My research challenges the process of English language learning (ELL) curricula for newcomerto-Canada youth in mainstream education. I argue there is a disproportionate focus on acquisition of, and proficiency in, the speaking of English...
moreMy research challenges the process of English language learning (ELL) curricula for newcomerto-Canada youth in mainstream education. I argue there is a disproportionate focus on acquisition of, and proficiency in, the speaking of English as the measureable determinant that establishes their successful integration. I propose exploring language through the body to expose a critical learning space between present English instruction frameworks and issues of acculturation. As the body becomes further distanced from its country-of-origin mother tongue, I question how new language acquisition affects the body. Faced with the social challenges of integration, my research asks, is the newcomer body being contextualized within appropriate social parameters of the new language. Or rather, is the body inappropriately appropriated to ‘fit into’ the language of the new social situation? If so, do present ELL education structures inadvertently contribute to a bodily othering of self to self – and consequently, a disembodied voice for the new language? The body does not speak, read or write in the traditional Cartesian sense, yet it harbours a rich foundation of meaning-making methods, prior learning, and lived experiences etched and stored within. Addition of students’ physical presence to how language is instructed, allows for a broader engagement of inclusivity in an effort to assist the newcomer in retaining and reclaiming the physical sense of who they are in the process of learning the dominant new language. As newcomer youth prepare to make Canada their home, an exploration of the body in transition identifies a learning space before the language – for the learning.
