Engaging with Indigenous knowledges in the LESLLA context: A discussion with Jill Watson

On overview of the February, 2023 LESLLA PhD students' online discussion group from Australia

Skye Playsted & Jemima Rillera Kempster, The University of Queensland, Australia

Greetings from your LESLLA colleagues in Australia! In this blog post, Jemima and I are pleased to introduce ourselves, the Australian LESLLA teaching context and give an overview of our February LESLLA-focused PhD student discussion, hosted online by LESLLA president and PhD researcher, Theresa Wall. The February discussion group provided us with a special opportunity to meet and hear from Associate Professor Jill Watson from St Olaf College in Minnesota. Jill kindly agreed to join our discussion and share about her research and the background to her recent paper, Understanding Indigenous education practices as a way of engaging deeply with refugee-background students (and everyone else) in the classroom, which Jemima had suggested as a discussion focus for our February meeting. In a later section, Jemima introduces her research which draws on understandings of strengths-based approaches in LESLLA learning and teaching.

Some background to LESLLA in the Australian context

In Australia, an understanding of Indigenous knowledges is embedded in national school curriculum documents and course materials in preservice teacher education. In the LESLLA educational context, however, the nature of these understandings within curriculum and teacher education is an area of research that is still developing. A historical legacy of Australia's background as a colonial "settler nation" (Burns & De Silva Joyce, 2007, p. 5) has influenced its language and immigration policies that privilege English as Australia's national language. In 1948, in response to post-World War II immigration growth, a national adult migrant English program (AMEP) was established in Australia. The AMEP continues to provide government-funded English language tuition for newly arrived adult migrants, many from refugee backgrounds, who take part in English language classes as they settle into Australia. However, decisions around language policy, pedagogy and research underpinning the AMEP curriculum sit in a shifting and contended space (ACTA, 2023), and there is a real need for research to support language teachers in this area (Tilney, 2023). As PhD researchers in the under researched and under resourced field of Australian LESLLA, we welcomed the discussion around Jill's article reflecting on the confluence of Indigenous knowledges with ways of knowing that adult students from refugee backgrounds bring into the AMEP classroom.

Jemima's research and connection to Jill's article

Although Australia is presented as a multilingual and multicultural society, an underlying monolingual ethos continues to influence policies and practices in its migrant language program (Li & Sah, 2019; Schalley, Guillemin & Eisenchlas, 2015). Educational policies remain overly concerned with literacy (exclusively in English) and language competence correlated to employment outcomes (Moore, 2022; Osmond, 2021). As a result, LESLLA learners are often limited to negative stereotypes and viewed as incapable of knowing (Fricker, 2007) due to their limited language and literacy skills in the dominant language. This credibility deficit (Fricker, 2007) in Eurocentric social structures and educational systems also leads to deficit discourse and pedagogical approaches (e.g., Tour, Creely & Waterhouse, 2021). Through my doctoral research (Jemima), I aim to investigate the impact of online learning on LESLLA learners during the COVID-19 pandemic, contextualised within their overall educational experiences. Based on their educational journey maps (Annamma, 2017) and accompanying narratives which examine the key resources, relationships, spaces, obstacles and opportunities in their learning experiences, it is hoped that the "ecology of knowledges" (Santos, 2007, p. xx) can be extended to integrate Indigenous and non-Eurocentric knowledge and ways of knowing (Watson, 2019). These educational practices can include acknowledging and incorporating elder epistemology and balancing literacy with orality practices (Watson, 2019). Acknowledging funds of knowledge in the language learning classroom (Moll, Amanti, Neff & Gonzalez, 1992) also includes activating learners' strengths or capital in other aspects such as social, aspirational, resilience, cultural, and linguistic capabilities (Liscio & Farrelly, 2019).  Some examples of effectively supporting LESLLA learners in language learning and development of literacy skills using strengths-based approaches include participatory digital visual methods (Lypka, 2022) and multimedia poetry (Rillera Kempster, 2023).

