Language-aware operational culture : Developing in-service training for early childhood education and care
Bergroth, Mari; Hansell, Katri (2020). Language-aware operational culture : Developing in-service training for early childhood education and care. Apples : Journal of Applied Language Studies, 14 (1), 85-102. DOI: 10.17011/apples/ urn.202006043978
Published in
Apples : Journal of Applied Language StudiesDate
2020Copyright
© 2020: The authors
This study examines how practitioners of minority-medium Early Childhood
Education and Care (ECEC) in Finland reflect on language awareness (LA) in their
professional learning communities (PLCs). The study is conducted within in-service
training for ECEC practitioners and it also highlights how these practitioner
reflections can be of use and support developing future in-service training within
the action research framework. The data include nine group discussions on a
reflection task, with 41 primary participants and 165 secondary participants from
each primary participant’s respective PLC. As a starting point, the researchertrainers identified six language-policy themes on LA in national policy documents.
These were presented for practitioners, who then discussed them both in their
respective PLCs and within the in-service training. The in-service discussions were
audio-recorded and transcribed for qualitative-content analysis. During the analysis,
the focus was on the dynamics of minority-majority positions, with the following
themes emerging: i) Language contacts; ii) bilingual children and multi-layered
identity; and iii) developing multilingual pedagogies. The results showed that the same
insights often were treated both as strengths and weaknesses, and that a need exists
for support so that practitioners can implement language-aware educational policy
into their operational cultures.
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