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Language-as-resource: Language strategies used by New Zealand teachers working in an international multilingual setting

Abstract
Research indicates that teachers can face challenges in knowing how to support language learners because they often have minimal training in teaching language learners in mainstream contexts (Martin, 2004; Sharma et al., 2011) and may consider language learners using their home language as detrimental to their learning (Franken & McComish, 2003; Mady & Garbarti, 2014; Planas & Setati-Phakeng, 2014; Winsor, 2007). In this article seven volunteer New Zealand teacher participants in a programme to support teachers with no formal teacher education in India are interviewed concerning the strategies used and observed with Indian colleagues when delivering a teacher support programme. The New Zealand teacher participants' reflections evidenced an awareness of the affordances, complexities, and limitations of translation in a multilingual educational setting where the medium of instruction is not the home language of class members. The teachers reported using and observing a range of strategies used to maximise communication in the multilingual setting, including translation, encouraging the use of home languages, using code switching, as well as using paralinguistic cues. Future research concerning the Indian teachers' perceptions of these strategies is suggested.
Type
Journal Article
Type of thesis
Series
Citation
Daly, N., & Sharma, S. (2018). Language-as-resource: Language strategies used by New Zealand teachers working in an international multilingual setting. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 43(8), 15–29. https://doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2018v43n8.2
Date
2018
Publisher
Edith Cowan University
Degree
Supervisors
Rights
© 2018 Social Science Press. Used with permission.