Doctoral researcher Castañe Bassa Laura

Supporting New Speakers in a Catalan Primary School: An Exploration of Schoolscape and Translanguaging Practices

Tieteellinen tutkimus / siihen pohjautuva työ | Nelivuotinen

In the last decade, the concepts of translanguaging and schoolscape have been widely discussed as practical tools to integrate learners’ full linguistic repertoire. Despite much research on their success, there is still a need for empirical studies on policies and language practices that consider divergent contexts. Catalonia and the Catalan language are a vulnerable community, region and language because of its minority status and internal political issues related to different national identities that have arisen some tensions between the use of Catalan and Castilian in education. Consequently, the Catalan government implemented various policies to promote the Catalan use through schools disregarding Catalan new speakers’ linguistic repertoire. Against this background, this research investigates the practices used to integrate new speakers’ repertoire in the Catalan education context to see the potential for transformation. To do this, it conducts a classroom-based research to analyse real-life contexts and provide evidence of the integration practices with a focus on the translanguaging use and schoolscape design in a primary school. It also investigates the school community’s (parents, learners and teachers) perceptions of the schoolscape. The empirical evidence and perceptions will develop a framework for an intervention to redesign the schoolscape of a classroom by integrating all learners’ linguistic repertoire for creating an inclusive and welcoming space that enhances translanguaging for facilitating meaning making and the communication process. The results aim to create a space for the development of flexible translingual practices to challenge education barriers for new speakers and foster practices that value students’ multilingual abilities. This study will serve as an example for a global audience of educators in countries still with monolingual practices who aim to build multilingual practices for barrier-free access to education and societal equity.