Fyrirlesarar og abstraktar | Menntavisindastofnun Háskóla Íslands

Aspa Chatzidaki	Aspa Chatzidaki, University of Crete Research on family language policies: evidence from the Greek context The FLP framework has been instrumental in the study of how bilingual parents construct the importance of bi/multilingual upbringing for their children and the steps they take in that regard. A major aspect of the framework relates to language ideologies shared by parents, children and the society at large. These ideologies have been found to differ depending, among other factors, on the ethnic background and socio-economic status of the family, as well as on the prestige and ‘market value’ attributed to the languages in question. This paper will attempt to combine evidence on patterns of FLP observed in a variety of contexts in Greece with the aim to discuss commonalities and differences in terms of their language ideologies. Our data originate in research among (a) mixed-marriage couples of relatively high SES, (b) immigrant families of diverse backgrounds (Albanian, Chinese, etc) and (c) members of the Muslim minority of Thrace who speak Pomak as well as Turkish and Greek.
Dalvir Gill	Dalvir Gill, University of Roehampton Exploring the way pre-school practitioners and parents from South Asian Diaspora in the UK perceive and construct young children's identities.   One of the most interesting findings within this study refers to migrant parents' desire for their children to maintain their heritage language as means of preserving the cultural and ethnic identities. Specifically, parents thought that children's fluency in their mother tongue is essential if they were to understand and participate in their cultural practices. The study also explored experiences, thoughts and feelings on the role that migrant children have in language brokering between school and home.  Language brokering can include translating, interpreting, explaining school rules, and expectations. Existing research suggests that children as young as four and five engage in some kind of language brokering.  As well as developing key communication and language skills, this can also help to preserve the heritage language. Key words: heritage language, language brokering, cultural and ethnic identity.
	Christina Hedman, Stockholm University Engaging in conversations on multilingualism via work on Critical Multilingual Language Awareness in a preparatory class in Sweden: Scenarios of possibility This paper draws from a research project based in the Cambridge–Stockholm Collaborative Research Grants Scheme in which we piloted a Critical Multilingual Language Awareness approach collaboratively with teachers in a preparatory class for recently arrived secondary school students in Sweden (see Hedman & Fisher, 2022a, 2022b). In this approach, the teachers adapted teaching material on Language Awareness from the We Are Multilingual (https://www.wamcam.org) strand of the Multilingualism: Empowering Individuals, Transforming Societies project (http://www.meits.org; see Fisher et al., 2020). The adapted approach was also based on the five principles of educational design for multilingual learners (Prasad & Lory, 2020, p. 806), which relate to cognitive, performative, affective, social and power domains of language awareness (James & Garret, 1992). One rationale was to reinforce multilingual language awareness and processes of empowerment either before or just as the migrant students enter mainstream classes. Such approaches have not previously been reported on in Sweden. Data consist of audio- and video-recordings from classroom observations, students and teacher interviews, and fieldnotes. In this presentation, I focus on some of the many conversations on multilingualism – as co-learning – between the students and the six participating Multilingual Study Mentors (MSMs) within this thematic frame. MSMs usually support recently arrived students’ learning through languages other than Swedish. Here, the MSMs’ role was expanded and contributed added value to the conversations in ways that offered scenarios of possibility (Heath, 2000), for example, by shifting taken-for-granted perceptions of subordinated everyday language experiences and knowledge into practices of curiosity (Bozalek & Zembylas, 2017).
Jim Cummins	Jim Cummins, University of Toronto Multilingual Development and Literacy Socialization: Creating a Foundation for Educational Success in the Preschool and Primary School Years The presentation will discuss what educational structures and pedagogical practices are most likely to provide optimal conditions for academic success among immigrant-background children during the preschool and early primary grades of compulsory schooling. Among the major challenges facing multilingual and immigrant-background children are (a) the learning of the school language, and (b) developing literacy skills in the school language. However, an additional and related challenge involves children’s development of spoken and literate knowledge of their home language (L1). Research from multiple contexts demonstrates that children’s L1 development frequently stalls during the preschool and early primary years as a result of the prevalence of the dominant language in preschool contexts, television, and in the early grades. Support for children’s L1 literacy development in home and/or school is also at best uneven and at worst minimal. This process of home language stagnation or even loss entails consequences not only for communication between parents and children in the home, but also for children’s acquisition of literacy skills in the dominant school language (L2). The research basis for these claims will be discussed in relation to the crosslinguistic relationships between L1 and L2 and the importance of literacy socialization in the preschool years. I will suggest that preschools have the potential to create an ecology of multilingual awareness and literacy socialization that can promote oral competence in the school language, develop the conceptual foundation for the later acquisition of strong literacy skills, and also work with families to reinforce children’s development of home language and literacy skills.
Lars Anders Kulbrandstad	Lars Anders Kulbrandstad, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences Linguistic and cultural diversity in kindergarten and schools. Adding new knowledge to teaching practices Addressing growing diversity among children and students is a central challenge for both preservice and in-service teacher education. Research-based teacher education as well as research-based or research-informed teaching practices have been focal concerns in Norwegian educational policy during the past few decades. One strategy has been funding PhD scholarships at teacher education institutions. In a study of dissertations defended in the years 2020-2022 (Kulbrandstad et al in progress), we found 34 theses dealing with aspects of linguistic or cultural diversity. Together they address the whole educational system – from kindergarten to adult education and teacher education. Some also have data from family settings. Predominantly, the theses are oriented towards specific school subjects, languages and social science being the most common. In this presentation, we will introduce and discuss results from these theses, focusing on multilingualism and interculturality as well as teachers’ professional practices.
