Carnegie Faculty

Carnegie Research Seminar

Centre for Social and Educational Research Across the Life Course

 

Presenter:                           Caroline Bligh

Chair:                                   Dr Dot Moss

Title:                                    The Silent Experiences of Young Bilingual Learners:  A small scale sociocultural study into the silent period

Date/Time /Venue:            25^th January / 12.00 – 1.00 / Cavendish 220

 

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This ethnographic study focuses upon the experiences of a small number of early years bilingual learners’ during the emergent stage of English language acquisition – the silent period. Sociocultural theory provides the platform for discussions in relation to the interconnectedness of the spoken mother tongue, thought, and learning. Legitimate peripheral participation is examined as a workable concept through which to explore the initial learning trajectory of an emergent bilingual learner whilst negotiating participation within, through and beyond the early years community of practice during the silent period.

 

A multi-method ethnographic approach includes participant observations, unstructured interviews with bilingual and monolingual participants and auto-ethnographic accounts. Sociocultural theory is tested out against the research findings through thematic analysis and the ‘encapsulation’ of significant data within nine selected vignettes. The findings present the silent period as a crucial time for negotiation and learning; distributed through a synthesis of alternative learning pathways. Examining the silent period through a sociocultural lens tentatively reveals silent participation as a significant but lesser acknowledged contribution to the early years community of practice.

 

Samantha Armitage

Carnegie Research

Carnegie Faculty

Leeds Metropolitan University

James Graham Building room G16

Headingley Campus

LEEDS

LS6 3HF

0113 812 6293

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