Introducing global CLIL

This introduction conceptualises CLIL as the European practical and ideological apparatus for standardising elite multilingualism. The chapter begins with a brief historicisation of the appearance of CLIL, and discusses the ways in which CLIL has been legitimised and cemented discursively. It then moves on to reviewing existing criticality in CLIL research and identifies the research gaps the volume intends to fill. The remaining of the chapter is devoted to delineating the contours of a new research agenda for the field, an agenda that is critical, interpretive, socially-anchored and socially-concerned. One key focus is the global uptake of CLIL. This chapter argues for the need to comprehend the life of CLIL outside Europe, and the practices and forces of CLIL exportation and localisation

Language policy and planning, institutions and neoliberalization

This chapter addresses issues of language policy and planning in the neoliberalising institutional spaces of late modernity. Institutions are conceptualised as interested spaces of control and selection that work to buttress the socioeconomic and political agendas of the dominant classes in ways which appear open, meritocratic or simply commonsensical. The chapter argues for the need to understand the conditions, constraints and possibilities of language policy in specific institutional locales and their entanglement with the socioeconomic, political and moral orders of neoliberalism. The chapter maps out the research undertaken in three key institutional domains, and the workplace, education and the non-governmental sector, where the influx of the commodifying, economicist ethos of neoliberalism has legitimised particular forms of citizenship and identity effected in and through implicit or explicit language policy. The chapter ends by identifying research gaps and suggesting directions for future research in this field

Languaging teachers CLIL and the politics of precarisation in Catalonia

The aim of this chapter is to investigate CLIL as a site of struggle for educators and school heads. It takes a sociolinguistic and political economy perspective that focuses on the investigation of schools as neoliberalised workplaces and of teaching as a profession in transformation. Data comes from two institutional ethnographies conducted near Barcelona (2015-2017) in a state school and a publicly-subsidised private school. The analysis shows that, as a wholesale process of languaging teachers, CLIL is a stratifying mechanism that alters established regimes of value, subjectifies teachers to marketise and precarise themselves, and especially in the state sector, reinforces existing inequalities between permanent and temporary staff

Lifestyle residents in Barcelona : a biographical perspective on linguistic repertoires, identity narrative and transnational mobility

The popularization of lifestyle migration epitomizes the individualization of contemporary lives, and the centrality of travel and spatial relocation in people's aspirational or real life projects. This article examines the processes of sociolinguistic relocation of "lifestylers" in the polylingual city of Barcelona through the lens of their embracing or rejection of Catalan, the non-state, local co-official language. It aims to decipher to what extent these individuals see Catalan as relevant to their transnational life experiences, and how this relevance is embedded in their relational-emotional experiences and evolving sense of self. This article, which examines two life stories gathered through ethnographic interviewing, is framed within biographical-experiential approaches to the multilingual repertoire. The analysis shows that by assembling different narrative bits and by examining in detail the small stories informants tell to ground their accounts, a complex picture of language (dis)appropriation emerges. It argues that national identity rhetoric is a discursive strategy deployed by narrators to partly make sense and partly rationalize what is a complex bundle of identity (re)constitution reasons, emotional stances and interpersonal power dynamics. The article concludes by arguing that presences or absences in people's repertoire are embodied struggles for personal coherence

Language Awareness in Multilingual and Multicultural Organizations

This chapter points out the research conducted on language issues in multilingual and multicultural organizations from a diversity of theoretical traditions, as this is a highly interdisciplinary field of research. It provides a brief discussion of some of the most prominent lines of investigation, with emphasis on how the role of language and awareness of language issues have been tackled. The chapter addresses a fairly wide picture of how the study of issues of communication, language policy and language use within and around culturally/linguistically heterogeneous organizations. It discusses four fundamental concepts that cross-cut research in this interdisciplinary area: culture, miscommunication, diversity management and training. The analytical insistence on miscommunication has construed diversity as a problem to be 'fixed' through the implementation of a series of strategies that have often received the label of 'diversity management'. Closely linked to the construct of 'diversity management' is the idea of training as a way of 'handling' diversity-caused relational and communicative difficulties

