The role of learners'languages and cultures in education
La place dans les apprentissages des langues et cultures de l'élève.
Conférence avec Carol Benson, Université de Stockholm
Mardi 11 octobre 2011 à l'IUFM d'Alsace
Biography
Carol Benson Centre for Teaching and Learning Stockholm University
Benson (PhD in Social Sciences and Comparative Education, UCLA) has worked in education as a teacher, teacher trainer, curriculum developer, evaluator, and researcher since 1979. She has worked or done research on multilingual education in low-income countries in Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America, most recently in Mozambique and Cambodia. She has also worked in bilingual education in North America and in the Spanish Basque Country. Currently based at Stockholm University, she advises post-graduate students and teaches courses in higher education pedagogy, and consults in educational issues in multilingual countries.
Abstract
Current research indicates that there clear advantages in the use of learners’ own languages and cultures in their education. Schools that fail to recognize learners’ backgrounds are missing out on very important aspects of the learning process. Initial reading and writing skills are best learned in the child’s strongest language(s), and the same could be said for cognitive development—as Piaget, Vygotsky and many other pedagogues have taught us, teaching must start with the experiences and competencies of each individual learner.
This talk describes theory and practice in multilingual education (MLE), sociolinguistics and language policy in European and other “Northern” contexts as well as contexts in Asia, Africa and Latin America. I will try to empower participants to help combat monolingual attitudes in favour of a multilingual “habitus.”
Recent publications
- Benson, C. (2012) The role of language of instruction in promoting quality and equity in primary education. Chapter 9 in Heymann, Jody and Cassola, Adèle (ed) Lessons in Educational Equity: Successful Approaches to Intractable Problems Around the World. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Benson, C. (2011) Curriculum development in multilingual schools. In Cenoz, Jasone & Gorter, Durk (eds) Bilingual Education, volume in Chapelle, Carol A. (gen ed) The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics. Hoboken NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.
- Benson, C. (2011) with Kathleen Heugh, Berhanu Bogale and Mekonnen Alemu Gebre Yohannes. Multilingual education in Ethiopian primary schools (Chapter 1) and Implications for multilingual education: Student achievement in different models of education in Ethiopia (Chapter 10) in Skutnabb-Kangas, Tove & Heugh, Kathleen (eds) Multilingual Education and Sustainable Diversity Work From Periphery to Centre. London: Routledge.
- Benson, C. (2010) How multilingual African contexts are pushing educational research and practice in new directions. In Edwards, Viv & Rasool, Naz (eds) Special issue on ‘Language in Africa: Issues for teachers and students’. Language and Education 24:4, 323-336.
- Benson, C. (2009) Designing effective schooling in multilingual contexts. In Skutnabb-Kangas, Tove, Phillipson, Robert, Mohanty, Ajit & Panda, Minati (eds) Social Justice Through Multilingual Education. Clevedon UK: Multilingual Matters, pp 63-81.
- Benson, C. & Plüddemann, P. (2010) Conscientisation des professionels en éducation bilingue: Programme de formation des formateurs d’éducateurs en contextes multilingues en Afrique australe (ToTSA) 2002-2005. En Chatry-Komarek, Marie (red) Professionaliser les enseignants des classes multilingues en Afrique. Paris: L'Harmattan.
