A true summer experience: SELLING EFL IMMERSIVE LEARNING IN LLEIDA

A TRUE SUMMER EXPERIENCE: SELLING EFL IMMERSIVE LEARNING IN LLEIDA

David Bosch 

Magda Balsells 

Maria Sansó



Figure 1. Linguistic Language token: A true summer experience.

Source: Picture taken by one member of the group in Carrer Corregidor Escofet, 53; Lleida, February 28, 2023.


1. INTRODUCTION 

Recently, there has been growing interest in the appearance of multilingual landscapes. Due to globalization and other factors, people nowadays live surrounded by different languages, and English has become the most prominent one, specifically in advertisements in non-English speaking places (Piller, 2003). This reality has also been highlighted by Elderman and Gorter (2010) who suggested that English is used to link an advertised product with positive stereotypes, such as progress and modernity. The main reason is that the world has become a place where English is needed to communicate and develop (Putra et al., 2020). Especially in non-English speaking countries, in which, according to Seidlhofer (2005), English has also become the lingua franca (ELF) of international use. That is why, more and more often, English is seen in the majority of linguistic landscapes (Lawrence, 2012). 

Over the last decades, there has been an increasing need in sociolinguistics of knowing more about Linguistic Landscapes. This term was first defined by Bourhis and Landry (1997), and according to them, a linguistic landscape “refers to the visibility and salience of languages on public and commercial signs in a given territory or region” (p. 23). These landscapes give us an insight into the power that languages have on a specific society, and therefore, how this society works in different aspects such as politics, identity, economy, etc. (Mensel et al., 2016). Although considerable research has been devoted to the analysis of the linguistic landscapes in big cities, where tourism is really prominent, rather less attention has been paid to the analysis of the linguistic landscapes in cities where apparently, there should be less linguistic interference, like the one in which we will focus: Lleida city, in non-English speaking Catalonia, where Englishisation is relatively new.

Therefore, the purpose of this assignment is to investigate and bring to light how Lleida (Catalonia, Spain) has been transformed over the past years and the position that the local and global languages have in the city. This particular autonomous community is a bilingual place that has a co-official language (Catalan), which has been minoritized during history, and an official language (Spanish), which is the majority state language and has been globally empowered (Flors-Mas et al., 2021). To do so, we will analyze a specific LL token called ‘A true summer experience’, a poster in which both English and Catalan are used. English is only used in the titles, and therefore, it is the secondary language, and Catalan, for all the explanation and important information, and thus, it is the main language of real instrumental use. This, in short, displays how Catalan is chosen for actual factual information, whereas English, as we will see in the results, is used as an attention-gatherer. Thus, it is a monoglossic poster, as the only alphabet used is the Roman one. Moreover, it is a commercial poster related to education and tourism, as it tries to target locals. Before moving to ethnographic research, the contextualization will be presented, and it will be followed by the methodology used. Finally, the results, the discussion, and the conclusion will be shown. 

The present paper takes part in a bigger project, called ‘Localizing English in Lleida’ supervised by Dr. Maria Sabaté Dalmau. It was created during the academic year 2017/18 in the English Studies degree at the University of Lleida, a bilingual city in Catalonia. This project aims at making students agents of their own learning process and to make them aware of how the city is transforming over time. To do so we will use innovative pedagogical tools in the language course: a Google Map map (Technology of Knowledge Acquisition) to provide an overview of the different LL tokens of Lleida and an entry on a Blogger blog (Technology of Empowerment and Participation), in which the selected token will be analyzed (Sabaté, 2022). ​


2. CONTEXTUALIZATION

The linguistic token of the project was taken by one of the members of the group in EOI Lleida. The token was inside the building, exposed on a wall where all kinds of advertisements are hung. The building is situated in Corregidor Escofet, 53. The space is located in the neighborhood of Pardinyes, more precisely next to the Barris Nord sports pavilion, as can be seen in Figure 2.

Figure 2. EOI and Barris Nord buildings.



Pardinyes, as you can see in Figure 3, is a neighborhood of Lleida, which is composed of 82.96% Spanish people (Figure 4). According to Bitrià and Camprubí (2014), Pardinyes was born as a rural neighborhood, but during the first half of the 20th century, it became an industrial neighborhood. This was largely due to inland immigration. Moreover, in 1923, the Catalan company Camins de Ferro del Nord built a goods station and the respective houses for 150 workers. As a consequence, the neighborhood began to grow industrially, and more people opted to move to Pardinyes. In the 1980s it was transformed into a residential neighborhood thanks to the Pla de L'Estació de Lleida. This construction also led to the isolation of the neighborhood, as the train tracks separated it from the rest of the city. As a result of this isolation, various urban development projects have been carried out to connect it better with the city. One of these actions was the EOI (Bitrià and Camprubí, 2014).

