E-Thesis 317 views 119 downloads
Making pedagogical links between languages: exploring how teachers are responding to the crosslinguistic and interdisciplinary challenges in the Languages, Literacy and Communication AoLE / SIAN BROOKS
Swansea University Author: SIAN BROOKS
DOI (Published version): 10.23889/SUthesis.64951
Abstract
At a time of significant curriculum reform in Wales, this study sought to establish the perceptions of teachers of Welsh, English and international languages in secondary English-medium schools in Wales to the grouping of their languages into a curriculum area of Language, Literacy and Communication...
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Swansea, Wales, UK
2023
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| Institution: | Swansea University |
| Degree level: | Doctoral |
| Degree name: | Ph.D |
| Supervisor: | Crick, T., Knight, C., and Lewis, H. |
| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa64951 |
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| Abstract: |
At a time of significant curriculum reform in Wales, this study sought to establish the perceptions of teachers of Welsh, English and international languages in secondary English-medium schools in Wales to the grouping of their languages into a curriculum area of Language, Literacy and Communication, an understanding of the challenges they are facing as well as their confidence in in the pedagogical practices needed to teach elements of What Matters statement 1: Languages connect us. The assumptions explored were that teachers of Welsh, English and international languages are having significant issues with teaching What Matters statement 1: Languages connect us, crosslinguistic influence between the languages taught in Wales is beneficial to pupils and teachers and exploiting this benefit requires new or different pedagogy. This mixed methods research project adopted a case study approach, and nine language teachers were interviewed. The resultant qualitative data was cross-validated by a survey sent to all secondary schools in Wales. From this data emerged genuine concerns by teachers about the grouping of languages, the challenge of collaborating with colleagues and fears about new monitoring and assessment procedures with an unchanged GCSE as end goal. Recommendations from this study include instigating collaborative Welsh context-specific research into crosslinguistic influence, creating a pedagogical centre of excellence for this curriculum area, curating a shared knowledge-base for student teachers of Welsh, English and modern languages in teacher education, auditing and monitoring the status of international languages, and providing teachers with a roadmap for future changes to assessment in Wales to allay their fears. |
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| Keywords: |
Crosslinguistic, modern foreign languages, curriculum, multilingualism, plurilingualism, SLA, TLA |
| College: |
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Funders: |
Swansea University (partially) |