Petri Vuorinen p etri.vuorinen@utu.fi

1. “If it’s English it’s just – for kinda just hanging out” A look at multiculturalism and plurilingualism in practice: who succeed and who don’t Petri Vuorinen petri.vuorinen@utu.fi

2. Finland • 7 th largest European country by area • languages: Finnish, Swedish • 5.3 million people

3. Finland – two official languages, strong emphasis on languages • 4-8 % of Finnish schools offer bilingual education (CLIL) • Immersion in Vaasa and other Swedish speaking areas (monolingual Finnish L1 students) • Other programs mostly Finnish-English (but also Finnish-Russian/German/French)

4. The US – Melting Pot or Salad Bowl? 45 million school-age children • 9.9 million (more than one in five) from households in which languages other than English were spoken • about 6 million were from Spanish-speaking homes • in California nearly 50 % of the school-age population (5 million) from non-English speaking homes and out of them 1,75 million from Spanish-speaking households

5. Background • PROFILES OF SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNERS IN BILINGUAL EDUCATION:A Comparative Study of the Characteristics of Finnish and American Students • Doctoral thesis available at https://oa.doria.fi/handle/10024/44611

6. Theoretical background • SLA theories • Language policies and education

7. Cummins (Language, Power and Pedagogy)

8. SCT in SLA • Situated learning models • Participation metaphor (cf acquisition) in community of practice and language socialization • Social milieu, social situatedness of learning • Learning=becoming an active full participant in a certain community, constructing identities in relation to the communities

9. Research questions Differences Between Finnish and American Students in Bilingual Programs • Do successful students in both American and Finnish groups have similar profiles? • What are American and Finnish students’ attainment levels like at the end of their high school years? • What are the (language) learners like having completed their educational paths in bilingual education in Finland and the US?

10. L2 learners compared • FI and US L2 learners • Attitude toward learning both L1 and L2 was positive • The knowledge of L1 and parental support • Early literacy in L1 (particularly apparent in the US group) • US subjects´: the experienced negative attitudes taken by L1 speakers and the lack of opportunities to engage in L1 activities • US subjects isolated, even afraid to use L2 in everyday communication situations

11. L2 learners compared • FI subjects had a politically neutral linguistic environment  favorable for learning • FI subjects´own attitudes and motivation dictated their learning • The role of L2, English, as a means of international communication   a means of exercising linguistic power  neutral atmosphere for learning L2

12. 28.8.2014

13. SCT – participation metaphor • Gerardo Well, it depends because when you use different languages. To me it feels kinda like different because if I use Spanish, I’m, I don’t know, I just say different things and feel a little different about different opinions. If you talk in English, you kinda get that, you kinda switch a little bit your personality to fit into the type of vocabulary that you have.

14. SCT – participation metaphor • Elena When I speak English I behave like more, like behave like professional, well, not professional, like giving you a good point of view, a good impression. When I speak Spanish, it’s just like speaking, like, I don’t know. I just talk like nothing.

15. SCT – participation metaphor • Gladys … like a person from Puerto Rico knows only Spanish. And they treat you (Gladys herself) wrong because you’re know Spanish and English… Because they go like, you’re better than me because you know Spanish and English and I’m never gonna learn English, you know. It feels bad at first but if you get into it, you learn.

16. SCT – participation metaphor • Marisol … and sometimes when I go to important places – (changes her voice) this is a little girl, she won’t understand – but, you know, they’ll be talking behind my back and I’m like “Hello, I speak English, I understand what you’re saying” and then turn around and they call me, you know “How are you?” and you know, they were talking behind my back, and now they’re calling me really nice. I’ve had situations when it’s happened really bad, like that, you know. They think that only because I’m Mexican, I don’t speak English. I know some people don’t but I do. Last time they were talking about my mom, you know, and my mom says “Oh my God, they’re talking about me. How can they. I understand. You know, she doesn’t understand that much English but she understands. Yeah, that happens you know. It really don’t matter, I ignore it, you know.

17. Commission documents • White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue launched by the Council of European Ministers of Foreign Affairs in 2008 titled “Living Together as Equals in Dignity” • Final Report of the High Level Group on Multilingualism (2007)  plurilingualism, tolerance and intercultural dialog brought to the fore  democratic citizenship and participation, and the learning and teaching of intercultural competences