Investigation
If you understand your Pasifika (and other bilingual) students’ language proficiencies and patterns of language use – in effect, their prior knowledge of language – you will understand these students better and have a better basis for supporting their language development. This two-part investigation can help you develop these understandings.
Part 1
Design a small set of questions to ask your Pasifika (and other bilingual) students about their experiences of bilingualism. Address the following questions, using language that is appropriate for your students:
- How many of your students regard themselves as bilingual?
- What languages do they speak?
- When did they begin learning their respective languages?
- In what contexts do they use their respective languages (for example, talking with friends, talking with parents, at church, or at school)?
- In what modes (listening, speaking, reading, writing, viewing, presenting) are they able to operate for each language?
Encourage the students to ask each other these questions about their language use, and use the results as the basis for a whole-class discussion. (This activity can also be useful for helping the monolingual students in the class to find out more about bilingualism.)
Part 2
Look at the following two transcripts, or view the video clip Language domains . Identify the students’ language use in terms of ‘where’, ’when’, ’who with’, and ‘what for’. Consider what other questions you might ask the students to gain a fuller picture of their language use.
Sāmoan student (male): Well, most of the time I speak English with my family, but once I came to school I also speak English, but not that much … Most of my friends are Sāmoan, so we use our language, but sometimes we use English.
Sāmoan student (female): In my family, we all speak in Sāmoan because my older parents [grandparents] always speak in Sāmoan because they don’t understand; that’s why we speak in Sāmoan. With my parents and my sisters, we speak in English and in school most of the time we speak English. All of my friends – they are Tongan and from other countries. It’s good for me to speak in Sāmoan because this is my first language. If I understand speaking Sāmoan, I also understand speaking English.
Interviewer: How does that work in school? How is it important for schoolwork?
Student: Because if I work, if I read English, I think in Sāmoan, and then I do … if I understand in Sāmoan, I also understand in English.
