« Soussana, je ne te comprends pas ! » Une approche compréhensive de la médiation langagière et interculturelle à l’école maternelle

The notion of mediation is to be found in more and more areas of society, and in education going back several decades. Taking it as an approach in itself as well as a relationship between the various participants, we examine it here through the diversity of languages and cultures in French pre-schoo...

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Main Authors: Séverine Behra, Véronique Lemoine-Bresson, Dominique Macaire
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: ACEDLE 2018-06-01
Series:Recherches en didactique des langues et des cultures
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Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/rdlc/3017
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Summary:The notion of mediation is to be found in more and more areas of society, and in education going back several decades. Taking it as an approach in itself as well as a relationship between the various participants, we examine it here through the diversity of languages and cultures in French pre-schools.This study is based on observation of a language workshop in pre-school and on analysis of the teacher’s reflections on her own teaching style. The paper analyses the relationships of the different participants to the fields of knowledge, language and Otherness in their everyday life in an ordinary pre-school.The study sheds light on the changing roles of the teacher and the children during the language activity, on the management of the teaching episodes as they unfold, and on the dynamics of the linguistic and intercultural mediation created within the class. The results reveal the teacher’s beliefs about her teaching and knowledge in context. Her own filter occurs as an act of mediation which seems to prevail over expected professional routines.Beyond the concrete issues of teaching, our study identifies major conceptual issues in the notion of mediation developed in the context of language diversity in pre-schools. It contributes to research in language teaching by focusing on early learning from the perspective of complexity, fluidity and non-linear connections between the related notions
ISSN:1958-5772