During the first half of 2024, Pierre- Loup Lenoir worked as a student assistant as part of a research project led by Dr Naomi Truan, Assistant Professor of German Sociolinguistics at the  Leiden University Centre for Linguistics (LUCL). Under the umbrella of HERLING, the research lab for the study of Heritage Languages of the Netherlands, he writes about his experiences conducting sociolinguistic fieldwork for the very first time. This is the final post as part of this three-part series.

Innovative, multilingual education: An example

In this series, I have so far focused mainly on ethnographic fieldwork and collaborative research. But what did we learn during fieldwork? Specifically, we observed innovative forms of teaching: I will now explain some of the teachers’ motivations in doing so, and give an example of what innovative, multilingual education can look like.

During the workshops, I observed a strong desire to break away from traditional French teaching methods. The teachers that ran the workshops are all employed by the Alliance Française and also teach FLE (Français Langue Étrangère) or FLAM (Français Langue Maternelle) classes. Yet the workshops are not traditional French classes, as in each interview conducted with the teachers aspired to treat the project as a “workshop” and a “laboratory”. This fits with the nature of the project: an after-school activity which takes place in community centers for children under 12 years old (at 12, the children are assumed to be able to take French in school as a third language in Dutch schools).

The ambition to not compete with school teachings can be seen in the format of the workshops; they take place once a week and do not assign homework to the children. I observed an activity-based learning of French through music, acting or painting: the teachers create a recreational and inclusive environment as they have to deal with the different levels of French of the children. These efforts made by the teachers are motivated by their own life experiences: The teachers interviewed during our research were multilinguals and binationals, with exposure to multilingualism in their upbringing and in their professional lives.

Understanding heritage in context: linguistic talents

The loose conception of heritage discussed in previous blog posts is invoked here again: the teachers insist on considering French as a language detached from France as a country, available to nationals of other Francophone countries. Here, French is placed equally amongst other languages in the children’s extensive linguistic repertoire:

Example 1:

This distinction brings us back to the name of the project: "I also speak French". The workshops target the children’s multifaceted linguistic identity by placing French amongst Dutch, Arabic/Amazigh and English. Now, what exactly do these specificities allow to happen in the workshops?

I witnessed multiple instances of translanguaging; the children make use of their multifaceted linguistic repertoire to cover certain gaps in their knowledge of a particular language. In the case of French, Dutch, and Arabic are most regularly used by the children as “bridging” languages to make their ideas intelligible in French. Furthermore, I also observed language discrepancies as the teachers do not have the same capacities in Dutch and Arabic as the children do. These language discrepancies lead the children to engage regularly in subversive code-switching amongst themselves. These discrepancies also empower the children’s self-perception as multilinguals, as they joyfully reverse the teacher-student dynamics in the workshops when it comes to using Arabic or Dutch.

Example 2: Translanguaging to cover language discrepancies

Student 1 (8 yo): Mag ik alsjeblieft naar de wc? [NL]

Teacher: En français s’il te plaît. [FR]

Student 1 (8 yo): Oe zeg je dat in het frans... [NL] bathroom! [EN]

Student 2 (8 yo): She wants to go to the bathroom. [EN]

The activity-based workshops allow the teachers to help the children understand the extent of their linguistic talents. The children can use other languages to complement their learning of French: These methods raise questions on the legitimacy of French to be placed on an equal footing to Arabic or even English. Essentializing these children to their Moroccan origins overlooks their identity as simply Dutch children, for whom French holds no substantive value compared to their other languages.

If you would like to learn more about the project, please reach out to Dr Naomi Truan.