Saskia Van Viegen

On the move - Learning with youth refugees in secondary school classrooms

This talk engages with findings from case study (Duff, 2012; Denos et al., 2009) research conducted with youth from refugee backgrounds and their teachers at a secondary school in Ontario, Canada, as part of a larger multi-site project examining these students’ language and literacy experiences. Youth refugees, defined here as adolescents 12-21 years old, who have been displaced from their country of origin, face significant challenges relating to resettlement and social and educational integration, particularly since these students often have limited and/or interrupted formal schooling. Recognizing these complex learning needs, the present study examines how teachers build on students’ resources and competences in the context of English medium instruction. Drawing on theoretical perspectives that position multilingualism as the norm (ie. Canagarajah, 2011; Cummins, 2017; Garcia & Wei, 2014), the study highlights students’ translanguaging practices. Using a collaborative approach, participating teachers and youth worked as co-researchers, generating data from a variety of qualitative, multimodal methods, including: surveys; formal and informal interviews; field work and pedagogical documentation of student learning. Analysis of these data demonstrate the positive contributions that students’ home languages and translanguaging practices can bring to education for youth refugees: scaffolding new learning; promoting metalinguistic awareness; developing biliteracy; and valorizing students’ cultural and linguistic identities (Cenoz & Gorter, 2015; Creese & Blackledge, 2015; Garcia, 2011; Little, Leung & Van Avermaet, 2013). Importantly, these data underscore how youth enact strategies for self-determination and self-representation, asserting human dignity above the economic, social, and political inequities of displacement that affect their life circumstances.

Suggested article

Van Viegen, S., & Lau, S.M.C. (forthcoming). Philosophy, principle and practice - ‘3Ps’ to implement plurilingual pedagogies. To be published in S.M. Lau & S. Van Viegen, (Eds.), Plurilingual Pedagogies: Critical and Creative Endeavors for Equitable Language Education. Springer.