Volume 11, Special Issue, December 2020

MAURITIUS INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION

Volume 11, Special Issue, December 2020

RESEARCH UNIT

JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONEPISTEMOLOGY, METHODOLOGY

AND RESEARCH IN LANGUAGE STUDIES

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EDITORIAL BOARD

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF • Mike Watts, Brunel University, London (UK)

EDITOR• Tejwant Mohabeer, Mauritius Institute of Education

GUEST EDITOR• Shameem Oozeerally, Mauritius Institute of Education

EDITORIAL TEAM MEMBERS• Betina da Silva Lopes, University of Aveiro (Portugal)• Brinda Oogarah-Pratap, Mauritius Institute of Education • Gwen Ineson, Brunel University London (UK)• Hyleen Mariaye, Mauritius Institute of Education• Päivi Palojoki, University of Helsinki (Finland)• Saima Salehjee, University of Strathclyde (Scotland)• Yashwantrao Ramma, Mauritius Institute of Education

The views expressed therein are those of the authors/co-authors. They do not necessarily reflect those of the Editorial Board or of the Mauritius Institute of Education.


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Introduction 3

Les Etudes Mauricianistes: Pluriculturalité Oblige?Didier de Robillard

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Non-Neutralité, Positionnement Social et Scientificité – Que Nous Disent Les Etudes Critiques?Christian Ollivier

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The Nexus of Theoretical Constructs In Selected Researches in Kreol Morisien Pascal Nadal and Aruna Ankiah-Gangadeen

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Reflecting on Methodological Choices for Language Studies In Multilingual ContextsShalini Ramasawmy and Evelyn Kee Mew Wan Khin

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Ecological Discourse and Literacy: An Eco-Critical Discourse Analysis of Grade 3 StoriesHelina Hookoomsing and Shameem Oozeerally

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Taking Research Out of the Test-Driving Zone. An Option for Strategic Research.Nita Rughoonundun-Chellapermal

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TABLE OF CONTENTS


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INTRODUCTION

This Special Issue of the MIE Journal of Education follows the inaugural event of the Language Studies Doctoral Research Laboratory, the Journées d’études on the theme Epistemology, Methodology and Research in Language Studies (Epistémologie, méthodologie et recherche en sciences du langage). The event was a platform for academic discussions on epistemological, methodological, and paradigmatic developments, in different types of research work, including doctoral research. The ‘Journée d’études’ also established a channel of communication, support and collaboration with International universities and research laboratories (i.e. Université de Tours, Université de La Réunion, Laboratoire ICARE). The speakers and presenters approached the theme from diverse angles to offer clarity and depth of discussion, as well as expert insights addressing the complexity of research in the 21st century, and the need to explore different methodological frameworks which move beyond traditional paradigms into more expansive perceptions and understandings of research. The theme also corresponds to the crux of the research process, where the researcher is confronted with the need to navigate and negotiate different tensions between ontology, epistemology and methodology.

This topic is particularly relevant to research, given the significant evolutions in language studies since the spread of structural linguistics. Within humanities, including language studies, the very notion of science is being questioned, and pathways towards new conceptions point to less hermetic rigidity, in contrast with the more “fixist” traditions inspired by positivist thinking (Blanchet, 2012). The transposition of methods and tools taken from hard sciences is only moderately useful as the ‘units of study’ are fundamentally different. Harvey and Reed (1996) draw the attention of researchers in social sciences to what they call reification, which reduces the human to an object of study corresponding to the epistemological and methodological principles of ‘normal science’, which is inspired by positivism (Kuhn, 1970; Jörg, 2011). The same interrogations apply to language studies, where many concepts are being questioned and revisited, including that of ‘language’. This is all the more important as we live in a globalised, ‘techno-centric’ context where frontiers are increasingly osmotic. The question of epistemology is therefore pertinent: how do we mobilise different systems of knowledge to address this hyperdynamism with respect to practices which are fundamentally heterogeneous? Any perspective aiming to move beyond partitions in the way language practices are conceptualised and which attempts to break away from dichotomous traditional thinking demands the researcher to step out of hermetic disciplinary comfort zones and seek links to other systems of thinking.

Along these lines of thinking, the six articles in this special issue capture some of the reflections that emerged during the event.

Didier de Robillard’s article, “Les études mauricianistes: pluriculturalité oblige?” adopts a contextually-grounded posture to critically examine research with respect to the Mauritian social dynamics, which are characterised by strong linguistic and cultural multiplicity, within a postcolonial setting. He argues that researchers can invest this intense linguistic and cultural multiplicity, and the plurality of the Mauritian intellectual traditions in reflections on how to evolve towards approaches that are better adapted to this type of situation.

The socio-contextual embeddedness of research, and the methodological choices of the researcher are also the focus of Christian Ollivier’s reflection, titled “Non-neutralité, positionnement social et scientificité – Que nous disent les études critiques?” Drawing on critical theory, he discusses the notions of neutrality and the social positioning of the researcher with respect to the construct of scientificité.

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Within the same topic of reflection on the research processes in language studies, Pascal Nadal and Aruna Ankiah Gangadeen delve deeper into the intermeshing of ontology, epistemology, axiology and methodology in selected researches carried out in the teaching and learning of Kreol Morisien (KM). “The nexus of theoretical constructs in selected researches in Kreol Morisien” discusses how these constructs influence the choices of the researcher, and reflect, much like the two previous articles, on how contextual considerations have an impact on the construction of knowledge.

“Reflecting on methodological choices for language studies in multilingual contexts”, co-authored by Shalini Jagambal Ramasawmy and Evelyn Kee Mew Wan Khin, discuss methodological choices within language studies in a context where the epistemological conception of language, notably in multilingual and heterogeneous contexts, is being increasingly questioned. Based on linguistic ethnography and narrative inquiry in two small-scale research projects undertaken by the authors, the article discusses the implications of each methodology in their pathways towards the exploration and understanding of language issues in situated contexts

Partially drawing from ongoing doctoral research, the article of Helina Hookoomsing and Shameem Oozeerally, titled “Ecological discourse and literacy: An eco-critical discourse analysis of grade 3 stories”, analyses two grade 3 literacy stories written by the lead author from the lens of eco-critical discourse analysis. This article also sheds light on ecolinguistics, an expanding area of study which is relevant to the Mauritian educational context as it deals with how the world is conceptualised and spoken of, notably in terms of behavioural patterns which may either harm or protect the natural world.

Nita Rughoonundun-Chellapermal’s reflection, “Taking research out of the test-driving zone. An option for Strategic Research”, critically examines some of the research carried out in the field of literacy development in Mauritius to propose some further avenues which can potentially inform the already fertile debates around language studies. By historically and contextually situating her arguments around epistemological and theoretical developments in language studies, she approaches the topic of research from a dual and non-exclusive political-educational perspective to show the significance of pursuing language research in a complex sociolinguistic environment like Mauritius.

The six articles in this volume capture the permanent interrogations, reflections and perpetual questioning processes of researchers engaged in researching language issues, from different angles. Negotiating contextual heterogeneity and epistemological (and this methodological) choices is as challenging as gratifying. Plural contexts, like Mauritius, offer near endless possibilities of generating knowledge in language studies, specifically owing to the heterogeneity that questions established epistemological conceptions as well as research practices. The authors of the first two articles rightly questioned issues of heterogeneity and positionality, which were further integrated in reflections around the epistemology-ontology-axiology-methodology nexus in the third article. These reflections set the tone for the subsequent articles which approached the central theme from more specific perspectives. Language studies remain a fertile area of research; this fertility is exacerbated in situations where linguo-cultural heterogeneity is the norm.

Shameem Oozeerally, Guest Editor



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LES ETUDES MAURICIANISTES :

PLURICULTURALITÉ OBLIGE ?

Didier de RobillardUniversité de Tours, Equipe EA 4428 Dynamiques et enjeux de la diversité linguistique et culturelle, Tours, France

RÉSUMÉ

Ce texte examine les travaux en sciences humaines, en les mettant en rapport avec la société mauricienne, en situation de forte pluralité linguistique et culturelle et postcoloniale. L’auteur argumente que les chercheur.e.s pourraient s’y appuyer sur cette intense pluralité linguistique et culturelle, et sur la pluralité des traditions intellectuelles mauriciennes pour évoluer vers des approches mieux adaptées à ce type de situation. Le paradigme positiviste (ainsi que le constructivisme, les démarches interactionnelles, etc.), oblige les chercheurs à nier leur ancrage existentiel de manière très peu convaincante, ce qui avantage les chercheurs « étrangers », considérés comme neutres. Les chercheurs ancrés dans la situation mauricienne pourraient plutôt s’inscrire dans des paradigmes de type phénoménologique-herméneutique, dans lesquels il est normal que des chercheurs fassent état de leur propre ancrage dans la diversité de leur société, ce qui clarifierait la situation entre chercheurs étrangers et locaux, problème important dans les sociétés postcoloniales.

Mots-clés : Sociolinguistique ; epistémologie ; phénoménologie ; maurice ; plurilinguisme

Paradigmes?

Une des questions posées par les journées d’études débouchant sur la présente publication a été celle des paradigmes scientifiques, de leur relations (complémentarité ? agonistique1 ?), de la recherche et du développement de « nouveaux paradigmes ». Commençons par un repère, même s’il sera un peu sommaire, concernant la notion de « paradigme » :

Ensemble des croyances, des valeurs et des techniques de résolution de problèmes partagés tacitement par chaque communauté scientifique. (Bienvenu, 2007, p. 590)

Une des questions à se poser est donc celle de savoir si ce qu’on appelle « la science » ou « les sciences » comporte(nt) un ou plusieurs paradigmes, éventuellement, avec quelles relations entre eux, et pourquoi choisir l’un plutôt que les autres ? Serait-il plutôt souhaitable qu’il n’y en ait qu’un ? Dans les sciences humaines (SH), s’il n’existait qu’un paradigme, ou s’il en existait un qui soit très dominant, cela pourrait faire planer des menaces sur la diversité des langues et cultures et sur la démocratie, puisque cela supposerait qu’une idée de ce qu’est un être humain s’impose à toute l’humanité, alors même que, par ailleurs, dans les démocraties en tout cas, on défend l’idée que la pluralité des opinions, dans un dialogue contradictoire, en est seule garante. De plus, une des raisons d’être des SH, peut-être la

1 Les relations agonistiques opposent, dans la perspective de démocraties, des personnes ou groupes qui se considèrent comme adversaires et pas ennemis, en reconnaissant la légitimité des points de vue adverses, tout en les combattant vigoureusement, comme le propose Mouffe (2000, 2004, 2007).


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principale, est la diversité des individus, langues, cultures, cultes, identités, qui serait sérieusement mise à mal par l’existence d’un paradigme unique. Gageons en tout cas que la société mauricienne, compte tenu de sa diversité, est peu menacée par ce risque, à condition de savoir miser sur sa diversité.

Lié à ce problème est celui qui consiste donc, dans les SH, à se demander si la science au singulier transcende, subsume ou dépasse les différences liées à des traditions linguistiques, culturelles, cultuelles, historiques, technologiques, etc., ou au contraire, si les sciences émanent des cultures, sociétés. Peut-on envisager une science unique, pour tous les humains ? Ou alors faut-il parler des sciences, toujours au pluriel, en admettant que, selon les traditions, elles peuvent ne pas être compatibles entre elles, ce qui pose un problème aigu aux (nombreux) pays pluri- lingues / culturels / cultuels dans lesquels se rencontrent des traditions différentes, ce qui est le cas de Maurice, et qui, de ce fait, pourrait constituer un exemple particulièrement intéressant à partir duquel on pourrait réfléchir à ces questions.

Carrefour de Civilisations ?

C’est un stéréotype touristique éculé que d’évoquer « Maurice, carrefour des traditions », et dans les SH, personne ne se risquerait plus à le mobiliser sérieusement. Sa répétition l’a vidé de toute signification, ainsi que son utilisation commerciale pour « vendre » Maurice comme destination touristique, à coups de plages immaculées, de nature colorée, de préparations culinaires à l’allure exotique et de couchers de soleil sanguinolents.

Il faut remettre en perspective ce poncif pour le mettre au travail de manière intéressante pour les SH. En effet, la société mauricienne constitue sans aucun doute un espace très stimulant pour des chercheur.e.s en SH, parce que, en plus des rencontres de traditions culturelles dont on peut tirer des enseignements (Robillard, 2017) y sont aussi présents des courants intellectuels issus d’au moins deux grandes traditions que je connais, les « britanniques » (qu’on distingue parfois insuffisamment des nord-américaines), et les « françaises » (qui participent de traditions européennes continentales2 plus diversifiées entre elles), sans compter celles que je connais indirectement et mal, les traditions venues de Chine, d’Inde, d’Afrique et de Madagascar, y compris dans sa composante influencée par l’islam.

Je me cantonnerai ici aux traditions britanniques et françaises, actuellement les plus représentées dans la sphère intellectuelle mauricienne. Elles sont souvent un peu artificiellement amalgamées comme étant « occidentales » par opposition aux autres traditions, ce qui peut se comprendre compte-tenu de la diversité culturelle mauricienne, au sein de laquelle on oppose volontiers « occident », « orient » et « Afrique ». Cette homogénéisation des traditions « occidentales » participe d’une tendance plus largement répandue, liée à la croyance selon laquelle une science est universelle ou ne se qualifie pas comme science. Dans le monde « occidental » aussi, on a tendance à assimiler les traditions anglaises et anglo-américaines, tant ces dernières se sont répandues après-guerre, à la faveur du Plan Marshall, et du Traité de l’Atlantique Nord.

Il me semblerait donc utile, à la faveur de ce colloque sur l’épistémologie des sciences du langage, d’y contribuer en mettant à l’épreuve l’idée que, les SH comme les démocraties ne prospèrent que dans le conflit entre projets différents comme le développe Mouffe (2010) pour les démocraties. Cela exige un débat agonistique qui éclaire les choix des citoyens, les disciplines scientifiques devenant asthéniques

2 Ce terme est utilisé par les SHS nord-américaines, pour les différencier des points de vue nord-américains et britanniques.



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lorsque les chercheurs ont le sentiment que s’émoussent les différences entre les courants intellectuels, et que s’installe une dommageable homogénéité.

Maurice, de ce point de vue, et pourvu qu’elle sache mobiliser à bon escient ses ressources linguistiques, culturelles, cultuelles, intellectuelles, historiques, anthropologiques, pourrait développer une façon originale de pratiquer les sciences humaines en raison des particularités de sa société intensément pluriculturelle, caractéristique qu’elle partage avec peu d’autres à en croire Giordano (2008). C’est ce que je vais tenter d’argumenter plus bas, en commençant par les traditions françaises et anglo-américaines seulement, ce qui sera par la suite peut-être extrapolable à l’ensemble des traditions présentes à Maurice, ce que mes compétences déficientes en la matière ne me permettent pas de faire.

La Lutte Amoureuse3

Heidegger (1983, p. 91) forge cette expression oxymorique pour caractériser ce qui, selon lui, caractérise le climat relationnel entre des intellectuel.le.s qui s’affrontent dans le champ des idées. Il faut, d’une part, que chacun tente d’« épouser » la pensée de l’autre, pour la comprendre au mieux, et pour le faire, que cela se produise dans un climat de « lutte ». L’objectif de cette « lutte » n’est pas d’éliminer l’autre, mais bien plutôt, grâce à une confrontation à la fois sans complaisance et dans l’estime réciproque, de mettre en contraste les points de vue, ce qui fait mieux apparaître l’essentiel de chacun. Chaque point de vue en apprend sur lui-même et sur les autres dans cette lutte entre adversaires, néanmoins partenaires dans l’amélioration des connaissances. Certaines paires de ciseaux sont dites « auto-affûtantes », parce que les lames sont ainsi configurées que la friction entre elles les affûte réciproquement, et cette métaphore me semble suggestive. Cela signifie que, pour mieux connaître des traditions intellectuelles, rien n’est pire que le consensualisme, qui en fait mollement ressortir des convergences secondaires en masquant les stimulantes différences. Il ne faut pas craindre d’en montrer ces deux composantes, parce que c’est à partir de cela que chaque tradition parviendra à mieux se connaître elle-même dans la relation avec d’autres, et ainsi se revivifier en se comprenant autrement, en favorisant l’enrichissement de toutes les traditions et donc de l’ensemble de la société, projet qui ne peut qu’être parlant à un citoyen mauricien. Les traditions, ainsi mieux connues, seront mieux considérées et respectées que lorsqu’elles sont réduites à quelques stéréotypes usés.

C’est à ce prix, qui sera évoqué plus bas, qu’on peut imaginer que les traditions qui se rencontrent à Maurice puissent, dans la continuité de leurs histoires (traversées à la fois d’agonistique, de convergences, de solidarités), éclairer et enrichir l’avenir des Mauricien.ne.s tout en contribuant aux SH sur le plan international.

Angl. Experience4

Pour illustrer cela, on peut amorcer la réflexion par un examen du terme fr. Expérience / ang. Experience que seul un accent distingue à l’écrit.

Dans la tradition britannique, commençant avec F. Bacon et J. Locke jusqu’à B. Russel, l’experience est fondée sur « des données sensorielles primitives » (Engel & Tiercelin, 2007, p. 305) ;

3 D’autres traductions seraient possibles, notamment « controverse amicale ».4 Je ne tiens pas compte, dans cet article, de l’entrée Experiment / experience dans le Vocabulaire européen des philosophies (Cassin, dir., 2004) parce que, rédigé par Cléro, le contenu est très proche de ce que ce même auteur tel que cité ici avance comme contenu.


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Auchatraine (2007, p. 249) converge avec cette idée. Cette tradition estime que le point de départ de toute connaissance est constitué par une perception sensorielle, qui a un statut originaire : on ne peut rien trouver de plus fondateur que cela, et les sensations physiques doivent être admises comme point de départ incontestable de toute connaissance. Il faut, si l’on souscrit à ce point de vue, accepter cela comme axiome irréductible qui fonde une vision de ce qu’est un être humain.

On pourrait, pour éclairer un peu ce point, considérer que le terme « axiome » met ici l’accent sur le fait que c’est un choix initial et fondateur, et qui permet, une fois ce choix ratifié, d’édifier un univers scientifique, ce que défend tout au long de sa monumentale histoire des sciences humaines Gusdorf (1974). Si toute « donnée » primaire ne peut qu’être sensorielle, alors une recherche doit se fonder sur des données sensorielles, à base matérielle. C’est dans cette logique que, dans les sciences du langage, on a eu tendance à privilégier, dans les signes, leur composante matérielle (signifiant). Lorsqu’on dit avoir vu un signe, on se réfère d’abord à cette composante matérielle qui, en se manifestant à nos sens, est censée nous conduire vers un sens. Cette idée n’est pas seulement scientifique : elle est largement répandue dans les sociétés occidentales et dans leurs langues, comme l’indique le dicton « The proof of the pudding is in the eating » : si je fais l’expérience de manger quelque chose, je ne peux pas nier son existence. Plutôt que de parler d’« axiome », on pourrait élargir la problématisation en évoquant plutôt une métaphysique (Gusdorf, 1956 ; Robillard, 2016, p. 125), qui évoque tout ce qui n’est démontrable ni empiriquement, ni rationnellement seulement, mais qui permet néanmoins l’édification d’une entreprise rationnelle et empirique comme la science. La métaphysique est donc ce qui échappe à la science, mais la permet, d’où sa composition morphologique, meta signifiant « au-delà », et physique, signifiant la matérialité, et, de manière anachronique, connotant à notre époque la « reine des sciences », celle qui suscite la « physics envy » pour reprendre le mot célèbre de R. Rorty. La physique, réunirait ainsi tout ce qui fonderait la scientificité, celle qui est devenue dominante : la démonstration à base empirique-sensorielle, la rationalité, le calcul, et la prédictibilité, depuis Galilée, Isaac Newton, etc.

Pourtant, tout au long de son évolution historique, l’experience est beaucoup moins claire que cela : Cléro (2004, p. 437 - 438) en argumente toute l’ambiguïté et l’entrelacement avec l’experiment. Notamment, l’experiment est conçue comme une forme épurée, rationalisée d’experience : le sensoriel ne devient intellectuellement convaincant que si l’experiment est organisée de manière rationnelle. Cléro aboutit ainsi à cette conclusion « on passe donc de l’empirisme au rationalisme par un simple déplacement et l’affrontement de ces deux doctrines n’est qu’imaginaire. » (Cléro, 2004, p. 438). Les choses sont donc complexes, et si elles semblent, de nos jours, simples, ce n’est qu’en raison de l’interprétation simpliste qu’a faite K. Popper de ce qu’est le réalisme, excluant, de manière peu acceptable, pour les SH en tout cas, toute réalité à ce qui n’est pas matériel (Chareix, 2007, p. 696), ce qui en exclut une partie de tout ce qui est pourtant fondamentalement humain : imaginaires, expérience de l’histoire, affectivité, sensibilité (au sens de M. Merleau-Ponty, plutôt que de J. Locke5).

Poursuivons avec l’expérience française pour éviter de conclure hâtivement.

Fr. Experience

Il est frappant, à la lecture de l’article Expérience de Cléro, de constater que la plupart de ses références sont britanniques (cf. ci-dessus), ce qui n’est qu’à moitié surprenant, puisque la tradition

5 Le terme « sensibilité » peut en effet aussi bien désigner une disposition à ressentir physiquement que de manière affective ou socio-psychologique. Merleau-Ponty, comme plus largement les courants phénoménologiques, argumente que l’une ne va pas sans l’autre.



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6 Ce terme est nécessaire pour englober dans la catégorie des chercheur.e.s travaillant sur Maurice, tou.te.s les chercheur.e.s indépendamment de leur nationalité.

épistémologique française a longtemps été rattachée plutôt à la notion de raison, notamment à travers la figure emblématique de R. Descartes. Ce sentiment est confirmé par l’article Expérience de Engel et Tiercelin (2007), qui rajoute des références pragmatistes états-uniennes (J. Dewey) aux britanniques. On peut donc en conclure que la notion d’expérience n’est pas centrale dans la tradition française dominante qui, historiquement, a longtemps misé plutôt sur le paradigme de la rationalité et de la notion d’idée, qui fait fréquemment référence plutôt à B. Spinoza et E. Kant. Il faut sans doute rappeler ici que l’histoire des états européens modernes, notamment celle de la France, est marquée par un rapport à la raison (et donc, indirectement, à l’expérience comme repoussoir).

En France, à la Révolution, la raison sert de fondement à la contestation de l’état monarchique appuyé sur l’église catholique, alors que, en Grande-Bretagne et en Allemagne, il en va tout autrement. En Grande-Bretagne, depuis 1521, la monarchie est « défenseur de la foi et gouverneur suprême de l’Église d’Angleterre » ; en Allemagne l’Etat, défini comme laïque, finance les cultes sur la base de déclarations d’affiliation des citoyens, ce qui, en France, serait « sacrilège » ! En plus de ces relations « apaisées » qui sont loin de prévaloir en France, en Allemagne, beaucoup d’intellectuels marquants étaient fils de pasteurs, ce qui a rendu la pensée allemande plus perméable à des formes de raison ne se réduisant pas à l’aridité de la seule raison calculante, sans pour autant répudier tout recours à la sensibilité, alors qu’en France la méfiance est suscitée par toute pensée qui ne soit pas fondée sur une rationalité assimilée à la logique, ce qui est compréhensible vu l’histoire convergente des sciences et de la République, mais ne devrait pas interdire de poursuivre la réflexion de nos jours. Le résultat en est que cette réflexion, pour s’opposer terme à terme aux religions, s’est parfois conçue de manière aussi exclusive que ces dernières dans leurs formes intégristes, notamment dans des formes de dogmatisme ne supportant aucune contradiction.

Dans les deux articles Expérience cités plus haut, à défaut de références françaises, on en trouve des allemandes qui ne correspondent ni à la rigidité rationaliste française, ni à l’empirisme britannique et ses prolongements nord-américains, mais à une pensée originale. Cléro mentionne ainsi le terme Erleben (expérience intérieure) qui en est emblématique, et l’article de Engel et Tiercelin (2007) est suivi de celui sur l’Expérience vécue, qui évoque la tradition phénoménologique, fortement colorée par l’expérience allemande et minoritairement présente en France avec M. Merleau-Ponty et P. Ricoeur notamment.

Le fait même que les termes, dans ces articles, soient souvent cités dans leur version allemande et pas en traduction plaide en faveur de l’idée selon laquelle, dans les SH, les paradigmes ne peuvent pas être considérés comme des catégories universelles ou transculturelles, cela d’autant moins qu’une lecture attentive de la définition citée ci-dessus pour le terme « paradigme » révèle une insistance sur l’idée qu’un paradigme est constitué d’une part, d’éléments implicites (« tacitement »), de l’autre de « croyances », « valeurs » et « techniques ». Ces notions sont fortement enchâssées dans des traditions culturelles, ce qui plaiderait pour des traditions scientifiques différentes, correspondant à des cultures différentes, devant dialoguer entre elles.

