Search results for " Language Policy"

Families in flux: at the nexus of fluid family configurations and language practices

2021

Research on multilingualism in the home has approached the family as a fixed unit thus neglecting the dynamic view of the family and its intersection with family language practices. The present study aims to address this gap by focusing on Russian-speaking mothers in Finland who have raised their children bilingually in single-parent as well as in dual-parent families. Russian speakers are the largest minority language group in Finland, and their number is constantly growing. The current study is a contribution to the research on family language practices in the Finnish context. It examines the nexus of shifts in family configurations and language practices and explores how the dynamic chan…

Formulerande av familjespråkpolicy - en gemensam, komplex och ständigt pågående process

2012

The Expansion of English-medium Instruction in the Nordic Countries.Can Top-Down University Language Polices Encourage Bottom-up Disciplinary Literac…

2015

Recently, in the wake of the Bologna Declaration and similar internationalinitiatives, there has been a rapid increase in the number of university courses and programmestaught through the medium of English. Surveys have consistently shown theNordic countries to be at the forefront of this trend towards English-medium instruction(EMI). In this paper, we discuss the introduction of EMI in four Nordic countries (Denmark,Finland, Norway and Sweden). We present the educational setting and the EMIdebate in each of these countries and summarize relevant research findings. We then makesome tentative suggestions for the introduction of EMI in higher education in othercountries. In particular, we are…

Migrant family language practices and language policies in Finland

2011

This article investigates the language practices and language policies of an Indian migrant family in their daily life in Finland. The purpose of this paper is to consider the potential of an empirical case study on migration to understand the interrelationship between macro and micro analyses of language policies and practices. Though the migrant language instruction is encouraged and executed under the national language policy in Finland, the second generation of the Indian family was taught their parental languages at home. The family members resort to English as the principle language of communication in their daily life interaction with local inhabitants. The diachronic study further r…

Family language policy among Kurdish–Persian speaking families in Kermanshah, Iran

2022

Abstract Minority language studies have received increasing attention over the last decade in Iran. Drawing on Spolsky’s (Spolsky, Bernard. 2004. Language policy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) language policy theoretical framework, this inquiry reports on the language ideologies, practices, and management efforts of an under-explored group of Kurdish families residing in the city of Kermanshah. To this end, semi-structured interviews and ethnographic fieldwork guided the collection of data from 40 Kurdish–Persian bilingual parents. The thematic analysis of data revealed glaring inconsistencies among the three elements of family language policy (FLP). That is parents’ strong attachm…

Hesitant versus confident family language policy: a case of two single-parent families in Finland

2022

Abstract During the past decade, the field of family language policy has broadened its scope and turned its attention to diverse family configurations in versatile sociolinguistic contexts. The current study contributes to this endeavor by focusing on two single-parent families who live in Finland and who strive to support Russian as a family language. Applying nexus analysis as an epistemological stance and as an analytical lens, the study takes an emic perspective on family language policy. Furthermore, it examines how family language policy is manifested and negotiated during mother–child play and what discourses shape it. The findings reveal two contrasting ways in which family language…

Connecting Polish families in Europe : changing dynamics in language and communication practices

2021

ISO 639, Yosemite e App che “parlano” dialetto. Qualche reazione e riflessione

2016

Quale teoria e concezione del dialetto soggiace all’idea di descrivere il siciliano come «abbastanza distinto dall’italiano tipico tanto da poter essere considerato un idioma separato» (Ethnologue, MOSELEY e ASHER 1994, 54)? Un certo ruolo deve avere la distorta pratica di valutare le varietà dell’italoromanzo come dialetti dell’italiano, pratica, questa, che, per altro, induce a proporre separazioni e distinzioni al punto da invocare, per alcune di queste varietà, lo statuto di «lingue madri». Se poi queste “lingue”, nella prospettiva ecolinguistica, presentano una serie di condizioni che ne mettono a rischio la sopravvivenza, entrano ne “Il Libro Rosso delle lingue in pericolo” (Red Book …

The context of second foreign languages in Swedish secondary schools : results of a questionnaire to school leaders

2019

This article reports the results of a survey focusing on the educational context of second foreign languages (SFL) to which 147 Swedish secondary school leaders responded. The study aims to provide a picture of how SFLs like German, French and Spanish are organised in a representative selection of Swedish schools across the country. The results of the survey show that there are major differences between languages when it comes to the language offer and the number of pupils and teachers in the respective languages. Moreover, there are also important differences between schools, some of which can be related to educational, socio-economic and regional aspects of the responding schools. A gener…

Language-aware operational culture : Developing in-service training for early childhood education and care

2020

This study examines how practitioners of minority-medium Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) in Finland reflect on language awareness (LA) in their professional learning communities (PLCs). The study is conducted within in-service training for ECEC practitioners and it also highlights how these practitioner reflections can be of use and support developing future in-service training within the action research framework. The data include nine group discussions on a reflection task, with 41 primary participants and 165 secondary participants from each primary participant’s respective PLC. As a starting point, the researchertrainers identified six language-policy themes on LA in national …