Figure 3. Neighbourhoods in Lleida. 




Figure 4. Population in neighborhoods of Lleida.


EOI Lleida is a public language teaching center. The center teaches eight languages: German, English, Catalan, Spanish, Arabic, French, Italian, German, Italian, and Russian. Teaching at the EOI center follows the LOE (Ley Orgánica de Educación, 2006) and LOMCE (Ley Orgánica para la Mejora de la Calidad Educativa, 2013) regulations. In short, the school is a public modern language school with official, certified, accreditation for language teaching and training. Consequently, the atmosphere there is multilingual. Moreover, its aim is not only to ensure that students enjoy learning a language but also that they enjoy learning a culture (EOI Lleida, 2023).

The linguistic token of this blog post is an advertisement for Inter-estades. It is interesting to mention the play of words used beforehand, as Inter could be Catalan and English, and estades is aimed to target locals. Having said that, Inter-estades is a portal that offers international stays in England and Ireland. Its programs aim to help to improve the English language and get to know other cultures, here seemingly based on the “native speaker” model. The programs are offered to young people and adults, both in the summer and during the school year. Inter-estades was founded in 2016, and over the years has been expanding its range of programs (Inter-estades, 2023). 

At the Escola Oficial d'Idiomes de Lleida (EOI), there are extensive face-to-face courses in German, English, Arabic, Catalan, Spanish for foreigners, French, Italian, and Russian. The face-to-face courses are ordinary courses that run from the end of September to the end of May. In addition, blended courses are also offered but only in English. Finally, teacher training courses are offered (EOI Lleida, 2023)


3. METHODOLOGY 

In order to analyze the linguistic token of our project, a sociolinguistic approach was adopted, which was based on ethnographic observation and fieldwork observation. Firstly, one member of the group took a picture of the linguistic token in its environment. Therefore, on the 28th of February 2023, the ethnographic observation started. The second visit to the EOI was on the 7th of March. The three members of the group went to the building to take notes of the linguistic exchanges that were taking place inside. At first, we noticed that the office’s secretaries mostly used the Catalan language. However, if the occasion required the use of Spanish, it was used. EOI offers Catalan and Spanish lessons for immigrants. Thus, the secretaries adapted the language according to the situation. Moreover, we noticed that between two French teachers, the conversation was conducted in French. Therefore, the observation showed its local nature but also the wide range of languages that they worked with. 


 Figure 5. EOI posters.

Source: Picture taken by one of the members of the group, 22/03/2023.

The third visit was on the 22nd of March 2023. As can be observed in Figure 5, the token was not exposed anymore. Normally, they change posters from time to time, which is why the token for our work was gone. This provides further evidence that Lls are ephemeral and ever-changing. Still, it is important to mention that there were other posters in different languages, including Catalan, Spanish, French, and English. As can be seen in Figure 6, the use of English is still present in the advertising posters hanging on the walls of the EOI.


Figure 6. More posters in EOI. 

Source: Picture taken by one of the members of the group, 22/03/2023.

The token was exposed on a wall in the EOI building in Lleida. Lleida is the capital of the region of Segrià, in Catalonia. Therefore, Lleida is a city in which two languages coexist officially: Catalan and Spanish. However, due to globalization and multilingualism, many languages can be seen on the streets of our city. Nonetheless, article 14 of the BOP (Butlletí Oficial de la Província de Lleida) decrees that public announcements should preferably be written in Catalan (Ajuntament de Lleida, 2014).  

Having said that, it is essential to mention that it is a top-down language policy. As mentioned above, the law states that Catalan should preferably be used in public announcements. The token has the official seal of the Catalan Government (Generalitat de Catalunya), as can be seen in Figure 1. Therefore, all the explanation and most of the information is in Catalan. However, the poster has the support of other institutions and for this reason, English is also used, especially in the titles, for attention-gathering functions.

As has been said before, to carry out the project it is necessary to use a Google Maps map and an entry to a Blogger blog. According to Prego Vàzquez and Zas Varela (2018), the pedagogical language tools that we have used are TEP (Technology of Empowerment and Participation), which can be seen in the blog; TKA (Technology of Knowledge Acquisition) within the map, and ICT (Information and Communication Technology), both in the map and the blog. Having said that, it is important to mention that all was learned through empowered student-led with teacher-guided practice, as was part of a subject in our degree.

In short, the present study aims at discovering how and why English is used for specific purposes, precisely in the economic field. In addition, the project tries to gather information about the status of the languages; that is, the social uses and meanings of local and global languages in contact in Lleida. 


