“You Know, the World is Pretty Unfair” – Meaning Perspectives in Teaching Social Studies to Migrant Language Learners

Abstract

ABSTRACT This contribution explores how subject positions and perspectives are negotiated in the discursive practices of teaching social studies. The study involved a teacher and a group of second-language learners in Grade 6, the data being gathered by observations, voice recordings, and collection of teaching materials throughout seven weeks. The analysis, drawing upon discourse theory and sociological theories of education, is conducted from the perspective of Critical Discourse Analysis. The result, highlighting a curriculum area about living conditions, shows how Western-centric beliefs about a divided world were perpetuated both during introductory activities and in the searching for information about different countries. This mainstream meaning perspective was also sustained when the teacher modelled ways of using language for expressing content knowledge. Throughout, the migrant language learners were positioned as privileged Swedish citizens. Implications for shaping discursive practices of teaching in ways which builds on students’ diverse knowledges and experiences are discussed.