Figure 1 - uploaded by Pomme van de Weerd
Content may be subject to copyright.
Source publication
‘Nederlanders and buitenlanders: A sociolinguistic ethnographic study of ethnic categorization among secondary school pupils’is a study based on nine months of ethnographic fieldwork among pupils of the vocational track of a secondary school in Venlo, the Netherlands. Many of these pupils had a migration background, and though they were born in the...
Context in source publication
Citations
... Especially, when you just arrived. 3 Camilla refereert aan de ervaring om als 'buitenlander' (Van de Weerd, 2020) in Nederland te wonen en geen of weinig Nederlands te spreken als een verbindend element tussen de cursisten. Buiten de cursus voelt Camilla een soort otherness (anders-zijn), als één van de weinige mensen die geen Nederlands spreken. ...
English: This study provides insights into the experiences, attitudes, and language practices of adult Dutch as Second Language (L2) learners in the Netherlands with regards to diversity in the classroom. Based on interviews and classroom-recordings generated during three months of linguistic ethnographic fieldwork in two L2 Dutch courses, this paper examines the ways in which learners make diversity relevant in interactions with classmates. Findings suggest that learners sometimes use essentialist discourse, but also find ways to challenge such simplifying discourse and often highlight their diversity as a unifying element. The study provides valuable information for L2 teachers and teacher trainers, as well as textbook authors, to approach the goal of intercultural learning and inclusive L2 Dutch education.
___
Nederlands: Dit onderzoek biedt inzicht in de ervaringen, houdingen en taalpraktijken van volwassen cursisten Nederlands als Tweede Taal (NT2) in Nederland met betrekking tot diversiteit in de cursus. Gebaseerd op interviews en lesopnames, verzameld tijdens drie maanden linguïstisch etnografisch veldwerk in twee NT2-cursussen, wordt onderzocht hoe cursisten diver-siteit relevant maken in interacties met medecursisten. De bevindingen suggereren dat cursisten soms gebruik maken van een essentialistisch discours, maar ook manieren vinden om dergelijk simplificerend discours te betwisten, waarbij ze vaak hun diversiteit benadrukken als een verenigend element. Het onderzoek biedt waardevolle informatie voor NT2-docenten, docentenopleiders en lesboekenauteurs om het doel van intercultureel leren en inclusief NT2-onderwijs te benaderen.
... I once overheard a student remark on a relation between migration background and tracking, 1 but as this was not part of regular discourse about tracking among these students it is not elaborated upon in this paper. For extensive analyses of the role of ethnicity in these students' interactions, see van de Weerd ( , 2020. ...
This paper critically analyses and aims to denaturalise models of identity that circulate in discourse about vocational education in the Netherlands. It is argued that discourse about the vocational track is characterised by a pervasive focus on deficits, framing vocational education as unprestigious, and its students as unintelligent and insubordinate. The analysis focuses on three levels at which this model of identity circulates and is reproduced: it is rooted in the historical emergence of tracks in the Netherlands, is re-enforced throughout the educational trajectories of students in the vocational track, and is reproduced on the event level in routine interactions among students and teachers. The paper contributes to existing scholarship on the sociocultural and personal dimensions of tracking, which predominantly comes from studies based on survey and interview-based data, by building on data from ethnographic fieldwork and participant observation.
... With this approach, I connect to a growing body of sociolinguistic and linguistic anthropological studies which shows how interactants use ethnic, national and racial categorisation as both a tool and resource to make sense of one another in interaction (e.g., Cornips & de Rooij, 2013;Higgins, 2009;Lee, 2009;Van de Weerd, 2019, 2020. These studies are united in their take on such categorisations as simultaneously embedded in and producing social meaning. ...
This article explores how teachers and learners in a Dutch as Second Language (L2) classroom in the Netherlands make sense of themselves, one another, and thereby of the diversity encountered in the class, through practices of categorisation and positioning regarding nationality, place, and culture. Categories raised during class gain meaning in interaction. Teachers and learners engage in positioning by assigning someone a relational location within or outside a respective group or category. It becomes clear that this way of social sense-making happens embedded in or alongside teaching and learning activities in the context of the L2 classroom where using and learning a language unfold as interconnected processes.
This thesis investigates the ‘transnational youth mobility trajectories’ of migrant youth, meaning all the moves that young people make in their lives, including migrations but also family visits, holidays, internships, and transitions between different school systems. An increasing proportion of young people around the world have a migration background, and recent research shows that many migrant youth in Europe travel regularly to their country of origin. Nevertheless, we know very little about the way mobility affects their lives. As part of the ‘Mobility Trajectories of Young Lives’ project (www.motrayl.com), this thesis focused on Ghanaian-background youth (15-25 years) living in Hamburg. It shows that migrant youth are very mobile, that the frequency and reasons for their mobility change over time, and that mobility has important effects on their lives in the country of residence. Experiences in the country of origin – including schooling, family environments, and other important relationships – can provide valuable resources, like confidence and motivation, and other forms of support that help migrant youth navigate schooling and life in the country of residence.
With increasing immigration, it is increasingly important to understand whether and when children consider immigrant peers as co-nationals. Using an experimental design, we examined among native-born preadolescents (8–13 years of age) in the Netherlands whether and when they perceive immigrant peers as co-nationals. First, and in agreement with the social categorization account, we expected that the use of dual identity (vs single ethnic identity) labels for immigrant peers leads to stronger co-nationality perceptions and a related stronger desire for close social contact. Second, and in line with the acculturation account, we expected that an early age of arrival in the country (vs a later age of arrival) leads to stronger perceived co-nationality and related contact desire. The findings support the acculturation account, especially among native-born children with higher national identification. There was no evidence for the social categorization account.
