Legitimizing Languages in the Classroom: A Case Study of an Ontario Private School for Russian-Speaking Students

In this ethnographic case study, I investigated how Ontario elementary school administrators, teachers, and students legitimize linguistic diversity in one Ontario private elementary school that served students from the Russian-speaking community in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Pierre Bourdieus (1991) framework of legitimate language was used to analyze how aspects of language practices are legitimized, for whom and under what conditions, and what this means for participants within the context of informal and formal instruction.

This study was grounded in qualitative research methodology. A total of 8 participants were involved in this study: I interviewed and observed 1 school administrator and 1 educator, I observed 1 art teacher volunteer and 5 students, 3 males and 2 females aged 9 to 11 in Grade 4/5. The research methodology of triangulation was used to make comparisons between multiple data sources. Particularly, this study relies on in-depth structured interviews, classroom observations that were conducted over a period of one month in a Grade 4/5 classroom during regular classroom hours, critical discourse analysis (CDA) of national Canadian language and multicultural policy and how it has formed educational practice in Canadian schools, and review of current research literature related to the studys research questions.

The findings revealed how student achievement was attained in instructional contexts that actively leveraged and maintained students linguistic, cultural, and intellectual resources. School administration and educators worked in response to the dynamism of linguistic and cultural student demographics within the parameters of parental and community interests to rethink curricular practices. Furthermore, this study demonstrated that when participants leveraged knowledge of Russian as a common language and when educators integrated Russian into their instruction, it offered opportunities for student engagement and enhancement within the classroom.