Dominant Language Constellations Approach in Education and Language Acquisition 3030707687, 9783030707682

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Educational Linguistics

Larissa Aronin Eva Vetter  Editors

Dominant Language Constellations Approach in Education and Language Acquisition

Educational Linguistics Volume 51

Series Editor Francis M. Hult, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, USA Editorial Board Members Marilda C. Cavalcanti, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, Brazil Jasone Cenoz, University of the Basque Country, Leioa, Spain Angela Creese, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK Ingrid Gogolin, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany Christine Hélot, Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France Hilary Janks, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa Claire Kramsch, University of California, Berkeley, USA Constant Leung, King’s College London, London, UK Angel Lin, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada Alastair Pennycook, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia

Educational Linguistics is dedicated to innovative studies of language use and language learning. The series is based on the idea that there is a need for studies that break barriers. Accordingly, it provides a space for research that crosses traditional disciplinary, theoretical, and/or methodological boundaries in ways that advance knowledge about language (in) education. The series focuses on critical and contextualized work that offers alternatives to current approaches as well as practical, substantive ways forward. Contributions explore the dynamic and multi-­ layered nature of theory-practice relationships, creative applications of linguistic and symbolic resources, individual and societal considerations, and diverse social spaces related to language learning. The series publishes in-depth studies of educational innovation in contexts throughout the world: issues of linguistic equity and diversity; educational language policy; revalorization of indigenous languages; socially responsible (additional) language teaching; language assessment; first- and additional language literacy; language teacher education; language development and socialization in non-­ traditional settings; the integration of language across academic subjects; language and technology; and other relevant topics. The Educational Linguistics series invites authors to contact the general editor with suggestions and/or proposals for new monographs or edited volumes. For more information, please contact the Editor: Natalie Rieborn, Van Godewijckstraat 30, 3300 AA Dordrecht, The Netherlands. All proposals and manuscripts submitted to the Series will undergo at least two rounds of external peer review. This series is indexed in Scopus and the Norwegian Register for Scientific Journals, Series and Publishers (NSD). More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/5894

Larissa Aronin • Eva Vetter Editors

Dominant Language Constellations Approach in Education and Language Acquisition

Editors Larissa Aronin Oranim Academic College of Education Tivon, Israel

Eva Vetter Centre for Teacher Education and Department of Linguistics University of Vienna Vienna, Austria

ISSN 1572-0292     ISSN 2215-1656 (electronic) Educational Linguistics ISBN 978-3-030-70768-2    ISBN 978-3-030-70769-9 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70769-9 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

Acknowledgment

This volume was produced in constant conversation with Joseph Lo Bianco. We thank him for providing the introduction and valuable support for this second volume. We are grateful to those who were the first in developing the DLC concept and presented their pioneering studies in various subfields of multilingualism and sociolinguistics in the themed panels and symposia in Vienna (2016), Limerick (2017), and Lisbon (2018). The first to be named here is Vivian Cook, who supported the idea and although his health did not allow his physical attendance at the Viennese symposium in 2016, his presence as a co-organizer of the symposium, a presenter, and a colleague was strongly felt despite the distance. We also appreciate the enthusiasm of those researchers who started their own investigations on DLC that are not part of these two DLC volumes but constitute a valuable input to the unfolding exploration of Dominant Language Constellations as a current model of multilingualism. Among the first developers at the Limerick symposium in 2017 were the symposium co-organizer Christian Bongartz and her co-presenter Manuela Vida, Ulrike Jessner, and Kerstin Mayr-Keiler, who participated in the Lisbon conference symposium in 2018, and also the researchers who initiated their own line of DLC studies  – among them the colleagues who started the investigation on Northern DLCs, and Nayr Ibrahim, who generously shared her findings as they appeared. These researchers poured their creative ideas to the intensively developing concept of DLC. We thank the contributors to the first DLC volume edited by Joseph Lo Bianco and Larissa Aronin (2020) and wish to thank them personally – Suzanne Flynn, Eva Fernández-Berkes, Felix Banda, Susan Coetzee Van Rooy, Kaj Sjöholm, Stela Letica Krevelj, Richard Nightingale, Sviatlana Karpava, and Sarasi Kannangara – and also the scholars who were ingenious to contribute to both volumes – Nikolay Slavkov, Siv Björklund, and Mikaela Björklund. We are indebted to Li Wei for writing a foreword to the first volume. Our special thanks go to the reviewers who provided important and constructive comments on the volume. The role of Helen van der Stelt, Natalie Rieborn, and Francis Hult from Springer, their active encouragement and assistance, careful considerations, and advice is hard to overestimate. Our special thanks also go to Sandra v

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Acknowledgment

Kaltenegger for her untiring and methodical work throughout the long process of preparation of this volume. Sandra was an active participant in making each contribution clear, logical, and comprehensible, getting deep into each particular manuscript. In addition to her thorough and professional editing and formatting, Sandra connected with the contributors, providing all a sense of security and that the entire enterprise is under control.

Contents

 Literacy Learning and Language Education: Dominant Language Constellations and Contemporary Multilingualism ������������������������������������    1 Joseph Lo Bianco Part I Dominant Language Constellations in Language Education Policy and School Practices  Dominant Language Constellations in Education: Patterns and Visualisations ����������������������������������������������������������������������������   19 Larissa Aronin  Language Education Policy Through a DLC Lens: The Case of Urban Multilingualism��������������������������������������������������������������   43 Eva Vetter  Promoting Plurilingual Competences in Primary Schools in Barcelona: A Dominant Language Constellation Approach to Teaching and Learning Languages������������������������������������������������������������   61 Caterina Sugrañes  Family Language Policy and Dominant Language Constellations: A Canadian Perspective����������������������������������������������������������������������������������   87 Nikolay Slavkov  Educational and Career Opportunities for Refugee-Background Adults in Norway: A DLC Perspective����������������������������������������������������������  109 Anna Krulatz and Anne Dahl

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Part II Dominant Language Constellations in Teacher Training  Embracing Multilingualism in Teaching Practicum in Finland? DLC as a Tool for Uncovering Individual and Institutional Multilingualism������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  131 Mikaela Björklund and Siv Björklund  The Dominant Language Constellations of Immigrant Teacher Trainees in Israel: Russian, Hebrew and English��������������������������  151 Judith Yoel Part III Dominant Language Constellations and Identity Through Narratives and Visualizations  Exploring Identities and Life Stories of Multilingual Transnational Couples Through the Lens of Multilinguality and Dominant Language Constellations ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������  173 Anna Krulatz and Jennifer Duggan  Understanding Dominant Language Constellations Through Analysis of Visual Linguistic Autobiographies by Foreign Language Student Teachers in Germany ����������������������������������  203 Sílvia Melo-Pfeifer  Languages as Ways of Being: The Linguistic Biography of a Nordic Nomad ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  225 Guðrún Gísladóttir

About the Editors

Larissa  Aronin is an associate professor at the Oranim Academic College of Education, Israel. She served two terms as a board member of the International Association of Multilingualism. Prof. Aronin was a visiting scholar at MIT, USA, visiting research fellow at Trinity College, Dublin, and a KIVA guest professor at the Technical Universität Darmstadt. Prof. Aronin has published in a range of international journals on a wide array of topics connected with multilingualism, and has co-authored and co-edited a number of books. Her most recent co-edited volumes are Dominant Language Constellations: A New Perspective on Multilingualism (Springer, 2020), Twelve Lectures on Multilingualism (MM 2019), and The Material Culture of Multilingualism (Springer, 2018).  

Eva Vetter is a professor at the University of Vienna, Austria. She has published on multilingualism with respect to linguistic minorities, historical multilingualism, language policy, and language teaching and learning. She is particularly interested in equity in education. One of her main interests refers to the epistemic function of language in the context of the diverse trajectories for learning and using language/s. She is currently co-editor of the International Journal of Multilingualism (together with Danuta Gabrys-Barker).  

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Contributors

Larissa Aronin  Oranim Academic College of Education, Tivon, Israel Mikaela Björklund  Åbo Akademi University, Vaasa, Finland Siv Björklund  Åbo Akademi University, Vaasa, Finland Anne Dahl  Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway Jennifer  Duggan  Norwegian Trondheim, Norway

University

of

Science

and

Technology,

Guðrún  Gísladóttir  European Civil Society Platform for Multilingualism (ECSPM), Copenhagen, Denmark Anna  Krulatz  Norwegian Trondheim, Norway

University

of

Science

and

Technology,

Joseph Lo Bianco  University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia Sílvia Melo-Pfeifer  University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany Nikolay Slavkov  University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada Caterina Sugrañes  Ramon Llull University, Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain Eva Vetter  Centre for Teacher Education and Department of Linguistics, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria Judith Yoel  Oranim College of Education, Tivon, Israel Gordon Academic College, Haifa, Israel

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Literacy Learning and Language Education: Dominant Language Constellations and Contemporary Multilingualism Joseph Lo Bianco

Abstract  The DLC concept also allows teachers and researchers to take into account various kinds of impact that multilingualism has on education. One impact of DLC is to illuminate how literacy teaching is to proceed in multilingual classrooms, with learners coming from traditions of literacy that might differ markedly from the official curriculum. Relatedly, DLC allows us a perspective on how languages are taught, and what is the relation between all the languages in the lives of learners compared to those present in the curriculum. This linguistic diversity ranges from the language(-s) of the state and the languages of population groups within the state, whether small and scattered, or large and concentrated, whether immigrant or indigenous. This chapter looks at the complexity of literacy and language education practices in light of the view among political theorists and economists that world systems are converging, that the world is becoming ‘flat’. When we look at the world of culture and communication, a world of differentiation and expansion of diversity is revealed. DLC is both a heuristic for representation of the specific clusters of languages that educators need to manage in an ever larger number of societies, but also a theoretical and analytical tool for a deeper academic understanding of clusters of multilingualism, allowing us to identify practices of language and literacy and how they are linked.

J. Lo Bianco (*) University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 L. Aronin, E. Vetter (eds.), Dominant Language Constellations Approach in Education and Language Acquisition, Educational Linguistics 51, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70769-9_1

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1  A Flatter, More Multilingual World Fifteen years ago, Thomas L. Friedman announced that a new but pervasive form of globalization had taken root. He called it the ‘flat world’ and argued that it was produced by a series of convergences in the realms of business and economics. Friedman offered this hypothesis to the broad public rather than academic specialists. The ‘flatness’ refers to the level-playing field in which he imagines all competitors, individual entrepreneurs, corporations and national economies, are being incorporated, generating a seamless and interdependent global network of supply of goods and services. The critical convergence began when personal computers became tied to fibre optic micro cables, giving rise to software that structures workflows potentially anywhere on earth, despite differences of culture, geographic location or national status. Friedman also claimed that core concepts of economics, technology and business, and therefore the material conditions of the world, would undergo historic transformation, that a form of ‘capitalist peace’ would take hold and reduce conflicts, with implied changes to identity and attachments of language, culture and nation. Released first in 2005 and then undergoing a rapid series of expansions, updates, online materials and re-releases, The World is Flat (Friedman 2007) became a publishing sensation. With the benefit of hindsight (though critics made similar points at the time), it is fair to say that the cultural and economic topography of the actual world is mountainous rather than flat. Yet, it is undeniable that unlike previous forms of globalization, many of Friedman’s convergences, in work and education, in private and social lives, are indeed linked to software systems and that these are no longer restricted to government and institutional level actors or to business and corporate level actors, but also to individuals. An equally radical shift can be identified in the immense transfer of the world’s economic energy, from Western Europe and North America, to East Asia, leading to the often heard description of our age as the Asian century; specifically a China-centred Asian century. Even if we are not convinced by all or most, or even any, of these claims it is clear that the appetite for belief in an interconnected and interdependent human future, at both the material and symbolic levels, is deep and that many believe its inevitability. Scholarly examination of the various kinds of globalization, defined succinctly by Held et al. (1999: p. 5) as the “widening, deepening and speeding up of the worldwide interconnectedness”, is widespread and has deep consequences for culture and languages. The forecast changes are all the more significant because of the deep rooted historic patterns that are being challenged.

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2  Language Consequences In a previous discussion about the language consequences of these dramatic shifts (Lo Bianco 2014), some of these consequences were identified: • First, there is considerable evidence that the term ‘foreign’ as related to languages is increasingly untenable. Learners nearly everywhere have contact with the languages they study in immediate and frequent ways, whereas traditional foreign language education assumed the classroom and the teacher were the main or sole source of a learner’s encounter with the language and culture they study; • Second, language learning increasingly takes place in multilingual environments, or to put it another way, language learning rarely takes place any longer in monolingual environments. This means that the choice of what languages to teach and how to teach them, brings about the need to take account of issues that have to do with the learners’ background languages, the desire of minority communities for language maintenance and the priorities of policymakers (Hufeisen 2018); • Third, literacy is no longer straightforwardly concerned with reading and writing of print texts. What counts as literacy is today dramatically transformed by technology and the coming together of previously separate semiotic modes of communication. Literacy and literacy practices cannot be reduced to autonomous accounts of reading and writing, as if divorced from the now complete technologization of how texts are produced. The fusing of speech and writing into a seamless semiotic system is itself being transformed through what are increasingly called the literate practices of Industry 4.0, the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Industry 4.0 combines Artificial Intelligence and Cyberphysical systems in ­radical ways (Farrell et al. 2020) that will utterly transform the world of work, learning and recreation, ‘flattening’ the world in ways that recall Friedman’s ideas; • Fourth, the emergence of global demand for English and its impact of language pedagogy and language choices across the globe, and the sociolinguistic reality of highly variable World Englishes, and English as a Lingua Franca (Seidlhofer 2011). Today, English in some form or other has penetrated deeply into the education and research activities of countries all over the globe, impacting on curriculum planning, program design, pedagogy, teacher education, expectations of students’ language abilities in general and on national and sub-national languages and their presence in education. Although such changes are contested and challenged, increasing numbers of education institutions from preschool to post schooling are transforming curriculum, pedagogy and program design to accommodate the spread and deepening of multilingualism, of new understandings and demands for literacy, and of global communication patterns.

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3  National Monolingualism and Globalized Multilingualism In the challenged educational milieu created by these conditions, what can the concept of the Dominant Language Constellation (DLC), an analytical category of multilingualism, contribute? I will argue here that the DLC is a supple concept that challenges not only monolingualism as it is conventionally understood, singular bounded languages, but also and more deeply, it challenges how we understand monolingual modes of communication (Grammling 2016). DLC represents both a new theoretical perspective and a new analytical paradigm within the broad field of multilingualism studies (Lo Bianco and Aronin 2020). As an innovation in research and theorization of multilingualism, DLC arises from the problematization of one of history’s most stable cultural and political legacies: the idea that human groupings were either naturally, or most efficiently, conceived as monolingual. The peak expression of monolingualism was imagined to be in the standard literate form of languages which uniquely expressed the national character of the community that comprised the nation, associated with their history and destiny, their canonical literature, and collective identity. The exclusive national language and its deep role in the formation of a singular sense of national identity and citizenship, is usually associated with romantic nationalist ideology, yet one of its earliest and clearest manifestations was in the radical turmoil of the French Revolution. Introducing his study of modernity and nationalism in 1986, Joseph Alpher wrote of “four institutions that, despite the best efforts of radical revolutionaries for over a century, never seem to do away: state, nation, language, and religion” (Alpher 1986, p. 1). He was reflecting specifically on national languages and their association with bounded state territory, and especially the historic sanctioning of the ideology of national monolingualism, or one nation one language. The connection between nation and language was often made in law, usually as a declaration in the constitution of the state but also, and more powerfully, in the education system. It was in education systems, and through them, that the monolingual aspirations of many polities were and still are, animated and realized. A particularly dramatic expression of this desire to clear the national space of dissenting voices and sounds was the declaration at the French Convention, effectively the parliament of the French Revolution, on September 10, 1791 by nobleman and diplomat, the controversial historic figure of Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (Wright 2004). In his speech, Baron Talleyrand observed that through imperial expansion Standard French was taking root far from France in the Americas and in Africa, yet within France itself dialects of French and regional minority languages continued to be spoken, a phenomenon he called a “strange inequality”. He promised that a national system of elementary education through the work of elementary teachers was the remedy. The revolutionary role of these teachers was to use only the “language of the Constitution and of the Law” so that “corrupt dialects” and “vestiges of feudalism” (Wright 2004: p. 70) would be forced to disappear. In his history of the French language, Brunot (1927) identifies Talleyrand’s speech as a key step in

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allocating the critical role of producing national unity to school systems, specifically to the primary level of education. In the Baron’s words we can see the prejudices of dominant language speakers alongside the optimistic belief in the nationing role of language teaching. It is an anti-multilingual ethos that has characterized most nation building efforts all across the globe, sometimes forcefully and sometimes incrementally, but always with the ultimate aim of securing exclusive territorial sovereignty for the standard forms of nation-named languages. This aim was to be achieved through associating privileged languages with national cultures and peoplehood, and making these associations completely natural. For Talleyrand the overarching aim was not strictly linguistic but social and political modernization; inevitable given his conception of language varieties other than standard literate and ‘revolutionary’ registers, pronunciations and words, as feudal and ‘corrupt’. Talleyrand’s motivation wasn’t even strictly nationalism, in the way Alpher described national languages, but modernized rationality, another of the multiple inheritances monolingualism carries. In this way, monolingualism has come down to us as a social and political force, impacting beyond itself into how multilingualism is understood. In Gramling’s (2016) analysis monolingualism is not necessarily dislodged by language learning, individuals by acquiring additional languages might under ideologies of monolingualism merely extend the life of a normalized monolingualism to their later acquired additional language competencies.

4  Language and Nationalism, and Incipient Language Rights While the historic elevation of the ideology of monolingualism and its success in becoming attached to the practices of institutions and critical concepts of bounded national identities is clearly prevalent in Western society, it is by no means unique to the Western experience, having extensive histories in Korea, Japan and other Asian societies. In Language and Nationalism, Fishman (1972, p. 5) defined nationalism as the “organizationally heightened and elaborated beliefs, attitudes and behaviors of societies acting on behalf of their avowed ethnocultural self-interest”. It is interesting to link Talleyrand’s use of the word ‘corrupt’ for varieties other than his favoured standard, with what Fishman noted as the source of the nationalist search for pure linguistic forms (reflecting the unique national culture). As Fishman noted this search for the pure took nationalists to “the lower classes and the distant past” (8), where the least ‘corruption’ was presumed to reside. In effect, Fishman is pointing out that nationalists sought the ‘purest language’ among the very categories of people and periods of time that Talleyrand imagined to be the most backward and least ‘pure’. Although both the modernizing ‘progressive’ impulse driving Baron Talleyrand to foster national unity and ‘equality’, and nationalists everywhere looking to unify and homogenize disparate nations were seeking monolingual solutions, the problems it was intended to solve were radically different.

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In a later work Fishman points out that “nationalism is ethnicity rendered conscious and mobilized” (Fishman 2001, p. 455) but shows the many practical and pragmatic ways in which a national program can also be promoting monolingualism, even if it is not concerned with romantic nationalism. In pragmatic functions of governance and civil administration, defence, education and training there is another legacy of the monolingual aspiration throughout society, that of pragmatic efficiency, in administration and governance, linked to the belief that multilingualism is costly, inefficient and impractical. Here we can identify at least three ways that nationalism, modernity belief and the commitment to efficiency and pragmatics have been used to bolster and naturalize the case for monolingualism. This can serve to underscore how deep and important the worldwide move towards multilingualism is and its historic significance. This also marks some of the likely barriers to any prospects of overturning the normalized expectations that multilingualism is administratively inefficient, or that it undermines the prospects of national unity and social cohesion. And yet, there is an undeniable if slow unfolding of the notion of minority language rights, of views of multilingualism as not merely meaning ‘multiple languages’, but of a more supple sense of a heteroglossic disposition, and the more rapid processes of intense globalization in trade, education exchange, finance, crime, tourism and other demonstrations of how life is increasingly lived with ‘extra-local’ influence and impact all across the world (Aronin 2007; Singleton et al. 2013). Multilingualism has become an inherent and central constituent of contemporary human life. The territorial spread of languages and a significant increase in number of multilingual speakers are its evident features. But the most decisive distinction of current multilingualism from its earlier manifestations is how the many languages of the world are mastered and used (Aronin and Singleton 2008, 2012). In truth the many human rights instruments and declarations that have been made for some five decades and which consistently aim to secure a legal bolster for language within the order of legal protections offered at both national and international level have only had limited success (Skutnabb-Kangas and Phillipson 2017). Yet, the overall goal of establishing a firm place for language recognition within the central normative texts and statements that uphold people’s civil and political rights, continues. There are regular demands that power-holders in the critical societal domains of health, law, education, media and political participation should grant explicit legal recognition to linguistic human rights.

5  Enter the DLC How does the concept of Dominant Language Constellation take its place within the current ferment of development in multilingualism theory and demands for multicultural practice? DLC is best understood as an analytical category within the empirical reality of multiple languages in societies, institutions and in the lives of individuals. It refers to the particular configuration of languages, fully or partially

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known and used, that form a coherent cluster. Therefore, it is far from the normative monolingualism that many institutions or societies, laws and education practices uphold, and yet does not include the entirety of the available language repertoire. The DLC is a concept of multilingual identity, distributed across the domains and practices in which all the languages of the speaker are utilized. The languages of DLC are expedient and crucial, as determined by their users, for meeting the needs of an individual or a group in a particular time and setting (Lo Bianco and Aronin 2020; Lo Bianco 2020b) but they are not merely functional. Individual and communal DLC are variable, since they develop and change in the course of time as the needs of individuals and communities change. Metaphorically we can call a DLC the ‘linguistic currency’ of our time. Contemporary multilingual scholarship is rich with developments and promise in forging a better understanding of the lingual lives of today’s global citizens. A particularly rich stream of thought can be identified in various non-enumerative approaches inspired by a translingual orientation. These aim to capture the heteroglossic practices that typify the grassroots level of ordinary, real-time and real-life communication, such as metrolingualism (Otsuji and Pennycook 2010; Pennycook 2016), (pluri-)lingualism (Marshall and Moore 2018) and polylanguaging (Jørgensen et al. 2011) are only three of several others. The DLC perspective enriches modern sociolinguistic realities inspired by actual translanguaging, a communicative pattern foregrounding the concurrent use of several languages (Wei 2018; Garcia and Wei 2014; Lewis et al. 2012; Otheguy et al. 2015). The DLC concept similarly places the focus of interest in academic analysis and description on speakers’ practices as they are situated in social spaces, and therefore moves attention away from languages per se. Both translanguaging and DLC go beyond one modality of language in its conventional sense of speech and writing, in recognition that modern social practices are multimodal, multiliterate as well as multilingual (Lo Bianco 2000).

6  Literacy and DLC Beginning in the mid-1990s was a movement to pluralize public and scholarly understandings of literacy (New London Group 1996; Cope and Kalantzis 2000; Lankshear and Knobel 2011). This multiliteracies movement was intent on establishing that print literacy, despite its own complexities of psychological and social dimensions was in fact a great and unhelpful simplification of the actual reality of meaning making practices and their cognitive dimensions. The demand was for acknowledgment in teaching that what counts as literacy is a complex fusion of audio, visual, image, color, movement, and design that computing and hand-held devices made possible and were being taken up in real life use while education lagged far behind. Scholars pointed to radical practical consequences for social equity and participation (Janks 2009) tied to such complexities in real encounters with language, literacy and multilingualism compared to what schools offered.

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Similarly today, it is important to establish a presence for the DLC in how we think of what counts as a learners ‘mother tongue’, or ‘main language’, when in fact for increasing numbers of people, young and old alike, the mother tongue or ‘main’ language is a cluster or grouping of languages, a constellation. The DLC, like how we increasingly must expand our idea of what counts as literacy forces educators to expand their idea of what counts as ‘language’. In effect we function with clusters of coherent multi-languages, multi-scripts and associated semiotic practices, and both individuals and institutions, and entire societies, in fact identify with and use such repertoires. Visual, auditory, kinaesthetic and other channels of information generation, conveyance, absorption, and the social and lingual settings in which these arise and are manipulated create complexities for literacy education, assessment of performance in literacy education for researchers and education practitioners. In an extended reflection on these radical changes, Freebody (2017) shows that when understandings of social phenomena (such as what counts as literacy and how we are to understand multilingualism) are contemplated, we typically seek to define and establish boundaries of meaning. However, defining terms is not merely a technical activity of establishing incontestable meanings. There is no ‘neutral space’ in which literacy can be generically defined for all practical purposes. The term literacy has various histories of use. Each of these, of necessity, has produced a manageable object of study and practice for researchers and educators alike. More recently, the pressure has been on to produce not just research-amenable versions of literacy but also policy-amenable versions  – abstract, portable, and comprehensively ­measurable. Definitional disagreements are not just different ways of getting toward the same goal; they name the object of debate and action differently; they characterise differently the question to which literacy education is an answer. They place different kinds of ‘problems’ in the minds, eyes, values, families, neighbourhoods and demographic backgrounds of different learners; and, thereby, they connect, or fail to connect, with the goals and consequences of education and schooling in different ways. (Freebody 2017, p. 12)

In these ways education and language teaching strive to respond to the global changes and adapt to them in each locality and in various learning/teaching situations. In this respect we see how the DLC perspective in education promises an important conceptual clarification for the real-life sociolinguistic situation. A prominent example is the TESOL international organization (TESOL – Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) which has responded to sociolinguistic transformations in the modern world by accepting the positive value of multilingualism as a component of English language teaching. In recent reflections on the repercussions of the insistent demand to accommodate, understand and give due recognition to multilingualism, the organization’s recent strategic action agenda calls for a radical change in approaches to teaching English that recognize the value of other languages, including the role of the local and indigenous languages alongside promotion of English as a second or foreign language. (TESOL International Association Summit 2017; TESOL International Association 2018).

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Such policies and practices shift the focus from teaching languages as separate and bounded entities to one which acknowledges languages working in constellations and are immanent not only with regard to English and its global role and various pedagogies promoted to teach it, but also in programs of teaching and maintaining other languages –heritage, minority, international, indigenous and lesser-used languages. In order to establish teaching practices more appropriate for the exigencies of an interconnected and mutually-dependent contemporary world, educators look towards the feature of tractability as the compulsory one for the theoretical concepts that can link scholarly understanding to practical application (Lo Bianco 2020a, MS4). A tractable problem is one whose definition, character and features make it relatively solvable, and therefore a problem amenable to a greater degree of alignment between the interests of policymakers, as problem solving practitioners of governance, and academic specialists, focused for the greater part on theoretical or empirical accounts of phenomena. The conversations that would result from an orientation between academics and policy makers is one which organizes knowledge for action, and would contain elements of how the problem can be named, defined, observed, measured and made available for the tools of policy analysis and policy action. DLC is a category within multilingual analysis that can foster greater collaboration between academics and policymakers because of its greater tractability, it therefore has greater “immediate and practical implications for language policy and planning” (Lo Bianco 2020a, b, p. 39). The DLC concept also allows teachers and researchers to take into account various kinds of impact multilingualism has on education, from its impact on how literacy teaching is to proceed, to how languages are taught, and what is to be the relation between all the languages in a curriculum. These include the language of the state, the languages of population groups within the state, whether they are small or scattered minority groups, or large and geographically defined populations, immigrants or indigenous groups. Increasingly nations all over the world make accommodations to three categories of language, the national, the sub-national and the extra-national. This is a paradigmatic simplification, but it serves to organize discussion here since it typifies many states with their official, constitutional or nationally valued single language whose teaching and learning is obligatory. The extra-national more and more tends to be English, but in English-speaking countries and increasingly also in non-traditionally English-speaking countries which have achieved a high-­ level domestic knowledge of English as a second or third ‘foreign’ language is also promoted. The sub-national languages, as mentioned above, are of both immigrant and indigenous origin, or are regional minority languages. In this complexity of language education practices, the paradigmatic characterization reveals a further value of DLC, its appeal as a heuristic for representation of the specific clusters of languages that education officials need to manage in an ever larger number of societies.

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Official or national language align closely to the purposes discussed above that arise from the near-ubiquitous experience of nationalism, as Alpher noted and Talleyrand desired. These have motivated the formation of political states and the central importance attributed to language educators in delivering national policies of literate mastery of official or national languages. Commercial and geo-political considerations dictate the extra-national focus on various Englishes or similar languages of trade, scientific or specific commercial associations in given settings. Sub-national languages are accommodated occasionally on the recognition of rights demanded by minority populations and conceded by dominant groups, or through more deliberative processes of society-wide multiculturalism that see a general benefit for diversity in language knowledge and ability among citizens. Whichever is the specific configuration of policy and administration, at the level of an individual school or an entire education ministry, the DLC approach helps to organize the specifics of intended and planned language teaching. This volume does not address all challenges in multilingual education and language teaching, but it raises questions and suggests methods of analysis and approach that lead to productive multilingual solutions to contemporary language challenges. Important questions still to pose are: which DLCs of what configurations may ensure or enhance the preferred teaching, learning and social outcomes in given settings? Are certain DLC configurations more likely to provide greater cognitive, linguistic and social advantages for individuals than others? Is it possible to imagine a prototypical DLC for all situations, such as one that imagines the communicative needs of the global, national and community realms?

7  About this Volume The volume is part of Springer’s Educational Linguistics series and is linked to and continues the first ever volume on DLC – Dominant Language Constellations: A New Perspective on Multilingualism (2020) edited by Lo Bianco and Aronin. We invite the reader to make use of cross-references of the two linked books. The present book is the first volume specifically addressing the DLC approach in education and language acquisition. The volume is divided into three parts, each focusing on a particular broad theme: (1) language policies and school practices, demonstrating DLCs in the formal contexts, (2) teacher training and (3) identity dimension as it transpires through visualizations and tangibilizations of DLC. Part I, devoted to Dominant Language Constellations in Language Education Policy and School Practices, consists of contributions describing various DLCs in official and institutional settings, including institutions such as schools, and policies for language education. The contributions position DLC within the framework of applicable language policy research in the specific national setting or institutional context. The five chapters discuss the potential of DLC for urban multilingual schools in Europe, family language policies and school choice of languages, the

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power of translanguaging in the English language classroom, and educational opportunities offered to refugees by a national state. Chapter “Dominant Language Constellations in Education: Patterns and Visualisations” by Larissa Aronin explores the essential patterns and visualizations of DLCs in education settings. The author explains the principal theoretical foundations of the DLC approach and illuminates these by drawing on perspectives from complexity theory, and from various social and pedagogical perspectives. The chapter emphasizes the patterned nature of DLC which can and should be adapted to serve the educational purposes of specific settings. There is a brief overview of studies undertaken to explore the DLC concept to date, drawn from various geographic locations and from a variety of conceptual perspectives. Finally, Aronin describes visualizations of DLCs and the potential of the practice of producing visualizations for clarifying concepts and supporting research on language learning and teaching, multilingual education, and identity. Chapter “Language Education Policy Through a DLC Lens: The Case of Urban Multilingualism” by Eva Vetter examines the critical role of language education policy in relation to the super-diverse urban multilingual setting of contemporary Vienna, through the particular lens of DLC analysis. Vetter argues for a comprehensive understanding of language education policy as linking different levels of context, as well as combining top-down and bottom-up approaches to planning, and towards language practices. This is found to be highly compatible, so much so that the DLC concept emerges as a point of reconciling or merging between the different perspectives of top-down and bottom-up processes. Vetter’s three snapshots viewing into Viennese schools point to a persisting tension between uniformity and pluralism, from which she develops a research agenda for the wider application of DLC analysis in education. Chapter “Promoting Plurilingual Competences in Primary Schools in Barcelona: A Dominant Language Constellation Approach to Teaching and Learning Languages” by Caterina Sugrañes looks at the question of plurilingual competences in Barcelona primary schools, and uses a DLC approach to explore the question of teaching and learning languages. In the chapter Sugrañes describes the positive effects of creating and translating story books in the classroom. She reports that through this process pupils became aware of their own language constellations and their motivation and attitudes towards languages and learning languages increased and became more positive. Sugrañes concludes that by adopting a stance of welcoming languages in a translanguaging space at school is beneficial for learning and her research shows how a story book project can be combined with and informed by the concept and approach of DLC. Chapter “Family Language Policy and Dominant Language Constellations: A Canadian Perspective” by Nikolay Slavkov shifts the focus of discussion away from schools and towards research into family language planning in Canadian settings. The chapter uses data from a mixed-methods study utilizing questionnaire data from the families of 170 school-age children growing up as bilinguals or multilinguals, informed by follow-up interview data from a subset of 20 families. The research shows that although family language policy plays an important role in the

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transmission and maintenance of minority languages, the children’s DLCs are shaped by an interplay of family internal strategies and school language choices. Chapter “Educational and Career Opportunities for Refugee-­Background Adults in Norway: A DLC Perspective” by Anna Krulatz and Anne Dahl addresses the education and career opportunities available to adults of refugee background in Norway. In the chapter the authors discuss the DLCs of the refugees against the background of a broader political context of school and society in the country. In their discussion, Krulatz and Dahl juxtapose the refugees’ DLC with the majority communal DLCs, the desired or imagined DLCs of adult refugees, and the officially acknowledged DLCs of refugees. They use interviews with teachers and administrators at two selected refugee programs and conclude that by denying adult refugees opportunities to develop advanced proficiency in English as part of their DLC, the Norwegian authorities fail to fully support their successful integration. Part II continues the language policy frame established in Part I, though with a particular focus: Dominant Language Constellations in Teacher Training. It consists of two contributions that address the affordances offered by schools in the setting of a multilingual working space and in the context of a program of immigrant teacher training. Chapter “Embracing Multilingualism in Teaching Practicum in Finland? DLC as a Tool for Uncovering Individual and Institutional Multilingualism” by Mikaela Björklund and Siv Björklund examines teacher education in Finland and uses the DLC concept and analytical approach to analyze the state of multilingualism in both policy and practice. While the authors describe a teacher education situation in the context of one country, the account they provide can inform, illuminate and promote reflection on questions relating to what are described as “dormant affordances” of multilingual schools for teachers elsewhere in the world. The analysis provided by Björklund and Björklund of policy and practice in Finnish state multilingualism supplies indicators and patterns that typify teacher education practice, and can be extended to explore multiple language affordances of pupils, staff, parents and visitors in diverse contexts. Chapter “The Dominant Language Constellations of Immigrant Teacher Trainees in Israel: Russian, Hebrew and English” by Judith Yoel looks at the DLCs of immigrant teacher trainees in Israel. The languages involved are Russian, Hebrew and English. Yoel closely examines the DLCs of these multilingual, immigrant teacher trainees and describes the reconfiguration of their DLCs during their transition process to wider involvement with and in Israeli society. The chapter also explores implications that arise from these processes of adaptation and transition for teacher education programming in more general terms. Part III presents a cascade of captivating ways to gain deeper understanding of Dominant Language Constellations and Identity Through Narratives and Visualizations. The two contributions address multilingual couples and visual autobiographies of foreign language student teachers. Chapter “Exploring Identities and Life Stories of Multilingual Transnational Couples Through the Lens of Multilinguality and Dominant Language Constellations”, by Anna Krulatz and Jennifer Duggan focus on identities and life

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stories of five multilingual transnational couples. They deploy the DLC concept as an analytical lens to explore the specifics, the changes and the evolution and the multilinguality of the couples. The life stories of the transnational immigrant couples highlight the remarkable complexity of linguistic and social adaptation, examine individual and social factors that shape the ways in which multilinguals define and experience themselves and enrich the DLC concept with its attention to shared DLCs between individuals. Chapter “Understanding Dominant Language Constellations Through Analysis of Visual Linguistic Autobiographies by Foreign Language Student Teachers in Germany” by Sílvia Melo-Pfeifer shifts attention to how we are to understand DLCs through analysis of visual linguistic autobiographies, drawn from empirical research with foreign language student teachers in Germany. Melo-­ Pfeifer’s analysis of autobiographies of these students highlights the intricate, dynamic and unpredictable evolution of individual DLCs and introduces a (tentative) distinction between potential/latent and actual DLCs, to exploit empirical data from the study and address the explanatory potential of DLCs in relation to language biographies. The last contribution is a personal essay written by Guðrún Gísladóttir, titled Languages as Ways of Being: The Linguistic Biography of a Nordic Nomad. This remarkable account of a personal highly multilingual repertoire, how it was acquired and the meanings of different languages in the author’s life, has been placed at the conclusion of a volume otherwise characterized by scholarly and scientific documentation and research. It highlights the ‘path, pathos, or passion’ of learning and using different languages in different settings, their similarities and differences, the learner’s strategies and feelings, the vicissitudes of life and the communicative consequences that arise. DLCs of language use and acquisition can be examined empirically, and alongside these subjective narratives of lived experience enliven and enrich. Gísladóttir’s intelligent and occasionally touching narrative is a stimulating auto-biography but also contains something of the detached perspective of a researcher, though directed at the self. Enriching the expressive variation and message of the chapter is a clay model crafted by the author of her DLC. This is not merely as a reflection of the thoughts and ideas in the essay about languages as ways of being in the world, but also a technology of how to represent, model and visualize the inner mental world of feeling, emotion and experience.

