JYU English seminars 2022-23

Series convenor: Dave Sayers. Please send any queries to dave.j.sayers@jyu.fi. 

Monday 28 Nov 2022, 17:00 EET

Bernard Spolsky in memoriam. Language policy scholars who worked with the late Bernard Spolsky reflect on his life and work.

ABSTRACTS

Robert A. Troyer, Exploring Minority Languages in Schoolscapes: Inclusion, Affect, and Agency in USA K-12 and University Contexts

In this presentation I provide an overview of my research into the role of Spanish and other minority languages in both a K-12 setting and in universities in the United States over the past several years. Some key themes that I focus on are the importance of visible displays of minority languages for creating inclusive learning environments that promote multilingualism and language awareness, gathering data about affective responses to the schoolscape from a range of stakeholders, and the types of agency that shape the linguistic-semiotic landscape of educational environments. Integral to these studies is the employment of a range of qualitative and quantitative research methods of which I provide examples and elaborate upon.

Janina Wildfeuer, The multimodal complexity of social media: sense-making on Instagram and TikTok

In this talk, I will present a linguistic and multimodal-analytical perspective on the increasingly complex audio-visual artifacts that are produced and consumed on Instagram and TikTok. With a particular focus on the meaning-making potential of the various semiotic modes involved in these artifacts, I will discuss the need for systematic and empirical analyses of these modes and their interplay and present a problem-oriented approach to get engaged with these analyses. With this, I will concentrate both on the different communicative situations in which these artifacts evolve as well as the underlying materiality that initiates specific communicative behaviors, e.g. processes of visual storytelling or identity construction. On the basis of the analysis of Instagram posts provided in our textbook (Bateman, Wildfeuer, Hiippala, Multimodality, 2017, de Gruyter), I will present additions and further details needed to address the particular dynamicity and complexity of the stories and videos presented on these platforms.

Csanád Bodó, Participatory research and sociolinguistics: A critical approach to intersecting language ideologies

The participatory approach is not only becoming more widespread in the social sciences, but is also starting to take hold in the study of language in society. However, there has been hardly any research on how, if at all, critical sociolinguistics can be linked to research based on participation, that is, the involvement and engagement of as many stakeholders as possible and with a critical view to the quality or level of participation (including the participation of those who are usually called researchers). I will argue that such a link is possible, when differences between the participants’ intersecting linguistic ideologies become the focus of research, and they seek to relate their own ideologies to each other through common participatory practices. I illustrate this with a case study from our own research project, which attempted to understand the contemporary language practices of potential stakeholders in a language revitalisation programme. I point out that the participants' common ideologising work (Gal & Irvine 2019) may lead to results which depend on the participants’ own positionalities, be these practices of being a minority with or without a minority language.

Kelly Wright, Linguistic Oppression & Sociolinguistic Labor
(This talk chaired by Joe McVeigh.)

This presentation will begin unpacking the concept of linguistic oppression first by underscoring the inherently embodied nature of both linguistic production and perception. Wright will discuss how identities are perceived, and how those modes of perception–stretched over time–interact with institutions to create the conditions for linguistic oppression. Focusing specifically on communities in the United States, Wright will provide historical examples of institutionalized linguistic oppression which demonstrate the creation and maintenance of Standard language ideologies. These examples will highlight why Standard varieties came to be more easily perceived as being produced by certain groups of people–and why people who are not in those groups have to engage in additional sociolinguistic labor to achieve social mobility. To further illustrate this, Wright will share findings from her recently completed dissertation which combines metalinguistic commentary from Black professionals about their style shifting practices in the workplace with analysis of perceptions of Black professional speech among the general public. Wright will end by considering what a general preference for assimilationist sociolinguistic labor means and the ways in which communities of intellectuals can become better advocates for linguistic justice across disciplines and domains.

Sylvia Sierra, Intertextual Media References in Millennial Conversation
(This talk chaired by Joe McVeigh.)

I examine how U.S. Millennial friends embed both old media (books, songs, movies, and TV shows) and new media (YouTube videos, video games, and internet memes) in their everyday talk for particular interactional purposes. I present case studies featuring the recorded talk of Millennial friends to demonstrate how and why these speakers make intertextual media references and use them to handle awkward moments and other interactional dilemmas. I show how media references contribute to epistemic management and frame shifts in conversation, which ultimately work together to construct a shared sense of Millennial identity.

Ian Cushing & Julia Snell, The (white) ears of Ofsted: A raciolinguistic perspective on the listening practices of the schools inspectorate
(This talk chaired by Joe McVeigh.)

England has had a schools inspectorate since 1839, first in the form of Her Majesty's Inspectorate (HMI), and since 1992, in the form of the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted). The inspectorate, a workforce made up of a majority of white inspectors, conduct regular inspections of all state schools in England, producing reports which comment on various aspects of educational provision, including teachers’ and students’ spoken language. In this talk we deploy a raciolinguistic genealogy to examine the listening practices of the inspectorate, drawing on historical inspection reports generated from archival work, inspectorate language policy, and a large corpus of contemporary reports. We show how raciolinguistic ideologies are deeply embedded into the sociopolitical culture of the inspectorate, and how these ideologies translate into systems of sonic surveillance in which the nonstandardised language practices of students and teachers are heard as impoverished, deficient, and unsuitable for school.

Victoria Odeniyi and Katrine Hjelde, The coloniality of language and pedagogy: decolonising the Fine Art 'crit'

The starting point for this presentation is a decolonising arts education collaboration emerging from institutional research exploring the creative and educational potential of students engaging in fine art courses in creative higher education. Drawing on Hymes’ (1980) four stage framework for institutional research seeking change, the pedagogic and communicative context for this seminar presentation is the Fine Art crit. The crit in Fine Art can be seen as a nexus where art pedagogy and art practices, past and present, converge in discussions around student artworks. With a focus on interactional data and practices developed from doing and organising crits as part of Fine Art teaching and learning, Victoria, an applied linguist and institutional researcher, and Katrine, an artist, art academic and researcher, discuss the crit and what it might mean to deconstruct the crit from a decolonial perspective. They argue there are tensions between art tutors as authority figures with expert knowledge and the democratic and inclusive ideal of dialogic talk rooted in Western pedagogic traditions. By considering the crit through a decolonising lens they draw attention to how we may be able to critically connect with and challenge the colonial practices that are specific to (fine) art education.