Crossing geographies of language learning – the case of ‘a successful pupil’

Abstract

This study focuses on the social actions taken around English language by a 12-year-old Finnish schoolboy, Simo, and his family members in the course of living their everyday life at home. The paper asks how everyday life learning opportunities are related to both in-class and out-of-class English-language learning. The multiple data (e.g. media diary, video recordings, discussions, interviews, drawings and observations) come from two contexts, an online language learning project and Simo’s home. The research approach draws upon nexus analysis and the results suggest Simo’s everyday life learning affordances cross geographies of English-language learning. The results have implications for pedagogic design and teacher education.

Keywords:

• languange learning
• apprenticeship
• affordance
• mediated discourse