Onwards and Upwards: Space, Placement and Liminality in Adult ESOL Classes 2010

Onwards and Upwards SpacePlacement and Liminality in AdultESOL Classes

MIKE BAYNHAM AND JAMES SIMPSONUniversity of LeedsLeeds England

The extensive literature on classroom-based second language learningmakes little attempt to situate the classroom itself in social andmultilingual sociolinguistic space in the complex and iterativenetworks of encounters and interactions that make up daily life Dailylife is routinely evoked and lsquolsquobrought intorsquorsquo the classroom as apedagogic and testing strategy but how can we understand theclassroom as just one of the sites in which daily life including languagelearning and use is played out In this article we outline an approachto researching the spaces of language learning and the identitypositions that are routinely made available to English speakers of otherlanguages (ESOL) learners drawing on approaches from culturalgeography and linguistic ethnography We illustrate the discussion withdata from a study investigating the placement practices by which ESOLstudents in England are placed and place themselves in particular typesof educational provision (Simpson Cooke amp Baynham 2008)investigating why some may choose the identity of second languagelearner and others orient toward mainstream education opportunitiesWe conclude with a discussion of new identity positions understood asspaces of becoming created by the levels and progressions of curriculumframeworks drawing on Bernsteinrsquos (1999) notion of vertical andhorizontal discoursesdoi 105054tq2010226852

T his article concerns the life situation of adult migrant learners ofEnglish in England and how they may find themselves for a variety

of reasons placed in classes of English for speakers of other languages(ESOL) or in literacy classes We show how the issue of studentplacement involves spatial practices understood as the productiondeployment and appropriation of spaces and their investment withactivities and meanings (cf Harvey 1989 de Certeau 1988) examiningthis both in terms of student placement in actual classes and in relationto the abstract space of a National Qualifications Framework (NQF) To

420 TESOL QUARTERLY Vol 44 No 3 September 2010

do so we draw on a distinction made by the philosopher Henri Lefebvre(19741991) and the cultural geographer Harvey (1989) betweenmaterial spatial practices representations of space and spaces of representa-tion discussed later First however we introduce the discussion with ashort review of relevant policy background on ESOL in England Walesand Northern Ireland (there is a different system in Scotland) to set thescene We then describe the context of the study upon which this articledraws a project investigating placement practices (how students areplaced or place themselves) in adult ESOL and literacy courses which liewithin the scope of Englandrsquos Skills for Life policy Using an illustrativevignette we discuss how a community-based context of ESOL teachingand learning occupies and appropriates liminal material spaces makingthem over for pedagogical purposes

Turning to more abstract dimensions of practices of placement we goon to investigate how movement through learning is also constructed inthe talk of ESOL learners and teachers as a spatial process in particularas progression through the abstract space of the NQF arguing that thisis a representation of space in Harveyrsquos terms Drawing on Bernstein(1999) we sketch out the dimensions of this representation of spacediscussing how progression within the NQF can be described in terms ofa vertical or a horizontal trajectory Progression through the curriculumframework is understood as following an upward path while at the sametime other aspects of studentsrsquo learning trace a horizontal route which isapparently less valued How are the abstract spaces of the curriculumframework appropriated by students How are learning spaces under-stood as central or peripheral How if at all does progress along thevertical trajectory connect with the horizontal We conclude byconsidering the new identity positionsmdashspaces of becomingmdashcreated bythe discourses of progression and placement

THE POLICY CONTEXT ESOL IN THE UNITEDKINGDOM

Going back to the 1990s adult ESOL provision in England was largelyneglected in policy circles A major watershed came at the turn of thecentury with the decision to bring the fragmented field of ESOL undercentralised control linked to a more general overhaul of the provisionof adult literacy and numeracy as the government put in place anational strategy for adult basic education Skills for Life Throughinitiatives involving literacy numeracy ESOL and more recentlycomputer skills training the purpose of Skills for Life has taken a humancapital approach aiming to mobilize individual potential and humancapital to support economic growth (for a discussion of these issues in

ONWARDS AND UPWARDS 421

the Australian context cf Falk 2001) ESOL was not originally includedas a skill for life the publication of a government working group reportBreaking the language barriers (Department for Education andEmployment 2000) recommended incorporating the field into theSkills for Life strategy ESOL was thus encompassed by literacy andnumeracy policy yoking basic literacy and ESOL together mirroringtrends in other English-dominant countries such as the United Statesand Australia where again the development of human capital throughbasic skills training is linked to economic growth (cf McKay 2001) Foradult migrant learners of English having their ESOL classes undercentralised control within Skills for Life has meant that both theirlearning and the ways they and their teachers talk about their learningare funnelled in particular directions with a consequential shaping andindeed narrowing of the identity options offered to them

First students and their teachers are now subject to a statutorynational ESOL curriculum (Department for Education and Skills 2001)which is accompanied by associated learning and teaching materialsThe model of language adopted by the curriculum has its origins in theadult literacy curriculum upon which it is based Language is brokendown into wordsentencetext in contrast to the whole text and genre-based view of language taken in for example the equivalent Australiancurriculum With Standard English as the referent and its failure torespond to the multilingual reality of much of modern Britain thecurriculum also contributes to the powerful discourse of monolingual-ism that is prevalent in education and in British society more broadly

Second and of particular relevance to this article ESOL studentsalong with the other Skills for Life students in literacy and numeracyclasses work towards qualifications based on national standards withinthe NQF(see Department of Education and Skills 2001 p 4) Thenational standards are specified at entry level (broken down intoPreentry Entry 1 Entry 2 and Entry 3) Level 1 and Level 2 These levelsare aligned with the school national curriculum Level 2 nominallycorresponds with a GCSE (ie school-leaving exam) pass at grades A toC These levels are (again nominally) mapped to the CommonEuropean Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR Council ofEurope 2007) with Entry Level 3 matching CEFR Level B1 (indepen-dent userthreshold) Moreover studentsrsquo achievement of qualificationaims is of central importance to their institutions Because the furthereducation sector where most ESOL provision is situated operates with afunding regime which requires that most provision leads to qualifica-tions funding drives practice as institutions are under huge pressure toensure studentsmdashincluding ESOL students at all levelsmdashboth take andpass exams preparation for which has come to dominate practice Thusthe identity imposed upon students by policy and institutionallymdashif not

