Lecture in English (without translation)
Marion Mathier is a lecturer for French and English at Pädagogische Hochschule Bern and a postdoctoral research affiliate at the University of Cape Town. Her research interests include critical discourse studies, language and media ideologies, linguistic ethnography, digital literacies, language planning and education policy (discourses of), language learning.
Abstract
Switzerland implemented a curriculum overhaul in 2018. Flagship features of the new curriculum are the promotion of multilingualism, as well as a media and computer science curriculum that responds to economic and political pressures. Adhering to Foucault’s notion of dispositif, I analyze the discursive formation of language and media in the curricula where language and media use is constructed in instrumental ways. These perspectives are also reflected in actual classroom practices, where technology uptake often happens unquestioned. Machine translation, language learning apps, ChatGPT, and language assistants are frequently used to meet curriculum/textbook demands. However, these platforms treat languages as separate entities – promoting additive monolingualism rather than multiple language learning. In line with postdigital scholarship, I thus inquire how the integration of (globally-owned) language learning platforms into local settings belies the ways in which situated educational practices are increasingly being shaped across borders, by human and non-human actors.
