Preschool children and the language policies of their diverse families: Language use in bi- and multilingual families

• Main Author: Ragnarsdóttir, Hanna
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: Icelandic
• Published: Milli Mála 2023
• Subjects: Family language policies; bi- and multilingualism; preschools; educational practices; Tungumálastefna fjölskyldna; tví- og fjöltyngi; leikskólar; starfshættir; Varpa; Iceland
• Online Access: https://ojs.hi.is/millimala/article/view/3660

With a growing number of people with a foreign background in Icelandic society in recent years, the number of heritage languages of children in schools has also grown. The aim of the article is to shed light on the language policies of multilingual families in Iceland, methods which they use to teach languages to their children, as well as challenges and opportunities which parents experience related to their children’s multilingualism. The project is a qualitative studywith nine immigrant families and their children’s preschools. The families were selected through purposive sampling in three municipalities in the South and Southwest of Iceland based on information from preschools. The municipalities were selected to reflect different locations and educational policies in Iceland. Data for this article was collected from 2020 to 2021 in semi-structured interviews with altogether ten parents in nine families and four principals in three preschools which the children attended. The findings of the researchindicate that the parents have developed clear language policies which they implement in an organized and diverse manner. They participate actively in choosing which languages they use and teach their children, as well as choosing varied and suitable educational material and heritage language courses.Keywords: Family language policies, bi- and multilingualism, preschools, educational practices. Með fjölgun íbúa af erlendum uppruna í íslensku samfélagi undanfarin ár hefur tungumálum barna í skólum jafnframt fjölgað. Markmið greinarinnar er að varpa ljósi á tungumálastefnur fjöltyngdra fjölskyldna á Íslandi, aðferðir sem fjölskyldur nýta við að kenna börnum sínum tungumál, og áskoranir og tækifæri sem foreldrar upplifa í tengslum við fjöltyngi barna sinna. Verkefnið er eigindleg rannsókn með níu tví- og fjöltyngdum fjölskyldum með innflytjendabakgrunnog leikskólum barna þeirra. Fjölskyldurnar voru valdar með markmiðsúrtakií þremur sveitarfélögum á Suður- og Suðvesturlandi á grundvelli upplýsinga frá leikskólum. ...