8  A World of Contours There are radical differences in accounting for the world, such as those of a flat topography that makes sense to some kinds of economic analysis, and the contours, inequalities and challenges that make a more persuasive account in sociology. In many economic and business discourses to imagine the world as flat, and increasingly levelled, is to facilitate competition and rules-based rivalry, which they use to speculate that such a flat world promotes peaceful interdependence. The worlds of

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culture, communication, language, identity and feeling appear radically different. The topography of feeling and identity and emotion, and the limitless variety of the lingual experiences of people, sustains a logic of deep contours rather than levelled flatness. The present volume demonstrates that language education, language teaching and learning can be explored in revealing and illuminating ways with the concept of the Dominant Language Constellation. DLC allows researchers and narrative auto-­ ethnographic reflection to see the salient languages of an individual, an institution and a state as a coherent, interacting whole. It is a vision of multilingual categories within the undifferentiated expanse of multilingualism. DLCs are also highly dynamic, they can be shared with another person, change over time, be structured to respond to specific needs and circumstances. DLCs are also literacy and script connected, because literacy is a language form and also multilingual, so script, and multi-modality in literacy, complement and enrich spoken language DLCs. Across all the temporal and spatial dimensions of human life, social innovations, continuing tradition and official and non-official contexts, the DLC serves as a useful denominator of how the widest available and most undifferentiated multilingualism is made into an assemblage, a specific configuration, that meets the needs and nourishes the identity of people. For researchers in educational settings DLCs allow us to see learners, teachers and the settings in which they interact as being multilingual in specific and specifiable ways. The groupings of languages, the constellations that pertain in specific places for particular people, are selections from the totality of what is potentially available to them. Volumes I and II of the Dominant Language Constellation series aim to make available scholarship on the constellations of languages that are an increasingly important component of contemporary life.

References Alpher, J. (1986). Nationalism and modernity: A Mediterranean perspective. New York: Praeger Publications. Aronin, L. (2007). Current multilingualism as a new linguistic world order (CLCS occasional paper #67). Dublin: Trinity College. Aronin, L., & Singleton, D. (2008). Multilingualism as a new linguistic dispensation. International Journal of Multilingualism, 5(1), 1–16. Aronin, L., & Singleton, D. (2012). Multilingualism. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Brunot, F. (1927). Histoire de la langue française des origins à 1900 [History of the French language from its origins to 1900] (Vol. 9, part 1, pp. 3–14). Paris: Armand Colin. Cope, B., & Kalantzis, M. (2000). Multiliteracies: Literacy learning and the design of social futures (pp. 92–105). London: Routledge. Farrell, L., Newman, T., & Corbel, C. (2020). Literacy and the workplace revolution: A social view of literate work practices in Industry 4.0. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2020.1753016.

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Fishman, J.  A. (1972). Language and nationalism: Two integrative essays. Rowley: Newbury House Publishers, Inc. Fishman, J. (2001). Can threatened languages be saved?: Reversing language shift, revisited: A 21st century perspective. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Freebody, P. (2017). Literacy education in school. Research perspectives from the past, for the future. Camberwell: Australian Council for Educational Research. https://research.acer.edu. au/aer/1/ Friedman, T. (2007). The world is flat: Further updated and expanded (Release 3.0) (2nd revised and expanded ed.). New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Garcia, O., & Wei, L. (2014). Translanguaging: Language, bilingualism, and education. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Grammling, D. (2016). The invention of monolingualism. London: Bloomsbury. Held, D., McGrew, A., Goldblatt, D., & Perraton, J. (1999). Global transformations. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Hufeisen, B. (2018). Institutional education and multilingualism: PlurCur® as a prototype of a multilingual whole school policy. European Journal of Applied Linguistics, 6(1), 1–32. Janks, H. (2009). Literacy and power: Language, culture and teaching series. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis. Jørgensen, J. N., Karrebæk, M. S., Madsen, L. M., & Møller, J. S. (2011). Polylanguaging in superdiversity. Diversities, 13(2), 23–38. Lankshear, C., & Knobel, M. (2011). New literacies. New York: McGraw-Hill Education. Lewis, G., Jones, B., & Baker, C. (2012). Translanguaging: Origins and development from school to street and beyond. Educational Research and Evaluation, 18(7), 641–654. https://doi.org/1 0.1080/13803611.2012.718488. Lo Bianco, J. (2000). Multiliteracies and multilingualism. In B.  Cope & M.  Kalantzis (Eds.), Multiliteracies: Literacy learning and the design of social futures (pp.  92–105). London: Routledge. Lo Bianco, J. (2014). Domesticating the foreign: Globalization’s effects on the place/s of languages. The Modern Language Journal, 98(1), 312–325. Lo Bianco, J. (2020a). A meeting of concepts and praxis: Multilingualism, language policy and the dominant language constellation. In J. Lo Bianco & L. Aronin (Eds.), Dominant language constellations: A new perspective on multilingualism. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland AG. Lo Bianco, J. (2020b). Quo Vadis? In J. Lo Bianco & L. Aronin (Eds.), Dominant language constellations: A new perspective on multilingualism. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland AG. Lo Bianco, J., & Aronin, L. (Eds.). (2020). Dominant language constellations: A new perspective on multilingualism. Cham: Springer. Marshall, S., & Moore, D. (2018). Plurilingualism amid the panoply of lingualisms: Addressing critiques and misconceptions in education. International Journal of Multilingualism, 15(1), 19–34. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2016.1253699. New London Group. (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review, 66(1), 60–93. Otheguy, R., García, O., & Reid, W. (2015). Clarifying translanguaging and deconstructing named languages: A perspective from linguistics. Applied Linguistics Review, 6(3), 281. Otsuji, E., & Pennycook, A. (2010). Metrolingualism: Fixity, fluidity and language in flux. International Journal of Multilingualism, 7(3), 240–254. https://doi. org/10.1080/14790710903414331. Pennycook, A. (2016). Mobile times, mobile terms: The trans-super-poly-metro movement. In N. Coupland (Ed.), Sociolinguistics (pp. 201–216). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107449787.010. Seidlhofer, B. (2011). Understanding English as a Lingua Franca. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Singleton, D., Fishman, J. A., Aronin, L., & Ó Laoire, M. (Eds.). (2013). Current multilingualism: A new linguistic dispensation. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Skutnabb-Kangas, T., & Phillipson, R. (Eds). (2017). Language rights (Vols. I–IV). Routledge.

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TESOL International Association. (2018). Action agenda for the future of the TESOL profession. Retrieved 23 July 2020 from: https://www.tesol.org/docs/default-­source/advocacy/action-­ agenda-­final-­web.pdf TESOL Summit 2017 on the future of the TESOL profession. Athens, Greece, February 9–10, 2017. https://www.tesol.org/summit-­2017. Retrieved 25 July 2020. Wei, L. (2018 February). Translanguaging as a practical theory of language. Applied Linguistics, 39(1), 9–30. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amx039. Wright, S. (2004). Language policy and language planning: From nationalism to globalisation. Basingstoke: Palgrave. Joseph Lo Bianco Professor Emeritus of Language and Literacy Education at the Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne. He is a specialist in minority language rights, literacy and social opportunity, and language policy and planning, with a specific interest in conflict mitigation in multi-ethnic societies in South East Asia. He has worked on educational equity for immigrant and Indigenous populations, multilingual and anti-racist education, and language revitalisation. He has experience in real-world policy writing, policy advising, and community support over several decades, including an 8-year project in Southeast Asia for UNICEF under the title of Language, Education and Social Cohesion, focusing on conflict resolution in multi-ethnic settings in Malaysia, Myanmar, and South Thailand, and as a consultant to a 4-year project on Multilingual Cities in 12 European municipalities. In 1987, he authored Australia’s first national language policy, and between 1990 and 2002, he was the Director of Language Australia/The National Languages and Literacy Institute of Australia. With Professor Larissa Aronin he edited Dominant Language Constellations: A New Perspective on Multilingualism with Springer in 2020, and with Joy Kreeft Peyton he edited Mekonnen Alemu Gebre Yohannes (2021), Language Planning in Ethiopia: A Study of the Interplay and Tensions Between Language Policy and Practices in the Tigray Region also with Springer.  

Part I

Dominant Language Constellations in Language Education Policy and School Practices

Dominant Language Constellations in Education: Patterns and Visualisations Larissa Aronin

Abstract  The concept of Dominant Language Constellations (DLC) is complementary to the notion of language repertoire. It denotes the set of a person’s most expedient languages, functioning as an entire unit and enabling an individual to meet all their needs in a multilingual environment. While a language repertoire refers to the totality of linguistic skills in all the languages possessed by an individual or by a community and may include several languages, a Dominant Language Constellation captures only a subset of them (typically but not always three languages) that are deemed to be of prime importance. Contemporary education necessarily involves constellations of languages organised in context-dependent patterns. This chapter discusses how investigating patterns of Dominant Language Constellations can help alleviate the well-known difficulty of the vast amounts of factors to be reckoned with in multilingual education. The patterns of Dominant Language Constellations easily lend themselves to various kinds of visualiations that enhance scholarly analysis and facilitate multilingual educational practices. The aims of this chapter are (1) to draw attention to and call for the study of various DLC patterns involved in education in multilingual settings and (2) to describe visualisations of Dominant Language Constellations and their potential for research on language learning and teaching, multilingual education, and identity. Keywords  Multilingualism · Multilingual education · Language teaching · Dominant language constellation · Patterns · Visualisation · Language repertoire · Identity

L. Aronin (*) Oranim Academic College of Education, Tivon, Israel e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 L. Aronin, E. Vetter (eds.), Dominant Language Constellations Approach in Education and Language Acquisition, Educational Linguistics 51, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70769-9_2

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1  Introduction Today, multilingual education and education of multilinguals are prominent topics. In multilingualism literature, the two are considered to be distinct concepts since there is a meaningful difference between them. Education of multilinguals occurs when the pupils or students of an educational institution speak various home and second languages. Multilingual education takes place on condition that multilingualism is the aim set for a school or university (see e.g. Cenoz and Gorter 2019; Cenoz and Jessner 2009). Nevertheless, in this chapter I will be using both terms interchangeably based on the assumption that what is said here is equally relevant to both. The ways contemporary people acquire, learn, use, and perceive their languages have undergone significant changes. The current multilingualism (Singleton et al. 2013) emerges from global metamorphoses, one of which is the shift of the human language faculty from being habitually expressed in a single language to this faculty being implemented through a number of languages, which work together as a unit (DLC) (Aronin 2006, 2020,  2019a, b; Aronin and Singleton 2008, 2012; Bokamba 2014). Language repertoire is one of the most frequently used notions in multilingual education. Dominant Language Constellation is a concept that is complementary to it. Under the New Linguistic Dispensation (Aronin and Singleton 2008, 2012; Singleton et al. 2013), individual and group language repertoires have grown substantially. It has become impracticable and plain impossible to use all the skills in all the languages one has ever acquired. Therefore, normally, only the crucial languages that together constitute a unit of a Dominant Language Constellation are used regularly (Aronin 2016, 2020, 2019a, b; Lo Bianco 2020). DLC is defined as a group of one’s most expedient languages, functioning as a unit, and enabling an individual to meet all needs in a multilingual environment. With regard to communities and groups, a communal DLC is a form of linguistic practice that by and large substituted the previously dominant monolingual practice. The concepts of language repertoire and Dominant Language Constellation concur, differ, and mutually complement each other. While a language repertoire relates to the totality of linguistic skills in all the languages possessed by an individual or by a community, a Dominant Language Constellation embraces only several languages (typically but not always three) that are deemed to be of prime importance. In other words, DLC is the active part of one’s language repertoire. One may say that a language repertoire is about the linguistic assets and a DLC refers to active usage of languages. Within the unit of DLC, languages play different roles and various linguistic and cognitive skills in several languages serve to carry out the necessary functions of a human language. It is important to clarify here that in the literature, the term DLC is used in two meanings. One denotes the actual life phenomenon of physically existent languages used by real people in a physical environment in a particular time span. Each emergent DLC is a unique embodiment of de-facto language practices; at the same time, it conforms to a general pattern common to most DLCs. In its other meaning, the term

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DLC denotes an analytic concept describing a model and a framework through which analysis of contemporary multilingualism is performed. The present chapter uses both. Contemporary education with its ever-expanding complexity and diversity is hardly investigable with the help of traditional methods only. In order to navigate the quickly changing reality of multilingual education, language learning specialists and educators employ new approaches and methodologies in addition to long-­ established ones. The DLC perspective is in line with the complexity vision (e.g. Capra and Luisi 2014). It has arisen from the necessity to consider modern language practices that are based on sets of languages rather than on a single language. Complexity perspective suggests looking for patterns instead of trying to deduce rules and deliver exact predictions, as is the purpose of more traditional methodologies. The words of the prominent sociologist John Urry on the complexity inquiry are particularly important for the arguments of this chapter. Urry points out that “Complexity examines how components of a system through their interaction ‘spontaneously’ develop collective properties or patterns” (2005, p. 5; italics L.A.). It is the propensity of Dominant Language Constellations to be represented as patterns as well as pattern visualisations for the benefit of multilingual education and language teaching that will be a matter of discussion in this chapter. To this end, Sect. 2 describes the patterned nature of Dominant Language Constellations and Sect. 3 is devoted to the DLC perspective in education and language teaching. It starts from the brief overview of the studies, that used the patterned feature of DLC directly or tangentially and then proceeds to criteria, aims and priorities of patterns-­ oriented research in multilingual education. Section 4 discusses the value of modelling and visualising DLC patterns in education. The final pages of this chapter provide a brief state-of-the-art presentation of DLC-related visualisations: DLC maps, three-dimensional material, and computer-generated DLC models.

2  Dominant Language Constellation as a Pattern Roughly speaking, DLCs are patterns, or more precisely, display a patterned nature. This section sets up theoretical grounds for describing contemporary language practices and multilingual education through DLC patterns. It begins with the basic information about patterns and their connection to modelling, and then goes on to discuss how Dominant Language Constellations manifest their patterned nature.

2.1  Patterns in Research The value of patterns of all kinds is in that they enhance cognition by organising information and enable us to see relationships between its elements as well as the general picture, thus helping us to make sense of the world around us. Along with

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aesthetic pleasure, patterns bring practical advantages by offering visual clues to whatever we wish to understand. The rough and ready definition of a pattern is a regularity in which its elements repeat in a predictable manner. Patterns are found everywhere in the world, including nature, man-made design and abstract ideas. The common examples of patterns are waves and seashells, trees and leaves, human-produced knitting designs, ornaments and architecture shapes, geometric figures and also morning exercises and language learning drills. Some patterns are immediately obvious, others, such as those in science, including mathematics and language, may not be as evident, but can be revealed by analysis instead. In sociology and ecology, various patterns are employed with the purpose of revealing generative mechanisms of the internal organisation and processes that generate the system’s responses (Grimm and Railsback 2012; Grimm et al. 2012). In our case, ‘the system’ is the use and acquisition of multiple languages in an organisation, country, community or grouping. Grimm et al. (2005, p. 991) explain that patterns contain “the information on the mechanisms from which they emerge. Complex systems contain patterns at different hierarchical levels and scales.” Therefore, while the existing models of various systems may or may not include these essential qualities which drive the system, it is possible to “identify generative mechanisms by examining multiple patterns observed in the system” (Grimm and Railsback 2012, p. 300). Understanding multilingualism can also be enhanced by considering its various patterns which reflect the reality of countless individual interactions on multiple levels: patterns of language use or acquisition or organisational patterns of multilingual education. While patterns in nature and recently in business and stock exchange are being actively researched, the patterns of communication and use of languages, as well as patterns of multiple language acquisition in various settings, are not so much within scholars’ purview yet. To make up for this insufficiency, the following considerations are offered below to call for researchers’ attention to patterns of language use and acquisition.

2.2  D  LCs as Patterns of Language Use, Acquisition, and Educational Practices Reducibility to patterns is a significant feature of DLC. Each individual DLC has a high level of complexity and each new evolving pattern possesses the properties that are different from the properties of its parts (e.g. particular languages, skills, language attitudes). The patterns of Dominant Language Constellations emerge and re-emerge out of perpetual and complex interactions between languages, users, and multilingual settings; each DLC obtains unique properties that cannot be reduced to or explained solely by the properties of languages constituting this DLC, by particular settings, by characteristics of this DLC owner, or by their sum. Collecting the

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pool of individual and group DLC patterns on various levels and scales will allow revealing essential qualities of language use and language acquisition systems that otherwise might go unnoticed and refine real-life multi-scale multi-level models of language use in future.  ow Do Dominant Language Constellations Manifest their H Patterned Nature? DLCs are patterns in a number of ways. First of all, Dominant Language Constellations embody the regular and common form of contemporary language practices on a global and local scale. The essentially fixed form of a DLC unit comprises about three languages, operating together at one period of time and in particular settings. The configurations of DLCs, as far as we know at this stage, are consistent with each other, keeping in with a certain extent of uniformity throughout the globe. Normally, a DLC includes languages of different social standing and oftentimes of not exactly equal proficiency in each. A typical DLC may include one of the languages of high international standing (e.g. English, German, Spanish) that ensures the link with the wider world; an important regional language and a home, minority, heritage or a foreign language. Examples of a Dominant Language Constellation include German/Polish/English for Polish immigrants in Germany; Russian/Cypriot Greek/English for Russian-speaking immigrants in Cyprus (see e.g. the study by Karpava 2020), and Spanish/Catalan/English for at least some of the inhabitants of Barcelona. A recurring feature of Dominant Language Constellations is the distribution of functions and tasks between the languages comprising it. But the exact configuration of skills that are called to subserve each activity varies from DLC to DLC. For example, in the DLC Italian/Croatian/English of a native speaker of the Istrovenetian dialect of Italian in the community of Istria in Croatia (Krevelj 2020), Italian is used most frequently (80.53% of overall language use) in the private domain with parents, siblings, and relatives, in social and educational domains with classmates, friends, and neighbours, leaving only a small share of time and domains to Croatian and English (Krevelj 2020, p. 216–217). A very similar DLC containing the same languages Croatian/Italian/English in the same community of Istria in Croatia has a differing distribution of language tasks and times devoted to each of the languages of the DLC. These DLC pattern users, the native speakers of Croatian, according to Krevelj, devote most of their language use time to Croatian, and they employ this language daily in private, social and educational domains. The time and domains of use of Italian and English for these people shrink, respectively. In the same way, the trajectories of language acquisition exist in a variety of options (such as the definite times of onset in the learning of each language and the interactions between languages) making each personal way to multilingualism distinctive from others, yet all keep to a general pattern. It is easy to notice regularities in Dominant Language Constellations throughout locations and across languages, learners/users and time spans.

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Fig. 1  Hufeisen’s factor model: Learning a second language (reproduced from Hufeisen and Jessner 2019)

Fig. 2  Hufeisen’s factor model: Learning a third language (reproduced from Hufeisen and Jessner 2019)

The patterned feature of multiple language acquisition was captured in theoretical models of multiple language acquisition. Britta Hufeisen’s factor model (Hufeisen 2010, see Figs. 1 and 2), in fact, represents the recurring pattern of additional language acquisition where one’s language system acquires new factors with

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each ‘repetition’ or new cycle: L2, L3, Ln acquisition (Hufeisen 2010, 2018a, b; Hufeisen and Jessner 2019). The resulting Dominant Language Constellations which gradually emerge from patterned learning processes are structurally similar (that is, display a pattern) but also meaningfully different from each other. Commensurability of DLC Patterns The patterned feature of a DLC provides yet another benefit. From whatever locus one studies a DLC (e.g. proficiency in languages; attitudes and emotions towards languages, neurolinguistic mechanisms that underlie the functioning of the languages of a DLC in the brain), it is comparable with DLC studies performed from fields of view.1 DLC patterns are at least roughly commensurable—that is, measurable or comparable by the common standard, having a common factor. Commensurability (Blackburn 1996, p.  69) is an important feature because few things in multilingualism and multilingual education can be unequivocally ordered by some single measure. The challenges in deciding, for instance, whether two persons’ mastery of the same language or their vocabulary acquisition quality and speed can be measured against the other are commonly recognised. In case of the DLC approach, the findings and implications from psycholinguistic, sociolinguistic or neurolinguistic issues can be commensurable if framed in the same terminology and examined as patterns. In addition, the DLC approach with its patterns appears to provide a neutral standpoint from which to make an objective assessment or comparison of language use and acquisition practices. In order to put the DLC pattern-oriented investigations into the general picture of educational research, in the next section we discuss the use of a DLC perspective in education. First, a brief overview of the studies which were either directly or tangentially facilitated by the pattern qualities of DLC is provided and then, more pattern-associated lines of investigation are suggested.

3  DLC Perspective for Education: Aims, Scope, and Studies The DLC approach is quite novel for educational studies and provides fascinating opportunities for its researchers. It deals with multiple language acquisition (L3 and Ln (tri-plus-lingualism)), the use of multiple languages in educational institutions, the general issues of multilingual education regarding language policy and education, teaching immigrants, and multicultural reality. The DLC perspective for the field of education also includes in its purview lifelong education, teaching subjects

1  Here the term ‘field of view (FoV)’ is metaphorically used following its meanings in optics and biology as referring to the visual angle of a lens and the extent of the observable world.

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other than languages as well as using various languages as a means of instruction. DLC framework in education offers a wide field of activity and research.

3.1  Current Research on DLC The first studies on educational topics through the lens of DLC that have been conducted as of yet can be rightly called pioneering. Each of them has unpacked a specific line of inquiry that opens the way for further studies in the areas of applied linguistics, linguistics, social studies, and education policy. At first sight, the particular topics dealt with in these studies might seem scattered along several subdisciplines, but as the gaps are gradually filled in, researchers and practitioners will receive a systematic and actionable pool of knowledge on contemporary multilingual education. By now, the following streaks of research are noticeable (also see Table 1): • Dominant Language Constellations in multiple language teaching and learning; DLC in a multilingual classroom (including middle school, colleges, and universities); DLCs of language teachers (e.g. Otwinowska 2016; Sugrañes 2017; Krevelj 2020; Fernández-Berkeś and Flynn 2020; Krulatz and Duggan 2018; Bongartz and Vida 2017; Mayr-Keiler and Jessner 2018; Yoel this volume). • Queries into DLCs representing entire educational systems or important aspects of these systems (country, elementary education). Among them, one has to note the studies dedicated to educational and pre-educational profiling (Slavkov 2020); educational realities and policies (Krevelj 2020; Björklund et al. 2016; Coetzee Van Rooy 2018, 2020; Banda 2020); • Research into Institutional Dominant Language Constellations (Björklund and Björklund this volume; Vetter this volume) • Investigations of Individual Dominant Language Constellations. This streak of research includes language autobiographies, dynamics of personal DLCs across time and space and dependence of DLC on educational opportunities, practices, and requirements (Nightingale 2020; Kannangara 2020; Rauhala 2018) • A pivotal line of research is being developed in the area of language policy (Lo Bianco 2020, also Lo Bianco 2014; Vetter this volume). These and some other studies on DLC in education and their implications  are summarised in Table 1 below.

3.2  Research via Selected Criteria of DLC Constituents A DLC analytical model can be used to explain how and why real-life phenomena of DLC materialise in particular settings. It may also be useful in search for the mechanisms of DLC patterns’ formation. The following elements of DLC patterns

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Table 1  Selected DLC studies in education and language acquisition Author(s); country/ region under research Eva Fernández-­ Berkeś and Suzanne Flynn (2020) USA Agnieszka Otwinowska-­ Kasztelanic (2016) Poland Siv Björklund, Mikaela Björklund and Kaj Sjöholm (2020); Siv Björklund and Mikaela Björklund (2018) Finland Stela Letica Krevelj (2020) Croatia; Istria County

Area/subtopic Developmental syntax; Cross-linguistic Influence (CLI) at a syntactic level Applied linguistics; Vocabulary acquisition

Sociolinguistics; Education; Immigration; Language policy

Sociolinguistics; Cross-linguistic Influence; Minority languages; L3 production Education; Nikolay Slavkov (2020, this volume) Language background profiling; Canada Minority languages Chris Bongartz and Higher education in Cyprus Manuela Vida (2017) Cyprus Sarasy Kannangara Multilingual education; Minority languages; (2020) Germany/Sri Lanka Identity Kerstin Mayr-­ Keiler and Ulrike Jessner (2018) Austria Eva Vetter (this volume) Austria

Multilingual language learning and teaching

School language education policy; Emerging and planned DLCs at different levels of social practice at school

Languages involved (DLCs) Hungarian/German/ English; Hungarian/Spanish/ English

Implications for Third language teaching; Language development

Polish/English/L3-Ln (Ln: various from the Germanic, Romance, Slavonic or other groups) Finnish/Swedish/L3 (L3 heritage languages, foreign language acquired at school)

Third language teaching

Croatian/Italian/ English; Italian/Croatian/ English

Language policy; Language teaching and learning

Education; Language policy; Higher and secondary education systems

Language policy; Language teaching and learning; Educational planning; Curricula English/Greek/Turkish Higher education; Identity; Heritage languages; English Sinhala/German/ Language policy; English Education; Identity research; Language teaching German/Turkish/ Education; Multilingual English/Ln language learning and teaching

English/French/Ln (Ln: various minority languages)

German/English/Ln

Language policy; Language pedagogy; Urban multilingualism

(continued)

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Table 1 (continued) Author(s); country/ region under research Susan Coetzee Van Rooy (2018, 2020) South Africa

Mika Rauhala (2018) EU

Anna M. Krulatz and Jennifer Duggan (2018, this volume) Norway Caterina Sugrañes Ernest (2017, this volume) Catalonia

Area/subtopic Multilingual education; Language policy; Language-in-education policies vs. natural language practices of learners Sociolinguistics; Polyglots; Language use

Languages involved (DLCs) English/Southern Sotho/Zulu

Slovak/English/ Spanish; Swedish/French/ English; Dutch/ Swedish/French; Latvian/English/ German English/German/ Norwegian/French; Polish/English/ Norwegian

Extensive reading; Second language learning and teaching; Language learning strategies; Self-image Plurilingual approach to Catalan/Spanish/ English teaching and learning languages; Heritage languages

Implications for Urban Multilingualism; South Africa multilingualism; Language Repertoire; Survey Instrument Education; Identity; European studies; Sociolinguistics; Language teaching

Extensive reading; Language learning and teaching; Language learning strategies; Language attitudes Language teaching and learning; Heritage languages; Multilingual classroom

are present in every constellation and supposedly reveal generative mechanisms of multiple language use: language, skill, proficiency, time of use, domain of use. It is, of course, possible to direct scholars’ attention deeper to smaller elements, such as particular skills (e.g. listening, writing) and language subsystems (pronunciation, vocabulary). For examination of language learning and educational practices, any constituent of a DLC pattern can be chosen as a criterion to categorise patterns. The choice depends on the researchers’ needs and interests. Thus, a study may be focused on Dominant Language Constellations with English (e.g. Finnish/Swedish/English in Finland or English/Spanish/ASL2 in the United States); Dominant Language Constellations with German (German/ English/Dutch and Polish/German/English in Germany); DLCs with Russian (e.g. Ukrainian/Russian/English in Ukraine, Bulgarian/Russian/German in Bulgaria, Russian/ Tatar/Chuvash in the Volga region in the Russian Federation). Another criterion for categorising and studying DLCs may be the language distance between the languages of DLC. In this case, DLCs containing diverse languages from different language families or branches (e.g. Japanese/English/Chinese for business people in China, Tamil/Sinhala/Sri Lankan

 ASL – American Sign Language

2

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English in Sri Lanka) or alternatively, close languages according to the ‘genealogical’ typology of languages (e.g. Italian/French/Romanian in Italy or Romania) may be under examination. The framework of DLC, being a pattern, is thus a type of structure which serves as a common denominator for a wide variety of particular global and local sociolinguistic situations and events. Due to this feature, it is possible to compare and analyse DLCs across spaces and time spans by taking its selected constituents as criteria for categorisations (for examples see Table 2). Table 2 above contains only some of the possible angles from which to study the patterns of DLCs. It demonstrates that ‘tilting’ or ‘slewing’ the pattern offers a cascade of various novel angles from which to consider the use and acquisition of languages. The previously unforeseen regularities and trends might be better seen from a different, not habitual angle of view. DLC being a pattern allows for the examination of multilingual language practices from multiple angles of view. Not only entire languages but also scripts involved in daily use of a community and individuals succumb to the DLC pattern, as is shown in the seminal work by Joseph Lo Bianco (2020) who extended the DLC patterns purview to the constellations of writing systems. The author examines the script DLC of Chu nho/Chu Nom/ Chu Quoc Ngu with the three writing systems found in Vietnam through its history: Chu nho or Chu Han (based on traditional Han Chinese characters); Chu Nom or Nom (an indigenous form of the Chu Han); and the Chu Quoc Ngu or Quoc Ngu (the romanised script introduced by Portuguese and French Catholic missionaries) (Lo Bianco 2001, 2020). Cultures and mentalities associated with the languages of a DLC seem to be structured around or along with sociolinguistic patterns, too. In fact, the interaction of constituents in Dominant Language Constellations copiously spreads to virtually everything connected to language use: the time of use of each language, attitudes and emotions connected to them, language roles, materialities associated with languages, spaces in which languages are used, and much more. As multilingual education encompasses a mixture of human actions and abilities, languages, political, territorial and social environments, and their peculiar synergies, not only languages but also other aspects of education can be examined via the structure of DLC.

