Enacting social exclusion through literacy practices at a multicultural school in Madrid. Laura Mijares & Ana M. Relaño Enacting social exclusion through literacy practices at a multicultural school in Madrid Foro Madrileño de Etnografía y Educación. Ana M. Relaño. E-mail: [email protected] Laura Mijares. E-mail: [email protected] Description of the Data Data for this paper was collected as part of a year-long critical sociolinguistic ethnography during the academic year 2008-2009 at Villababel High School (pseudonym). The Spanish Language Immersion Program for Newcomers, known as the Liaison Classrooms for Newcomers (Aulas de Enlace), is part of the so-called “Escuelas de Bienvenida” (Welcome Schools) program. This program started in 2003 as an experimental measure to improve the school integration of foreign students in the Madrid Region. These classes are aimed at students who do not speak Spanish or arrive at school with instructional delays. Students are to remain in these classes 5 to 6 hours a day until they achieve the adequate level of Spanish proficiency to transition to mainstream classrooms. From the very beginning, they are also allowed to attend some content classes, usually Sports and Arts and Crafts. Theoretically, the number of subjects they can attend during the school year is supposed to depend on the level of language proficiency, but in reality, they are subjected to teachers‟ decision, sometimes arbitrary and unsupported. Villababel is one of 47 Secondary Schools in the Madrid region with this kind of program. The number of students attending this language program in Villababel changed during the 2008-2009 academic year, when we conducted our fieldwork. Starting with 13 pupils divided into two „Aulas‟ - Aula de Enlace 1 and Aula de Enlace 2 -, the number of students decreased to 6-7 students placed in only one „Aula‟ at the end of the academic year. The reason for this drop in the student population was due to the fact that the majority of students had either been gradually incorporated into the regular classrooms, or had abandoned the school Research questions: 1. What kinds of literacy practices are legitimate in this classroom? 2. How do agents (both teacher and students) negotiate / contest these literacy practices? 3. What are the social consequences of such practices for immigrant background students? FOCUS: AULA DE ENLACE 2 Participants: Lucía, the teacher (female, in her late forties, Spanish background, over 20 years of experience teaching Spanish language in mainstream education, without any 1 Enacting social exclusion through literacy practices at a multicultural school in Madrid. Laura Mijares & Ana M. Relaño previous experience or training in teaching Spanish as a second/foreign language); 4 female students from Morocco (Nadia; Fátima; Amina and Muna). Classroom Activity: Nadia, Fátima, Amina and Muna are working on a reading activity that has been previously explained to them but they do not understand what they have to do. Lucía, the teacher, has given them instructions to read about the following animals (dragonfly, chameleon, starfish, koala, and butterfly) from texts taken from Wikipedia and other Web encyclopaedias in order to classify them into different types of animals. They are given the following categories: Reptiles, Amphibians, Mammals, Insects, and Fish. They are given confusing instructions about what to do and how to carry out the activity. The following examples are taken from the beginning, middle and end of the activity that day. (-Ethnographic fieldnotes by Laura Mijares-) Example (1) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Lucía: ¿vale? / entonces / os lo vais a leer Muna: sí Lucía: vais a enteraros Nadia: sí Lucía Nadia: tengo un mes para-> Lucía: y después se lo vais a tener que contar bajo} a los otros compañeros de tal manera que // yo / os voy a dar a cada uno una 8. *Nadia: {habla en árabe y una compañera se ríe}: أويلي استغفلر هللاAwili es eġfer all h (Es esto correcto en arabe?) (Dios mío, a ti me encomiendo) 9. Lucía: ¿vale? / pero hoy no 10. Fátima: ¡ah! ¿hoy no? 11. Lucía: vale hoy sólo pasamos [a la&] 12. Nadia: [(vale)º] 13. Lucía: &fase de lectura y entender Example 2. 1. Lucía {ahora dirigiéndose a las estudiantes}: vale / de aquí para ¿vale? porque estos son todos nombres científicos-> 2. Nadia: ¿esto no voy a leerlo? 3. Lucía: no= 4. *Nadia: ( واخاwaja) ((vale)) 5. Lucía: [=porque estoo noo=] 6. Nadia: [(no hace falta)º] 7. Lucía =de momento no vas a ser bióloga 8. {se ríe alguna estudiante en bajito} 9. Nadia: aah 2 Enacting social exclusion through literacy practices at a multicultural school in Madrid. Laura Mijares & Ana M. Relaño 10. Lucía: no porque son todos nombre científicos / que estáan prácticamente en latín Example 3. 1. Lucía {a Nabila}: a ver tú / encima / lo que tienes que hacer-> como tienes- / sí / decir= 2. Nadia {leyendo}: {parece deletrear alguna palabra o leer muy lentamente} 3. Lucía: =que el camaleón si es un reptil-> o un ave-> o un insecto-> 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Amina: [¿yo como puedo] a veLucía: pues leyendo Amina: [¿eso todo?] Lucía: [que es como] se entera una de las cosas claro Fátima: ¿ese dónde [viene?] Lucía: [pues bus]cas / el camaleón dónde está / si está aquí en los reptiles pues les dices a los compañeros / cuando te toque es un reptil y luego ya te lees todo esto 10. Amina: ¿esto todo? 11. Lucía: sí claro 12. Amina: {!!( }أويلي على شوهةawili عel šuha) ((¡Dios mío, qué vergüenza!)) 13. (2") 14. Lucía: no es tanto& Example 4. 1. Lucía: =a ver qué tipo de animal es el camaleón↓ / si es un mamífero-> un pez-> un insecto-> 2. Amina: aah [¿buscar?] 3. Lucía: ¿vale? / o sea [buscar]lo aquí // a ver en qué grupo está 4. Muna: ¡busca! / ¡está aquí tonta! 5. Lucía: SHH SHH / ¡NO SE LO DIGAS / QUE LO LEA! 6. Amina: a ver ¿dónde está? 7. Lucía: ¡no se lo digas! 8. { Amina se ríe} 9. Lucía: que lo lea ella 10. Fátima: profe / ¿desde dónde empiezo? 11. Lucía: desde el principio 12. Fátima: [peroo] 13. Lucía: [que es] donde se empieza en todos los sitios 14. Fátima {señalando a sus hojas}: esta o esta o esta 15. Lucía {con tono de mofa}: pues donde ponga uno // ¡que yo te lo he dado muy ordenadito! {mientras se escuchan unos murmullos 3 Enacting social exclusion through literacy practices at a multicultural school in Madrid. Laura Mijares & Ana M. Relaño Appendix (Transcription conventions according to Gallardo,1998): : &: = [ ] (5‟) BUENO (( )) pa´l ( ) aa ss ¿? ¡! bueno indicates a new turn immediate latching without pause holds turn in overlaps begins overlap ends overlap self interruption without pause short pause less than half a second pause between half and one second silence, lapsus of 5 seconds rising intonation lower intonation intonation on hold emphasis non decipherable fragment syntactic phonetics phenomena among words whispering elongated vowels elongated consonants question marks exclamation marks direct voice Refererences Martín Rojo, Luisa (2010). Constructing Inequality in Multilingual Classrooms. Berlin: Mouton. Martín Rojo, L., & L. Mijares. 2007. Sólo en español: Una reflexión sobre la norma monolingüe y la realidad multilingüe en los centros escolares. Revista de Educación 343: 93-112. Mijares, L. 2006. Aprendiendo a ser marroquíes. Inmigración, diversidad lingüística y escuela. 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