Language Education Collages - Speakers: Dr Vally Lytra & Dr Vicky Macleroy (MOSAIC Seminar)

MOSAIC Group for Research on Multilingualism Seminar Series 2021-22

Language Education Collages

Speakers: Dr Vally Lytra & Dr Vicky Macleroy, Goldsmiths, University of London

In their recently published edited book, Liberating Language Education, Dr Lytra and Dr MacLeroy propose new ways of understanding language and language learning that emphasise locally situated meaning-making practices, messiness, and unpredictability. They reimagine language pedagogy from a translingual, transcultural and transformative orientation, showcasing multiple, alternative visions of how language education might be enacted.

In this talk, they outline what their understanding of such an orientation to pedagogy might look like and discuss some of its underlying principles. Drawing on their respective chapters, they demonstrate how an integrated and inclusive view of language and language learning, a synergetic relationship between language and culture, and an emphasis on learner and teacher agency might be applied in mainstream and complementary schools, across international contexts.

The talk concludes with implications for curriculum policy, pedagogy, and research. Lytra, V., Ros I Solé, C., Anderson, J. and Macleroy, V. (2022) Liberating Language Education. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. 

Biographies: 

Vally Lytra is Reader in Languages in Education and directs the doctoral programme at the Department of Educational Studies, at Goldsmiths, University of London. She has a long-standing interest in multilingualism in society and language education in migration and minority contexts. Her research, practice, and community engagement centre on inclusive language pedagogies, language, ethnicity, and diaspora and (auto)ethnographic, biographical, and collaborative research methodologies.

Vicky Macleroy is a Reader in Education, Head of the MA Children’s Literature programme and Centre for Language, Culture and Learning at Goldsmiths, University of London. Her work focuses on: multiliteracies and digital storytelling; multimodal composition, language development and poetry; transformative pedagogy and activist citizenship. Vicky is co-director with Jim Anderson of an international literacy project ‘Critical Connections Multilingual Digital Storytelling’ (2012-ongoing) that uses digital storytelling to support engagement with language learning and digital literacy. 

All welcome at this free seminar. Those who register will be sent details of the link to zoom in their confirmation email.