Prochain cours public : « Englishization policies in education: ‘Democratizing’ English or recreating social inequalities? », 5 décembre 2019

La prochaine conférence publique organisée par le Projet Vaud Multilingue, en collaboration avec des collègues de l’HEP Vaud, aura lieu le jeudi 5 décembre 2019 à 18h à l’HEP Vaud (Avenue de Cour 33, 1007 Lausanne), dans la salle C33-520. La conférence sera suivie d’un apéritif.

La Dr. Eva Codó (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) nous présentera une conférence intitulée: « Englishization policies in education: ‘Democratizing’ English or recreating social inequalities? »

Pour en savoir plus sur Dr. Codó, voici le lien de son site web : http://blogs.uab.cat/advancedenglishstudiesma/ambits-lecturers/linguistics/linguistics-staff/dr-eva-codo/

ABSTRACT:poster-draft_final-1
Englishization policies in education: ‘Democratizing’ English or recreating social inequalities?

Eva Codó, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

This talk aims to critically examine and contrast two simultaneous processes of school Englishization (where English is introduced as a language of instruction) and their consequences for social justice. I will be drawing on data from a recently-completed funded research project on multilingualization of compulsory education in Barcelona, Spain. The two high schools analysed are very distinct in nature and clientele. One of them is state-owned and attended by lower-middle class students whereas the other one is a fully-private international school attended by local elites and around 15% expatriate families. The two linguistic projects are also radically different. While the public school focuses on English Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), the international school showcases its intensive multilingualism including ‘rare’ capitals such as Mandarin, official trilingual policies (Catalan, Spanish and English) and ‘English immersion’ as a distinctive language learning methodology. Despite English being a central aspect of the educational project in both cases, the elite school seeks to distinguish itself from the public sector by selling ‘premium’ English. But what is this premium English and how is it different from ‘just English’? I will examine what kinds of English language practices are constructed as desirable in each school, what linguistic ideologies they are grounded on and how they are connected to the historical trajectory and educational project of each school. I will also seek to elucidate what role the native speaker plays in structuring practices and (de)legitimising teachers, and in so doing question commonly-held assumptions about what constitutes ‘good’ English.