422 TESOL QUARTERLY

by their teachersmdashis that of student as test taker whose test resultscontribute towards the achievement of government targets It should beemphasized however that the intention of this article is not to deny theeducational achievements which are valuably opened up by a qualifica-tions framework and curriculum pathway as such but simply to point outa turning away from other kinds of outcomes less easily quantifiable yetarguably no less valuable

As well as the effects wrought by Skills for Life ESOL has beeninvoked in bigger political debates surrounding citizenship cohesionand integration and national security A key plank in recent Britishpolicy on lsquolsquocommunity cohesion and integrationrsquorsquo has been theimplementation of ceremonies for new British citizens and theintroduction of a citizenship test the Life in the UK test which bringstogether ESOL and immigration policy The Nationality Immigrationand Asylum Act of 2002 requires United Kingdom residents seekingBritish citizenship and since 2007 those requesting permanentresidence to show formally lsquolsquosufficient knowledge of life in the UnitedKingdom and of the English languagersquorsquo (Office of Public SectorInformation 2002) The citizenship test is a multiple-choice test takenon a computer Those who have not reached the level of Englishnecessary to take the test or who do not have the required level ofliteracy must enroll on an approved course of English language in acitizenship context and demonstrate that they have lsquolsquomade relevantprogressrsquorsquo(United Kingdom Border Agency 2010 )Hence lsquolsquomoving up alevelrsquorsquo on the NQF becomes the de facto requirement for gainingcitizenship and now indefinite leave to remain

This recent focus on citizenship arose out of the high-profile terroristattacks of the early 2000s and creates an explicit linkage of citizenship tofluency in English This has had the effect of radically shifting theemphasis from policies that promote diversity and tolerance (multi-culturalism and antiracism) to those that promote integration and socialcohesion In turn this has created a new set of constraints for Englishlanguage learners and teachers because achievement of particularlanguage levels (as described earlier) is linked with gaining citizenshipIn sum the connection between national security immigrationintegration social cohesion and language learning and teaching isbecoming progressively tighter (Cooke amp Simpson 2008)

This then is some of the background on English language provisionfor adult migrants in England whose learning sits within a policyenvironment that makes ESOL a very particular branch of Englishlanguage teaching It is also the background to the Placement PracticesProject (Simpson Cooke amp Baynham 2008) the research on which thisarticle draws


ESOL AND LITERACY PLACEMENT PRACTICES

Part of the Skills for Life strategy involved the establishment in 2002of the National Research and Development Centre for Adult Literacyand Numeracy (NRDC) providing funding for a range of researchprojects designed to provide the strategy with a research base TheNRDCrsquos Placement Practices Project (Simpson et al 2008) started with aquestion How do ESOL or bilingual students get placed or placethemselves in literacy andor ESOL classes Although colleges orcentres in multilingual cities or neighbourhoods might have well-developed ESOL provision their literacy classes also show hugelinguistic diversity At around Entry Level 3 and Level 1 on the NQFbilingual students might end up studying in either ESOL-designatedclasses or literacy classes What are the institutional and personalpractices at play when the decision is made about whether an ESOL or aliteracy route is taken at Entry 3 or Level 1 To answer these questions westudied the literacy and ESOL placement practices in two colleges offurther education Rushton College a large college in inner-cityLondon and Cranshaw College a smaller one in a Yorkshire townreflecting the metropolitanregional dimension of difference

Through a combination of interviews focus groups and observationthe research sought to ascertain both what is said and what is done aboutplacing learners in ESOL or literacy classes in the two centresObservation of enrolments placement interviews and tests for newESOL and literacy learners took place across different sites of eachcentre and detailed field notes and audio recordings were takenPlacement documentation and artefacts from each centre (eg copiesof placement tests) were collected and front desk or first point ofcontact practices with new learners were also observed

In the course of these observations six classes three at each centrewere identified as being at around Entry Level 3 and Level 1 the focus ofour interest The classes were ESOL and Childcare Entry 3 ESOL Entry3 Literacy and Literacy Entry 3 (at Rushton) and ESOL Level 1Literacy Workshop and ESOL Entry 2+ (at Cranshaw) The names ofthe classes themselves reflect something of the ambiguity and institu-tional uncertainty about the two areas of provision Although someclasses are designated ESOL or Literacy one at Rushton is called ESOLEntry 3 Literacy This class as we discuss later is for bilingual studentswho fall into the ESOL category at placement and who have beenidentified by teachers as requiring specific attention to literacy ratherthan to oral communication skills The six classes were the basis of sixcase studies informed by lesson observations and group and individualinterviews with learners teachers managers and support staffSyllabuses teaching materials and samples of learnersrsquo work from their

424 TESOL QUARTERLY

lessons were also collected The interview data were first analysedthrough a content analysis employing a constant comparative methodThis involved the main coding categories being agreed after an analysisof early interviews then collapsed or expanded through analysis of therest of the data set Observation data (field notes and recordings) andother artefacts such as emails prospectuses notices and data fromlessons informed the descriptive aspect of the research providing aholistic picture of placement practices at each research site