Millora de les competències en llengua anglesa dels alumnes de la titulació de mestre especialitat llengua estrangera mitjançant la impartició d'assignatures no-lingüístiques en anglès : una experiència AICLE

Els avantatges de les propostes didàctiques basades en l'aprenentatge integrat de continguts i llengua (AICLE) són nombrosos i entre ells destaca el fet que en la selecció dels continguts es tenen en compte les capacitats cognitives, lingüístiques i comunicatives dels estudiants (Caballero i Masats, 1999) i que l'aprenentatge de la llengua s'emmarca en un context real. Segons Coyle (1999) els enfocaments AICLE es poden desenvolupar en qualsevol aula, és a dir, en qualsevol franja d'edat i amb alumnes amb qualsevol nivell de competència en la llengua estrangera si els continguts es fan accessibles a partir de potenciar la seva habilitat d'expressar-se oralment i la comprensió lectora. D'altra banda, i segons la mateixa autora, els aprenentatges de continguts no lingüístics no es poden plantejar com l'ensenyament en una altra llengua d'uns coneixements que els alumnes ja tenen, sinó que hi ha d'haver coneixements nous per transmetre i també la voluntat de voler que els alumnes adquireixin aquests coneixements a partir de desenvolupar habilitats cognitives diverses. El nostre estudi, que s'emmarca en un projecte de Millora de la Qualitat Docent (AGAUR: 2005. MQD 00130) sobre l'ensenyament integrat de l'anglès i de continguts d'àrees no lingüístiques, pretén analitzar els reptes que presenta l'enfocament AICLE dins el sistema universitari català. En la nostra comunicació, presentarem les dades s'han recollit durant el curs 2005-2006 a partir de qüestionaris de valoració omplerts pels estudiants de les assignatures no-lingüístiques que s'han impartit en anglès de la Titulació de Mestre Especialitat Llengua Estrangera i informes autoavaluatius emesos pels seus professors. La nostra anàlisi pretén creuar les mirades i reflexions del professorat i de l'alumnat, per tal de determinar si els supòsits d'aquest tipus d'enfocament pedagògic es compleixen en un context on els alumnes que participen de l'experiència són futurs professors de la llengua meta

Barcelona street vendors' voice and the crossing of narrative (b)orders

This chapter explores the uses, values and constraints of the Barcelona manteros' (street vendors) voice in its interactions with multiple actors. The empirical saliency of the notion of voice across our data, as well as the multiple tensions that its heterogeneous interpretations and appropriations generated, compel us to position it as a key emic category for analysis. In this chapter, we examine some narrative elements that constitute the manteros' voice and we empirically trace through their embeddedness in various discursive encounters where the manteros' seeking of material, cultural and political social justice is at stake. Those encounters take place mainly in progressive spaces of thought and action. Yet, we argue that their narrative (b)orders attempt to subordinate the manteros' emergent and newly-enregistered voice, which, in turn, pushes to cross them, thus widening the horizons of representative social justice

Fabricating neoliberal subjects through the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme

Neoliberalised capitalism, defined by flux and insecurity, engenders fear and anxiety. These affective dispositions discipline responsible citizens towards constant self-managing for capital appreciation. This chapter aims to understand the contours of neoliberal governmentality through the situated examination of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP), a 50-year-old diploma organised by a Swiss non-profit and implemented in schools all over the world. We draw on data obtained from a one-year ethnographic engagement with the IBDP offered by a private 'international' school located in Barcelona (Spain), as part of its attempt to gain distinctive advantage in the local marketplace and attract transnational families. The analysis centers on (1) the examination of the IB learner profile, a key discursive artefact encapsulating the programme's neoliberal rationality; and (2) the disciplining techniques put in place to enforce student self-transformation. We argue that the original IB humanist-liberal philosophy of educating the whole person has enabled a neoliberal co-optation of the programme. IB-commodified selves are protoworkers anxious to outperform in all aspects, brilliant academically but also excellent self-carers and disciplined affective selves. We show how he IBDP is a clear example of the dispersed, destatised and elitising forms of social governance prevalent under the neoliberal regime