Dans ce cas, on pourrait imaginer que les SH « mauricianistes6 » devraient emprunter seulement de manière très circonspecte, et à titre seulement provisoire et heuristique, notions, méthodes, à d’autres univers intellectuels. Elles devraient, en l’occurrence, éviter les emprunts directs à l’une de ses


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nombreuses traditions fondatrices, contrairement aux tendances observables au quotidien où règnent encore des formes d’inféodation à ces traditions. On sait que c’est ce qui a été dénoncé par un intellectuel qui était dans une posture un peu analogue à celle d’intellectuel.le.s mauricien.ne.s, à savoir E. Saïd, de double nationalité américano-palestinienne, né à Jérusalem au sein d’une famille chrétienne, et exerçant ensuite aux Etats-Unis.

Cherchons maintenant en direction des traditions ancrées dans des expériences différentes, terme générique pour ses deux formes antagoniques, l’expérimentation et l’expérienciation.

Le Double Visage de L’expérience et de la Vérité

L’Expérimentation

Les considérations tenues plus haut tendent implicitement dans une direction : « la vérité » peut se comprendre d’au moins deux façons. L’une (qu’on peut appeler expérimentation, clé des sciences expérimentales, dont F. Bacon a été un des initiateurs) est objectivante puisqu’ancrée dans la sensorialité, et est potentiellement impérialiste, puisque la sensorialité est censément identique pour tous les êtres humains, confortée en cela par la raison calculante qui, lorsqu’elle est assimilée à la logique, se revendique également universelle et indépendante des cultures et périodes historiques. Dans cette mouvance, le ou la chercheur.e est obligé.e, en situation interculturelle, de vivre un cruel divorce permanent : son épistémologie la / le pousse à proclamer le caractère général de ce qu’il « trouve », alors que son expérience interculturelle quotidienne l’incite à plus d’humilité et de prudence. Cela conduit, d’une part à affirmer le caractère « solide » de conclusions de recherche, de l’autre, et de manière contradictoire, à assortir cela de prudences dans les formulations, d’exhortations à l’ouverture aux autres, à la bienveillance et à la compassion, et autres vœux pieux.

Un bon exemple de cela est celui de la thèse de Stein (1982), chercheur de nationalité allemande soutenant son doctorat dans l’extraterritorialité intellectuelle de l’Allemagne par rapport à la société mauricienne, qui affirme en 1982 que dans l’apparent plurilinguisme mauricien foisonnant, il n’y a, pour l’essentiel que 4 langues parlées, les autres jouant essentiellement un rôle emblématique. À la même époque, tous les Mauriciens le savent déjà par leur expérience vécue, les sociolinguistes plus que les autres (par exemple, V. Hookoomsing, D. Virahsawmy, R. Chaudenson, R. Tirvassen, ou I. Asgarally). Aucun d’entre eux n’ose l’affirmer aussi crument que Stein. Lui bénéficie en effet de l’avantage d’être non suspect de parti-pris ancré dans la société mauricienne (comme pourraient l’être VH, DV ou RC), ou d’arrière-pensées post-coloniales (le Français R. Chaudenson ou le Britannique P. Baker). Stein est donc un bon candidat pour être un porte-parole crédible de l’experiment objective7. La « vérité » ne pouvait s’affirmer que portée par une posture en apparence non engagée, qui plus est explicitement appuyée sur des statistiques, emblème de scientificité s’il en est. Une des conséquences de cette situation a été que le préjugé favorable envers les experts jugés neutres parce qu’« extérieurs » s’en est trouvé renforcé, et les travaux des sociolinguistes ancrés localement socio-historiquement moins valorisés (si, dans les années 1980, des sociolinguistes mauriciens avaient signé la thèse de Stein, elle aurait été critiquée pour manque d’objectivité), ce qui constitue un problème éthique et politique lié à une forme d’inéquité entre chercheurs : on connaît peu de thèses financées pour un.e sociolinguiste mauricien.ne, en vue

7 On peut penser aussi à Eriksen, dans un domaine connexe, qui a pu évoquer les problèmes d’ethnicité, en étant au-dessus pour ainsi dire de tout soupçon de partialité ou de conflit d’intérêt, tout en connaissant ces problèmes nécessairement autrement que quiconque en a l’expérienciation longue, ancré dans la société mauricienne (voit citation de Roy (1960) plus bas).



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d’une étude sur l’Allemagne ! Si on reste dans cette conception de la science, les chercheur.e.s de pays « poids légers » économiquement et géopolitiquement sont condamnés à perpétuité à jouer les seconds rôles y compris dans leurs propres sociétés, qu’ils connaissent pourtant bien, voire sont cantonnés à la figuration, ce qui pose d’évidents problèmes éthiques et politiques. Pour rééquilibrer les choses, reste une autre conception de la recherche, celle qui situe l’empirisme dans l’expérience vécue, l’expérienciation.

L’Expérienciation

Plutôt que de feindre une improbable impartialité, tous ces sociolinguistes auraient pu en toute simplicité, faire état de leur expérienciation de manière réflexive, débattre dans une « lutte amoureuse » et, à partir d’une autre revendication de vérité, la vérité vécue (expériencée) celle-là, donc forcément diverse, plurielle, agonistique. Ils auraient évidemment pu, en explicitant chacun son ancrage et son histoire avec les langues, faire état de leur expérienciation (on ne le sait pas assez, R. Chaudenson a fait du terrain de manière « ethnologique » à Maurice et à Rodrigues, tout comme P. Baker connaissait intimement la société mauricienne et était un locuteur très compétent de créole), pour en débattre ensuite. Bien entendu, chaque expérienciation aurait été partiellement différente, parce que tous les humains sont partiellement singuliers, rien d’étonnant donc à cela. L’objectif ne serait pas nécessairement comme dans le cas de l’édification de savoirs experts et expérimentaux, de parvenir à une sorte de vérité « moyenne », consensuelle ou résultant d’un compromis, mais de favoriser un bouquet de vérités humaines vécues, donc forcément différentes comme un feu d’artifice, voire divergentes ou agonistiques, riches, fortes de leurs ancrages expérientiels et historiques, se critiquant (au sens de « discussion sur les limites »), dans un stimulant débat « auto-affûtant » pour reprendre la métaphore ci-dessus.

Il est significatif que, précisément sur des questions de sociolinguistique historique mauricianiste, R. Chaudenson et P. Baker aient longtemps entretenu des débats très agonistiques qui ont stimulé et éclairé les études créoles et l’histoire sociolinguistique de Maurice (sans recours à la réflexivité cependant, ce qui aurait sans doute amélioré encore ce débat).

Pluriculturalité Oblige

Les SH auraient tout à gagner du point de vue de la qualité des recherches effectuées, à ce que les épistémologies, idées, matériaux de terrain soient ainsi éclairés par un débat dynamisant tout en s’ancrant dans les limites et atouts que fournissent à chacun.e ses ancrages singuliers et partagés8.

Pour les chercheur.e.s, cela aurait l’avantage de ne pas les obliger à un pénible et aliénant divorce entre la femme ou l’homme de la vie quotidienne et le/la chercheur.e. Ce divorce est d’ailleurs profondément contradictoire avec la raison d’être même des SH et de la sociolinguistique. Si la diversité est ce qui motive l’existence des SH, et de la sociolinguistique dans le domaine des langues, si prégnantes à Maurice, comment les chercheur.e.s (surtout les chercheur.e.s mauricien.ne.s) pourraient-ils et -elles, sans incohérence, revendiquer sérieusement d’étudier la diversité, sans étudier, réflexivement, en quoi leur propre diversité existentielle les aide et leur rend la tâche de recherche plus difficile ? Seule une forme de réflexivité de la part des chercheur.e.s peut à la fois permettre, en toute cohérence (et la recherche essaie d’éviter les incohérences) la mobilisation de ressources riches et qualitatives, et donc humaines à cœur. Humaines non seulement par ce qui est étudié, à savoir d’autres êtres humains, mais également parce que celles et ceux qui les étudient le font en se revendiquant êtres intégralement

8 Il faut peut-être rappeler ici que je me suis livré à cet exercice pour ma part (Robillard, 2017).


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humains. Cette revendication seule peut légitimer, éthiquement et politiquement, qu’il puisse s’autoriser à tenir un discours sur les autres, différents d’eux, et dont on ne sait pas s’ils les comprennent, surtout lorsqu’ils traitent d’enjeux importants pour ces derniers, allant parfois jusqu’à l’intime des identités comme peut le faire un.e sociolinguiste. Je ne peux développer ici un aspect de cette question qui le mériterait pour compléter ce qui est écrit plus haut, celui de la violence symbolique de l’objectivation des sciences (voir Robillard, à paraître).

Les effets positifs de telles démarches ne s’arrêtent pas à ceux concernant les chercheurs, mais s’étendent à l’ensemble de la société. En effet, si des intellectuel.le.s, sans doute plus à même que d’autres d’initier une telle démarche compte tenu des connaissances et compétences acquises à travers de longues études et des travaux de terrain, amorcent une telle démarche, cela ne peut qu’aider les citoyen.ne.s, progressivement, à revendiquer sereinement elles et eux aussi leurs héritages, histoires, singularités. C’est certainement, au long terme, une nécessité dans une société aussi intensément plurielle que la société mauricienne. Pour que chacun.e puisse se sentir reconnu.e dans sa singularité, il faut qu’il.elle relie cette singularité à son histoire, qui en est une source significative, sans qu’il.elle ait choisi ni cette histoire, ni ces singularités (qu’en un sens, il « subit », tant qu’il ne les assume pas). Cela suppose donc qu’on accepte l’idée qu’il puisse y avoir plusieurs histoires agonistiques au sein d’une même société. Nul doute que ces histoires ne parviennent un jour à s’harmoniser, à condition qu’on laisse du temps à ce processus, qui ne peut maturer qu’au long terme.

Un débat sain et de qualité en matière sociolinguistique et interculturelle ne peut se construire que sur ce travail, qui met toutes les traditions à parité dans le débat interculturel, en montrant qu’elles sont toutes aussi contingentes les unes que les autres. Sur ce plan, les chercheur.e.s se consacreraient à une tâche extrêmement importante sur le plan éthique et politique, en se situant eux-mêmes dans leurs traditions pour fluidifier des relations interindividuelles et sociales marquées par les hiérarchies économiques, l’ethnicité, la culturalité. Ces dernières, lorsqu’elles sont vécues sur le mode de l’affirmation et de la fierté, ou de la soumission et de la minoritude, ne peuvent que crisper les rapports sociaux.

Enfin, l’intérêt d’une telle démarche est, sur un plan institutionnel et politique cette fois, de marquer nettement la différence entre perspectives de recherche et choix politiques. Si les chercheur.e.s se positionnent comme chercheurs dans des traditions historiques, ethniques, culturelles, sociales, ils ne peuvent plus se conférer un statut d’expert omniscient, puisque l’expert, dans les domaines des SH, en est conduit, paradoxalement, à se positionner en quelque sorte en « expert des autres », ce qui est une impossibilité logique. Il devient alors clair que le/la chercheur.e formule un avis, ancré à la fois dans son expérienciation, partiellement partagée avec des autres, dans sa singularité, et dans les ressources savantes puisées dans les connaissances disciplinaires. Cela ne peut qu’inciter, dès lors, des autorités politiques, lorsqu’elles souhaitent s’appuyer sur des savoirs experts, à recourir à plusieurs experts, qui formuleront des avis différents. Lorsqu’une décision sera prise, la responsabilité du politique en sera clarifiée et mise en évidence, puisqu’elle ne pourra se réclamer d’aucun expert unique.

En un sens, on pourrait résumer mon propos par l’expression « pluriculturalité oblige ». Lorsqu’on est chercheur.e dans un milieu aussi intensément pluriculturel que la société mauricienne (et quelques autres signalées par Giordano (2008)), ceci rend plus évidentes qu’ailleurs des exigences éthiques et politiques, alors qu’elles sont aussi importantes ailleurs, mais apparaissent simplement de manière moins flagrante. Il ne serait donc pas étonnant que ce type de perspective apparaisse plus aisément dans le type de société décrit par Roy (1960) quelques années avant l’accession du pays à l’indépendance :



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Race, color, communalism and even an irrational approach to culture and religion have almost wrecked the foundations of our progress. […] We cannot look into the eyes of the neighbor without feeling guilty. (Roy, 1960, p. 399)

Les propositions ci-dessus, qui ne sont alignées sur aucune des options épistémologiques actuellement majoritaires, une fois critiquées, adaptées à la diversité mauricienne, peuvent sans doute stimuler les jeunes chercheur.e.s mauricianistes à prendre leurs responsabilités éthiques et politiques face à cette société, de manière à la fois humble, citoyenne et savante, en travaillant à ce qu’une société véritablement pluriculturelle advienne, ce qui serait sans doute favorisé par des SH se mettant en question, en leur cœur même.

RÉFÉRENCES

Auchatraine, A. (2007). Empirisme. In M. Blay (Ed.), Dictionnaire des concepts philosophiques (pp. 248-249). Paris, France: Larousse.

Bienvenu, A. (2007). Paradigme. In M. Blay (Ed.), Dictionnaire des concepts philosophiques (p. 590). Paris, France: Larousse.

Chareix, F. (2007). Réalisme. In M. Blay (Ed.), Dictionnaire des concepts philosophiques (pp. 696-698). Paris, France: Larousse.

Cléro, J. -P. (2004). Expérience. In B. Cassin (Ed.), Vocabulaire européen des philosophies : Dictionnaire des intraduisibles (pp. 436-438). Paris, France: Le Robert-Seuil.

Engel, P., & Tiercelin, C. (2007). Expérience. In M. Blay (Ed.), Dictionnaire des concepts philosophiques (pp.304-305). Paris, France: Larousse.

Giordano, C. (2008). L’insoutenable innocence de l’interculturel. In A. Gohard-Radenkovic, & A. J. Akkari (Eds.), Coopération internationale: entre accommodements interculturels et utopies du changement (pp. 161-170). Paris, France: L’Harmattan.

Gusdorf, G. (1956). Traité de métaphysique. Paris, France: Armand Colin.

Gusdorf, G. (1974). Introduction aux sciences humaines. Essai critique sur leurs origines et leur développement. Paris, France: Ophrys. (Œuvre originale publiée 1960).

Heidegger, M. (1983). Lettre sur l’humanisme. Paris, France: Aubier.

Mouffe, C. (2000). Deliberative Democracy or Agonistic pluralism. In C. Nuehold, & G. Hafner (Eds.), Political Science Series 72 (pp. 1-17). Institut für Höhere Studien – Institute for Advanced Studies. https://www.ihs.ac.at/publications/pol/pw_72.pdf

Mouffe, C. (2004). Le politique et la dynamique des passions. Rue Descartes, 3(45-46), 179-192.

Mouffe, C. (2007). Artistic agonism and agonistic spaces. Art and Research, 1(2), 1-5. https://www.artandresearch.org.uk/v1n2/pdfs/mouffe.pdf


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Mouffe, C. (2010). Politique et agonisme. Rue Descartes, 1(76), 18-24. https://www.cairn.info/revue-rue-descartes-2010-1-page-18.htm

Robillard, D. de. (2016). Fenêtres sur une sociolinguistique de la réception, ou phénoménologique-herméneutique, ou sur des SHS qualitatives à programme fort. Glottopol : Epistémologies et histoire des idées sociolinguistiques, 28, 121 – 189.

Robillard, D. de. (2017). Apports d’une sociolinguistique mauricianiste : éthique et politique de la réception, in Recherches sociolinguistiques à Maurice. Cahiers internationaux de sociolinguistique, 12, 15 – 44.

Robillard, D. de. (à paraître). In V. Feussi, & J. Lorilleux (Eds.), (In)sécurité linguistique en francophonie. Perspectives in(ter)disciplinaires. Paris, France: L’Harmattan.

Roy, J. N. (1960). Mauritius in Transition. Allahabad, India : Ram Pratap Tripathi.

Stein, P. (1982). Connaissance et emploi des langues à l’Ile Maurice. Hamburg, Germany: Buske.



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NON-NEUTRALITÉ, POSITIONNEMENT SOCIAL ET

SCIENTIFICITÉ – QUE NOUS DISENT LES ETUDES

CRITIQUES?

Christian OllivierUniversité de La Réunion, Laboratoire Icare, Département de FLE, Campus Universitaire Sud

RÉSUMÉ

Dans cet article inscrit en méthodologie de la recherche en sciences du langage et éducation, nous proposons une réflexion sur la neutralité et le positionnement social du chercheur en lien avec la notion de scientificité. Nous appuyant sur les théories critiques, nous rappelons que toute perception de la réalité est une construction sociale et historique et qu’une approche critique – au sens de la lignée initiée largement par l’École de Francfort – a pour but de dévoiler le « secret » de cette réalité et, par là-même, les forces et pouvoirs en présence, ceci en prenant résolument parti pour les valeurs (émancipatrices et démocratiques). A partir de là, apparaissent clairement l’impossibilité de la neutralité et une invitation pour le chercheur à se positionner socialement en toute clarté sans toutefois renoncer à la scientificité. Nous montrons, exemples à l’appui, comment cette alliance entre positionnement social et scientificité peut s’opérer.

Mots-clés : données ; qualitatif ; quantitatif ; objectivité ; subjectivité

INTRODUCTION

Ce texte fait suite à une intervention aux journées d’études « Epistemology, Methodology and Research in Language Studies / Épistémologie, méthodologie et recherche en sciences du langage » organisées au Mauritius Institute of Education par le MIE Higher Studies Cell Language Studies Doctoral Research Laboratory en avril 2019. Il garde l’orientation générale de cette communication, mais la déplace de la question des approches quantitatives ou qualitatives vers celle, plus générale et plus fondamentale, qui nous semble sous-tendre souvent le débat qualitatif vs quantitatif, à savoir les interrogations de nombreux chercheurs sur la tension entre neutralité voire objectivité, d’une part, et de non-neutralité voire d’engagement, d’autre part.

Lors de la première journée de la manifestation scientifique au MIE, des interventions avaient d’ailleurs fait émerger ces préoccupations des chercheurs à propos de la « rationalité », de la « vérité », et de la place du « subjectif », lequel serait en contradiction avec les demandes institutionnelles. Il était alors apparu, à travers certaines prises de parole, que ces interrogations et pressions de l’institution scientifique pouvaient conduire parfois à rechercher le salut dans les « hard data ».

Pour aborder la question, nous allons convoquer le champ spécifique des études critiques, dans lequel nous travaillons depuis quelques années à travers notre participation au collectif international Kairos, qui s’est fixé pour objectif de structurer une approche sociocritique du numérique en éducation. Cet angle d’approche de la question poursuit un double objectif : d’une part, montrer qu’il est possible de mener des études scientifiques en éducation et sciences du langage qui soient socialement et politiquement situées et revendiquent cette dimension de non-neutralité, d’autre part, rappeler qu’aucun


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discours – le discours scientifique inclus – n’est neutre et donc dépourvu de positionnement social, et souligner, en toute conséquence, l’importance, pour le chercheur, de prendre conscience de cette non-neutralité et d’expliciter d’où il parle.

On l’aura compris, cette contribution n’a pas la prétention d’apporter des résultats de recherche, mais seulement de présenter une réflexion – non-neutre, mais, nous l’espérons, fondée et cohérente en soi – sur la non-neutralité incluse de façon inhérente dans toute recherche et d’aider le chercheur en sciences du langage à conscientiser et expliciter ses positionnements sociaux.

Puisque nous nous inscrivons ici dans le champ des études critiques en sciences du langage dans le domaine du numérique en éducation, nous présenterons d’abord ce que dit la Critique1 sur la non-neutralité de la construction de la réalité et la nécessité d’une prise de parti, pour observer ensuite comment cela se traduit dans la critique de la technologie et finalement dans le champ de l’éducation. Nous commencerons donc par aborder ces différents niveaux en mettant en lumière la place revendiquée du positionnement social, puis en illustrant notre propos grâce à une action de recherche que nous avons menée récemment avec un collègue du collectif Kairos. Nous reviendrons alors sur deux facteurs qui nous semblent essentiels pour que non-neutralité et scientificité puissent valablement coexister dans la recherche.

Remarque Liminaire

Avant d’aborder le sujet de ce texte et pour éviter tout malentendu, il est important de signaler que les orientations des chercheurs qui se revendiquent d’une approche critique peuvent être variées et renvoyer à des acceptions diverses voire divergentes du terme « critique ». Comme le souligne Selwyn (2015, p. 254), il existe, en effet, « un grand nombre de degrés de criticalité » (« plenty of degrees of criticality ») qui peuvent aller d’une « simple » pensée différente de celle de la pensée la plus répandue à un attachement « servile » à un cadre de pensée dans la tradition des études critiques. Dans cette veine, De Munck (2011) a souligné deux risques pour les études critiques (en général):

i) celui de la sur-inclusivité qui conduit à « verser dans une conception trop extensive de la critique qui la fait pratiquement équivaloir à la réflexivité, voire à la science ou à la rationalité », (dans cette optique, la critique serait inhérente à toute approche scientifique);

ii) celui de la sous-inclusivité et de la réduction à un seul programme idéologique.

S’il est possible d’avoir plusieurs degrés dans la criticalité, les études critiques, telles qu’initiées par l’École de Francfort et telle que nous l’envisageons ici, ne se réfèrent pas à la version sur-inclusive qui en dilue la spécificité de sorte que, lorsque l’on parle de Critique, il ne s’agit pas de rationalité ni de pensée ou distance critiques inhérentes à toute recherche.

Aux Origines de la Critique, la Nécessité d’une Prise de Parti

D’emblée, dans les écrits des auteurs (notamment Horkheimer, 1937; Markuse & Horkheimer, 1937) qui, dans l’Allemagne des années 19302, ont constitué l’École de Francfort et lancé, dans le

1 Nous écrivons « Critique » avec une majuscule lorsque nous nous référons aux théories critiques dans la lignée ouverte notamment par l’École de Francfort. Cela permet de se démarquer du terme « critique » dans son sens plus généraliste.2 Le pays et la période ne sont pas sans importance pour bien comprendre l’émergence de la théorie critique.



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domaine de la sociologie, les études critiques, les choses sont claires. Ils estiment que la façon que les hommes ont de voir et d’entendre et donc de percevoir et de penser la réalité, ne peut être dissociée des procès sociaux qui se sont développés au cours de l’histoire (« die Art, wie sie sehen und hören […] ist von dem gesellschaftlichen Lebensprozess, wie er sich in den Jahrtausenden entwickelt hat, nicht abzulösen », Horkheimer, 1937, p. 12).

Notre perception de la réalité est une construction historique et sociale déterminée par des représentations pré-existantes à toute conscience et connaissance : « die wahrgenommene Tatsache ist daher schon vor ihrer bewussten, vom erkennenden Individuum vorgenommenen theoretischen Bearbeitung durch menschliche Vorstellungen und Begriffe mitbestimmt »3 (Horkheimer, 1937, p. 13). Notre façon de voir le monde est doublement sociale : parce que la réalité perçue est un produit historique et parce que notre façon de la percevoir est également construite historiquement et socialement : « Die Tatsachen, welche die Sinne uns zuführen, sind in doppelter Weise gesellschaftlich präformiert: durch den geschichtlichen Charakter des wahrgenommenen Gegenstands und den geschichtlichen Charakter des wahrnehmenden Organs »4 (Horkheimer, 1937, p. 13). Il y a donc derrière toute perception individuelle une subjectivité générale dont elle dépend (« allgemeine Subjektivität, von der das individuelle Erkennen abhängt », Horkheimer, 1937, p. 16).

Partant de ce principe, les premiers théoriciens de la Critique assignent à celle-ci une visée heuristique dévoilante : « Die Theorie, die es entwirft, arbeitet nicht im Dienst einer schonvorhandenen Realität; sie spricht nur ihr Geheimnis aus »5 (Horkheimer, 1937, p. 29). En se positionnant en recul par rapport à la réalité perçue et aux théories qui entendent la justifier, il s’agit de dévoiler le « secret » de cette réalité, les forces et pouvoirs en présence qui font que des théories (souvent déterministes) occupent le terrain et peuvent contribuer à faire ressentir ce qu’elles promeuvent, à savoir la réalité et le système social en place, comme légitimes et dans l’ordre des choses. Il s’agit d’interroger ce qui est perçu spontanément comme réalité justifiant la perpétuation d’un système en place et de dévoiler la dimension politique cachée de cette réalité.