A key underlying idea of the project was that there are two dimensionsto placement certainly that prospective students are placed in particulartypes of provision and particular types of classes but also that studentsactively place themselves in particular types of provision (ESOL orLiteracy) This links with ideas in identity work and positioning theory(Baynham 2006 Davies amp Harre 1990 Le Page amp Tabouret Keller2006) People both position themselves and are positioned There isobviously also an implicit spatial metaphor in the notion of positioningSo an issue which is apparently down to earth and practical such as howstudents get placed in particular classes can be understood productivelyin terms of space and place positioning and identity How do studentsplace themselves and how are they placed institutionally as ESOL orLiteracy students What kinds of learner identities are implied by suchchoices How does the actual material space of the class relate to moreabstract understandings of space placement and progression Such arethe kinds of issues that are raised when we start to look below the surfaceof student placement

LIMINAL SPACE IN A COMMUNITY CENTRE A LESSONOBSERVED

To orient first towards practices concerning material space in ESOLclasses we begin with a short vignette from an observation of an ESOLlesson Classroom-based research as suggested earlier has tended toinsulate the classroom itself from its surrounding context defining itsobject by looking inwards at the routines activities and interactionswhich constitute the classroom Here we propose the need to situate theclassroom itself in social and in multilingual sociolinguistic space in thecomplex and iterative networks of encounters and interactions in thesites and domains that make up daily life (cf Blommaert Collins ampSlembrouck 2005) We try to contextualize the lesson observed both inrelation to its immediate setting then in relation to its status as an off-site class in a multisite college In terms of the NQF the class is classifiedas Entry 2+ that is to say it is a nominally lower-intermediate mixed-ability class The class has been provided by Cranshaw College at the


centre for the past three years as part of its off-site or communityprovision the class teacher Sue is employed by the college The Entry2+ lessons are held in the Borderlands Community Centre andspecifically in the main entrance hall of the centre Although it is nottypical for off-site ESOL classes to take place in such seemingly ad hocconditions it is by no means unusual (see Baynham Roberts CookeSimpson amp Ananiadou 2007) A classroom the office and the crecheall lead off from the room in which lessons take place The followingvignette draws on field notes made during one particular lessonobservation in November 2006

This ESOL Entry 2+ class meets two mornings a week from 930ndash1230 in theBorderlands Community Centre Their classes are held in a large openroom the first which a visitor enters coming into the building Its grilledwindows look out onto a pedestrian precinct with a newsagent chemist postoffice and medical practice It is also the room through which parents andchildren must pass to access the creche the toilets other teaching roomsOn the other side of a closed door is the lively hubbub of the crecheOccasionally children are brought through to the toilets and a moreenterprising child might break out and run once or twice around theteaching room before being intercepted and shepherded back into thecreche room

There are 12 students in the group all women except for one young malestudent a migrant worker from one of the Eastern European EU accessionstates The majority of students are asylum seekers living in the housingestate surrounding Borderlands from Congo Somalia Eritrea AlgeriaPalestine and Turkey One student is from the local settled Pakistanicommunity The majority of students are recruited by word of mouth theasylum seekers also coming to Borderlands for a drop-in morning Somestudents have been referred to these classes from other sites because thelevel is more suited to their needs and because of the creche

The students arrive in a piecemeal way sign the register then start in onindividual work talking quietly to their neighbours They seem to havegrouped themselves by language (Somali Arabic Urdu) Sue circulatestalking to students individually and in small groups She has a special latenote worksheet on the table nearest to the door

One of the issues in this class seems to be that of setting boundaries and creating

a pedagogical frame in this very fluid and open ended space Sue does this very

effectively through framing activities and this excuse sheet is part of the process

Sorry Irsquom lateBecausehelliphellip

426 TESOL QUARTERLY

Sue then brings this stage of the lesson to a close by collecting the folders in and

transitions to a spelling test (all the while people moving quietly across the room

to other offices or classrooms) A father arrives with the child of one of the

students she leaves to settle him in the creche Sue transitions into the main body

of the lesson linking it back to the lesson last week and introducing some Skills

for Life materials and realistic examples of different kinds of notes and messages

She asks the question What are they Why have they been used (While this is

going on F arrives late and rather distressed Sue settles her down talking

sympathetically in a low voice and not insisting she completes the late excuse

worksheet) Sue goes on to contrast the different notes and messages in terms of

formalityinformality of register The next phase of activity is a Skills for Life

exercise on openings and closings in letters and messages Sue groups the

students carefully for the activity in pairs or individually The next activity is a

story sequencing one followed by a break After the break Sue introduces a

roleplay which the students engage in with animation involving a mother taking

a child to the doctor V throws himself with some gusto into the part of the badly

behaved boy

REFLECTIONS ON THE OBSERVED LESSON

A striking aspect of the lesson is the way that Sue and the studentshave created a busy and focussed pedagogic space out of the anteroomin which the class is situated It is impressive how they manage tomaintain concentration The whole situation evokes the concept ofliminality (Latin limen 5 threshold) Liminality as a theoretical constructwas developed by the sociologist Turner (1969) in his work on ritual tocharacterize circumstances of in-between-nessneither one thing nor the otherThe class described in the vignette is literally situated in an in-betweenspace in a kind of anteroom which everyone in the building adults andchildren must be able to pass through freely We suggest later that thereis also a kind of liminality in the Pre-entry and Entry qualification levelsof the NQF a sense that students at these levels are not yet fullyequipped to participate The liminality of the physical space isadditionally echoed in the in-between-ness of the life situation of thestudents most of whom are asylum-seekers in a kind of in-between spacebefore the decision to grant refugee status is decided In this case theliminality can become a way of life decisions about asylum claims can beprolonged over as much as five years The class is shaped by thisprovisionality but also seems to be characterized by an attitude of carry onas ifmdashas if in this case a studentrsquos life in the United Kingdom could notbe abruptly terminated by a decision not to allow asylum


