A “ Complicated Conversation ” with the Canadian Language Benchmarks.
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Transcript of A “ Complicated Conversation ” with the Canadian Language Benchmarks.
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A “Complicated Conversation”
with the Canadian Language
Benchmarks.
Douglas Fleming PhD
Faculty of Education, University of [email protected]
CCEBRAL 2014
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Introduction
This session engages the Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB) within the context of national second language programming and citizenship.
Findings from two studies:comparing how citizenship is conceptualized by a
sample of LINC students with how it is embedded within the 2000 and 2012 versions of the CLB.
how eight experienced ESL/literacy teachers described how they developed over the course of their careers a keen awareness of the importance of bringing critical perspectives to their classroom treatment of citizenship.
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Concepts
Jackson’s (1968): hidden curriculum;
Students learn sets of implicit rules governing the privileging of certain kinds of knowledge and classroom behavior;
the hidden curriculum also exerts control over teachers through curricular microprocesses and governmentality (Foucault, 1978).
teachers can view engaging with documents such as these as “complicated conversations” (Pinar, 2012).
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Related Empirical Work in General Education
Lynch (1989) and Connell (1982): curricula used in particular schools were differently framed according to the gender and social class of students;
Anyon (1980): teachers used the same curriculum material in different ways according to the socio-economic conditions within which they worked.
Apple (1979): teachers are forced to divide curriculum knowledge into various levels of status, according to the socio-economic background of the students in question.
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Study 1 (Fleming, 2010)
comparing how citizenship is conceptualized by a sample of LINC students with how it is embedded within the CLB.;
• the students conceptualized citizenship in terms of multiculturalism, civic rights, and a respect for legal responsibilities;
• Linked to shifts in identity (esp. for women), family roles, a commitment to their new nation-state and access to labour and civic rights;
•in contrast, the CLB constructed isolated, passive and depoliticised conceptions of second language learners.
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•the original 2000 version of the CLB:• the word "vote" does not appear;• rights and responsibilities almost exclusively related to
being good consumers, but not as workers, family members or participants in community activities;
• labor rights nonexistent;
•improvements in the 2012 version of the CLB:• several additions of content that refer to labour rights;• two references to voting;
•however:• there is still a heavy emphasis on consumer rights;• voting and labour rights are mentioned in reference to
passive skills.
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• Study 2 (Fleming, 2014)
eight experienced ESL/literacy teachers described how they
developed an awareness of the importance of critical perspectives to the classroom treatment of citizenship.
• the participants in this study endorsed justice-orientated versions of citizenship;
• they linked participatory notions of citizenship to critical conceptions of literacy;
• they noted that they strengthened these positions as their careers progressed.
•
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Despite claims that it is nothing more than an assessment instrument, as the first study shows, the CLB is a hidden curriculum in the sense that it:
encapsulates a privileged body of content and methods;
promotes an obedient and passive engagement with the nation-state;
links (rarely attainable) normative English language fluency with full citizenship;
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Why is this a “complicated conversation”?
the CLB is nominally an assessment instrument;to be valid as a language assessment, such an
instrument must avoid making performance dependent on unfamiliar;
Canadian citizenship is (for the most part) unfamiliar content for newcomers to the country;
However, the CLB (esp. in the 2012 version) is also used to inform curriculum development;
curricular content found within the document becomes
exemplars for classroom teachers and thus privileged.
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As the second study shows, teachers can critically engage such documents by:exercising professional autonomy;designing curricula and pedagogical tasks tailor-made
for the learners they face;not giving in to the temptation to delay treating
citizenship until the higher levels of second language proficiency;
conceptualising their engagement as an “complicated conversation” in which they own an equal half of the dialogue.