En cela, la théorie critique est une forme de lutte sociale et le métier du chercheur critique n’est pas la pensée autonome mais le combat, lequel inclut sa pensée, celle-ci ne pouvant être conçue comme dissociable du combat. Horkheimer est, à ce propos, on ne peut plus explicite : « Sein Beruf ist der Kampf, zudem sein Denken gehört, nicht das Denken als etwas Selbständiges, davon zu Trennendes »6 (Horkheimer, 1937, p. 29).

En toute logique, la théorie critique poursuit, dès ses origines, des objectifs sociaux : elle s’attache à l’idée d’une société future qui serait une « communauté d’hommes libres » (« Gemeinschaft freier Menschen ») (Horkheimer, 1937, p. 30), une « société sans injustice » (Gesellschaft ohne Unrecht ») (Horkheimer, 1937, p. 34). Le combat vise l’établissement d’un vivre-ensemble (« menschlichen Zusammenlebens ») répondant aux plus hauts critères de liberté et de justice (Horkheimer, 1937, p. 31).

3 « La réalité perçue est […] déterminée par des représentations et des concepts humains avant même de faire l’objet d’un traitement théorique conscient par l’individu connaissant » (notre traduction).4 « Les réalités que les sens nous présentent sont socialement préformées de deux manières : par le caractère his-torique de l’objet perçu et par le caractère historique de l’organe qui le perçoit » (notre traduction).5 « La théorie qu’elle élabore ne sert pas une réalité établie, elle en révèle le secret » (notre traduction).6 « Son métier est le combat, auquel appartient sa pensée, et non la pensée en soi conçue comme une entité auto-nome, distincte du combat » (notre traduction).


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Il va de soi qu’un tel programme scientifique, qui inclut intimement une dimension sociale et politique essentielle, ne peut être neutre. Adorno et Horkheimer précisent d’ailleurs sans aucune ambiguïté que la pensée critique requiert une prise de position pour des valeurs (celles de la liberté, de l’émancipation et plus généralement de la démocratie). Ils le rappellent dans leur préface de 1969 à l’occasion de la réédition de leur ouvrage Dialektik der Aufklärung : « Kritisches Denken [...] verlangt heute Parteinahme für die Residuen von Freiheit, für Tendenzen zur realen Humanität, selbst wenn sie angesichts des großen historischen Zug es ohnmächtig scheinen »7 (Adorno & Horkheimer, 1997, p. 3)8.

On peut dès à présent retenir quelques éléments importants pour nous : d’une part, que les études critiques revendiquent explicitement une prise de parti et une non-neutralité tout en rappelant que la théorique critique n’est ni arbitraire ni hasard (« nirgends willkürlich und zufällig », Horkheimer, 1937, p. 31). D’autre part, qu’aucune conception de la réalité n’est neutre, mais qu’il s’agit toujours d’un produit historique au même titre, dit Horkheimer (1997, p. 12), que la façon dont nous nous habillons et nous présentons ou encore que la façon dont nous sentons les choses. Ceci vaut donc également pour la science qui est ancrée dans des processus historiques et sociaux et donc, elle-même, un produit historique et social empreint d’une subjectivité « générale » qui se transcrit dans les subjectivités individuelles sans que l’individu ne prenne toujours pleinement conscience de son ancrage.

Il y a donc, d’une part, une invitation à ne pas être neutre et à prendre parti pour dévoiler les mécanismes de construction de la réalité perçue (invitation que le chercheur est libre de suivre ou non) et, d’autre part, un rappel de l’impossibilité d’être neutre même si les positionnements sociaux ne sont souvent pas visibles ni même conscients, la Critique se fixant justement pour objectif de révéler ces positionnements.

Il serait possible de montrer comment les principes de base posés par l’École de Francfort se sont perpétués jusqu’à aujourd’hui et se retrouvent dans les écrits des nombreux penseurs qui s’inscrivent dans ce mouvement critique, notamment chez des auteurs comme Foucault, Bourdieu, Ricoeur, Debray…, mais afin de rester dans la ligne que nous avons fixée à cette contribution et pour nous rapprocher de notre objet, nous en venons directement à la critique de la technique et convoquerons, au besoin, ces auteurs ponctuellement dans le texte qui suit.

Critique de la Technique et Imaginaires

Parallèlement et en réaction à une idéologie ambiante qui présente le développement de la technologie et son omniprésence dans nos vies comme inévitables et porteurs de progrès, plusieurs auteurs ont développé une théorie critique de la technique et ont montré, dans la lignée des études critiques en sociologie, que la technologie n’est pas neutre – ni historiquement, ni socialement, ni politiquement – et que les discours autour de son expansion et du progrès qui y serait lié sont emprunts d’enjeux de pouvoir forts, la technologie ayant, comme le souligne Feenberg (1992, p. 4), des « impacts sociaux immédiats et importants » (« immediate and powerful social impacts ») et représentant une « scène de lutte sociale » (« scene of social struggle ») (Feenberg, 1992, p. 6).

7 « La pensée critique [...] exige aujourd’hui de prendre parti pour les résidus de la liberté, pour les mouvements en faveur de l’humanité véritable, même s’ils semblent impuissants face au grand train de l’Histoire » (notre traduction).8 Ne disposant pas de l’édition de 1969, nous citons dans l’édition de 1997 disponible en ligne sur le site academia.edu. C’est donc cette version qui se trouve répertoriée dans la bibliographie.



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Dans le domaine de la technologie, adopter une approche critique implique donc de considérer que le développement et l’impact de celles-ci ne sont pas le produit d’un quelconque déterminisme, mais « instrinséquement sociaux » (« intrinsically social ») (Feenberg 1992). Cela exige de garder à l’esprit que ce fait social, comme toute praxis, est fondamentalement « pétri [...] d’imaginaire » (Ricoeur, 1984, p. 56), l’imaginaire étant « coextensif du processus même de la praxis » (Ricoeur, 1984, p. 56).

Les études critiques de la technologie se placent donc en contre-point des « discours idéologiques véhiculant l’idée que les technologies sont neutres, plus ou moins autonomes et nécessairement porteuses de progrès et d’efficacité » (Collin et al., 2016). Une grande partie de ces études entendent alors dévoiler, dans les discours des politiques, des experts, des concepteurs, des usagers… ou encore dans celui des scientifiques – malheureusement moins étudiés –, la part des imaginaires et idéologies cachées qui les sous-tendent sachant que ceux-ci jouent, notamment à travers leur pouvoir de distorsion et de dissimulation, un rôle essentiel dans les processus de promotion et d’imposition des technologies (Feenberg, 1991, 1992, 2005, 2014; Flichy, 2012; Musso, 2009; Scardigli, 1989; Sfez, 2002).

Approche Critique du Numérique en Education

L’approche critique et l’approche critique des technologies se retrouvent, depuis quelques années, chez quelques auteurs travaillant dans le domaine de l’éducation. Citons, à titre indicatif, Kellner (voir par exemple Kellner, 2003; Kellner & Share, 2007), Selwyn (cf. notamment Selwyn, 2010 et infra), devenue une des figures-phares des approches critiques du numérique en éducation ou encore, dans le domaine francophone, Mœglin (voir par exemple Mœglin, 2013) ou les membres du collectif international Kairos, évoqué en introduction de ce texte, lequel cherche à structurer une telle approche (Collin et al., 2016; Collin, Guichon & Ntébutsé, 2015; Ntebutse & Collin, 2019).

Dans le domaine du numérique en éducation, ces études sont émergentes et restent encore assez peu développées (Bulfin, Johnson & Bigum, 2015) même si certains soulignent leur cruciale nécessité (Selwyn, 2015), notamment pour éviter que la recherche en éducation ne devienne, dans le domaine du numérique, une recherche « rangée » et « proprette » au service d’une pensée unique qui s’intéresserait à comment « faire de la technologie » de façon plus efficace (« a “service subject” that produces neat and tidy “applied” academic evaluations concerned with developing more efficient ways of “doing technology” (Selwyn, 2015, p. 248)).

Arrivé au terme de cette très succincte présentation des études critiques – à leur origine et dans le domaine des technologies et du numérique en éducation –, nous retiendrons que toute réalité perçue est fondamentalement une construction sociale, historique et politique et que cela vaut aussi pour les discours sur cette réalité, discours qui, à travers les imaginaires et idéologies qui les sous-tendent, contribuent eux-mêmes à orienter notre perception de la « réalité ». Le chercheur critique explicite son positionnement social et son attachement délibéré à des valeurs et cherche à « dévoiler » celui de ceux qui ne spécifient pas les leurs. Les études critiques nous invitent donc en tant que chercheurs, d’une part, à « dévoiler » dans les divers discours – le discours scientifique compris – les imaginaires et idéologies qui les sous-tendent, mais surtout, même si on ne s’inscrit pas dans les études critiques, à accepter l’impossibilité de la neutralité sociale et à préciser nos positionnements. Que l’on se situe ou non dans le domaine des études critiques, elles nous rappellent que tout discours, le discours scientifique inclus, est empreint de non-neutralité.


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A l’aide d’un exemple, nous allons montrer comment les chercheurs en sciences du langage et éducation peuvent mener des recherches qui revendiquent leur non-neutralité tout en répondant à des critères forts de scientificité.

Non-Neutralité et Scientificité

De la Théorie…

A ce stade de ce texte, l’idée d’une possible neutralité de toute perception de la réalité, de toute technologie, de tout discours… est impossible. Il en va ainsi également de toute recherche, qui ne peut être neutre dans ses positionnements. Selwyn (2015, p. 254) cite, dans le chapitre de 2015 que nous avons déjà évoqué plus haut, le physicien Wheeler qui aurait dit que la plus grande leçon que lui ait apprise la physique quantique est que la « réalité est définie par les questions que nous lui posons » (« reality is defined by the questions we put to it »). Les choix d’objets et de questions de recherche ne sont pas faits de pure neutralité objective : derrière une problématisation scientifique, ils dépendent aussi de la personne du chercheur, de son histoire personnelle et sociale, de l’état de ses connaissances et de celles de son entourage scientifique, de ses intérêts et centres d’intérêt, des possibilités ou non d’obtenir un financement, mais aussi d’options sociales voire politiques qu’il défend, parfois sans le savoir… et ces éléments non-neutres qui contribuent à établir un questionnement concourent à une construction de la réalité, laquelle ne peut être neutre.

Ainsi, décider de s’orienter vers des études critiques est une décision du sujet – même si elle peut être influencée par des facteurs extérieurs. C’est même une décision qui, comme certains l’ont rappelé, demande du courage car elle va à l’encontre de l’idée de neutralité de la science et du chercheur et de coupure entre théorie et praxis, impensable dans ces études. C’est le courage que Bourdieu reconnaissait à Foucault lors d’un colloque, celui « de s’exposer à perdre son autorité intellectuelle en transgressant les règles de son milieu. Règles selon lesquelles l’objectivité et la “neutralité axiologique” seraient respectées grâce à la coupure entre théorie et action, entre science et politique » (Granjon, 2005, p. 7), ou, pour reprendre les mots d’Horkheimer (1937, p. 21), grâce à la « séparation aliénante » que la science traditionnelle pose « entre les valeurs et la recherche, entre le savoir et l’action et d’autres couples d’oppositions » (« diese Entfremdung, die in der philosophischen Terminologie als Trennung von Wert und Forschung, Wissen und Handeln[…]sich ausdrückt »). C’est aussi le courage de devoir se remettre soi-même en question, de risquer la stabilité de ses mondes sociaux et même de ses relations personnelles, comme le souligne Selwyn en reprenant les paroles de Hearn : « These activities necessarily involve questioning ourselves, risking the stability of our own social worlds and personal relationships and, as a result, always require courage » (Hearn (2013, p. 274), citée dans Selwyn, 2015, p. 252). Selwyn rapporte au début de ce même texte quelques exemples de réactions violentes que ses interventions ont pu susciter lors de manifestations scientifiques.

Par ailleurs, comme nous l’avons vu plus haut, s’inscrire – sans la suivre servilement ! – dans la lignée de l’École de Francfort, suppose une prise de parti pour les valeurs de la liberté, de l’émancipation et de la démocratie. Le positionnement social voire politique du chercheur-combattant est clairement assumé et revendiqué. La théorie est indissociable de la praxis.

Ceci dit, le lien entre théorie et praxis peut être conçu de diverses façons, comme le montrent les différentes conceptions et mises en œuvres chez les théoriciens originaux de la Critique et des penseurs tels que Foucault, Bourdieu et bien d’autres. Chez Horkheimer par exemple, la praxis est intrinsèquement incluse dans la théorie. La dénonciation des idéologies est en soi praxis, celle-ci s’arrêtant là. Horkheimer



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attendait ainsi que le peuple s’empare des résultats des travaux critiques pour mener une lutte sociale. Chez Foucault ou Bourdieu, la praxis va jusqu’à l’engagement concret sur le terrain politique. Bourdieu – lui-même engagé activement – estime ainsi, comme le rappelle Granjon (2005, p. 7) que « Foucault a personnifié une “tentative exemplaire pour tenir ensemble l’autonomie du chercheur et l’engagement dans l’action politique” »9. Nous ne trancherons pas sur cette question, la décision revient à chaque chercheur travaillant dans le domaine de la Critique, celle-ci étant, de toute façon, praxis à travers la dénonciation des jeux de pouvoir en présence.

Se pose bien évidemment la question de la scientificité d’une démarche profondément orientée idéologiquement, socialement et politiquement et donc ouvertement empreinte de subjectivité. Celle-ci nous semble se situer très fortement dans l’explicitation du positionnement et la cohérence, quelles que soient les options retenues par le chercheur.

Pour ce qui est de l’explicitation, l’exemple choisi – les études critiques – simplifie les choses puisque l’inscription dans cette orientation scientifique est, en soi, une déclaration de positionnement social fort. Qu’en est-il alors pour les études qui ne s’inscrivent pas dans une approche critique ? Cette reconnaissance par le chercheur de l’impossibilité de la neutralité et la prise de conscience de son positionnement (parfois inconscient au départ) ainsi que son explicitation nous semblent cruciales, quels que soient les positionnements.

Ainsi, pour donner un exemple dans un autre domaine que le numérique et sans prétendre à l’exhaustivité dans les positionnements possibles, travailler sur le plurilinguisme peut prendre des formes très différentes selon que, pour prendre deux positions contrastées, on se place dans une optique épistémologique qui remet en cause le cloisonnement des langues chez l’individu et pose une compétence de communication plurilingue holistique ou selon que l’on se place dans une perspective normative et cloisonnante des langues. Dans chacun des cas, il nous semblerait important de préciser, derrière les positionnements épistémologiques, les choix sociétaux et politiques que le chercheur a opérés et qui concourent à ces choix épistémologiques. Cela permet au lecteur qui consultera les publications issues des différents travaux de les lire en pleine connaissance des imaginaires et des idéologies qui les sous-tendent. Même s’ils se fondent sur des « hard data » et un traitement quantitatif de qualité, souvent jugé comme garant d’objectivité, ces travaux, d’un bord ou de l’autre, ne peuvent revendiquer être d’une absolue objectivité ni refléter la réalité. Aussi rigoureux soient-ils en soi, ils ne seront que le produit d’un travail de recherche fondé sur des choix dépourvus de neutralité qui ne peuvent donner que des constructions différentes de réalités différentes.

Le second élément essentiel que nous entendons aborder ici est celui de la cohérence. La scientificité est, en effet, largement déterminée par une focalisation de cohérences. Celle-ci devrait se retrouver notamment entre positionnement social et épistémologique (nous venons implicitement de l’évoquer), mais aussi entre ces positionnements et les choix méthodologiques, tout comme entre ces choix et l’action de recherche en soi (la récolte, le traitement et l’analyse des données notamment), et entre les données, leur analyse et les conclusions qui en sont tirées. Nous ne nous étendrons pas sur ces éléments, évoqués trop rapidement et superficiellement, nous en convenons, car ils relèvent de la qualité de tout travail scientifique et ne sont pas typiques de la réflexion menée ici. Nous entendons seulement souligner que la rigueur, la scientificité et la cohérence d’une recherche ne peut se comprendre qu’au sein d’un positionnement précis et de choix que le chercheur se doit d’expliciter.

9 Granjon cite l’intervention de Bourdieu au colloque tenu les 21 et 22 juin 2000 au Centre Pompidou.


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Nous illustrons maintenant notre propos à l’aide d’un exemple, présenté de façon là aussi succincte et incomplète, l’objectif étant d’exemplifier une possible construction de cohérence sociale, épistémologique et méthodologique dans le domaine des études critiques en sciences du langage et de montrer – car cela nous semble crucial – que le chercheur qui se lance dans des réflexions sur les positionnements doit aussi, au-delà de textes comme celui-ci, chercher à mettre en pratique son discours dans des actions de recherche concrètes.

À la Mise en Oeuvre

Pour le chercheur travaillant en sciences du langage et dans le domaine de l’éducation qui entend se positionner dans le champ des études critiques, issues – il faut bien le rappeler – de la sociologie, le premier pas consiste à chercher, dans les points de contact possibles, celui qui va lui convenir en fonction de son « bagage » scientifique et de ses centres d’intérêt.

Dans l’exemple récent dont nous présentons quelques éléments saillants concernant la précision du positionnement et des mises en cohérence, nous nous sommes tournés (Guichon & Ollivier, à paraitre) vers l’analyse de discours dans une approche critique en nous intéressant à plusieurs types de discours, notamment au discours de l’expert dans les rapports institutionnels portant sur l’usage du tableau blanc (ou numérique) interactif (désormais TBI/TNI).

L’analyse de discours, avec différentes orientations, est bien ancrée en sciences du langage, mais demandait à être mise en cohérence avec notre positionnement critique et notre questionnement sur les traces de pouvoir dans les textes analysés. Nous nous sommes donc tournés vers l’analyse critique de discours (« critical discourse analysis », désormais CDA) (Fairclough, 2010; Kress, 1990; Wodak, 2011; Wodak & Meyer, 2015) pour construire notre questionnement et nos options méthodologiques, mais aussi nous situer dans les grandes orientations de la CDA.

Au sein de l’analyse (critique) de discours, nous nous positionnés dans une perspective qui considère, à l’instar de Foucault (1994, p. 727), qu’« il ne peut pas y avoir de société sans relations de pouvoir, si on les entend comme stratégies par lesquelles les individus essaient de conduire, de déterminer la conduite des autres » et envisageons le pouvoir comme des « jeux stratégiques » ayant recours à des « techniques » qui s’expriment dans le langage. Le discours est ainsi conçu comme ce que Grillo (2005, p. 9) nomme10 « une lutte de significations » (« struggle over meanings ») visant à imposer une façon de voir les choses entre différents acteurs ne bénéficiant pas du même statut social.

Nous nous sommes donc intéressés à la construction d’une image du monde par les auteurs de rapports institutionnels portant sur l’usage du TBI/TNI en éducation. Il s’agissait de « mettre en lumière l’exercice d’un pouvoir de conviction à travers des mécanismes plus ou moins transparents qui visent à faire passer une vision du monde, souvent celle des puissants et de ceux qui souhaitent l’être » (Guichon & Ollivier, à paraitre).

La question de la mise en œuvre concrète et des outils s’est évidemment posée. Nous évoquerons ici uniquement la question de l’utilisation (ou non) d’un logiciel informatique permettant des analyses automatisées. Dans le cadre de l’étude, nous nous sommes en effet tournés, dans un premier temps, notamment pour en tester les atouts et limites dans le cadre d’études critiques, vers Tropes pour son

10 En référence à Geertz (1973, p. 316) et sa « lutte pour le réel » (« struggle for the real ») et Hall (1997, p. 66).



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analyse de l’énonciation, celle-ci devant permettre de révéler une possible implication significative de l’énonciateur. Nous avons montré que ce logiciel fondé sur des analyses fortement centrées sur le matériau linguistique ne permettait pas d’obtenir des résultats fiables pour les analyses envisagées même s’ils sont quantitativement exacts. Le logiciel ne repère, en effet, pas les techniques de pouvoir mises en œuvre par les énonciateurs qui essaient de donner à leur texte une apparence aussi neutre que possible. Non conçu pour repérer les techniques de pouvoir, l’outil informatique se laisse ainsi berner par la recherche d’une neutralité de surface dans des textes d’experts que nous avions sélectionnés. Ainsi, un des rapports soumis à l’analyse de Tropes est classé par le logiciel comme appartenant au « type narratif » et non argumentatif, et le logiciel note peu de trace de l’implication énonciative alors que notre analyse a permis de montrer que le texte, grâce à de nombreuses techniques non-neutres, entend prouver que les TBI/TNI est bénéfique dans l’enseignement. L’analyse que nous avons menée a ainsi mis en lumière les limites d’un outil qui n’a pas été conçu dans la perspective d’études critiques. L’analyse humaine a permis d’étendre les éléments à observer dans le cadre d’une analyse critique de discours et s’est intéressée à l’importance des procédés typographiques et de mise en page, à l’organisation textuelle (notamment l’usage fait des titres et intertitres de même que des résumés), à l’occultation interdiscursive, notamment la non-reprise d’éléments présents dans des publications citées conduisant à ne pas reproduire exactement ce qui se trouve dans les textes d’origine, mais aussi la non-référence à des études n’allant pas dans le sens recherché, etc.

Assurer la cohérence de l’action de recherche, c’est donc aussi s’assurer que les outils à disposition – technologiques ou non d’ailleurs – même conçus pour des études potentiellement proches de celle que l’on envisage sont capables de répondre aux besoins de la recherche dans le cadre des choix fondamentaux faits et précisés en amont. L’important est de produire des résultats de recherche à partir de données collectées, traitées et analysées avec rigueur dans le cadre d’options méthodologiques et avec des outils cohérents avec l’approche retenue et explicitée.

Perspectives – Associer Non-Neutralité Explicitée et Scientificité

Rechercher la neutralité est chose impossible. Que l’on revendique ou non des positionnements sociaux, toute recherche se fait sur fond de tels positionnements conscients ou non, explicités ou non. Ils sont présents à l’origine même de toute action de recherche et influencent le choix des objets et des questions avec lesquelles on s’approche des objets de recherche, questions qui vont contribuer à construire celui-ci.

Comme nous le disions en ouverture, la question n’est alors pas d’opposer quantitatif à qualitatif (par exemple) car, d’une part, le recours aux « hard data » ne réduit pas la non-neutralité originale et n’est pas garant d’objectivité et de fiabilité et, d’autre part, ces approches peuvent très bien se compléter et s’imbriquer si cela est cohérent et permet des analyses fiables. Dans l’exemple présenté ci-dessus, nous avons montré que l’exactitude des traitements quantitatifs n’est pas un garant de fiabilité ; d’un autre côté, il aurait été tout à fait possible, dans un souci d’objectivation, de comptabiliser (par exemple) des techniques de pouvoir pour en mesurer l’étendue dans un ou des textes, mais cela n’enlève rien ou n’apporte rien en termes de neutralité de la recherche menée.

Les études critiques montrent qu’il est tout à fait possible d’associer non-neutralité voire revendication d’un engagement dans la praxis et scientificité. En mettant en lumière l’impossibilité de la neutralité et l’importance des positionnements sociaux, elles invitent, en outre, le chercheur, qu’il s’inscrive en leur sein ou non, à expliciter les choix non-neutres qui sous-tendent toutes ses actions de


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recherche et à faire preuve, dans le cadre sélectionné et précisé, de la plus grande cohérence et de la plus grande rigueur possibles en interrogeant les diverses cohérences qui devraient soutenir ses recherches.

Remerciements

J’adresse ici mes sincères remerciements à Shameem Oozeerally pour son invitation à participer aux journées d’études qui furent aussi passionnantes qu’enrichissantes scientifiquement et humainement et qui m’ont ensuite permis de travailler sur ce texte.

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NADAL P. & ANKIAH-GANGADEEN A.

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THE NEXUS OF THEORETICAL CONSTRUCTS IN

SELECTED RESEARCHES IN KREOL MORISIEN

Pascal Nadal and Aruna Ankiah-GangadeenMauritius Institute of Education

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we discuss the ontology-epistemology-axiology-methodology connection with reference to specific research projects conducted in the teaching and learning of Kreol Morisien (KM). In particular, we consider the order in which the various theoretical constructs drive each other while embarking on a research process. Still in relation to KM as a phenomenon, we discuss what is valued in research, thereby the focus on axiology. To this end, we review situations whereby researchers may be swamped by data which everybody else may view as mere statistics to be filed, or as trivial corridor conversation topics. We also attempt to contextually address considerations pertaining to the nature of knowledge and how it is created, especially when ‘researching down’. Finally, for enhanced exemplification and contextualisation, we show how research pursuits undertaken within different traditions converge in creating knowledge that can potentially challenge and subvert common representations about the study of KM at school.