APPROPRIATING SPACE

Spatial practices as defined earlier involve the production deploy-ment and appropriation of spaces and their investment with activitiesand meanings They also involve relationships of power and inequalitySpace is unequally distributed and valued The sociologist de Certeau(1988) suggested that people occupy and make over places throughtheir practical activity appropriating spaces For de Certeau lsquolsquospace is apracticed place Thus the street geometrically defined by urbanplanning is transformed into a space by walkersrsquorsquo (p 117) TheBorderlands ESOL teacher for example is teaching an off-site classwhich in itself creates a centrendashperiphery spatial relationship with mainsite which we discuss later It is located in an open-plan room close to theentrance to the community centre The teacher and the studentsappropriate and transform that space to turn it into somewhere wherelearning can happen Through all the accompanying activity Sue andthe students maintain focus despite the comings and goings aroundthem It is striking here how effectively a learning space is created out ofquite unpromising conditions The lateness excuse worksheet is onedevice for creating this pedagogical space though of course it brings in atemporal dimension The classroom space is defined in time thestarting and finishing time of the class for which participants can beearly on time or late reminding us that spatial practices cannot beseparated from practices involving time

Both de Certeau and Harvey distinguish between the spatial practicesof powerful agents who control and manipulate space and those of userswho are however not simply subjected to the control and manipulationof powerful agents but also appropriate and make over such spaces fortheir own purposes In the work of de Certeau the distinction is madebetween strategies understood as the domain of the powerful (whichproduce tabulate and impose spaces) and tactics (which use manip-ulate and divert these spaces de Certeau 1988 p 30) whereas Harveymakes a similar distinction between lsquolsquothe appropriation and use ofspacersquorsquo and lsquolsquothe domination and control of spacersquorsquo (Harvey 1989p 220) Sue and her students thus use tactics to appropriate and use thespace available On the other hand the NQF is put in place as part of apolicy-driven strategy which as we see in the following section producestabulates and imposes a kind of abstract progression space into whichstudents and teachers can insert themselves This progression space is atonce enabling in that it creates possibilities for students and teachers toimagine progression on to future goals in education training and workyet also constraining as we would argue it makes it more difficult toimagine and recognize the value of other types of outcomes Thestrategic purpose of the NQF is at once to provide a framework for

428 TESOL QUARTERLY

student progression but at the same time it is a means of measuring andquantifying progress and reporting on the achievement of governmentpolicy objectives

MOVING ON AND UP ABSTRACT SPACES LEARNINGPATHWAYS AND QUALIFICATIONS LADDERS

In talking about spatial practices and the production of space Harveydrawing on the work of Lefebvre makes a three-way but interrelateddistinction between material spatial practices representations of space andspaces of representation (Harvey 1989 pp 218ndash219) So far we havediscussed material spatial practices The ways that everyday real-timespaces are created and inhabited by teacher and students and theconsequences thereof Representations of space refer to the linguisticand semiotic resources available to talk about and understand spacewhereas spaces of representation are lsquolsquomental inventions thatimagine new meanings or possibilities for spatial practicesrsquorsquo (Harvey1989 pp 218ndash219) There is however another more abstract dimensionto the spatial practices of placement involving both representations ofspace and a space of representation the NQF In Lefebvre and Harveyrsquosterms the NQF is a space of representation in that it is initially a thingcreated or imagined brought into existence by a policy intervention Assuch it indexes and draws on broader teleological notions of individualprogress and achievement movement upwards towards a goal be itwork citizenship or the other social benefits that can arguably resultfrom educational achievement Once in existence strategically deployedas a government policy it becomes part of the language that studentsand teachers use to represent themselves as progressing (or not) withinthe NQF space As outlined earlier students are assessed and placedaccording to national qualification levels (Pre-entry to Level 2) whichcreates in effect an abstract space that they move through as theyprogress via achieving qualifications towards ever higher levels Thestrong spatial metaphors at work here (moving up a level) suggest thevalue of examining how progression is constructed as a space ofrepresentation in Lefebvre and Harveyrsquos terms creating new meaningsand possibilities onto which ESOL students and teachers are encouragedto map themselves1

So the () the idea the course is to move up () move on into Entry 3 ESOLbut to () to contextualise it so that instead of doing say the Skills for Lifematerials which are about somebody () other () well I canrsquot think of what ()

1 Transcription conventions () short pause comments on aspects of the talk in anglebrackets [ ] overlapping talk in square brackets [hellip] omitted talk or turns


you know everything they learn will be about () the language will be aroundchild care but itrsquos still at level 3 () entry 3 sorry(ESOL and Childcare teacher Rushton)

The discourse of levels and progression (moving up and on) arepresentation of space in Lefebvre and Harveyrsquos terms saturatesthe talk of both teachers and students For example 5 students arereferred to metonymically in terms of the levels themselves Themetonym Entry 2 and so on is used as a substitute for student in anEntry 2 class or an Entry 2 level student for example and can be seenas a shorthand and simple way of describing students who can be itgoes without saying complex complicated and not easy todescribe

yeah Irsquove got entry 2s entry 3s level 1s in the same class(ESOL teacher Cranshaw)

she often has entry 2 entry 3 and the odd level 1 all in a group of perhaps 8students(ESOL teacher Cranshaw)

whether theyrsquore pre-entry we can ask three of the pre-entries and we can askfive of the entry () entry 1s and above the entry 3s and entry 2s haveextensions on the () on the exams(ESOL teacher Cranshaw)

The terms pre-entry and entry themselves as suggested earlier introducean aspect of liminality into the classification Only at Entry 3 andbeyond does the framework proper begin the earlier levels in both theESOL and the Literacy strands of provision are simply considered aspreparatory Thus a student prevented by reading and writingdifficulties from progressing up the framework will be indefinitelycategorized in this liminal space that is by definition prior to the levelsthat matter

The discourse of the NQF that we have identified and therepresentation of space that it affords are so pervasive that studentsalso define themselves by their level on the framework

