Language Autobiography as a Means to Raise Learners ’ Linguistic Awareness

1. Developing plurilingual education in the Nordic and Baltic Countries Final conference of the DELA-NOBA project, financed by Nordplus Horizontal Language Autobiography as a Means to Raise Learners’ Linguistic Awareness Véronique Simon (Uppsala University), Loreta Chodzkienė (Vilnius University) & Maive Meister (Tartu University)

2. Krumm, H.-J. (2001). Kinder und ihre Sprachen – lebendige Mehrsprachigkeit. Wien.Krumm, H.-J. (2011) ”Multilingualism and Subjectivity: Language Portraits by multilingual children.”. Geneviève Zarate et al., Handbook of Multilingualism and Multiculturalism, 101-104.

3. This presentation aims at reflecting upon the benefits of Language Autobiography method developed by the project PLURI-LA (Plurilingualism-Languages Autobiographies Project), widely used by the participants of DELA-NOBA project in Estonia, Lithuania and Sweden, three countries with different political and socio-cultural contexts, a reason why the use of the method gained quite several interpretations.

4. In Lithuania and Estonia, the comparative analysis of the data obtained sheds light on the language learners’ reflections on the concept of a language per se: the necessity to learn languages, languages encountered, how many languages one should have in his/her linguistic repertoire and the learners’ linguistic awareness in general.

5. In Sweden, the Language Autobiography methods’ target group were newly arrived pupils aged 16-20 learning Swedish as an additional language. The data collected enhances the deep connection between language, personal history and feelings and the benefits of the method in terms of language awareness and learning: valorisation of the language(s) of origin and motivation for learning a new language.

6. Language Autobiographies of Estonian pupils Maive Meister University of Tartu 25.04.16

7. General Information • Official Language: Estonian (68,52%=mother tongue) • Minority Languages: Russian, Ukrainian, Finnish, Belarusian, Latvian etc (31,48%) • Foreign languages at schools

8. Pilot School • Tartu Veeriku School • approx. 500 pupils • Language of schooling: Estonian • Foreign languages: English, Estonian, Russian, German

9. Language Autobiographies 2013-2016 • Put the language on the silhouette • What colour has each language? • Explain your choice

10. Results • 50 LA – 4th-9th grade (11-16 years old) • Altogether 39 different languages, e.g. English (50), Russian (47), Estonian (45), Latvian (39), German (37), Finnish (34), Swedish (33) etc. • Languages are very symmetric on the silhouette • Mother tongue (heart); English (head). • ! Egyptian language; Mexican language!

11. Keywords • Travelling • Friends/classmates • Relatives • Sports • Food • Learning at school • Streets • TV/internet

12. Summary • Pupils are aware of different languages they have encountered during their lives • Pupils are opened to new languages and cultures • LAs reflect the different sides of languages – not just the tool of communication but also as a carrier of culture

13. SwedenDelaNoba – Language Autobiographies Many countries in Europe must since a few years face an unprecedented wave of immigration along with a refugee crisis, which accelerated during 2015. Sweden has welcomed a large number of immigrants and asylum seekers, among them many children, some unaccompanied.

14. According to the Swedish Education Act, all children living in the country should be provided free education from age 6-19, this education being compulsory from age 7-16, except for asylum seekers. This means that for example, even asylum seekers or unaccompanied children have a right to education regardless of whether they are going to stay, or return to their homeland. https://www.oecd.org/migration/Is-this-refugee-crisis-different.pdf (13/04/2016) https://sweden.se/migration/#2015 (13/04/2016)

15. However, as stated in a report by OCDE, ”Compared to their native Swedish peers, immigrant students, on average, have weaker education outcomes at all levels of education. Nearing the end of compulsory education, at age 15, there are very significant performance disadvantages for immigrant students. These gaps are especially pronounced for first-generation immigrants (i.e.students who were not born in Sweden, nor were their parents born in the country). The toughest challenges appear to be access to national programmes and completion in upper secondary education”. https://www.oecd.org/sweden/44862803.pdf (13/04/2016)

16. In Sweden, the Language Autobiography activity has been applied to several groups of 74 newly arrived pupils aged 16-20 and learning Swedish as an additional language in the commune of Örebro, as a means to raise both their language awareness and enhance their motivation to learn Swedish as an additional language but even to valorise their native language or other languages they know or wish to learn.

17. The data collected within the frame of the DELA-NOBA project enhances the deep connection between language, personal history and feelings. It has enlightened and reinforced the strategies used by the students in order to communicate. The activity in itself has been a part of a language learning process.

18. Two activities with newly arrived pupils Draw your languages and comment on them Draw your languages and connect them to different feelings

23. The analysis of the data underlines the benefits of the method in terms of language awareness and learning: valorization of the language(s) of origine and motivation for learning a new language, as using the language autobiography allows to do so in a more authentic way.

31. The languages named in the study Arabic, Arminian, Assyrian, Chinese, Dari (”Afghanian”), English, Farsi (Persian), Hindi, French , Kinjarwanda, Kurmanji, Kurdish, Pashto, Russian, Somalian, Spanish, Syrian, Tadjiki, Turkish, Trigrinia, Urdu, And Music!

32. Aitäh! Tack! Aciu!