Key words: Research theories; philosophical assumptions; conceptual structure; language studies: Kreol Morisien

INTRODUCTION

This paper discusses various theoretical and philosophical constructs in research – such as ontology, epistemology, axiology, and methodology – against the backdrop provided by three studies. These studies have been carried out by the two authors in relation to Kreol Morisien (KM) in formal academic contexts, more specifically at primary and tertiary levels. We start by providing an overview of these research projects and situate them amidst the different waves of research in languages in Mauritius. After providing insights into some of the ontological premises of these studies – what truth and reality meant in each and what could be known about the different phenomena researched (Guba & Lincoln, 1994), epistemology is discussed. This is done particularly by focusing on the question ‘for whom is knowledge generated?’, as well as on issues of power relations in qualitative research. Consequently, we interrogate the researcher’s outlook on data that may not have primarily been produced for research purposes. The notion of ‘what is valued in research’ (axiology) is subsequently brought up, as it has a direct bearing on what will be researched (the phenomenon), who will be researched with (the participants), the mindset with which the research will be carried out (the paradigm), and how the research will be conducted (the methodology).

Throughout the paper, these related concepts are examined with close reference to the aforementioned studies in KM. Therein precisely resides the contribution that this paper aims at making. Indeed, research-related theories are commonly discussed either from a purely conceptual perspective or some light is shed on them in papers documenting individual research pursuits. Here, however, the



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theoretical argument is interwoven in a discussion encompassing three studies consecutively carried out by the two authors over roughly a three-year period (2017-2020) on a related phenomenon inherent to the Mauritian context. This will hopefully present an enhanced comprehension of the various theoretical constructs, as explanations pertaining to the different studies either reinforce each other or provide interesting avenues for contrast.

Finally, the paper ends with a reflection on the researcher’s own voice in the research endeavour and probes into the question of epistemological bias, by drawing from conclusions of studies carried out within completely different paradigmatic orientations.

Overview of Selected Researches in KM

Whilst the debate surrounding Mauritian Kreol is often marked by the discourse of dismissal, deficiency and subjugation, the first study titled ‘Parental choice in the learning of Mauritian Kreol at school: the motivational factors’ turned the lens on people who had expressed faith in the project ‒ namely parents who had opted for KM ‒ despite the atmosphere of doubt and fear prevailing at the outset1. The study, which involved five primary schools located in Port-Louis, Rose-Hill, Vacoas, Curepipe and Baie du Cap respectively, was undertaken in collaboration with the Service Diocésain de l’Education Catholique (SeDEC)2 with heads of schools and teachers enlisted as research collaborators. The co-participation of parents of twenty-three pupils from the first batch of Grade 1 who had chosen KM as an optional subject3 in 2012 and who studied it until the completion of the primary school cycle (Grade 6) in 2017 was also solicited. Through narrative inquiry, factors that had prompted parents to opt for KM on behalf of their wards were brought forth, showing the close connect between the lived experiences of parents and their decision.

The second paper, titled ‘The study of KM at school: Dynamics and lessons from the Catholic Primary Education sector’, used a mixed methods research design to study the six-year trend and evolution in enrolment figures of the first batch of pupils who had opted for KM in Grade 1 in 2012. The data obtained from all 46 Catholic Schools ‒ that accommodate more than 35% of the total number of Grade 1 pupils on the island who had opted for the new subject in 2012 ‒ revealed different dynamics in enrolment figures during the ensuing six years. A scrutiny and analysis of these statistics brought out fluctuation patterns, especially due to dropouts, and the grades when these were more prominent. A better insight into the dynamics observed with respect to the inflow and outflow was provided by insider participants, namely KM educators, heads of schools and pedagogical advisors.

The third study, ‘Mauritian Kreol in Mauritian Higher Education: A tale of grit and audacity’ was set against the broad discourse of mother tongue use at tertiary level and discussed the introduction of MK as part of a joint bachelor degree at the University of Mauritius. The narratives of two participants ‒ one senior academic and one undergraduate student ‒ whose personal, academic and professional

1 Pitched against well-established international languages like English and French – and the academic and professional opportunities afforded by the latter – the worth of Mauritian Kreol as a vernacular that offers limited scope beyond the island’s frontier is often called into question. See Nadal & Ankiah-Gangadeen (2018) for a detailed discussion of this.2 The SeDEC is the officially mandated authority by the Bishop of Port-Louis to look into the management of the 46 Catholic primary schools and Ten Catholic Colleges owned by the Diocese.3 Kreol Morisien is offered as an optional language subject – at par with a set of other languages, mostly Asian/ancestral ones – at primary level since 2012, and at secondary level since 2018.




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pathways were, directly or indirectly, related to this momentous event (given that Mauritian Kreol is not an official language in Mauritius) were presented and analysed. These provide rich insights into the journey into the tertiary sector of a language that is still repudiated on a number of fronts.

Language Research Studies in Mauritius – A Quadruple Focus

Various reasons can explain our decision to discuss the ontology-epistemology-axiology-methodology interplay with reference to research projects in the teaching and learning of Kreol Morisien. Admittedly, this nascent field is warranting increasing consideration on the part of researchers with an interest in the language situation of Mauritius. However, other factors that resonate more profoundly with the very nature of Mauritian Kreol have motivated our choice. We can here cite the popular attitudes towards this language, considered as the undisputed mother tongue of a majority of Mauritians4, as well as overt and covert institutional postures vis-à-vis MK and other languages used/learnt in Mauritius.

To begin with, we map out below some major categories underneath which the study of diverse language phenomena in Mauritius4 can be placed. This will enable us to better locate the orientation of the present paper:

Language Phenomena Research Tendencies in Mauritius

Figure 1

As it can be seen, four broad tendencies can be discerned from this indicative5 diagrammatic representation. First momentous developments – led mostly by foreign researchers – were noted on a purely linguistic front in the 1970s, principally with the work of Baker (1972) aiming at describing what was then referred-to as ‘Mauritian Creole Language’ (MCL). Around the same period, substantial light was shed on Mauritian Kreol as a French-based creole, with the works of the late linguist Robert Chaudenson (1979). The latter argued that Mauritian Kreol originates from ‘Bourbonnais’, the language spoken in the nearby island of Reunion, during the period of French settlement in Mauritius, during the early 18th century. This was in sharp opposition to the stand taken by Baker (1982) – and later by

Linguistic Focus

Socio/Political focus

Applied linguistic focus

Focus on Mauritian Kreol

• Description/ origin/ evolution of Mauritian Kreol as a language.

• Status of languages in Mauritius.

• Language use in the educational sphere/classroom setting.

• Phenomena related to the use of Kreol in formal learning contexts

4 More than 85% of the local population identified Kreol as one of their home languages in the last population census, far ahead of languages like French – about 4% – and English, less than 3% (Central Statistics Office, 2011).5 It is difficult, within the scope of this paper, to propose a comprehensive and exhaustive survey of all the categories and subcategories within which research into languages present in Mauritius may possibly be grouped.



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a group of German linguists (Chaudenson, 2012) – who strongly questioned the theory of Mauritian Creole being approximations of French transmitted via interactions between masters and slaves on sugar cane plantations. Instead, they propound the view that creoles, like the one spoken in Mauritius, are rather contact languages that have been significantly influenced by non-Francophone languages, such as Malagasy, African languages (especially Bantu), and to some extent Indic languages (Baker, 2014), that had made their way to these islands as a result of slavery. The late 70s and early 80s were also marked by research undertaken by Stein (1982), initially as part of an academic pursuit on Mauritian Kreol that eventually led to seminal work on language use in multilingual Mauritius.

In the late 1990s and the 2000s, the sociolinguistic discourse gained particular prominence, with reflections focusing either specifically on local language-in-education policies (Tirvassen, 1999 & 2009) or on domestic language policies at large (Carpooran, 2003). The period that followed witnessed a profusion of language research projects that explored the phenomenon of multilingualism and its manifestations in the local classroom and school contexts (see Auleear Owodally, 2014; Bartens, 2001; Bissoonauth & Offord, 2001; Mahadeo, 2006; Rajah-Carrim, 2007; Sonck, 2005). The ensuing reflections, coupled with sustained interrogations of local attitudes towards languages and language choices in the plurilingual Mauritian context (see for example, Rajah-Carrim, 2005; Sauzier-Uchida, 2009) somehow paved the way to the current emphasis on researching Kreol Morisien, be it as a subject or as a medium of instruction for the teaching and learning of other subjects.

It should here be acknowledged that the way to this current situation has been paved by sustained efforts towards the valorisation of Mauritian Kreol, such as the establishment of a harmonized writing system (Hookoomsing, 2004), the production of Diksioner Morisien, the first monolingual Creole dictionary in the world (Carpooran, 2009); the setting up of the Akademi Kreol Morisien in 2010 to look into matters surrounding the introduction of the language; and the landmark event, the introduction of Kreol Morisien as an optional language subject at primary level in 2012. For instance, we note that shortly after the introduction of KM as a school subject, two doctoral pursuits in KM-related fields were initiated by Harmon and Mahadeo-Doorgakant, and completed in 2015 and 2017 respectively. Harmon (2015) conducted a critical ethnographic study of KM as an optional subject at primary level, and Mahadeo-Doorgakant (2017) conducted a linguistic ethnographic study looking into the development of the language repertoire of primary school learners using KM pupils as research participants. In parallel, strides were made into the study of the grammatical, phonological and orthographic features of the language, a need that emerged with its use in/for formal teaching and learning at primary level (see Oozeerally, 2014).

Even more so, as Kreol Morisien made its way into secondary education in 2018, and talks are underway at the level of the newly set up Akademi Kreol Repiblik Moris (AKRM)6 for the offer of the language as a ‘School Certificate’ subject for the ‘O’-level examinations organised in Mauritius by the Cambridge Assessment International Education (“Kreol Morisien: discussions engagées avec

6 Prior to the introduction of KM at school in 2012, the Akademi Kreol Morisien (AKM) was set up to look into a number of technical aspects, like the codification of the language’s orthography and grammar, the elaboration of the curriculum and the development of teaching and learning materials. However, further down the line, the project met with a lot of resistance in Rodrigues on the grounds that the Kreol spoken there differs from the one used in Mauritius. The very appellation of ‘Kreol Morisien’ was objected to and the subject ceased to be offered in all Rodriguan Government Schools. For this reason, when the terms and reference of the new academy were worked out, the specificity of Kreol Rodrige was catered for. Through the appellation of Akademi Kreol Repiblik Moris, the particularities of the Kreol used in this autonomous island of the Republic of Mauritius are hinted at.




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Cambridge,” 2018), the consideration given to research in the field of KM seems more than ever justified.

The Nexus Of Theoretical Constructs

It is therefore against this background of applied research in KM that we propose to discuss the ontology-epistemology-axiology-methodology nexus. Even though we reckon that the connection of these four elements largely determines the nature of research that gets undertaken and also the way that research is done, yet, it does not always call for the researcher’s undivided attention throughout the research process. More often than not, sticking to the chosen ontological-epistemological-axiological-methodological construct remains an implicit preoccupation for the researcher, who internalises the do’s and don’ts in a subtle rather than frontal manner.

Interestingly, it is also worthwhile to consider the order in which the various theoretical constructs drive each other while embarking on a research process, assuming in the first instance that they really drive each other. Figure 2 below, adapted from Crotty (1998), provides an illustration of the neat relationship (as often depicted) between ontology, epistemology and methodology in terms of various theories.

Relationship Between Ontology, Epistemology and Methodology

Figure 2

However, we argue that it is possible for a researcher to rethink the usual designs by deconstructing the order in which research is generally conceived at the epistemological and methodological levels (Oozeerally, 2019). For instance, one target group may be deemed ‘interesting enough’ to become the focus of a research project, and then a researchable phenomenon that is pertinent to the sample is selected. Finally, a theoretical structure is crafted around the whole idea. It is apparent that all such decisions taken upstream are hardly discernible by audiences eventually taking stock of the research findings.

Theory of essence/truth/

reality

Theory of knowledge

Theory of action

• Ontology

• Epistemology

• Methodology



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Defined by Cohen et al., (2007) as assumptions made about the “bases of knowledge” (p. 7), epistemology deals with the very perspectives and nature of knowledge. By extension, it invites us to consider the perspective from which the question of the nature of knowledge and that of knowledge generation are viewed. Quite simply, is knowledge generated for the researcher or the researched (whether we refer to them as subjects, participants, or collaborators) or concurrently for both? This question deserves attention, especially in situations where the research is undertaken from a top-down perspective, for example, medical practitioner-patient, community worker-social aid beneficiary, or teacher educator-trainee teacher. Karnieli-Miller et al., (2009) have worked out an elaborate classification of power relations in qualitative research that ranges from highly hierarchical to ‘equal partnership’ and highly egalitarian. They further explain that the “admirable desire to democratize the research process, and… question traditional role boundaries” in qualitative inquiry nonetheless “raises multiple ethical dilemmas and serious methodological challenges” at all levels of the research process (Karnieli-Miller et al., 2009, p. 279).

Transposed to the two research projects undertaken in the Catholic primary education sector, similar questions arise. Given that one of the two researchers forms part of the management team of the SeDEC, which oversees the functioning of 46 primary schools, it is indeed to be ascertained whether the stakeholders involved in the research (e.g. teachers and heads of schools) viewed themselves as collaborators, or co-researchers, in the creation of knowledge, or as compliant officers providing information requested ‘from above’. Karnieli-Miller et al., (2009) recall that scholars have indeed raised “questions about the participants’ real autonomy to voluntarily give informed consent” (p. 279), for example in clinical research settings where patients feel indebted to the physicians or medical consultants treating them. This eventually develops in them a feeling of “obligation to participate” in the studies (ibid, p. 279). Shaw (2003) explores this argument further, by pointing out that situations of ethical conflict and methodological dilemma arise at all stages of qualitative research, thereby calling into question the nature of findings generated through such studies.

Related to epistemological concerns is what may be termed as the researcher’s outlook on data. To take an example from the “KM in primary: Trends and dynamics” project, the quantitative part of the study relied essentially on enrolment statistics for KM over a six-year period in the primary schools managed by the SeDEC. These figures were analysed, and patterns were drawn out by the two researchers for further discussion with collaborators during the qualitative phase of the study. What should be pointed out is that, for the administrative team at the SeDEC, these enrolment statistics known as the Pupils’ Monthly Attendance Return (PMAR), represent purely administrative information. This information is collected, compiled, and transmitted to the Ministry of Education for record-keeping compliance before it is eventually shelved at the office. But for people with a ‘researcher’ outlook, this information represents a very valuable source of knowledge that eventually brought about interesting insights, both from an academic perspective and for the administrators in terms of orientations for policy and pedagogical matters with regard to the teaching of KM.

As we ponder on the values that guided our research endeavours in the study of MK in formal learning contexts, we are brought to reflect on axiological considerations. Axiology refers to the theory of values (Biedenbach & Jacobsson, 2016) and, when applied to research, it answers the question ‘what is valued in research?’ Axiology, therefore, is related to paradigm (‘with what mindset is research undertaken?’) and methodology (‘how is research undertaken?’), as these two latter aspects are conditioned by what is valued in research. Is research undertaken only to obtain findings to contribute to knowledge (epistemes) and thereby fill in knowledge gaps, as it is often done in academia? Research may also be carried out to inform/influence policy, as it may sometimes be the case for commissioned




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studies and projects. It can also aim at bringing about change in the lives of people and empower them, especially within the critical paradigm (Horkheimer, 1982). For instance, this is what Harmon (2017) claims to do in his doctoral work in the field of KM and heritage languages.

In relation to the specific research projects in KM initiated and used as backdrop for the present theoretical discussion, different axiological underpinnings can be outlined. For example, the research on the introduction of MK in Higher Education proposed a focus on the unique voices of two iconic figures whose experiences will possibly never be replicated by other people, given their powerful and pioneering roles in the teaching and learning of MK at tertiary level. In this case, the epistemological foundations, in terms of the nature and type of knowledge aspired to, and axiological basis (what is valued in research) have influenced the methodology, namely narrative research. As it will be discussed in greater detail later, it was felt that the unique nuances inherent to the voices of the two collaborators could best be captured through a narrative rendition. For the research on ‘Parental choice’ as well, the focus on life as experienced was told through the use of narrative methodology. More fundamentally, the research helped to contribute to a better understanding of some of the dynamics that come into play in the upstream decision-making process by parents to either opt, or not, for the study of the language. Whilst findings could possibly be of interest to administrators and policy makers within the Catholic education sector, the interest (axiology) was mostly academic. This is because, given the contextual realities, there is little likelihood that parents will ever base themselves on research findings to inform their decisions about choosing KM or not, for their ward.

Finally, the “KM in primary: Trends and dynamics” research project looked into the differing dynamics concerning KM enrolment from one school to the other. The study revealed that various elements impact the relative popularity or unpopularity of the subject from one educational context to the other. Some of these are the academic profile of learners, the school’s geographical location and other factors such as teacher agency. Insights obtained, especially concerning the adverse consequences of human factors (such as teachers’ demotivation) on the enrolment rate for the subject, can be relevant for SeDEC administrators and, by extension, the Ministry of Education. For instance, research findings could be used to inform decisions regarding the posting of educators to ensure that desirable outcomes are achieved, and adverse ones mitigated concerning the popularity of KM as a subject.

Let us now take a closer look at the methodological approaches that were adopted to conduct the different studies. The research methodology is generally selected according to its fitness for purpose to achieve the aim of a study, though it may require readjustments in the course of the implementation. As seen above, the research methodology is anchored within the research paradigm and closely aligned with the researcher’s ontological and epistemological stance. Here the motivation for the methodological choices effected for the KM-related projects resided in the nature of the studies. The study of parental choice necessitated an exploration and understanding of the participants’ decision to opt for KM in a context of uncertainty about the validity of the subject amidst prevalent ‘language as capital’ (Bourdieu, 1992) discourses. The decision also involved having to swim against the tide of prejudice towards MK at the time the decision was taken, but it was also coloured by past (personal) experiences related to the language. Features that were closely linked to the participants’ biography, such as values, belief systems and emotions, thus fell under scrutiny. Since narrative inquiry gives a voice to minorities, subalterns, the stigmatized, the marginalized (Glazzard & Dale, 2012; Kathard, 2009; Stanley, 2008), it became an obvious choice for a study dealing with a majority language side-lined in favour of foreign (Western) languages. Focusing on people instead of events and artefacts provided the scope for the inclusion of emotions and personal meaning-making, features which traditional methodologies with reductionist tendencies sometimes quell or overlook. Narrative inquiry was also apt for our study, as the latter was



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situated within the interpretivist paradigm and premised on the belief that there are multiple truths. ‘Truth’ here may be interpreted as the different reasons underlying the parents’ choice. The study thus privileged the voices and ‘truths’ of the participants.

Further, as Foste (2018) claims, “(the) tradition of narrative inquiry is guided by the eliciting of stories that reveal insights into the human experience” (p. 10). Indeed, the methodology revealed that, though the decision had been taken at a point in time, it was shaped by the participants’ lived experiences. Narrative inquiry provided the means to dig into the distant (and not-so-distant) past, as well as evoke memories attached to the phenomenon. This methodology allowed us to capture a breadth of experiences and realities while foregrounding “the complexity and messiness inherent in the process” (Foste, 2018, p. 10). Given the laden history behind the inclusion of KM in the school curriculum and the collaborators’ experiences of MK, the emotionally charged nature of the undertaking could not be sanitized, and a mere factual account would have been hollow. Research collaborators needed the liberty to tell their story from their vantage point. It was important for them to retain their individuality, as “human actions are unique” (Polkinghorne, 1995, p. 7) and experiences subjective. This was accomplished through the use of biographical interviews as a data generating tool.

Just as the parental choice study, the MK in Higher Education study also involved collaborators who may be described as pioneers for having countered language prejudices so that MK could be introduced in the tertiary education curriculum. This study sought to highlight human agency behind the achievement, rather than merely document the event. Understanding the journey of MK into higher education thus entailed obtaining insights into key experiences in the lives of the participants. The reasons underpinning methodological choices mentioned above are equally valid for this study. Added to these, we here wish to highlight how the approach enabled the participants to shape their stories to reflect their interpretation of their lived experiences. The interviews provided the participants with the discursive space to interpret and explain their actions in the context of their biographical experiences in particular social, political, and historical settings. Their accounts captured the dialectical relationship between individuals, spaces or contexts, and time, thereby affording a better insight into the multi-layered complexity of these experiences moreso as both their personal and professional selves were concerned. Narrative inquiry permitted the human dimension behind the endeavour to emerge. Due to the choice of research methodology, the event (which involved human struggles at macro, meso and micro levels) culminated in the production of richly textured narratives, where the tensions and interconnections between the different spheres could be evidenced.

“The study of KM at school: Dynamics and lessons from the Catholic Primary Education sector” had a dual aim. The first was to examine enrolment figures of the first batch of pupils who had opted for KM in Grade 1 in 2012 over six years (the period of their primary schooling); and the second was to understand the factors behind the trends and fluctuations observed. Given the need for both quantitative and qualitative data, a mixed methods approach was chosen. The efficacy of mixed methods research (MMR) is well explained by Cohen et al. (2018, p. 32):

MMR focuses on collecting, analysing, and mixing both quantitative and qualitative data in a single study or series of studies. Its central premise is that the use of quantitative and qualitative approaches, in combination, provides a better understanding of research problems and questions than either approach on its own. This is, in part, because research

1 It refers to binary and hierarchical orientations, illustrated through the proliferation of terms like native v/s non-native, etc.




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problems are not exclusively quantitative or qualitative, hence using only one kind of data (quantitative or qualitative), one methodology, one paradigm, one way of looking at the problem or one way of conducting the research, may not do justice to the issue in question.

A sequential design was used (Creswell et al., 2008), with qualitative data produced retrospectively to make sense of the figures gathered. Thus, while phase one dealt with data in the form of statistics only, phase two involved generating data from collaborators who were, as mentioned earlier, insiders. They were, hence, in a position to provide the required insights for a deep understanding of the phenomenon under study. The data generated in phase two threw light on and helped to understand patterns and movements concerning the coming of new pupils into the KM class and the outflow from it, especially those dynamics that were more pronounced in specific grades. The additional qualitative data was considered as being particularly instrumental in the study.

Interestingly, the data from the ‘parental choice’ narrative research project was also key in making clearer meaning of some outlooks obtained from the quantitative part of the study. While at the outset the two studies had not been viewed as being complementary, it was difficult to ignore the links between the two during data analysis, since understandings emanating from the first study informed our interpretations of the second one. This is hardly surprising since the areas being researched in these studies were very closely connected.

CONCLUSION

Having examined and discussed the various considerations that underpin research endeavours, we are led on to ponder upon the following: is research sanitised to the extent that it requires the death of the researcher? Is the study totally devoid of the imprint of the researcher? In the course of the discussion, we had indicated that, often, qualitative research undertaken aims at drawing the biographies of participants or collaborators. We argue that what we think about knowledge and knowledge creation is also influenced by our own biography as researchers; what we think and have done with regard to the phenomena being explored does impact upon the way in which the study is conducted and disseminated. Our biographical imprint may even be reflected in our discourse and vocabulary. In the case of the studies, we can note the use of terms and formulations that are hard to dissociate from one of the co-author’s active involvement in the KM sphere, for instance KM teaching at the MIE, collaboration in a lexicographic project (KM dictionary) and the codification of MK’s orthography and grammar, regular contribution to a rubric in Kreol in one popular local daily newspaper, and membership in jury panels for diverse literary competitions in Kreol.

While the discourse may be coloured by the researcher’s biographical experiences, the veracity of the fact cannot be disputed. Such instances are commonplace within studies in the interpretivist paradigm, since we research with our whole being and thus, cannot and should not efface our own history or experience. This assertion begs another consideration: should the whole question of epistemological bias be turned over its head? As a case in point, we refer to Harmon’s (2017) “Heritage language and identity construction: A study of Kreol Morisien.” This Critical Ethnography study was conducted at the University of Western Cape, which is renowned for its tradition of hosting academics doing active advocacy on language matters. Defining his positionality, Harmon (2017) says that he cannot claim absolute objectivity as an outside observer of the phenomenon studied, given that his personal engagement as an engaged scholar is intricately linked with the intellectual and political dimensions of his research. He further adds that, “drawing from the literature on research paradigm […] the ‘engaged scholar’ or ‘engaged researcher’ is described as one who convinces the research participants that the



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world is socially constructed and can be changed by themselves” (Harmon, 2015, p. 24).

It must be brought out here that the major finding of his doctoral thesis is that parents opt for KM out of a strategic positioning motivation, and not really out of a sense of historical/ancestral/ethnic attachment to the language. This reinforces our finding for the parental choice research which was conducted within a different paradigm thereby highlighting the fact that the biographical imprint of the researcher does not in any way affect the validity of the findings of a study conducted within the required parameters.

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Baker, P. (1982). On the origin of the first Mauritians and of the creole language of their descendants: A refutation of Chaudenson’s “Bourbonnais” theory. In P. Baker & C. Corne (Eds.), Isle de France Creole. Affinities and origins (pp. 131- 259). Michigan, USA: Karoma Publishers.

