Contesting Language Ideologies in the Linguistic Schoolscapes in an Indonesian Multilingual School: A Case Study

The educational institution serves as a platform where diverse language ideologies intersect, particularly within multilingual schools. These language ideologies can shape how students perceive and use languages and influence policies and practices within the institution. Understanding and navigating these intersections is crucial for promoting inclusive and equitable language education. This study examines the perception of language ideological contests within the linguistic schoolscape of a multilingual country, specifically Indonesia. This article utilizes a triad model proposed by Lefebvre (1991) and Trumper-Hecht (2010) as its conceptual framework and employs the linguistic landscape as its methodological tool. The analysis focuses on school signs within a multilingual school setting. The findings suggest that Indonesian, English, and Chinese languages are employed within educational environments. The prevailing ideologies observed within this educational environment encompass globalization, ethnic identity, and nationality. These ideologies influence the choice of languages taught and prioritized in the curriculum and the attitudes and expectations toward each language.

Linguistic Landscape in Educational Spaces

Educational institutions, whether privately owned or state funded, are a meeting place for students coming from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Educational institutions as learning environments and spaces not only play a fundamental role in the development of an individual, but also perpetuate various ideologies related to languages, politics, cultures, and society among others. In relation to language ideology, linguistic landscape is a novel field which allows sociolinguists to analyze how spaces are constituted through the language(s) employed in public signage as signs enable a dynamic process in which the language(s) used in these signs and those who pass by said signs influence each other to shape the landscape of their community. It enables the identification of the relative power and vitality of the language(s) in a particular community that may or may not appear in public signage. Language(s) displayed in public spaces can also be interpreted as a reflection of the ideological conflicts within a community. Respectively, there is a growing interest towards the study of the linguistic landscape in educational spaces, also known as schoolscape. School, a central civic institution, represents a deliberate and planned environment where learners are subjected to powerful messages about language(s) from local and national authorities. Accordingly, by reviewing past studies, this paper proposes to initiate discussion and investigation of the practices and the language(s) utilized in signs within educational spaces in the United States as institutions can perpetuate language ideologies, which can either foster or hinder bilingual education

Multilingual Schoolscapes of Elementary Schools in East Tennessee

This study investigates how three elementary schools in East Tennessee align their schoolscapes with their multilingual populations. The study involved taking pictures of signage in these elementary schools and analyzing them for multilingualism. The findings indicate that there is limited presence of multilingual signage in the schools despite the presence of diverse students. While the schools are making efforts to be inclusive with their signage, there is clearly more room for improvement

Inclusive Ethnographies: Beyond the Binaries of Observer and Observed in Linguistic Landscape Studies

In ethnographically oriented linguistic landscape studies, social spaces are studied in co-operation with research participants, many times through mobile encounters such as walking. Talking, walking, photographing and video recording as well as writing the fieldwork diary are activities that result in the accumulation of heterogeneous, multimodal corpora. We analyze data from a Hungarian school ethnography project to reconstruct fieldwork encounters and analyze embodiment, the handling of devices (e.g. the photo camera) and verbal interaction in exploratory, participant-led walking tours. Our analysis shows that situated practices of embodied conduct and verbal interaction blur the boundaries between observation and observers, and thus LL research is not only about space- and place-making and sense-making routines, but the fieldwork encounters are also transformative and contribute to space- and place-making themselves. Our findings provide insight for ethnographic researchers and enrich the already robust qualitative and quantitative strategies employed in the field

Teachers’ reflections on linguistic diversity in the linguistic and semiotic landscapes of Swedish-medium ECEC units in Finland

This article examines teachers’ reflections on their practices regarding linguistic diversity in linguistic and semiotic landscapes (LSLs) in Swedish-medium early childhood education and care (ECEC) in Finland. Data comprising 14 videos and written assignments were collected during in-service training for ECEC staff. Based on a qualitative thematic analysis, four practices related to the interplay between the language of instruction and children’s other languages were identified and related to different spatial frameworks in the physical learning environments. The findings reveal a distinct promotion of the language of instruction throughout the landscapes. Linguistic and semiotic resources were produced or emplaced by the teachers to enhance interaction in and learning of the language of instruction for all children. Other languages were displayed, especially in the entrance hall, with caregivers as the primary audience, welcoming the families to the unit and providing a means of disseminating information, but not as a learning resource for the whole group. While the study reveals that teachers are aware of the potential of using LSLs as a part of their pedagogical work, it also reveals a lack of systematic planning when it comes to developing the landscape to support language awareness for all children.This article examines teachers’ reflections on their practices regarding linguistic diversity in linguistic and semiotic landscapes (LSLs) in Swedish-medium early childhood education and care (ECEC) in Finland. Data comprising 14 videos and written assignments were collected during in-service training for ECEC staff. Based on a qualitative thematic analysis, four practices related to the interplay between the language of instruction and children’s other languages were identified and related to different spatial frameworks in the physical learning environments. The findings reveal a distinct promotion of the language of instruction throughout the landscapes. Linguistic and semiotic resources were produced or emplaced by the teachers to enhance interaction in and learning of the language of instruction for all children. Other languages were displayed, especially in the entrance hall, with caregivers as the primary audience, welcoming the families to the unit and providing a means of disseminating information, but not as a learning resource for the whole group. While the study reveals that teachers are aware of the potential of using LSLs as a part of their pedagogical work, it also reveals a lack of systematic planning when it comes to developing the landscape to support language awareness for all children

