35.1162, Review: Centering Multilingual Learners and Countering Raciolinguistic Ideologies in Teacher Education: Bale, Rajendram, Brubacher & Nii Owoo (2023)

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Subject: 35.1162, Review: Centering Multilingual Learners and Countering Raciolinguistic Ideologies in Teacher Education: Bale, Rajendram, Brubacher & Nii Owoo (2023)

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Date: 08-Apr-2024
From: Kanza Tariq [kanza.tariq at mail.utoronto.ca]
Subject: Applied Linguistics: Bale, Rajendram, Brubacher & Nii Owoo (2023)


Book announced at https://linguistlist.org/issues/34.2701

AUTHOR: Jeff Bale
AUTHOR: Shakina Rajendram
AUTHOR: Katie Brubacher
AUTHOR: Mama Adobea Nii Owoo
TITLE: Centering Multilingual Learners and Countering Raciolinguistic
Ideologies in Teacher Education
SUBTITLE: Principles, Policies and Practices
SERIES TITLE: Language, Education and Diversity
PUBLISHER: Multilingual Matters
YEAR: 2023

REVIEWER: Kanza Tariq

SUMMARY

In this review I evaluate the book, "Centering Multilingual Learners
and Countering Raciolinguistic Ideologies in Teacher Education",
authored by Jeff Bale, Shakina Rajendram, Katie Brubacher, Mama Adobea
Nii Owoo, Jennifer Burton, Wales Wong, Yiran Zhang, Elizabeth Jean
Larson,  Antoinette Gagné, and Julie Kerekes. Across its eight
chapters, this book provides a comprehensive examination of the
policies, practices, and challenges related to teacher education and
the support of multilingual learners in Ontario.

Chapter 1: Contradictions of Stability and Change
Authors: Jeff Bale and Antoinette Gagné
In this first chapter the authors examine changes in Ontario's
policies for teacher-education programs, made in 2015, which include
the requirement to teach candidates how to support multilingual
learners (ML). They delve into the circumstances that surrounded these
policy changes: the multilingualism and multiculturalism of the
Ontario region juxtaposed against the lack of information available
about the diverse speakers of these languages enrolled in "language
education programs" (Bale et al., 2023, p. 18); the limited government
funding available for languages other than Canada's official two, and
their absence in education policies; and the rise of movements in
Canada against discrimination of Indigenous, Black and Muslim peoples.
This policy directly led to a curriculum review of the Ontario
Institute of Studies in Education (OISE) Masters of Teaching (MT)
program in 2017, an objective of which was to strengthen the Equity,
Diversity and Inclusion culture of the program.

Chapter 2: The Research Design and the People Behind It
Authors: Jeff Bale, Shakina Rajendram, Mama Adobea Nii Owoo, Katie
Brubacher and Wales Wong
In this chapter the authors expound on their view of "language policy
as social practice" (Bale et al., 2023, p. 28); the policy creates the
frame within which the many actors involved operate. This chapter also
includes the research questions of the study: (i) whether Ontario's
2015 policy was compatible with student multilingualism in the
province and (ii) how teacher educators, candidates and practicing
teachers make use of this policy. In order to identify the realities
of student multilingualism, the authors employed "Me Maps" (Bale et
al., 2023, p. 30), videos in which MLs show how they define
themselves, with particular attention paid to their "linguistic
profiles" (Bale et al., 2023, p. 40). Policy ethnography was used in
the MT program course "Supporting English Language Learners" (Bale et
al., 2023, p. 32), where data was collected in the form of
observations, interviews, discussion posts and documents. To assess
the preparedness of teacher candidates in supporting MLs, an
instrument called the "Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Language
Inclusive Teaching (PeCK-LIT) test" (Bale et al., 2023, p. 34) was
used. This test was also thought to be a means for candidates to
"reflect on multilingualism" (Bale et al., 2023, p. 38); and it is
available in the book's appendix.

Chapter 3 : Framing the Study
Author: Jeff Bale
This chapter serves as the literature review of the book, exploring
research on the topic of  "teacher education with multilingualism"
(Bale et al., 2023, p. 57) from the US, Germany, Australia, Peru and
South Africa. The author discusses related theories from the US and
Europe and research trends from the US. Other topics covered include
the lack of interaction between research taking place in applied
linguistics, policy studies and critical teacher education
scholarship, as well as the intersections between race, language and
teacher education.

Chapter 4 : Who are Multilingual Learners in Ontario Imagined to Be?
Authors: Shakina Rajendram, Mama Adobea Nii Owoo, Katie Brubacher,
Wales Wong, Jennifer Burton and Jeff Bale
In this chapter the authors examine how different policy documents,
including the Ontario Ministry of Education's "policy framework",
"English as a second language/English literacy development (ESL/ ELD)
curriculum", and "assessment program for ... ELLs, STEP: Steps to
English Proficiency"  (Bale et al., 2023, p. 85), label and define
MLs. Similarly, how teacher candidates envision their MLs is also
explored via interview data.  An important observation is that of an
"Us and Them" (Bale et al., 2023, p. 84) mentality, with
multilingualism being affiliated with poverty, lower social class, and
languages other than French and English. The authors conclude that
these viewpoints on ML identity found via Ministry of Education
documents and policies, as well as through interviews with teachers,
connect with perceived language hierarchies that devalue the expertise
of marginalised peoples.