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RAMASAWMY S.J. & KEE MEW WAN KHIN E.

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REFLECTING ON METHODOLOGICAL CHOICES FOR

LANGUAGE STUDIES IN MULTILINGUAL CONTEXTS

Shalini Jagambal Ramasawmy and Evelyn Kee Mew Wan KhinMauritius Institute of Education

ABSTRACT

The multilingual turn has foregrounded the importance of methodological choices that open up new epistemological understandings on the language phenomenon, especially in multilingual contexts. As a result, in the field of linguistics, research is being carried out using a bottom-up and an emic approach. These provide researchers with a different epistemological and methodological lens to study the language phenomenon, thereby contributing in changing the representation of multilinguals’ communicative and cognitive potential, as well as their language experiences. Drawing from the use of linguistic ethnography and narrative inquiry in two small-scale research projects we each undertook, we discuss the ways in which each methodology enabled us to explore and enhance our understanding of language issues in situated contexts. We also argue that the use of such qualitative methodologies in language studies provide the orientation and the tools needed to develop insights about language practices and experiences that would have otherwise not been explored.

Key words: Multilingualism; linguistic ethnography; narrative inquiry; language studies; methodology

INTRODUCTION

The multilingual turn (e.g. May, 2014) in language studies has brought to the fore the fact that methodological choices are grounded in ontological and epistemological positions. Consequently, the approach one adopts to research, together with the conceptual tools and data production instruments used, are fundamental, as they determine both the perspectives endorsed in the study and its outcomes (Grix, 2002; Stephens, 2009; Silverman, 2013). Largely dominated by positivism, the field of sociolinguistics has for a very long time adopted a structuralist approach that focuses on describing language as a system (Yngve, 2004 in Makoni and Pennycook, 2007). Research has been conducted from an etic approach that has denied the importance of the context, while in fact, languaging is a situated practice. As a result, these underlying assumptions on which the field of sociolinguistics has been built have given way to a conceptualisation of multilingualism based on a monoglossic ideology. Following the social turn in the field, research is gradually contributing in deconstructing notions such as language and diglossia, thereby restoring and positively shaping the representation that multilinguals have of their identity, and their communicative as well as cognitive potential. There is, therefore, an increasing need for sociolinguistic research to be carried out adopting a bottom-up approach, with the aim of observing and documenting actual everyday language practices and experiences.

Thus, in this paper, we draw from two small-scale studies we each undertook to discuss the ways in which alternative qualitative methodological approaches such as linguistic ethnography and narrative inquiry have enabled us to explore and enhance our understanding of language issues in



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multilingual contexts. To achieve that end, we will start off by providing a brief overview of the key conceptual tools used in structural linguistics. We will then problematize the conceptual and analytical tools which have served to assign meaning to the language and multilingual phenomena in mainstream sociolinguistics research, especially in Mauritius and Rodrigues. Finally, we will examine the potential linguistic ethnography and narrative inquiry offer in developing an understanding of “language use as contextually embedded” (Blackledge & Creese, 2010, p. 31).

Problematizing Conceptual Tools of Structural Linguistics

The field of linguistics, which emerged in the 19th and 20th centuries, has been theorised based on two pervasive ideologies, namely that monolingualism is the norm, and that each state should be associated with a specific language. This is the result of propaganda dating back to the Enlightenment period and which became prevalent with the spread of national autonomy in 19th century Europe, starting with the French revolution and the German Romanticism (Dorian, 2004; Franceschini, 2011; Makalela, 2015). Such a conception of nationalism assumed that a single unifying language was the best definition and protector of nationhood. Consequently, this view became predominant in the West, and was also largely adopted as part of the missionary and colonial projects in different parts of the world (Makoni and Pennycook, 2007; Makalela, 2015).

What is known today as the area of structural linguistics, had thus defined linguistics as the scientific study of language. In so doing, it has treated language as an object and has focussed on describing it as a system. This positivist approach to the study of language as a sanitised object points to disciplinary biases in this field of study (Lantolf and Thorne, 2006). The assumptions relate to the concepts on which the area is grounded, that is, the type of theorisation of language. Indeed, language is defined as a static and monolithic entity, with impermeable boundaries. Another assumption is the notion of homogeneity, which is linked with the monoglossic ideology. This, as a result, has led to the theorisation of speech communities as homogeneous groups rallied around a shared language (Labov, 2006).

Since the field of structural linguistics has built its theorization on the model of monolingual communication, scholarship on language diversity in bi/multilingual contexts has also been based on similar theoretical constructs. Bilingualism has thus been used to denote the use of two languages while multilingualism the use of three or more languages. Such a conceptualization, based on mere arithmetic, sees bi/multilinguals as the sum of two or more monolinguals (Grosjean, 1989), and has also given rise to the belief that multilinguals have separate language systems in their brain (Edwards, 2009). This has led to a number of different terms being used to describe variations of such phenomena, such as additive, subtractive, sequential, elective, and circumstantial bilingualism, amongst others.

The disciplinary biases and the theorization of key concepts in structural linguistics have led to a narrow view and a misrepresentation of the nature of the multilingual phenomenon (Lantolf and Thorne, 2006). Multilinguals have seen their proficiency, communicative patterns, cognitive potential, and very identity denigrated and marginalised because these have been constructed on the deficit model (Firth and Wagner, 1997), which Cook (1999) calls the ‘comparative fallacy’1.

1 It refers to binary and hierarchical orientations, illustrated through the proliferation of terms like native v/s non-native, etc.




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Implications for Empirical Sociolinguistics Research: The Case of Mauritius and Rodrigues

For long, sociolinguistics research grounded in the conceptual tools of structural linguistics has considered language as detached from its speakers and the context. This has been the result of research conducted from an etic perspective. This can be seen in sociolinguistics research undertaken in Mauritius and Rodrigues. The use of mainstream methodologies has led to a rather stereotypical description of the sociolinguistic landscape. This description is presented as accurately depicting the local linguascape. However, an analysis reveals that the description is presented in terms of the linguistic organisation (for an in-depth discussion on Mauritius, see Tirvassen and Ramasawmy, 2017). Researchers (e.g. Moorghen and Domingue, 1982; Baggioni and Robillard, 1990; Tirvassen 1993, 1999, 2002 & 2005; Hookoomsing, 1993; Rughoonundun, 1993; Bissoonauth and Offord, 2001; Rajah-Carrim, 2005, 2007 & 2009; Carpooran, 2003; Sonck, 2005; Sauzier-Uchida, 2009; and Bissoonauth, 2011) have sought to provide an explanation of the social organisation of languages by focusing on the status of languages, their functional differentiation (languages used for formal v/s non-formal communication, or for written v/s oral communication), and attitudes towards languages in different settings. A stable hierarchy of languages is consistently described, conceptualised by the notion of diglossia (Ferguson, 1959) or more precisely assymetrical diglossia (Chaudenson, 1984), where languages are organised in a hierarchy depending on their functions, which are viewed as high or low. Researchers (e.g. Eisenlohr, 2004; Eriksen, 1998) have also lengthily discussed the close link between language and identity. A number of studies have been conducted on language as religious, ethnic and cultural identity markers, or on other factors such as gender, level of education, place of residence, and socioeconomic status, among others. Interestingly, a number of researchers (e.g. Tirvassen, 1991 & 2003; Auleear Owodally, 2010, 2011, 2012 & 2014) have undertaken studies in schools as a domain of institutionalised language use. Despite the choice of a dynamic research site, researchers still initiate analysis of communication patterns based on policy.

The issue, however, is that there are very few published studies conducted where the actual language practices of Mauritians have been described, analysed and discussed. One example is the study by Auckle and Barnes (2011) where the language practices of three young women have been captured and where examples of their use of what is referred to as fused lects (Auer, 1999) are provided. Same can be said of Rodrigues where even fewer empirical studies have been carried out so far.

Epistemological Re-Orientation

Since the fields of structural linguistics and sociolinguistics had other preoccupations, no account has been taken of the actual communicative practices of the peoples, which did not limit themselves to the artificial boundaries imposed by named languages in their everyday usage of language. This is what leads Makoni and Pennycook (2007) to reject the concept of languageness, which they view as a social, cultural and political construction. Harris (1990) goes further and claims that the fields of linguistics and sociolinguistics have been based on a myth. He raises an interesting question, with ground-breaking epistemological and methodological implications, by asking whether the concept of language corresponds to any determinate or determinable object of analysis at all, when an etic perspective is adopted. Subsequently, Yngve (2004) argues that linguistics needs to become the “study of how people communicate rather than the scientific study of language” (cited in Makoni and Pennycook, 2007, p. 28). In a similar vein, Garcìa (2007) posits that “if language is an invention, then we must observe closely the way in which people use language” (p. xiii).



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Alternative Conceptual Tools

So far, language had been studied as a sanitised object, amputated, so to say, from its context. Following the multilingual turn (e.g. May, 2014) in sociolinguistics, there is now consensus that languages can only be understood locally, as situated practice. In addition, the shift of understanding from language as a structure and as a system to the fluid nature of actual language practices (Flores, 2013; Flores and Garcìa, 2013) has led post-structuralist language scholars (e.g. Jorgensen and Juggermans, 2011; Shohamy, 2006) to adopt the term languaging to refer to an understanding of language as an activity (Pennycook, 2010). It is only in using the verb form of the word that we are able to capture the fluid, flexible and dynamic features of the communicative practices of language users. The term language also gives way to the term communicative or linguistic repertoire because language users translanguage (Otheguy, Garcìa and Reid, 2015), which means they naturally indulge in a multiplicity of discursive practices to optimise communicative potential. In other words, they access different linguistic features by deploying their full linguistic repertoire, without watchful adherence to what is described as separate languages.

It is thus high time to put languages back into the world, and this can only happen by redefining our epistemological understanding of the language phenomenon, thereby using methodologies and conceptual tools that are aligned with same.

METHOD

Linguistic Ethnography

One of the methodologies that enables researchers to study language use as “a social process constantly reconstructed in sensitivity to environmental factors” (Canagarajah, 2007, p.94), and that emphasizes “the agency of speakers in an ongoing process of interactive meaning-making” (Garcìa and Li Wei, 2014, p.9) is linguistic ethnography. This is the methodology adopted for one of the small-scale studies reported in this paper. This research project set out to explore the language practices of secondary school teachers as a social practice in the situated context of their classrooms, to co-construct a subjective understanding of the reasons that account for their use of such language practices. Linguistic ethnography was deemed appropriate to explore actual language practices as socially and culturally embedded given its alignment with the epistemological orientation adopted by the researcher.

Linguistic ethnography offered the methodological potential necessary for this research endeavour. Indeed, such a methodology allows sociolinguistic research to be carried out adopting a bottom-up approach, that is, from an emic perspective, with the aim of observing and documenting actual everyday language practices. Indeed, linguistic ethnography aligns with socio-constructivist and post-structuralist approaches (Creese, 2010) to the study of language. As a critique of structuralism, linguistic ethnography contributes to the deconstruction of a social imagination that has attributed functions to languages, and enables a close analysis of language use as rooted in human activities, thus providing the possibility to develop insights into the highly intricate and dynamic processes involved in situated communicative acts (see for example, Creese, 2008 & 2010; Heller, 2008; Copland & Creese, 2015). Hence, by “tying ethnography down and opening linguistics up” (Rampton et al., 2004, p.4), linguistic ethnography proposes a methodology that works ground-up. Based on one or multiple cases, drawn from the unique social worlds in which researchers have immersed themselves, the latter can then develop an understanding of the practices, values and beliefs of their participants (Richards et al., 2012). This methodology allows us to “… see how language practices are connected to the very real conditions




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of people’s lives...” (Heller, 2008, p. 250), which is what is of interest to sociolinguists working from a qualitative approach.

Linguistic ethnography also positions itself as a distinct methodological construct (Rampton et al., 2004) as it claims to be more of a ‘discursive space’ (Rampton, 2007; Rampton et al., 2014) because it draws from different literatures to the study of language in social life and from a variety of analytical tools (Creese, 2008). Its interdisciplinarity consequently provides researchers with unparalleled flexibility to push theoretical and methodological boundaries. Indeed, by bringing in elements from different theories, and using same in creative ways, linguistic ethnography provides procedures that are ideally suited to extend our understanding of situated communicative practices (Creese, 2008; Rampton et al., 2004). As a matter of fact, when it comes to data analysis, both nomothetic (patterns and trends) and ideographic (unique and individual items) properties of the data can be attended to, which is fundamental to developing an adequate understanding of the language practices of multilinguals. It must be pointed out that this is quite a unique feature that linguistic ethnography possesses and offers to researchers.

This is not to say that linguistic ethnography is not challenging to use. It has to face a number of critiques, especially with respect to its identity and legitimacy (Hammersley, 2007; Blommaert, 2007) as a methodology which has revamped and reshaped North American linguistic anthropology. Its disciplinary eclecticism and its strategic use of a range of analytical tools to examine how language is used by people as social beings, while making it quite distinct, also opens it up to scepticism, especially from structural linguists. It is still worth investigating language use in-situ because it is its post-structuralist approach, negating totalisation and objectivism associated with anthropology, which makes linguistic ethnography an innovative methodology (Creese, 2008; Rampton et al., 2014).

Designing and undertaking a study using linguistic ethnography is not necessarily as straight forward. It demands adopting an emic perspective and being fully involved in the study, including long periods of immersion in the research context. Additionally, since there is the dual focus on language practices, the researcher needs to carefully and minutely record both verbal and non-verbal interactions. It is all mediated via the researcher who, in fact, becomes very much a key research instrument. As much as the experience is exciting, it can also be quite overwhelming. However, it provides an insight not otherwise available with other methodologies. Indeed, choosing linguistic ethnography has enabled the exploration of teachers’ language practices in a bid to develop an understanding of language use in situated practice. Furthermore, linguistic ethnography has been an enabling mechanism to study uniquely situated language practices that crystallise various layers of context, micro as well as macro contexts (Blommaert & Jie, 2010, p. 17), but as with other such alternative qualitative approaches, it involves being particularly rigorous and reflexive (Copland & Creese, 2015).

Narrative Inquiry

Another alternative methodology which has provided insights into the lived language experiences of multilinguals is narrative inquiry. In fact, narrating one’s story is subjective and often choosing to narrate one episode over another tells a lot about what has impacted most the participant but also her/his beliefs, assumptions, representations and even misconceptions s/he may be reproducing. This is the reason why in the small-scale study that was carried out with Rodriguan trainee teachers, narrative inquiry was used to explore the becoming of a bi/multilingual reader, namely how bi/multilinguals construct knowledge and skills in literacy in at least two languages – which are not always their home languages. The becoming has to do with moving along a path with milestones. Talking to people who



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bring meanings to their world and in so doing, construct realities which are “socially and experientially based” (Punch, 2011, pp. 109-11), therefore provide “an interpretative approach to social reality” (Jabareen, 2009, p. 51).

In Rodrigues (as well as in Mauritius), languages are often seen as competing against each other, and underachievement attributed to language interference between French and Creole, or even French and English, which constitutes, according to Herdina and Jessner (2002), a misunderstanding of how multilinguals learn and use their linguistic repertoire. As the world’s population is becoming more and more multicultural and multilingual due to growing globalisation and migration, research in language and literacy development which have been dominated so far by monolingual Eurocentric paradigms are gradually shifting from the monolingual to the multilingual as the norm (ibid.). Contrarily to early research which showed bilinguals to be deficient or early claims that learning two languages would cause pupils difficulties in learning to read and write, studies in the last 25 years have shown that bi/multilinguals have a plus, a “multi-competence” (Cook, 1991; Jessner, 2010; Franceschini, 2011). Likewise, key studies on literacy development have been mostly concerned with monolingual children and those learning to read in a second language, with basics already acquired in the first language. Studies on multilingualism tend not to focus on children who are concurrently learning to read in two languages which furthermore are not always their first languages and to which exposure varies prior to entering formal instruction, outside school and sometimes even in the classrooms.

Narrative inquiry as methodology gives voice to those multilinguals. According to Clandinin (2007), narrative is “a mode of knowing” (p. 38). Unfolding narratives (Wengraf, 2004) not only give information about what happened but how the person has been influenced by the experience or even how s/he remembers it, which may be factual or fictitious. Anecdotes are often tinted with the person’s beliefs and views regarding the subject. It is not so much what the participants have to say but why they choose to tell their story (Frank, 2012). There is a co-construction of knowledge between the researcher and the participants. The researcher does not only retell the participants’ stories but s/he actually re-stories the latter using angles and comments. For this small-scale study, the researcher also found herself writing her narrative of the participants over and above the participants’ narrative as she put together bits and pieces like in a puzzle to get a fuller picture of how they have learned to read and how they dealt with their bi/multilingual profile as readers. Moreover, the researcher does not only interpret meanings others have about the world as shared by the participants, but her/his interpretation is also shaped by her/his own experiences and background (Corbin Dwyer & Buckle, 2009). However, Wengraf (2004) warns against the fact that narrative may encompass not merely what the person has experienced (subjective) but also a self-presentation of what s/he wants to be (an illusion). Miller and Glassner (2011) further raised this issue of how interviewees’ respond may vary according to “who we are – in their lives, as well as the social categories to which we belong such as gender, class and race” (p. 134) while Sacks puts forth how “people tell stories in particular ways to particular recipients” (cited in Thornborrow, 2014, p. 54).

Another shift that alternative methodologies may provide in language studies is how participants get to learn more about themselves. This is possible in narrative research as confirmed by the participants when they shared how walking down memory lane made them better aware of how they became literate in English and French and how this knowledge would influence their practice as a teacher in the future. In fact, narrative inquiry contributed to shedding light on events which, though did not carry a lot of meaning at the time they happened, played an important role in who we are and how we live now. So doing narrative illustrates “Kierkegaard’s famous statement that we live life forward but understand it backward” (Kouritzin, 2000, p. 24).




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The research methods in narrative inquiry which were used reflect the involvement of the participants as having a voice in the study. In fact, individual face-to-face interviews, a focus group discussion and a small write-up using a metaphor to reflect on their reading learning process as a bi/multilingual were used. Interviews in narrative inquiry are described as “a meaning-making conversation” (Holstein and Gubrium, 2011, p. 152) and “interactional contexts for story-telling” (Koven, 2012, p. 165), where the story is co-constructed by the interviewee and the interviewer. In fact, the researcher-interviewer is only a “story facilitator” and therefore her/his role “is not to ask questions about the story, but just to enable the story to be told in the way the informant feels comfortable telling it” (Wengraf, 2004, p. 122). As for focus group discussions, it is a good way to get insights on a given subject/issue/theme through an informal discussion among a small group of people. The conversation may help relive similar or opposite memories for others after one participant has shared a past experience. Participants are thus encouraged to build on one another’s comments which is further made possible in a focus group as compared to the interview. The group dynamics for the small-scale study that was carried out with Rodriguan trainee teachers created a more relaxed and informal exchange platform as can be seen in the shift from French to Creole several times by the participants, the good laughs, disagreement and comments made on what the others have said. At one point, one participant even started asking questions to his peers as he wanted to understand further how the others dealt with the different languages of their repertoire. The write-up involving a metaphor was used to enable the participants to reflect on the meaning of their narrated experience.

CONCLUSION

By analysing and questioning the mainstream conceptual and analytical tools used by the field of sociolinguistics to study the area of multilingualism, we have argued that the choice of methodology is crucial in any research endeavour. Methodological choices are grounded in ontological and epistemological positions. Consequently, the approach we adopt to research, together with the conceptual tools and data production instruments we decide to use determine both the perspectives endorsed in the study and its outcomes. We have discussed the potential that alternative qualitative methodologies such as linguistic ethnography and narrative inquiry have to offer. They clearly enable researchers to explore actual language practices and experiences in their situated contexts. We might thus argue that the appropriate choice of methodology can be compared to what Helen Colley (2010) calls the “golden key” (p, 191). Methodology ensures coherence between research questions, theoretical framework, research design and data production. It is also central to unlock the data and let it speak. However, following Wengraf (2004), we need to be weary of the appropriateness of these methodologies for all cultures. Could linguistic ethnography be too intrusive over a sustained period in our local classrooms? Is narrative as a genre appropriate for the local culture? As with any methodology developed in Western cultures, researchers have the ethical responsibility to adapt these to the local cultural context in which they are working in. This is clearly an area that demands more of our attention as researchers studying the language phenomenon in the local context.

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HOOKOOMSING H. & OOZEERALLY S.

51


ECOLOGICAL DISCOURSE AND LITERACY: AN

ECO-CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF GRADE 3

STORIES

Helina Hookoomsing and Shameem OozeerallyMauritius Institute of Education

ABSTRACT

As an expanding area of study, ecolinguistics examines language not only as part of society, but also as part of the wider ecological systems that societies are embedded in. The ecolinguistic paradigm is relevant to the Mauritian educational context because how we speak about the world can encourage people to behave in ways which either harm or protect the natural world. Discourses, taken as standardised ways that language, images and other forms of representation are used by people in different groups (Stibbe, 2015), have a direct impact on how learners construct their representations of the world. This is particularly relevant in the context of Mauritius, which has experienced severe ecological degradation (Florens, 2013). Research in the local context, focused on analysis of textbooks prior to the educational reform of 2014, demonstrated a high level of ideologically laden statements about non-human animals and the environment; this ranged from anthropocentrism and speciesism to exclusively functional definitions of ecologically-meaningful organisms (Oozeerally & Hookoomsing, 2017). This paper analyses ecological discourse in two Grade 3 literacy stories written by the lead author, Helina Hookoomsing that formed part of curriculum materials complementing the Grade 3 English textbooks. The aim is to provide a reflection on the significance of ecolinguistics in the Mauritian educational context. Through eco-critical discourse analysis of the two texts, using Stibbe’s (2015) ecolinguistics framework, this paper discusses how the relationships between humans and the ecosystem are represented via language and educational discourse.

Key words: Ecolinguistics; education; eco-critical discourse analysis; textbooks; curriculum development

INTRODUCTION

Ecolinguistics, or ecological linguistics, is a paradigm of linguistic research, widening sociolinguistics to consider not only the social context in which language is embedded, but also the environment. Ecolinguistics studies the role of language in the life sustaining relations of humans and nature; one of the key things is searching for inspirational forms of language which can help people respect other species and the ecosystems that life depends on (Stibbe, 2015). Patterns of linguistic choices (i.e. discourses) impact on how we treat one another and the natural world, in terms of how we think, talk, and act. In other words, ecolinguistics is concerned with the ways that discourse and language impact on forming, maintaining, influencing, and destroying relationships between humans, other life forms, and the environment.



52

Ecolinguistics challenges us to think responsibly about our interconnectedness with the biosphere, address ecological issues, and develop self-awareness in relation to our discourse. Education and discourse around ecological issues and global concerns are fundamental in raising awareness among humans, especially the younger generations (Stibbe, 2015). With reference to ecological issues, education, and discourse, the aim of this paper is to critically reflect on the representations of the ecosystem in two Grade 3 literacy stories in relation to the significance of ecolinguistics in the Mauritian educational context. The objectives of this contribution are to:

i) analyse ecological discourse, using eco-critical discourse analysis, in a purposively sampled corpus constituted of two Grade 3 literacy stories,

ii) discuss how the relationships between humans and the ecosystem are represented via language and educational discourse, and

iii) reflect on the significance of ecolinguistics in the Mauritian educational context.

Rationale

Ecolinguistics is significant as a paradigm and as a theoretical lens to examine educational issues in general and is particularly useful for those pertaining to the Mauritian educational context. Ecolinguistics is an expanding area of study which has attracted significant interest internationally. It examines language not just as a part of society (as sociolinguistics does) but also as part of the wider ecological systems that societies are embedded in. Transcending the reductive frontiers of sociolinguistics is important for two main reasons. Firstly, it provides a more accurate account of language since the wider ecology influences the linguistic system (i.e., ways of speaking about natural world), and language influences ecology (i.e., it can encourage people to behave in ways which harm or protect the natural world). Secondly, ecolinguistics provides a way for linguists to address some of the key issues that affect human civilisation, from climate change to environmental injustice.

Ecolinguistics has been used as a paradigm for previous research in the Mauritian context and formed part of the foundational basis inspiring the currently on-going doctoral thesis of the lead author of this paper. A small-scale research project was carried out in 2014 (see Oozeerally & Hookoomsing, 2017) using eco-critical discourse analysis to explore ecological discourse in the primary school textbooks, before the education reform, from Standards 1 to 6 in all core subject areas. The focus was on anthropocentrism (a worldview according to which everything is centred on humans) and speciesism (a form of racism towards animals). Quantitative analysis suggested that such discourse was the most common in language textbooks and the project highlighted a need for more careful consideration of discourses used in the representations of ecological matters and animals. Ecolinguistics is, nonetheless, a relatively scarce area of research in Mauritius. This paper also intends, to some extent, to expand the body of research in ecolinguistics in the local landscape, as well as raise awareness on this field of linguistics as an avenue for research.