3.3  A  ims and Priorities of Patterns-Oriented Research in Education While in other domains of knowledge, the most frequent aim of research on patterns is their detection, in multilingual education, the objectives of patterns-oriented research are more diverse and numerous. They pertain to both theory and practice in the fields of multilingualism and education. The patterns of DLCs which arise from the fluctuating combinations of languages, personal traits, and social settings are

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Table 2  Possible points of research focus, available due to the patterned nature of DLC DLC constituent according to which the language practices can be studied DLCs under investigation Language (analysing DLCs containing a common constitution of DLC) language, such as an important international language or minority language Language Ostensibly similar DLCs that contain the same languages Particular language skills

Language distance between the three languages Proficiency

Time of use (Daily amount of use in each language; Schedule according to a particular time of the day) Domains of use

Order of acquisition and improvement or loss Configuration of skills in each language

Examples of research focus DLC with English; DLC with Russian; DLC containing a sign language

Italian/Croatian/English vs. Croatian/Italian/English (Krevelj 2020) DLCs in which not all language skills DLC that include languages without scripts or of individuals (e.g. reading, writing, speaking) are who have no reading or writing used for all its languages; DLCs in which all language skills are regularly skills; entirely oral DLCs; employed in all the languages; DLCs DLCs of polyglots; DLCs of autistic savants in which some rare or exceptional skills (e.g. in autistic savants) are part of daily language practices Such as Japanese/English/ DLCs with linguistically distant Kannada languages; Such as English/French/Italian; DLCs with linguistically close Italian/French/Romanian languages DLCs of balanced trilinguals; DLCs Low proficiency in all the DLC of trilinguals with different levels of languages; High proficiency in all the three proficiency in each language languages; Different levels of mastery of each language and of various skills Any DLCs Different scenarios: Mostly one language is used and the two others rarely; Mostly two languages are used interchangeably and the third rarely; all three are used frequently Any DLCs Different scenarios: All three languages are used in whatever domain; Strict division between domains; languages are interchangeable in some domains; languages are overlapping in domains Any DLCs Various scenarios

Any DLCs

Various scenarios

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recurrent and roughly uniform and therefore, if abstracted from details, can be treated as a model. Such a model of an archetypal DLC has a descriptive power to the diverse and complex contemporary language practices across the globe in the same terms. Among the urgent tasks are the following: 1) to define, 2) to describe, and 3) to categorise the patterns of language use and acquisition. On the basis of the knowledge about which patterns exist in which settings and contexts, it is possible then to explore the mechanisms of their emergence and conditions or factors that may lead to changing the pattern and emergence of another one. It is of prime importance to detect DLC patterns in particular settings, describe and subsequently list them according to institutions, geographical locations, and cohorts of users. For example, the communal DLCs of Russian/Hebrew/English and Arabic/Hebrew/English are noticeable in Israel; Rauhala (2018) spotted individual Slovak/English/ Spanish, Swedish/French/English, Dutch/Swedish/French, and Latvian/English/German DLCs  among European polyglots. The next questions would be how exactly and whether the ‘fit’ with educational provisions for the individuals and communities with these DLCs is optimal. What are the ‘freshly assembled’ DLCs that are in the making now in the European cities; whether and how do they fit into existing school arrangements? What are the similarities and differences between the numerous DLCs in a city and how can this information be effectively used for planning the educational process? Step by step, the prevailing, common as well as marginal patterns can be collected in a data pool of DLCs, which will become a valuable resource for studying the real-life ways multiple languages are used in the contemporary world. The DLC-oriented research can include finding frequent patterns (within the particular setting of a school, city, country, organisation), similar patterns (and discerning patterns that look alike but are, in fact, not similar), and different patterns. This will point to options of manipulating the elements and interactions, perhaps including an element or expelling it so that we get a DLC pattern that is desirable for a particular situation, school or individual. One of the promising quests is discovering the mechanism(s) of pattern formation. An example of approaching the mechanism of pattern formation is the finding by Sílvia Melo-Pfeifer (this volume) that DLCs maintained by the student teachers at the University of Hamburg (German/English/ Spanish and German/English/French) tend to be formed due to school policies rather than due to languages that simply exist in the society. It appears from her research that personal DLCs are dependent on the matrix of school DLCs rather than from the overall society or community matrix.

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4  M  odelling and Visualising DLC Patterns for Multilingual Education Language using and learning exist in a variety of modes and appearances—detecting and categorising them presents a certain difficulty. An expedient feature of DLC comes to assistance for all the stakeholders of multilingual education: the propensity of patterns to their visual expression. This section is devoted to additional opportunities for the research and practice of multilingual education warranted by the patterned nature of DLC and propensity for visualisations. Among the recent advances in the research into multilingualism and multilingual education is the wave of interest in visualisations. Indeed, turning to the representation of complex social phenomena and processes via pictures, drawings, and graphic images makes perfect sense from several points of view.

4.1  W  hat Are Visualisations and How Are they Useful (a) for Research and (b) for Language Learners and Users? Visualisations are images, graphs, and other visual representations that are increasingly used for better understanding the complex reality along with the traditional qualitative and quantitative techniques. In education and psychology, visual tests and drawings are common. Data specialists who use visualisations for analysing big sets of data and complex information remind us that “humans are far better than computers at seeing patterns” (Shaw 2014) and use visual aids to enhance grasping big or complicated portions of information. It is not by chance that computer-produced visualisations have become a popular trend not only in science but also in media. News, political and analytical broadcasts use visualisations to describe complicated or long processes and provide enough data on important events. Visual images and graphs serve as a valuable tool for research. Patterns visualisation may help in the evaluation of data and bear the potential of prompting solutions to commonly occurring problems (Elmqvist and Yi 2012). Fractals refer to visualisations too, and their potential for multilingualism and education research has not been exhausted. Fractals are images that represent curves or geometric figures, in which similar patterns recur at progressively smaller scales, thus creating infinitely complex patterns that are self-similar across different scales. Fractal images represent valuable information. Initially rejected by the majority and widely appreciated now, fractal geometry was described some decades earlier by its originator Benoit Mandelbrot as “a new geometric language, which is geared towards the study of diverse aspects of diverse objects, either mathematical or natural, that are not smooth, but rough and fragmented to the same degree at all scales” (1990, p. 7). Today’s scientific canon of research tools has shifted to admitting and appreciating visualisations and images as valuable ways of data presentation and

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appropriate methods of analysis and scientific speculation. Defying the opinion that images do not qualify to be scholarly methods, Garcia (1991, p. 30) commends the use of fractal images in research as follows: The problem does not always lie in the image itself, but with the interpretation of the image. True, those conjectures made by visual observation should ultimately be support in proofs. However, the amount of research sparked by the visual pondering of such images demonstrates that intuition should initially run unchecked. Though a general distrust of images in the mathematical community has historically confined such benefit to the arts, fractal geometry is a field where visual exploration is essential.

Dominant Language Constellations display self-similarity and can be potentially represented as patterns. As patterns, DLCs are of similar appearance, and they are present at many different levels of scale. For instance, the various elements in language contact situations have similar properties at all levels of magnification. The process of learning each successive language, the grammar and other properties of the languages in question, modalities of language change, patterns of use of multiple languages—all show scaling properties and can potentially be represented through fractals. Visualisations are extra representations of internal data, be it in human memory, in a computer memory block or encrypted in natural fractals and waiting to be deciphered. Thinking and computing become more powerful with representations than without them (Kirsh 2010). Brain scientists and psychologists have found that external representations enhance cognition in a number of ways: by shortcutting analytic processes, saving internal memory, creating persistent referents and providing structures that can serve as a shareable object of thought (Danaher 2016; Kirsh 2010). This advantage is variously used in pedagogy with different populations/cohorts of language learners and users, both young and adult. In multilingual pedagogy, the popular method of awareness-raising and getting information on multilingual learners called linguistic biographies or linguistic profiles (e.g. Busch, Jardine and Tjoutuku 2006) has been recently extended to visual linguistic biographies. Melo-Pfeifer (this volume) notes a growing tendency to consider arts-based approaches as significant and effective methods in research where drawings and other visual materials in applied language studies receive increasing attention (Kalaja and Pitkänen-Huhta 2018; Kalaja and Melo-Pfeifer 2019). In order to study social representations of multilingualism, researchers also resort to visual methods, which help to elicit individual representations which are not always easy to express through language (Chik and Melo-Pfeifer 2019). Visualisations in multilingualism can be categorised according to who produces the visualisation, and for what purpose. Multilingualism scholars, teachers and data analysts use graphs and pattern representations for analysis, ensuing possibilities in education and language policy. Many educational activities involving visualisations of their own by language learners and users point to the impact that representations make on them. The process of creating the visual representation of one’s own language identity is deeply moving, exciting and often eye-opening; it brings along associations and thoughts that might not be coming if not for the process of producing the representation. Thus, it

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is definitely a rewarding and thought-provoking personal experience. I will discuss the several kinds of multilingual visualisations based on DLC patterns, both by scholars, teachers and by the language users in the remainder of this chapter.

4.2  P  attern-Oriented Visualisations of Multilingualism: DLC Maps and DLC 3D Models This section is devoted specifically to visualisations that reflect the patterned nature of multilingualism. By now, there exist two holistic ways of representing patterns of contemporary language practices: DLC maps, and more recently, 3D models. In the first studies on DLC, perhaps in association with the term ‘constellation’, DLC maps have been used (cf. Aronin 2016) to schematically describe the languages involved in one’s DLC and repertoire as well as to point to visible context languages (see Fig. 3). Such DLC maps allow us to see one’s vital languages united into Dominant Language Constellations in its center (here, the three languages are listed in the grey circle), the languages of one’s repertoire (marked by the five-point stars) and the languages of the environment to which an individual is exposed in his or her close environment. The latter are indicated by four-point stars in the map. They can include either a heritage language in a family or a language often heard due to social proximity, whether by wish or circumstance. Later on, DLC maps acquired various modifications depending on the researcher’s aims and choices. The ‘protocol’ of the creation and use of DLC maps also vary. Björklund and Björklund (this volume) designed their study in such a way that the production of a personal DLC map was performed by language users themselves.

Fig. 3  DLC Map. Dominant Language Constellation of Russian/Hebrew/English in Israel (reproduced from Aronin 2019b)

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S

S

A

S

A/D D

i

ii

S

A

iii

S

C

A

D

D

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ChA A

F

E

F

iv

v

Fig. 4 Visualisation of dynamic reconfiguration within M’s DLC (reproduced from Nightingale 2020)

The university students filled in the previously prepared DLC map forms by the researchers and accompanied their work by thinking aloud and explanations. MeloPfeifer (see this volume, p. XX) offers a DLC map of a different design with geometrical figures covering the field of language use and clearly distinguished points marking the important languages. DLC maps proved to be instrumental in individual language use and emotions investigations. In his case study, Richard Nightingale developed the DLC maps further by introducing more detailed and dynamic modifications. Nightingale (2020) examined the DLC of a Moroccan immigrant living in the Valencian Community, with the focus on language use and the affective domain. The languages involved are Spanish, Darija, MSA, Catalan, French, and English. His DLC maps (see Fig. 4) depict reconfigurations of the languages of a DLC used by the same speaker (named M in the study): Spanish/Arabic/Darija or variously Spanish/Catalan/Arabic in different contexts (Nightingale 2020, p. 243). Visualisation i represents all languages of M’s DLC equally balanced. But to depict the real-life flux of the constituent languages that the protagonist of the study used “as they responded to long-term and short-term changes in the multilingual environment” (Nightingale 2020, p. 244), the author designed visualisations ii, iii, iv, and v. The researcher explains that [c]onfiguration ii represents M in every-day social contexts in Spain. Spanish (S) is by far the most prominent of his three DLC languages, Darija (D) is used more than MSA (A), and these two languages are considered separately, most likely separated by function (spoken/ written). Configuration iii represents M when he visits his family in Morocco. Darija and MSA are considered holistically and are overwhelmingly prominent, yet Spanish still plays an essential role, albeit drastically reduced. (Nightingale 2020, p. 244)

The next finding reported and visualised by the author is of great interest. It says: However, when M travels to Morocco with his Spanish-speaking partner, the prominence of Darija/MSA reduces and Spanish use increases (indicated by the dotted lines). Configuration iv represents M at work in Spain. Spanish is the most prominent language in this context, Darija and MSA are again separated by function, the former being employed more than the latter, Catalan (C) now enters the DLC as it plays an essential administrative role, and French (F) also enters the DLC for communication with African immigrants. Finally, configuration v represents M socialising online. Spanish is still the most prominent language, but also Arabic Chat Alphabet (ChA) emerges and overlaps with French and MSA as they merge in translanguaging practices. Moreover, English (E) also emerges, not necessarily as a productive language for M, but as a receptive one, vital for multimodal navigation of an overwhelmingly English-dominant Internet.

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“Thus,” summarises Nightingale, “it would appear that the DLC is constantly in flux, subject to social, cultural, and temporal changes, the latter of which may be long- or short-term” (Nightingale 2020, p. 244). Visual representations work well for scholars and for language users and learners. However, more tangible embodiments of linguistic practices bear additional advantages. The Extended Mind Theory (Clark 2008) endorses the view that mind, body and world intermingle in the lively and complex interaction of an organism with its environment and that cognition is not confined within the limits of one’s head. Two points are important here: a) thinking and sensemaking are often “interactive” (Kirsh 2010, p. 441) and b) the role of “material” in cognition. Kirsh (2010, p. 445) stresses that “[it] is by this act of materializing our initial projections, by forming traces of those projections through action, or material change, that we create something that can serve as a stepping-stone for our next thoughts”. From this follows that lived experiences with environment which is not only human milieu, but also materialities, are conducive for reasoning, understanding, perception, and awareness. A 3D model of a personal Dominant Language Constellation can be, in terms of this view, a cognitive extension and a material symbol of one’s own sociolinguistic existence, skills and languages used, all these against the background of social reality. The simplest 3D models of personal Dominant Language Constellations can be easily produced using just pieces of differently coloured  plasticine and sticks. It is easy to shape spheres of a different colour that would represent one’s languages. The higher the proficiency in a certain language, the bigger size of the sphere. The greater the linguistic distance between languages, the longer the lines connecting the spheres (see Fig. 5).

Fig. 5  Playdough DLC models Russian/Ukrainian/English and English/Russian/Hebrew

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Fig. 6  Tweets of the researchers participating in the activity of representing their DLC as a playdough model at the XIth International Conference on Third Language Acquisition and Multilingualism in Lisbon (2018) and at the European Civil Society Platform for Multilingualism (ECSPM), September 26–27, 2018 in Darmstadt (source of left figure: Theo Marinis on Twitter https://twitter.com/TheoMarinis/status/1044895807131045888; source of right figure: Nayr Ibrahim on Twitter https://twitter.com/NayrIbrahim/status/1040565530049044480)

Such models, of course, may not mirror the real language sets precisely in all detail. The models are good for visual and tactile pondering. With that, the usefulness of such models in bringing across the idea of sociolinguistic superdiversity and value of each and every DLC is evident. The visual images of different DLCs will also be easily accessible in no time for teachers or social workers to immediately grasp the characteristics of often similar but different DLCs of their pupils. The embodiment of one’s personal linguistic life and communal linguistic practices in a tangible model turns out to be not only entertaining but also useful for adult multilinguals, educators and researchers who participated in this activity (see Fig. 6). In addition to being a research tool, DLC models are expedient for language users and learners. The self-made models demand thinking while they are being created and can be often more informative than verbal explanations about one’s language mastery and attitudes. In any case, they provide additional visual and tangible data. Tangible self-produced models of one’s own DLC externalise the language user’s thoughts about their languages, how and why they use them and about one’s own identity across a lifespan. This is how creating and pondering a model by a polyglot photographer and translator Guðrún Gísladóttir (this volume) inspired narration and re-assessment of past events, relationships, family and relatives, language-­learning ways and teaching methods, and understanding of education in her present-life terms. The model also provoked analysing the feelings and attitudes toward people and toward languages, all fluid and changing in spirals.

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Creating personal 3D models and discussing them with classmates and family members is an interactive task supportive of multilingualism at school. For young children, this activity is preferably verbal because it is an activity that engages both head and hands in ways that fit the age of participants. Expressing one’s languages through tactile activities, moulding spheres and producing a physical form, where its parts are interconnected and meaningful, raises awareness and leaves cognitive and emotional traces in one’s self. For multilingual pedagogy they represent one more kind of activity to get rid of the monolingual mindset in favour of the de-facto multilingual outlook. In all variations, the 3D models look somewhat similar because they are of the same basic pattern  (Aronin and Moccozet under revision). Models have various configurations depending on the linguistic distance between the languages comprising them and on one’s proficiency in each language. The difference in configuration reflects minor and greater aspects of the status of, attitude to, and societal demand in the languages in question. Educational and societal considerations, the media, and home support all contribute to the particular DLC configuration that is grounded in a particular multilingual setting. In addition, the 3D model possesses the inner space (volume) created by the vertices, faces, and edges. This space is well noticeable in a 3D figure and symbolises the emergent quality of a DLC, rendering it unique. Making multiple dimensions tangible, 3D DLC models demonstrate and visualise the multidimensionality of multilingualism.

5  Summary The present chapter places emphasis on the patterned nature of Dominant Language Constellations, especially those implicated in multilingual education, language learning and teaching. As patterns, Dominant Language Constellations are commensurable. Particular DLCs in various bigger or smaller contexts (whether in the settings of a school or an entire country) can be analysed through the generative elements found in its patterns. The aim of researchers in multilingual education is to discover the patterns of language use and acquisition emerging from particular contexts, and to subsequently  analyse and interpret them. The optimal and desirable patterns within a given multilingual setting or school can be then selected and based on them, a pedagogically appropriate DLC model can be designed. Such models are general, reusable solutions to commonly occurring challenges in education, including decisions of which languages to include in the curriculum, the number of hours for their study as a discipline or whether and which languages are to be a means of education. DLC patterns easily lend themselves to various kinds of visualisation. Depending on the way of representation of a DLC preferred by a researcher, various visual, graphic, and modelling methods of research can be chosen. Simple and crude pattern-­oriented visualisations and tangibilisations of multilingualism such as DLC

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maps and 3D models are a fruitful way forward both for language awareness and dealing with negotiating, revealing, and constructing one’s own identity and research on multilingual education. The DLC perspective is helpful for learning in more detail the patterns by which multiple languages operate in kindergartens, schools, universities, and other educational establishments.

References Aronin, L. (2006). Dominant language constellations: An approach to multilingualism studies. In M. Ó Laoire (Ed.), Multilingualism in educational settings (pp. 140–159). Höhengehren: Schneider Publications. Aronin, L. (2016). Multicompetence and dominant language constellation. In V. Cook & L. Wei (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of linguistic multicompetence (pp.  142–163). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Aronin, L. (2019a). What is multilingualism? In D. Singleton & L. Aronin (Eds.), Twelve lectures in multilingualism (pp. 3–34). Bristol: Multilingual Matters. Aronin, L. (2019b). Dominant language constellation as a method of research. In E.  Vetter & U.  Jessner (Eds.), International research on multilingualism breaking with the monolingual perspective (pp. 13–26). Cham: Springer. Aronin, L. (2020). Language constellations as an approach for studying multilingual practices. In J. Lo Bianco & L. Aronin (Eds.), Dominant language constellations: A new perspective on multilingualism ( pp. 19–33). Cham: Springer. Aronin, L., & Moccozet, L. (under revision). Dominant language constellations: Towards online computer-assisted modelling. International Journal of Multilingualism. Aronin, L., & Singleton, D. (2008). The complexity of multilingual contact and language use in times of globalization. In Conversarii. Studii Linguistici (pp.  33–47). Guerra: University of Perugia, Guerra Edizioni. Aronin, L., & Singleton, D. (2012). Multilingualism. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Banda, F. (2020). Shifting and multi-layered dominant language constellations in dynamic multilingual contexts: African perspective. In J. Lo Bianco & L. Aronin (Eds.), Dominant language constellations: A new perspective on multilingualism (pp. 75–93). Cham: Springer. Björklund, S., Björklund, M., & Sjöholm, K. (2020). Societal versus individual patterns of DLCs in a Finnish educational context. Present state and challenges for the future. In J. Lo Bianco & L. Aronin (Eds.), Dominant language constellations: A new perspective on multilingualism (pp. 97–115). Cham: Springer. Blackburn, S. (1996). Commensurable. In The Oxford dictionary of philosophy. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. Bokamba, E. G. (2014). Multilingualism as a sociolinguistic phenomenon: Evidence from Africa. In E. C. Zsiga, O. T. Boyer, & R. Kramer (Eds.), Languages in Africa: Multilingualism, language policy, and education (pp. 21–48). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press. Bongartz, C. M., & Vida, M. (2017). What is English as a Lingua Franca? DLCs in Cyprus higher education. Paper presented at the 11th International Symposium on Bilingualism, Limerick, 11–15 June. Busch, B., Jardine, A., & Tjoutuku, A. (2006). Language biographies for multilingual learning (PRAESA – Occasional papers no. 24). Cape Town: PRAESA. Capra, F., & Luisi, P. L. (2014). The systems view of life: A unifying vision. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Cenoz, J., & Gorter, D. (2019). Educational policy and multilingualism. In D.  Singleton & L.  Aronin (Eds.), Twelve lectures in multilingualism (pp.  101–132). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.

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Cenoz, J., & Jessner, U. (2009). The study of multilingualism in educational contexts. In L. Aronin & B.  Hufeisen (Eds.), The exploration of multilingualism (pp.  121–138). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Chik, A., & Melo-Pfeifer, S. (2019). Social representations of multilingualism. In G. Barkhuizen (Ed.), Qualitative research topics in language teacher education (pp.  149–154). London: Routledge. Clark, A. (Ed.). (2008). Supersizing the mind: Embodiment, action, and cognitive extension. New York: Oxford University Press. Coetzee Van Rooy, S. (2018). Dominant language constellations in multilingual repertoires: Implications for language-in-education policy and practices in South Africa. Language Matters: Studies in the Languages of Africa, 49(3), 19–46. Coetzee Van Rooy, S. (2020). Viewing one type of dominant language constellation of urban multilingual South Africans through the lens of a specific language repertoire survey instrument. In J. Lo Bianco & L. Aronin (Eds.), Dominant language constellations: A new perspective on multilingualism (pp. 139–165). Cham: Springer. Danaher, J. (2016). How do we enhance cognition through external representations? Five ways. A post in Philosophical Disquisitions posted Ort 13, 2016, https://ieet.org/index.php/IEET2/ more/Danaher20161013. Last accessed 24 Aug 2019. Elmqvist, N., & Yi, J. S. (2012). Patterns for visualization evaluation. In Proceedings of the 2012 BELIV Workshop: Beyond time and errors  – Novel evaluation methods for visualization. Article No. 12. Fernández-Berkeś, E., & Flynn, S. (2020). Where DLC meets multilingual syntactic development. In J. Lo Bianco & L. Aronin (Eds.), Dominant language constellations: A new perspective on multilingualism (pp. 57–74). Cham: Springer. Garcia, L. (1991). The fractal explorer. Santa Cruz: Dynamic Press. Grimm, V., & Railsback, S. (2012). Pattern-oriented modelling: A ‘multi-scope’ for predictive systems ecology. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 367, 298–310. Grimm, V., Revilla, E., Berger, U., Jeltsch, F., Mooij, W., Railsback, S., Thulke, N.-G., Weiner, J., Wiegand, T., & DeAngelis, D. (2005). Pattern-oriented modeling of agent-based complex systems: Lessons from ecology. Science, 310, 987–991. Hufeisen, B. (2010). Theoretische Fundierung multiplen Sprachenlernens – Faktorenmodell 2.0. Jahrbuch Deutsch als Fremdsprache, 36(1), 200–207. Hufeisen, B. (2018a). Models of multilingual competence. In P.  Siemund & A.  Bonnet (Eds.), Foreign language education in multilingual classrooms (pp.  173–189). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Hufeisen, B. (2018b). Institutional education and multilingualism: PlurCur® as a prototype of a multilingual whole school policy. European Journal of Applied Linguistics, 6(1), 1–32. Hufeisen, B., & Jessner, U. (2019). The psycholinguistics of multiple language learning and teaching. In D.  Singleton & L.  Aronin (Eds.), Twelve lectures in multilingualism (pp.  65–100). Bristol: Multilingual Matters. Jessner, U. (2008). The dynamics of multilingual development. In Conversarii. Studi Linguistici (Vol. 2, pp. 49–65). University of Perugia, Guerra Edizioni. Kalaja, P., & Melo-Pfeifer, S. (2019). Visualising multilingual lives: More than words. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. Kalaja, P., & Pitkänen-Huhta, A. (2018). Introduction to the ALR double special issue ‘visual methods in applied language studies’. Applied Linguistics Review, 9(S2–3), 157–176. Kalota, F. (2015). Applications of Big Data in education. World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology. International Journal of Educational and Pedagogical Sciences, 9(5), 1607–1612. Kannangara, S. (2020). The evolution of personal dominant language constellations based on the amount of usage of the languages. In L. Bianco & Aronin (Eds.), Dominant language constellations: A new perspective on multilingualism (pp. 169–186). Cham: Springer.

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Karpava, S. (2020). Dominant language constellations of Russian speakers in Cyprus. In J.  Lo Bianco & L. Aronin (Eds.), Dominant language constellations: A new perspective on multilingualism (pp. 187–209). Cham: Springer. Kirsh, D. (2010). Thinking with external representations. AI and Society, 25(4), 441–454. https:// philpapers.org/rec/KIRTWE Krevelj, S. L. (2020). Studying crosslinguistic interaction in multilingual production through the dominant language constellation. In J. Lo Bianco & L. Aronin (Eds.), Dominant language constellations: A new perspective on multilingualism (pp. 211–229). Cham: Springer. Krulatz, A.  M., & Duggan, J. (2018). Multilinguals and extensive reading: Two multilinguality portraits of learners of Norwegian. Reading in a Foreign Language, 30(1), 29–48. Lo Bianco, J. (2001). Viet Nam: Quoc ngu, colonialism and language policy. In N.  Gottlieb & P. Chen (Eds.), Language planning and language policy: East Asian perspectives (pp. 159–206). Richmond: Curzon. Lo Bianco, J. (2014). A celebration of language diversity, language policy, and politics in education. Review of Research in Education, 38, 312–331. Lo Bianco, J. (2020). A meeting of concepts and praxis: Multilingualism, language policy and the dominant language constellation. In J. Lo Bianco & L. Aronin (Eds.), Dominant language constellations: A new perspective on multilingualism (pp. 35–56). Cham: Springer. Mayr-Keiler, K., & Jessner, U. (2018). On the dynamics of dominant language constellations. Paper presented at the 11th International Conference on Multilingualism and Third Language Acquisition. Themed Symposium: Dominant Language Constellations in education and social contexts Lisbon, 14th of September. Nightingale, R. (2020). A dominant language constellations perspective on language use and the affective domain: A case study of a Moroccan immigrant living in the Valencian community. In J. Lo Bianco & L. Aronin (Eds.), Dominant language constellations: A new perspective on multilingualism (pp. 231–259). Cham: Springer. Otwinowska-Kasztelanic, A. (2016). Dominant language constellations affect multilingual guessing of words. Paper presented at the 10th International Conference on Multilingualism and Third Language Acquisition, Vienna University, September 1–3. Rauhala, M. (2018). Språkanvändning och språkbehärskning hos polyglotter – en fallstudie om sex EU-informanters flerspråkiga språkbruk inom EU. Master Thesis. Vasa Universitet. Shaw, J. (2014). Why “Big Data” is a big deal. Harvard Magazine March–April 2014 (pp. 30–35 and 74–75). https://harvardmagazine.com/2014/03/why-­big-­data-­is-­a-­big-­deal Singleton, D., Fishman, J. A., Aronin, L., & Ó Laoire, M. (Eds.). (2013). Current multilingualism: A new linguistic dispensation. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Slavkov, N. (2020). Language background profiling at Canadian elementary schools and dominant language constellations. In J. Lo Bianco & L. Aronin (Eds.), Dominant language constellations: A new perspective on multilingualism (pp.117–138). Cham: Springer. Sugrañes, E. C. (2017). A plurilingual approach to teaching and learning languages in Catalonia: Using heritage languages in the additional language classroom. Doctoral thesis. Universitat Ramon Llull. Urry, J. (2005). The complexity turn. Theory, Culture and Society, 22(5), 1–14. Larissa Aronin  is an Associate Professor at the Oranim Academic College of Education, Israel. She served two terms as a Board Member of the International Association of Multilingualism. Aronin was a Visiting Scholar at the MIT, USA, Visiting Research Fellow at the Trinity College, Dublin, and a KIVA Guest Professor at the Technical Universität Darmstadt. Prof. Aronin has published in a range of international journals on a wide array of topics connected with multilingualism, co-­authored and co-edited a number of books. Her most recent co-edited volumes are Dominant Language Constellations: A New Perspective on Multilingualism (Springer, 2020), Twelve Lectures on Multilingualism (MM 2019) and The Material Culture of Multilingualism (Springer, 2018).

Language Education Policy Through a DLC Lens: The Case of Urban Multilingualism Eva Vetter

Abstract  The aim of this paper is to evaluate the potential of DLCs (Dominant Language Constellations) for language education policy in an urban context. Vienna (Austria) is an example for an urban multilingual context characterised by super-­ diversity and complexity in a globalised world. At the same time, Vienna is a specific case shaped by its particular long-standing history of migration and multilingualism. European language education policy, marked by the ever-growing cooperation between the Council of Europe and the European Commission is another influential factor. A policy framework for a European DLC beyond the motto ‘mother tongue + two foreign languages’ looms on the horizon. The three insights into multilingual schools provided in this chapter showcase the potential as well as obstacles of the DLC approach: The analysis of school websites reveals predominantly monolingual self-presentations that hide the characteristics of urban multilingualism. In contrast, school principals characterise their schools as extensively multilingual while at the same time creating narrow linguistic pathways for all agents, particularly pupils and parents, through their language policy activities. And lastly, the insight into the development of academic language showcases the multilingual side of its epistemic function and the strong link to individual DLCs. Keywords  Urban multilingualism · European language education policy · Translanguaging · Academic language · Super-diversity · Dominant language constellation · Linguistic landscape · Vienna · Austria

E. Vetter (*) Centre for Teacher Education and Department of Linguistic, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 L. Aronin, E. Vetter (eds.), Dominant Language Constellations Approach in Education and Language Acquisition, Educational Linguistics 51, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70769-9_3

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1  Introduction This paper investigates the contribution of the concept of Dominant Language Constellation (Aronin 2006, 2016, 2019; Aronin and Singleton 2012) for analysing and understanding school language education policy in urban secondary schools. The central aim is to make out possible benefits of adding another concept to the already diverse scientific landscape and to evaluate the potential of DLCs (Dominant Language Constellations) for language education policy in an urban context. A second important aspect is to identify potential new lines of research initiated by the DLC approach. The investigation starts with a look into the school context in Vienna with a particular focus on super-diversity and multilingualism (Sect. 2). Urban multilingualism and European language education policy are identified as two major influential factors of schools in Vienna. The third section presents three snapshots of Viennese urban multilingualism in school, drawing upon a wide range of multimodal data from desk research, school programmes and websites, interviews with principals and classroom observation. The first snapshot addresses the schools’ self-­ presentation on their websites (Sect. 3.1), the second regards the principals’ rationalisation of their school’s language education policy in place (Sect. 3.2) and the third concerns the development of academic language in a biology lesson (Sect. 3.3). These snapshots are not selected randomly but shall provide for insights into constellations with specific challenges: Whereas the websites and interviews with the principals highlight the institutionalised and rather formal component of multilingualism, classroom observation integrates the pupils’ less formalised practice. The aim is to evaluate the DLC approach for different educational facets of urban multilingualism and to initiate previously unthought-of questions and lines of research. This chapter is based upon an understanding of DLC that most prominently refers to Aronin (2006, 2016, 2019) and Aronin and Singleton (2012). The Dominant Language Constellation includes only the most expedient languages for a person, rather than all the languages known to them, as would be the case in language repertoire. Unlike a language repertoire, a DLC comprises the languages which, together, perform the most vital functions of language. (Aronin 2016, 196)

Therefore, DLCs differ from the linguistic repertoire in so far as they evolve out of particular needs of individuals or groups and have well-defined confines in contrast to the linguistic repertoire that includes all resources. For the present purpose, Aronin (2019, 6f.) adds an important conceptual specification when clarifying that DLCs are restricted to a limited number of languages, skills, registers, vocabulary etc.. Here, DLCs are explicitly disentangled from languages as systems and separable entities, and open to describing language in terms of mobile resources and practice. Following this clarification, DLCs will be understood in the present chapter as composed of the linguistic resources of prime importance to individuals or groups. They operate as units and open systems at the same time and enable groups or individuals to meet the essential functions of communication, interaction and

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identity marking (Aronin and Singleton 2012, 70). DLCs do not exist in isolation and a particularly significant feature of urban multilingualism may be that individuals and groups with certain DLCs “share their geographic and political environment with populations for whom other DLCs are vital” (Aronin and Singleton 2012, 65). To sum up, this chapter tries to show what DLC can mean for urban multilingualism. More precisely, the pursued  question is whether  a kind of European  educational Dominant Language Constellation in the sense of Aronin (2019, 4) emerges in complex urban multilingualism and in how far this is implemented, transformed or contested in actual language education policy and practice. Moreover, possible discrepancies and challenges with respect to emerging and planned DLCs shall be identified. The conclusion will indicate the line of thought and incentives of research that may emerge from such a ‘DLC lens’.

