Engaging with linguistic landscaping in Vancouver’s Chinatown: a pedagogical tool for teaching and learning about multilingualism

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article describes the use of linguistic landscaping as a pedagogical resource [Sayer, Peter. 2010. “Using the Linguistic Landscape as a Pedagogical Resource.” ELT Journal 64 (2): 143–154] for teaching and learning about multilingualism in a graduate course on ethnographic research methods. We present an account of a student-researcher carrying out a linguistic landscaping project as a means to document, analyze, and engage with multilingualism in Vancouver’s Chinatown. The study suggests that using the linguistic landscape as a pedagogical tool allowed for a multimodal/sensory learning experience and text-to-world connections to be made, enabling greater awareness and creative analysis around social language use [Sayer, Peter. 2010. “Using the Linguistic Landscape as a Pedagogical Resource.” ELT Journal 64 (2): 143–154]. We argue that such a connection can be made due to three key factors: engagement with local practices, researcher agency, and physical immersion within the intersection between theory and lived practice.