Ninety-two instances of expressions that convey ambivalent and destructive discourses (Stibbe, 2015) were found across the pre-reform primary textbooks and the English and French textbooks manifested a high degree of ‘negative’ connotations and ideologies towards nature and the environment (Oozeerally & Hookoomsing, 2017). The findings of that 2014 project revealed how ambivalent and destructive discourses were present in the curriculum materials that would be used by all children in state primary schools across the island. The findings of the research also fed forward into the subsequent curriculum development and textbook writing practices of the project authors. More conscious decisions were made regarding ideological patterns in some of the English and French textbooks to provide




53

beneficial ecological discourse and content. For example, one of the Grade 3 English textbooks contains a whole unit on ‘Nature and the Environment’ with language activities that integrate appreciation of nature, encouraging recycling, and nurturing reflection on reduction of pollution. Additionally, the Grades 5 and 6 French textbooks infused a philosophy into certain texts, which aligned with an eco-responsible posture for Mauritius.

Ecolinguistics is particularly important for Small Island Developing States (SIDS), such as Mauritius, since these states are not only the ones which are most vulnerable to climate change and ecological destruction, but also the ones which have contributed least to causing the problems. There are, therefore, severe ecological justice issues that need expressing in effective ways for the survival of these states. Ecolinguistics can help develop communicative strategies that can help Small Island Developing States to communicate about ecological issues effectively, but this requires the involvement and leadership of researchers who are from these states.

Another factor of importance is that the traditional cultures of Small Island Developing States are likely to have ways of using language that encourage people to protect the ecosystems that life depends on (because of the fragility of ecosystems on small islands). Researchers from Small Island Developing States, therefore, have the potential to make a huge contribution to ecolinguistics globally, and help in the search for new stories to live by. The population of Mauritius is not indigenous to the islands, but comes from many cultures across the world, including cultures which have rich ecological wisdom to draw from.

A lot of environmental education materials, and TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) materials developed in the West encourage small actions, such as recycling or reusing shopping bags, to deal with ecological problems. This is quite irrelevant to Small Island Developing States where the priority is demanding ecological justice and drawing on traditional local culture to help provide new stories to live by. Producing environmental education materials and TEFL materials that are sensitive and take the perspective of Small Island Developing States is essential, and ecolinguistics can help play a vital role in producing these materials.

Discourse, Ecolinguistics and Education

Discourses can be perceived as sets of coherently organised linguistic material that enable people to socially construct meaning (Coyle, 1995, cited in Cohen et al., 2011), and for the purpose of this paper, is understood as “standardised ways that particular groups in society use language, images and other forms of representation” (Stibbe, 2015, p. 22). Discourses have a direct impact on how learners construct their representations of the world, and this is even more relevant in the context of Mauritius, which has experienced severe ecological degradation (Florens, 2013). For this present paper, text is considered to be specific books, films, websites or other artefacts which use language or other modes such as images and music. Discourses are wider patterns of language which occur across texts typically used by a group.

An ecolinguistic analysis considers a wide range of oppressed groups (including animals, current generations of humans who are suffering from pollution and resource depletion, and future generations of humans who will find it harder to meet their needs), and considers the impact of discourses on the wider systems that support life. In terms of ecological discourse and ideology, there are three types which often emerge and can be considered as a general typology; these are destructive, ambivalent, and beneficial discourses. Ideologies are considered as stories that are shared by specific groups about



54

how the world was, is, and should be; ideologies reveal themselves through the characteristic forms of language used by groups and institutions to make sense of the natural and social world (Stibbe, 2015).

Destructive discourses can encourage people to engage in ecologically destructive activities, such as advertising, for example, for encouraging people to purchase unnecessary and environmentally damaging products. Beneficial discourses, as the name suggests, can be helpful in encouraging ecological thinking and reflection on our interconnectedness with each other, other species, and the environment. Many ecological studies of discourse are not of discourses which are clearly destructive, or clearly beneficial, but ones which fall somewhere between the two, which can be called ambivalent discourses. Sustainable development discourses are positive in emphasising that the environment needs to be protected as economies grow, but negative in failing to question whether the economies of countries that are already over-consuming actually do need to grow. In this sense such discourses are considered as ambivalent.

In his work Ecolinguistics: Language, Ecology and the Stories We Live By, Stibbe (2015) examines the role of language in establishing relationships between humans and non-humans, and explains how discourses convey “stories” and “stories-we-live-by”. “Stories are cognitive structures in the minds of individuals which influence how they perceive the world”, while “stories-we-live-by are stories in the minds of multiple individuals across a culture” (Stibbe, 2015, p. 6). He also states that though cognitive models (stories) cannot be directly apprehended, certain clues can be obtained through the language people use, and besides ‘language’, ‘stories-we-live-by’ are manifested through different forms and modes such as writing, singing, drawing, and taking photographs, among others.

METHOD

From an epistemological perspective, social sciences and humanities have shown a radical shift from a rational, reductionist, disjunctive perspective (Morin, 2008) to a more ‘integrative’ perspective, meaning a more mutually inclusive viewpoint. This is reflected in the methodology which uses eco-critical discourse analysis as the crux of the research design to explore the ecological discourse in two Grade 3 literacy stories in English, from the curriculum materials My Little Collection of Stories Grade 3. These materials were written and prepared as part of the national educational reform, the Nine Year Continuous Basic Education project.

Researcher Positionality

Both texts selected for the analysis have been written by the lead author, Helina Hookoomsing, as part of her duties as a curriculum developer for Grade 3 English. In view of ensuring a streamlined and ethical set of procedures, the texts have been analysed using a ‘regards-croisés’ approach (roughly translating from French as a ‘cross-referencing observation’ approach). In the first stage, the second author, who had not participated in the writing of the texts, proceeded with the analysis according to the ecolinguistics framework described above. In the second phase, the lead author, who is also the story author, proceeded with the eco-critical discourse analysis from a more reflexive perspective. She did a retrospective analysis of her experiences and creative processes in writing the stories to shed light on certain discursive, ideological, and narrative choices used in the construction of the story.

This research integrates theory-driven analysis as well as ex post-facto reflections. These have been generated through introspection, memory work, and questioning from the co-author. The questions




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were geared towards eliciting information on the creative choices made, and pragmatic devices in relation to the ecological representations in the stories. For the memory work, the author of the stories adopted a retrodictive posture, i.e. using the present reflections to interpret and ‘predict’ past events (Robillard, 2008). This retrodictive posture allowed her to invest knowledge gained through her doctoral studies so as to reflect retrospectively on the processes of writing and the ecological discourse therein, which at the time of writing the stories were not given explicit consideration.

Presentation and Justification of Texts

The data consisted of two stories from the English Grade 3 literacy materials. One story has been taken from the Part 1 collection, and the second story from the Part 2 collection. Grade 3 texts were chosen since Grade 3 represents the transition between the early-childhood phase and the move towards more formal learning. The specific texts were selected since they were written by the lead author, and thus it was possible to include reflective enquiry in addition to eco-critical discourse analysis. These texts also contained suitable ecological themes.

The first text, ‘Deer in the Forest’, was selected because it presents a story that is directly focused on ecological issues of deforestation, pollution, and environmental degradation. The second text, ‘I Spy a Dodo’, was chosen because it also presents a story about nature, specifically a dodo, which is the global symbol for animal extinction.

This second text provided interesting representations of relationships amongst humans, the ecosystem in Mauritius and the dodo, for analysis in relation to the aim and objectives of this paper. Such relationships between humans, or human related activities, and the ecosystem were observed more explicitly in these two texts for Grade 3 level, and more directly than literacy stories for the other grades.

Eco-Critical Discourse Analysis

Stibbe (2015) stresses that ‘stories-we-live-by’ have a direct influence on how individuals experience, live, and ‘enact’ the world; they therefore have a form of determinism with the relationship(s) between humans and the environment. He identifies eight different forms of stories along with their linguistic manifestations, which are summarized below.

Table 1: Stibbe’s (2015) ecolinguistic frameworkIn relation to the ecolinguistic paradigm for this research paper, the above ecolinguistic framework

has informed the overarching data analysis method of eco-critical discourse analysis. In order to identify

FORM OF STORY (COGNITIVE,

I.E. IN PEOPLE’S MINDS)

DESCRIPTION MANIFESTATION (IN LANGUAGE)

Ideology A story about how the world is and should be which is shared by members of a group

Discourses i.e. clusters of linguistic features characteristically used by the group

Framing A story that uses a frame (a packet of knowledge about an area of life) to structure another area of life

Trigger words which bring a frame to mind



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Metaphor (a type of framing)

A story that uses a frame to structure a distinct and clearly different area of life

Trigger words which bring a specific and distinct frame to mind

Evaluation A story about whether an area of life is good or bad

Appraisal patterns, i.e. patterns of language which represent an area of life positively or negatively

Identity A story about what it means to be a particular kind of person

Forms of language which define the characteristics of certain kinds of people

Conviction A story about whether a particular description of the world is true, uncertain or false

Facticity patterns, i.e. patterns of linguistic features which represent descriptions of the world as true, uncertain or false

Erasure A story that an area of life is unimportant or unworthy of consideration

Patterns of language which fail to represent a particular area of life at all, or which background or distort it

Salience A story that an area of life is important and worthy of consideration

Patterns of language which give prominence to an area of life

discourses, Stibbe (2015) uses an approach anchored in text analysis, whereby text selection is followed by linguistic analysis in order to reveal patterns in the way that language is used within and across texts. A number of features are subsequently identified to guide the eco-critical discourse analysis procedure (Stibbe, 2015, p. 34):

• Vocabulary (e.g. connotations of words, pronouns, modals)• Relationships between words (e.g. synonymy, antonymy or hyponymy)• Grammatical structures (e.g. active vs passive, nominalisation)• Transitivity (the arrangement of processes and participants in a clause) Assumptions and

presuppositions embedded in clauses• Relationships between clauses (e.g. reason, consequence, purpose)• How events are represented (e.g. abstractly or concretely)• How participants are represented (e.g. as individuals or an aggregated mass)• Inter textuality (patterns of borrowing from other texts)• Genres (conventional formats of texts which serve a social function)• Figures of speech (e.g. irony, metaphor, metonymy)

As noted above, the principal data analysis method of this paper, in relation to discourse analysis, is that of eco-critical discourse analysis, aligned within the ecolinguistics paradigm. The distinction




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between ‘critical discourse analysis’ and ‘eco-critical discourse analysis’ is that the latter considers the impact of language not only on humans but also on other species and the physical environment. Stibbe’s framework (2015) provides a useful tool to approach eco-critical discourse analysis from a dual socio-cultural and ecological point of view.

As one of the co-authors of this paper and story-author for the two literacy texts, I will write this section in the first person to foreground the personal creative processes pertaining to my discursive,



58

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are

not (

pp. 4

0, 4

2-44

). Th

e ev

ents

thro

ugho

ut th

e te

xt a

re p

rese

nted

as t

ouris

tic, i

.e. t

rave

lling

by

bus t

o pl

aces

of i

nter

est,

whi

ch n

ot o

nly

pres

ents

the

parti

cipa

nt (d

odo)

as

a for

eign

tour

ist c

onfo

rmin

g to

a co

nsum

eris

t pra

xis,

but a

lso

cons

olid

ates

hi

s fra

min

g as

a to

uris

t. Em

ergi

ng

ideo

logi

cal

patte

rns:

ca

pita

lism

; co

nsum

eris

m;

econ

omic

di

men

sion

(con

tribu

ting

to th

e re

venu

e of

the

coun

try a

s a to

uris

t).

Anth

ropo

mor

phic

trai

t (p.

39)

:

- Th

e ab

ility

of

th

e do

do

to

spea

k is

an

an

thro

pom

orph

ic tr

ait.

His

sta

tem

ent o

n pa

ge 3

9 fu

rther

con

solid

ates

the

tour

ist f

ram

e.

Eco

-Cri

tical

Dis

cour

se A

naly

sis o

f the

Gra

de 3

Eng

lish

Stor

ies

Tabl

e 2:

Ana

lysi

s of t

ext 1

‘I S

py a

Dod

o’




59

Fram

ing

The

dodo

is fr

amed

as a

tour

ist (

as fr

om p

. 39)

:-

The

tou

rist

fram

e is

fur

ther

con

solid

ated

th

roug

hout

the

tex

t th

roug

h vi

sitin

g pl

aces

of

(tour

istic

) in

tere

st:

Port-

Loui

s M

arke

t (p

. 41)

; Pa

mpl

emou

sses

Bot

anic

al G

arde

n (p

. 43)

; th

e be

ach

(p. 4

4).

- H

e al

so tr

avel

s by

bus (

p. 4

2) a

nd fo

llow

s the

be

havi

oura

l pat

tern

s of a

tour

ist.

- Th

e st

ory

ends

with

the

dodo

form

ulat

ing

his

inte

ntio

n to

vis

it ot

her

plac

es (

p.45

). Th

e fin

al

page

(p. 4

5) al

so ca

ptur

es th

e tou

rist f

ram

e whe

n “h

e go

es b

ack

to t

he h

otel

”, i

.e.

payi

ng a

s a

tour

ist,

cons

umin

g an

d co

ntrib

utin

g to

the

loca

l ec

onom

y as

a f

orei

gner

who

is te

mpo

raril

y in

“a

noth

er”

coun

try fo

r ent

erta

inm

ent p

urpo

ses.

The

fram

ing

of th

e to

uris

t als

o po

ints

to e

lem

ents

of

ideo

logy

, in

term

s of

how

the

parti

cipa

nt/s

is/a

re p

rese

nted

, and

how

the

even

ts o

f the

stor

y ar

e pr

esen

ted.

For

exa

mpl

e, a

dod

o, fr

om th

e “I

slan

d of

Dre

ams”

, vis

iting

hi

s ho

me

coun

try a

s a

tour

ist,

stay

ing

at th

e ho

tel a

nd v

isiti

ng p

lace

s of

in

tere

st.

Met

apho

r (a

type

of

fram

ing)

Nil

Nil

Eval

uatio

n

Iden

tity

Nil

The

iden

tity

of th

e do

do is

que

stio

ned

and

criti

qued

in th

is st

ory,

mai

nly

thro

ugh

the

irony

th

at h

e is

an

ende

mic

ext

inct

bird

(fur

ther

im-

plie

d by

the

Isla

nd o

f Dre

ams h

ome

loca

tion)

vi

sitin

g hi

s hom

e is

land

as a

tour

ist.

Nil

Dua

lism

:an

thro

pom

orph

ic d

odo

v/s n

on-a

nthr

opom

orph

ic ‘o

ther

’ ani

mal

s

Exte

nded

dua

lism

and

iron

ic c

ritiq

ue:

How

the

dodo

retu

rns ‘

hom

e’ a

s a st

rang

er; a

tour

ist h

avin

g to

‘exo

ge-

nous

ly’ v

isit

the

isla

nd w

hich

is su

ppos

ed to

be

his h

ome

isla

nd. D

ippy

th

e de

-eco

logi

sed

dodo

?

The

hom

e:H

uman

act

ivity

des

troye

d do

do’s

real

-life

hom

e by

driv

ing

the

spec

ies

to e

xtin

ctio

n an

d ec

olog

ical

dev

asta

tion.



60

Con

vict

ion

Nil

Nil

Eras

ure

Sal

ienc

e

Nil

The

dodo

is g

iven

salie

nce

thro

ugh

his n

ame

‘Dip

py’ (

p.39

; ind

ivid

ualis

atio

n) a

nd “

visu

al

ecle

ctic

ism

” +

use

of th

e pr

onou

n ‘h

e’ (p

.39)

Nil




61

ideological, and narrative choices in constructing the story. This first-person perspective is replicated below, for the retrospective reflexive analysis of text 2.

The choice to name the anthropomorphic dodo’s place of origin as the “magical Island of Dreams” was a choice influenced by my own sadness: sad the dodo’s existence can only be in my imagination and that I can only ‘dream’ that it is still alive, somewhere. The reality of the dodo’s extinction was something I wanted to implicitly draw attention to, through the inference that the “magical Island of Dreams” represents a Mauritius that does not exist anymore, in which dodo birds and other fauna and flora remain untouched. This element of fantasy in the story was also intended to be a subtle didactic element to enable the children reading the story to envision a Mauritius that is different to the current ecologically devastated island that we know.

My use of irony, as a stylistic device, was intentional as I wanted to indicate the absurdity of an indigenous species of Mauritius returning as a foreign tourist to the country. This was partly influenced by local representations I have observed of the dodo as a marketing symbol of tourism on shopping bags, postcards, t-shirts, and various merchandise, including Mauritian tea marketed by a Chinese company. My choice is also a critique of the commodification of the dodo as a symbol to ‘sell’ Mauritius as a tourist destination; it is often anthropomorphised with outfits and accessories in the colours of the Mauritian flag, when in fact, the species was made extinct as a direct result of the activities of past colonisers.

This is further compounded by the depiction of Dippy visiting various local sites, and this conforming to consumerist praxis; the character is framed as a tourist visiting for entertainment purposes and witnessing the local landscape as it currently is, shaped through years of unbridled human economic activity. This, in turn, reinforces the dichotomy between the ecologically devastated present Mauritius, and the “magical Island of Dreams” that children can only imagine.

This particular story was written as part of a unit in the main English Grade 3 textbook on the theme of ‘nature and the environment’. Consequently, the genesis of the text was ideologically motivated, and



62

Form

of s

tory

(c

ogni

tive,

i.e.

in

peop

le’s

min

ds)

Indi

cato

rC

omm

ent

Ideo

logy

Rela

tions

hip

with

cla

uses

(Rc)

; cau

salit

y pa

ttern

(p.2

2):

- th

e ‘s

tate

’ of

happ

ines

s of

the

dee

r is

a f

unct

ion

of l

ivin

g ha

ppily

in th

e fo

rest

with

his

fam

ily.

Rc (p

.25)

: peo

ple

have

cut

them

dow

n’-

hum

ans

have

cau

sed

defo

rest

atio

n, h

ave

not

plan

ted

new

tre

es, w

hich

mad

e th

e so

il ha

rd a

nd d

ry, w

hich

cau

sed

lack

of

food

and

wat

er, w

hich

cau

sed

the

depa

rture

of o

ther

ani

mal

s:

mul

tiple

em

bedd

ed c

ausa

lity

+ fo

regr

ound

ing

and

activ

atio

n of

the

hum

an a

s an

[ac

tive]

des

truct

or o

f th

e en

viro

nmen

t, w

hich

is c

ontra

ry to

wha

t is u

sual

ly p

ract

iced

.

Infe

renc

e (p

.27)

:-

that

pla

stic

pol

lutio

n of

lan

d an

d w

ater

is

caus

ed b

y hu

man

s; th

e st

ate

of th

e fo

rest

as a

dirt

y an

d un

safe

pla

ce is

a

cons

eque

nce

of h

uman

act

ivity

.

Dry

ness

and

soil

hard

ness

cau

sed

by c

uttin

g of

tree

s.

Rc

as fo

regr

ound

ing

hum

an a

ctiv

ity a

nd u

rban

izat

ion

as a

ca

usal

fact

or fo

r pol

lutio

n an

d en

viro

nmen

tal d

egra

datio

n,

whi

ch in

itse

lf re

pres

ents

the

loss

of t

he h

ome

of th

e de

er

and

othe

r ani

mal

s.

Even

t re

pres

enta

tion

(Er)

+Pa

rtic

ipan

t re

pres

enta

tion

(Pr)

(p

.28)

: -

the

even

t an

d st

ate

of u

rban

izat

ion,

cau

sed

by u

nbrid

led

hum

an a

ctiv

ity, i

s pr

esen

ted

as b

eing

sca

ry; c

orre

lativ

ely,

the

deer

are

pre

sent

ed a

s dire

ct v

ictim

s.In

fere

nce

(p. 2

8):

- mas

s urb

aniz

atio

n, h

uman

expa

nsio

n ac

cele

rate

d ai

r pol

lutio

nRc

(p. 2

8):

- cau

salit

y pat

tern

s ‘th

e sky

was

full

of sm

oke’

[use

of im

ager

y],

and

the

cons

eque

nces

ther

eof a

re b

ecau

se o

f hum

ans

Tabl

e 3:

Ana

lysi

s of t

ext 2

‘the

Dee

r in

the

Fore

st’




63

Ideo

logy

Rc +

infe

renc

e (p

. 30)

:- N

o bi

g bu

ildin

gs, n

o no

isy

cars

= p

eace

, hea

lth a

nd sa

fety

. - T

he c

lean

rive

r is a

resu

lt of

no

hum

an a

ctiv

ity, a

s is t

he c

ase

for c

lean

air,

with

the

infe

renc

e th

at “

ther

e w

as n

o sm

oke”

=

ther

e w

as n

o po

llutio

n, th

e ai

r was

cle

an

Rc (p

. 31)

: - t

he fo

rest

is th

e cr

adle

of l

ife, a

nd th

e ho

pe th

at it

“st

ays l

ike

this

way

fore

ver”

Infe

renc

e (p

. 31)

: - h

opin

g th

at th

ere

will

not

be

any

dest

ruct

ive

hum

an a

ctiv

ity

The s

ickn

ess o

f the

dee

r > d

ifficu

lty b

reat

hing

> ai

r pol

lutio

n >

dest

ruct

ion

of th

e fo

rest

> u

rban

izat

ion

>hum

an a

ctiv

ity

[em

bedd

ed/c

hain

Rc/

Sno

wba

ll R

c]

Fram

ing

Mild

ant

hrop

omor

phis

m t

hrou

gh t

he f

acia

l ex

pres

sion

and

sm

ile (p

. 21)

acr

oss a

ll re

pres

enta

tions

of t

he d

eer [

visu

al].

Impl

icit

fram

ing

of t

he f

ores

t as

hom

e (p

.22)

: ph

ysic

al a

nd

psyc

holo

gica

l hom

e Fu

rther

fram

ing

on p

.23:

pra

xis,

fam

ily li

fe a

nd ro

otin

g of

the

anim

als i

n th

e fo

rest

-hom

e; re

curr

ing

on p

. 26.

Cha

nge

of th

e fo

rest

fram

ed a

s a b

ad d

ream

(p. 2

4).

Gro

up o

f de

er f

ram

ed a

s fa

mily

(p.

29):

is i

t a

delib

erat

e po

sitiv

e an

thro

pom

orph

ic e

lem

ent?

[refl

exiv

e as

pect

nee

ded]

Pi

geon

s fra

med

as t

he fr

iend

s of d

eer (

p. 3

0)

Nil

Met

apho

r (a

type

of

fram

ing)

The

fore

st is

a m

etap

hor f

or h

ome:

“M

y ho

me

was

gon

e” (p

. 26

).Th

e ho

me:

hum

an a

ctiv

ity d

estro

yed

thei

r ho

mes

in

the

drea

m; e

colo

gica

l dev

asta

tion

Eval

uatio

n

The

cutti

ng o

f tre

es is

eva

luat

ed a

s bei

ng b

ad fo

r i) t

he so

il; ii

) th

e fo

od p

rovi

sion

s of a

nim

als;

iii)

the

abse

nce

of c

lean

wat

er

(p. 2

5)M

ass u

rban

izat

ion

and

unbr

idle

d hu

man

act

ivity

are

eva

luat

ed

as b

eing

bad

for i

) the

env

ironm

ent;

ii) th

e ai

r; iii

) the

ani

mal

s (p

.28)

Nil



64

Iden

tity

Nil

Nil

Con

vict

ion

Nil

Nil

Eras

ure

Nil

Nil

Salie

nce

The

deer

are

giv

en s

alie

nce

thro

ugh

indi

vidu

aliz

atio

n an

d fo

regr

ound

ing.

Oth

er a

nim

als

are

only

bac

kgro

unde

d an

d ha

ve lo

w sa

lienc

e.

Nil

Text

2: S

econ

d La

yer A

naly

sis (

Refl

exiv

e)




65

my intention was to explicitly convey patterns of meaning about the destruction of the environment and the impacts on animal life, as well as the importance of protecting it. This was influenced by my doctoral research in terms of having had increasing exposure over the years of study to ecolinguistics, ecological discourse, and the potential impact of stories and discourse in children’s construction of knowledge (Foucault, 2013).

I made narrative choices to weave discourse about urbanisation, environmental destruction, deforestation and pollution, all of which are activities that have human agency, with a children’s story about an imaginary world in which anthropomorphic deer and other animals are rooted in their home, which is the forest. In doing so, the intention was to infuse a didactic element of developing empathy with other species through the story being told from the perspective of one of the young deer in the family of Cervidae. Though the story deals with relatively dark topics, and presented as a dystopic nightmare for the deer, the ending reveals that it was a bad dream. The objective of this creative aspect was also to bring the children to project themselves into this imaginary world through empathy and alterity, so as to develop awareness of the possibilities that could lay ahead and reflect on actions which could be taken to protect the environment. This coincided with some of the content in the main unit about energy conservation, recycling and reducing pollution and caring for animals.

