‘My language … I don’t know how to talk about it’: children’s views on language diversity in primary schools in France and England

Abstract

Title: "My language…I don't know how to talk about it": children's views on language diversity in primary schools in France and England

Inclusion across borders: young immigrants in France and England

“…In formal school spaces, she tended to minimise her Hmong identity, and restrict it to what was acceptable in a context of "indifference to differences" and an emphasis on being a pupil rather than a whole child. As such, she only mentioned aspects of her Hmong identity that she deemed to be pedagogically legitimate in the context of the French school (Welply, 2017). In contrast, in more informal school spaces, Marine was much more likely to express elements of Otherness as part of her identity.…”

“…), where she felt she could speak about Islam which was a strong part of her identity. However, she also was quite clear that she did not speak of religion with non-Muslim peers and felt that different religions were a basis for different friendships in school (see Welply, 2017 and. Her religious identity in school was thus restricted to what she perceived as the legitimate curriculum area, R.E.…”

“…Regarding young migrants, the values promoted by the French Republican model emphasise a unitary French culture and language, which encourages an approach based on "indifferences to differences" in school (van Zanten, 1997;Raveaud, 2003;Meer et al, 2009:414). This means that linguistic, religious or cultural differences are not taken into account and often constructed as undesirable in the public school sphere (Welply, 2017). Newly-arrived children and children with interrupted school trajectories (as a result of migration or belonging to the traveller community) are put in separate instruction classes for the first year of their schooling in the French system, with a progressive evolution towards mainstreaming (Delamotte, Penloup, & Reuter, 2016).…”

Education and migration: languages foregrounded

“…Individuals' personal histories of migration, provenance, cultural and religious backgrounds, age, gender, and languages create opportunities for language and intercultural learning, and enrichment of the curriculum in educational contexts. However, these affordances and opportunities are challenged by state educational regimes that often prioritise and legitimise monolingual attitudes among teachers and learners (see Welply 2017): what Gogolin (1997) has defined as a monolingual habitus, which often leads to linguistic discrimination. In this context of unequal (linguistic) power relations, state education risks losing the hearts and minds of 'othered' learners who fall outside of the (linguistic) structures and curriculum of mainstream education (Bourdieu, 1991;Cummins, 2001;Giroux, 2004).…”

“…Methodologically, the studies are guided by critical participatory approaches that seek to redress teacher/learner power imbalances through learner-centred methods, e.g. seeking participants' perceptions and experiences via semi-structured interviews (with teachers in Liu et al's article and with primary school children in Welply, 2017). Many of the studies also draw on critical (linguistic) ethnographic approaches (e.g.…”