Breton-Carbonneau, GabrielleCleghorn, AilieEvans, RinellePesco, Diane2012-02-082013-11-302012-05Gabrielle Breton-Carbonneau, Ailie Cleghorn, Rinelle Evans & Diane Pesco (2012): Pedagogical and political encounters in linguistically and culturally diverse primary classrooms: examples from Quebec, Canada, and Gauteng, South Africa, Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, DOI:10.1080/03057925.2011.6508700305-7925 (print)1469-3623 (online)10.1080/03057925.2011.650870http://hdl.handle.net/2263/18050Comparative research in multilingual urban primary schools indicates that the pedagogical and political goals of schooling may operate at cross-purposes. Classroom observations and teacher interview-discussions were conducted in classes for immigrant children in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where the language of instruction is French, and in classes in Pretoria, Gauteng Province, South Africa, where children from many different language backgrounds are taught in English. Two main themes emerged: (1) Pedagogically, effective teacher-learner communication can break down when teachers are unaware of the roles that language and culture play in second language classrooms. (2) Politically, efforts to assimilate learners into new socio-cultural/political contexts sometimes take precedence over sound pedagogical practice, such as drawing on the linguistic and cultural repertoire that learners bring to the classroom. This on-going qualitative research underlines the importance of preparing pre-service and inservice teachers for the linguistic and cultural diversity they are bound to encounter in their classrooms, and of deepening their understanding of the influence of such diversity on the teaching-learning process.en© 2012 British Association for International and Comparative Education. This is an electronic version of an article published in Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, DOI:10.1080/03057925.2011.650870, May 2012. Journal of Comparative and International Education is available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ccom20. This article is embargoed by the publisher until November 2013.MultilingualCultural diversityPrimary classroomsInstructional languageTeacher educationMulticultural education -- South AfricaMulticulturalism -- Education -- South AfricaClassroom environment -- South AfricaPostprint Article