Bidialectalism

This paper explores the concept of additive bidialectalism and argues that promoting it in dialectally diverse English language classrooms such as in Singapore can help address the 'problem' of non-standard language use in these contexts. Although its historical trajectory goes back to the 1970s, additive bidialectalism, especially in postcolonial countries, remains a marginalized view in the teaching of English. In classrooms where devalued but structurally stabilized varieties are used, standard English should be reconceptualized not only as (1) an additional dialect or variety that needs to be taught and learned, but also as (2) an inextricable part of classroom discourse that encompasses standard and non-standard use. Knowledge and strategic use of Singlish help improve learners' competence in standard English. However, classroom strategies must simultaneously work towards attitudinal change, facilitative learning, and cultural affirmation. Singapore is a highly progressive English-dominant multilingual nation; there is no reason for " linguistic self-flagellation " (Wee, 2008, p. 265) to continue.

This study investigates developing linguistic prestige of the standard/local varieties in bidialectal kindergarteners whose linguistic environment has a high level of interference between two varieties of different social prestige. To date, little is known about linguistic preferences of kindergarteners who are exposed to a wide range of speech forms on a continuum of the standard (high-status) variety and a local (low-status) dialect. Particularly the emergence of metalinguistic awareness of the prestige of the varieties in a highly interfering bidialectal environment is understudied. 77 Hungarian 5-7-year-olds participated in a VGT-MGT quantitative experiment along with a brief qualitative data collection. A significant preference for the high-status variety and an emerging metalinguistic awareness of the different prestige of two varieties have been found in bidialectal children as early as age 6.

El presente artículo se propone analizar la situación de contacto entre el español y el guaraní en la que se encuentran niños y adultos paraguayos que migraron a la Argentina y residen actualmente en un barrio de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Los objetivos particulares del trabajo son estudiar en detalle los sistemas gramaticales de los hablantes involucrados, reflexionar sobre el tipo de input que reciben los niños y determinar su incidencia en las producciones infantiles dentro de este contexto de migración. Para esto, presentamos datos correspondientes a un corpus original (Avellana, Brandani y Schmitt en elaboración) de hablantes que residen en una villa de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires (“Villa de los paraguayos”). Se trata de un contexto excepcional para estudiar fenómenos de contacto lingüístico dado que es una comunidad en la que el español paraguayo y el guaraní son los principales vehículos de comunicación.

Palabras claves: contacto de lenguas, migración, español-guaraní, Buenos Aires, adquisición del lenguaje, contexto bilingüe y bidialectal.

Languages in contact and migration: Spanish and Guarani in Buenos Aires

The following article aims at analysing the situation of language contact between Spanish and Guarani of Paraguayan children and adults who migrated to Argentina and are now living in a neighbourhood of the City of Buenos Aires. The specific objectives of this research are to explore the grammatical systems of the speakers in detail, to reflect upon the type of input these children are exposed to and to determine its influence on their utterances within such migratory context. In order to accomplish this goal, data concerning an original corpus of speakers who reside in a shantytown of the City of Buenos Aires (“Villa de los Paraguayos”) will be presented (Avellana, Brandani and Schmitt forthcoming). The context in which this study has been conducted offers exceptional characteristics to explore language contact phenomena, for there is a stable community in which Paraguayan Spanish and Guarani are the main vehicles for communication.

Keywords: language contact, migration, Spanish-Guarani, Buenos Aires, language acquisition, bilingual and bidialectal context.

The theory of peer effect posits that students who find themselves in the company of high or low performing peers tend to exhibit better academic performance than what is solely attributable to their own individual characteristics. In this study, we investigate peer effects within literacy achievement among Trinidadian and Tobagonian youth, using a nationally representative sample of 15-year-old students. Findings indicate the presence of a strong literacy-based peer effect in mathematics, reading, and science even after controlling for individual demographic differences. Peer effect alone explained between 30% and 67% of the total variation in literacy. Implications are discussed.

Twenty-first century teacher education programs in the United States continue to reinforce a standardized language(s) (i.e., often English) in their preparation of literacy teachers. Despite efforts to address cultural and linguistic diversity for teacher candidates, teacher educators are predominantly monolingual English-speaking who rely most often on best practices in literacy research conducted with monolingual (standard-English speaking) students to prepare teachers for an increasingly diverse K-12 student population who speak a myriad of Englishes. Despite this phenomenon, we seem to expect that diversity research in literacy will change the practices of teachers in the absence of research on the linguistic diversity of the very literacy teacher educators that are so central to changing teachers’ language ideologies and practices towards Englishes. To fill a much-needed gap in the literature, this study examines the characteristics, challenges and successes of non-standardized English-speaking teacher educators with Englishes as they teach literacy to prospective and practicing teachers in one state-of-the-art teacher education program over the period of one semester. The study also identifies the factors that influence these characteristics, challenges and successes. Drawing from conceptions of World Englishes and translingual language ideology, this exploratory study reflects analyses of observations, focus groups, interviews and classroom artifacts from teacher educators and their students (i.e., prospective and practicing teachers) to present implications for policy, research and practice.