S erm I am entry 2Int OkS me entry 2

(ESOL students at Borderlands Centre Cranshaw)

430 TESOL QUARTERLY

Students talk about progression in terms of the NQF

Students are aware of the purpose of the enrolment test the examand the NQF levels using the levels as a way of talking about their initialassessment and progression

Many ESOL students (and language students generally) havevariable competence in oral and written communication skills Theymay for example have a more developed competence in speakingthan in writing or (less often in ESOL contexts) vice versa Thisvariation is routinely discussed by teachers in terms of where theseparticular skill levels might line up along points on the NQF So evenin instances where students do not fall into predetermined categoriesvery tidily the variability is still described with close reference to theNQF

because I think people automatically although they focus on the writingneeds they tend to be more generous about the um where they put studentsand they put them in E3A when they are not fully necessarily E3A speakers ()but [hellip] there is a discrepancy between their writing and their speaking umso I have got mainly E3A E2B speakers in my class but I think Irsquove got someE1B um E2A writers so thatrsquos about the () the range(ESOL teacher Cranshaw)

S1 they () they gave us test to do and () we passed the testInt good so all of () all of the [enrolment is () is here rising intonation]S1 [and learning different level] () yeahS2 find different levelsInt oh rightS1 find different levelInt right () and what () what () what level are you preparing for () are you preparing

for () for () for an exam orS2 yeah for examS1 which () which () which one are you going forS2 Irsquom going for entry 3

(ESOL students Rushton)

Int Yoursquore returning students () can you tell me what you were doing beforeS entry 3 level () this is all but entry 3 level we all passed the three of us we passed entry

3 level this yearS and I passed also entry 2 the year before

(ESOL students Cranshaw)


We see here how the qualifications framework allows for more fine-grained distinctions between E2 writers who are also E3 speakers (Theclassifications E3AE3B refer to local classification for more finelygrading classes not to levels in the NQF)

THE LANGUAGE OF LEVELS A VERTICAL TRAJECTORY

So if the NQF framework can be understood as a space ofrepresentation in the sense of Harvey and Lefebvre giving rise to thespatial talk we have identified in both ESOL students and teachers whatare the parameters and dimensions of its invented space The languageof levels and of the qualifications framework which constructs learningprogress and achievement can be understood as we have seen in termsof a vertical trajectory (on and up) which can be usefully linked toBernsteinrsquos idea of vertical discourse (cf Bernstein 1999 Moss 2000) ForBernstein lsquolsquoa vertical discourse takes the form of a coherent explicit andsystematically principled structure hierarchically organizedrsquorsquo (1999p 159) The theoretical terms that Bernstein introduces as do manytheoretical constructs draw strongly on spatial metaphors invokinglsquolsquospaces of representationrsquorsquo for student progression Interpreted in thecontext of an assessment framework such as Skills for Life studentsmove up and on through a vertical trajectory of ever higher levels whichcan eventually be aligned with other kinds of achievement andqualifications on the NQF (eg a pass at Grade C and beyond inGCSE English) Skills for Life is currently evaluated and indeed fundedprecisely through its performance in moving students through thisvertical trajectory as measured by performance in exams

A horizontal trajectory in contrast can again be linked withBernsteinrsquos horizontal discourse (Bernstein 1999 Moss 2000) whichis defined as lsquolsquoA set of strategies which are locally segmentally organizedcontext specific and dependent for maximising encounters withpersons or habitatsrsquorsquo (Bernstein 1999 p 159) This would map studentachievement not just as the vertical movement through qualificationsbut also through local communicative achievements that cannot bequantified in exam passes ability to speak with and make friends withneighbours for example or increased informed participation inchildrenrsquos schooling As Bernstein puts it lsquolsquoin general the emphasis ofthe segmental pedagogy of horizontal discourse is oriented towardsacquiring a common competence rather than a graded performancersquorsquo(p 161) In the ESOL and Childcare class at Rushton none of thestudents speak English outside the classroom except in serviceencounters such as shopping going to the doctorrsquos and so on There

432 TESOL QUARTERLY

is however a general agreement that by coming to ESOL classes theycan now do a lot of things they were previously unable to do

This is an example of a horizontal trajectory very real achievementand progress that cannot be measured in terms of qualifications Againthere is a strong resemblance to Bernsteinrsquos (1999) description of therealizations of horizontal discourse

Thus in the case of horizontal discourse its lsquolsquoknowledgesrsquorsquo competences andliteracies are segmental They are contextually specific and lsquolsquocontextdependentrsquorsquo embedded in ongoing practices usually with strong affectiveloading and directed towards specific immediate goals highly relevant tothe acquirer in the context of hisher life (p 161)

There is plenty of evidence in the interviews with students of the strongaffective impact of these horizontal achievements and their embeddingin ongoing practices Amel an ESOL student at the BorderlandsCentre Cranshaw talks in her interview of visiting the doctor andreading Home Office communications She was not able to do eitherpreviously but having attended an ESOL class is now able to do bothVisiting a doctor and reading crucial communications from the HomeOffice are just two of the many language practices engaged in by asylumseekers like Amel Being able to do both unaided is a marker of realprogress

Amel is describing communication mediated by interpretersformal and informal (cf Blommaert et al 2005) and howimprovement in speaking and reading English enables her to go italone when communicating at the hospital and reading a letter fromthe Home Office There is no measure for such achievements in theNQF which may however as we suggest later be recontextualizedpedagogically to simulate such interactions for teaching and testingpurposes

S especially English person I used to feelS nervousS nervous or somethingS they speak very fastS what if she ask me and I canrsquot do anythingS especially doctor

laughter

S I had to take someone with meInt just in case rising intonationS yeah I donrsquot understand () now actually I can tell my problem to doctor or to my sonrsquos

school

(ESOL and Childcare students Rushton)


