Problems of children’s involvement in interpreter-mediated meetings between their teachers and their parents
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Claudio Baraldi
und
Federica Ceccoli
Abstract
This paper focuses on six interpreter-mediated interactions between teachers, migrant parents, and their children in Italian primary schools, a topic that has not yet been widely examined in the literature on public service interpreting. The analysis draws on audio-recorded interpreter-mediated interactions collected in Italy during a European Horizon 2020 project. The paper shows the barriers that exist in engaging children in these interactions. The difficulties observed are varied and more challenging to overcome than those hindering parental involvement. While Childhood Studies shows that the important enhancement of children’s agency in social contexts needs particular non-hierarchical structures of interaction, in the analysed interpreter-mediated interactions the mutual positioning of teachers, parents and mediators does not allow this enhancement. Thus, the involved children stay silent, they provide minimal responses when addressed, they show feelings of distress, and their few initiatives are not supported by the other participants. The paper shows the reasons for the failure of both teachers’ actions and mediators’ coordination to involve children and support their exercise of agency.
Resumen
Este artículo se centra en seis interacciones mediadas por intérpretes entre profesores, padres migrantes y sus hijos en escuelas primarias italianas, un tema que aún no ha sido ampliamente examinado en la literatura sobre la interpretación en los servicios públicos. El análisis se basa en interacciones mediadas por intérpretes grabadas en audio y recogidas en Italia durante un proyecto en el marco del programa europeo Horizonte 2020. El trabajo muestra las barreras que existen para involucrar a los niños en estas interacciones. Las dificultades observadas son variadas y más difíciles de superar que las que dificultan la participación de los padres. Mientras que los estudios de la infancia demuestran que para potenciar la agencia de los niños y de las niñas en contextos sociales se necesitan estructuras de interacción no jerárquicas específicas, en las interacciones mediadas por intérpretes analizadas el posicionamiento mutuo de profesores, padres y mediadores no permite esta potenciación. Así, los niños y las niñas implicados permanecen en silencio, dan respuestas mínimas cuando se les dirige la palabra, muestran sentimientos de angustia y sus pocas iniciativas no reciben el apoyo de los demás participantes. Este artículo presenta las razones del fracaso de las acciones de los profesores y de la coordinación de los mediadores para involucrar a los niños y a las niñas y para apoyar su agencia.
Zusammenfassung
Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht sechs dolmetschervermittelte Gesprächssituationen zwischen Lehrern und Eltern mit Migrationshintergrund mit Beteiligung deren Kinder in einigen italienischen Grundschulen – ein Thema, das in der Literatur zum Dolmetschen im öffentlichen Dienst nicht behandelt wird. Die Analyse stützt sich auf Audioaufzeichnungen von dolmetschervermittelten Gesprächssituationen, die im Rahmen eines europäischen Horizon 2020-Projekts in Italien gesammelt wurden. Der Beitrag zeigt die Probleme der Einbeziehung von Kindern in diese Gespräche auf, die sich von denen der Beteiligung ihrer Eltern unterscheiden und schwerwiegender sind. Während die Kindheitsforschung darauf hinweist, dass die Erweiterung der Handlungsfähigkeit von Kindern in sozialen Kontexten besondere nicht-hierarchische Interaktionsstrukturen erfordert, lässt die gegenseitige Positionierung von Lehrern, Eltern und Vermittlern in den untersuchten dolmetschervermittelten Gesprächssituationen diese Erweiterung nicht zu. Infolgedessen schweigen die beteiligten Kinder, sie geben minimale Antworten, wenn sie angesprochen werden, sie zeigen Gefühle der Verzweiflung und ihre wenigen Initiativen werden nicht unterstützt. Der Beitrag untersucht die Gründe für das Scheitern der Vermittlerversuche, die Kinder in die dolmetschervermittelten Gespräche miteinzubeziehen und ihre Handlungsfähigkeit zu fördern.
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Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- Problems of children’s involvement in interpreter-mediated meetings between their teachers and their parents
- A lexical-cognitive approach to the consequences of the coronavirus crisis for the emotions and perceptions of the Spanish population aged 65 and over
- Family language policy in Swedish-English families: Rhizomatic conceptualisations
- A case study examining the Turkish language skills of bilingual children according to adverse teaching conditions
- L2 Polish developmental sequences in an intercomprehension context
- Figurative language and ‘doing interculturality’ in a lingua franca
- School Trajectory of Elementary Newcomer Students: Early Tracking System and Norm Accommodation
- How I live [participate] now: Re-negotiating social belonging and linguistic participation in book-group discussions
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- Problems of children’s involvement in interpreter-mediated meetings between their teachers and their parents
- A lexical-cognitive approach to the consequences of the coronavirus crisis for the emotions and perceptions of the Spanish population aged 65 and over
- Family language policy in Swedish-English families: Rhizomatic conceptualisations
- A case study examining the Turkish language skills of bilingual children according to adverse teaching conditions
- L2 Polish developmental sequences in an intercomprehension context
- Figurative language and ‘doing interculturality’ in a lingua franca
- School Trajectory of Elementary Newcomer Students: Early Tracking System and Norm Accommodation
- How I live [participate] now: Re-negotiating social belonging and linguistic participation in book-group discussions
