Positioning Research by Kumar Margaret;Pattanayak Supriya;

Author:Kumar, Margaret;Pattanayak, Supriya; [Pattanayak, Margaret Kumar Supriya]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: SAGE Publications India Pvt, Ltd.
Published: 2018-02-16T00:00:00+00:00

Education, Research and Language

Following Freire’s (1986) much acclaimed Pedagogy of the Oppressed, wherein he notes that the oppressed have a ‘culture of silence’; likewise, knowledge systems and indigenous methodologies have also been devalued as they do not have important proponents and spokespersons. Much has been said about decolonizing methodologies (Tuhiwai Smith 2012) but in education practice, efforts at incorporating local/indigenous languages and philosophies have been fragmented. When one discusses the ‘discourse genre’ in education, first, one questions, which/ whose ‘discourse’ and which one is privileged over others (written texts alone or oral presentations). Which ‘genres’ would be the next question—recognize those that help them to create their own texts, written or oral or assume that genres represent a fixed category, leading to a mechanistic teaching and learning. One also should take into account the fact that some tasks that are set in classrooms make unwarranted assumptions of certain students’ cultural knowledge and understanding, thus disadvantaging them. Genres should not be conceptualized in a static manner, and the way they are taught may lead to oversimplification, especially if they are taught as discrete categories in a linear fashion. When one discusses ‘whose reality’, there are many interpretations which may prove to be confounding to the researcher. The constructionists note that there is an external reality but language and discourse powerfully shape our interpretation of that reality and the meanings we ascribe to it (Beckett 2003).

There are greater complexities in the intersection between the spoken word and what it is that is attempted to be made visible. Hawkins, Fook and Ryan (2001, 10) in looking at the language used by social workers in discussing their work conclude that

Individuals, their families (and less commonly, their situations) are ‘interviewed’, ‘assessed’, ‘treated’ and ‘intervened in/with’ using a variety of ‘strategies’. Rarely do workers talk about ‘empowering’, ‘advocating for’, ‘collaborating with’ or even ‘changing structures’. Social workers’ language use appears to be quite incongruent with our stated mission of social justice.

The interesting part is that in the Indian context, social justice terms such as ‘empowerment’, ‘advocacy’, ‘collaboration’, ‘participation’ and ‘non-judgmental’ are used liberally in practice, but this does not translate to ‘social justice’ for those who have been historically marginalized/disadvantaged. A deconstruction of the metaphor ‘social justice’ will indicate that it means different things to different people. Beckett (2003), therefore, in emphasizing that social workers have a distinct language, distinguishes between a ‘sacred language’, ‘official language’, ‘colloquial language’ and ‘spoken language’. I would go further to state that in a multilingual context, meaning making is paramount and the categories mentioned here are not distinct.

In the field of education in India, Pattanayak (1981, 2014) deals extensively with the place of language as subject and subject as language in a multilingual context. Language as subject may be a second or third language in a multilingual setting or a foreign language, if chosen. In a country such as India, it is indeed a challenge to have the use of several languages simultaneously, or have a gradual progression from mother tongue to state language to national language/English.

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