2  T  he Context: Language Education Policy and Urban Multilingualism In their brief overview on theoretical concepts of language policy and planning research, Rindler Schjerve and Vetter (2012) highlight the interdisciplinarity and heterogeneity with respect to thematic focalisation, theorisation and terminology in this research area (Rindler Schjerve and Vetter 2012, 114). They identify “any activity that is explicitly or implicitly directed towards maintaining or transforming communicative practices in the interest of specific groups or of a polity” as a widely shared definition of language policy and point to the close interaction with social, economic, demographic, educational and cultural factors. Within the European Network of Excellence LINEE, a consensual agreement was reached, laying down language policy as “a discursive process which integrates different levels of aggregation (macro-meso-micro) by operating bottom-up and top-down, and which is intrinsically related to ideology and to power and conflict”(Rindler Schjerve and Vetter 2012, 117). Both features mentioned here—the integration of contextual issues and the bottom-­up and top-down working—are widely shared within language policy scholarship (see also Slavkov, this volume). Language policy has now overcome the first phase when it mainly served as a tool for stability and homogeneity in the nation state (Spotti et al. 2019, 537). Scholars and policy makers have come to understand that multilingualism rather than monolingualism is the norm and hence became part of the ‘multilingual turn’ (May 2013). Contextual issues such as power asymmetries, social disparity, inequality and discrimination with respect to language have turned into an integral part of language policy research and making (Pérez-Milans 2015). Menken and Pérez-Milans argue that the welcoming of multilingualism went along with the “demystification of language as a neutral or natural entity” which “disrupted a long-standing focus on efficient systematization of autonomous linguistic and cultural systems” (Menken and Pérez-Milans 2020, 2). They conceive of

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destabilising the own disciplinary gaze and “unsettling the epistemic traces of long-­ standing projects of capitalism, colonialism and white supremacy” as the major challenge of present-day and future language policy research (ibid.). Similarly, Spotti et al. (2019, 539) propose to turn away from assigning particular sociolinguistic statuses to particular linguistic resources such as “standard English” or “standard American English” and to focus on language practices on the ground in order to come closer to contemporary language users’ engagement in trans- and plurilingual languaging. They criticise the top-down-bottom-up divide and suggest to first investigate grassroot and bottom-up policies which may inform future top-down policy. Beyond language policy, language education policy is also informed by education policy at large. In their paradigmatic investigation about what counts as language education policy, Flores and Chaparro (2018) follow Anyon’s (2005) call for addressing the larger economic and political inequities in educational policy. Hence, Flores’ and Chaparro’s “materialist anti-racist approach to language activism” also broadens the notion of what counts as language education policy and includes the “racial and economic issues that impact the lives of language-minoritized communities” (Flores and Chaparro 2018, 367). They argue that language education policy will miss its long-standing goal of combating marginalisation as long as it focuses on language alone without taking issues such as fair wages, housing or segregation into account. For the DLC stance taken in the present chapter, three major challenges can be derived from language education policy resarch and making: First, the discrepancies between the top-down and bottom-up perspective have to be taken into account. Second, DLC research is advised to critically reflect upon the notion of language in order to secure epistemic consistency. Third, the close interaction with broader contextual issues calls for a situated approach. In the following it will be argued that the concept of DLC as outlined in the previous section can be fruitfully combined with these claims since DLC is open to looking at concrete linguistic practice in terms of registers, varieties and all kinds of linguistic resources. The three snapshots presented in Sect. 3 shall contribute to this endeavour. As to the broader context, the particularities of the multilingual city will serve as a general frame (see also Sugrañes, this volume). In the introduction to their book about the multilingual city (King and Carson 2016), the editors give two important reasons why linguists are interested in urban multilingualism: Urban prosperity allows for addressing problems more quickly than in rural areas and turns cities in sites of governance where national policies can be overcome. The second reason is that the “multilingual city provides a test bed for understanding social diversity and complexity. It is not that multilingualism does not exist elsewhere – many rural areas are affected by immigration and mobility – but the city is a particularly concentrated version of this new dispensation” (Carson and King 2016, 17). In linking up to this line of thought, it will be argued that looking at education in multilingual Vienna is likely to also produce results beyond the national borders and about super-diversity in education in general. Section 2.1 gives

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an overview on the particularities of Vienna, the multilingual city under investigation here. Another issue is the ideological frame for language education policy in the multilingual city. Like elsewhere in Europe, the influence of European policy making is growing remarkably strong: National curricula and assessment adjust to European benchmarks and recommendations and top-down policy making has been creating a kind of ideological frame for language education in Europe. What this frame looks like is discussed in Sect. 2.2. Whether a DLC lens contributes to destabilising the disciplinary gaze of language policy is, however, an issue that needs further investigation.

2.1  Multilingual Vienna The concept of super-diversity as coined by Steve Vertovec (2007) is frequently used in (socio-)linguistics for describing the intensification of mobilities and diversification of linguistic practices particularly in densely concentrated populations since the early 1990s (e.g. Blommaert and Rampton 2011). This must not conceal, however, the general historicity of multilingualism. In the linguistic landscape of Vienna, this historical multilingualism is still very present, e.g. in the names of streets, squares, fountains and statues. As the capital of a large empire, Vienna attracted people from far and wide who brought their languages with them (Ille et al. 2009). Today’s multilingualism in Vienna is deeply shaped by labour migration in the twentieth century. The intense labour recruitment in the 1960s attracted predominantly people from Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo and North Macedonia. 7.6% of 15-year-old pupils in Vienna have parents from these countries and an additional 4.1% of pupils have parents of Turkish origin (Herzog-Punzenberger 2017, 8). The quantitatively most important languages besides German are Bosnian/Croatian/ Serbian (BCS), Turkish, Albanian, Polish and Romanian. From 2015 onwards, war and insecurity have caused significant migration from countries such as Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. Many of the migrants originating from these countries are young people and pupils, bringing with them other languages as the above-­ mentioned. The latest Austrian integration report (Expertenrat für Integration 2019, 33) highlights the particular situation in Vienna: In everyday life outside school, 52% of the pupils in Vienna (all school types) use other languages than German (often alongside German). This is twice the percentage of Austria (26%). In some school types, such as lower secondary schools (‘Neue Mittelschule’), the percentage of pupils using other languages in their daily lives exceeds 70%, whereas in general secondary schools (AHS) or academic high schools it is slightly below 40%. These data have to be considered with caution for several reasons: National educational statistics ask about the languages used outside school in everyday life. The answers are given by parents, principals or pupils themselves, depending on the particular context or the age of the pupils. Multiple first languages may be indicated,

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yet, only the first language will be counted as L1. In doing so, the statistics homogenise the linguistic makeup of Austria: The second and third language indicated will not reappear in the documentation. In addition, the information given is not necessarily a reliable source for real language practice since the decision which language (not) to mention might be driven by pragmatic or ideological considerations (e.g. minority languages tend to be silenced) (Vetter and Janik 2019). Everyday multilingualism is, of course, not the only source of linguistic heterogeneity in schools. The Austrian school system offers foreign language teaching, unsurprisingly 98% of the pupils learn English, 7.6% learn French, about 5% of pupils in Austrian schools learn Latin, Italian or Spanish. It cannot be overlooked that the languages in the pupils’ repertoire according to the statistics mentioned or the DLCs do not overlap with the languages offered at school and that some effort will be needed in order to guarantee that every pupil learns two foreign languages as seemed to be a European objective for a certain period of time (see next Sect. 2.2). In addition to foreign languages, mother tongue education is offered as an extra-­ curricular and optional activity. In 2017/18, merely 14.5% of the pupils who use another language in their daily lives participated in mother tongue education. In Vienna, this rate is the highest with 19.3%.1 Coming back to the characteristics of urban multilingualism, this brief overview of language-related data in education may only roughly illustrate in how far Vienna is a particular case within Austria while at the same time a normal case for urban multilingualism, i.e. in the words of Lorna Carson and Lid King “a particularly concentrated version of this new dispensation” (Carson and King 2016, 17). The most important conclusion is, however, that it is difficult to extrapolate statistical data to DLCs since the prior does not incorporate any data on what the latter is confined to—namely the linguistic resources that enable groups and individuals to meet the most essential functions of communication in a particular period of time.

2.2  European Language Education Policy The present context is Vienna, the capital city of Austria, which is a member of the European Union and the Council of Europe. In the last decades, European language education policy initiated by these two influential players has turned into an ideological policy frame that increasingly impacts local language education practices. This is also true for urban multilingual contexts in Europe and hence the DLCs that emerge in this context. Multilingualism or plurilingualism seem to be at the heart this European endeavour, although with sometimes discrepant conceptual foundations. The question to be raised is in how far this frame supports the situated emergence and (de-)construction of particular kinds of DLCs.

1  24.6%/33.6% for primary schools in Austria/Vienna; 7.4%/10.6% for lower secondary schools in Austria/Vienna (Garnitschnig 2019)

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Competence and practice in as well as teaching and learning of more than one language has for a long time been a major policy objective in Europe, although with significant conceptual differences: Whereas the European Union had adopted an additive concept of multilingualism and made mother tongue +2 its motto (first introduced in 1998 (OJ 1998 C 1, 1) and strengthened several times, particularly in the Barcelona Conclusions (European Parliament 2002, 1), the Council of Europe advocated for a more holistic goal based on the concept of plurilingual competence as conceptualised in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (Council of Europe 2001, 4–5)). In their investigation into EU multilingualism policy, Rosita Rindler Schjerve and Eva Vetter assume that European multilingualism has turned into “an ideologically driven concept which in its functional top-down approach is not yet established well enough in the grass roots and in civil society at large” (2012, 10). From the listing of milestones for the development of the EU’s comprehensive policy framework (ibid., 14–43), the authors conclude that although the mother tongue +2 strategy has been turned into a minimum requirement for EU citizens in the knowledge-based society, central questions have not yet been sufficiently tackled and need further clarification: What languages should be selected from the wide range of languages used in Europe, i.e. in how far are smaller languages, regional minority languages, languages of migration, neighboring languages, personal adoptive languages part of the mother tongue +2 strategy? What about the role of English as a lingua franca within this strategy? The Council of Europe’s plurilingualism policy is only partially clearer about these questions. Originating from the human rights issue and from understanding linguistic diversity in terms of a cultural heritage that calls for protection and promotion, the policy developed by the Council of Europe has set standards with the adoption of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (Council of Europe 1992) and the European Framework Convention on the Protection of National Minorities (Council of Europe 1995). Migratory languages have only quite recently become part of the agenda (Little 2019). This rough outline of European language education policy from a DLC perspective further accentuates its inherent conceptual vagueness and gives rise to even more questions: Is there an idea about a kind of European DLC beyond national boundaries? How could it look like? Which policy does it entail? It can hardly be overlooked that until today rather discrepant and sometimes even contradictory suggestions have been made: The EU seemed to stick for a long time to concepts like mother tongue and foreign (e.g. European Parliament 2002) or European (EUCO 19/1/17REV 1, 3) languages, implicitly meaning the ‘big’ languages, i.e. languages with many speakers and/or learners. A different DLC emerges from the Group of Intellectuals for Intercultural Dialogue that was initiated by the European Commission. In their previously influential and nowadays nearly forgotten 2008 report “A Rewarding Challenge: How the Multiplicity of Languages Could Strengthen Europe”, they suggest a ‘personal adoptive language’ which would be like a second mother tongue in addition to a language for international communication (Group of Intellectuals 2008, 7).

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Although the picture still seems rather discrepant and incoherent, there are several developments that could culminate into a DLC frame for Europe. Since 2005, the cooperation between the different actors in the field of language education policy has significantly increased: In that year, the European Observatory for Plurilingualism was founded in Paris in order to bring together policy makers, researchers and members of the civil society. The Observatory aims at promoting the use of foreign languages and protecting cultural and linguistic diversity and has set up a European Charter for Plurilingualism. In the field of language education, the Charter stresses the importance of learning “two living languages in addition to one’s mother tongue” (European Observatory on Plurilingualism 1998, 7) and suggests the establishment of a European plurilingual baccalaureate. It also calls for fostering “mother tongues other than the national tongue” (ibid., 7). The process of rapprochement between the EU and the Council of Europe is another development that is likely to enhance concreteness in the field and to reduce existing discrepancies. The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages and the Framework Convention on the Protection of National Minorities are good examples for the long-standing cooperation between these two major players in the field of language education policy in Europe (Rindler Schjerve and Vetter 2012, 32): Adhering to the Council’s Framework Convention turned into an accession criterion in the EU enlargement process, for example. For some years, both institutions have engaged in an even closer cooperation based on an agreement between the European Centre for Modern Languages of the Council of Europe and the DG Education and Culture of the European Commission, that has been recently renewed (Christophidiou 2019). Both institutions agree on priority areas in language education and pursue two major goals: the linguistic integration of children with a migrant background and good quality and comparability in language testing and assessment. That this strong cooperation has introduced a new area of language education policy in Europe is illustrated by the recent Council Recommendation on a comprehensive approach to the teaching and learning of languages (OJ 2019 R 189) that was adopted by the education ministers at the Council meeting in Brussels on May 22nd, 2019. In this recommendation, the European Commission calls for reconsidering language teaching and learning and the opportunities of Europe’s linguistic diversity. Young people shall acquire a proficient level of competence in at least one other European language and an independent level in an additional language before the end of upper secondary education and training beyond the languages of schooling (OJ 2019 R 189/17). Moreover, the concept of language awareness shall be introduced into education and training in terms of an inclusive framework for language learning taking into account individuals’ language proficiency. This includes, for example, the recommendation to assess, validate and add to the school leaving qualifications competences in languages that result from informal learning (e.g. in the case of learners of migrant, refugee or bilingual backgrounds) or from attending school in another country (OJ 2019 R 189/18). Finally, the Commission also recommends investment into teacher education and innovative multilingual pedagogies. This Recommendation succeeds in overcoming the conceptual tension created by the additive versus holistic approach and the vagueness originating from the

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different understandings of categories of languages. The accompanying Commission Staff Working Document (SWD (2018) 174 final) is even more clear about the shift in language education policy produced by the Recommendation: It highlights the strong EU–Council of Europe cooperation by including a glossary with the Council of Europe’s definition of first language, linguistic/plurilingual repertoire, multilingual, plurilingual and plurilingual education. Moreover, the Working Document explains that the linguistic diversity in European schools and classrooms originates from mobility between EU countries and third country newcomers and that concepts of mother tongue and foreign language were questioned during the consultations process. These important conceptual comments are partly adopted in the Recommendation: The shift towards a comprehensive approach means that European language policy is no longer limited to certain categories of languages, but includes all languages, also those brought to Europe from other parts of the world. It also means that education and training institutions are invited to value all kinds of language experiences. Furthermore, it is finally consistent with the old mother tongue +2 objective since it recommends competence in the language/s of schooling plus a proficient level of competence in one European language and an independent level in another language. Here, the outline of a framework for European DLCs becomes clearer and hence, the recommendation is possibly a good starting point for creating locally, regionally and also nationally adapted European DLCs.

3  S  chools in Vienna: Three Snapshots from a DLC Perspective In the following three snapshots, insights will be presented resulting from investigations into different facets of multilingual Vienna with a particular focus on DLC. The first step is the analysis of the self-presentations of secondary schools according to their websites. In 2016/17, 60 school websites were analysed regarding the language/s used on the website and any language-relevant information (language teaching, mother tongue education, translation, etc.) given. It is assumed that the results may indicate school DLCs in the making. The second step is to look at the principals’ concepts concerning their schools’ language profiles. Three interviews with principals are analysed. Amongst the websites examined, the online presence of these principals’ schools differ the most in regards to multilingualism. The qualitative analysis was guided by the question on possible facets of school DLCs. The third and last step is to look at classroom practice. The insight presented here relates to a sequence of biology lessons in a lower secondary school with the aim to promote the pupils’ academic language. Participant observation on how pupils proceed when working on academic language shall deepen the interactional and epistemic function of multilingualism and bring about new and individual aspects of DLCs.

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The three snapshots presented here are neither a cohesive nor a complete investigation into DLCs in urban multilingual schools. They are not more than three separate, individual snapshots into diverse constellations with the aim to prepare a way to evaluate DLCs as a possibly useful concept. More new questions than answers and ideas for unprecedented lines of research are to be expected.

3.1  School Websites Between Mono- and Bilingualism The 60 analysed websites of lower secondary schools were randomly chosen from the different districts of Vienna. The focus was on lower secondary schools because all children have to attend this type of school in contrast to upper secondary schools and because it is in these grades that languages become an important school subject. At the age of 10, pupils normally start to write exams in their first foreign language, i.e. in English. The second foreign language is usually added two years later. All but one website were in German: The American International School (www. ais.at) presents itself on the website in English only, which was still the case at the time this chapter was written. All information given, from the “family handbook” to admission criteria and the meeting minutes in the parent-teacher forum were exclusively in English. This kind of website monolingualism is not an exception. Among the other 59 websites, three present some content in languages other than German, the great majority of the websites is in German only. Among the three ‘German +’ websites is the bilingual Czech/Slovak–German school held by the Komensky association (www.komensky-­vienna.at). In this case, the website is predominantly in German, all templates such as application forms for newcomers are, however, bilingual. The second school is a lower and upper secondary school (www.boerhaavegasse.at/). The website is in German only but links up with the website of the parents’ association, which is particularly multilingual. Information about the parents’ association is given in German, English, French, Italian and Romanian. The third ‘German +’ school is also a lower and upper secondary school (www.brg14.at). It requires three clicks to access all the information about Vienna Bilingual Schooling, a particular type of classes offered in this school, in English. To sum up, the websites seem to be a very monolingual endeavour. Except for English, no systematic use of other languages than German can be observed. Content given in these two languages as well as function and purpose of other languages are very diverse. It must not be forgotten that the analysis is not representative and that even preliminary conclusions are quite difficult to draw since the number of websites analysed is limited. When not looking at the languages used on the school websites but at the language-­relevant content on them, the results are less uniform: 14 schools refer to Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)—two of them in languages other than English. Further ten schools mention particular language-related offers or activities such as mother tongue education, language certificates, optional language

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courses (e.g. in Turkish) or particular and rather uncommon foreign languages such as Polish or Chinese. In the analysed sample, there is also one school that presents multilingualism in terms of the pupils’ first languages. From this first insight it can be concluded that on the predominantly monolingual websites language-related information is a rather important feature. CLIL is particularly prominent and almost entirely restricted to English. That information about language/s at school is given in one language seems to be a general rule. In this respect, a clear tendency towards uniformity can be observed at this meso-level of institutional top-down policy. German and English are the most stable components and hence turn out as constituents of a possibly emerging DLC. It must not be overlooked that this stands in stark contrast to the highly diverse urban multilingualism or—vice versa—that the pupils’ multilingualism is not represented on the websites.

3.2  The Principals’ Perspective Among the above-mentioned schools, three were selected for the interviews with the principals. The selection was guided by the principle of maximal variation. The interviews were part of a larger project together with the Masaryk University in Brno (Schwarzl/Vetter/Janik 2019), the present chapter is restricted to data from the Viennese part, i.e. interviews with principals of three lower secondary schools in Vienna, the first one with a particularly multilingual profile (school X), the second one with a focus on European languages (school Y) and a third one with no particular focus on languages (school Z). These schools are maximally different with respect to their representations of their linguistic profiles: School X presents itself as multilingual, diversity and tolerance are at the heart of the school’s values, as are the benefits of intercultural learning and of appreciating and fostering language diversity. The school also offers extra-curricular mother tongue education in Turkish, Romanes, BCS and Arabic. School Y is a so-called ‘European middle school’, focusing upon the development of a European identity by valuing multilingualism, multiculturalism and intercultural learning. Particular European languages and nations hold a dominant position. In addition to English, this school offers the possibility to acquire competences in languages that are not part of so-called traditional foreign languages, such as Hungarian, Czech and Slovak. According to the website, school Z has no visible focus on languages, but similar to the other schools, openness for different cultures, languages, religions and confessions is declared. Despite these pronounced differences regarding their self-presentation on the website, the principals’ description of the linguistic characteristics of their schools is uniform. All of them describe their school as linguistically particularly diverse, which is not very surprising in the context of urban multilingualism (Sect. 2.1). The following excerpt is an example of a typical answer to the initial question about an overall linguistic description of the school:

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E. Vetter We have a lot, a lot of ah languages here b/ um in this branch, aand they quite strongly mix… Um it starts with Farsi um and um and um Serbian, um Hungarian, Polish, um. (school Y)

Whereas the principals embrace diversity when describing their school, the contrary holds true for other topics addressed in the interviews. Parent-teacher cooperation is the most ‘monolingual’ (or less linguistically plural) topic mentioned in the interviews. In the following excerpt, the multilingual option is limited to particularly difficult cases of parent-teacher communication: If we really/ um if things get really difficult, like in um a/ a parent discussion, so that we can then request mother tongue t/ teachers from the district from/ via the (E-Kanzlei), but obviously not every language is covered. (School Y)

Communication in the teaching language German is the unquestioned normality for cooperation with parents. While principals agree that schools are multilingual and communication with parents is monolingual, there are other topics that are much more controversial, with communication among pupils outside the classroom as the most controversial one: Whereas in one interview (school Z), the importance of obliging pupils to use German also outside the classroom because it is the language of schooling is stressed, in another interview (school X), the opposite position, i.e. the importance of freedom of language choice outside the classroom, is strongly emphasised. To conclude from the interviews, school language policy is quite generally interpreted in terms of restricting the number of languages and not in terms of creating opportunities for communication. Or to put it differently, school language policy seems to be interpreted predominantly as the construction of a “narrow linguistic passageway” (García 2017, 257). This discrepancy between pluralism and uniformity leads to a very nuanced evaluation of the DLCs’ potential. At a first glance, it seems that school DLCs are not yet in the making since schools are embracing all facets of diversity, on the one hand, and limiting diversity in various and predominantly restrictive ways, on the other, not always based upon a clear policy. It is particularly this tension that may lead to further questions about the possible working of school DLCs and their impact upon communication.

3.3  Practice The last snapshot is about language practice and refers to an action research project (Vetter and Durmus 2017) in a sequence of biology lessons about cress growth. The context is a lower secondary school with a strict German-only policy. Nearly all pupils and all teachers are to a certain degree competent in Turkish, the pupils are at different stages of academic language development in German. The action research project aimed at investigating academic language in science education in the background of Wagenschein’s “genetic learning” (Wagenschein

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1970, Bd. I, 487 ff.; 1970 Bd. II, 99 ff., 158 ff.; 1971, 209 ff.) and to re-interpret Wagenschein’s notion of “mother tongue” and “expert language” in terms of translanguaging between everyday and academic language. During action research, the language rule was explicitly declared as open and the pupils were invited to use all the resources they have at their disposal in the biology lessons. To sum up the results, it has been shown how pupils oscillate between the different components of everyday language and academic language when trying to understand and reconstruct the content, i.e. how and under which conditions cress seeds develop into plants. Even in the diaries, the written documentation of their understanding, traces of everyday language were present. When trying to achieve understanding, pupils move back and forth. In doing so, they draw on resources that may be part of what is historically constructed as different languages, e.g. a word in Turkish that helps to continue a line of thought in German, or resources within one language, e.g. when using a colloquial expression in written language. This investigation intends to show how the epistemic aim of academic language (Morek and Heller 2012) is achieved when drawing upon resources from different registers and languages. Such a multilingual approach to academic language calls for a particular conceptualisation of language beyond the linguistic system, i.e. in terms of mobile resources and practice. This links up to concepts such as translingualism (Canagarajah 2017), flexible multilingualism (Creese and Blackledge 2010), polylingualism (Jørgensen et  al. 2011), metrolingualism (Otsuji and Pennycook 2011) or heteroglossia (Bailey 2012). The concept of DLC is compatible with these results since DLCs are not linked to an understanding of language in terms of labeled and separated systems either. The most important question is about the possible benefits of such an endeavour. It goes without saying that research is needed here, but it can already be stated that the focus on the vital functions of linguistic resources might allow for a more precise investigation into translingual phenomena in education. An investigation within the confines of DLCs requires a closer look at what is effectively going on. This possibly leads to a better understanding of how the epistemic function of academic language develops and how this can be linked to the communicative and social functions.

4  Conclusion Language education policy in Europe is directed towards multilingualism. This is what we learn from the last decades of top-down policy making. Here, the idea of a Dominant Language Constellation for Europe becomes most apparent—it is even possible to interpret the most recent education policy documents as a  European DLC that can, of course, link up with different languages and linguistic resources. In contrast, DLC research informs us about the unpredictability of DLCs since they comprise the languages which, together, perform the most vital functions and serve as a unit. There are obvious limits to planning the vital functions of languages and

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at a first glance, the concept of DLC might appear incompatible with language policy since they emerge out of practice rather than result from planning. From what we have discussed so far, it can be concluded, however, that a DLC approach is on the contrary very much in line with the present understanding of language policy and planning: Recent research has suggested a focus on language practice and the grassroot perspective is seen as valuable for top-down policies. This is also true for language education policy. In this respect a DLC perspective can represent a further attempt to tackle the bottom-up-top-down discrepancy and even turn into a ‘meeting point’ between both perspectives. As a consequence, doing research on DLCs can also be influential for developing top-down education policies. Language policy research as well as language education policy research also call for taking the broader context into consideration. Although DLCs emerge out of local practice, they are contextually and ideologically embedded and a DLC perspective is, hence, well prepared to integrate macro and meso facets of policy and practice with the micro level. Since the concept of DLC is flexible with respect to language(s) and linguistic resources, it might even contribute to tackle some of the until now unresolved questions in European policy making, e.g. which languages should be included. Whether  the DLC lens is prepared to tackle the discipline’s challenge for the future, i.e. to destabilise the disciplinary gaze, would, however, need further investigation. From what has been said we might finally conclude that a DLC lens is, in principle, compatible with and even enriching for investigating into language education policies and making, in addition there is also a research agenda that emerges out of the three snapshots presented. Three important features of this agenda for future research will be presented in terms of a conclusion, they relate to the presentation of the linguistic profile, the creation of communicative opportunities and the promotion of academic language in a multilingual sense. It can be expected that further insights will expand this research agenda. The analysis of the websites has revealed monolingual self-presentations that hide the characteristics of urban multilingualism. Here, a DLC approach can initiate critical reflection about local communicative needs and opportunities to be created in order to meet these needs more efficiently. Although school DLCs are a possible result of this critical reflection and might find their expression in more plural self-­ presentations, they will only rarely represent a satisfactory basis for local language policy. At urban schools, a great number of individual DLCs are in close dialogue with each other and these have to be taken into account when a school language policy shall emerge. The principals’ rationalisation of language education policy in contrast illustrates the creation of small linguistic pathways for pupils while at the same time acknowledging diversity as a characteristic feature of a particular school. Beyond reflecting on this tension, a school DLC and an approach based on individual DLCs might, on the contrary, open up for communicative opportunities in the diverse situations language is used at school. Lastly, finally thinking about DLCs in translingual terms for meeting the epistemic aim of academic language will have two effects:

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enhancing the link between the epistemic and the other functions of academic language as well as possibly pupils’ involvement and success in education. The condition for this agenda to be successful relates to the concept of DLC. As has been argued above, there are good reasons to mistrust data about language. A DLC approach cannot—to an even lesser degree than any other investigation—rely on the data available but is necessarily linked to real linguistic practice. Without a thorough investigation into what is really going on at schools, which resources are vital to the pupils, a DLC approach will not initiate unprecedented lines of research here. It seems that such a thorough investigation is a timely endeavour since European language education policy has shifted from bounded categories to validating all resources—the vital ones being a good starting point.

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Schwarzl, L., Vetter, E., & Janik, M. (2019). Schools as linguistic space: Multilingual realities at schools in Vienna and Brno. In A. Kostoulas (Ed.), Challenging boundaries in language education (pp. 211–228). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland. Spotti, M., Kroon, S., & Li, J. (2019). New speakers of new and old languages: An investigation into the gap between language practices and language policy. Language Policy, 18(4), 535–551. SWD. (2018). 174 final. COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT accompanying the document proposal for a Council recommendation on a comprehensive approach to the teaching and learning of languages COM(2018) 272 final (Part 1/2) and (Part 2/2). https://eur-­ lex.europa.eu/resource.html?uri=cellar:36ae2f05-­5dc7-­11e8-­ab9c-­01aa75ed71a1.0001.02/ DOC_1&format=PDF https://eur-­lex.europa.eu/resource.html?uri=cellar:36ae2f05-­5dc7-­ 11e8-­ab9c-­01aa75ed71a1.0001.02/DOC_2&format=PDF. Accessed 20 Jan 2020. Vertovec, S. (2007). Super-diversity and its implications. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 30(6), 1024–1054. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870701599465. Vetter, E., & Durmus, D. (2017). “Es waren die Stengel urr aufgewachsen.” Language/s in education – Going back and moving forward. Orbis scholae, 11(3), 9–27. Vetter, E., & Janik, M. (2019). Menschenrechte versus Effizienz? Spannungsfelder der Schulsprachenpolitik. In P.  Herdina, E.  Allgäuer-Hackl, & E.  Malzer-Papp (Eds.), Mehrsprachensensibel? Monolinguale Sprachenpolitik trifft auf mehrsprachige Praxis (pp. 125–138). Innsbruck: Innsbruck university press. Wagenschein, M. (1970). Ursprüngliches Verstehen und exaktes Denken (Vol. I & II, 2nd ed.). Stuttgart: Klett. Wagenschein, M. (1971). Die pädagogische Dimension der Physik (3rd ed.). Braunschweig: Westermann. Eva Vetter  is Professor at the University of Vienna, Austria. She has published on multilingualism with respect to linguistic minorities, historical multilingualism, language policy and language teaching and learning. She is particularly interested in equity in education. One of her main interests regards the epistemic function of language in the context of the diverse trajectories for learning and using language/s. She is currently co-editor of the International Journal of Multilingualism (together with Danuta Gabrys-Barker).

Promoting Plurilingual Competences in Primary Schools in Barcelona: A Dominant Language Constellation Approach to Teaching and Learning Languages Caterina Sugrañes

Abstract  This chapter discusses how a Dominant Language Constellation approach to teaching and learning languages can be highly beneficial in diverse learning contexts in which languages that are brought to school by pupils coexist with curricula languages. A Dominant Language Constellation approach to teaching and learning languages is described in this chapter as the development of the awareness of the most expedient languages of a learner (Aronin 2016), and also as the actual pedagogical use of these languages for learning. During the 5-month period covered by the study conducted in a primary school in Barcelona, pupils created story books in English which were then translated into pupils’ own languages. Pupils became aware of their Dominant Language Constellations by using translation and employed their own languages for learning English. Data analysis uncovers positive effects on pupils’ motivation and attitudes towards languages and learning languages, a significant increase in language awareness among pupils and a positive impact on the teacher’s plurilingual approach to teaching languages. Keywords  Dominant language constellation · Plurilingual competence · Translation for other learning contexts · Language identity texts · Investment · Pupils’ own languages · Barcelona · Spain

C. Sugrañes (*) Ramon Llull University, Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 L. Aronin, E. Vetter (eds.), Dominant Language Constellations Approach in Education and Language Acquisition, Educational Linguistics 51, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70769-9_4

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1  Introduction The viewpoint adopted in this chapter suggests that promoting plurilingual competences among learners is a necessity in the current world in which we are living: languages, cultures, people from different places in the world live side by side and this, ultimately, has implications in what and in which ways individuals should operate. The number of inhabitants originally from other countries and now resident in Catalonia, as in many other cities in Europe, has increased significantly over the past twenty years. More than 200 different languages have been identified as coexisting among the inhabitants in Barcelona (Junyent et al. 2014). At schools, this inevitably entails linguistically and culturally diverse classrooms. With regards to languages, recent research on language learning recognises that users of different languages naturally mix and blend the languages they use, defined here as translanguaging practices (Canagarajah 2014). The multilingual1 turn appointed by May (2013) and Conteh and Meier (2014) among others entails a reconceptualisation of how languages should be taught and learnt by moving towards a more integrated and plurilingual approach to language teaching and learning where previous language knowledge, based on pupils’ own languages2 are useful learning tools. Speakers in the context of this study are generally unaware of the languages they know and that make up their Dominant Language Constellations (DLCs) (Sugrañes 2017, 2018), and do not conceive this personal linguistic diversity as a positive tool which may aid their learning. This paper advocates for a Dominant Language Constellation Approach to teaching and learning languages (hereafter DLCA), which is defined as bringing forth pupils’ constellations through the awareness of the languages they know and actually using them pedagogically for learning. This focus of the DLCA is on the reflection developed by learners in relation to the awareness of their own DLC and how their own DLC is then used effectively for learning additional languages (henceforth ALs). It is consistent with Wolff and Legenhausen’s (1992) model of language learning and language use: use is conceived as an action which implies using the language in communicative situations. Use also implies reflection, that is, from a cognitive perspective, a reflection upon the functioning and awareness of the new linguistic system. Within such a framework, an Integrated Plurilingual Approach (IPA) (Esteve and González Davies 2016) is applied in an additional language3 classroom (English) through the use of 1  This study adopts a distinctive plurilingual approach to language learning and teaching. Authors such as Aronin and Singleton (2012), Conteh and Meier (2014), May (2013) among others refer to multilingualism from a plurilingual perspective. 2  Following Cook (2010: xxii), pupils’ own languages are “the languages which the students already know through which (if allowed) they will approach the new language”. 3  An additional language refers to any language the language learner learns besides her mother tongue(s). This is based on the underlying belief that language knowledge and experience adds to the language knowledge and experience a learner already has, much in line with Lambert’s original definition of additive bilingualism (1974). It is also a more equitable way of expressing the complex acquisition and use of many languages (Garcia and Kleifgen 2010).

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two translanguaging pedagogical strategies, Translation for Other Learning Contexts, hereafter TOLC, (González Davies 2014) and Language Identity Texts, hereafter LITs (Sugrañes 2017).

2  L  anguages in Barcelona: Language Teaching and Language Use The teaching of languages in Catalonia, as in many other parts of the world, has evolved over the years, moving on from the ‘Grammar/Translation’ method, whereby foreign languages were taught through Catalan and Spanish, to the ‘Direct Method’ and the ‘Communicative Approach’ (Richards and Rodgers 2014). Despite the awareness that language classes should foster communicative skills and should be based on a learner-centred syllabus, Cots and Nussbaum (2008) state that a great deal of teaching and learning in Catalonia is still based very much “on a monolingual idea of communicative competence” (p. 22). The idea that non-native speakers are deficient English communicators, the ultimate goal being to create near-native monolingual speakers, is still widespread in line with research developed by Goitia and Sugranyes (2011) and Sugranyes and González Davies (2014). Research conducted by Wilson and González Davies (2016), Corona et al. (2013) among others suggest that a general monolingual approach towards languages in Catalonia is also possible due to the sociolinguistic scenario, in which the perseverance of Catalan is conceived as more important than the benefits of living within a bilingual Spanish-­ Catalan community. This monolingual approach to language teaching and learning contradicts, however, recent trends in research on language learning where previously acquired knowledge is conceived as valuable knowledge that should be taken into account in the learning process (Canagarajah 2011; Corcoll 2013; Creese and Blackledge 2010; Garcia 2009; Garcia and Wei 2015; Sugranyes and González Davies 2014, amongst others). Research has also demonstrated that non-recognition of the valuable knowledge pupils take to the school affects language loss and psychological well-being (Bartolome and Macedo 1999; Carreira 2004; Cho and Krashen 1998; Cummins 2007; Wright and Taylor 1995). In line with Cummins (2005, 2014), it is argued here that using learners’ knowledge of their own languages to help learn other languages is highly beneficial and can have extremely positive results (Cummins 2005) especially in diverse learning environments like the one concerning this study. In general, in Barcelona, in contexts where there is a large language diversity, language use is characterised as follows: Spanish, Catalan and English are the curricular languages taught and learnt at school (perhaps together with other additional languages). Catalan is the language of instruction at school (with English and Spanish as isolated subjects) but its use is delimited, in many cases, only within the

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school boundaries. Pupils generally speak their own languages at home and use Spanish or their own languages socially. Moreover, in schools, emphasis resides on what students should know or learn or on what they do not know. As concluded in a study prior to the development of this project designed by Sugranyes and González Davies (2014), the impression pupils get is that their own language knowledge is not only not acknowledged or recognised but also banned from the school context (based on data collected from participating pupils). It seems that students know and use different languages to communicate. However, they do not consider their plurilingual condition an asset and they are not aware of their plurilingual abilities. On top of this, they are asked to act monolingually in the school context. The Department of Education of the Catalan Government has recently presented the “Linguistic Model of the Catalan Education System” (October 2018). The new model advocates for teaching and learning languages within a plurilingual approach by regarding languages which pupils take to school and learn at school as integrated systems—this is very much in line with the research on language teaching and learning outlined above. Despite these findings and new initiatives, non-­recognition, and compartmentalisation of languages are still common practices in many schools. In view of the above, in the following section I shall outline the theoretical framework that sustains this study by defining DLCA and the study’s context.

