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20230719T101520230719T1245Europe/Amsterdam[SYMP55] Onto-epistemological justice and language across the life-course: Transitioning through Australian education systemHybrid Session (onsite/online)AILA 2023 - 20th Anniversary Congress Lyon Editioncellule.congres@ens-lyon.fr
Problematising language in Australian early education policy
Oral Presentation[SYMP55] Onto-epistemological justice and language across the life-course: Transitioning through Australian education system10:15 AM - 12:45 PM (Europe/Amsterdam) 2023/07/19 08:15:00 UTC - 2024/07/19 10:45:00 UTC
From early childhood and into formal schooling, epistemic injustice and coloniality work to exclude multilingual students in Australia. While all children entering early education settings bring an abundance of linguistic and cultural knowledge, educational systems designed from a monoglossic, Eurocentric mindset fail to take this knowledge into account and instead position multilingual children and their languages in deficit from their first interactions with schools and centres. Indeed, education systems have always played a strong role in perpetuating notions of language deficit, standardisation, and boundaries, in what Mignolo (1994) describes as "academic colonization".
While early education is widely recognised as having the potential to provide significant educational, social, and emotional benefits for children and their families, as well as for the wider economy (e.g. HCDC, 2010; PWC, 2014), the research available on language and multilingualism in early education shows that this potential is not being met for all students. Multilingual children studying under a monolingual yoke are systemically denied the well-proven, long-term benefits of early learning experiences that build on their linguistic repertoires.
This presentation will explore key early education policy documents in Australia, particularly from the state of Queensland, to show the ways that languages and their speakers are "problematised". Using Bacchi and Goodwin's (2016) post-structural "What's the problem presented to be" tool, it will unpack the ways language is constructed (or problematised) in Australian early years policy. It will show how these problematisations work to naturalise hegemonic language ideologies, thus undermining linguistically diverse students from their earliest encounters with formal schooling
This approach to policy analysis aims to both critique dominant ideologies and representations of problems, but also to think "otherwise" (Mignolo, 2007); or as Bacchi and Goodwin (2016) describe, "to destabilize an existing problem representation by drawing attention to silences, or unproblematized elements, within it … it opens up the opportunity to be inventive, to imagine worlds in which a specific confluence of circumstances is either not problematized or problematized differently" (p. 22). Therefore, this presentation will both expose the contradictions and ideologies in early education policy in Australia, but to also (re)imagine a possible future where the linguistic and cultural strengths of all students are recognised and sustained.
References Bacchi, C., & Goodwin, S. (2016). Making politics visible: The WPR approach. In C. Bacchi & S. Goodwin, Poststructural Policy Analysis (pp. 13–26). Palgrave Macmillan US. HCDC. (2010). The foundations of lifelong health are built in early childhood (p. 32) Center on the Developing Child at Harvard (HCDC). https://developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Foundations-of-Lifelong-Health.pdf Mignolo, W. D. (1994). Afterword: Writing and recorded knowledge in colonial and postcolonial situations. In E. H. Boone & W. D. Mignolo (Eds.), Writing Without Words (pp. 293–313). Duke University Press. Mignolo, W. D. (2007). Introduction: Coloniality of power and de-colonial thinking. Cultural Studies, 21(2–3), 155–167. PWC. (2014). Putting a value on early childhood education and care in Australia (p. 42). PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC). https://www.pwc.com.au/pdf/putting-value-on-ecec.pdf
Presenters Naomi Fillmore PhD Candidate , The University Of Queensland
Mapping epistemic injustice in the educational experiences of low literate adult learners in the Australian Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP)
Oral Presentation[SYMP55] Onto-epistemological justice and language across the life-course: Transitioning through Australian education system10:15 AM - 12:45 PM (Europe/Amsterdam) 2023/07/19 08:15:00 UTC - 2024/07/19 10:45:00 UTC
Low literate adult learners in migrant language programs were considered one of the most vulnerable groups in the sudden transition to online learning prompted by the COVID-19 crisis. While digital inequity and limited language proficiency and experience with technology greatly impacted access and engagement with remote learning in recurrent and extended school closures, systemic and structural vulnerabilities for adult learners acquiring basic literacy skills in an additional language predate the pandemic. Drawing from a doctoral research project examining epistemic injustice (Fricker, 2007) in the educational experiences of low literate adult learners in migrant language programs, this presentation will focus on language and educational policies in Australia which continue to influence an assimilationist and monolingual ethos and approach (Schalley, Guillemin & Eisenchlas, 2015) in the Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP). Language proficiency narrowly linked to employment purposes and the development of literacy skills exclusively in English overlooks the language and literacy needs of adults learning to read and write in an additional language without basic literacy skills in their home language(s). If epistemic rights consist of equitable access to information, knowledge and understanding, then migrant language programs need to enable and support adult migrants in their quest to access knowledge, public discourse, and meaningful participation in the community (Sen, 1999). This presentation will argue that reimagining education for low literate adult learners must value students' diverse ways of being and knowing, extend purpose beyond socio-economic integration, and promote greater participation in adult and lifelong learning and education.