The February LESLLA-focused PhD student discussion

What resonated with me (Jemima) the most from our discussion was Jill's observation of the contrast between the focus of Western educational systems and the knowledge valued by many Indigenous cultures worldwide. Rather than placing undue weight to print literacy, Jill highlighted how the principles of responsibility, relationships, respect and reciprocity are fundamental elements to the education for the next generation in Indigenous cultures.  During my research on the family literacy practices of Karen (Myanmar) families in Australia for my master’s degree, I had a conversation with a leader who emphasised the importance of respecting elders and serving others in the community. He shared a Karen proverb that encourages young people to allow birds to sit on their branches as they mature into fully grown trees. These conversations deepen my understanding and inspire me about the generous and collaborative nature of knowledge creation and sharing.

One of the upsides of my (Skye's) experience of PhD research in a post-pandemic world has been the ability to connect more easily online with colleagues across the globe, and our February discussion group was an encouraging example of this. In the small (but growing!) field of LESLLA educational research, opportunities to share and learn from established researchers in other contexts. Jill talked of her work in advocating for SLIFE (students with limited formal education) and the awareness of the richness of 'alternative learning orientations' that these students bring to the classroom. The area where Jill lives and works is Minnesota. My mother was born there, and my grandmother's family were Norwegian first language immigrants to the area many years ago. As I reflect on that, I'm reminded that my learning is never far from the relationships and places that are part of my life.

References

ACTA. (2023). Australian council of TESOL associations: Adult ESOL advocacy. https://tesol.org.au/advocacy/#advocacy-3

Burns, A., & DeSilva Joyce, H. (2007). Adult ESL programs in Australia. Prospect, 22(3), 5-17.

Fricker, M. (2007). Epistemic injustice power and the ethics of knowing. Oxford University Press.

Li, G., & Sah, P. K. (2019). Immigrant and refugee language policies, programs, and practices in an era of change: Promises, contradictions, and possibilities. In S. J. Gold & S. Nawyn (Eds.), Routledge International Handbook of Migration Studies (2nd ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315458298

Liscio, J., & Farrelly, R. (2019). Exploring notions of success through the social and cultural capital of adult refugee-background students. The European Journal of Applied Linguistics and TEFL, 8(1), 131–151.

Lypka, A. E. (2022). Toward Participatory Digital Visual Methods (PDVMs) to Support LESLLA Learners: Theoretical and Practical Considerations for Practitioner-Researchers. In L. J. Pentón Herrera (Ed.), English and Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education (pp. 301–319). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86963-2_17

Moll, L. C., Amanti, C., Neff, D., & Gonzalez, N. (1992). Funds of knowledge for teaching: Using a qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms. Theory Into Practice, 31(2), 132–141. https://doi.org/10.1080/00405849209543534

Moore, H. (2022). W(h)ither the Adult Migrant English Program? Political posturing and real outcomes. Fine Print, 45(1), 31–43.

Osmond, P. (2021). Developing Social Equity in Australian Adult Education. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003139898

Rillera Kempster, J. (2023). "But I remember everything": Using poetry to support language learning and digital literacy with adult English learners with limited education and literacy. TESOL in Context, 31(2).

Santos, B. de S. (2007). Another knowledge is possible: Beyond northern epistemologies / edited by Boaventura de Sousa Santos. Verso.

Schalley, A., Guillemin, D., & Eisenchlas, S. (2015). Multilingualism and assimilationism in Australia’s literacy-related educational policies. International Journal of Multilingualism, 12(2), 162–177. https://www.tandfonline.com/action/showCitFormats?doi=10.1080/14790718.2015.1009372

Tilney, M. (2023) Where is Systemic Functional Grammar in the Adult Migrant English Program? TESOL in Context, 31(1).

Tour, E., Creely, E., & Waterhouse, P. (2021). “It’s a Black Hole. . .”: Exploring Teachers’ Narratives and Practices for Digital Literacies in the Adult EAL Context. Adult Education Quarterly (American Association for Adult and Continuing Education), 71(3), 290–307. https://doi.org/10.1177/0741713621991516

Watson, J. (2019). Understanding Indigenous education practices as a way of engaging deeply with refugee-background students (and everyone else) in the classroom. European Journal of Applied Linguistics and TEFL, 8(1), 203-224.