Due to a visit from Prof. Øystein Vangsnes (Tromso, Norway), Prof. Elma Blom and Prof. Trudie Schils, two FASoS researchers present their research on 3 October in the Spiegelzaal.
Join Daan Hovens‘s lecture “Educational investments in ‘neighbouring languages’ between Meuse and Rhine” from 10.30-11.00 and Marie Rickert‘s lecture “Language practices in Early Childcare and Education: The Limburgish context through a participation lens” from 15.00-15.30.
Educational investments in ‘neighbouring languages’ between Meuse and Rhine
In his presentation, Daan Hovens (ITEM, UM) discusses his ongoing sociolinguistic study for the INTERREG project EMR-Lingua. The goal of this study is to write a research report with recommendations for educational policy makers in the Euregio Meuse-Rhine, a Belgian-Dutch-German cross-border region.
The research question is why secondary schools in this cross-border region do, or do not, invest in the education of so-called “neighbour languages” (Dutch, French, German) and cross-border activities such as pupil exchanges.
The primary research method is interviews with representatives from different secondary schools in the region, mostly teachers with a specific interest or task with regard to international school activities. Theoretically, the project builds upon insights from the fields of language (education) policy and border studies. In the presentation, Hovens discusses a number of preliminary findings as well as the recommendations that may be drawn from them.
Language practices in Early Childcare and Education: The Limburgish context through a participation lens
Children in Early Childcare and Education in Dutch Limburg take on many different participatory roles when navigating the bidialectal space of the childcare facility. In this talk, Marie Rickert (LK, UM) discusses how children’s participation in Early Childcare and Education takes shape at the interplay of ideologies, practices, and policies.
Her analysis shows how teachers and toddlers use both Dutch and the regional language Limburgish, respectively, as well as other semiotic means such as singing to shape situational interactional participation in a way that resonates with the sociocultural arena of the pre-school and dominant societal language ideologies more generally.
Furthermore, the micro-interactions studied based on linguistic ethnography in a pre-school in Limburg highlight children’s linguistic agency in processes of meaning-making in the pre-school.
