Aspectos generales del mercado

According to Yaacob and Gardner (2012), researching multilingual children can be very demanding, especially if the children’s perspectives want to be understood. They further go on to observe that although grown-up data collection methods such as observation, collection of artefacts and unstructured interviews are adapted for children, “these techniques offer limited access to detailed or nuanced young learner perspectives” (Yaacob and Gardner, 2012, pp.241-242). When

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I set off for fieldwork, I had no knowledge of how children aged 6-8 years would be, behave and react, being myself back then thirty one and not having a child as yet. Also, I neither had a niece nor nephew with whom I had prolonged contact. The only understanding I had of what it meant to be a child was from the glimpses of childhood I had gleaned from visits to see my trainees in primary schools, but those had not been that frequent. I remember being told before I set off for fieldwork that I needed to find a way to get into the children’s world and become part of it. I find this image of Alice from Alice in the Wonderland (See Figure 3.1) looking at the small door and wondering how to get through it highly apt as I wondered at that time how I could become one of the children and therefore gain access to their world (Heavenly Xitila: Perhaps I fell down, n.d.).

Figure Two: Alice In Wonderland

This distinction of being adult was actually brought forth the very first day I stepped in the classroom. As the teacher went to fetch me a chair, the children thinking that I was their new KM teacher greeted me as such. In both classes, they saw the adult figure that I was as being a teacher figure, coming to me to seek help to do their classwork or asking for me to intervene in case the teacher was absent when there was an argument or a fight; or simply just because they were curious about me and every little thing I brought to class, whether it was my own self or my clothes or anything in my bag, or just because they wanted to get my attention.

Initially, I was very uncomfortable when they sought my help for classwork because I did not want the teachers to think I was trying to usurp their position in the class, thereby creating disturbance and questioning their authority. Moreover, the fact that they associated me with the teacher figure also influenced the way they talked to me at first (Discussion will follow in coming chapters). However, the more time I spent with the children, I quickly noted that my adulthood was in fact the passport to their world. Although I tried to minimise my presence as adult to the extent of

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sitting between them on their chairs, I could not erase my adulthood and it was this very fact that kept their interest in the first place. They sought my attention because I was an adult. Having me around, talking to them was a matter of pride to them. I was an adult doll in a way which they could show off to their friends and upon understanding that, I discovered that the best way to move ahead with the data production was to take cognizance of this fact and accept responsibility of my adulthood and make use of that to produce rich and thick data rather than try to shrink this essence.

3.6 Synthesis

This chapter started out by depicting the theoretical underpinnings of the methodological approach that has been adopted by this study, namely the linguistic ethnography approach. It was noted that most linguistic ethnographies had been done in contexts where multilingualism stemmed from the phenomenon of immigration. On the other hand, Mauritius offered an opening up of the contextual avenue in which multilingualism could be researched into using the linguistic ethnography approach.

Following the methodological narrative that highlighted the different data production processes of my journey as linguistic ethnographer, it was found that linguistic ethnography could only be conducted in Mauritian contexts where the research was viable for the researched. Hence, one of the main learning points as a linguistic ethnographer was to realise that having a plan was not always important. What was important was being open to the exigencies of the field, whether it was before gaining entry into it, or whilst being in the field or post-fieldwork and adapting the plan to suit the demands of the field. A linguistic ethnographer cannot adopt a rigid stance with his or her plan, as the field is highly dynamic and flexible. Flexibility is therefore one of the main characteristics that a linguistic ethnographer should have.

I also found that there was no way that data could be produced before engaging with the context, understanding it, and becoming a part of it by developing basic human contact with the researched. A linguistic ethnographer can in no way be a fly on the wall. In fact, the main research instrument in a linguistic ethnography is the researcher himself/herself. Although the object under study is the linguistic repertoire of the learners, I also found that I could not refrain from shaping interaction in many instances, especially when it came to working with young learners aged from 6-8 years. Indeed, I deemed it necessary to intervene at several instances initiating many interactional acts to be able to produce data. However, one way to deal with this was to be reflexive throughout about my own position in the field.

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The analytical frameworks were also brought up in this chapter; notably the Bakthinian concept of voice, Blommaert’s linguistic landscape theory, the Scollons’ nexus analysis framework, and the discourse genre theory. This will enable the reader to read the data which will be presented and analysed according to the analytical frameworks introduced in this chapter and which makes up part two and part three of this thesis, before leading to generating of the thesis of this study. This chapter marks the last one of this part which sought to put forth the background and literature review underpinning the study. The following part will now delve into the representation of the three case studies.

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The second part of this thesis comprises three case studies which are re-presentations of the data describing the linguistic repertoire of two primary participants, Stevie and Piper (learners), of

secondary participants, as well as that of their General Purpose (GP) and KM teachers, Miss

Ariana and Mr Dev. According to Divita (2010, p. 24), “case studies enable researchers to focus on specific phenomena as they occur and unfold in natural settings and to account for the highly contingent nature of their objects of inquiry.” The primary participants constitute Case Studies One and Two, and the teachers constitute a comparative secondary Case Study Three.

The third case study juxtaposes the linguistic repertoire of the teachers – Miss Ariana and Mr Dev – within the context of the classroom, with that of Stevie’s and Piper’s. In so doing, I aim to provide a linguistic narrative record in all its complexity (withiout a detailed analysis) drawing on the tradition of narrative inquiry which first presents a “narrative analysis” (largely descriptive) before proceeding to an “analysis of the narratives”. This linguistic representation will then be further analysed in the following future chapters (Chapter Seven and Eight).

Table Three: Categories Shaping Linguistic Repertoire