3  P  lurilingual Connections: A Dominant Language Constellation Approach to Teaching and Learning Languages The DLCA presented in this section draws from the following premises: a) Languages are not static (Pennycook 2007), they are rather a form of action which emerges within particular social and cultural contexts and which is used in the everyday flow of life (Garcia 2009; Makoni and Pennycook 2006). b) Languages interrelate and are connected and live together (Corcoll 2013; Corcoll and González Davies 2016; Hall and Cook 2013). When an individual acquires an additional language, this is based on knowledge of other languages she knows (Cummins 1984). c) The mind of a bilingual, multilingual or plurilingual speaker functions differently than a monolingual individual (Cook 2013; Grosjean 2010; Herdina and Jessner 2002). Individuals use their language repertoire according to their needs through their DLCs, that is, those languages that are more suitable for their needs (Aronin et al. 2011). d) Individuals ‘naturally’ translanguage by using translation skills and reference to the other languages they have acquired to learn additional languages (Canagarajah 2011; Corcoll and González Davies 2016; Garcia 2009) as it “forms part of normal L2 use in many L2 situations” (Cook 2001, p. 1).

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e) The learning of an additional language affects the first or other languages the individual already knows (Cook 2001, 2013; Corcoll 2013). f) Language learning stems from language use based on action: language is learnt by using it in communicative situations, and reflection, reflecting upon the actual process of learning the language (Esteve and González Davies 2016; Esteve and Martín-Peris 2013). Drawing from research developed by Aronin (2016) and Aronin and Singleton (2012), the language repertoire of an individual is defined as the “sum of available language varieties or skills that an individual or group processes” (Aronin 2016, p. 191). DLCs on the other hand, refer to the constellations of one’s dominant languages, a group of one’s most important (vehicle languages), functioning together as an entire unit, and enabling an individual to meet the needs in a multilingual environment (Aronin 2016; Aronin and Singleton 2012). This view is in line with Cenoz and Gorter (2011) who argue that speakers use their languages according to their communicative needs. Very pertinent to this study is the comparison made by Aronin (2019) between DLCs and multicompetence (Cook 2001). The DLC refers to those selected languages that speaker resorts to in order to function plurilingually while the focus of multicompetence is on the ability of the plurilingual speaker to function plurilingually. It is suggested that multicompetence is the ability plurilingual speakers have to act plurilingually due to an underlying linguistic capacity (Cummins 1984). This is supported by the fact, that whereas the languages that are part of a DLC may shift, the ability, the multicompetence of the individual, remains. Therefore, and in Aronin’s (2016) words “each particular DLC is a representative form of one’s multicompetence” (p. 206). In relation to this study, the participants have the ability to function plurilingually, however they are unaware of the languages that make up their DLC. The advantage of a DLC resides in that “the entire focus shifts from the investigation of separate languages to the exploration of their “constellations” (Aronin 2016, p. 204) which is in accordance with Cook’s definition of multicompetence stated above. Moreover, the languages of a DLC are specific to an individual “subserved by one and the same mind-brain and inevitably influencing each other in every possible way” (Aronin and Singleton 2012, p.  64). Regardless of the languages that are part of a DLC, which may be the same in different individuals, each language operates differently in each DLC, as “instead of one language, the language faculty is exercised in different languages” (Aronin et al. 2013). Corona et al. (2013) suggest that DLCs are in constant change as individuals who learn languages for specific purposes (i.e. families who migrate to another country), may learn the language of the receiving country upon arrival but then stop and then learn another one which may be more practical (Bloommaert and Backus 2011). This is the case of many families who arrive in Barcelona and start learning Catalan immediately, but then switch to Spanish, as they believe it is more useful (Vila 2016). Which languages are part of each DLC? According to Aronin (2016), this depends primarily on the social environment. It could also be added that a crucial

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factor in determining which languages make up each constellation is the language capital ‘ascribed’ to each language (Bourdieu 1986). This is understood in terms of the language choice and perception of a given language by the participants of this study which may vary according to the degree of prestige this language may represent. This may contradict the languages that would naturally make up the DLC of an individual. Thus, the languages of the DLC of an individual or a community may shift over time and use (Creese and Blackledge 2015). The following extract produced by a pupil, collected during the interviews developed prior to the implementation of the study, exemplifies this idea: a mi me gustaría solo saber castellano e inglés, las otras lenguas que sé no se hablan en ningún sitio y a veces me da vergüenza hablarlas, yo sólo las hablo en casa I would like to only know Spanish and English, the other languages I know are not spoken anywhere and I feel embarrassed to speak them, I only speak them at home4

It could be suggested that placing the focus on the learner and her perceptions and attitudes towards her own languages and on how she uses them and for what purposes could lead to defining how other languages (i.e. Catalan, Spanish and English) should be taught. This viewpoint derives from a sociocultural pedagogical approach to teaching and learning based on placing the pupil in the centre of the learning process and adding new knowledge on to what pupils already know, in this case language knowledge. How should this be done? A way is to bring forth their DLCs, therefore enabling students to become aware of the different languages that make up their constellations and the relations among them and aiding them to use their languages for learning. Despite the fact that this study focuses on how to use languages for learning languages, it is understood that all teachers at school are language references, so the approach outlined here is applicable to all learning contexts. However, in order for a DLCA to develop effectively, collaborative relation of power should be established within the school setting. Cummins’ (2001) coercive and collaborative relations of power seem to be extremely relevant to this study, as they determine how pupils conceive their own languages and cultural background. Coercive relations of power refer to the power developed by a dominant group over a subordinated group and are reflected through language dynamics and use of individuals or societies. In a context such as the one concerning this study, coercive relations of power are established when pupils are not allowed to speak their own language at school. The following quote exemplifies this: I quan parlem amb el nostre idioma, les professores ens diuen, molt malament, teniu que parlar amb català And when we speak in our own language, the teachers says, that’s very bad, you have to speak in Catalan

Collaborative relations of power, on the other hand, are based on the assumption that power can be generated among groups. Participants in the relationship among  All quotes have been translated by the author of this chapter.

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groups are “empowered through their collaboration such that each is more affirmed in their identity and has a greater sense of efficacy to create change in his or her life or social situations” (Cummins and Early 2011, p. 16). A DLCA is based on collaborative relations of power among pupils, teachers and the school environment. It seems relevant at this point to address the construct of motivation as it is the “primary impetus to initiate learning the AL and later the driving force to sustain the long and often tedious learning process; indeed all other factors involved in second language acquisition presuppose motivation to some extent” (Dörnyei 1998, p. 214). Within the framework of this study, the attempt is to redefine motivation from an investment angle in relation to AL learning, based on an ecological and sociocultural perspective. Investment, according to Norton (2013), seeks to make a meaningful connection between a learner’s desire and commitment to learn a language (i.e. motivation), and the language practices of the classroom or community. As stated by Aronin (2020, p.  3) “Linguistic practices always and necessarily imply social practices interfaced with linguistic activities”. According to Norton and Toohey (2011), studies are not concerned with societal power relations (Cummins 2001) between language pupils and target language speakers. Learners may be motivated to learn the school language but if coercive societal relationships are established in the school environment, it will be very difficult for the learner to overcome them and learn. Within the context of this study, investment seems an ideal construct: pupils in the study might be motivated to learn English, or Catalan, but they have little investment in the language practices of the school or the community. A translanguaging space allows plurilingual individuals to integrate languages that are formally compartmentalised and invest in them. As suggested by Li Wei (2014), within translanguaging spaces, language practices are not only brought together to extend their language repertoire through their DLC, but also for “sophisticated metalinguistic awareness” (Garcia and Wei 2015, p. 228) to develop: actual learning only takes place if the language is not only used in a significant communicative context, but also reflected upon (Esteve and Martin Peris 2013). From this perspective, I would argue that classrooms become spaces for social negotiations, practice-based learning and ecological affordances (Garcia and Kano 2014) and be converted into “sites for translingual socialization” (Canagarajah 2014, p. 99). The classroom where the project was undertaken became a translanguaging space for pupils to develop themselves and express themselves freely in whatever language they wanted with the purpose of learning English. New linguistic practices developed, as most pupils had never used their own language for academic purposes. Different linguistic intimacies emerged where pupils discussed in their own languages the meaning of a certain word in English for example. Therefore and for the purpose of this study, a DLCA is defined as enabling awareness and reflection of the languages that compose the DLC of each student and then using these languages as resource for learning English. A DLCA enables

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collaborative relations of power, investment towards language learning and fosters translanguaging spaces. In coherence with the DLCA, and from an ecological and situated pedagogical perspective, an Integrated Plurilingual Approach (IPA) was applied in the actual school setting. In the following section, I shall define the IPA and refer to the two translanguaging pedagogical strategies which were employed to develop the project.

4  The Pedagogical Approach: The Integrated Plurilingual Approach IPA (Esteve and González Davies 2016) aims to promote efficient language learning based on plurilingual competences in order to develop communicative competence among pupils. The IPA model conceives language(s) and the language learning process by considering the language learner holistically and ecologically. This is supported by the fact that, as stated by Garcia and Kleifgen (2010), a school setting is effective when it “draws upon the full linguistic repertoire of all pupils, including language practices that are multiple and hybrid” (p. 43). Framed by the DLCA, the IPA underlines the abandonment of a monolingual approach to languages and the promotion of real and authentic communicative situations by becoming aware that a successful language learner is a user of language(s). The IPA also entails a reconsideration of the strategies needed to evaluate communicative and linguistic competences and conceives the text as the basic learning instrument. Finally, the IPA encourages concept-based learning (Gal’Perin 1992) based on Cummins’ Interdependence Hypothesis and the agency of the protagonists within the learning process. In the setting of an additional language primary classroom, an IPA approach was adopted by the teacher through the StoryBook Project, a plurilingual based project aimed at encouraging pupils’ DLCs through the awareness and use of the languages of the pupils’ constellations. Research developed by Cook (2010), González Davies (2012) and Leonardi (2012) into pedagogical translation show the benefits of using translation as an effective tool for additional language learning through a plurilingual lens. More specifically, literary translation, also from a plural perspective, is an intercultural experience (Helot and Ó Laoire 2011) which encourages language visibility, use and awareness in order to promote intercultural competence (Goitia and Sugranyes 2011; Hélot 2011). In heterogeneous groups, the project involved creating stories in the additional language, in this context English. These were then translated into the different languages of the pupils who composed each group. Two translanguaging practices were employed for highlighting pupils’ DLCs: Translation for Other Learning Contexts (TOLC) and Language Identity Texts (LITs).

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4.1  T  ranslanguaging as a Pedagogical Strategy for Highlighting Pupils’ Own Languages: Translation for Other Learning Contexts (TOLC) and Language Identity Texts (LITs) TOLC refers to the use of translation to acquire linguistic mediation skills and intercultural competence in contexts other than professional translator training (González Davies 2014). TOLC “stresses inter-disciplinarity and refers to translation used both as a skill in itself and as a (spontaneous or directed) learning strategy” (González Davies 2014, p. 8). González Davies (2012) specifies three types of skills and knowledge that translation may contribute to language learning: linguistic skills, encyclopaedic knowledge and transferential knowledge. Within the context concerning this study, I argue that translation is as an opportunity to highlight DLCs and this is especially relevant when the environment does not prioritize these languages (Sugranyes and González Davies 2014). Translation also plays an important role in enabling newly arrived pupils to participate actively in instruction (Cummins 2007). Within a DLCA and based on results of the pilot study undertaken in 2009 (Sugranyes and González Davies 2014), I argue that employing an informed use of translation entails promoting plurilingual and communicative competences, as linguistic skills are acquired as they use their own DLCs for learning purposes. Language identity texts are an adaption of Cummins’ identity texts (2009, 2017) originally defined as the products of student’s creative work by articulating identity negotiation and identity investment as “pupils invest their identities in the creation of texts […]. The texts then hold a mirror up to pupils in which their identities are reflected back in a positive light” (Cummins and Early 2011, p. 3). Cummins’ identity texts have been adapted and are referred here to as Language Identity Texts. These are used to encourage DLC awareness and use. Language identity texts are cognitively challenging as pupils are asked to draw from all their abilities (linguistic, cultural, and social) and pupils are free to choose their topics. As claimed by different studies (Cummins 2014; Krashen 2004), research seems to conclude that literacy engagement is a direct determinant of literacy attainment (see the Literacy Engagement Framework developed by Cummins et  al. 2012). Underlying LITs as a translanguaging practise is the belief that LITs “represent a powerful pedagogical tool to promote equity for students from marginalised social [and I add, linguistic] backgrounds” (Cummins and Early 2011, p. 4). The focus of LITs resides in wanting pupils to be creative in writing stories for younger children by choosing a topic they consider appropriate. Once created in English, the texts are translated through TOLC into pupils’ own languages.

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4.2  U  sing TOLC and LITs in the Additional Language Classroom For the purpose of this study, TOLC and LITs are used as pedagogical translanguaging practices within an IPA approach for: 1 . enabling pupils to become aware of their DLCs; 2. using their DLCs effectively for learning; 3. activating previously acquired knowledge and build upon it; 4. rising metalinguistic awareness among pupils; 5. making pupils aware of the universality of literature; 6. empathising with pupils of different ages through language use; 7. working collaboratively; and 8. becoming aware that individuals have different competences in different languages and use them accordingly. More specifically, the activities included in the didactic proposal designed for this study are: reverse dictations, language classroom collage and translation language stop, the creation of LITs in English, the translation of LITs through TOLC, tracing languages, writings in different languages and readings in different languages.

5  The Study The study presented here is exploratory and is based on grounded theory: initial observation which generates theory grounded on observation—a previous 6-week observation period led to the generation of a sequence of hypotheses which led to research questions. The intervention is sequenced in ten sessions and was conducted over 12 weeks; the study was conducted in the English language classroom with the approval of the English teacher and the two tutors of the two groups. In linguistically diverse groups, the aim was that pupils created stories to be read to younger children on the day of Sant Jordi5.

5.1  The Methodology Quantitative data was collected by using pre- and post-tests. Qualitative data was gathered through personal interviews, observation sheets, researcher’s diary, teacher’s diary and recordings. These were analysed and used comparatively in order to triangulate the results.

 Sant Jordi (Saint George) is celebrated on the 23rd of April in Catalonia and it is the day of the rose and the book, symbols of culture and love. 5

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In relation to this study, the reasons for this approach are twofold: a) It is thought that in order to draw more reliable conclusions from the results, all data must be treated through the two lenses. The standing point adopted in this study views the learner holistically which entails not only comparing the sequence of final marks of pupils for example, but also collecting their thoughts and experiences during the process. b) On the other hand, a mixed-method approach is adopted in order to overcome possible limitations of data derived from the age group of the participants in the study, young learners, and the short time elapse of the project development. From an interpretivist lens, qualitative data has been analysed in two ways: a) Deductively in order to complement quantitative data, therefore employing pre-­ established categories to analyse the data. b) Inductively as data categories have emerged from the experience undergone by the pupils during the project development. Data was collected from the pupils, the English teacher, the school setting, and the researcher. The three variables which were assessed were academic performance in the three curricula languages, motivation and attitudes towards languages and language learning and the plurilingual competence of the teacher. A language background questionnaire (Chin and Wigglesworth 2006) and semi-­ structured interviews were developed with the pupils prior to the project with the aim of bringing forth pupils’ DLCs and making pupils become aware of the languages that composed their DLCs. This is coherent with studies developed by Slavkov (2020) where he points to the importance of bringing forth DLCs also as a way to “sensitizing local, regional and provincial school authorities to the open and dynamic representational possibilities of the complex bi/multilingual realities” (p. XX). Final focus groups once the project had been completed were also developed. Quantitative data in relation to motivation and attitudes towards languages and learning Spanish, Catalan and English were collected using Gardner and Bernaus’ ATMBT (Attitude and Motivation Battery Test) (2008). The test was administered before the project and after the project. At different intervals during the project activity surveys (Corcoll 2013) were also carried out with the pupils to obtain direct qualitative feedback after the different sessions. The ATMBT employed in this study does not refer explicitly to the notion of investment described previously in Sect. 3. Despite this fact, it was deemed necessary to administer both the pre- and post-ATMBT and triangulate the results with qualitative data which could contribute with an investment perspective towards motivation. Language marks in relation to Catalan, English and Spanish together with language and competence marks were collected at the end of the three trimesters in order to evaluate changes. The two translanguaging pedagogical practices TOLC and LITs were also assessed through the process and final production of the stories. In order to collect data from the participating teacher, interviews were developed and recorded with the teacher before each session. Finally, the researcher also kept a diary and was present as an observer during each session. The following tables (Tables 1 and 2) show which instruments were used and by whom:

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Table 1  Quantitative instruments Pupils

Quantitative instruments Language Background Questionnaire (LBQ) Attitudes and Motivation Battery Test (ATMBT) (Bernaus and Gardner 2008) Language Marks – Catalan, English and Spanish (LM) Translations (TOLC) LITs (LITs)

Table 2 Qualitative instruments

Pupils

Qualitative Instruments Semi-structured interview (SSI) Activity survey (AS) Final Focus Group (FFG) Teacher Recorded Interviews with teacher (RIT) Researcher Researcher’s diary (RD)

The research questions formulated for this study are the following: RQ1: Does a DLCA through IPA affect motivation and attitudes towards languages and learning languages? RQ2: Does a DLCA through IPA affect academic performance in Catalan, Spanish and English? RQ3: Does a DLCA though IPA affect teachers’ attitudes towards teaching languages?

5.2  The Context and Participants The study was carried out in a state infant and primary school in the neighbourhood of the Raval in the centre of Barcelona during the second and third trimester of the term 2014–15. Over 42.4% of the immigrant population of Barcelona lives in this neighbourhood counting 137 nationalities and approximately 42,000 people, primarily from Pakistan and the Philippines (Departament d’Estadística, Ajuntament de Barcelona 2016). 45 pupils aged 10 and 11 participated in this study and 50% of the participants had received all their schooling in Catalonia. 85% of the participants in this study spoke languages other than Catalan and Spanish at home, mainly speakers of Urdu, Panjabi, Tagalog, Bangla and Arabic. Nearly all the participants in this study fell under three characteristics that condition academic achievement as suggested by Cummins (2014, 2017) and Haneda (2014) among others: diverse language speakers, low socioeconomic status and marginalised groups. Spanish was the language ‘par excellence’ in most spheres of participants’ lives. It is important to highlight that participants received 3 h of Spanish a week. All other subjects were taught in Catalan except English that was taught 2 h a week. When participants were asked

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which languages they employed when they were with their friends in and out of school answers varied but Spanish was the main language of socialisation. Catalan was the language participants valued the least regardless of the fact that Catalan was the language the school promoted as necessary in order to progress within the Catalan society. Qualitative data supports these views. For example, one question of the interviews developed prior to the project posed the following situation: Imagine I was a magician with the capacity of going into your brain with a magical rubber. If I could rub out one of all the languages you have in your brain, which one would it be?

More than three quarters of the pupils responded that Catalan was the language they would erase. In most cases, moreover, answers were automatic and with little hesitation. The additional language teacher who participated in this study had been teaching in the school for 5 years and taught all the levels from 3rd year infants up to 6th year primary and adopted a monolingual approach to teaching and learning. Primarily, classes in the 5th year were based on following the textbook Big Surprise 5 (Reilly 2013). Despite this, the English teacher was willing to adopt a more plurilingual, socio-constructivist and communicative approach to teaching.

5.3  The Storybook Project The main aims of didactic approach were as follows: 1 . to make pupils become aware of their DLCs; 2. to increase pupils’ motivation and positive attitudes to learn languages; 3. to promote plurilingual and communicative competences and therefore to improve competences in English; 4. to promote metalinguistic awareness The following ‘secondary’ aims were also formulated which supported and worked towards the four aims outlined above: 1 . to encourage family involvement; 2. to generate collaborative relations of power; 3. to build awareness within the school of the plurilingual necessities In the following section, the activities of the didactic proposal ‘the storybook project’ are explained. Session 1 Story Reading  Two stories are read to the pupils, “Mr. McGee and the big bag of bread” (Allen 2004) and “How do you feel?” (Browne 2011). The initial book reading is intended, on the one hand, as a brainstorming activity to draw attention to

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language, format and content and to make pupils aware of vocabulary used, simple structures and format. It is also perceived as a relaxing moment where both teacher and pupils actually enjoy reading and being read to. The choice of the stories is agreed on beforehand with the teacher: The two books contain simple language and repetitive structures that facilitate prediction. The teacher then asks pupils whether they remember any interesting words or expressions and invites pupils to participate while she writes them down on the whiteboard. The teacher uses only English at this stage. Vocabulary Spotting  An English collage of vocabulary related to the two stories is written on the whiteboard. The teacher then asks pupils to choose a word or expression that they find interesting, they like or did not know and asks them to say it in their own language(s). The teacher commences by choosing a word herself and translating into her own language, in this case Catalan. This is done for two reasons: on the one hand as a modelling strategy for pupils to then copy. On the other, pupils become aware that the English teacher also has an own language which by using in the English class places all languages at the same level. At this stage, all reference to pupils’ own languages is oral, the only written support pupils have is the vocabulary on the whiteboard. The Plurilingual Guessing Game  One pupil chooses a word from the whiteboard, says it in her own language and asks her partner to say that word in the languages she speaks at home. By doing this, the pupil is reading in English and translating the word automatically into a language they speak at home which in turn is used as a source word, subject to be translated into another language. The game has two aims: Firstly, it is intended as an activity to raise awareness of the different languages present in the classroom and secondly, it is a way for languages to come alive in the English classroom and for pupils to use their own language significantly, but also in a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere. Pupils are asked to write down ten words or expressions in English and translate them into as many languages they know. This is done for homework, as a way to firstly encourage family involvement and secondly, because pupils have different competences in the languages that make up their DLC (all pupils speak the languages they use at home with their families but few are able to write). It is also a way to avoid possible frustration of pupils for not being able to write in their own languages. Session 2 The Plurilingual Collage  The pupils come to class and find big sheets of yellow paper on the floor. In pairs, pupils have to show each other their homework, and are invited to read and practice saying the different words, and again play the plurilingual guessing game. They are then asked to write the words and their translation into their own languages on the yellow paper. Pupils may have decided to translate the word into more than one language depending on the languages that make up

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each DLC. The aim of the session is threefold: firstly, it is an activity to raise awareness, as pupils become not only aware of the different languages that pupils speak in the classroom, but also how these languages are written. Secondly, a plurilingual collage enables pupils to actually perceive similarities and differences among languages as the collage is hung on the wall of the classroom so it can be referred to whenever necessary for the story writing. Finally, this activity also enables pupils to write in their own language(s) which they are often not used to doing and this may possibly affect motivation through a surprise element. Session 3 Drafting Stories  The aim of this session is to initiate their own story creation. Firstly, pupils are put into groups of four or five and are grouped according to6: • • • •

Languages that make up their DLC English proficiency General academic performance Attitude and behaviour

Pupils are then explained that they are going to create a story in groups in English and that the potential readers of their stories will be children aged 3–5 from infant education. Bearing in mind the reader therefore implies a careful planning and an optimal choice of topic and general plot. Pupils are given a template to help them with the process. The non-use or reference to pupils’ own languages by the teacher is intentional in this session as it is important that pupils perceive that they are learning English and that this is an activity that is developed for this purpose. Session 4 & 5 Writing Stories  An initial brainstorming activity is encouraged in order to help pupils pinpoint the general characteristics of a story intended for young children: • Short and easy sentences • Sequenced and very logical plot • Not too many characters Pupils are then given a template which facilitates structuring the story and also allows for sketching the illustrations which helps pupils visualise the story. Pupils start writing by following a specific format (eight to ten pages with one or two

6  The groups are decided by the English teacher together with the class tutor. This is part of the school policy.

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sentences per page). Pupils are encouraged to work collaboratively in an autonomous manner and the teacher spends time with each group, accompanying pupils with the writing process. Pupils are advised to use online translation tools (e.g. google translator, word reference) for searching for words they do not know, therefore developing their resourcing skills. Session 6 What is Translation?  The aim of this session is to introduce pupils to what translation is and give them strategies for translating their texts. With the help of a presentation the teacher explains what translation is and what strategies can be employed when translating by following Hervey, Higgins and Haywood’s (2008, p. 73) suggested degrees of fidelity in translation by referring to communicative versus literal translation. Reading in English, Speaking in Our Own Languages  As a concluding activity for the session, pupils are asked to attempt to say the written sentences of their stories in their own language, therefore reading in English and speaking in their own language. Session 7 Translating Stories  The pupils are asked to translate their English stories into their own languages by taking into account the previous session. They are encouraged to find out who can do what in the different languages of the class and help each other: groups must therefore split and other language groups must be formed. In order to facilitate this, pupils are given a template with two columns, one for writing the different sentences in English and the other for the translation in their own languages. Pupils are also invited to seek help at home as a way to involve and encourage the participation of the families in the project. Translating the stories involves short language games guided by the teacher as she goes from group to group: Bilingual readings, language guessing and bilingual dictations are introduced to promote language awareness and make pupils use the different languages in a significant manner (refer to Cummins and Early (2015) and González Davies (2004) for more examples of plurilingual language games). Families are asked to check final translations. Session 8 Illustrating the Stories  Each group is given a blank paper for writing the stories and for the illustrations and the final layout is set. The story in English is written on the front and the translations in the different languages are written on the back.

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Reading Practice  In pairs, pupils are summoned from the English class to practice reading the story in English with the English teacher by focussing on: • • • •

clarity of speech speed pronunciation non-verbal communication

Pupils read in English and in their own languages. Pairs who speak the same languages are organised in order to encourage linguistic peer assessment. Session 9 Final Stories  The English teacher brings the final stories to the class for the pupils to look at and enjoy (Figs. 1 and 2). This part of the session is especially important as pupils can finally see the result of their work. Time is given for them to enjoy turning the pages, admiring the illustrations and feeling important and proud for the work they have produced. Session 10 The pupils read their stories to the younger children in English and in all the languages of the class. The different groups move around the class and read the story to many different groups of young children.

Fig. 1  Final story “Animal rescue” (page 1)

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Fig. 2  Final story “Animal rescue” (page 2)

6  Results and Discussion I shall present the most relevant results obtained based on the analysis of the data. The results will be discussed in relation to each research question.

6.1  A  DLCA Through IPA Affects Motivation and Attitudes Towards Languages and Language Learning It can be concluded that motivation and attitudes towards languages have been affected by bringing forth DLCs and using languages pedagogically for learning. Analysis of the test was developed by observing the tendencies between pre- and post-test: a tendency to increase the punctuation in the case of the positive items of each category and a tendency to decrease the punctuation in the case of the negative categories of each category. A Wilcoxon signed rank test was performed to contrast the significance of the change in the punctuation of the items of the pre- and post-­ test. For the purpose of this study it is assumed that averages are significantly different when the level of significance is below 0.1 as other variables seem to also play an important role in conditioning the results. The following two items show a coherent tendency change as shown in the tables below: • Attitudes towards learning Catalan: negative items decreased significantly. • Desire to learn languages: The negative items decrease in the three languages which were tested (English, Spanish and Catalan). Two positive items in relation to Catalan also increase more significantly than the other two languages. It can be concluded that pupils’ motivation towards learning has increased as according to Bernaus and Gardner (2008), the category motivation measures three aspects which according to the authors are relevant to the classroom context:

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motivational intensity, desire to learn languages and attitudes towards learning languages. Results reveal the following: • Pupils’ attitudes towards learning Catalan have increased positively as pupils express more positive attitudes towards Catalan once the project had been undertaken than before the project. • Pupils’ desire to learn languages has also increased once the project had been developed. • The following categories remain stable before and after the project development: integrativeness, attitudes towards the learning situation, language anxiety, instrumental orientation and parental encouragement The results, therefore, seem especially conclusive in relation to Catalan and are coherent with qualitative data obtained at the start of the project when pupils said they do not really ‘like’ Catalan and do not see the need to learn it. Interestingly, Catalan is scarcely used or referred to in the study: the ATMBT test focuses on Spanish, English and Catalan, the project was conducted in the English classroom, Catalan was only used for interaction between pupils and teachers at specific times, only two pupils referred to Catalan as a language that was part of their DLC. Only Catalan has experienced a significant change. In contradiction with subtractive bilingualism, where the learning of an additional language does not add to the languages the learners know but rather affects them negatively, a DLCA seems to have had positive effects on motivation and attitudes towards learning languages. In order to obtain and triangulate data that may contribute to the above findings, the data obtained in the abovementioned qualitative instruments (see Sect. 5) was analysed by deductively employing the variables which are established in the ATMBT, and seeing whether they appear, and to what extent, in the data. The categories positive attitudes to languages, negative attitude towards Catalan, negative attitude to languages and motivation for the project are considered subcategories of the category motivation as established in the ATMBT which are qualitatively significant to triangulate with the quantitative results presented above if pupils’ languages are respected, valued and used, they may feel empathy and want to learn other languages. The category reference to context which emerged from the data entails that coercive relations of power do not favour the learning process, which links with the notion of investment described in Sect. 3 and this could be indicative of the low results in relation to languages and learning in general. Adopting a DLCA which is characterised by collaborative relations of power has affected pupils’ attitudes towards learning Catalan, the language pupils conceived as less useful. The following quote collected during the focus groups developed after the study exemplifies this fact: antes nos decían, el urdú está prohibido, hay que hablar en catalán, ahora nos dicen, puedes usar urdú para entender catalán, y eso está muy bien. Yo estoy mucho más tranquila Before they used to say to use, Urdu is forbidden, you must speak in Catalan, and now they say, you can use Urdu to understand Catalan. It is really good. I feel much better now.

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6.2  A  DLCA Through IPA Affects Academic Performance in Catalan, English and Spanish A DLCA in the English language classroom does not significantly affect pupils’ academic achievement in the three languages, which is consistent with research developed by Corcoll (2013) among others. Results do not decrease which is significant as in the context concerning this study especially it is erroneously perceived that using pupils’ own languages hinders academic achievement. Below are results in relation to Spanish and English (see Tables 3 and 4). The only language which shows a slight positive change is Catalan (see Table 5). Despite its insignificance, were the change to be more pronounced, it would be coherent with the findings in relation to the increased positive attitudes to Catalan that pupils express. Despite the fact that academically, quantitative results are stable, qualitatively, pupils perceive they have learnt more their own language and also English which is consistent with the approach to language learning following Esteve and Martin Peris (2013) where language use and reflection go together. The following quote exemplifies this: Primer no sabia que en benghalí s’escribia així, i ahora sé At first I didn’t know that in Bangla you wrote like this, and now I know

Table 3  Marks of English

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Table 4  Marks of Spanish

Table 5  Marks of Catalan

A thorough analysis of the qualitative data led to the identification of the variable learning outcomes of the project. This variable is defined as the learning outcomes expressed by the pupils in relation to their perception and awareness of what they have learnt from having participated in the project. It is coherent with the views

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postulated in this study where the learning process is based not only on the use of the language, but also on the self-reflection on one’s own learning as part of the process (Esteve and Martin-Peris 2013).

6.3  A  dopting a DLCA to Language Teaching Affects the Teacher’s Attitudes Towards Teaching and Learning Languages Despite the English teacher’s willingness to adopt a more plurilingual approach to languages, she was unaware of her complete lack of plurilingual competence. Analysis of the qualitative data led to the identification of two significant categories: lack of plurilingual competence and plurilingual competence, both categories in relation to the teacher’s performance. The two categories fall under the variable teacher’s performance. The category lack of plurilingual competence refers to the scarce plurilingual empathy in relation to the languages spoken by the pupils and how these linguistically effect English for example. The additional language teacher also expresses unawareness of the different languages in the classroom. Her lack of plurilingual competence is also shown in the fact that languages are not referred to in the classroom. On the other hand, the category plurilingual competence can be explained in terms of the teacher perceiving firstly, that using pupils’ languages in the additional language classroom positively affects classroom atmosphere, motivation and participation. It can also be described as her willingness to ‘act plurilingually’, therefore being aware that as a teacher she is not plurilingual herself, and finally, proofs that she aims to include activities characterised by a plurilingual approach to languages into her other courses. Following research developed by Engestrom (2011), it was necessary for the teacher to become aware of her orientating basis of action. Though this was not done systematically, the English teacher in this study did start to show temptative signs of awareness and change towards teaching plurilingually. The teacher who participated in this study is now participating in another study and her increased plurilingual competence is visible in her teaching practices and also in her awareness of her plurilingual condition.

7  Conclusions Results show that welcoming languages into the school context and actively using them as resources for learning proves to be beneficial for learning. It could be suggested that this has occurred because the English classroom has been conceived as a translanguaging space, a “site for translingual socialization” (Canagarajah 2014,

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p. 99) to develop. Pupils have relaxed because they have been able to use their DLC freely and openly and have felt that the previous knowledge they take into the classroom is acknowledged, valued and most importantly, used for learning. It can be concluded therefore that a DLCA may be regarded as a highly beneficial approach towards promoting plurilingual competences among pupils. Diversity here is viewed as the unique quality of an individual or school setting which is profitable for learning, an added value for learning. The conclusions of this study hope to contribute towards a more equal, plural and just society by focusing on the inherent qualities of learners: who they are, and what they bring to the classroom.

