Pedagogical and political encounters in linguistically and culturally diverse primary classrooms : examples from Quebec, Canada and Gauteng, South Africa

摘要

Comparative research in multilingual urban primary schools indicates that thepedagogical and political goals of schooling may operate at cross-purposes.Classroom observations and teacher interview-discussions were conducted inclasses for immigrant children in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where the languageof instruction is French, and in classes in Pretoria, Gauteng Province, SouthAfrica, where children from many different language backgrounds are taught inEnglish. Two main themes emerged: (1) Pedagogically, effective teacher-learnercommunication can break down when teachers are unaware of the roles thatlanguage and culture play in second language classrooms. (2) Politically, effortsto assimilate learners into new socio-cultural/political contexts sometimes takeprecedence over sound pedagogical practice, such as drawing on the linguisticand cultural repertoire that learners bring to the classroom. This on-goingqualitative research underlines the importance of preparing pre-service and inserviceteachers for the linguistic and cultural diversity they are bound toencounter in their classrooms, and of deepening their understanding of theinfluence of such diversity on the teaching-learning process.