The anthropomorphic deer was a creative choice, similar to Dippy the dodo, for characters that children can identify with while simultaneously maintaining sufficient representational distance (Burke & Copenhaver, 2004). However, in contrast with text 1, in which the dream symbolised a ‘magical island’ that exists only in the fantasy realm, the dream in the second text symbolised the stark reality of some very real local and global concerns. This latter symbolic use of the dream also provided a pedagogical point for encouraging learners to develop sensitivity to and awareness of ecological issues in the Mauritian context, and possible ways to mitigate potential threats and destructive practices.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

This section presents some of the key findings from the analyses above. The main types of stories (Stibbe, 2015) observed in the text are elaborated upon and emergent findings are discussed. Findings from the analysis of both texts are presented together.

Types of Stories

The number of stories which were observed in both texts differ. Text 1 had four types of stories: ideology, framing, identity, and salience. Text 2 had five stories: ideology, framing, metaphor, evaluation, and salience. Salience and identity are discussed in the section on the different forms of anthropomorphism. Given the retrospective reflexive analysis of the story-author, these types of stories observed align with the intentions specific to each text. Text 1 was based on the adventures of an anthropomorphic dodo character, with the didactic intention related to phonics. This representational choice, i.e. anthropomorphism, established a natural convergence towards the four abovementioned stories. This anthropomorphic creative choice is also visible in text 2, albeit to a lesser extent. In contrast, the second text is specifically geared towards raising ecological awareness, whereby the deer, though anthropomorphised, are not represented as symbolic human beings in the way the dodo was. This partially explains why metaphor appears in the second text, reinforcing the way the deer are framed and revealing more instances of ideological discourses.

Ideology, framing and salience are common between the two stories. In the first story, ideological discourse reflects the representation of the dodo as part of consumerist praxis, i.e. a dodo visiting



66

Mauritius as a tourist destination. He also partakes in human behaviour and consumption patterns. In turn, the dodo is strongly framed as a tourist throughout the story. The ideological patterns in the second story, however, follow the author’s narrative choices and didactic intentionality. The most apparent forms of ideology in this text are relationships between clauses, causality patterns and inferences. This frames the deer as a member of a close-knit family living in the forest, which in itself is framed as the home of the deer and other animals. This is also evidenced through the metaphor of the forest as home (see Table 3). The causality patterns are geared towards a story which encourages children to infer the cause and effects of human activities in relation to the destruction of ecosystems and the impacts on other species. For example, the relationship between clauses shows a snowball causality effect from human activity (see Table 3). Therefore, this story represents a form of beneficial discourse (Stibbe, 2015).

Varying Anthropomorphism

The stories of identity and salience shed light on the relationships between the degree of anthropomorphism of the two main characters in texts 1 and 2. While both characters are given salience in the two texts, it appears that the extent to which the characters are given salience shares a proportional relationship with the degree of anthropomorphism; the higher the degree of anthropomorphism, the higher the salience. In text 1, the first instance of salience is that the dodo is given the name Dippy. By being named, he is constructed as an individual, with individual value.

In contrast, the main deer character in text 2, who experienced the nightmare, does not have a name, though salience is given to him as a member of a deer family. There is a mild individualisation of this latter character. On the other hand, Dippy is highly individualised and anthropomorphised, ironically replicating patterns of human behaviour such as carrying accessories, travelling by bus, staying in a hotel etc. (see Table 2). This reinforces the salience of his character, where he is systematically foregrounded, especially in contrast to other animals present in the story which are not anthropomorphised. In text 2, anthropomorphism of the characters is predominantly at the level of their ability to speak, and this is extended to other animals.

Dialectic of the Home

The dialectic of the home is a particularly interesting topic of discussion given that the etymology of ‘eco’ is Greek ‘oikos’, meaning home. In terms of ecological discourse, the home is a symbolic space in both texts. In text 1, the reality is that Mauritius is the original, native home of the dodo. However, Dippy’s ‘home’ is a fictionalised ‘magical Island of Dreams’, which in turn symbolises a Mauritian ecosystem as his home that no longer exists outside of the imagination. Interestingly, this representation of the dodo as existent elsewhere is present in Rowling’s (2001) Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, as a fictional creature called the Diricawl (Rowling, 2001). Rowling (2001) writes that humans believe the Diricawl is extinct but it actually has the magical ability to disappear and reappear in order to escape danger. In a similar way, this also reflects a form of narrative reimagining of the dodo’s extinction, and the fantasy of what could exist if it had escaped the consequences of human hunting.

While Dippy is completely alienated from Mauritius and does not recognise his native home or his belonging to the land as his native home, the deer is firmly rooted in the forest as his natural habitat and the home of his family and friends.

Even though the forest is represented as a generic woodland space without a name, this element of the home is integrated in how the deer speaks about this environment, and him being part of the whole




67

ecosystem. This feeling of home is evident throughout the story (see Table 3). On the other hand, there is a marked dualism between Dippy and his actual home, which ironically represents a foreign tourist destination that he is detached from.

CONCLUSION

This paper has presented an eco-critical discourse analysis of two literacy stories used as curriculum material for Grade 3 English. An overview of ecolinguistics and eco-critical discourse analysis was provided as a toolkit to critically reflect on representations of ecosystems in the Mauritian educational context. The paper discussed how the relationships between humans and ecosystems are represented via language and educational discourses, and provided a reflection on the ways in which ecological discourse is implicitly and explicitly intermeshed in literacy materials written as part of curriculum development practices in Mauritius.

The main stories (Stibbe, 2015) that appear in the two selected texts are those of ideology, framing, identity and salience. Capitalism, consumerism, and unbridled economic development were the emergent ideological patterns that were most apparent in both texts. The relationship between anthropomorphism and salience, as well as the dialectic of the home as a symbolic ecological space, were also foregrounded through a comparative eco-critical discourse analysis. Using the ecolinguistics paradigm is particularly important for Small Island Developing States (SIDS), given their vulnerability to climate change and ecological destruction. These two texts, though different in didactic content and intention, weave ecological issues into the narrative structure and are geared towards what Stibbe (2015) calls a ‘beneficial discourse’.

Education remains one of the main areas where ecological issues can be addressed. There are numerous scientific, ecological, and conservation policies and strategies being implemented around the world; the UNESCO Sustainable Development Goals is one such international programme. Education and discourse regarding environmental and ecological matters require as much attention in order to understand the contributions of formal learning, literacy, and language development not only on constructions of knowledge about the environment, but also to understand the ways in which people interact directly and indirectly with the natural world. For SIDS, there are severe ecological justice issues that need expressing in effective ways for continued survival. Ecolinguistics and eco-critical discourse analysis approaches such as the one used for the purpose of this paper can help develop communicative strategies for SIDS to communicate about ecological issues effectively.

The eco-critical discourse analysis of the two Grade 3 English literacy stories provides a pathway for raising awareness at primary school level about ecological issues in Mauritius (environmental degradation, deforestation, land exploitation and so forth) through materials that also have a didactic aspect in terms of literary and language learning. If ecolinguistics is the fusion of language and ecology, to study the role of language in the life-sustaining relations of humans and nature, it is essential that learners achieve ecological awareness at a very young age. Ecolinguistics provides a path for learning about ecological issues through language learning activities and literacy materials such as the two texts analysed in this paper. Through eco-critical discourse analyses of these two literacy stories, we have shed light on the ways in which ideological patterns are presented in texts so as to provide primary school children with ecologically beneficial discourse in their curriculum materials.

The provision of such ecologically responsible discourse for literacy learning in English could potentially help children in primary schools develop awareness about environmental problems in



68

Mauritius, empathy towards nature and other species and ecologically responsible interactions with the environment, and encourage them to demand ecological justice in the local context.

Acknowledgments

With thanks to Professor Arran Stibbe for providing some of the content of this paper and for comments on the draft.

REFERENCES

Burke, C.L., and Copenhaver, J.G. (2004). Animals as people in children’s literature. Language Arts, 81(3), 205–213.

Cohen, L., Manion, L., and Morrison, K. R. B. (2011). Research methods in education. Oxon: Routledge.

Florens, F. B. V. (2013). Conservation in Mauritius and Rodrigues: Challenges and achievements from two ecologically devastated oceanic islands. In N. Sodhi, L. Gibson, & P. Raven. (Eds.), Conservation biology: Voices from the tropics (pp. 40-50). USA: Wiley-Blackwell.

Foucault, M. (2013). Archaeology of knowledge. London: Routledge.

Morin, E. (2008). The method. Paris: Seuil.

Oozeerally, S., & Hookoomsing, H. (2017). Le poulpe qui existait pour être mangé : L’anthropocentrisme et le spécisme dans les manuels du cycle primaire mauricien. Cahiers Internationaux de Sociolinguistique, 12 (2), 179-210.

Robillard, D. (de) (2008). Perspectives alterlinguistiques, 2 vol. Paris: L’Harmattan.

Rowling, J. K. (2001). Fantastic beasts and where to find them. London: Bloomsbury.

Stibbe, A. (2015). Ecolinguistics: Language, ecology and the stories we live by. London: Routledge.



RUGHOONUNDUN-CHELLAPERMAL N.

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TAKING RESEARCH OUT OF THE TEST-DRIVING ZONE:

AN OPTION FOR STRATEGIC RESEARCH

Nita Rughoonundun-ChellapermalMauritius Institute of Education

ABSTRACT

This desk paper aims at presenting some of the research conducted in the field of the development of literacy in Mauritius as one of the critical areas that may inform language in education policy decisions, which is one of the mandates of the Mauritius Institute of Education. This paper begins by providing a historical overview of the regulations and practices regarding Mauritius before discussing more recent decisions about the introduction of Mauritian Kreol (MK) in the national school curriculum. It then discusses the findings of a few studies regarding the development of reading skills in the two compulsory languages of the curriculum, namely English and French, and in pupils’ L1 (first language), Mauritian Kreol. It also presents insights offered by a quantitative study on the 2017 Primary School Achievement Certificate examination results which saw the participation of the first cohort of learners of Mauritian Kreol. The paper ends by sketching a few research projects that would probe more extensively into the issues explored.

Key words: Epistemology; methodology; Kreol Morisien; education; curriculum.

INTRODUCTION

Major changes have occurred on two fronts these past decades, both in linguistics and in society. On the epistemological front, Creole languages and pidgins are going through a profound typological redefinition (Bakker et al., 2011; De Graff, 2005; Fon Sing, 2017; Mufwene, 1996) as the historical processes of their respective emergence are being better researched and understood. In yet another area, the exceptional character assigned to bilingualism for some seven decades, and indeed since the phenomenon first came under the scrutiny of scholars, is giving way to the awareness that bi-/multilingualism is a much more common phenomenon than acknowledged so far; a change in stance favoured by the contemporary migration movements towards North America, and more recently Europe1. This new sociological awareness has in turn been accompanied by a major paradigm shift about the functioning of the bilingual mind (Grosjean, 1982; Pavlenko, 2014). Mimicking Northern epistemological stance, Mauritius has long failed to consider Mauritian Kreol (MK) as a language in its own right or acknowledged its central role in the life of the nation. Indeed, the languages of the two colonial powers that have ruled over the island since it became inhabited still serve as the official languages of the Republic. In education specifically, the issue of the appropriateness of a language to be used as medium of instruction (MOI) because of learners’ ease with it was replaced by language as power politics as early as the tug of war years between the French local administration and the

1 These are the epicenter of the production of theories of knowledge in academia; interestingly, literature from the global South has since long taken stock of plurilingualism as a common experience and produced a base of research on multilingualism and issues associated with it.



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British colonial rule during the second half of the nineteenth century. The Indian diasporic languages that then disappeared from the educational landscape2 however reappeared3 as from the 1950s as taught content subjects. Their inclusion in the curriculum was not purported to develop functional and academic communicative competency, as was the case for English (ENG) and French (FR), which were considered as valuable commodities to enable social mobility and access the modern world, but rather to maintain cultural identity and connection with the land of one’s origins, hence their appellation as ‘ancestral languages’ (AL). Mauritian independence saw the maintenance of this dual language policy as the government, like many other African countries, relied on education to boost economic development, and thrust the country into the world. Since then, the curriculum has been marked by this tension between the profitable, since marketable, and now ‘global’ European languages and the ‘essential’ Asian languages. As for the African languages of the slaves, they have fallen into oblivion, leaving their descendants with a feeling of cultural alienation and dispossession, expressed by their keeping themselves in the margin of development. They gave way to a vernacular derived from French, which quickly became the common vehicular to all groups of residents, and eventually the supra ethnic vernacular. Now L1 (first language) to the majority of the population, MK has however still not acquired the legitimacy of a national language. But the language policy regarding MK in education has very recently been reviewed. Such potent changes on the two traditionally main subjects of contention, as far as the national educational project is concerned (i.e. the rehabilitation of Asian diasporic languages and of a Creole language through their inclusion in the curriculum, thereby accentuating the linguistically diverse character of the curriculum), which hinge precisely on the fields where major epistemological changes are occurring in academia, are sufficient cause for this paper, which is presented in the context of the setting up of a language laboratory at the Mauritius Institute of Education (MIE). The paper is organized in three parts; it starts by an overview of the linguistic situation in the island, then presents the language in education policy (LEP) historically, followed by discussing the new LEP and its potential to extend the literacy experience of students and enhance epistemological access to the school curriculum. The second part examines the few language research issues probed into so far, while the third part sketches out territories for forthcoming research.

The Linguistic Situationof Mauritius

Populated over the 18th and 19th centuries through European colonization and, in its wake, slavery and indentured migration from Africa and Asia, Mauritius presents a multiethnic and multilingual profile. It has also, however, developed a common shared socio-cultural base, encapsulated in the Mauritian Kreol5 language6, now L1 to 86.5% of the population (Central Statistics Office, 2011). It has however,

2 African languages spoken by slaves had already long died out when the British took over the island.3 Not all Indian languages were “rescued” as only a few of them were used as medium of instruction in schools.4 As testifies this statement by the then Minister of Education, Mr V. Bunwaree, in the National Assembly (NA) in answer to a question by a parliamentary member on the prospect of MK becoming the MOI in schools: “Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, the use of any language as a medium of instruction carries a number of implications […] These implications are being carefully examined and studied, however, keeping in mind that, being insular, our outlook has to be exogenous and outward looking” (NA, 2010, p.53; Bold characters added).5 This is the formal appellation given to the language in 2010 at the Pailles forum on the subject, convened by the Ministry of education and facilitated by the minister himself.6 Ward makes mention of “Hindi, Urdu and Tamil” as being “the vernaculars of important sections of the Indian population”, while “Creole […] is the vernacular of most of the coloured population […], and is universally understood by white Mauritians and all adult Indians.” He adds that “[o]ther Indian languages are spoken by smaller sections of the Indian population” (Ward, 1941, p. 12). It is to be noted that he never mentions Bhojpuri, so that it is not clear whether he is referring to this vernacular or to Hindi when using the word “Hindi”.




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and as of yet, not acquired any official status7 because of its diglossic8 (Ferguson, 1959) relation with FR and its common appellation, and hence status, as a ‘Creole language’. As to ENG and FR, they still serve as the official, or quasi-official9, languages of the Republic. Indeed, ENG is the sole language for all government matters; it is also used for all writing purposes in corporate businesses and services promoted and managed by the private sector. French is used in most written media and is often the vernacular in the corporate private sector. Mauritian Kreol shares the oral media with FR, and is the vernacular in everyday life, although FR sometimes tends to encroach on that in certain urban contexts10. Bhojpuri originates from the state of Bihar in India and is the only Indian language still in use for communication purposes in the country. Its use has however greatly dwindled over time, so much so that it is today an endangered vernacular (Oozeerally, 2013). Other diasporic languages, like Hindi, Tamil, Urdu, or Chinese, are used within their respective ethnic communities for religious ceremonies or during festivals as cultural11 or religious affirmation practices12. However, these languages, similar to ENG, FR, and MK, are heavily broadcasted on radio and tv channels, thus making a significant contribution to their maintenance in the social fabric. In fact, Mauritians “engage in multiple complex communicative acts that do not in any way respond to the linear models” (Garcia & Torres-Guevara, 2010, p. 189), showcasing practices of dynamic bi-or multilingualism (Auckle, 2012; 2015; Auckle & Barnes, 2011; Tirvassen & Ramasawmy, 2017). Table 1 below shows the remarkable progression of Creole and the no less remarkable decline of Bhojpuri and/or Hindi over the 20th century, and, a growing awareness of bilingual practices13 even in the home environment. Ward’s (1941) remark, quoted in footnote six above, bears testimony to multilingual practices hinging on Creole still being used as a lingua franca one century after the massive arrival of Indian immigrants. This type of functional bilingualism has since been replaced by growing bi-/multilingualism as ‘fused lects’ (Auer, 1999).

7 However, use of the language by the authorities while communicating with the nation is now a common feature. Also, the Prime Minister himself referred to MK as ‘our national language’ at the official launching of the 3rd

edition of the MK dictionary on 3 October 2019.8 Some scholars like De Graff contest the validity of the application of the concept of diglossia to the daughter-mother relationship between a Creole language and the European language it is derived from, on the ground that they are two separate languages, and not two varieties of the same language as in Ferguson (1959). While I agree fundamentally with this view, I am using the term in a more common manner, following other authors like Baggioni and de Robillard (1990).9 Judge R. Ahnee noted in a famous statement at a sitting of the Supreme Court in 1989, in connection with Regina v Kramutally & anor (1989) MR 198 case, that the Constitution makes no provision for this status. He stated: “Je ne connais aucun texte de loi qui dit que l’anglais est la langue officielle de Maurice”. However, concerning linguistic usage in the National Assembly, Article 49 of the Constitution of Mauritius states that “(t) he official language of the Assembly shall be English, but any member may address the chair in French”.10 As well as in certain urban spots (“taches” in French) in generally rural areas (cf. Tirvassen, 2014).11 There is also a small core vocabulary relating to specific lexical fields originating from these languages, like food and cooking, family relationships, and clothing that is imported into otherwise MK discourse.12 Rituals and services in the Catholic Church, after promoting the use of FR for centuries, now promote both MK and FR, while the Anglican Church is instrumental in some use of ENG.13 Information about such practices were not requested by those designing the surveys. Respondents, too, probably did not insist on them. But it stands to reason that they have always been present. In fact, practices are more complex than just bilingual, but their survey through questionnaires would be challenging.



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Table 1: Languages usually spoken at home in Mauritius from 1962 to 2011

(Housing and Population Census, Central Statistics Office, 1962; 1972; 1983; 1990; 2000; 2011)

Language usually spoken at home14

Year 1962 1972 198315 1990 2000 2011

Creole / Mauritian Kreol (MK)

42 (29)16

51.8(32.9)

54 60.5 69.24 86.5

Bhojpuri - - 20.4 19.7 12.45 5.3

French 8 4.7 3.7 3.36 3.48 3.6English 0.2 0.27 2 0.22 0.33

Hindi 3017

(36)31.7

(38.9)11.5 1.26 0.63

Hindi &/or Urdu 34.6 13.4

Any Indian language 39.2 40.9

Creole (/MK) & Bhojpuri NA NA NA 4.7 5.6

Creole (/MK) & French NA NA NA 2 2.9Creole (/MK) & Other European Languages NA NA NA NA 0.5

Creole (/MK) & Hindi NA NA NA 0.3 0.4Creole (/MK) & Asian Languages (AL) Otherthan Bhojpuri& Hindi

NA NA NA 1.5 1.15

Creole (/MK) & any Indian Language 23.8

Creole (/MK) & AL including Hind, Bhojpuri& Chinese

NA NA NA 0.235 0.13

Creole (/MK) & Chinese Languages NA NA NA

French & AL NA 0.04

14 It is important to keep in mind that these figures refer to vernacular oral use of languages. Thus, ENG that is almost non-existent here is heavily used for written purposes in the workplace.15 Figures are for the island of Mauritius only, except for 1983 and 2011 where they are for the Republic of Mauritius (i.e. Mauritius, Rodrigues). Only the island of Mauritius, the main island of the archipelago, is as multilingual. Only Creole/MK is spoken on the others.16 Figures between brackets refer to language spoken in the home environment during childhood for 1962, and language spoken by the forefathers for 1972.17 The figure is given for Hindi. Bhojpuri is not mentioned in the 1962 or 1972 censuses, but it is probable that respondents indicating Hindi as the “language usually spoken” were referring to Bhojpuri which they considered as the diglossic low variety for Hindi. All Indian “ancestral languages” are included. None come close to even 0.1% use.




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A Historical Overview of Language in Education

During the French colonial period, FR was the MOI at the Lycée Colonial, the only school in the colony, accessible only to the Whites. Upon taking possession of the island in 1810, the British signed a treaty that allowed the French to keep their language and more. This was facilitated by the fact that they did not settle on the island but only took charge of its administration. These first years of British rule necessitated considerable linguistic management. The Colonial Office sent its correspondence and instructions in ENG, and the Colonial Council in the island held its sessions in FR and sent its reports in French (Tirvassen & Ramasawmy, 2017). After decades of this unpractical situation, the British decided to affirm their rule by imposing ENG in its administration and in education. They had already started opening primary schools where ENG was the MOI. The London Missionary Society also opened schools where both ENG and FR were taught and teaching in (or of) Malagasy was being envisaged for children of Malagasy origin. The large-scale importation of labour from India following the abolition of slavery in 1835 resulted in the opening of a few schools in which the MOI was an Indian language, and similar private initiatives were authorized. However, the change of MOI at the Lycée Colonial met with resistance from the French settlers’ descendants, and it was only in1890 that the two parties reached an agreement: ENG became the MOI in all schools and FR a compulsory subject; teaching in or of any other language was prohibited (Rughoonundun, 1993).

Half a century later, the Director of Education of the colony communicated the regulations which stated (Ward, 1941, p. 12):

• Up to Standard V inclusive, any language may be used as the medium of instruction, the aim being ease of comprehension.

• English and French are to be taught ‘from the beginning’, special emphasis being laid on conversation.

• In Standard VI and upwards […] the medium of instruction is to be English, with the two provisos that other languages may be used to explain difficulties, and that lessons in French and French history are to be given in French.

In actual practices, Creole is used “everywhere up to about Standard II”, and Indian languages “hardly at all” as the MOI; “some English is used” in Standard VI, but it is very far from being the real medium of instruction.” Ward (1941) mentions Hindi, Urdu and Tamil as the “[t]hree Indian languages […] taught in schools” “as a rule at the end of the day” “when other children are going home”, sometimes by “visiting teachers” (Ward, 1941, pp. 14-16). He notes the “considerable, and justifiable, dissatisfaction…of the teaching of Indian languages in day schools” (Ward, 1941, pp. 15-16) and the increasing number of private evening schools. Considering their use as MOI, he recommends it “for the lowest class or lowest two classes, as an optional alternative to tuition in Creole” (Ward, 1941, p. 16) in places where many children have an Indian language as their mother-tongue. As to their teaching as subjects, he puts the question aside for practical reasons only. It was indicated that

[i]f conditions should ever change, so that one Indian language becomes predominant, or if the sections of the Indian community can agree to accept one Indian language for school use…the question should be taken up of making the predominant Indian language an optional alternative to the subsidiary language. (Ward, 1941, p. 17)

Following the report, an Ordinance was promulgated in 1944. Besides introducing a common examination at the end of primary school, it mostly carried forward existing provisions and practices with slight variations. English was maintained as the MOI18 with the provision that it be taught during



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the first years to enable its full use as from the fourth year. For the lowest classes, this choice befell the Minister. He could “make provision for the teaching of languages other than English which are current in Mauritius,” which allowed the maintenance of French as a compulsory subject since the first year of primary education (Education Regulations, 1957). The Ordinance put an end to the teaching of Indian languages but made provision for Hindu and Muslim religious instruction in order to establish parity with children of Christian faith who were already benefiting from such classes. Thus, the hierarchy between the two European languages was maintained. Moreover, an epistemological opposition divided these with European languages being taught for academic purposes, and the Indian languages were used as a medium to preserve the cultural identity of children of Indian descent, but Ward (1941) saw FR and the AL as alternative subsidiary languages. The Ordinance also did not adopt Ward’s recommendation of staggering the introduction of languages.