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Makoni, S., & Pennycook, A. (2006). Disinventing and reconstituing languages. Cambridge: Multilngual Matters. May, S. (2013). The Multilingual Turn: Implications for SLA, TESOL, and bilingual education (p. 240). London/New York: Routledge. Norton, B. (2013). Identity and language learning: Extending the conversation. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Norton, B., & Toohey, K. (2011). Identity, language learning, and social change. Language Teaching, 44(4), 412–446. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444811000309. Pennycook, A. (2007). Global Englishes and transcultural flows. London: Routledge. Reilly, V. (2013). Big Surprise 5. Madrid: Oxford University Press. Richards, J., & Rodgers, T. (2014). In J.  Rodgers (Ed.), Approaches and methods in language teaching (3rd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Slavkov, N. (2020). Language background profiling at Canadian elementary schools and dominant language constellations. In J.  L. Bianco & L.  Aronin (Eds.), Dominant language constellations: A new perspective on multilingualism. Cham: Springer. Sugrañes, C. (2017). A plurilingual approach to teaching and learning languages in Catalonia: Using heritage languages in the additional language classroom. Doctoral thesis, Universitat Ramon Llull. Sugrañes, C. (2018). Repensar la immersió lingüística a Catalunya des d’una perspectiva plurilingüe. Revista Articles, 78. Sugranyes Ernest, C., & Davies, M. G. (2014). Translating heritage languages: Promoting intercultural and plurilingual competences through children’s literature. In C. Hélot, R. Sneddon, & N.  Daly (Eds.), Children’s literature in the multilingual classroom (pp.  47–62). London: Trenthem Books. Vila, F. X. (2016). Una història amb moltes llengües. Barcelona Metròpolis: La Ciutat Multilingüe. Retrieved from http://lameva.barcelona.cat/bcnmetropolis/wp-­content/uploads/2016/04/ BMM991.pdf Wei, L. (2014). Who’s teaching Whom? Co-learning in multilingual classrooms. In S. May (Ed.), The multilingual turn (pp. 167–190). New York/London: Routledge. Wilson, J., & González Davies, M. (2016). Tackling the plurilingual student/monolingual classroom phenomenon. TESOL Q, 51, 207–219. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.3. Wolff, D., & Legenhausen, L. (1992). Storyboard and communicative language learning: Results of the Düsseldorf CALL project. In Intelligent tutoring systems for foreign language learning (pp. 9–25). Berlin: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-­3-­642-­77202-­3_2. Wright, S., & Taylor, D. (1995). Identity and the language of the classroom: Investigating the impact of heritage versus second language instruction on personal and collective self-esteem. Journal of Educational Psychology, 87(2), 241–252. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-­0663.87.2.241. Caterina Sugrañes is a Lecturer in Language Didactics and Education at the Faculty of Psychology, Education and Sport Sciences Blanquerna at the Ramon Llull University in Barcelona. She has worked as a lecturer in English, Translation and Interpreting at the University of Vic, Barcelona and has also worked as an English and French language teacher in primary and secondary schools in Spain, France, Belgium, South America, Pakistan and India. Her research focusses on the use and visibility of pupils’ own languages at schools for learning.  

Family Language Policy and Dominant Language Constellations: A Canadian Perspective Nikolay Slavkov

Abstract  This chapter explores the concept of a Dominant Language Constellation (DLC) in a Canadian context and links it to family language policy (FLP) and language of schooling. The focus is on the province of Ontario where English is the majority language and French a minority language, along with various other minority languages, including heritage/immigrant languages and Indigenous languages, spoken in families and communities. In this rich context, FLP plays an important role in the transmission and maintenance of minority languages. Beyond primary language socialization at the family level, however, an important and powerful factor that also influences a child’s linguistic trajectory is the choice of language of schooling (typically English or French) made by parents. I report results from a mixed-methods study involving questionnaire data from the families of 170 school-­ age children growing up as bilinguals or multilinguals and follow-up interview data from a subset of 20 families. The analysis identifies an interplay of family internal strategies and school language choices that influence children’s DLCs in important ways and account for differences in bilingual and multilingual constellations (i.e. number of languages), language dominance, passive versus active bi/multilingualism, and changes in constellation configurations over time. Keywords  Bilingualism · Multilingualism · Family language policy · Choice of language of schooling/medium of instruction · Dominant Language Constellation · Passive vs. active bilingualism/multilingualism · Canada

N. Slavkov (*) Canadian Centre for Studies and Research in Bilingualism and Language Planning (CCERBAL), Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute (OLBI), University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 L. Aronin, E. Vetter (eds.), Dominant Language Constellations Approach in Education and Language Acquisition, Educational Linguistics 51, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70769-9_5

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1  Introduction Canada is a country with two official languages (French and English), a long-­ standing history of immigration, and a number of Indigenous languages and cultures. This contributes to a high level of linguistic and cultural diversity and presents certain opportunities for people to become bilingual or multilingual.1 At the same time, transmission, maintenance and use of minority languages by minority language speakers, and acquisition of additional languages by majority language speakers can be a challenge in a globalized world where English is a lingua franca, and a majority language in North America. In this chapter, I focus on the notion of a Dominant Language Constellation (DLC), the idea that a language repertoire has a subset of languages (for example two or three languages) that are the most relevant or most frequently used by a given individual. I apply the DLC concept to family language policy (FLP) and choice of language of schooling in the context of Ontario, the largest province in Canada in terms of population size, and a province with a high level of diversity. I examine different trajectories of bilingual or multilingual children and trace different DLC possibilities based on family strategies and educational choices. The family, as the primary language socialization unit for most children, has strong influence on their linguistic development; thus, based on specific micro-level family language policies‚ various constellations can develop over time. In addition, the socio-linguistic situation (e.g. majority vs. minority language context, exposure to additional languages in the community, etc.) and the options for languages of schooling available in the educational system are powerful macro-­ level factors that also contribute to shaping up a child’s DLC. Such issues are of core interest in the research presented in this chapter. With the above background in mind, the rest of the chapter is organized as follows: In the next section, I provide an overview of the conceptual framework of the DLC, relate it to family language policy and school language choice, and offer additional context about the linguistic make-up and the educational system in the province of Ontario. In Sect. 3, I move on to a study examining the bilingual and multilingual trajectories of school-aged children based on questionnaire data from the families of 170 children and follow-up interviews with 20 families. In Sects. 4 and 5, I offer further discussion of the data from a DLC perspective and general conclusions.

1  For a current perspective from another country with constitutionally mandated bilingualism, Finland, see Björklund and Björklund (this volume).

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2  The Context 2.1  The Dominant Language Constellation The Dominant Language Constellation (Aronin 2006, 2016, 2019a, b) is a concept that refers to a subset of languages in the repertoire of a given individual. The constellation includes the most relevant or the most frequently used languages by a person in different social settings and linguistic domains (e.g. family, friends, educational, professional, etc.). The DLC is thus a narrower concept than the language repertoire, which may include a wider set of languages. For example, the repertoire may include languages that people are exposed to but are not currently relevant or useful to them, or languages that people may have studied or used in the past but no longer have the capacity, desire or opportunity to use (e.g. a language that someone studied for 2  years in high-school but never learned sufficiently well to use in other settings, or never had an opportunity to use in real life; or, a language that someone understood or spoke early on in life, but due to immigration or other life-­ changing circumstances never used later on and potentially lost or has virtually no opportunities to use; and so on). Aronin’s DLC construct captures only the most expedient or “vehicle languages” for a given individual; thus, even if someone is frequently exposed to rich and varied linguistic input through travel, geographic proximity to various speech communities, media, etc., only a subset of these languages may be relevant in that individual’s daily life and be part of the DLC. The DLC framework offers non-linear visualisations called constellation maps. In these maps dominant languages are grouped in circles and marked with five-point stars. Languages in one’s repertoire that are mastered less well or used less frequently, or languages that people have simply been exposed to but are not core to them, are placed outside of the DLC in more remote locations on the map, denoted by four-­ point stars. It should also be noted that the DLC construct can be viewed as related to some other multilingual frameworks, including plurilingualism and translanguaging (for a brief overview, see Slavkov 2020). An interesting point with regard to passive (receptive) and active (productive) language use arises from the above differentiation between a linguistic repertoire as a broader concept and the DLC as a narrower concept.2 Aronin explains that the repertoire is a wider pool of language resources that may remain dormant or unused for a period of time. As such, a language repertoire may possibly contain passive languages or languages that we may not have acquired fully. However, if circumstances arise where more frequent and central use of these languages becomes a 2  In this chapter I use the terms passive and active bi/multilingualism to refer to an individual’s ability to understand a language without necessarily speaking it, or to an individual who can both understand and speak a language, respectively. I do this for convenience and as these are commonly used labels. However, I would also like to acknowledge that some researchers in the field prefer the terms receptive vs. productive because passive may not be an accurate characterization for understanding a language, considering that a number of active processes occur in an individual’s mind during comprehension. See also note 3.

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necessity, such languages may shift from the repertoire to the DLC. The opposite would also hold if we were to ‘de-activate’ a language from the DLC due to changing circumstances (migration or other significant social, educational or professional changes) and transfer it to the repertoire. This fluid and dynamic process over time is acknowledged by various current bi/multilingualism frameworks. For the purposes of the current study, a passive language (i.e. a language that a child understands and is exposed to on a regular basis but does not speak) will be considered part of the child’s DLC as long as that language is still relevant in the child’s life. For example, if a child growing up in Canada has English and a heritage language (e.g. Bulgarian), at some point of her life she may start using more English than Bulgarian and become a passive bilingual. That is, the parents may continue to speak the minority language to the child daily but the child may choose to respond to them in English, the majority language (see Slavkov 2015, for a case study). In this case, even though the child does not actively speak the minority language, for the purposes of this chapter it will be considered to be part of the DLC as it is still a relevant daily vehicle language for the child, albeit used only in comprehension and not so much in production. If that child grows up and leaves the family and stops using the minority language even in comprehension, then that language may leave the DLC and transition to the language repertoire; visually, this would be represented by placing the language in a more remote location on the map at that point. An appealing part of the DLC framework is its treatment of the question of what constitutes a native language or a native speaker of a given language. While in some cases such questions receive straightforward answers, the concept of a native speaker can also be problematic and elusive (see Slavkov 2016, 2018; among others, for a recent overview). Under a DLC approach the subset of relevant or vehicle languages for a given individual is treated as a unit (similarly to some other multilingual frameworks) and strict separation lines are neither a required nor a necessary condition for the constellation to function or be used appropriately. As an example of this idea of integration of languages, Aronin (2019b) makes reference to Canagarajah (2016, p. 446) who states that he started speaking English, Tamil and Sinhala roughly at the same time during childhood; he reports that he recalls speaking Tamil more often but writing in English more often. In this case, a straightforward identification of a single native language in the individual dominant constellation of the speaker becomes less relevant and less important. At the same time, a focus on the core languages as an overall central unit in this individual’s repertoire and, more generally daily life, is offered by the DLC perspective.

2.2  Family Language Policy Family language policy (FLP) is a field of study that relates to the DLC construct in interesting ways. As will become evident below, various FLPs can result in various DLCs. Family language policy draws on insights from child language development and language policy (e.g. Fogle and King 2013; Hirsch and Lee 2018; King 2016;

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King and Fogle 2017; King et  al. 2008; Caldas 2012; Curdt-Christiansen 2013; Slavkov 2017; Wilson 2020; Zhu and Li 2016; among others). As a research domain, FLP fits within socio-linguistic and socio-psychological perspectives on explicit and implicit family-internal rules, practices, and ideologies with regard to language use. It often focuses on questions such as who speaks what language to whom in the household and typically operates in the context of minority language acquisition and maintenance, where adult family members speak minority languages and transmit them to bilingual or multilingual children. As such, bilingual and multilingual families are of central interest in FLP studies. Children’s language acquisition and use, often with a focus on language choice and language mixing patterns, are also an object of study (e.g. Lanza 1992, 2004; a.o.); questions of amount of exposure, type and frequency of input in bilingual and multilingual contexts have also been investigated (e.g. Cruz-Ferreira 2006; De Houwer 2007, 2011, 2014; De Houwer and Bornstein 2016; Hoffmann and Ytsma 2004; a.o.). Family language policy is related to language socialization frameworks (Bayley and Schecter 2003; Ochs and Schieffelin 1984, 2011; Schieffelin and Ochs 1986; among others). A central tenet of language socialization is that social and cultural norms, beliefs and practices, mediated through language, influence the way children grow up to be members of families and communities. As such, learning language as well as learning through language are embedded in social interactions with others, usually parents, family or community members, but also in many cases educators, peers, and so on. Such family members or other social actors model and convey both explicitly and implicitly language practices, values, attitudes and conventions. An important place is also accorded to the agency of children within the process of language socialization; that is, children are not merely passive recipients in language socialization but active participants who both shape it and are shaped by it (e.g. Fogle and King 2013, among others). Overall, family language policy is closely associated with language socialization and thus FLP studies invariably touch on socialization issues. Classic language socialization studies draw mostly on ethnographic approaches, while FLP studies include ethnographic approaches and also sometimes expand to other data collection and analysis techniques (e.g. questionnaires, language corpus data, and possibly policy documents). One of the practical foci of family language policy is the examination of so-­ called family language strategies (sometimes called models or approaches). These generally focus on which language(s) the parents use with their children in bilingual or multilingual families. Perhaps the most well-known family language use model is One-Person One-Language (OPOL), which assumes a relatively balanced language input directed at the child in two different languages coming from the two parents (e.g. one parent speaking mostly language X and the other speaking mostly language Y to the child). This model is well-known and well-studied (see De Houwer 2009 for a detailed overview; see Slavkov 2015 for a recent case study) and has traditionally been assumed to yield good results in terms of raising a bilingual child. However, depending on various contextual factors relating to the input coming from outside of the family, it has also been argued that OPOL is not always the optimal strategy. A model where the family speaks exclusively, or as much as

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possible, the minority language, known as the Minority Language at Home (ML@H) or a mixed approach where parents alternate or mix languages may be equally or even more effective (e.g. Barron-Hauwaert 2004; De Houwer 2009; Patterson 1999; Yamamoto 2001). For example, data from a large scale study by De Houwer (2003) in Flanders, Belgium, indicate that in 27% of the families where one parent spoke Dutch, the majority language, and the other parent spoke another language in an OPOL context, the children did not speak that other language (i.e. they were passive bilinguals). On the other hand, in families where both parents spoke the minority language (ML@H) or both parents spoke the minority and the majority language (Mixed Model), children had higher chances of being actively bilingual.3 In addition to these models of family language use focusing mostly on the language that parents use in speaking to their children, the current study is also interested in other micro-level strategies, including in which languages parents read books with or to their children, what languages children use for engaging with technology (e.g. games, computers, tablets, etc.), what languages are spoken by extended family members such as grandparents, what languages children use with their siblings, and what languages parents use to speak to each other. These are all factors that are relevant to the construct of the dominant language constellation, because combinations of such factors, within the general domain of family language policy, ultimately affect the DLC trajectories of individual children. That is, a family’s choice to transmit a minority language to a child and consistent efforts to maintain that language embodied by specific family language policies can result in the development of bilingualism or multilingualism by that child. Another important factor related to a child’s DLC trajectory is school choice (for discussions of school choice in a Canadian contexts see Allison 2015; Dagenais 2003; Dagenais and Berron 2001; Markopoulos 2009; Mady 2010, 2013), and more specifically choice of language of schooling.4 While language of schooling is related more to macro-level societal factors that involve the educational system available to a given child, relationships with peers and other actors from the outside world, it is tightly linked to family language policy when parents have the option of choosing the language of schooling, that is the specific language that will serve as a medium of instruction. Language of schooling as a specific variable affecting children’s DLCs will be discussed further in Sects. 2 and 3. To summarize, family language policy is a recent field combining insights from language socialization, child language acquisition and language policy. FLP is interested in theoretical and practical issues related to how families spur and manage children’s language development in bilingual and multilingual contexts, and relates to specific input strategies and models as well as broader issues of culture, identity, and ideology. A well-defined and executed family language policy, suitable for an individual family’s particular circumstances and resources can be 3  Note that De Houwer (2009) does not use the terms active and passive bilingualism. See also note 2. 4  Throughout this chapter I use the terms language of schooling and medium of instruction interchangeably.

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instrumental in ensuring a child develops a rich DLC. Family language policy is also related to broader societal structures and to educational policy and teacher education. That is, awareness and understanding of family language policies and dynamics can help teachers, educational administrators, curriculum developers, and other policy makers design policies and strategies conducive to harmonious multilingual individual development and societal cohesion overall.

2.3  Linguistic and Educational Landscape in Ontario The majority language in the province of Ontario is English, one of Canada’s two official languages. According to the 2016 census, English is spoken as a mother tongue by 69.5% of the residents while French, the official minority language in this province, is spoken as a mother tongue by 4.3% of the residents (Statistics Canada 2017).5 In addition, various other minority languages are spoken in families and communities. These are classified as immigrant languages (sometimes also referred to as heritage language) spoken as mother tongues by 28.8% of the residents, and Indigenous languages, spoken as mother tongues by 0.2% of the residents (Statistics Canada 2017). In addition to this rich and complex landscape of reported mother tongues, various language combinations and degrees of monolingualism, bilingualism and multilingualism exist. Some speakers may be monolingual, usually in the official majority language, English.6 Others may be bilingual in the two official languages, English and French or in one official language (usually English) and a non-official language. Various multilingual patterns are also possible (e.g. one non-­ official and two official languages, or two non-official and one official language, etc.).7 In addition to the languages acquired and maintained at the family level, children may add languages to their DLCs through the school system, which is publicly funded and provincially mandated.8 Typically, provincial authorities organize schools in regional clusters, commonly referred to as district school boards (terminology may vary slightly across provinces). Official language minorities in Canada generally have the right to mother tongue education. Thus, Francophones in an 5  The term official minority language is used to designate the language of the official minority community (French in this case) but does not mean that that language is an official language in the province even though it is official at the federal level (i.e. Ontario is not an officially bilingual province, even though certain services may be available in French, in addition to English). 6  Monolingualism is operationalized as being able to function only in one language (i.e. being able to hold a conversation in only one language). See also note 11 below. 7  Note that the term non-official language can be problematic as it may imply lesser value associated with languages spoken by Indigenous people and immigrants in Canada. I use the terms official and non-official as reported by Statistics Canada but subscribe to the view that all languages are valuable, regardless of legal status. 8  This research does not focus on private schools, which also exist in various forms across the province and the country.

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English-speaking province such as Ontario can enroll their children at French school boards where French is the medium of instruction. In addition, English school boards offer French immersion programs where children have an opportunity to be exposed to French as a medium of instruction even if they do not come from a Francophone family.9 Schools and programs where English is the medium of instruction are, of course, widely available and in fact the vast majority of the children in the province are educated in such programs. Finally, International languages programs are also available in the province (mostly in larger urban centres). These programs are commonly known as heritage language schools and typically children of immigrant descent enroll in after school or weekend activities in those programs, focusing on heritage languages and cultures. These programs are supplementary to the English or French medium mainstream program that a child is enrolled in. For the purposes of this chapter, a child who attends a heritage language program may be considered as having integrated that language into her or his DLC because instruction (although limited to about just a few hours per week) is content-based (that is the language is used as a vehicle) and families whose children attend these classes typically speak the respective heritage language at home at least to some degree. How might a child’s DLC develop within the sociolinguistic and educational context described above? Table 1 offers a non-exhaustive list of different linguistic pathways that children may take as a result of various combinations of home language(s) (influenced by FLP) and school language (influenced by choice of medium of instruction), with the societal language held constant (English, the majority language in the province). To illustrate, if a child is exposed to a single home language (e.g. English), goes to a school where English is the medium of instruction, and the societal language is also English (the majority language in the province), that child will likely develop as a monolingual (pattern 1O, row 1 in Table 1).10 However, if the same child who 9  It is important to note that French schools offer instruction entirely in French and English is only taught as a subject in certain grades. On the other hand, French immersion programs offer a mixture of French and English content instruction that varies from one school board to another within the province, and also from one grade to another. In some grades (typically lower grades of grade school) instruction in French immersion may be entirely in French, while in other grades (typically higher grades of primary school and into middle and high school) only certain subjects are taught in French. In this chapter I do not discuss the quantitative and qualitative differences between Francophone schooling and French immersion schooling and capitalize on the fact that both educational settings offer French as a medium of instruction and can thus add or maintain the French language in a child’s DLC. 10  It should be noted that English medium of instruction programs typically offer French as a subject (often known as Core French) in Ontario; as such, the child will receive some exposure to French. However, since in this context French typically does not constitute part of the child’s set of vehicle languages (i.e. used or relevant on a daily basis), that child will be functionally monolingual and French will not be added to his or her DLC. This is, of course, an abstract case taken as an example and does not include contexts where the family may make special efforts that the child uses French or where the child is an strong language learner with motivation to excel in the Core French program and learn to use the language as a vehicle language in his or her life. In the cases

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Table 1  Possible DLCs based on home language, choice of school language and societal language Home Language ENG FR ENG + FR H ENG + H FR + H

Language of Schooling ENG FR ENG FR ENG FR ENG FR ENG FR ENG FR

Societal/Majority Language in the Province ENG ENG ENG ENG ENG ENG ENG ENG ENG ENG ENG ENG

Potential Linguistic Outcomes Monolingual Bilingual Bilingual Bilingual Bilingual? Bilingual Bilingual Multilingual Bilingual? Multilingual? Multilingual? Multilingual

Number/Status of Languages in the DLC 1O 2O 2O 2O 2O?/1O 2O 1O + H 2O + H 1O + H 2O + H 2O + H 2O + H

Row Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

ENG = English; FR = French; H=Heritage language (Indigenous languages represent a distinct category from heritage languages based on historical, cultural, political and linguistic factors; since the response rate to the call for participants for the current study was very low with regard to Indigenous languages (only one child participant in the sample was reported to speak an Indigenous language) a decision was made to merge this data point with the Heritage language category); 1O = one official language; 2O = two official languages; 1O + H = one official language plus a heritage language; 2O + H = two official languages plus a heritage language;? = possibility of a strong imbalance in the DLC in favour of the majority language due to a high level of exposure to that language (e.g. both school and societal exposure, or family, school and societal exposure, etc.)

is exposed to English at home is enrolled in a French medium of instruction program (with the societal language held constant as English once again), that child will develop a bilingual DLC with Canada’s two official languages in it (pattern 2O, row 2 in Table 1). If a child’s home language is French (rows 3 and 4), that child may develop a bilingual DLC regardless of whether the parents choose English or French as the child’s language of schooling, although a choice of English medium of instruction (row 3) will possibly result in English being the strongest language in that child’s constellation because English is also the majority language and the child will be receiving a high amount of input in that language from both schooling and societal interactions; if, on the other hand, the family chooses French as a medium of instruction for that same child (row 4), the French proficiency in the child’s DLC will likely be higher and possibly closer to being balanced with the majority language English. Of course, children need not be exposed to a single home language. If a child is exposed to both English and French at home (e.g. through OPOL or another family strategy), that child may be bilingual from birth. If the child attends a program of French medium of instruction, on the other hand, French is by definition a vehicle language as the child is learning content through that language and using it on a daily basis to function within the school environment (rather than just taking it as a subject).

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where English is the medium of instruction, then she or he may develop a bilingual DLC (row 5) with English as the most dominant language; it should be noted that in this case since both the medium of instruction and the societal language are English, the child may even develop as a passive bilingual (i.e. understand both English and French but over time begin to only produce English and possibly even lose French in the long run (see De Houwer 2009 for discussion)). On the other hand, if the child is enrolled in a French medium of instruction program (row 6), her or his chance of acquiring and maintaining French at a level comparable to English, the societal language, is higher. Moving on from an exclusive focus on Canada’s official languages, if a child’s home language is a heritage/immigrant language, depending on the choice of language of schooling, that child may develop a bilingual DLC with one official language plus the heritage/immigrant (row 7) or a multilingual DLC with pattern 2O + H (row 8). Similarly, rows 9–12 illustrate various bilingual or multilingual possible DLCs that result from the respective combinations of home and school language choices. In all cases where a question mark appears in the table, there is a potential imbalance in the exposure of the child to English, the majority language, and thus it is possible that this language has a marked dominance over the other languages in the constellation. For example, in row 10 English is the medium of instruction, the societal language and also one of the languages spoken at the home, and thus it is likely that English takes a very prominent position in the DLC, whereas the other language that is spoken only partially at home, may have a weaker position in the constellation. The information presented in Table 1 does not offer an exhaustive list of all the pathways available to children to various DLCs and in many cases the individual realities may be influenced by a number of factors external to home language, language of schooling, and the societal language. Nonetheless, the table is a useful illustration of some important variables that are very likely to contribute to a child’s particular DLC configuration. It is interesting to note that in the context described above, a monolingual family can potentially increase the number of vehicle languages for a child and place that child on a bilingual DLC trajectory using specific FLP and choice of language of schooling strategies. A family where an immigrant/ heritage language is spoken can place their child on a bilingual or even multilingual pathway (e.g. rows 9–12). However, the opposite is also possible: if a family does not have the necessary family language policy in place and focuses on the majority language as school language for the child, a potentially bilingual or multilingual child may develop as a monolingual.

3  The Study The purpose of this study was to investigate some of the above variables further and unpack factors within them that may prove to have a strong influence on a child’s DLC outcomes. For example, within family language policy, the different models of

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family language use described above, in addition to other family-internal strategies (reading books with children in a given language, choosing a specific language for TV or video games, etc.) combined with choice of language of schooling and heritage language school enrollment (where applicable), may yield various combinations of official and non-official languages in a child’s DLC. Thus, the overall goal of the study was to integrate family language policy and choice of language of schooling while keeping in mind the context of the societal language in the province (English) in order to discover ways of fostering bilingualism and multilingualism. Selected quantitative data in this chapter draw on work by Slavkov (2017) and are presented here only in an abridged version, in order to allow for the addition of new qualitative data that has not been reported previously as well as for a general discussion within a Dominant Language Constellation framework.

3.1  Methodology and Research Questions A survey with the families of 170 school-aged children in Ontario (age ≥ 4 y.o.) was conducted asking one adult family member to respond on behalf of the family. The survey was distributed widely across the province, although responses tended to cluster around major urban areas. The questions included information regarding the following: mother tongues of the parents and children, the children’s language of schooling, attendance at a heritage school (if applicable), languages currently understood and spoken by the children, reading and writing abilities (if any) for each language listed, languages used to watch television or play video games, languages in which parents read books with/to the child, languages children spoke with their siblings (if applicable), family language use models (OPOL, ML@H, Mixed, or majority language at home). A full list of questions and precise formulations is available in Slavkov (2017, Appendix 1). The data were analysed descriptively and also by applying logistic regression models (binomial) using R (Core Team 2014). In addition to the quantitative data, qualitative data was collected via semi-­structured follow-up interviews with a subset of 20 families who had participated in the survey. One parent per family was interviewed and the data was transcribed, coded and analysed thematically. Keeping in mind the sociolinguistic, educational and demographic composition of the province of Ontario described earlier, the research questions (RQ) that this chapter pursues are as follows: RQ 1: What factors from family language policy and choice of language of schooling lead to an increased number of languages in a child’s DLC? More specifically, what factors may contribute to a multilingual rather than a bilingual constellation? RQ 2: What factors from family language policy and choice of language of schooling contribute to active rather than passive bilingualism or multilingualism

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within a child’s DLC? (That is, number of languages spoken versus number of languages understood but not spoken). RQ 3: What personal experiences do families (parents) relate with regard to the shaping up and maintenance of their children’s DLC? RQs 1–2 were answered predominantly based on the quantitative data, while RQ3 was answered predominantly based on the qualitative data. The general discussion in Sect. 4 will integrate both the quantitative and qualitative results and offer an overview of all three questions.

3.2  Results: Questionnaire I begin by providing a summary of some of the general characteristics of the children included in the sample. Table 2 indicates the home language use models used in the various families. As the data indicate, the largest number of children were exposed to a home model where parents spoke a mixture of two or more languages to the child, followed by a model where parents spoke exclusively a language other than the majority language at home, followed by OPOL where each parent spoke a different language to the child, and finally, the majority language at home model where parents spoke only English to their children. A statistical analysis found no significant difference with regard to models 1–3  in Table  1 in terms of a bilingual versus a multilingual DLC for a child. That is, none of these models seemed to be significantly associated with a higher number of languages in the child’s DLC. However, model 4, the MajL@H model, was associated with a lower likelihood of the child having a multilingual DLC as compared with the other three models; this suggests that models 1–3 may contribute to multilingualism. Table 3 provides a summary of the number of children with bilingual and multilingual DLCs in the sample by language of schooling. As the data in Table 3 indicate, there was a higher percentage of multilingual children in school programs where French (a minority language in the province of Ontario) was the medium of instruction. A statistical analysis indicated that choice of language of schooling was significantly associated with a multilingual DLC; that is, children in a program where French was the medium of instruction had a higher likelihood of being multilingual than children schooled in the majority language Table 2  Home language use model

Home Language Use Model 1. Mixed 2. ML@H 3. OPOL 4. MajL@H Total

Number/Percentage of Children 73 (43%) 54 (32%) 34 (20%) 9 (5%) 170

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Table 3  Bilingual/multilingual DLCs and language of schooling Program of Schooling English medium French medium Total

Bilingual Children 29 (17%) 50 (29%) 79

Multilingual Children 16 (9%) (75 44%) 91

Total 45 (27%) 125 (74%) 170

Table 4  Active versus passive bilingual/multilingual DLCs Number of Languages Understood/ Spoken Bilingual passive 2/1 Bilingual active 2/2 Multilingual 3/1 passive 3/2 4/3 Multilingual active 3/3 4/4 5/5 Total

Number and Percentage of Children 16/170 (10%) 63/170 (37%) 19/170 (11%)

72/170 (42%)

170 (100%)

English. Other variables associated with a multilingual DLC included parents speaking to each other in a language other than English, literacy skills (reading or writing) in a minority language, and attendance at a heritage language school (in the case of children who had a family language other than English or French). In such cases, children were found to be more likely to have a multilingual DLC rather than a bilingual one. The relationship of these data to RQ 1 will be discussed in more detail in Sect. 4 (see also Slavkov 2017 for a more extensive discussion of the quantitative data, including more details on the statistical analysis). Other variables such as languages in which parents read books to/with children, languages in which children watched TV or played video games, and languages children spoke with their siblings (where applicable) were also included in the questionnaire but showed no significant associations in terms of RQ 1. With regard to RQ 2, Table 4 offers data about the number of children who were active bilinguals or multilinguals (i.e. spoke the same number of languages as they understood) and passive bilinguals or multilinguals (i.e. understood a higher number of languages than they spoke). As indicated, in both the bilingual and the multilingual groups of the sample there were passive language users (i.e. children that understood more languages than they spoke). Statistical analysis indicated that among the variables investigated, only three were significantly associated with an active DLC (i.e. the child spoke all the languages that she or he understood) versus a passive one (i.e. the child spoke fewer languages than she or he understood). These variables were attendance at a heritage language school (in the case of children who had a family language other than English or French), having literacy skills in a minority language (i.e. ability to read or write in French or a heritage language), and the ability of a child to

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speak with siblings in a minority language (in the cases where the child had siblings). Other variables such as language of schooling, home language use model, languages spoken between parents, languages in which parents read books to children, languages in which children watch TV or play video games, and parents’ number of  mother tongues showed no significant associations in regard to this research question.

3.3  Results: Follow-Up Interviews As mentioned in Sect. 3.1, semi-structured interviews with a subset of 20 families were conducted to contextualize the survey data, to delve deeper into certain topics, and to generate a data set of qualitative experiences by families with children who were growing up with bilingual or multilingual DLCs. The data set that these families contributed to is heterogeneous in terms of geographic locations, languages spoken by parents (including both official and non-official languages), migration background (some parents were born and raised in Canada, while others had immigrated to Canada from other parts of the world). As such, the data represent a diversity of experiences and attitudes. In analysing recurring themes, the goal was not to achieve a certain level of commonality in the findings but rather to offer glimpses of diverse individual views and personal circumstances that related to family language policy, language of schooling, and the shaping of the children’s DLCs. In this chapter, I focus on three themes which are particularly relevant to a DLC framework, as illustrated below. Theme 1: Parental Awareness of the Role of FLP and Other Factors The interview data showed evidence that parents were well aware of the importance of family language policy. Many commented on different strategies to support their children’s bilingual or multilingual development within the home, and the importance of speaking languages other than the majority language to their children. At the same time, parents were well aware of how important school language choice is in shaping up a child’s DLC (i.e. potentially adding a new language or reinforcing an existing language). They were also aware of the possibility that, as their children grew, the family influence would diminish and that other factors, such as peers, school language, and societal language might take over, coupled with the child’s own agency and volition. As such, parents recognized that they do not have ultimate control over how their children’s DLCs would shape up over time. 1 . “…it’s amazing because, uh, the peer influence is much stronger than parents. (laughs)” 2. “…with time she’ll pick up English and probably a lot of French so I’m gonna have to work harder with her at home on… on the Portuguese and my partner will have to work harder on Finnish, and you know maybe… but the she might never learn to write um in Portuguese…” 3. “Uh normally uh at home uh we speak uh Mandarin. Um… [overlap Investigator: okay] to, so then uh, and uh, but uh, um (clearing throat) you know when uh they uh grow up, so um, my

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daughter and my son some- most of the time when they, uh, communicate to each other, they, uh, they use English.” 4 . “Well, uh, I mean as a, as a child I can use strategies, like I speak to her in English and my wife in French, but as an adult, at some point it’s going to be, uh, up to her.”

