Undoing inequalities: Inclusive and transformative language practices in rural Argentinian Patagonia

Abstract

This article reports a service learning experience carried out by university student tour-guides and pre-service teachers of English during 2017–2018 in a rural multi-grade primary school in northern Argentinian Patagonia. With their university English language teachers, participants taught workshops using intercultural literature in English to 6–14 year olds from the native Mapuche communities with no prior contact with English. They also designed and delivered two guided tours of heritage sites in the area. Theoretically, the study is grounded in a conceptualisation of social justice language education beyond redistribution, with a focus on recognition, inclusive language ideologies and practices, and transformative learning. Designed as a case study, data comprise reflection logs, workshop and tour plans, field notes, children’s artefacts, photographs and video-recordings of the experiences. Qualitative data analysis involves holistic, inductive and deductive phases. Findings indicate that the children engaged in multilingual, multimodal, creative and embodied forms of expression combining their affective and semiotic resources through literature, music, movement and embodiment, the creative arts and outdoor learning experiences. These resources became the means for initiating transformation of their selves and their social milieu focused on the local environment. Implications for language education in multilingual contexts are discussed.