Download CABE2016.pres1571.metaphor

“A Bridge to Somewhere”:
Metaphor in Bilingual Policy Reform Efforts
Dr. Sharon Merritt
Fresno Pacific University
CABE 2016, San Francisco
Metaphors and
Framing
“Our concepts
structure what we
perceive, how we get
around in the world,
and how we relate to
other people.”
(Lakoff and Johnson,
1980/2003, p. 3)
The Conduit Metaphor
• IDEAS (OR MEANINGS) ARE OBJECTS
• LINGUISTIC EXPRESSIONS ARE CONTAINERS
• COMMUNICATION IS SENDING
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It’s hard to get that idea across to him.
I gave you that idea.
Your reasons came through to us.
It’s difficult to put my idea into words.
When you have a good idea, try to capture it immediately in
words.
Try to pack more thought into fewer words.
You can’t simply stuff ideas into a sentence any old way.
The meaning is right there in the words.
Don’t force your meanings into the wrong words.
His words carry little meaning.
The introduction has a great deal of thought content.
Your words seem hollow.
The sentence is without meaning.
The idea is buried in terribly dense paragraphs.
(Lakoff and Johnson,1980/ 2003, p. 11)
Ruiz (1984)
Orientations in Language Planning
• Language as problem
• Language as right
• Language as resource
SB 1174
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Sponsored by State Senator Richard Lara
Passed both houses of State Legislature
Signed by Governor Brown
Proposition on November 2016 ballot
Dismantles Proposition 227
Allows groups of parents to request different
forms of bilingual education in school districts
Discussion of SB 1174
• Copies of the law are available – may need to
share
• Work in pairs
• Focus on the Page 2, Section 2.300, beginning
with “The people of California find and declare as
follows”
• Consider all of the associations made with
language, English, multilingualism
• How has Lara framed multilingualism through
these assumptions?
SB 1174: Language as resource
• Associations with wellbeing, innovation,
growth, choice, opportunity
• Provide vs. deprive (economic)
• American Dream and multinational businesses
• Forge stronger bonds
• National security, diplomacy, international
programs
• Post-2008 economic crisis framing
Talking Points on SB 1174
Jill Kerper Mora
MoraModules
SB 1174 Talking Points
http://moramodules.com/sb-1174-talking-points
Ballotopedia
https://ballotpedia.org/California_Multilingual_Edu
cation_Act_(2016)
Metaphor and Program Reform
• 2011 dissertation study: language ideologies
in Spanish Immersion program and high
school Spanish language program
• Midville School District, Northern California
• Spanish Immersion: 2 strands in elementary,
middle school
• Students typically moved into Spanish 3 or
higher in high school
The Program Crisis
• Long-standing historical conflict
• Middle school SI teachers dissatisfied with
language knowledge and use of SI students
• SI teachers, parents, students dissatisfied with
Middle school teachers’ approach to language
learning – traditional World Language
• High school World Language teachers concerned
with grammar, basic literacy
• Study revealed conflict in language ideologies
among stakeholders
The Activity of Program Reform
Tools
Discussion (language, metaphor); historical documents;
assessment information; final report
Subject(s)
Object
District, site
administrators,
teachers, parents,
consultants
Rules (values, ideologies)
Community
elementary school SI teachers;
middle school SI/Foreign Lang. teachers;
high school Foreign Lang. teachers;
parents;
administrators (site and district)
To reinstate middle
school SI Program
Roles (div. of labor)
Differences in Object
• Variety of stakeholders
• Reinstating the middle school program
• Emphasizing the “rules” of different
communities
– Elementary SI: honoring the language use
experiences of the past
– Secondary World Language: arriving at high
school with correct usage in writing and speaking
The Bridge: A structural metaphor
Location-Event Structure Metaphor
– States are Locations
– Changes are Movements
– Actions are Self-Propelled Movements
– Purposes are Destinations
– Difficulties are Impediments to Motion
– Means are Paths
Middle School SI as Bridge
Purposes are destinations:
Varied views
• Elementary SI: cultural knowledge and
experience; language and literacy use; language
in the service of content; future use of language
in service of community and personal growth
• Elementary SI teachers: “[were] looking for a
bridge that involve[d] language use, not just
grammar [instruction]”
• SI parent: everyone would want to know that it’s
a “bridge to somewhere”
• Secondary WL: “to decide where the kids should
fit into the continuing language courses”
Metaphor in the policy statement:
A bridge to maintain the status quo
Resolving differences through the accretion of value statements
“To provide a Spanish language experience bridge between K-5 SI to
secondary world language programs currently in operation in Midville
SD. Additionally, to provide an SI experience that is a pathway for
students to continue in the middle school SI program.
This bridge can be taught in a core subject area such as social studies
or science for communicative competency that includes fluency and
academic vocabulary. The 5 modalities of communicative competency
are listening, speaking, reading, writing, and cultural awareness. This
is not a traditional second language acquisition program but an
immersion experience to connect the K-5 immersion program to
secondary level courses. “
Framing the middle school SI
Program: A one-way bridge
• the movement involved in crossing the bridge is
one-way motion, proceeding along a
developmental path from childhood and
elementary school to adolescence and high
school
• could also envision the bridge of middle school as
enabling the movement of teachers back and
forth from both land formations, since teachers
are not involved in the same developmental
journey that students are
Unresolved conflict
• Spring 2009 curriculum planning meeting –
conversation analysis
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Ms. Gomez, 5th grade SI teacher
Mr. Sanchez, 8th grade WL teacher
Ms. Morelli, 7th grade SI/WL teacher
Focus on discussing 7th grade curriculum
• Ms. Gomez: literacy-based curriculum focusing on
literature connected to lives of students – CCSS-like
focus on essential questions/themes
• Mr. Sanchez: WL oriented curriculum based on
grammar instruction and language production activities
Two visions of curriculum
Mr. Sanchez
• No need to focus so
much on curricular
content
• All language classes are
immersion
• Emphasis on choosing
WL textbook for
assigning homework
Ms. Gomez
• Curricular content
essential to SI model
• Immersion is teaching
content with the
language
• Emphasis on choosing
culturally-responsive,
compelling literature for
literacy practices
Conclusion
• Incomplete (even failed) program reform
• Conflicting ideologies remained unresolved
• Confounding entailments of the metaphor of a
“middle school bridge”
• Multiple understandings of Purposes as
Destinations – disunified corporate
understanding of the Object of SI model of
language education
• Our language matters in policy reform!
Thank you!
Sharon Merritt
Director, MA in Teaching
Fresno Pacific University
[email protected]
Dissertation available for download at
http://escholarship.org/