review: Linguistic landscape in schools
  • 3.Methods
  • 4.Findings
    • 4.1Changes to the visual linguistic landscape in schools
    • 4.2Ideological shifts among school leaders
    • 4.3Changes to instructional practices: Towards multilingual schoolscapes and soundscapes
  • 5.Language education policy shifts
  • 6.Reported impact: “Even simple things would have a big impact”
  • 7.Discussion and conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (35)
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