Materialized discourses in the landscape : language, multimodality and agency in a school in Southwest Finland

This thesis investigates materialized discourses in a landscape of education in Southwest Finland. It focuses on the construction of student identities through the school landscape and the materialized discourses that inform it. The analysis focuses on de jure and de facto discourses pertaining to language, semiotic modes and agency. This thesis consists of four research articles. The articles function as selfcontained units. They can therefore be read independently and in any order. It is, however, recommendable to read them in the order they are presented in this thesis, as intended by the author. Article I provides the reader a toolkit. Article II gives the reader a broad overview of the linguistic aspects of the landscape. Article III provides a closer look to the key findings of article II. Article IV shifts the focus from language to semiotic modes, while also reassessing agency in relation to articles II and III. The thesis expands on the four research articles. It provides a more detailed account of the conceptual framework and the research design. It also includes a more in-depth discussion of how the articles are related to one another, i.e., how they supplement one another, forming a whole greater than the sum of its parts. The results indicate that a de jure discourse of parallel monolingualism and a de facto discourse of internationalism are materialized in the school landscape. Moreover, a discourse of logocentrism is materialized in the landscape, giving primacy to writing over image. In addition, an education specific discourse of agency is materialized in the landscape, creating a dichotomy between the teachers and the students. These materialized discourses discipline the students to adopt a certain code of conduct which reflects what is considered proper and desirable in Finnish society. While the school landscape may appear to be a mere backdrop, materialized discourses contained in it are obscured by it. The learning environment appears to them as natural and unproblematic, thus reinforcing the disciplinary capabilities of the materialized discourses and (re)producing the social conditions in this microcosm of Finnish society.Tämä väitöskirja tarkastelee materialisoituneita diskursseja varsinaissuomalaisen koulun maisemassa. Tutkimus keskittyy oppilaiden identiteettien rakentumiseen maiseman ja materialisoituneiden diskurssien kautta. Analyysi rajautuu kieliin, semioottisiin modaliteetteihin ja toimijuuteen liittyvien de jure ja de facto - diskurssien tarkasteluun. Väitöskirja koostuu neljästä tutkimusartikkelista. Ne toimivat itsenäisinä kokonaisuuksina, joten ne voi lukea toisistaan irrallaan, missä tahansa järjestyksessä. On kuitenkin suositeltavaa lukea ne esitetyssä järjestyksessä. Artikkeli I tarjoaa lukijalla eräänlaisen työkalupakin. Artikkeli II tarjoaa lukijalle yleisen katsauksen koulun kielimaisemaan. Artikkelissa III keskitytään artikkelin II keskeisten tutkimustulosten tarkempaan tarkasteluun. Artikkeli IV tarkastelee kielten sijaan semioottisia modaliteetteja ja arvioi uudelleen artikkelin II ja III toimijuuteen liittyvät tutkimustulokset. Yhteenveto-osa tarjoaa lukijalle seikkaperäisemmän selonteon tutkimuksen käsitteellisestä viitekehyksestä sekä sovelletuista menetelmistä. Lisäksi yhteenveto-osiossa käsitellään sitä, miten artikkelit muodostavat osiensa summaa laajemman kokonaisuuden. Tutkimustulokset osoittavat rinnakkaisen yksikielisyyden de jure -diskurssin ja kansainvälisyyden de facto -diskurssin materialisoituneen koulun maisemassa. Lisäksi maisemassa materialisoituvat logosentrismin diskurssi, joka korostaa kirjoittamisen merkitystä kuvallisen ilmaisun kustannuksella, ja koulutukseen liittyvä toimijuuden diskurssi, joka puolestaan ilmentää koulun opettajien keskeistä roolia suhteessa oppilaisiin. Nämä ohjailevat oppilaiden käytöstä kohti haluttuja ja hyväksyttyjä käytösmalleja. Koulun maisema saattaa vaikuttaa pelkältä taustakulissilta, mutta se hämärtää materialisoituneiden diskurssien läsnäolon. Oppimisympäristö vaikuttaa luonnolliselta ja ongelmattomalta, mikä puolestaan vahvistaa materialisoituneiden diskurssien vaikutusta oppilaisiin ja auttaa toisintamaan vallitsevat yhteiskunnalliset olosuhteet