Examples 1–4 are from four different families and illustrate the recognition of peer influence in language choice (1), the important role of the majority language and the language of schooling (2), the role of the language spoken by siblings with each other (often the majority language) even in cases where the parents use the ML@H model (3), and a child’s own agency in deciding what language to use (4). Theme 2: Choice of Language of Schooling—A Contentious Issue As explained earlier, parents in the province generally have the choice of English or French as a main language of schooling for their children. Parents are, of course, aware of this choice before registering their child to start school. On the one hand the benefits of learning or supporting a given language through choosing that language as a medium of instruction are well recognized. On the other hand, however, choice of language of schooling can be a contentious issue between the two parents. As such, the development of a particular DLC may be influenced by parental beliefs and resolution of parental differences over the language of schooling. 5. “Um, well, well I guess my wife wanted her to go to French school and me English school so we had a school that’s half and half [French Immersion] to resolve the conflict.” 6. “… since she [=child] is going to French school she [=parent 2] is likely concerned that she’s [=child] not gonna learn English, which I know is not true but it’s hard to convince her, but anyway…”11 7. “we’ve certainly thought about high-school, cuz it’s an ongoing debate between my wife and… so we compromised that she was going to go to primary school in French and I would, you know, I would maybe compromise on high-school in English, and I don’t want her to go to English high-school. But my bet at that age is that she’s gonna be old enough to say ‘Hey I wanna go with my friends [to French school] and she’s going (laughs)…”

In example (5) an English-speaking and a French-speaking parent each wanted their child to be schooled in their respective language (i.e. an English school or a French school) and eventually found compromise in French immersion (where English is also used as a medium of instruction, as explained in Sect. 2.3). In (6), a common concern that being schooled in one of Canada’s official languages will result in low proficiency in the other official language is expressed by one of the parents. In this case, the parent is worried that by being educated in the minority language (French) the child will fail to learn the majority language (English) well enough, which is seen as highly unlikely by the other parent. In (7), we see a similar concern where the parents are trying to reach a compromise by French medium instruction in primary school and English medium instruction in secondary school, although the parent interviewed was counting on peer influence to help in continuing with a French program for secondary school as well. Overall, these data  Material in square brackets [] in the quotations from the research participants has been added by the researcher for clarification purposes.

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illustrate the important ways in which parents are involved in shaping up their children’s DLCs through targeted language of schooling choices. Parental experiences, general knowledge about bilingual and multilingual language development, and the role of minority and majority languages may influence such choices in one way or another; as such, the DLC trajectories of children may develop in different ways. Theme 3: Order of Importance of Languages in the DLC The languages in an individual’s DLC may have different status, be acquired in different ways, used with different goals and in different situations, and be associated with different proficiency levels. Parents are aware of this and often, based on personal attitudes, experiences and goals for their child, have an idea of what order of importance or ranking of the most expedient languages they would like to achieve for their child. Sometimes such order or ranking is influenced by economic or practical considerations. For example, mastery of official languages in Canada may be preferred to non-official languages and thus parents may prefer that an official language or both official languages have a more prominent role in a child’s DLC. Cultural and linguistic heritage, of course, also play an important role and as such, some participants overtly oriented to such aspects in the interviews. 8. “So, because I’m, I guess it is individual situation I just say that um, some aspects of the language [Russian] are really hard for him, so we try to press on English, and um, kind of, really, really want French, potentially you know, so, for him to learn French more seriously, and Russian is a heritage language I guess the three are important.” 9. Researcher: “I don’t know how important French in [your town]…”   Participant: “Not at all. … No, no. You know, my understanding is that, if you ever gonna need French or a spoken language in your profession, later on, you know, we can spent some months in Québec or go to France, you just go to France and learn the language, in the country where they speak the language.” 10. “Um, oh um, I really didn’t (short chuckle) think about that uh, kind of question but I think, uh, uh, for sure English, um, they will, they will, uh, grab the English because, already, they, they, already at school they speak English and [overlap I: mm-hmm], um, then uh, at home uh, they s- uh, speak um, Mandarin with us, so um, I think um, Mandarin, uh, probably will, uh, understand more. Um, another one probably uh French, because uh, they was taught uh French in uh school, so [overlap I: mm-hmm], uh I guess um, they will, um, learn French as well. Uh so, other language um, I- I’m not quite sure, um, if they are interest in any language then they can learn them no problem.” 11. “Um, I’d say French is more important than English…”

The example in (8) illustrates a multilingual child’s DLC where the parent designates English (official language in Canada and the majority language in the province) as the most important language, followed by French (official language in Canada, but a minority language in the province) and finally Russian (a non-official, heritage/immigrant language for this family); having ranked the three languages in this way, the parent states that all three are important, though, suggesting a strong commitment to maintain the particular multilingual DLC chosen. On the other hand, another family, also of immigrant background, places French lower in the hierarchy, as illustrated in (9). In this case, the family has transmitted Dutch, the immigrant/heritage language to the child, and even though the child has learned some French at school, the parent indicates that French is not that important in their

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environment. As such, this child has developed a bilingual English-Dutch DLC, with French still in the repertoire but not a vehicle language and thus not part of the DLC. Example (10) illustrates yet another situation, where the family has not really thought of the order of importance of the languages in their child’s DLC. Finally, in example (11) the parent indicates that in their particular family (English-French bilingual parents) French is the more important language. This is indicative of a strategy of certain families who realize that English as a majority language in the societal environment of their children has a very strong impact, and as such, they need to emphasize French as much as possible in order for the child to develop a DLC where French has a proficiency level close to that of English.

4  General Discussion The quantitative and qualitative data presented in Sect. 3 relate to the objectives and research questions of the study in various ways. Turning to the three research questions, RQ 1 concerned the number of languages in a child’s DLC.  Based on the assumption that a multilingual constellation is generally more enriching and more beneficial than a bilingual one, RQ 1 related to factors or strategies that can be associated with a multilingual (three or more languages) DLCs. As the quantitative data indicated, the specific FLP model could be flexible. That is, there were no significant differences between families who used a mixed model, a one-person one-­ language model, or a minority language at home model with regard to their children being more likely to have a multilingual rather than a bilingual DLC.  However, families who used the majority language at home had a lower likelihood of achieving a multilingual DLC for their children.12 Such findings receive an explanation in the fact that FLP, even though of crucial importance, is not the only major factor that has impact on multilingualism. Language of schooling, the other major factor identified in this study, can also have a strong contribution. As illustrated in Table  1 earlier, one strategy for ensuring that a child develops a multilingual DLC would be transmitting and supporting one language through FLP, developing a different one at school by choosing it as a medium of instruction (i.e. vehicle language) and using a third one in societal interactions. This strategy was specifically identified by some of the families in the sample and they had made a targeted effort to ensure that their children develop multilingual DLCs in this manner. With regard to RQ 2, which related to the factors that can be associated with achieving active rather than passive bi/multilingualism, only three of the variables showed significant values: heritage language school attendance (if applicable), reading or writing ability in a minority language, and speaking a minority language  It must be noted that these findings should be considered preliminary as the data sample was not balanced with regard to the family language models, and it is also possible that with an even larger number of participants significant differences between OPOL, a mixed model and ML@H emerge as well.

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with a sibling. These factors show a high level of active commitment on the part of the family and suggest a specific targeted FLP towards production. That is, reading books, watching television, etc. in a given language (some of the factors that did not show significant associations with the dependent variable of RQ 2) are comprehension-­based, and thus may not impact an active DLC.  This, of course, does not mean that reading books to support language development, targeted TV or video game engagement in a given language (for example in a minority language that needs extra support) are not beneficial on the whole. They may contribute in important ways (i.e. gradual vocabulary enrichment through comprehension, for example). However, the lesson learned is that FLPs should target active production strategies to ensure that some of the languages in a child’s DLC do not remain passive. The third research question was related to general experiences families may have in raising bi/multilingual children and shaping up or sustaining their DLCs. Some relevant themes that emerged from the qualitative data in this regard were related to parental awareness that FLP has an important foundational role but that choice of language of schooling and the societal language also have strong impact; thus, FLP effects may eventually weaken as children take more control of their own DLC development. Another important aspect related to the experience of raising bilingual or multilingual children was that choosing a language of schooling for a child is sometimes a contentious issue linked to parents’ own experiences with languages or their own DLCs. That is, a parent with English as a strongest language in her or his DLC may contend over the language of schooling of a child with the other parent who may have French as the strongest language in her or his DLC.  Evidence of intricate compromises and continuous negotiation with regard to this important factor emerged in some of the interview data (recall examples (5) and (7) presented in the results section above). Finally, the order of importance of the languages in a given DLC was also discussed and the data indicated various preferred configurations by different families. This explains why DLC as a phenomenon is characterized by a high degree of variation based on individual parental attitudes, experiences and priorities.

5  Conclusion Canadians are to a large degree privileged in terms of the opportunities and resources they can harness in order to influence the development of rich and varied DLCs for their children. The overall availability of a choice between two medium of instruction languages (English and French) is a resource that can be used strategically to augment bilingual and multilingual outcomes.13 In addition, due to high rates of  It should be noted, however, that there are certain problems with access to choice of language of schooling. In some provinces, access to French immersion is limited in certain regions and school boards have resorted to lotteries or first-come first-served procedures of enrollment. In the prov-

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immigration and a generally high level of diversity, many families can transmit and sustain a non-official language, which would be included in a child’s DLC, in combination with English and/or French. At the same time, however, monolingualism is entirely possible, and often a reality in cases where families do not transmit a heritage language or do not choose to augment the number of languages spoken by their child through school language choice. Another important factor that needs mentioning is that non-official languages are not valorized and supported enough to create a strong impetus for families to transmit them and for children themselves to maintain them. For example, at the federal level, even though Canada has an official languages act, it does not have an act dedicated to heritage or Indigenous languages.14 The role of multilingualism in Canadian society is not often discussed explicitly at the national level: federal legislation uses the term multiculturalism and languages are subsumed under that umbrella which arguably reduces their visibility; furthermore, federal discourses tend to perpetuate the notion of linguistic duality, which refers to the two official languages as a quintessential Canadian characteristic; this invariably ascribes a lower status to other languages or renders them less visible. As such, as diverse and enriching the opportunities for multilingual DLCs in Canada might be, more work can be done to support minority and non-official languages. This idea is also consistent with Vetter’s observations (this volume) in the context of multilingual and multicultural Vienna, where school principals were found on the one hand to characterise their institutions as highly diverse and multilingual but at the same time employed language policies resulting in limiting linguistic pathways for both students and parents. Thus, more explicit and targeted multilingual policies (ideally based on explicit legislation) and awareness raising of multilingual values can contribute to an even larger proportion of the population having rich and interesting DLCs. Acknowledgements  I would like to thank the organizers and the audience of the symposium on dominant language constellations in education and social contexts at the 2018 conference of the International Conference on Multilingualism and Third Language Acquisition (IAM L3) for useful feedback and suggestions. Many thanks are due to research assistants Joanne Asselin, Marie-Josée Bertrand, Stephanie Kawamoto, Wenqian Li, Bernice Ofori and Odilia Yim who helped with various aspects of this project. I also thank the volume editors and an anonymous reviewer for useful discussion and feedback. This work is supported by an Insight Development Grant 430-2017-00558 awarded to Nikolay Slavkov by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada.

ince of Quebec, because of specific language laws, it is difficult or in some cases impossible to choose English as a medium of instruction (a policy instituted to increase the vitality of French in the province). 14  At the time of writing, the Government of Canada is developing an Indigenous languages bill which, if enacted, is expected to offer advances in recognition and support for languages other than the two official languages.

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Nikolay Slavkov  is Director of the Canadian Centre for Research and Studies in Bilingualism and Language Planning (CCERBAL) at the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute (OLBI) of the University of Ottawa. His research contributions include edited volumes, journal articles, and book chapters on language pedagogy and innovation, child language development, family language policy, technology, bilingualism, multilingualism, and (Slavic) linguistics. His recent work has appeared in the Canadian Modern Language Review, Immersion Journal, International Journal of Multilingualism, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, Second Language Research, Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics, TESL Canada, Lingua, and Journal of Slavic Linguistics. He is the editor of OLBI’s bilingual journal Cahiers de l’ILOB.

Educational and Career Opportunities for Refugee-Background Adults in Norway: A DLC Perspective Anna Krulatz and Anne Dahl

Abstract  Similar to other European countries, Norway has opened its borders to large numbers of refugees in the recent years. Norwegian language training is seen as serving an important role in the process of resettlement and integration into the Norwegian society and constitutes a central component of the obligatory, two-year Introduction Program for adult refugees. On the other hand, English, Norway’s most important foreign, if not second, language, is not perceived as an important element of the training for newly arrived refugees. In this chapter, we examine the DLCs of refugees to Norway and juxtapose them with the majority communal DLCs, the desired or imagined DLCs of adult refugees, and the officially acknowledged DLCs of refugees as evidenced by government websites that deal with matters pertaining to refugee education and interviews with teachers and administrators at two selected refugee programs. We argue that in Norway, DLCs that include English correspond to better educational, professional and financial success, and thus by denying adult refugees opportunities to develop advanced proficiency in English, the Norwegian authorities fail to fully support their successful integration. Keywords  Dominant language constellation · English · Norway · Majority language · Norwegian · Refugee education · Refugee integration

A. Krulatz (*) · A. Dahl Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 L. Aronin, E. Vetter (eds.), Dominant Language Constellations Approach in Education and Language Acquisition, Educational Linguistics 51, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70769-9_6

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1  Introduction As a result of political and economic turmoil in certain parts of the world in the recent decades, the number of refugees into European countries has been on a steady increase. In Norway, persons of refugee status come from more than 200 countries, with the largest groups originating from Somalia, Iraq, and Eritrea (Statistics Norway 2018). Despite recent restrictions to asylum policies in Norway, relative to Norway’s population size, the country has been among the top five receivers of refugees in Europe (Etzold 2017). According to Statistics Norway (2018), refugees now constitute 4.3% of the total population and 30.6% of all immigrants. Many of these individuals come from conflict areas, have gone through traumatic experiences such as famine, violence, and rape, and have interrupted schooling backgrounds. As an additional obstacle to smooth integration, refugees often have “culture, ethnicity, language, and religion [that] are significantly different from those of the mainstream in the host countries” (Kanu 2008, p. 916); this is also the case for most recent refugees to Norway. To ensure a seamless integration into the Norwegian society, including entering workforce and the educational system, refugees and their family members between 18 and 55 years of age are required to attend a two-year Introduction Program that offers training in the Norwegian language and civics, as well as other areas deemed necessary based on an individual needs assessment (Lovdata 2004/2015). Essentially, the Introduction Program focuses on the development of proficiency in the dominant language and aims to increase participants’ employability and financial independence. English, which is considered to be the most important foreign language taught in schools in Norway (Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research 2004), may be taught as a part of the Program alongside other subjects such as social studies or mathematics, but is not considered one of the Program’s central components. Previous research shows a discrepancy between the perceived role of Norwegian and English in professional and educational success of refugees as seen by the Norwegian government, program administrators, and teachers on the one hand, and adult refugees on the other (Dahl et al. 2018). In the present chapter, we explore these discrepancies through the lens of Dominant Language Constellations (DLCs). We map the DLCs imposed on refugees through the Introduction Program as represented on official government, school and community websites, and as evidenced in interviews with teachers and administrators working at two program sites. We juxtapose these findings with the actual and imagined DLCs of refugee program participants, and we discuss the implications of these mismatches for adult refugees’ agency in the process of integration in their new country of settlement.

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2  Background 2.1  Language and the Process of Integration Language education policies are often shaped by national ideologies, which in Western societies continue to be dominated by monolingual, monoethnic, and monoreligious ideals (Blommaert and Verschueren 1998). As a consequence, in European contexts, including Norway, acquiring the language of the majority and adapting to the social and cultural norms of the country that granted refugees residence are seen as a critical part of integration (Portes and Rumbaut 2006; Libeau and Schacht 2016). Proficiency in the national language is singled out as the key component that opens doors to better educational and employment opportunities. In some countries, initiatives and policies that additionally limit access to first language maintenance, such as “English-Only Movement” in the United States, serve as additional sources of language oppression to enforce full assimilation (Warriner 2007). Such nationalist views oversimplify the complexity of refugee integration, and overlook other factors such as personal histories, linguistic and social identities, cultural bonds, and ethics and values, all of which affect the process of acculturation. Although many countries of settlement, with Norway among them, offer free language courses to refugee background students, i.e., adult individuals with an official refugee status, at least for some initial period, the ways in which the courses are structured, designed, and delivered are not always optimal. For instance, due to limited resources, newly-arrived refugees are typically placed in the same classroom regardless of educational backgrounds, previous language knowledge, and literacy levels (Summers 2016). Availability of trained instructors who are well-­ versed in approaches to second language teaching, and who in addition are prepared to work with refugee populations whose abilities and needs vary from those of other migrants (Shapiro et al. 2018), is another challenge. Thus, although official documents stipulate that refugees have the right and obligation to receive training in the majority language, inadequacies in the provision of such classes can in reality create additional obstacles for refugees.

2.2  S  ocial, Political and Educational Aspects of the Refugee Situation in Norway Access to educational, social, and economic opportunities in the host country is one of the biggest challenges faced by refugees. This is because many refugees have spent their entire lives in refugee camps and consequently have had no access to education or employment, but also because they are dissimilar from the local populations, including culture, ethnicity, religion, language, and skin color, and may therefore find it more difficult to become integrated than other migrants. In Norway,

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employment rate among refugees is currently at about 60%, while for the overall population, the rate approximates 80% (Statistics Norway 2017). Likewise, large groups of refugees only have elementary education. For instance, in 2014, a survey on refugees who have settled in Norway in 2001–2002 found that 75% of refugees from Somalia and 61% of refugees from Iraq had only completed elementary school (Statistics Norway 2017). Application for resettlement is a daunting process, and worldwide, “less than 1% of forcibly displaced people are given the opportunity for permanent resettlement” (Shapiro 2018, p. 2). In Norway, individuals can obtain refugee status through two different procedures. First, Norway accepts a number of resettlement refugees registered by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). These individuals are resettled directly from the country where they are living at the time of registration with the UNHCR into the local municipalities in Norway (UDI 2018a). Second, individuals can be granted asylum in Norway. For this group, the process from first arrival in Norway to local settlement is longer. After applying, most asylum seekers move to an asylum reception center while waiting for the application to be decided (cf. UDI 2018b). The duration of the stay at the reception center depends on a range of factors, such the time it takes before the asylum seeker is interviewed by the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI); the time UDI takes to make a decision on the application; and time from the person having been granted protection until a plan for local settlement in a municipality has been established. In most cases, this process takes many months or even years (cf. Norwegian People’s Aid 2015). During this time, it is possible to apply for a temporary work permit, but most asylum seekers waiting for a decision on their asylum application do not meet the necessary criteria for such a permit (NOAS 2018). Asylum seekers also do not have the right to any training during this period, although up to 175 h of Norwegian instruction may be granted (NOAS 2018). As a welfare state, Norway relies on high employment rates to enable equal access to generous social services such as healthcare and education. Consequently, the key goal of Norway’s integration policy is to ensure that refugees obtain permanent employment without delay (Norwegian Ministry of Justice and Public Security 2015–2016), i.e., as soon as possible after arrival in Norway for resettlement refugees, and after the right to protection has been granted and refugee status obtained for asylum seekers. The Introduction Act of 2003 (Lovdata 2004/2015) stipulates that in order to ensure that refugees, upon being granted protection and having settled into a municipality, transition swiftly into the job market, they are required to attend the Introduction Program. This regulation has been defined as “one of the most concrete measures Norwegian authorities have ever taken to produce integration” (Hagelund 2005, p. 670). The program provides basic Norwegian language skills and insights into Norwegian social conditions and prepares refugees to enter the labor market or to continue education (p. 3). Participants receive financial support for the duration of the program and the Norwegian government additionally issues grants to cover the expenses of settlement and integration as well as the Introduction Program to the municipalities to which refugees are resettled. In 2016, nearly 11,000 asylum seekers were enrolled (Statistics Norway 2014–2016).

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Whereas the exact structure of the program is decided by the individual municipalities, the Introduction Act specifies that the program has to run on a full-time basis for up to 2 years, and include the following obligatory components: Norwegian language training, social studies, and any other “measures that prepare the participant for further education or access to working life” (Lovdata 2004/2015, p.  3). Individual needs of participants are supposed to be taken into consideration when devising a program of study “on the basis of an identification of the training needs of the person concerned and of the measures that may be useful to the person concerned” (p. 4). In practice, this often means that participants take Norwegian and social studies classes, as well as work towards obtaining a lower-secondary exit diploma that allows them to acquire entry-level, unskilled jobs or to enter upper-­ secondary education (Dahl et al. 2018). The government target for employment or placement in education upon exit from the program is 70% of all previous participants; in reality, about 60% find a job or enter an education program (Statistics Norway 2016). Norwegian language training has a central place in the Introduction Program, yet English as the main foreign language of Norway is not explicitly mentioned. For example, in the description of individual plans, general language competence and previous Norwegian training are specifically named as potentially important factors, but previous knowledge of English is not mentioned. Among possible individual elements specifically listed in the program are the lower-secondary exit diploma, upper secondary education, or higher education. Only the latter specifies requirements for language competence; in order to qualify for admission to Norwegian higher education, individuals must either have completed Norwegian education (lower secondary education for Norwegian, and upper secondary for English), or they must pass one of a number of specified language tests. Additionally, special programs for refugees with academic backgrounds exist (IMDi 2018). These include various options for individual supervision and mentoring, special courses for completing degrees, and Norwegian academic language training. However, none of these options focuses on English as an academic language. In short, English is generally only part of the Introduction Program insofar as it is a compulsory subject in the Norwegian school system.

2.3  The Roles and Status of English in Norway The official languages of Norway are the majority language Norwegian, with its two written standards of Bokmål and Nynorsk, and spoken by the vast majority of the population, and the two minority languages Sami and Norwegian Sign Language. However, English is also ubiquitous in the Norwegian society through sources such as television, movies, music, and advertising; in fact, it is so widespread that the Norwegian Language Council has expressed concern over the decrease in range in domains where Norwegian is employed (Språkrådet 2017a). In particular, with new forms of media such as streaming and YouTube, English is increasingly present

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even in the lives of very young children in Norway (cf. TNS Kantar 2017). Norwegian children currently acquire English from the first grade in elementary school, and it remains an obligatory subject through the first year of high school. English levels in Norway are consistently found to be among the highest in the world (EF 2018), and already more than two decades ago, Phillipson (1992) argued that English should be considered a second rather than a foreign language in the Nordic countries. English is particularly important in higher education in Norway, where required course readings tend to be in English. A survey by the Norwegian Language Council at three Norwegian universities in 2017, for example, found that nearly 100% of readings were in English already in the first year of bachelor’s programs in a number of disciplines ranging from bioscience to philosophy (Språkrådet 2017b). It is also increasingly common for teaching to take place in English, especially at master’s levels. Consequently, the situation at Norwegian universities is often referred to as one of “parallel language use,” and there is a widespread concern about the future of Norwegian as an academic language (cf. Schwach and Elken 2018). In most professions, Norwegian is the main language of communication, and Schwach and Elken (2018) found that employers ranked Norwegian proficiency as the most vital qualification in applicants, alongside teamwork skills and practical experience. However, English is also considered central, although other foreign languages, notably German, can play an important role in some professions as well, for example business. With it being the global lingua franca, English is particularly relevant to work that requires international communication, and it has even gained the status of the official corporate language at some Norwegian companies (Awedyk 2009).

2.4  D  ominant Language Constellation as a Research Paradigm The notion of a dominant language constellation (DLC), which originated from and which pertains to the study of multilingualism, assumes that both individuals and societies utilize a few languages, usually no more than three, to meet all of their linguistic needs (Aronin 2016, 2020; Aronin and Ó Laoire 2004; Aronin and Singleton 2012). Although individuals and communities may have full or partial knowledge of other languages as a part of their linguistic repertoire, the languages that comprise the DLC are “the vehicle languages which stand out as being of prime importance” (Aronin and Singleton 2012, p.  62). DLCs are not stable but may evolve and fluctuate as a result of political changes (e.g., the recent shifts and emergence of new nations, and with them “new” languages, in the Balkan region); group and individual migration (e.g., the recent waves of refugees from Syria and Eritrea to Western countries); and new life circumstances (e.g., marrying a person who speaks a different language). As a result, a language may exit a DLC and be replaced

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by another language, or the balance among the different languages within the DLC may shift. DLC is well-suited as a research paradigm to examine questions pertaining to language policy (Lo Bianco 2020; Vetter this volume, “Language Education Policy Through a DLC lens: The Case of Urban Multilingualism”), including ideologies and education for refugees. For instance, DLC can be used to compare individual language use of a refugee or a refugee group and communal language use of the country of settlement to determine what language education options should be provided for refugees. Further, it is useful to examine DLC configurations in the country of resettlement that provide the best education and employment opportunities to ensure that access to these languages is provided to refugees as an essential component of their successful integration and financial independence. As Aronin and Singleton (2012) attest, “command of the ‘right’ constellation of languages in the right time and place can constitute a career advantage” (p. 94). Likewise, it is important to investigate which DLCs are sanctioned and promoted by the state, local communities, and educational institutions that serve refugee populations. This can include both support for home and minority languages as well as access to bilingual or multilingual education in countries with several official languages, and foreign language education in contexts such as Europe, where the European Commission stresses the importance of proficiency in at least three European languages for each individual.

3  Methods 3.1  Research Question It appears that certain languages and DLCs are correlated with social, educational, and financial advantages in Norway, and a lack of competence in these languages may hinder access to better employment and educational options. Thus, the research question of the present chapter is: What are the relationships between the actual and imagined DLCs of refugees to Norway with the majority communal DLC in Norway and the imagined DLCs that are envisioned for refugees by the government, educational institutions, and communities of settlement?

3.2  Sources of Data The study presented in this chapter employed a mixed-methods approach. The first group of data sources included official websites that serve the needs of the refugee population in Norway, and which were examined with regards to languages which they employ; information about the languages of instruction used at Norwegian

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institutions of higher education; and language skills listed as required or desirable in a sample pool of job advertisements. This information was then used as a basis to represent the majority communal DLC in Norway and the DLC that is envisioned for the refugees by the government. In addition, data obtained from interviews with teachers and administrators working in two refugee education programs, and questionnaires obtained from adult-refugee students in those two programs were used to establish the ideal DLCs imagined by refugees themselves, as well as the DLCs that are envisioned for them by local educational institutions and communities of settlement. These data come from a larger project that examined the available and preferred educational and career paths for refugees in two rural communities in Norway (Dahl et al. 2018), referred to in the project using the pseudonyms Laksvær and Storbu. In this chapter, we only present the data that illustrates the language profiles of the refugee students in the study and the views concerning the importance of English and Norwegian.

4  Results 4.1  Majority Communal DLC in Norway Websites Serving Refugees A survey of websites serving refugees to Norway was conducted as a part of this project, including a brief overview of each website’s mission or goals and the language(s) in which it is available (see Table 1). Between August and November 2018, we examined the most important government websites and one non-­ government organization, as well as a few selected municipality and language learning websites. The government websites, namely Skills Norway, the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI), and the Directorate of Integration and Diversity (IMDi) are available in English and Norwegian, usually the Bokmål variety, although the UDI website can also be accessed in the Nynorsk variety. The Website of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is only available in English. Finally, New in Norway, which is run by IMDi, is mainly accessible in Norwegian and English, but some information targeted at work immigrants is also offered in Polish, German, and Lithuanian. Skills Norway, which gives an overview of the Introduction Program for refugees and provides information about language and social studies tests required for permanent residence and citizenship, also lists links to websites that provide language learning services. We randomly selected two that offer some free learning materials, namely Learn NoW and Skapago. These websites have explanations, instructions, and glossaries in a few different languages, including Polish, Spanish, Tigrinya, and Arabic. It appears, therefore, that they aim to serve work immigrants as well as refugee-background migrants. Many of the remaining websites required registration and a fee and were therefore not included in the analysis.

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Table 1  Language use on websites serving the needs of the refugee population Website Skills Norway

Summary of content and purpose Skills Norway promotes access to and participation in adult education. It provides information about the Introduction Program and formal language requirements for refugees. UDI is responsible for all applications for asylum, residency, Norwegian citizenship, and visas to Norway, for reception centers for Directorate of asylum seekers, and for returning those who have had their Immigration application for asylum denied to the country of origin. (UDI) IMDi is responsible for settling refugees; it contributes to Directorate of qualifying immigrants for work and education, follows up the Integration and Diversity (IMDi) Introduction Act, contributes to a dialog between the majority population and minorities, prevents and combats forced marriages, and promotes the development of knowledge in the field of integration. The website of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs lists Norwegian the pages for the embassies, permanent missions of the Ministry of Norwegian foreign service, and the countries with which Foreign Affairs Norway has diplomatic relations. New in Norway New in Norway provides useful information for new immigrants to Norway, including taxes, housing, education, work and qualifications, health, and transport and other services. The website is intended for work and family migrants, but the information it provides may be useful for refugees. The website is available in Norwegian and English, but basic information for work immigrants is also provided in Polish, German, and Lithuanian. Learn NoW Learn Norwegian on the Web is a free online beginner’s Norwegian course developed by the Department of Language and Literature at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

Skapago

Skapago offers a free online Norwegian course for beginners based on a simple novel.

Trondheim Municipality

Trondheim Municipality website contains information about public services such as schools, kindergartens, libraries, and civil marriage ceremonies. Some basic information about Norwegian language and civics courses is also provided on the website. Oslo Municipality website contains information about public services such as schools, kindergartens, libraries, and civil marriage ceremonies. Some basic information about Norwegian language and civics courses is also provided on the website. Rana Municipality website lists information about health services, elderly care, nursery schools and other education, as well as culture, sports, and recreation in the Municipality.

Oslo Municipality

Rana Municipality

Languages used Bokmål English Bokmål Nynorsk English Bokmål English

English

Bokmål English Polish German Lithuanian

Bokmål English Polish Spanish Arabic Tigrinya Bokmål English German Bokmål English

Bokmål English

Bokmål English (continued)

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Table 1 (continued) Website Ålesund Municipality

Summary of content and purpose Ålesund Municipality website provides information about health services, elderly care, nursery schools and other education, as well as culture, sports and recreation in the Municipality. The website also lists links to other useful resources such as the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and New in Norway. Voss Municipality has a special website that is devoted to Voss refugee services. Its mission is to help refugees and their Municipality Refugee Services families settle into the local community, including school, work, accommodations, social services, translation of documents, etc.

Jobbnorge

Jobbnorge is a job search portal that connects employers and employees in all of Norway. It is the most commonly used job search portal in the country.

Norwegian Organisation for Asylum Seekers (NOAS)

NOAS is an independent organization working to advance the rights of asylum seekers in Norway. Representatives from NOAS meet with all new asylum seekers in Norway to advise them on the asylum-seeking process and provides legal assistance to those who have had their application rejected.

Languages used Bokmål English French German Italian Bokmål English Arabic Persian Somali Swahili Bokmål Nynorsk English Sami Bokmål English Tigrinya Arabic Persian Amharic Kurdish Russian Somali

Furthermore, we examined several municipality websites and included five that we believe are representative of the general trend in the country. The first three municipalities listed in Table 1, namely, Trondheim, Oslo, and Rana, are available in Norwegian and English, which is also the case with the majority of municipality websites in Norway. Ålesund and Voss municipalities are exceptions to this trend, as they are also accessible in other languages. However, while Ålesund municipality appears to target work migrants and perhaps even tourists, with languages such as French, German, and Italian, Voss municipality is distinctly focused on refugee needs. It not only contains separate sections that are devoted to helping refugees settle in the community, but it is also available, via a translation engine, in Arabic, Persian, Somali, and Swahili, which are the languages spoken by some of the largest refugee groups in Norway. The final website examined is that of the Norwegian Organisation for Asylum Seekers (NOAS), which is an independent organization providing advice and legal aid to asylum seekers. This website is available in Norwegian, English, and seven other languages. These are all major refugee languages, including Tigrinya, Somali and Arabic.

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Languages in Education As discussed above, it can be concluded that although English is not an official language in Norway, it is the country’s most important foreign (if not second) language, associated with higher status and better access to education and employment opportunities. In fact, it can be argued that with the exception of degrees in the Norwegian language or literature, obtaining a college or graduate degree without good proficiency in English in Norway is nearly impossible. Likewise, it appears that access to better paying and more prestigious professions such as medicine, law, education, business, and the government sector is limited for candidates without English proficiency. Table 2 provides an overview of the languages used for instruction and readings in a selection of courses offered by four Norwegian universities. Courses were chosen from the humanities (history), sciences (physics), medicine, and social sciences (economics) to show a broad spectrum of subject fields, and one BA level and one MA level course was chosen for each field. Table 2  Languages needed for higher education based on course descriptions on the respective university websites Institution University of Oslo

Study program Medicine

Course MED1100/ Module 1

University of Oslo

Medicine

MED5600/ Module 6

University of Bergen University of Bergen NTNU Norwegian University of Science and Technology NTNU Norwegian University of Science and Technology UiT The Arctic University of Norway UiT The Arctic University of Norway

History BA

His102, History after 1750 HIS302 Historiography FY1001 Mechanical Physics

History MA Physics BA

Language(s) Language(s) of of instruction obligatory readings Norwegian Norwegian and English (recommended readings only) English Norwegian, English, Swedish, Danish (recommended readings only) Norwegian Norwegian, English Norwegian Norwegian

Norwegian, English, Danish Norwegian, English

Mathematics and physics MA, Technical physics specialization

TFY4240 Electromagnetic theory

English

English

Management, innovation and markets BA Management, innovation and markets MA

BED-2029 Organization and Management BED-3011 Research design and methods

Norwegian

Norwegian

Norwegian

English

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Table 2 illustrates that English is a vital language for obtaining higher education in Norway, as only one out of the eight courses does not require some use of English; one of the programs has English recommended readings whose replacement by another language might be possible depending on availability. An evident trend is that at the BA level, readings and instruction are more often in Norwegian, whereas at the MA level, they tend to be in English. Consequently, regardless of whether a future job may or may not require advanced proficiency in English, it is implied that individuals aspiring to obtain employment in a profession that requires college or university education are proficient in English, as the necessary training cannot be completed without it. However, as we will see, many jobs actually do also require advanced competence in English. Languages Needed for Employment Jobbnorge, an online portal where most of jobs available in the country are listed, was used as the source of information about language requirements for selected jobs in five different professional fields. Table 3 gives an overview of the job category, the exact job title, the language(s) used in the advert, and the language requirements listed for the position in the advert. The first ten entries represent pairs of positions within the same general category, and we see that one position in each category systematically requires English while the other does not; in every case, it can be argued that the job requiring English is more specialist, requiring more professional training, and is associated with more prestige and presumably a higher salary. The last six entries are all PhD positions;1 these were selected from the 15 most recent adverts based on diversity in research fields and institutions. We see that all these positions require English proficiency, and that three do not mention any language other than English. Thus, the pattern found for higher education also transpires in professional life, where better-paid, more prestigious positions, and academic positions in particular, require English skills. Summary Based on the sources of data and analysis above, we created a visual representation of a communal DLC for the refugee community in Norway (Fig. 1). The crucial languages that should allow refugees to manage their daily lives, jobs, and education, which are represented as the internal orbit, are clearly Norwegian as the major official language in the country, and English, its most central foreign language. The majority of official government websites (and therefore services) are available in 1  In Norway, most PhD positions are salaried full-time temporary contract positions. For this reason, we decided to include them in Sect. 4.1.3 under employment rather than in 4.1.2 under education.