Lise Iversen Kulbrandstad	Lise Iversen Kulbrandstad, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences Linguistic and cultural diversity in kindergarten and schools. Adding new knowledge to teaching practices Addressing growing diversity among children and students is a central challenge for both preservice and in-service teacher education. Research-based teacher education as well as research-based or research-informed teaching practices have been focal concerns in Norwegian educational policy during the past few decades. One strategy has been funding PhD scholarships at teacher education institutions. In a study of dissertations defended in the years 2020-2022 (Kulbrandstad et al in progress), we found 34 theses dealing with aspects of linguistic or cultural diversity. Together they address the whole educational system – from kindergarten to adult education and teacher education. Some also have data from family settings. Predominantly, the theses are oriented towards specific school subjects, languages and social science being the most common. In this presentation, we will introduce and discuss results from these theses, focusing on multilingualism and interculturality as well as teachers’ professional practices.
Piet Van Avermaet	Piet Van Avermaet, University of Ghent Beyond binaries. How to integrate multilingualism and language of schooling in education? Since the first 2000 PISA findings we know that socio-ethnic inequality in education is a tenacious and persistent problem in many European countries. In explaining this inequality, language (i.e. knowledge of the dominant language) is often presented by policy makers as the main – if not the only – ‘causal’ factor. This incorrect causal interpretation has strongly impacted language policy making of the last 15 years in many European countries. For almost two decades knowledge of the dominant language has been seen as the main lever for school success. However, the recent PISA-data show that the inequality gap has not really been reduced in many European counties. Independent of the fact that schools, as social and learning spaces, are multilingual and although there is no empirical evidence for the effectiveness of an exclusive L2 submersion model, many European countries maintain a monolingual policy, whereby children have to be submersed in the dominant language as a condition for school success. This often leads to school policies and classroom practices where children’s multilingual repertoires are banned, not exploited and where children are sometimes being reproved or even punished for using their multilingual repertoire in daily school and classroom interaction. In this paper I will discuss the counterproductive effects of excluding immigrant children’s multilingual repertoires in education. I will argue for a policy and classroom practices where multilingualism and the acquisition of the language of schooling can be interwoven in addressing mechanisms of social inequality.
	Hanna Ragnarsdóttir, Kristín Jónsdóttir, Renata Emilsson Peskova, Samúel Lefever, Anh-Dao K. Tran, Anna Katrín Eiríksdóttir, Artëm Ingmar Benediktsson and Kriselle Suson Jónsdóttir, Menntavísindasviði Háskóla Íslands Language policies and practices of diverse immigrant families in Iceland and their implications for education / Tungumálastefna og starfshættir fjölbreyttra fjölskyldna innflytjenda á Íslandi og áhrif þeirra á menntun Migration to Iceland has grown rapidly in recent years and the changing demographics have had an impact on society as well as the education system. The research project, Language policies and practices of diverse immigrant families in Iceland and their implications for education (LPP) aims at critically exploring the language policies and practices of diverse immigrant families. The project focuses on how these impact their children’s education and the relationships between these families, their heritage language communities, their teachers and principals. The LPP project involves 16 immigrant families, who have diverse languages and educational and socio-economic backgrounds and their children of different genders, as well as the children’s teachers and principals at preschool and compulsory school levels and, where relevant, their heritage language teachers. The LPP project is the first extensive Icelandic study on immigrant families’ language policies and practices and its main value is providing insight into these and their implications for educational policy and practices. Mapping the situation in Iceland in relation to active bi- and multilingualism and the development of bi- or multi-literacy of children will provide important information for schools on how to work with families for active bi- and multilingualism as well as providing information for parents and policy makers on effective language policies and practices. In our presentation we will give an overview of the project and draw on few examples from first findings. Á íslensku Flutningur fólks til Íslands hefur aukist hratt á undanförnum árum og þær breytingar hafa haft áhrif á samfélagið og menntakerfið. Markmið rannsóknarverkefnisins Tungumálastefna og starfshættir fjölbreyttra fjölskyldna innflytjenda á Íslandi og áhrif þeirra á menntun (LPP) er að rannsaka með gagnrýnum hætti tungumálastefnu og starfshætti fjölbreyttra fjölskyldna innflytjenda. Verkefnið beinir athygli að því hvernig tungumálstefnan hefur áhrif á menntun barnanna og tengsl þessara fjölskyldna, móðurmálssamfélaga þeirra, skólastjóra og kennara barnanna. Þátttakendur í LPP rannsóknarverkefninu eru 16 fjölskyldur innflytjenda sem hafa fjölbreytt tungumál, menntun og félags- og efnahagslegan bakgrunn og börn þeirra af ólíku kyni, svo og skólastjórar og kennarar barnanna í leik- og grunnskóla, og móðurmálskennarar þeirra. LPP rannsóknarverkefnið er fyrsta víðtæka íslenska rannsóknin á tungumálastefnu og starfsháttum fjölbreyttra fjölskyldna innflytjenda og helsta gildi þess er að veita innsýn í þær og áhrif þeirra á menntastefnu og starfshætti. Kortlagning á tví- og fjöltyngi fjölskyldna á Íslandi og þróun læsis barna þeirra mun veita mikilvægar upplýsingar fyrir skóla um hvernig er best að vinna með fjölskyldum að virku tví- og fjöltyngi, auk þess að veita foreldrum upplýsingar um skilvirka tungumálastefnu og starfshætti. Í erindi okkar munum við gefa yfirlit yfir verkefnið og taka nokkur dæmi af fyrstu niðurstöðum.