THE LANGUAGE OF LEVELS APPROPRIATINGABSTRACT SPACE

Earlier in this article we saw how students and teacher tacticallyappropriated a material space (the anteroom of the community centre)that was not obviously designed or intended for pedagogical usecreating a pedagogical or learning space It is interesting to examinehow the abstract space of representation created by the nationalframework of levels and qualifications is similarly made over andappropriated tactically by its users both students and teachers just as wenoticed in the case of the physical and social spaces described earlierwith the values of certain levels shifting over time Of course examsthemselves have to claim a space in the bumpy and competitive terrainof available qualifications which brings in another kind of userconsumer of qualifications the job market For example according toone literacy and ESOL teacher Helen the exam itself and the Level 2literacy qualification are not valued by employers She attributes this tothe narrow range of literacy skills it tests

er because other things Irsquove heard and read is employers donrsquot value the level2 exam because I did a little work at X College as well last () last year I did abit last year and the year before last and again they were all doing level 1 umlevel 2 exams () in the literacy and again it was all multiple choice questionsand I got to I could quite understand why employers werenrsquot valuing a level2 um qualification(Helen ESOL and literacy teacher Cranshaw)

Int so you are going to the doctors or the hospital or anything like that [with the children]A [yeah I go] () now I go for myself to the hospital to the doctorInt rightA sometimes er he tell () they telling me if you donrsquot understand we can bring er

interpreterInt rightA like in Home OfficeInt yeahA when I went for interview they brought the interpreter but after when I spoke to him he

said er I donrsquot know why I brought not necessary laughs[hellip]

A er first I () I used to donrsquot understand but now if er letter coming from Home Office Iunderstand

Int reallyA yeahInt thatrsquos goodA before I used to ask my friend but now Irsquom alright

(Amel ESOL student Borderlands Centre Cranshaw)

434 TESOL QUARTERLY

A qualification can be set at a particular point in a qualifications ladderwith equivalences established between other qualifications However if itis not taken up and valued if it is not inhabited as it were by its users itwill not become established but remain an empty valueless shell Thequalifications ladder creates a graded abstract vertical space whichstudents move through on and up but like other kinds of space if thisis not appropriated and valued it becomes meaningless

The qualifications ladder itself has consequences which can againwash back to influence student placement as this case study of theRushton ESOL Entry 3 Literacy class makes clear

Classes up to Entry 3 have a parallel literacy course called eg ESOL Entry 3Lit Students are placed on these courses because they have a lsquolsquogaprsquorsquo betweentheir speaking and readingwriting The concept of the lsquolsquogaprsquorsquo is a key motifin discussions around literacy and how to place students correctly Jane [theteacher] also believes that the Cambridge exams now in place at Rushton inthe ESOL department have forced the department to place students moreaccording to their literacy rather than their speaking because many of themare struggling with the Cambridge reading and writing exams and they areobliged to do all lsquolsquomodesrsquorsquo to get through a level

The way the exams are structured in particular the requirement to passall modes (ie speaking and writing) washes back to structure theplacement practices demonstrating the way that the abstract representa-tional space of the qualifications ladder shapes and influences studentdeployment into classes (ie into material spaces) Both spaces areintimately interconnected

Another kind of example of this differential valuing and itsconsequences can be found at Rushton It seems that for thedepartment at Rushton the vertical trajectory of levels is not equalbetween ESOL and Literacy The department has clear guidelinesabout how people get placed in a level if they are ESOL An ESOL levelis regarded as a level below literacy that is ESOL Entry Level 3 (E3) iscounted as the equivalent of Entry Level 2 literacy Hence somestudents have already spent a year in the E3 ESOL class and achievedthe level but are now doing E3 literacy

This equivalence of levels (or the lack of equivalence) is thussomething that is it seems locally interpreted and valued The casestudy of Rushtonrsquos E3 literacy class also suggests that this perception isshared by students There is a strong sense that ESOL is seen as a lowerlevel or something that you finish and then move on from ESOL isassociated with slower progress and with low-level speaking as shown inthis extract


So here it seems that regardless of the qualifications framework itselfwhich promotes equivalence across levels the move from ESOL toLiteracy is perceived as a move on and up the progression ladder Interms of de Certeaursquos (1988) notion of the appropriation of space users(students teachers and employers) shape and reshape in practiceabstract notions such as progression through rating one type ofprovision more highly than another thus altering the prefabricateddesign of the Skills for Life levels which does not in itself suggest that agiven level in ESOL should be differently valued than the same level inLiteracy To explain why that might be we look at spatial practices inrelation to another kind of spatial movement from periphery to centre

LEARNING SPACES CENTRAL AND PERIPHERAL

We suggested earlier that spatial practices involve relationships of powerand inequality that space is unequally distributed and valued We canillustrate this through the notion of central and peripheral learning spacesand the differences in the ways they are valued One instance of this is therelationship between off-site and on-site courses and another the relation-ship between Literacy and ESOL as subareas of Skills for Life Progression

Int yeah and () can you compare this class with the ESOL classS yeah the ESOL class () the ESOL class is you know is like just basic English but here is

you know more writing reading writingInt more writingS more writingS writing and spellingsInt so when you say basic English what do you meanS basically just you know speaking and they give some you know someS [grammar]S [grammatic words]S easierS in ESOL they do missing words like () easy words () missing words tense past tenseInt YeahS present tense words which one is right and thatInt RightS then basically grammar specialist is better I think is ESOL classInt for grammar rising intonationS basically itrsquos lower than this class I know it is hard to write letter how to er mistake your

letter and improve with it and itrsquos better this () this is like quality of writing and thething you know

Int yeah I know what you meanS more improving in hereS YesS [so thatrsquos what I mean]Int [do you all agree with him]S YeahSs yeah