Fricker, M. (2007). Epistemic injustice power and the ethics of knowing. Oxford University Press. Schalley, A., Guillemin, D., & Eisenchlas, S. (2015). Multilingualism and assimilationism in Australia's literacy-related educational policies. International Journal of Multilingualism, 12(2), 162–177. Sen, A. (1999). Development as freedom. Oxford University Press.
Presenters Jemima Rillera Kempster PhD Candidate | Academic Tutor, The University Of Queensland
Onto-epistemological justice in higher education in Australia: discussing multilingual students
Oral Presentation[SYMP55] Onto-epistemological justice and language across the life-course: Transitioning through Australian education system10:15 AM - 12:45 PM (Europe/Amsterdam) 2023/07/19 08:15:00 UTC - 2024/07/19 10:45:00 UTC
For over 65,000 years, Australia has been home to linguistically and culturally diverse communities, hosting among the oldest continuing languages of anywhere in the world. With one in five Australian residents using a language other than English at home, learners in Australian classrooms come from a range of language ecologies, reflecting the country's rich linguistic plurality. Yet despite the multilingual makeup of Australian society, recognition for language diversity in education has largely been ignored amid monolingualising policy and discourse (Schalley et al, 2015). This presentation will discuss the onto-epistemic injustices faced by culturally and linguistically diverse university students. Despite the (mostly rhetorical) efforts to improve epistemic inclusivity in Australian higher education, the university is still heavily influenced by Eurocentrism, with a curriculum that is rarely ontologically or epistemologically questioned (Ocriciano, 2022). Knowledge production is limited to a privileged few, while culturally and linguistically diverse students are excluded, and their ways of knowing and being are invalidate, perpetuating what Mignolo (2008) calls the colonialism of knowledge. The presentation will conceptually explore the ways multilingual students in Australian higher education are dismissed and unheard as a form of epistemic injustice.
For over 65,000 years, the continent now known as Australia has been home to highly linguistically and culturally diverse communities. The most recent census reported over 300 languages being spoken and signed in Australian homes and communities, including 159 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages that continue to be used and revitalised, and are among the oldest continuing languages anywhere in the world. With around one in five Australian residents using a language other than English at home (ABS, 2016), it's natural that this rich linguistic plurality is reflected in the students across each stage of the Australian education system. Clearly, monolingual Australia is a myth, yet despite the increasingly multilingual makeup of Australian society, recognition for language diversity in education has largely been ignored amid monolingualising policy and discourse. It is necessary to intervene to transform representations and practices around language that reproduce inequality (Smit, 2018). The idea is to move beyond positivist views about things as they are and move to a poststructuralist perspective on how the state of affairs has come to be what it is and how situations of inequality and injustice can be modified. From this perspective, it is important to ask if an educational policy that promotes equal opportunities and the empowerment of subjects means only teaching the linguistic resources associated with power or, also, challenging the norms that designate a limited set of resources as the keys for mobility and social change. Despite (mostly rhetorical) efforts to improve epistemic inclusivity in education, it is still heavily influenced by Eurocentrism. White European ethnocentrism can sustain the existing status quo as the almighty curriculum is rarely ontologically or epistemologically questioned (Ocriciano, 2022). When it comes to knowledge production, those who do not belong to the privileged group are unlikely to do so as their own ways of knowing and being do not often qualify as valid epistemologies under the scrutiny of the European Method. Mignolo (2008) explains that the epistemic advantage of modernity establishes and perpetuates the Colonialism of knowledge and being. Thus, being ignored and dismissed as well as not being heard because of one's ways of knowing and being are not even good enough to be recognised as a way of knowing and being is called an epistemic injustice. This presentation will discuss the onto-epistemic injustices faced by culturally and linguistically diverse university students. Despite the (mostly rhetorical) efforts to improve epistemic inclusivity in Australian higher education, the university is still heavily influenced by Eurocentrism, with a curriculum that is rarely ontologically or epistemologically questioned. Knowledge production is limited to a privileged few, while culturally and linguistically diverse students are excluded, and their ways of knowing and being are invalidated. This presentation will conceptually explore the ways multilingual students in Australian higher education are dismissed and unheard as a form of epistemic injustice (Fricker, 2007).
