Page 46 - Linguistically Diverse Educational Contexts

LINGUISTICALLY DIVERSE EDUCATIONAL CONTEXTS
Arguing scientifically
Arguments
Discussions
Persuade to agree with a particular point of view on an issue and some exhort the reader/listener to take action
Present the case for more than one point of view
(Meyer & Coyle, 2017, p. 213).
Cognitive discourse functions as a specific cognitive-linguistic tool that makes thinking processes visible and thus allows teachers to mediate students' thinking and understanding by reconfiguring their internal conceptual structures.
Pluriliteracy demonstrates that progress in learning is based on the successful activation of two key processes: conceptual internalisation and the automation of relevant skills. Learning cannot be separated from language, so the progress learners make is reflected in their ability to communicate and demonstrate their understanding. Critical reflection by the learner themselves and self- management of their own learning process is also crucial in this process.
2.4 (Plurilingual) Critical literacy
Z. Kwieciński defines critical literacy as the ability to study texts on one's own; to analyse them in terms of the reliability of sources; to distinguish facts from interpretations; to look for hidden superstitions, hidden stereotypes, and manipulations; to point to alternative interpretations; to discover multiple explanations of the same fact or process and to detect the causes and effects of these different views; to develop one's own judgment on any important issue, and to develop empathy towards cultural differences (2007, p. 114).
Critical literacy derives from critical pedagogy and has a similar goal to it. This is the process of emancipation of disadvantaged groups, for whom knowledge of the hidden role of language in sustaining relations of domination is a key element of liberation (Old, 2017, p. 59).
Indeed, learners are encouraged to ask complex questions about language and power, about people and lifestyles, about morals and ethics, about who is privileged and who is not. Even the youngest children can learn how to think critically and positively about the possibility of making a difference through the actions they take (Nieto, 2017, p. 98). This approach to the educational process contributes to developing practical and critical wisdom, to being reflective, and to making independent ethical and political judgements while retaining an openness to other people. It also contributes to being open to dialogue with people of different beliefs and from other cultures. Critical literacy draws on Paulo Freire (1972), who argued that both language teaching and language learning are acts of political and cultural power with their social consequences. Both Freire and McLaren would certainly define traditional instrumental language (foreign language) education as the teaching of a (foreign) language through the passive transmission of language, decoding and reproducing a dominant and distorted vision of the world.
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