(Literacy students Rushton)

436 TESOL QUARTERLY

as we have seen is constructed as movement on from ESOL to Literacy oronto vocational courses Lynne a literacy teacher at Cranshaw talks of onestudent lsquolsquowho clearly was an ESOL studentrsquorsquo who had been in the UnitedKingdom for a number of years and who wanted to join a Literacy class(lsquolsquoHe probably felt he was moving on from ESOLrsquorsquo) Progression is alsoconstructed as movement either actual or desired from off-site to mainsite It seems that Rushtonrsquos off-site ESOL and Childcare course run in acommunity centre on a housing estate is of a lower level than theequivalent course run on the main site As the case study states

There is very much the sense that this is a lower level lsquolsquopoor relationrsquorsquo to thenext level childcare courses and that C [the teacher] is very unclear of thelevel required for her students to be able to get onto those courses

These movements we suggest can be understood as movements fromperiphery towards the centre from less to more valued space whichthemselves have effects in terms of identity construction in both ESOLstudents and teachers who might on some level understand themselvesas marginal learners and marginal teachers

SPATIAL PRACTICES AND IDENTITY POSITIONS

In this article we examined the spatial practices that constitute thelearning world of ESOL students and the working world of ESOLteachers We have seen for example in the Borderlands classroom casestudy how the liminal space of a community centre anteroom routinelycrossed by other users going to and from the creche the toilets oroffices is appropriated and made over as a pedagogical space We havesuggested as well that the community-based class is positioned in relationto the mainstream college provision in a peripheryndashcentre relationshipas is ESOL in relation to Literacy What is the impact of thesepositionings on the learner and professional identities of ESOL studentsand teachers In the community centre setting learner identities literallyjostle with other identities as a mother breaks away from her studies tosort out a problem with her child in the creche or a father drops by toleave a child again leading to a break in class participation Learneridentities in the community setting are also bound up in the desire toprogress on and up from the periphery to the mainstream course in themain college site onto vocational training or into work What aboutteacher identities Pervasive in the interviews we conducted withteachers was a sense of professional marginalization of the ESOLteacher in college structures yet combined with a strong sense ofpurpose which is demonstrated in the class discussed earlier Thetactical appropriation of space involved in creating the pedagogical


space is itself a kind of identity work creating a distinctive learner andteacher identity highly attached to learning in this particular place andat this particular time despite the practical obstacles

In addition to physical and social spaces we also identified theabstract vertical spatial trajectory of the qualifications framework Whatidentity effects might this have on ESOL learners and teachers When weexamine the saturation of reference to the levels in student and teacherdiscourse in the interviews it is hard not to see a Foucauldiandisciplining and regulation of the self at work as learners are literallytransformed in the words of their teachers and themselves into Entry 1s2s and 3s embarking implicitly on a vertical trajectory that can in theorylead them upwards and onwards into the kind of knowledge worlds thatBernstein has characterized for us so well Seen from this perspectivethe NQF is strangely effective as a strategy for producing differentlearner and teacher identities embarking on particular learningtrajectories linked to particular real world outcomes a job a coursecitizenship It is of course a kind of irony beyond the scope of this articleto explore that the content of the vertical exams which structure thisprogression are overwhelmingly based on everyday communicationtasks hardly dissimilar to those everyday horizontal local communica-tion events the achievements of which are identified earlier The crucialdifference is of course that they are recontextualized and pedagogized insubtle ways that are differentially picked up on by different studentsparticularly those schooled or unschooled In a footnote to his 1999article Bernstein comments on the use of horizontal discourse in theframing of test items identifying class differences between thosestudents who are able to interpret these questions as calling for verticaldiscourse and those who do not

The learner identities that we examined are however future orientedvery much bound up with prospective lives and roles with achieving asylumstatus as citizens as students as members of the workforce with moreeffective participation in day-to-day interactions We can point to theclassroom as being both a liminal space and a lsquolsquospace of becomingrsquorsquo Theliminality of the classroom space was iconically highlighted in theBorderlands community class setting described earlier but is of courseroutinely characteristic of other classroom spaces which students andteachers appropriate and make over for their own purposes

CONCLUSION

In this article we tried to focus on issues which are directly relevant tothe notion of student placement using ideas from the work of Lefebvrede Certeau and Harvey on spatial practices and the production of space

438 TESOL QUARTERLY

We tried for example to show how spaces are tactically appropriatedmade over and used and how levels and qualifications ladders andESOL student and teacher talk about them are saturated with spatialmetaphors well characterized by Bernsteinrsquos (1999) lsquolsquovertical discoursersquorsquo(p 159) We have shown how there is an obvious washback from thequalifications ladder into the placement process leading to studentsbeing placed in terms of literacy level rather than spoken language andhave suggested that some of these processes can be explained in terms ofnotions of differentially valued central and peripheral space Studentsteachers and curriculum managers as well as other key players such asemployers inhabit and shape curriculum and qualifications spacesvaluing some disvaluing others influenced by shifts in the directions ofpolicy It remains to be repeated finally that the intention of this articleis not to cut off or turn attention away from the vertical trajectories ofspecifically educational achievement which are valuably opened up by aqualifications framework and curriculum pathway though there are ofcourse many gaps between rhetoric and actuality (as the discussion ofthe valuing of qualifications earlier suggested) It is rather that thereseems to have been a policy-initiated turning away in the interests of themeasurable achievements of the NQF from the achievements ofhorizontal discourse which contingent and local as they may be haveeveryday life effects that can only be described as profound

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This research was supported by the National Research and Development Centre forAdult Literacy and NumeracyDepartment for Education and Skills Grant PG 433

THE AUTHORS

Mike Baynham is Professor of TESOL at the University of Leeds Leeds England Hisresearch interests include work on narrative language and migration literacy andadult English to speakers of other languages A former chair of the BritishAssociation for Applied Linguistics he is currently co-convenor of the InternationalApplied Linguistics Association (AILA) Research Network on Language andMigration

