果冻影院

The arguments have been published in an article in the journal 鈥楥ritical Inquiry in Language Studies鈥�, the official publication of the International Society for Language Studies, and are based on the authors鈥� personal experiences and their extensive research in the field.

The academics note current understanding of the language behaviour of minoritized and racialized learners is often framed through a lens of dominant groups in society, which has led to 鈥榓byssal thinking鈥�. This often means that non-white and less advantaged people鈥檚 personal experiences and understanding are discounted in the way society understands education, language and language learning.

In the article, the academics use examples from their research to show how 鈥渂ilingual students are continuously positioned by society and categorised in schools as deficient in language, despite the students鈥� own understandings about their linguistic abilities.鈥� One of the examples they include is of two 17-year-old British-born Chinese students who are told by their teachers that they will be good at science and maths and are encouraged to take up those subjects. The pupils are not encouraged by teachers to study languages, despite their confidence in their language ability.

The academics explore the concept of raciolinguistics, a perspective that examines how language is used to construct race and how ideas of race influence language and language use. They argue that many of the standard ideas about language, education and bilingualism, including, for example, academic language, are rooted in colonialism. They reflect on the enduring mismatch between the theory and practice of much of traditional language education, and on the other hand the actual experiences of racialized bilinguals. In doing this, the academics show that the persistent refusal of many to perceive this mismatch stems from abyssal thinking and raciolinguistic ideologies.

The authors propose that in order to attain justice and success in learning and teaching, a decolonial education must acknowledge and focus on racialized bilinguals鈥� knowledges and abilities that have always existed but have continually been distorted and erased.

鈥楻ejecting abyssal thinking in the language and education of racialized bilinguals: A manifesto鈥� was published in Critical Inquiry in Language Studies online on 20 August 2021.

Links

• Read the article 鈥樷��
• Centre for Applied Linguistics
• Department of Culture, Communication and Media

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Jack Latimer, 漏 果冻影院