The 1957 Education Ordinance Act, which still largely governs the LEP, reproduces verbatim these articles of the 1944 Ordinance. Not only was the bi/trilingual policy maintained, but other non-European languages were introduced under the new appellation of ‘ancestral languages’ (AL). This move, which spanned the 60s, established an optional taught language curriculum. Aiming at cultural preservation, these languages were not assessed. However, gradual changes, concerning their evaluation19 and, as from 1995, their weightage on overall grades and ranking20 and, consequently, access to a secondary school of one’s choice, occurred during the following decades. These new provisions were contested as unconstitutional before the Supreme Court, which gave reason to the plaintiffs. This led the Prime Minister to present the National Assembly (NA) with an amendment allowing for the contested provisions. The NA rejected the amendment, which led to snap elections. However, a case of appeal against the decision of the Supreme Court was filed before the Privy Council in London which overturned the ruling of the Mauritian Supreme Court.

Thus, the authorities, while actively bringing about LEP changes during the 20th century, did so only in the optional AL curriculum with the aim of preserving multicultural diversity and leveraging against the dominance of the Western model. As these changes did not immediately impact on the school trajectory of students, it was, until the eighties, said that the authorities’ LP was to keep the status quo; in other words, to have no policy (Lamusse, 1981, p. 116). Nothing could be more erroneous: ALs have become firmly rooted subjects in the school curriculum and are now equivalent to FR regarding examination outcomes.

18 It is to be noted that Ward recommended indiscriminately ENG or FR as what he calls “the principal language”, the choice in his opinion being more of a “political” nature than a “technical” one (Ward, 1941, p. 14).19 They were first examined in 1987 at the Certificate of Primary Examination; as from then, they were considered for certification but not for ranking purposes.20 The new 1995 regulations stipulated that performance in ENG and Mathematics would be taken into account for certification and ranking purposes, and any two best performances in two or three other subjects. In consequence, any AL taken as an optional subject could be considered for ranking. This implied that performance in an AL could outweigh that in FR.




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The New Language Policy in Education

The Mere Legalisation of Existing Practices

The debate over LEP continued to rage over the turn of the century. This time, it revolved around Creole, the only endogenous language of the country, claimed by the Creole community as a due symbolic asset for the reparation of its cultural rights. An easing in the MOI policy was first announced.

Kreol Morisien can be used as a support language to facilitate teaching and learning at all levels, whether at primary or secondary school….[T]his a very significant step forward that has been taken to effectively recognize the value and place of Kreol Morisien in the school set up as a tool to facilitate assimilation of concepts (NA, 2010, p.5321).

The Minister stresses the policy shift by reminding the House that Creole was authorized during the three first years only until then. However, this ‘new’ LEP merely legalizes extensive classroom practices (Rughoonundun-Chellapermal, 1995; Tirvassen, 2012). Furthermore, MK is allowed only as a support language “to facilitate” classroom transaction, specially “as an aid to help overcome serious learning difficulties” (NA, 2010, p. 52). The LEP has therefore not been radically reviewed, the reason forcefully put forward being that there is no empirical evidence that the use of Creole as a medium of instruction, as it is in use, has allowed students to learn better or improve (NA, 2010). Even regarding the Pre-Vocational Stream, where he recognizes that the scheme in place is not giving the desired results as many students have still not managed to grasp the basic literacy and numeracy competencies, and despite the promising results of the Bureau de l’Éducation Catholique (BEC)22 regarding the use of MK as MOI in its schools for this stream (Chung, 2016), the Minister affirmed:

Unless and until a National policy is evolved on the basis of empirical findings[,] English is, and will remain the official medium of instruction in schools, with the use of the mother tongue or the language of the environment as spelt out (NA, 2010).

A New LEP with a Restrained Potential

Notwithstanding its new status as a support language, MK was introduced in the curriculum as an ancestral language “at par with existing ancestral languages” in 2012 (Auleer Owodally, 2014, p. 327). It is assessed at the Primary School Achievement Certificate (PSAC) since 2017 and will be examined at the Grade 9 National Examinations as from 2020. Discussions are ongoing to allow its examination at the Cambridge School Certificate (SC) level. This measure has necessitated an intensive, and still on-going, language cultivation and standardization process (Spolsky, 2004). However, the modalities of the inclusion of MK in the curriculum carry serious limitations for its effectiveness. The most significant loss of impact resides in that they do not change the central proviso of ENG being the MOI. The new LEP thus misses the move towards a mother-tongue based multilingual education, especially since its teaching is taken care of by a specialist teaching corps even though General Purpose (GP) teachers also have MK as their L1. While MK, like all AL, teachers are trained to serve as GP teachers too, the reverse is not applied. Furthermore, its teaching concurrently with other ALs prevents children from learning both their parents’ heritage language and their home language, denying them

21 The minister furthermore refers to his reply to PQ No. B/823 on 14 July 2009 (NA, 2009).22 It has now changed its appellation to SeDEC.



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the possibility of optimally developing this language which the National Curriculum Framework (MIE, 2015) defines as their main cognitive resource for accessing the school curriculum. In fact, research on the development of literacy and numeracy in the local biliteracy curriculum context by young school children concluded that the eviction of the mother-tongue based type of education at primary level was akin to the “cognitive abandonment” or “dumping” of learners left to themselves to come up with DIY survival strategies (Rughoonundun-Chellapermal, 2007, p. 458). MK is thus being dramatically restrained in its pedagogical and epistemological potential.

A Curricular Contradiction

Acknowledged as an L1, MK is officially presented as an AL, two statuses that clash (Auleear Owodally, 2014). Thus, while the syllabus and textbooks adopted an L1 approach at the conceptualisation phase without raising any debate, the blueprint for the PSAC paper occasioned lengthy technical discussions. Two contradictory views were expressed. Firstly, as an optional language “at par with existing ancestral languages” (Auleer Owodally, 2014, p. 327), MK had to be assessed likewise with Urdu, Tamil, or Telegu, and unlike ENG and FR which are assessed at a higher level. Secondly, as an L1, MK could not be assessed at the same level as a foreign language (FL) or even a Second Language23. Finally, the MK paper was aligned with that of ENG and FR, the two compulsory languages. Although this decision has prevented the absurd situation of an L1 being assessed as a FL, it does not resolve the contradiction of an L1 acknowledged as same but not assessed as one.

The Ethnicisation of MK and its Final Capping as an Epistemological and Ontological Enabler

The purport of MK in the curriculum surfaced again recently, in November 2018, when the Grade 8 textbook was turned down as ‘inappropriate’ by an inter-institutional committee at the pre-press stage. Yet the book, although opening a new ‘implementational and ideological space’ (Auleear Owodally, 2014; Hornberger, 2002) as compared with the set of books prepared for the primary was strongly aligned with its predecessor in all matters relating to the philosophy underpinning it (see Annex), the principles of language teaching and learning, the general curricular aim as well as its organisation and content. The Secondary curriculum had been prepared with representatives from various institutions and had been validated in 2016. The Grade 7 textbook was in use in schools as the official MK textbook for that level since January 2018, and its reprint was under way. The qualms expressed were that the book was too ‘political,’ ‘ideological,’ and potentially subversive. The level was also deemed not age appropriate. Yet, the Grade 7 textbook, that focuses on slavery with an extension and a depth of coverage unique in the curriculum, is the one that could have been deemed as ‘sensitive’. Interestingly, that volume had initially been found too ‘ethnic’ by Secondary educators in training at the MIE; the design for the whole series of books as well as its alignment with the rationale had to be presented to allow them to see the coherence and directionality in the choice of content and its treatment.

But how could the epistemic and ontological ‘liberation’ philosophy (Freire, 1970) guiding the Grade 7 to Grade 9 curriculum of MK, as a minoritised vernacular Mother Tongue turned into an enabler, not have appeared to the proponents of MK who condemned the Grade 8 book? Or does it

23 English is the most obvious subject, to be in this case, as medium of instruction. However, French too has somewhat this same status, as it is often the language of communication in schools and classrooms. Proponents of Hindi, the first AL in terms of number of students learning it and sitting for examinations in it, claim this same status for the language.




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rather mean that the language is being ethnicised, slavery is being considered an ‘appropriate’ theme for MK, as the AL with which the descendants of slaves relate to, contrary to indentured labour and ethnic communitarianism? The change in orientation of the MK project for Secondary will have an impact on the cultural profile of learners, and on their epistemological ability to access to higher order oracy and literacy skills, and competencies. Indeed, the break in paradigm of the new Grade 8 book with its predecessor is striking. Adopting a ‘culturally neutral’ approach, it presents only non-situated, unchallenging content, and traditional language activities. The level at which it is pitched is also well below that of the Grade 7 book, although feedback from schools obtained through educators on training, or already trained, had been very positive; most texts are artificially fabricated ones. Overall, the book shows an absence of reflection on curricular and pedagogical aspects. This episode illuminates the politics of curriculum development, and how implementation strategies can cap the transformative power of potentially innovative LEPs. The incident also warrants reflection on who (de-)legitimises a pedagogical reform. It even makes it possible to question the genuineness of the will of institutional office bearers to allow MK to become the game-changer in the local schooling system by countering the socio-cultural and epistemological processes of inequalities in education. Tirvassen (2012), referring to a government initiated pilot project on the use of MK in Education Priority Zones (EPZ) schools in Mauritius and in Rodrigues in the lower primary in 2004, makes the comment that it could well have been the project’s “iconic value” that was of more interest to the authorities than its psychological and pedagogical potential (pp. 52-53).

An Overview of Research Conducted To Date

The Impact of MK on Academic Achievement

One major issue regarding language policy and education bidding for research is the impact of MK on epistemological access to the taught curriculum and the learning process. However, this issue has not given lieu to much research so far. The near to only project on the subject so far is a five-year action research implemented by the Bureau d’Education Catholique24 (BEC) in all its Pre-Vocational streams. Students enrolled in this stream are those who have twice unsuccessfully sat for the Certificate of Primary Examination25 (CPE). The research shows that the learning of Mathematics improved through use of MK as MOI (Harmon, 2017). However, the Ministry of Education (MOE) expresses skepticism about the validity of the findings (NA, 2010), mainly because of the ‘soft’ methodology.

Taking into consideration on the one hand, the greater trust the authorities put into quantitative research and empirical findings and, on the other hand, a number of deep-anchored representations in parents’ and teachers’ minds alike about the threat that the learning of the ‘broken variety of a standard language’ represents for academic success, a team of researchers from the MIE and the Mauritius Examinations Syndicate (MES) used the first PSAC data to carry out a study to determine whether the formal learning of MK as an additional language subject has any negative impact on (i) children’s ability to cope with the curriculum in general, or (ii) on their achievement in non-language, and (iii) language subjects, respectively (Rughoonundun-Chellapermal et al., 2018). The study was carried out on a representative sample of 224 candidates26, and followed a quantitative research paradigm. A statistical software was used to analyse candidates’ performance, plot the performance curve, and calculate the

24 It has now changed appellation for SeDEC.25 The CPE was the end of Primary Education examination until 2017, after which the PSAC was launched.26 The total number of candidates sitting for the paper was 2,907 (Rughoonundun-Chellapermal et al., 2018).



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degree of correlation with other subjects. A Factor Analysis with Varimax rotation was also performed. The findings of the research could not be clearer; MK has no negative impact (i) on pupils’ ability to manage their academic workload; (ii) on their ability to perform in Mathematics or Sciences; or (iii) in ENG or even FR. This last finding is particularly interesting as the structural proximity between FR and MK is a cause of great concern for many parents and teachers who value FR and fear that the formal learning of MK would result in a high rate of negative transfer (Lado, 1957) onto FR. In fact, the correlation between MK and FR was as high as 96%, which is close to a perfect correlation. However, while the study constitutes clear evidence that MK does not hinder achievement in other subjects, it does not provide evidence that it helps perform well in them, except in the case of FR. Indeed, the research shows that the better one performs in MK, the better one tends to perform in FR.

Literacy Development in the Local Multilingual Context

Another field of critical interest where there has been some burgeoning research is in the areas of literacy development and literacy readiness. Two foreign consultants, Foley (1984)27 and Desmars some ten years later, conducted an observational study in primary schools on the way ENG and reading in FR respectively were taught. They both highlighted a teacher-centered pedagogy and chorus reading as the main learning strategy. Foley (1984) as well as Tirvassen (2012) expressed concerns about the fact that the teaching of ENG was not responsive to children’s needs in ENG across the curriculum.

Approaches and strategies to develop biliteracy at the entry of primary school have been studied by Auleear Owodally (2007). Her comparative analysis of the ENG and FR Standard I textbooks highlights the diametrically opposite approaches used. The FR textbook uses an eclectic mix that privileges a top-down approach, while the ENG book favours a bottom-up approach. The didactic differences are warranted by the differentiated domain of use of the two languages in the local context. The assumptions underlying the textbooks also differ; the FR material assumes a significant “literacy baggage” (p. 198) and comprehension skills28 in the language, while the ENG book assumes next to no decoding skills or oral understanding from the children. The author suggests the validity of the assumptions made by the FR textbook developers should be tested with a large population of children.

Reading strategies in ENG and FR by Standard III schoolchildren have been researched through a case study methodology (Rughoonundun-Chellapermal, 2007). Insights gained are precious as they give the first indications about individual strategies used in these languages in our then biliteracy school context. It showed that (i) children use largely the same strategies in both languages, but (ii) they seem to experiment and become familiar with them in FR before they demonstrate similar ease in ENG. It is probable that the syllabic structure of FR and its lexical proximity with MK play a part here. This observation allowed the hypothesis that FR works as a zone of proximal development (Vygotsky, 1997) for developing literacy in ENG in the local context.

Another interesting finding from the theoretical standpoint of the development of literacy, contradicts what has been put forward by Ragano (1999) about the temporary preference for phonics and decoding strategies, and the blocking of meaning-based and contextual strategies while learning to read in FR in a monolingual curriculum. This behaviour coincides with the developmental phase when

27 This is information based on memory only. No copy of these two studies can be traced. 28 In a study on the development of emergent literacy at pre-school level, the same author states that the pre-schoolers “have a passive competency” in FR (Auleear Owodally, 2012, p. 84).




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the learner, having understood the mechanics of reading, experiments and exercises with them. Ragano (1999) who studies the development of reading skills throughout the lower primary years in France, interprets his finding as a coping strategy. He finds in its transitory nature, children revert to interactive decoding and context-based strategies once they have mastered deciphering; the confirmation of his conjecture. However, the study carried out with Mauritian children as participants showed that they never inhibit contextual strategies to rely exclusively on decoding. One interesting question is whether this difference in behaviour is due to the context of learning; for example, developing literacy only in one’s L1 in the study conducted in France, as opposed to the same in non-L1 languages in Mauritius.

Since then, the research has been replicated using the same methodology and instruments (Rughoonundun-Chellapermal, 2013) with participants spread over Standards III, IV, and V29. It confirmed the previous findings. It also showed the extent to which inappropriate context-based strategies, such as free inference and extrapolation, can be tapped upon by emergent readers who are in a state of great cognitive confusion over the nature of reading. This extensive recourse to inappropriate contextual strategies allows one to think that the development of literacy exclusively in FLs may represent a formidable cognitive obstacle (Delacours-Lins, 2000) in the understanding of what reading means and entails.

A further leg on reading in MK was added to the study in 2015. The participants, all from the same Standard, in the same school, and learning MK as an optional language, in addition to ENG and FR, exhibited a wide range of proficiency in reading. It ranged from self-confident, fluent and proficient reading to totally inappropriate behaviour such as staring at the text, or nowhere, without identifying any word (or part of). The MK teacher reported on her sustained unsuccessful efforts, in collaboration with the GP teacher, to have these non-responsive children even memorise the identification of their name or its production in writing. This seems to suggest that the multilingual and tri-literacy curriculum overwhelmed them with confusion.

Plans for the Future

From mapping existing data to charting new routes

Carrying out strategic research is fundamental given the significance of language issues in the local educational landscape. The methodology paradigm opted for will have a significant bearing on the reception of the findings. One first possibility would be to use the large amount of data produced by standardised national and international tests and examinations as corpora30 for various quantitative and mixed-method research projects. Thus, while writing was identified as the domain in MK that best discriminates among candidates at PSAC, a qualitative study design would be needed to fine-tune the findings. Such an endeavour would necessitate the analysis of text and sentence productions by the candidates. Other less sophisticated, but just as useful, studies are also possible such as longitudinal studies or comparative studies between languages. It is notable for example that for the first cohort of MK at the PSAC examinations in 2017, the median performance for MK was 84 and that 65% of the candidates scored at least 70 marks (Mauritius Examinations Syndicate, 2017). These data should be compared with homologous data obtained for MK with comparative data collected for ENG and FR. Patterns of performance could constitute a baseline for starting a reflection on levels of achievement and

29 The appellation of levels of schooling has since been changed to ‘Grades’.30 A policy that makes data from national examinations available to all would certainly boost empirical and strategic research on education-related issues in the country.



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challenges represented by each of the three main languages of our curriculum. My own personal stance and strongest concern is that an education system nowadays cannot fare with a pass mark as low as ours31 when the use of highly literate forms of language is a primary desired goal of modern education (Bailey at al., 2010). Could it be that performance in MK reflects better what should be achieved in an L1 or in a MOI if the latter is to enable sustainable learning? Research in bilingualism shows that the better the L1 is mastered as an academic language, the better learners do in the additional language and in their studies in general (Cummins, 1998). Furthermore, private fee-paying schooling even for primary education has become a common phenomenon in Mauritius; it is even growing in importance, with a range of linguistic, pedagogical, curricular and assessment differentiated offers. Research designs taking advantage of these different educational settings within the same sociolinguistic and cultural national context would provide useful information as to the comparative effectiveness of school language ethos, policy, curriculum as well as classroom practices. This could be useful to reflect on how to boost the public and government-aided schooling system so that it develops highly literate forms of language in all children, and thus be more responsive to the expectations of the population as well as to the needs of our times.

In the Field of Literacy

It would be worthwhile to devote attention to fields that have been under some scrutiny already. Findings from studies conducted should be regarded as exploratory, and new designs involving more substantial data so that the validity of initial findings be tested.

A scientifically potent yet simple methodology designed by Fijalkow (2003) of the University of Toulouse EURED laboratory32 allows access to the span of text on which children focus while identifying the chain of linguistic elements that constitute a text, and, even more importantly, how they segment the continuous text. Requiring no specific equipment or heavy training, it consists of the observation of children’s strategies for copying a text. Despite following a qualitative approach, data collection would be fairly easy, and the study could be carried out on populations of a significant size. Trainees and/or teachers could be trained to act as research assistants for the field work and carry out the observation of the task on a one-to-one basis. The data processing and analysis would be by far more manageable than that of oral reading tasks. In this design, it is the data processing, namely the coding of moves based on the analysis of a sample of scripts, that would be critical as well as the interpretation of the findings. This venture seems doable. A concrete test, with a series of texts in various languages to be copied, could be developed which would give comparative data as to our children’s strategies in the various languages in which they strive to develop literacy in. The study would allow to see whether these strategies are context-bound or context-free, the context being the language. It may also illuminate us as to whether MK has an impact on the literacy development, or its rate of development in ENG and/or FR, given its shallow orthography (Faraclas et al., 2010) as compared with theirs. It would furthermore allow establishing learners’ profiles as defined by their copying behaviour. The findings could inform teacher training and differentiated intervention programmes for strugglers and emergent readers. This would enhance the development of literacy during the early critical stages when cognitive confusion often

31 It is around 30%. PSAC Statistics retrieved from https://mes.intnet.mu/English/Statistics/PSAC%20Statistics/Pages/default.aspx32 Dr E. Fijalkow – together with Prof. J. Fijalkow – came to Mauritius on a mission sponsored by the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) under its International Faculty Scheme in March 2020. The outbreak of the Covid-epidemic and the sanitary measures taken thereupon disrupted the unfolding of the mission.




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leads to lack of motivation, discouragement, and illiteracy. Insights from similar research in FR schools in France are interesting (Fijalkow, 2003). The copying test could be designed to allow a comparative study with findings obtained there. Going further, it could be envisaged to have a partner researcher conducting the same or a similar research in other countries where the context bears some similarities with Mauritius.

Revisiting the Universal Multi-Literacy Development Policy since Primary

The first PSAC edition which also saw the first MK PSAC assessment showed beyond doubt that most children learning MK fare well with the trilingual literacy development policy (Rughoonundun-Chellapermal et al., 2018). However, it also showed with as much certainty that a number of learners struggle and that as many as 22% of MK learners did not achieve basic literacy even in this language, their mother tongue, after eight years of pre-primary and primary schooling. While the national stance, like in many previously colonized countries, has always suggested the conception of language as a “transparent medium”33 (Bailey et al., 2010; Mehan, 1979) in the classroom setting, this figure warrants the hypothesis that the multilingual and multi-literacy policy in education or its universal application as at present does not suit all children. A series of tests assessing Multi-Literacy Readiness towards the end of Grade 2 should allow for the identification of children at great risk of not achieving literacy because of the current LP. The tests should assess learners’ cognitive clarity (Downing & Fijalkow, 1990) regarding the fundamentals of any writing system, the writing systems of our three different languages as well as their respective domains of use. Children displaying total or near to total cognitive confusion (Delacours-Lins, 2000) should be allowed to learn the primary curriculum according to a differentiated LP and a staggered multi-literacy policy to be determined through a national debate with all stakeholders involved, including representatives of this group of students presently enrolled in secondary school or already adults. It is worth noting that such a staggered plan was proposed in the “Languages in Education” MIE document. The fundamental principle of this alternative policy would be that no children would be debarred access to multi-literacy but that an alternative curricular pathway would be designed for fairness and success to all.

Content Subject Empowerment through Language

Content subject empowerment through language is another area that urgently requires researching. A new epistemological paradigm is emerging in language studies with concepts such as the continua of bilingual literacy (Hornberger, 2003) or ‘languaging’ (Li, 2018) and in pedagogy with ‘translanguaging’ (Canagarajah, 2011; Garcia, et al., 2017; Makalela, 2015) or ‘la pédagogie convergente’(Maurer, 2007; Noyau, 2004) in French-speaking academia. Our own teachers have been engaging in various language strategies to reconcile their pupils’ linguistic profile with the language of textbooks and examination papers. While we can recollect our own classroom memories of our most effective teachers, we could also engage in observational studies of language practices during subject teaching at various levels. One such study of a Science lesson was presented at a Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education (SMTE) conference of the University of Curtin hosted by the MIE in 2019 (Rughoonundun-Chellapermal, 2019). A collection of such studies would allow us to establish a repertoire of language strategies practiced by our teachers. Also, a language-based scaffolding approach (Cenoz & Garcia, 2017) that is more

33 It is probable that this erroneous conception of the role of language in teaching, learning and testing has resulted, and still results in a ‘distorted’ (Mehan, 1979) view of children’s competence. The very first activity of the Secondary School Readiness booklet triggered this discussion between me and the Head of Curriculum.



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responsive to our children’s needs in the mathematics classroom (Rughoonundun-Chellapermal, 2012; Tirvassen, 2001; 2009) and fully acknowledging that “[c]lassroom activities are…linguistic events,” (Bailey et al., 2010) is currently being envisaged as a design study by a multidisciplinary team. The findings of the studies mentioned here should give lieu to projects that would allow us in this decade itself to start finding our way out of the bogged land in which we have been sunken for nearly half a century regarding the successful provision of multilingual basic education to all. On the theoretical front, they will contribute to the designing of models of language learning in multilingual contexts. First and foremost, they should enlighten us on the critical difference that the inclusion of the mother tongue (or even a vernacular) can make in the enabling of literacy and essential SMTE to all.

CONCLUSION

This paper aimed at examining the LEP and the changes brought to it with a view to gauge their scope in extending the literacy experience of children and enhance universal epistemological access to the school curriculum. While it has shown an unfaltering commitment towards the colonial legacy of the language curriculum and the MOI, and a strong agency in minting a distinctive place for Asian diasporic languages, thereby honing the uniqueness of the country’s socio-cultural fabric, the same clarity of purpose does not leap to our senses regarding MK. Although extensive corpus planning has been achieved to allow its inclusion in the curriculum, the agency seems to stop there. Mauritius seems trapped in its dual allegiance to language as a commodity with a market value, and language as an essential ontological marker, but misses the point of language as an epistemological enabler. While the country has shown that it is capable of policy up hauling to live up to its ideology of cultural preservation through its multilingual educational policy, it seems unwilling to enfranchise MK from its status of AL for an ethnic group, despite it being the L1 for a great majority of its children. Thus, LEPs that are potentially transformative may be restrained in their scope by implementational modalities planned at the highest levels of decision-making, as well as by other agents intervening within the ‘implementational and ideological spaces’ (Auleear Owodally, 2014) offered by textbook design and writing. If the local situation shows how potent policy planning can be even in a small country regarding the revitalization of multilingualism, it also shows how vernacular languages remain minoritized in education. Research agencies operating within the field of education and language learning in such a context have a mandate to present decision-makers with compelling evidence, showing how the set up can be engineered to rehabilitate the right to successful education for all children.

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MAURITIUS INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION

Volume 11, Special Issue, December 2020

Documents

Transcript of Volume 11, Special Issue, December 2020