James Simpson is a lecturer in the School of Education University of Leeds LeedsEngland where he coordinates the Master of Arts TESOL program His researchinterests include the teaching of English to speakers of other languages discourseanalysis and literacy studies

REFERENCES

Baynham M (2006) Performing self family and community in Moroccan narrativesof migration and settlement In A de Fina D Schiffrin amp M Bamberg (Eds)


Discourse and identity (pp 376ndash397) Cambridge England Cambridge UniversityPress

Baynham M Roberts C Cooke M Simpson J amp Ananiadou K (2007) Effectiveteaching and learning ESOL London England National Research andDevelopment Centre for Adult Literacy and Numeracy (NRDC)

Bernstein B (1999) Vertical and horizontal discourse An essay British Journal ofSociology of Education 20(2) 157ndash173 doi10108001425699995380

Blommaert J Collins J amp Slembrouck S (2005) Spaces of multilingualismLanguage and Communication 25 197ndash216 doi101016jlangcom200505002

Cooke M amp Simpson J (2008) ESOL A critical guide Oxford England OxfordUniversity Press

Council of Europe (2007) Common European Framework of Reference for LanguagesRetrieved from httpwwwcoeintTDG4LinguisticSourceFramework_ENpdf

Davies B amp Harre R (1990) Positioning The discursive production of selvesJournal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 20 43ndash63 doi101111j146859141990tb00174x

De Certeau M (1988) The practice of everyday life Berkeley CA University ofCalifornia Press

Department for Education and Employment (2000) Breaking the language barriersThe report of the working group on English for speakers of other languages (ESOL)Retrieved from httpwwwlifelonglearningcoukesolfronthtm

Department for Education and Skills (2001) Adult ESOL core curriculum LondonEngland Basic Skills AgencyDfES

Falk I (2001) Sleight of hand Job myths literacy and social capital In J Lo Biancoamp R Wickert (Eds) Australian policy activism in language and literacy (pp 203ndash220) Melbourne Australia Language Australia

Harvey D (1989) The condition of postmodernity Oxford England BlackwellLefebvre H (1991) The production of space (D Nicholson-Smith Trans) Oxford

England Blackwell (Original work published in 1974)Le Page R amp Tabouret-Keller A (2006) Acts of identity Creole based approaches to

language and identity (2nd ed) Quebec Canada EMEMcKay P (2001) National literacy benchmarks and the outstreaming of ESL

learners In J Lo Bianco amp R Wickert (Eds) Australian policy activism in languageand literacy (pp 221ndash237) Melbourne Australia Language Australia

Moss G (2000) Informal literacies and pedagogic discourse Linguistics andEducation 11 47ndash64 doi101016S0898-5898(99)00017-0

Office of Public Sector Information (2002) Nationality Immigration and Asylum Act(2002) Retrieved from httpwwwopsigovukactsacts2002ukpga_20020041_en_1

Simpson J Cooke M amp Baynham M (2008) The right course (Report of thePlacement Practices Project) London England NRDC

Turner V (1969) The ritual process Structure and anti-structure Chicago IL Aldine

440 TESOL QUARTERLY

do so we draw on a distinction made by the philosopher Henri Lefebvre(19741991) and the cultural geographer Harvey (1989) betweenmaterial spatial practices representations of space and spaces of representa-tion discussed later First however we introduce the discussion with ashort review of relevant policy background on ESOL in England Walesand Northern Ireland (there is a different system in Scotland) to set thescene We then describe the context of the study upon which this articledraws a project investigating placement practices (how students areplaced or place themselves) in adult ESOL and literacy courses which liewithin the scope of Englandrsquos Skills for Life policy Using an illustrativevignette we discuss how a community-based context of ESOL teachingand learning occupies and appropriates liminal material spaces makingthem over for pedagogical purposes

Turning to more abstract dimensions of practices of placement we goon to investigate how movement through learning is also constructed inthe talk of ESOL learners and teachers as a spatial process in particularas progression through the abstract space of the NQF arguing that thisis a representation of space in Harveyrsquos terms Drawing on Bernstein(1999) we sketch out the dimensions of this representation of spacediscussing how progression within the NQF can be described in terms ofa vertical or a horizontal trajectory Progression through the curriculumframework is understood as following an upward path while at the sametime other aspects of studentsrsquo learning trace a horizontal route which isapparently less valued How are the abstract spaces of the curriculumframework appropriated by students How are learning spaces under-stood as central or peripheral How if at all does progress along thevertical trajectory connect with the horizontal We conclude byconsidering the new identity positionsmdashspaces of becomingmdashcreated bythe discourses of progression and placement

THE POLICY CONTEXT ESOL IN THE UNITEDKINGDOM

Going back to the 1990s adult ESOL provision in England was largelyneglected in policy circles A major watershed came at the turn of thecentury with the decision to bring the fragmented field of ESOL undercentralised control linked to a more general overhaul of the provisionof adult literacy and numeracy as the government put in place anational strategy for adult basic education Skills for Life Throughinitiatives involving literacy numeracy ESOL and more recentlycomputer skills training the purpose of Skills for Life has taken a humancapital approach aiming to mobilize individual potential and humancapital to support economic growth (for a discussion of these issues in





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CONCLUSION


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ACKNOWLEDGMENT


THE AUTHORS



REFERENCES






















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laughter


school












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THE AUTHORS



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ACKNOWLEDGMENT


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ACKNOWLEDGMENT


THE AUTHORS



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THE AUTHORS



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Onwards and Upwards: Space, Placement and Liminality in Adult ESOL Classes 2010

Documents

Transcript of Onwards and Upwards: Space, Placement and Liminality in Adult ESOL Classes 2010