The language ideologies of multilingual nannies in London

Abstract

In the globalized economy, multilingualism is increasingly perceived as a way of maximizing competitiveness, even in the family home. In the United Kingdom, multilingualism has become an asset for nannies, granting privileged access to a niche job market. Adopting the theoretical lens of language ideology, we identify sites and forms of language evaluation within the nannies’ discursive construction of their language work. Using thematic analysis of interview and focus group data with nannies, we examine how nannies represent their English and L1 language practices, verbalizations, and embodiments. Findings suggest that, rather than language practices, it is the verbalization of the symbolic value of multilingualism (normally through the medium of English) that grants nannies an advantageous position in the market. This market is made possible by upper‐middle‐class families, whose privileging of specific languages and speakers perpetuates eliteness, gendered language work, and problematic approaches to second language learning.

On the language of liberalism

“…First, I compiled corpora from the collections of essays listed above and started with a thematic analysis using NVivo. Thematic analysis is very useful in the analysis of language, as it allows to identify depictions of language in specific discourses (Takeuchi 2021;Vessey and Nicolai 2022). I followed Deterding and Waters' "flexible coding" approach (2021).…”