Transitions in the teaching of speaking as onto-epistemological (dis)obedience for world language education in Australia
Oral Presentation[SYMP55] Onto-epistemological justice and language across the life-course: Transitioning through Australian education system10:15 AM - 12:45 PM (Europe/Amsterdam) 2023/07/19 08:15:00 UTC - 2024/07/19 10:45:00 UTC
The teaching if speaking in world language education (with)in Australian is entangled with multiple facets of the coloniality of languaging (Veronelli, 2019) including: a pervasive monolingual mindset (Clyne, 2004), the dominance of English (Schalley et al., 2015), expectations of neutrality and stoicism (Heinrichs, 2022), and the responsibility of maintaining the "purity" of the language (Casanova, 2018) often through fluency, comprehensibility, intelligibility and accent modelled on "native-speakers". As such, speaking practices that deviate from the path of the coloniality of languaging through multilingualism, affectivity, informality and (im)perfections are often invisible in educational contexts. In this presentation, I share examples of the transitions beyond these native-speaker models as onto-epistemological (dis)obedience in the face of the coloniality of languaging during a project exploring the decolonising of the teaching of Spanish. Based on transformative action research (García & Kleyn, 2016), I highlight examples of students' affective responses to alternative ways of thinking about speaking Spanish. In doing so, I suggest that marginalised ways of speaking Spanish might spark transitions towards a more onto-epistemological approach to language education that reflects the generative, local language practices relevant to the unique Australian context. Casanova, M. V. (2018). Los criterios de corrección en las gramáticas de la Real Academia Española. Boletín de la Real Academia Española, 97(316), 581-631. http://revistas.rae.es/brae/article/view/206 Clyne, M. (2004). Trapped in a monolingual mindset. Principal Matters(59), 18-20. García, O., & Kleyn, T. (2016). Translanguaging with multilingual students: Learning from classroom moments. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.1080/15235882.2018.1468365 Heinrichs, D. H. (2022). Spanish as a world(ing) languaging: A multimodal critical discourse analysis of teachers' everyday practices in Australia University of Queensland]. Schalley, A. C., Guillemin, D., & Eisenchlas, S. A. (2015). Multilingualism and assimilationism in Australia's literacy-related educational policies. International Journal of Multilingualism, 12(2), 162-177. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2015.1009372 Veronelli, G. (2019). La colonialidad del lenguaje y el monolenguajear como práctica lingüística de racialización. Polifonia, 26(44), 146-159. http://www.periodicoscientificos.ufmt.br/ojs/index.php/polifonia/article/view/9002
Increasing the visibility of communication practices in the Architecture discipline: Action research for epistemic democracy
Oral Presentation[SYMP55] Onto-epistemological justice and language across the life-course: Transitioning through Australian education system10:15 AM - 12:45 PM (Europe/Amsterdam) 2023/07/19 08:15:00 UTC - 2024/07/19 10:45:00 UTC
Transitioning into higher education in Australia involves multiple challenges and injustices for culturally and linguistically diverse students, one of which being that communication and language skills are still not a visible part of academic study in many disciplines (Goldsmith, Willey & Boud, 2018). As a result, communication practices may be "fragmented, ad hoc and not seen as developmental" (Goldsmith et al., 2018, p.72), which can impact negatively on many students, especially those from linguistically diverse backgrounds. In the discipline of Architecture, there has historically been very little explicit focus on the communication and language skills that university students need for their academic studies and professional life, despite the fact that the central teaching and learning approach used in most Architecture schools is a multimodal presentation (Olweny, 2020). Drawing on the concept of epistemic democracy (Hayes, 2019), our current research and teaching aims to increase the visibility of communication practices in Architecture in order to enable greater participation in these practices.
Our approach is framed by a participatory action research methodology, which has its roots in notions of social justice and democratic education. In this talk, we will demonstrate how our action research approach has assisted us in making Architecture communication practices more visible, but we also reflect critically on the barriers to epistemic democracy that remain in our context. We teach first-year undergraduate and postgraduate Architecture students who have been identified by a university-wide language program as needing additional language support; students then attend 1.5 hour weekly tutorials over 10 weeks that focus on discipline-specific communication skills. Our research has involved opening up a dialogue with our students through surveys, focus groups and interviews, to explore together our understandings of what it means to communicate as an Architect, how we can best support students through the development of new materials, and how we can increase the visibility of Architecture communication skills more broadly. Our discussions with them attempt to reverse colonial approaches which apply a deficit model to their language skills and instead move towards onto-epistemological approaches to language which enable plurality and promote inclusion (Escobar, 2020). So far, the research findings have informed the development of new presentation preparation materials as well as a series of educational blog posts at our university as part of our mission to make disciplinary language skills more visible. We continue to work alongside our students to support them to participate in but also challenge the status of Euro-centric Architectural frameworks and language.
References Escobar, A. (2020). Pluriversal politics: The real and the possible. Duke University Press. Goldsmith, R., Willey, K., & Boud, D. (2018). Investigating invisible writing practices in the engineering curriculum using practice architectures. European Journal of Engineering Education, 44 (1-2), 71-84. Hayes, A. (2019). Inclusion, epistemic democracy and international students: The teaching excellence framework and education policy. Palgrave Macmillan. Olweny, M. R. O. (2020). Students' views of the architectural design review: The design crit in East Africa. Arts & Humanities in Higher Education, 19(4), 377-396.
Presenters Emily Edwards Senior Lecturer, University Of Technology Sydney Co-authors
Naomi Fillmore
Jemima Rillera Kempster
Michelle Ocriciano
Danielle H. Heinrichs 
Emily Edwards