The Future of Education

Human language includes semiotics, psychological, symbolic, and physical tools, and is used mediationally to learn and develop in society. Such tools and their use through discoursing or languaging are a full part of coordinating actions and activities to promote learning and development (Wells, 1999), including in second language settings (Lantolf, 2000). Such discourses also carry socializations imbued with empowering and disempowering “positionings” in the classroom and can impact, for example, the effectiveness and longevity of student education (Dworin, 2011). Language socialization and “positioning” has been researched by identifying characteristics and attributes of such language, with discourse analysis identifying terms, words, or concepts describing people's L2 learning dispositions, lingua-biases, and status positions (Valdés, 2015) including translanguaging issues (Otheguy & Garcia, 2015). However, there is further need to understand the nature of how classroom discourse empowers and disempowers participants, particularly for those learning a new second language. Stetsenko (2017) claims that authentically occurring language and socialization continues to be an area of need in educational research, noting the “lack of discussion about race and power in sociocultural theories including those in Vygotsky's lineage” (p. 24). Taking up Stetsenko’s critical lens, we identify the roles of gesture and embodiment in agency and authentic language use concerning the teaching and learning of Spanish and English in a dual language immersion classroom. Following a preliminary analysis of data concerning agency and authenticity, current samples of the data demonstrate how gesture and embodiment further empowered or disempowered the teaching-learning communicative experience. Results show that some popular classroom practices that include gestures are not conducive to learning a new language.

Keywords: Dual Language; Empowerment, Poverty, Authenticity, Gesture;

References:
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Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.