Chapter 5 : Preparing Teacher Candidates to Support Multilingual
Learners: Insights from the Field
Authors: Shakina Rajendram, Mama Adobea Nii Owoo, Yiran Zhang, Julie
Kerekes and Jeff Bale
In this chapter the authors conduct a review of literature from
"Ontario’s 16 teacher-education programs" (Bale et al., 2023, p. 110)
to see how they had responded to the 2015 policy change. The authors
observe that the manner in which material on MLs' education is
included in teacher education coursework is indicative of the merit
the program associates with it. They also analyse interview data from
Ontarian ESL teachers and teacher educators to see which strategies
are currently used in order to support MLs. Many present materials are
evaluated as being developed to serve non-racialised teachers or
students. An example is the STEP assessment program, an often used
resource, which engages MLs' diverse linguistic repertoire only as a
means to improve their English. The interviews also reveal assumptions
by teachers and teacher educators of a largely homogeneous student
body in most of Northern Ontario , beliefs that lead to practices
which further marginalise MLs.

Chapter 6: STEPing into Deficit Thinking
Authors: Jeff Bale, Katie Brubacher, Elizabeth Jean Larson and Yiran
Zhang
In this chapter analysing PeCK-LIT and ethnographic case study data,
the authors delve into how the STEP assessment program is interpreted
by teacher candidates. Katie Brubacher's vignette gives important
insight into the development  of this resource.

Chapter 7: (Un)Learning Translanguaging Pedagogies
Authors: Jeff Bale, Shakina Rajendram, Katie Brubacher, Jennifer
Burton and Wales Wong
Teacher candidates’ views on and application of translanguaging
strategies is the major concern of this chapter. Analysis of answers
from two tasks from the PeCK-LIT confirms that most respondents use
MLs' language expertise simply as a tool for English development and
that teacher candidates imagine having a high degree of control over
MLs use of their non-English languages. An examination of the
differences between year 1 and year 2 PeCK-LIT responses from
candidates reveals a decrease in the mention of "language-inclusive
teaching strategies" (Bale et al., 2023, p. 179) in year 2, which the
authors posit is indicative of the hegemony of discriminatory
practices in educational institutions.

Chapter 8: Practices and Principles of Change
Authors: Jeff Bale, Shakina Rajendram, Antoinette Gagné, Katie
Brubacher, Wales Wong and Jennifer Burton
The authors respond to the findings of their study, which reveal
racial and linguistic stratification within Ontario's school system,
with possible practices that advocate for a reordering. These include
the relinquishing of control and acknowledgement of MLs linguistic
accomplishments by teachers. Helpful resources include Me Maps which
give MLs a voice with which to represent themselves. The role of
translanguaging is also heavily featured, with teacher educators being
encouraged to "model" (Bale et al., 2023, p. 201) lessons for
candidates to counter the disapproval they may face as practicing
teachers.

EVALUATION

With its multitiered analysis of responses to the 2015 policy change,
from ministry documents to teacher candidates, this book is a resource
for school and program administrators, teacher educators, future and
practicing teachers and educational policy makers. It gives
stakeholders at all these levels an opportunity to broaden their
perspectives on what a ML is. It also starts a conversation about the
"normaliz(ation)" (Bale et al., 2023, p. 29) of whiteness  within
education, which is particularly important in the Canadian landscape;
none of the interviewees of the study openly acknowledge the
linguistic hierarchy they encounter in classrooms. The book has
greatest relevance for educators in Ontario, as this is the setting
for the study discussed. Details of the social context of the project
given in Chapter 1 show that it is an opportune work, in light of the
many anti-discrimination movements that formed and continue to rally
in and around the region today.
It is a coherent work, but the chapters can be read separately as
well. The authors provide ample context when reintroducing a topic
elsewhere in the book. Though the book has 10 authors, the writing
style is unconfused and offers an easy reading experience. Emphasis
has been put in positionality as the "About the Authors" (Bale et al.,
2023, p. xvii) is very detailed and it is clarified which of the
researchers were involved in particular tasks throughout the study.
Additionally, single-authored vignettes are scattered about the book
giving deeper insight into the experiences of each researcher.

The literature review has been single authored. The research mentioned
in this section comes largely from scholars in the US and Germany. It
would have been interesting to have different authors' voices joining
in in this chapter, for a wider look at the field.  However, the
studies that are relayed are pertinent to the project and context. One
notable absence from the reviewed literature is of Jim Cummins and his
concepts of "basic interpersonal communicative skills (BICs)"
(Cummins, 2000, p. 3) and "cognitive academic language proficiency
(CALP)" (Cummins, 2000, p. 3), particularly in Chapter 5, where the
authors scrutinise the separation of "‘everyday’ and ‘academic’
English" (Bale et al., 2023, p. 124).

REFERENCES

Bale, J., Rajendram, S., Brubacher, K., Nii, M. A. O., Burton, J.,
Wong, W., Zhang, Y., Larson, E. J., Gagné, A., & Kerekes, J. (2023).
Centering multilingual learners and countering raciolinguistic
ideologies in teacher education : principles, policies and practices.
Multilingual Matters.

Cummins, J. (2000). Language, power, and pedagogy: Bilingual children
in the crossfire (Vol. 23). Multilingual matters.

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Kanza Tariq is a Ph.D. candidate in the Language and Literacies
Education program of the Department of Curriculum, Teaching and
Learning at OISE.



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