Language Education and Multilingualism - The Langscape Journal Vol. 8

The eighth volume of the Langscape open-access, peer-reviewed online journal will be devoted to the theme of Connecting family and school language policies Family Language Policies (FLP) are wide and varied. They may range from conscious explicit planning to an implicit mixed approach where two or more languages are used by all family members following few specific guidelines. In this sense, seven types of language use within the family context are described by Barron-Hauwaert (2004): “(a) “OPOL-ML” (one parent, one language - majority language), (b) “OPOL-mL” (one parent, one language - minority language), (c) “Minority-Language at Home” (mL@H), (d) “Trilingual or multilingual strategy”, (e) “Mixed strategy”, (f) “Time and Place strategy”, and (g) “Artificial” or “Non-Native strategy”” (in Andritsou & Chatzidimou 2022, 103). FLP can be influenced by parents’ ideologies as well as by macro, meso and micro factors in societies, from official laws and regulations (macro) to linguistic policies implemented in early childhood education, educational counselling and schools (meso), to the everyday informal uses of speakers (micro). Teachers’ ideologies and attitudes may also produce emerging classroom practices related to these changing social realities and values. These ideologies are often shaped by the prestige and diffusion of the languages involved and are relevant because “they shape children’s developmental trajectories, connect in significant ways with children’s formal school success, and collectively determine the maintenance and future status of minority languages” (Kendall et al 2008). On the other hand, School Language Policies (SLP) usually include only the official languages of the geographical area where the institutions are situated, usually along with training in foreign languages, with little or no recognition of the home languages of the students. Fortunately, due to an increase in globalization and migrations at the turn of the 21st century, researchers and educators have become more interested in language acquisition policies and in the study of the social and affective experiences of speakers in multilingual environments. Here, mainly three strands that are gathering momentum are brought together: the Social Turn in Applied Linguistics (David Block 2003), the Multilingual Turn in foreign language learning (Stephen May 2014), and socio-constructivist approaches to learning in Education Studies (Vygotsky 1930-35/1978). These are backed by studies in Psychology where issues regarding respect for identity and self-esteem are related to self-efficacy and well-being (Bandura 1977). These strands are progressively taking shape as they are integrated in plurilingualism-based pedagogies in (foreign) language learning where home and minority languages are acknowledged and, sometimes, included in the curriculum (González-Davies 2018). Although it seems logical that language use in families and language use in schools should fit together seamlessly, the relationship between families and schools may turn out to be confusing, misleading and even conflictive. Therefore, updated research on this topic is much needed so that effective teacher training and institutional policies enable language and culture-sensitive practices that favour positive connections between families and educators. Paths should be drawn for all students to feel that they are welcomed along with their family backgrounds and, so, learn to acknowledge and respect linguistic and cultural diversity, and improve both their academic aptitudes and social attitudes.