Observing Heteroglossic Practices Against Monolingual Institutional Policies In a Cambridge English language Classroom: A Pakistani Context

Abstract

Heteroglossic practices against monolingual policy of a school is a reality that needs to be investigated in linguistic research. In Cambridge classrooms, particularly in Asia, bilingual mode of communication is evident even if it is heavily disguised under the shadow of a monolingual policy. A need arises to understand how two different languages play their role in second language learning, inside a classroom. Observing the global trends in second language learning, many countries have embraced the intersection of a student’s mother tongue. However, in Asia, particularly in Pakistan, this was yet to be explored by the stakeholders in the education arena (Chimbutane, 2011; Garcia, 2009). To do so, the researcher drew on sociocultural (Bakhtin, 1981; Vygotsky, Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes, 1978) and cognitive (Collier, 1995; Cummins, 1979; 1981) theoretical perspectives. These theoretical perspectives permit recognition of the importance of native languages in the development of literacy in a second language (L2), as well as the importance of sociocultural contexts as influences on literacy learning (Bakhtin, 1981; Vygotsky, Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes, 1978). The findings showed that traditionally, students used their multilingual resources in speaking practices, even when they were required to use one language. These practices suggest that mixed utterances helped students understand the content to a wider range, establishing a need to revisit monolingual policy.