4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 

According to the Landscape Observatory of Catalonia taken from the European Landscape Convention (2022), there are six values that can be assigned to public inscriptions: aesthetic, historical, identity, productive, social, and spiritual. Having said that, the main values of the token here are aesthetic, productive, and social. The linguistic token tries to transmit a feeling of beauty and tries to be appealing through the combination of languages and colors. As can be seen, the only word from the main title that has been highlighted is “true”. This is a way of underlining that their experience is the best one, and therefore, the competitiveness of the language. Furthermore, they have decided to use red, a color that is usually perceived by the buyer as the product to be enjoyable and lively (Seher et al., 2012). Thus, the combination of a “true” summer experience with being lively and enjoyable shows that the advertisement has been carefully planned. Thus, the token has an aesthetic value.

Moreover, as the poster intends to sell an experience, it possesses productive value because it offers language services; particularly for English, which is a commercial realm (EFL market) that is expanding, still revolving around the idea of the native-speaker ideals and the native-speaker world regions (UK/Ireland). Finally, the social value of the token can be seen in the fact that it targets a specific group of society: middle/upper local classes with an education and economic capital. Moreover, it is placed in an institution where people gather as a community of EFL learners. 

One of the most important values in the token is the productive one. According to Kuppens (2010), English has an important impact on advertising and it is widely used. This is why English is used in the titles and part of the subtitles of the selected token. Hence, the language is used to show expertise and is easier to relate the language with the product they are selling. According to Cenoz and Gorter (2006), English is associated with certain values such as international orientation, modernity, success, or sophistication. In the token of this project, English is associated with success, sophistication, and international orientation.

That is why they have decided to combine English and Catalan. English is used to sell and gather attention, and Catalan is used not only because of the law but also to ensure that the parents and the people who may be interested in the offer, understand the details of the experience. This can be directly connected with the idea of linguistic fetishes. If the people who read the poster know English, they can understand exactly what the title means. Nonetheless, if there are people who do not understand English, they may still be able to connect it with a positive stereotype via connotation, such as internationalization. 

In addition, and as has been mentioned before, the title is not the only thing that has been carefully planned. The chosen location has an important paper on the diffusion of the poster, not only because it is a place where English is present, but also because it is a place where many languages are put into use. As can be seen in Figures 5 and 6, Catalan, Spanish, and English are the languages that are used in the majority of the posters in the EOI. As Lleida is a bilingual autonomous community, it is normal to see Catalan and Spanish. However, the fact that English is also present on the other posters reinforces the idea of English as a sellable product (Piller, 2003).


5. CONCLUSION 

All in all, the project presented before aimed at making the student the active knowledge producer of his own learning through innovative pedagogical tools. That is why, we have enjoyed linking the theory done in class with this practice, as all the knowledge in sociolinguistics was used in order to analyze the linguistic landscape. Moreover, it has helped us to acquire knowledge on the social meanings and uses of multilingualism and English as a Lingua Franca more efficiently. 

In order to carry out the project we had to search for a linguistic landscape. This has helped us to become competent observers and knowledge providers. This approach has made us feel empowered as students because we felt that we could choose our own linguistic token and at the same time we had been able to link the theoretical part with a real-life example chosen by us. Therefore, the project was more engaging and we think that we have been able to learn the theory differently.

As mentioned before, we used two innovative pedagogical tools (TKA & TEP) that were new to us. At first, we struggled a bit because it was our first contact with those tools. Even though, it was very well explained by the teacher and in the end, we managed to accomplish the task. Moreover, it has helped us to acquire a new technical skill that we think will be helpful in the future. 

Thanks to the project, we have become more aware of languages in contact and contrast in the city of Lleida. Not only were we able to learn the theory in a more practical way, but also we are now more conscious of how languages interact and how the city has evolved and it is still evolving due to Englishisation. 


 6. REFERENCES

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Bitrià, I., & Camprubí, A. (2014, January). Barris i Crisi. Estudi de cas de Pardinyes (Lleida) [Pdf]. Institut de Govern i Polítiques Públiques.  – https://barrisicrisi.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/informe-igop-pardinyes.pdf

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Inter-estades. (2023, January 10). Cursos d'idiomes a l'estranger. Retrieved March 14, 2023, from https://interestades.com/

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Putra, E., Teknologi, I., & Nopember, S. (2020). The importance of learning English nowadays. Jurnal Institute of Technology Sepuluh November at Surabaya.

Sabaté, M. (2022). ‘Localizing English in town’: a linguistic landscape project for a Critical Linguistics Education on multilingualism. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. DOI: 10.1080/13670050.2022.2067978

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