This open access book analyzes language education through a socio-material framework. The authors revisit their position as researchers by decentering themselves and humans in general from the main focus of research activities and giving way to the materialities that are agentive but often overlooked parts of our research contexts and processes. Through this critical posthumanist realism, they are able to engage in research that sees society as an ethical interrelationship between humans and the material world and explore the socio-materialities of language education from the perspectives of material agency, spatial and embodied materiality, and human and non-human assemblages.
Each chapter explores language educational contexts through a unique lens of (socio)materiality. Based on how the authors conceptualize (socio)materiality, the book is organized in three sections that seek answers to the following overarching questions:
- In what ways do material agencies emerge in language educational contexts?
- How are educational choices and experiences intertwined with materialities of spaces and bodies?
- What assemblages of human and non-human may occur in language education contexts?
Each chapter questions, in its own way, the notion of the human subject as rational, enlightened being and sole possessor of agency, and offers examples of allowing for other-than-human agency to enter the picture. Together, the contributors exemplify how researchers who have been committed to social constructionist thinking for most of their careers learn to make space for new theories, thus inspiring and encouraging readers to remain open for new intellectual and embodied endeavors.
Author(s): Johanna Ennser-Kananen, Taina Saarinen
Publisher: Springer
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 190
City: Cham
Acknowledgments
Contents
Part I: Introduction
Chapter 1: Towards Socio-material Research Approaches in Language Education
Social Constructionism as a Starting Point
This Book as an Assemblage
Exploring the Material
Problematizing the Assumption of Negotiability and the Risk of Relativism
Assumed Negotiability
Risk of Relativism
Starting Points for Socio-material Research
Introducing the Chapters
References
Part II: Material Agency
Chapter 2: Telepresent Agency: Remote Participation in Hybrid Language Classrooms via a Telepresence Robot
Introduction
Being Telepresent in a Material World
Agency and Telepresence
Data and Method
Analysis
Agency and Perception
Agency and Touch
Agency and Movement
Conclusions
References
Chapter 3: Changes in Language Assessment Through the Lens of New Materialism
Introduction
The Finnish Matriculation Examination
The Danish National Test
Material Relationships and Agency in the Finnish and Danish Testing Systems
Type of Material Relationship – Space, Equipment and Time
Type of Interaction with Modality
Transparency of and Familiarity with the Test-Taking Process
Awareness of Success and Failure During the Test
Freedom of Action and Student Agency During Assessment
Conclusion
References
Chapter 4: “I Have Karelia in My Soul” – Intra-action of Students, Seniors and Artefacts in a Community-Engaged Service-Learning Collaboration
Introduction
Research Questions, Data, and Methods
The Lost Country – An Old School Map Intrigues a Multi-layered Intra-action
Multi-layered Understanding of Space and Time, Past and Future
Conclusions
References
Part III: Spatial and Embodied Materiality
Chapter 5: The Personal Repertoire and Its Materiality: Resources, Means and Modalities of Languaging
Introduction: Learning and Knowing Language
Materialism and Embodiment: Old and New Perspectives
Know-How for Languaging: From Mental Grammars to Personal Repertoires
Know-How for Languaging: Against Mental Grammars
Knowhow for Languaging: Repertoire
Materiality Within the Repertoire: Social Know-How Is Contextual and Material Know-How
Embodiment of Repertoires: Modality-Specific and Multimodal Know-How
Personal Repertoires: Materialism, Nature and Nurture
Discussion and Conclusion
References
Chapter 6: Material Change: The Case of Co-located Schools
Introduction
Monolingual Habitus and the Separation of Languages in Education
Schoolscapes and Linguistic Soundscapes
The Case of Co-located Schools in Finland
Lack of Policy and Co-located Schools
Insights from an Investigation of a Co-located High School Campus
Changes in the Linguistic Landscape and Soundscape
Language Ideological Changes Among the Students
Language Ideological Changes Among the Teachers
Conclusions
References
Chapter 7: The Socio-Material Value of Language Choices in Mozambique and Finland
Introduction: Examining Choice
Theoretical Framework: Smooth and Striated Spaces
Context and Data
Mozambique: Language Ideology, Policy and Education in a Post-colonial Context
Finland: Language Choice in a Public School System
Methodological Approach
Findings and Discussion
Materialities of Portuguese and African Languages and Parents’ Educational Choices in Mozambique: Affordances, Challenges and Dilemmas
Parents’ Perceptions and Attitudes About the Value of Portuguese and African Languages
Parents’ Language Education Choices and Motivations
Challenges of Using Minoritized African Languages in Education in Post-colonial Contexts
Language as a Distinctive Strategy of School Choice in Finland
Conclusions
Materiality
Language
Choice
References
Part IV: Assemblages of Human and Non-human
Chapter 8: Rhizoanalysis of Sociomaterial Entanglements in Teacher Interviews
Introduction
Education as Rhizomatic Assemblage: A DeleuzoGuattarian Approach
Rhizomatic Analysis of Teachers’ Reflections on Change
The Case of Liisa
The Case of Tomi
The Case of Elisa
Discussion
References
Chapter 9: The Ideal Learner as Envisioned by Can Do Statements and Grammar Revisions: How Textbook Agency Is Constructed
Introduction
The Potential Material Agency of / in Textbooks and Curriculum and the Learning Ideals Presented by Assessment
Textbooks and Their Potential for Enacting Agency
New Materialism, Textbooks, and Agency
Finnish Core Curriculum Reflecting Language and Learning Ideals
Research Questions and Methodology
Research Questions
Method
Data
Analysis: Ideal Learner and Ideal Learning as Construed in Curriculum and Textbook
Learner and Teacher Agency in the National Core Curriculum
Assessment and Self-Assessment in the Scene Textbook and Teacher’s Guide
Assessment Description in Scene Textbook
Analysis of Two Self-Assessment Tasks in the Scene Materials
Discussion
References
Part V: Epilogue
Chapter 10: A Diffractive Reading
Diffractions
Some Things Come Easy, Others Are Hard
Towards an Entangled Ethics
We Are Supposed to Be Here
References
Index