“The experiential learning of English”: Discourses of Catalan families on teenage educational mobility abroad

La mobilitat educativa adolescent a l’estranger s’està popularitzant entre les classes mitjanes a Catalunya. Cada vegada són més les famílies que envien els fills i les filles a cursar un trimestre o un any a l’estranger per deixar el tema de l’anglès «resolt». En aquest article, basat en tretze entrevistes etnogràfiques amb mares i pares d’adolescents que han viatjat a països de parla anglesa, analitzem els discursos que les famílies construeixen per donar sentit a la seva decisió. La noció d’immersió, naturalitzada ideològicament com la forma més autèntica i efectiva d’aprendre la llengua «bé», és clau en els imaginaris familiars. Situem la nostra recerca en el camp de la política lingüística familiar (PLF), al qual contribuïm amb un context molt poc estudiat. Entenem la mobilitat educativa a l’estranger com una PLF que porta les famílies a planificar obsessivament les estades per minimitzar els riscos i maximitzar el retorn de la inversió. L’objectiu és aconseguir una oralitat fluida i espontània i, si pot ser, un «bon» accent. Les narratives dels pares, però, mostren que els beneficis percebuts d’aquestes estades van molt més enllà dels aprenentatges lingüístics. Destaquen la transformació dels seus fills en individus quasiadults segurs, responsables i independents. Els resultats indiquen, a més, que un dels èxits de l’estada és el canvi en les disposicions afectives dels adolescents cap a l’anglès, llengua que ara tenen «incorporada» al cos i a la ment.Early study abroad is becoming popular among the Catalan middle classes. An increasing number of families send their teenage children to spend a term or a school year abroad to “solve” the issue of English. In this article, based on thirteen ethnographic interviews with parents of teenagers who have spent time in an English-speaking country, we analyze the discourses that families construct to justify their decision. The notion of immersion, ideologically naturalized as the most authentic and effective way of learning a language “well”, is key in the families’ imaginaries. We situate our research within the field of family language policy (FLP), to which we contribute an under-researched context. We understand teenage educational mobility abroad as an FLP that leads parents to obsessively plan their children’s stay in order to minimize risks and maximize the return on their investment. The goal is for their children to acquire spontaneous and fluent oral communication skills and, if possible, a “good” accent. Parents’ narratives, however, show that the perceived benefits of these stays go far beyond language gains. They foreground their children’s transformation into confident, responsible and independent quasi-adults. The results also show that these stays are successful in that they effect a change in teenagers’ affective dispositions towards English, a language that becomes “incorporated” to their bodies and minds

Diversitat, globalització i desigualtat: una mirada etnogràfica a dues respostes de política lingüística educativa a Catalunya

L'estudi situat i comparatiu de la implementació de dos programes d’educació lingüística a Catalunya durant els darrers 15 anys en dos instituts de secundària localitzats en àrees de classe treballadora ens ha permet presentar els principals reptes que la comunitat educativa en general, però principalment els docents -com a encarregats de l'execució d'aquestes polítiques-, han hagut de gestionar. Aquest article s’inspira en la teoria d'Erickson (1987) sobre la confiança (trust) i la legitimitat (legitimacy) en l’educació per donar compte de les complexitats de la implementació d’aquests programes en termes d’èxit o fracàs escolar. Tant les aules d'acollida del programa LIC, orientades a la inclusió de l'alumnat d'origen immigrat al sistema educatiu català, com el programa GEP, dissenyat per satisfer les aspiracions de famílies que veuen en l'anglès millors possibilitats d'accés social per als seus fills, demanen condicions emocionals i materials que comportin conseqüències. Els docents que participen en aquests programes han de construir una retòrica que convenci companys, alumnat i famílies que el que fan és per al benestar de tots, inclosos els mateixos centres que veuen com la seva imatge social guanya o es devalua segons la situació