LITERACY BEYOND SCHOOL: Literacy learning strategies

in the mosque

Author: Charo ReyesTutor: Sílvia Carrasco

EMIGRA RESEARCH GROUP. UNIVERSITAT AUTÒNOMA DE BARCELONA.

A question:

Why is there under-

representation in post-

compulsory education among

some foreign communities?

3 principal bases:1/

Theory of Reproduction + Resistance Theory + Critiques of the Deficit theory (Bourdieu, Willis, Ogbu, Foley...)

2/Research focussed on the Potential of the whole student group and on the Potential of minority and foreign students (Ainscow, Delpit, Gregory and Kenner, Emigra group (Carrasco, Pàmies…))

3/ Sociolinguistic aspects (Gregory & Kenner, Cummins, Delpit, Nussbaum, Unamuno; Mijares I Valdés, Woolard)

At first sight teachers

welcoming classes

THE SCHOOL compensatory classes

students meetings general comments…

Focussing in and beyond

THE STUDENTS

It’s like the “h” in English.

How do you pronounce that (ح) ?

Year Population

2009 18,472

1986 10,799

1960 5,794Statistics taken from the Idescat (Catalan Institute of Statistics)

Small sea-side town in the northeast of Catalonia in an area called el Maresme

Population evolution in the town in the last 50 years

Catalan families who have lived in the area for generations. Mix of classes and status but predominately middle class.

Catalan families with “Spanish” background. Mix of classes and status but predominately working class/middle class.

Foreign families and Catalan families with Moroccan, Gambian, Senegalese, etc, background. Predominantly working class with some emergent middle class.

State and private schools in the town

Private schools

State schools

E.S.O. (≈G.C.S.E.)

3 1549 students

376 students

Batxillerat (≈A-levels)

1 144 students

164 students

Statistics taken from the Idescat (Catalan Institute of Statistics) 2006

Students from local Catalan families

Students from foreign families or of foreign background

Students from families emigrated from the rest of Spain

Research Research populationpopulation

Students from Moroccan, Senegalese and Gambian families

Criteria of the Criteria of the specification specification

The most problematic collective from the teachers point of view.

The possibility of comparing their learning mechanisms in a space developed inside their communities.

“They arrive with lots of educational deficiencies”

“Families are very closed minded, they have a very low cultural level”

“Mothers are too young”“They are shut in “there”…”“They just learn the

Koran…”“They take them over there

for four years “

It is not what they are, it is

what they are not

‹DEFICIT DEFICIT THINKINGTHINKING

“They have lost the value of Hard Work” “There is no family support”

›Responsibility for the “failure” lies outside: Families, Society, Educational Department

› View focussed on “what’s wrong with the students” (deficit thinking) >

STREAMINGSTREAMING

GENERAL DEFICIT SITUATION +

SPECIFIC DEFICIT:Lack of family and cultural support

Lack of languageLack of academic background

“Pull-out programmes where migrant students

are withdrawn from mainstream classes […]

produces hardly any additional teaching time,

it requires students to miss parts of the normal

curriculum, it may have a stigmatising effect,

it is often taught by less qualified teachers,

and there may be little coordination between

the language teacher and the classroom

teacher (Loewenberg and Wass, 1997; Karsten,

2006)” (Nusche, 2009:27) (OCDE REPORT)

Lack of positive cognitive assessments. From “good lads” to “no-hopers”. From “smart and bright” to “opportunist”

and “dodgy”. Impression that the learning process gets

easily stuck. Impression that there are problems of

abstraction Linguistic lack (Their own language is not

considered sophisticated)

Deficit in:1. Methodologies and staff.2. Linguistic monitoring and knowledge of

the language learning process.3. Knowledge of the situation and needs of

the families.4. Participation of the students in the class

and in the school, teaching the curriculum and high expectations

The religion is seen like a pollutant element preventing student integration.

However

The research has shown other dimensions of the religious element. These show that religious education not only might not go against academic study but might also complement or push it forward.

SCHOOL ATTITUDES SCHOOL ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE MOSQUETOWARDS THE MOSQUE

WHAT WAS OBSERVED WHAT WAS OBSERVED IN THE MOSQUEIN THE MOSQUE

Religion is seen

as:

1. Insular element that

rejects everything from

outside.

2. Authoritarian, sexist and

hierarchical.

3. Incompatible with

academic progress.

The research shows:

1. Openness and

Accessibility.

2. High level of participation

of the students in the

running of the class.

3. High consideration, not

only of religious study but

also of school study.

Good school performance > good performance in the Arabic classes.

Obedience in the school is reflected in the Mosque or vice versa. (However with different consequences: Obedience in school is appreciated but not associated with an academically good student).

Low performance in the Mosque and/or giving up the Arabic classes > low performance in the school.

However…In the mosque, study is always valued among the students even when there is low performance. This has not been observed the school.

To learn Catalan or

to learn Spanish?

The choice beyond

the linguistic option.

Talking Catalan ≈

Ogbu’s concept

of the “acting

white”

Kate Woolard (2008)contributions:

The Catalan language: between legitimization from the ideology of authenticity and the ideology of anonymity. The new challenge> a new, more inclusive ideology of the languages.

School attitudes towards the mosque >SCHOOL: Modernity and professionalismMOSQUE: Tradition and lack of academic rigour

The objective of the study was to detect the literacy strategies of the foreign students; and specifically to see if the students were able to connect their domestic and community knowledge with their linguistic and school learning.

So, from this :Where has more learning autonomy been

seen? In the school or in the mosque?

THE SCHOOL THE SCHOOL THE MOSQUETHE MOSQUE

Language use based on the knowledge and the participation of the students.

Shared status among languages. Every language that the students have (Moroccan Arabic, Darija, Amazigh, Mandinka, Catalan, Spanish...) has an active function inside the classes.

Much more horizontal teacher-student relation. Teachers confer their religious and linguistic knowledge of Arabic and students supply corrections in the language of the instructions (Spanish and Catalan).

Contents chosen by the experts but methodology negotiated by teachers and students. The boys and the girls bring ideas from the school to the Arabic class and the environment motivates their participation.

It seems everyone knows the rules of the class game, which allows everyone to take responsibility.

  Much more hierarchic relation

between languages

Linguistic knowledge of the students either is invisible or in an exotic position. Lack of space to use their linguistic capital

Unidirectional relation between teachers and students. Teachers confer their knowledge on students.

Contents and methodologies chosen by the experts (teachers and other educational professionals)

Many of the school rules are hidden or taken for granted, which excludes many students from real participation.

To correct the Spanish of the Arabic teacher To translate the words that the teacher does not

know. To demand teaching methods they have learn in the

school (emphasis on meaning over form, more vocabulary work...)

To compare Catalan grammar with Arabic grammar. To transcribe Arabic writing with Catalan phonetics. To compare Catalan, Spanish, English and Arabic

phonetics. To help each other, to adopt the role of the teacher. Etc.

MANY THANKSMANY THANKS

MOLTES GRÀCIESMOLTES GRÀCIES

لك لك شكرا شكراMUCHAS GRACIASMUCHAS GRACIAS

ABARAKAABARAKA