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Table 3  Languages needed for employment based on advertisements on Jobbnorge Job category Health/Social

Job title Clinical family therapist

Language(s) of the advert Norwegian

Health/Social

Health/nurse assistant

Norwegian

Industry/ Production Industry/ Production Hotel/ Restaurant/ Institution Hotel/ Restaurant/ Institution Building/ Construction

Senior adviser climate department Maintenance/janitor

Norwegian

Cook

Norwegian

Grocery store associate

Norwegian

Sales engineer

Norwegian and English

Building/ Construction Education/ Teaching/ Research

Factory worker

Norwegian

Professor in pedagogy (infant/ toddlers 0–3)

Norwegian

Education/ Teaching/ Research PhD position

Kindergarten teacher

Norwegian

PhD research fellow in ICT

English

PhD position

Research fellow in Offshore Technology PhD position in Evolutionary Ecology Research fellow in Social inequalities in health, part of a demographic survey project

Norwegian and English Norwegian and English Norwegian

PhD position

PhD research fellow in music in context

Norwegian

PhD position

PhD research fellow on internationalization and student mobility in education

Norwegian

PhD position PhD position

Norwegian

Language requirements for employment Good oral and written skills in English Good oral and written skills in Norwegian Good oral and written skills in Norwegian and English Good oral and written skills in Norwegian Proficiency in a Scandinavian language and oral skills in English Proficiency in Norwegian

Proficiency in Norwegian and English (corporate language skills) Good oral and written skills in Norwegian Good oral and written skills in Norwegian or another Scandinavian language, and English Good oral and written skills in Norwegian Written and spoken English proficiency Written and spoken English proficiency Written and spoken English proficiency Very good oral and written skills in Norwegian, English equivalent to university admission requirements Good oral and written skills in Norwegian or another Scandinavian language, and English Good oral and written skills in a Scandinavian language and academic/professional English

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Fig. 1  Majority communal DLC for refugees in Norway

these two languages, as are language learning and municipality websites. Some websites also use other languages, albeit often to a lesser degree, which is visualized in Fig. 1 by placing these languages on the external orbit. This means that only some information may be available in certain languages, as is the case with New in Norway, which offers information for work immigrants in Polish, German and Lithuanian. However, a few municipalities and organizations may offer information in the major languages spoken by refugee groups, as is the case with Voss Municipality and NOAS. Even to search for jobs online, job seekers need to have a good command of either Norwegian or English as the most important job portal in Norway operates mainly in these two languages. Education also requires competence in one of the languages, and preferably both. Nearly all higher education programs also require Norwegian proficiency, as do many jobs. At the secondary level, English is a compulsory subject that students must pass, but at the tertiary level, English is very important as a language of education, in particular for course readings but also for instruction. Therefore, to successfully participate in educational and professional life in Norway, an individual needs an advanced proficiency in both these languages.

4.2  Actual and Imagined DLCs of Refugees to Norway We determined the actual DLCs of the refugees in the two communities investigated in Dahl et al. (2018), Laksvær and Storbu, on the basis of self-report data collected using a short, written questionnaire. The questionnaire asked the refugees enrolled in the Introduction Program (N = 20) to list the languages that they knew and the languages that they had used at school at any point in their life. The languages listed

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as mother tongue, advanced proficiency, or used in education were considered to be the central languages of the DLCs, whereas those in which the participants reported beginning or limited proficiency were considered periphery languages. In Figs. 2 and 3 below, the key languages are represented in the center of the constellation, whereas the stars on the outer orbit indicate the number of refugees in each community who declared English to be a periphery language. As all participants were enrolled in a full-time Norwegian program at the time of data collection, Norwegian was considered a central language of the DLC for all of them. As we can see, in both

Fig. 2  Actual DLC of the refugee student group in Laksvær

Fig. 3  Actual DLC of the refugee student group in Storbu

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Fig. 4  Refugee students’ perspective on the imagined target DLC for refugees

communities, English constitutes a central language for the majority of the refugee members even though it does not form a central part of the Introduction Program. In the questionnaire, the refugees in Laksvær and Storbu were asked whether they thought it was important for them to learn Norwegian and English, and whether the knowledge of these languages would help them obtain better jobs in Norway. The answers to these questions were used as a basis to determine their imagined target DLC. Figure 4 shows that the refugees in these two programs consider both Norwegian and English as central to both educational and professional success in Norway, and therefore at the core of their imagined DLC. On the contrary, the teachers and program administrators in Laksvær and Storbu (N = 9) uniformly agreed that the only language refugees needed for both jobs and education was Norwegian. In interviews that focused on the main institutional goals for adult refugees enrolled in the Introduction Program in the two communities, these participants emphasized repeatedly that the main goal of the program is, as it should be, the development of proficiency in Norwegian so that the participants can enter the job market immediately upon completion. When asked about the role of English, many of the participants explained that the jobs available to refugees in their communities do not require proficiency in this language, and a few expressed a concern that learning two languages at the same time may in some way be confusing for the students. Thus, we can see a paramount discrepancy between the target DLC imagined for adult refugees by the refugees themselves as juxtaposed with the DLC envisioned by the teachers and program administrators who are in charge of the curriculum (Fig. 5). An important limitation in the study is that we did not ask the participants about languages other than English and Norwegian, e.g., home languages, and therefore it could be argued that the DLC in Figs.  4 and 5 are oversimplifications.

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Fig. 5  Teachers and administrators’ perspective on the imagined target DLC for refugees

5  Discussion and Conclusion Refugees are not a monolithic group, but rather come from various cultural, educational, and societal backgrounds. While some lack basic education and literacy in the home language, others are members of elite groups in their home countries and hold advanced academic degrees. Unfortunately, the deficit perspective on refugees is the dominant one, and the view of refugees as a homogenous demographic “lacking in social, cultural, psychological, and linguistic resources” (Shapiro 2018, p. 5) has prevailed in the international, national, and local discourses. Paired with the nationalist ideologies that promote one-nation one-language dogma that are dominant in many Western societies, such views can dangerously lead to equaling the process of the integration of refugees into the host country with proficiency in the majority language, and thus limit their access to further education and career options of their choice. Acknowledging that educational and career choices for refugee-background adults are “shaped by not just what happens in classrooms, but also by the broader political context of school and society” (Shapiro 2018, p. 5), as well as by access to the DLCs employed by the majority, this chapter set out to examine access to educational and career opportunities for refugee-background adults in Norway through the DLC lens. We investigated the majority communal DLCs that refugees to Norway encounter upon arrival through websites that provide them with various services pertaining to resettlement and integration, including the obligatory Introduction Program, as well as higher education and employment opportunities with regards to the requirements for Norwegian and English language proficiency. We then juxtaposed these findings with the imagined DLCs of teachers and program administrators in two refugee Introduction Programs and the DLCs adult refugee students in these programs imagine for themselves.

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The actual communal DLC in Norway as well as those of the refugees in Laksvær and Storbu include both English and a number of home languages in addition to Norwegian. For the imagined DLCs, where we did not ask specifically about home languages, both English and Norwegian are included from the perspective of the refugees, while the imagined DLCs of teachers and coordinators diverge from all the other DLCs in that they do not include English. Based on our survey of educational and employment opportunities in Norway, we conclude that individuals whose DLCs diverge from the dominant DLC consisting of Norwegian and English are potentially denied access to both university-level education and well-paid, prestigious jobs. Refugee-background students may already have limited access to college degrees due to a number of reasons, such as delayed education, an urgency to enter the job market and provide for the family, the socio-economic background, and learning difficulties related to post-traumatic stress disorder. In the Norwegian context, denying them opportunities to develop proficiency in English may create yet another obstacle. Our findings indicate that Norwegian and English constitute the central languages in Norway, and proficiency in both these languages is typically required to obtain college and university degrees and as well as specialist professions requiring advanced education and associated with prestige and higher pay. However, the importance of developing proficiency in English is downplayed for refugee-­ background adults, both in the Introduction Program and beyond, as succinctly expressed by one of the program administrators whom we interviewed: “In the Introduction Program there is no English … it is about giving them the chance to become integrated in the local community, so they don’t have to take any English.” This attitude shows very clearly that there is little consideration in the construction of the Introduction Program for the actual skills that would enable refugees in Norway to pursue a career of their choice, and instead monolingual and monocultural views that forefront the importance of learning the official language dominate the design and delivery of the Program. In the Norwegian context, a lack of proficiency in English is a limiting factor that may prevent refugee-background students from entering higher education and certain professions. Thus, there is a danger that refugee-background individuals are not given the opportunity to complete an education and obtain employment according to their own preferences and abilities, and that they are instead limited to non-expert professions. This can in turn have consequences not only for individuals, their life satisfaction, and their financial situation, but it may also negatively impact families and their own and their children’s chances of fully partaking in society, potentially contributing to increased social stratification in Norway where immigrant-­ background individuals constitute a lower class with no real opportunities for upward social mobility. Such potential consequences would stand in stark contrast to the egalitarian values that shape Scandinavian countries and which form the basis for the Norwegian welfare state described above, and would therefore be detrimental to any effort to ensure the successful inclusion of refugee-background adults and families in the Norwegian society.

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References Aronin, L. (2016). Multi-competence and dominant language constellation. In V. Cook & W. Lee (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of linguistic multi-competence (pp. 142–163). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Aronin, L. (2020). Dominant language constellation as an approach for studying multilingual practices. In J. Lo Bianco & L. Aronin (Eds.), Dominant language constellations: A new perspective on multilingualism (pp. 19–33). Cham: Springer. Aronin, L., & Ó Laoire, M. (2004). Exploring multilingualism in cultural contexts: Towards a notion of multilinguality. In C. Hoffmann & J. Ytsma (Eds.), Trilingualism in family, school and community (pp. 11–29). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Aronin, L., & Singleton, D. (2012). Multilingualism. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Awedyk, W. (2009). Attitudes of Norwegians towards the growing influence of English. Folia Scandinavica, 10, 143–154. Blommaert, J., & Verschueren, J. (1998). The role of language in European nationalist ideologies. In B. B. Schieffelin, K. A. Woolard, & P. V. Kroskrity (Eds.), Language ideologies: Practice and theory (pp. 189–210). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Dahl, A., Krulatz, A., & Torgersen, E. (2018). The role of English as a foreign language in educating refugees in Norway. In S. Shapiro, R. Farrelly, & M. J. Curry (Eds.), Educating refugee background students (pp. 107–122). Bristol: Multilingual Matters. Etzold, T. (2017). Refugee policy in Northern Europe. SWP Comments, 1(January), 1–4. Hagelund, A. (2005). Why is it bad to be kind. Educating refugees to life in the welfare state: A case study from Norway. Social Policy and Administration, 39, 669–683. IMDi (The Directorate of Integration and Diversity). (2018). Introduksjonsprogram [Introduction Program]. https://www.imdi.no/introduksjonsprogram/. Accessed 7 Nov 2018. Kanu, Y. (2008). Educational needs and barriers for African refugee students in Manitoba. Canadian Journal of Education, 31, 915–940. Libeau, E., & Schacht, D. (2016). Language acquisition: Refugees nearly achieve proficiency level of other migrants. DIW Economic Bulletin, 34–35, 400–406. Lo Bianco, J. (2020). A meeting of concepts and praxis: Multilingualism, language policy and the dominant language constellation. In J. Lo Bianco & L. Aronin (Eds.), Dominant language constellations: A new perspective on multilingualism (pp. 35–56). Cham: Springer. Lovdata. (2004/2015). Lov om introduksjonsordning og norskopplæring for nyankomne innvandrere (introduksjonsloven) [Act on an introductory programme and Norwegian language instruction for newly arrived immigrants (Introduction Act)]. https://lovdata.no/dokument/NL/ lov/2003-­07-­04-­80#KAPITTEL_1. Accessed 7 Nov 2018. NOAS (Norwegian Organisation for Asylum Seekers). (2018). Rikets tilstand på asylfeltet [The state of the nation in the asylum system]. https://www.riketstilstand.noas.no/. Accessed 7 Nov 2018. Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research. (2004). Country report Norway: Language education policy profile 2003–2004. http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/Source/Country_Report_ Norway_EN.pdf. Accessed 5 Nov 2018. Norwegian Ministry of Justice and Public Security. (2015–2016). From reception centre to the labour market  – An effective integration policy. https://www.regjeringen.no/en/dokumenter/ meld.-­st.-­30-­20152016/id2499847/sec1. Accessed 1 Nov 2018. Norwegian People’s Aid. (2015). Spørsmål og svar om mottak av asylsøkere i Norge [Questions and answers about the reception of asylum seekers in Norway]. https://www.folkehjelp.no/Nyheter/ Nyhetsarkiv/2015/Spoersmaal-­og-­svar-­om-­mottak-­av-­asylsoekere-­i-­Norge. Accessed 8 Nov. Phillipson, R. (1992). Linguistic imperialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Portes, A., & Rumbaut, R. G. (2006). Immigrant America: A portrait. Los Angeles: University of California Press.

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Schwach, V., & Elken, M. (2018). Å snakke fag på et språk andre forstår. Norsk fagspråk i høyere utdanning og arbeidsliv [Speaking about your subject in a language others understand. Norwegian terminology in higher education and working life]. NIFU report. https://brage.bibsys.no/xmlui/handle/11250/2507474. Accessed 3 Nov 2018. Shapiro, S. (2018). Introduction. In S. Shapiro, R. Farrelly, & M. J. Curry (Eds.), Educating refugee background students (pp. 107–122). Bristol: Multilingual Matters. Shapiro, S., Farrelly, R., & Curry, M. J. (2018). Educating refugee-background students. Critical issues and dynamic contexts. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. Språkrådet. (2017a). Språkstatus 2017: Språkpolitisk tilstandsrapport frå Språkrådet [Language status 2017: Language policy status report from the Language Council]. https://www.sprakradet.no/globalassets/vi-­og-­vart/publikasjoner/sprakstatus/sprakstatus-­2017.pdf. Accessed 2 Nov 2018. Språkrådet. (2017b). Nye studenter møter store deler av pensum på engelsk [New students meet large parts of their readings in English]. https://www.sprakradet.no/Vi-­og-­vart/hva-­skjer/ Aktuelt/2017/nye-­studenter-­moter-­store-­deler-­av-­pensum-­pa-­engelsk/. Accessed 3 Nov 2018. Statistics Norway. (2014–2016). Participants in Norwegian language training for asylum seekers 2014–2016. https://www.ssb.no/en/statbank/table/11314. Accessed 5 Nov 2018. Statistics Norway. (2016). Former participants in the Introduction programme 2009–2013. https:// www.ssb.no/en/utdanning/artikler-­og-­publikasjoner/tidligere-­deltakere-­i-­introduksjonsordnin gen-­2009-­2013. Accessed 5 Nov 2018. Statistics Norway. (2017). Refugees’ connection to the labour market in Norway. https://www.ssb. no/en/arbeid-­og-­lonn/artikler-­og-­publikasjoner/refugees-­conection-­to-­the-­labour-­market-­in-­ norway. Accessed 5 Nov 2018. Statistics Norway. (2018). Persons with refugee background. From https://www.ssb.no/en/flyktninger/. Accessed 25 Sept 2018. Summers, H. (2016). Language barrier leaves refugees facing struggle to rebuild their lives. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/nov/16/language-­barrier-­refugees-­ english-­classes-­integration-­esol. Accessed 2 Nov 2018. TNS Kantar. (2017). Mediebarn 2017 [Media children 2017]. http://www.sprakradet.no/globalassets/vi-­og-­vart/rapporterog-­undersokelser/mediebarn-­2017-­rapport.pdf. Accessed 2 Nov 2018. UDI (Norwegian Directorate of Immigration). (2018a). Resettlement refugees (quota refugees). https://www.udi.no/en/word-­definitions/resettlement-­refugees/. Accessed 7 Nov 2018. UDI (Norwegian Directorate of Immigration). (2018b). Applying for protection (asylum) in Norway. https://www.udi.no/en/want-­to-­apply/protection-­asylum/protection-­asylum-­in-­ norway/. Accessed 7 Nov 2018. Warriner, D. S. (2007). Language learning and the politics of belonging: Sudanese women refugees becoming and being “American”. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 38, 343–359. Anna Krulatz  is Professor of English at the Faculty of Teacher Education at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway, where she works with pre- and inservice EFL teachers. Her research focuses on multilingualism with English, pragmatic development in adult language learners, content-­based instruction, and language teacher education. Anne Dahl  is Associate Professor of English linguistics at the Department of Language and Literature at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, where she teaches courses in linguistics and language acquisition. Her research focuses on second and third language acquisition from both theoretical and applied perspectives, including perspectives on English as a global language and the role of English in Norway.

Part II

Dominant Language Constellations in Teacher Training

Embracing Multilingualism in Teaching Practicum in Finland? DLC as a Tool for Uncovering Individual and Institutional Multilingualism Mikaela Björklund and Siv Björklund

Abstract  Finland is constitutionally bilingual and there are several small minority languages. With recent migration from different parts of the world, the linguistic environment has become even more diversified. National curricula take linguistic diversity among the pupils into consideration and stress the importance of supporting pupils’ language awareness and linguistic identities. Hence, it becomes interesting to explore what affordances teacher education offers, in this article limited to schools that offer pre-service teaching practicum. In search for language constellations that dominate at both individual and institutional levels, we have formulated our research questions based upon the assumption that Finnish, Swedish and English are likely to form quite a strong and stable DLC, and we are therefore interested in relations shown within the DLC, within individual and institutional perceptions of the DLC, and between the DLC and other languages as potential linguistic affordances. The results show that the constellation of dominant languages remains rather stable among individuals and institutions in the studied sample, whereas the affordances identified both at individual and institutional levels vary in relation to the individual awareness, professed interest and classes taught by the respondents. The results thus indicate that the affordances provided at the two studied Finnish teacher training schools are not fully explored. Keywords  Multilingualism · Dominant language constellation(s) · Affordances · Teacher education · Finland

M. Björklund (*) · S. Björklund Åbo Akademi University, Vaasa, Finland e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 L. Aronin, E. Vetter (eds.), Dominant Language Constellations Approach in Education and Language Acquisition, Educational Linguistics 51, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70769-9_7

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1  Introduction to the DLC Concept and Context Early studies of Dominant Language Constellations (DLCs) position DLC as a concept of its own that can be separated from the more cognitively oriented concept of multi-competence (for multi-competence, see e.g. Cook 1992, 2016) and the more identification-based concept of bi- and multilinguality (for terms, see e.g. Hamers and Blanc 1989; Grosjean 1992; Aronin and Ó Laoire 2004). Though both of these concepts may be viewed as constituents within DLCs, DLC defined as a set “of the person’s most expedient languages, functioning as an entire unit and enabling an individual to meet all their needs in a multilingual environment” (Aronin 2019, p.  240, see also Aronin 2016) paves the way for a more dependent relationship between the individual and the environment. This interdependence is also explicitly expressed in research on DLC. Cook (2016, p. 10) states that DLC “conceptualises the relationship between the languages of multi-competence in the individual and in the community as a constellation of inner circle languages”, while Aronin (2019, p.  240) defines DLC as a concept “that also refers to groups and communities”. Following Aronin’s definition, in our previous study on DLCs within the domain of teacher education, we (Björklund et al. 2020) started to investigate what patterns of DLCs emerge at societal (national) and individual level and how these patterns match each other. The study was based upon two different sets of data. DLC data for the individual level consisted of the voices of four student teachers, whereas, for the national level, the two most recent Finnish national core curricula for basic education (National Board of Education 2004, 2014) were used for an analysis of language-­specific descriptors for languages taught in Finnish basic education. The descriptors serve as indicators of how the Finnish society positions the use and mastery of different languages in relation to each other. The positioning of languages taught at school and the expected level of mastery in each language, prescribed in national core curricula, are naturally strong indicators of what languages are at the forefront in the Finnish society, which inherently affects teacher education nationally. However, there are also other contexts than the macrolevel ‘national level’ that may influence individual DLCs, i.e. meso levels, such as regional and institutional levels. Therefore, in this article we continue to explore the relationship between the individual and the community at the institutional level. As a meso level, we find that the institutional level within teacher education is especially interesting since our institutional framework is regionally based in a long-established bilingual area of Finland and the institution is the only Swedish-medium teacher education university in Finland. Thus, our focus continues to be educational but now the aim is an explorative case study on how institutional DLCs can be used and connected to individual ones. More specifically, we have chosen to focus on two teacher training schools connected to Swedish-medium teacher education in Finland. Our idea is that identifying DLCs also on the institutional level, based upon the perceptions of different individuals in different positions within an institution, will be a useful tool for uncovering layers of DLCs also in organisations. Furthermore, it can also reveal possible tensions between

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individual DLCs and institutional DLCs or highlight possible affordances for enhancement of multilingualism within the institution and the individual. We start by briefly outlining the different levels of context relevant for our study and then present each context level from a language perspective. This section is followed by a discussion of the relationship between context and affordances, since we have chosen an affordances-perspective in our analysis of individual and institutional DLCs within the teaching practicum which is part of the teacher education programmes at Åbo Akademi University.

2  Contextual Levels for the Study of DLCs In the light of our first study on DLC (Björklund et  al. 2020) we have come to realise that the national and individual levels can be identified in different ways and serve as a means for raising awareness and a point of departure for further development of student teachers. However, we also learnt that there are other contexts that most likely contribute to different DLC constellations. In addition to the previously studied levels, we hence identify the regional and institutional levels (Fig. 1) but will mainly centre on the institutional level in this contribution. It would of course also be relevant to explore whether it is possible to identify DLCs at other levels of society. One of the advantages of having an institutional DLC or DLCs would include substantial presence of ‘sure-fire’ affordances (i.e. affordances “such that the manifestation follows the triggering circumstances with certainty” (Scarantino 2003, p. 959)) and probabilistic affordances for languages in this institution. Taking both types of affordances into account will naturally improve the educational output and the functioning of this institution. In our contextual framework the national level is Finland, which is a bilingual country by constitution, with two national languages; Finnish (87.3%) and Swedish (5.2%). Other languages amount to 7.5% of the total population (Official Statistics Finland 2020) and this percentage also means that Finland is one of the least Fig. 1  Possible contextual levels for the study of DLCs

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multilingual and multicultural countries of the Nordic countries (cf. e.g. Björklund et al. 2013). It is worth pointing out that the national objectives for mother tongue instruction for immigrant children were not passed until 1987 in Finland, a decade later than in most other Nordic countries. Nevertheless, the number of languages spoken in Finland is today estimated to approximately 150. We also want to mention that English is considered a ‘third’ national language due to its status as a global lingua franca (Leppänen et al. 2008; cf. Björklund et al. 2020). Due to the constitutional bilingual status, Finland has two parallel educational systems, separated by language of education only, since the national curricula are considered identical, even though there are some de facto differences e.g. in the descriptions of educational targets for the L1-teaching of the two national languages Finnish and Swedish (see Björklund et al. 2020). In addition to the discourses on L1-teaching, the most recent national core curriculum (National Board of Education 2014) also includes discourses of “awakening to languages” (for concept, see Candelier 2008) with the reoccurring and relatively frequent use of concepts such as ‘diversity’, ‘multilingualism’, ‘language  awareness’ and ‘parallel use of various languages’. A changed focus in national core curricula is clearly manifested in a comparative terminology analysis between the 2004 and 2014 curriculum for basic education, where the terms ‘multilingual’ and ‘multilingualism’ are not used in 2004 but are mentioned 97 times in 2014 (West 2016). Similarly, concepts related to language awareness occur 125 times in the 2014 curriculum in contrast to 3 times in 2004 (West 2016). These trends are valid for both the Swedish and Finnish versions of the curriculum. Consequently, the core curriculum sets out the norm to consider cultural diversity as a fundamentally positive resource. It reminds the reader that each community and community member is multilingual, points out the naturalness in parallel use of various languages in the school’s daily life and makes sure that the key importance of language for learning, interaction, cooperation as well as for the building of identities and socialisation is understood (National Board of Education 2014). The objectives in the national curriculum for basic education in Finland thus clearly require all teachers to support the development of linguistic and cultural awareness among their pupils. Even though this is the case, several national developmental projects have shown a lack of awareness and even hesitance to employ culturally sustaining teaching practices (e.g. Slotte-Lüttge and Forsman 2013; Björklund 2013; Alisaari et  al. 2019) and are now working on a change within teacher education programmes and comprehensive education (for local institutional actions, see below). The region of Ostrobothnia is situated along the west coast of Finland. In this region the division between the two national languages is very different from the national one, outlined above. Of the almost 181,000 inhabitants in the region, the Swedish speakers represent the largest linguistic group with 49.6% of the population, the Finnish speakers are 44% and other languages are spoken as first language by 6.5% (Regional Council of Ostrobothnia 2018). In the region the proportion of languages other than Swedish and Finnish in the different municipalities varies between 0.8% and 14.2%. The regional capital city Vaasa is a bilingual city with

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more than 67,000 inhabitants. 68.6% of the population in Vaasa are registered as Finnish speakers and 22.8% as Swedish speakers, while the group of speakers of other languages are 8.5% (Regional Council of Ostrobothnia 2018). The bilingualism of the city has remained relatively stable for decades, whereas there has been an increase during the 2000s in the number of speakers of other languages than the national ones. There are at present 120 nationalities speaking 94 different languages in Vaasa (Björklund 2017). The institutional level comprises the only Swedish-medium university in Finland, Åbo Akademi University that has two campuses, one in Turku and one in Vaasa. The Faculty of Education and Welfare Studies is situated at the Vaasa campus. The faculty educates a broad scope of teachers for the need of Swedish-medium education in Finland, and is, furthermore, since the autumn of 2018 the only education institution that caters for the need of teacher education within Swedish language immersion in Finland (for Swedish immersion teacher education, see e.g. Peltoniemi and Bergroth 2020). The scope of teachers educated on a yearly basis comprise pre-­ school teachers, primary school teachers, special needs education teachers, language immersion teachers, and subject teachers for lower and upper secondary education. The growing linguistic and cultural diversity in mainstream classrooms in Finland and issues related to a multicultural society are stressed as national focal points in teacher education (Ministry of Education and Culture 2016; Hellgren et al. 2019), which also impact teacher education programmes at Åbo Akademi University. At present, there are research projects at the Faculty addressing both teacher educators and student teachers to better prepare for cultural and linguistic diversity in schools. On the national level, the Faculty is part of the project Diversity in Education (2020) that aims to develop culturally sustaining and linguistically responsive pedagogy in Finland and to increase awareness among teacher educators working with pre-service teachers. On a European level, the Faculty is the main coordinator of the project Linguistically sensitive teaching in all classrooms (2020), of which  the envisaged outcome is to find a model for renewed initial teacher education curriculum for supportive and empowering multilingual pedagogies. In these and other similar projects on teacher education, the identification of DLC is crucially relevant for language aware and multilingual pedagogies to evolve. All teacher education programmes in Finland are five-year Master’s level programmes, with the exception of pre-school teacher education, which is a three-year Bachelors’ programme. Educational theory and practicum are intertwined throughout the programme and allow student teachers to begin practice teaching as early as possible. For basic education, four mandatory teaching practices (introductory, basic, subject-oriented and final practice), progressing from year 2 to year 5, are included. All four teaching practices are guided and mainly implemented in so-­ called teacher training schools that are attached to or nominated for this purpose by the universities. These schools have specially trained teachers who can mentor and guide student teachers. Guidance involves e.g. supervision of student teachers giving lessons, guidance discussion, and familiarisation with school-related tasks and responsibilities (Ministry of Education and Culture 2016). In our search of institutional-­level DLCs in teacher education we find that teachers specially trained

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for guiding student teachers into a future profession are in a key position for the development of linguistically sensitive teaching, where awareness of DLCs are part of this multicompetence. The two schools representing the institutional level in our study are both situated in Ostrobothnia and form parts of the teacher education programme insofar that they welcome student teachers during their practice periods. The participants of this study work in these two schools and hence represent the individual level.

3  Contextual Levels from an Affordances Perspective Today the concept of affordance is widely used in research on language learning and teaching, but it has predominantly been focusing on the individual in a classroom setting (see also Kordt 2018). First defined by Gibson, affordance clearly establishes a dualistic relationship between environment and the individual. Gibson (1979/1986, p. 127) states that “the affordances of the environment are what it offers to the animal, what it provides or furnishes, either for good or ill” (1979/1986, p. 127), and continues that affordance is “equally a fact on the environment and a fact of behavior” (p.  129). According to Kordt (2018, p.136), “affordances offer opportunities for action, but they do not force the individual to follow a certain course of action”. Even though our interest lies in a more in-depth exploration of the environment surrounding the individual, the environment is interpreted through the lenses of individuals. By instructing the participants of our study to separately focus on languages in use individually and institutionally, we aim at capturing new dimensions on the interdependence between the individual and the environment. Fiebich (2014) points out that successful navigation through the environment is possible only if the individual perceives what opportunities of acting the ecological environment affords to us. She also notes that the role of social cognition for individual perceptions of ecological affordances has received little attention in research. We assume that the search for institutional DLCs by different individuals in our study guide them to take the institutional system into account. Given this view, emerging affordances from an institutional aspect may or may not be perceived by the individual. Thus, every individual can vary in how they are attuned to institutional affordances in terms of languages in use (cf. Aronin 2017; Singleton and Aronin 2007; Herdina and Jessner 2002). In a discussion about high and low context cultures, Tella (2005, p. 84) presents affordances as the “linguistic potential that the world and our environment ‘afford’ to us or put at our disposal”. He continues that the linguistic affordances in the environment do not automatically involve us as individuals, but it is up to individuals if the linguistic affordances are proactively used, not noticed or neglected. Even if Tella lists three different grades of attention to environmental affordances, he distinguishes between only two types of affordances; dominant affordances that are recognised by individuals and taken advantage of, and dormant affordances that individuals are not aware of or choose not to react upon.

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Even though definitions of affordances are, like above, frequently seen as a property present or not, some researchers perceive that attunement may also include affordances as grading properties (cf. Greeno 1994). In addition to the division into dominant and dormant affordances we find this grading quality of interest for an investigation of affordances as a relationship between the individual and the institution. De Haan et al. (2013) mention three qualities of affordances; their width, their depth and their height. In brief, they define width as the number of action possibilities the individual perceives in a given context and at a given moment, depth as the individual’s perception of potential emerging affordances in future, and height as the grade of attractiveness of different affordances.

4  Aim, Material and Method In the search for language constellations that are dominating at both an individual and institutional level in our study, we have formulated our research questions based upon the assumption that Finnish, Swedish and English are likely to form quite a strong and stable DLC (cf. Björklund et al. 2020), and we are therefore interested in relations shown within the DLC, within individual and institutional perceptions of the DLC, and between the DLC and other languages as potential linguistic affordances. RQ1) How are the expected three languages manifested as a dominant language constellation among the respondents in the study? How are these internal relations expressed? RQ2) How do individual and institutional dominant language constellations conform or diverge? RQ3) What kind of affordances in relation to multilingualism do the respondents’ charts on individual and institutional languages point towards? With a DLC comprising Finnish, Swedish and English in mind and as a starting point for our analysis, we have further used DLC orbits (see Aronin and Singleton 2012) as an explicit tool for thinking about multilingualism and the roles/functions of different languages at the institutional (i.e. teaching practicum) and individual levels. For the purpose of our analysis, a simple Dominant Language Constellation chart (Fig. 2) was developed as a basis for our respondents to understand the differences between positions of languages in or outside the inner DLC circle. The reader ought to note that the developed chart does not conform with the visual DLC representations used by e.g. Aronin (see this volume, p. XX) and Nightingale (2020, p. 238). In our chart the respondent is required to use a five-point star to indicate a language of everyday use, a filled four-point star for a language used less frequently, and a four-point star with no filling for a language of limited presence not yet part of the repertoire. The inner circle is intended for the languages of daily use, in the repertoire orbit and outer orbit frequency of use/perceived presence is signalled with how close the language is placed to the centre or outer orbit. In addition, the

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Fig. 2  English translation of the Swedish and Finnish constellation charts used as material for the think-aloud process (In the original versions, the singular was used for the last category of languages. The inconsistency was noticed after the data had been collected but did not seem to affect the respondents’ perceptions of the category, which is why we have not transferred the inconsistency to the present translation.)

completion of the chart was supplemented with recordings of oral think-aloud protocols. We decided to use think-aloud material to reduce the risk of our interference to a minimum while the respondents’ completed the chart and to trigger the oral description of the chart by respondents. Via the think-aloud material we also got access to the mental reasoning by our respondents and the material allowed us to make more informed decisions about the interpretation of charts when in doubt. Both individual and institutional DLC charts and think-aloud protocols were subjected to three members of staff in each of two schools (one Swedish-medium, one Finnish-medium) during the autumn of 2018. Both schools are regularly used for pre-service teaching practicum. The participants were chosen so that one of the respondents would represent a position of administrative responsibility for the school, one would be a teacher working in a classroom mainly representing the

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official language of the school, and one teacher would work in an officially bi/multilingual programme within the same school. They are all qualified and the majority of them have several years of experience of guiding student teachers. All six participants volunteered to participate in the study. All respondents were first introduced to the individual DLC chart and then presented with the institutional DLC chart. On average, the six respondents of our study used 19 min and 30 s to complete both their individual and institutional DLC charts. The individual completion time varied considerably, from 15 to 30  min. Even though the colour of the stars in the chart and the respondent’s labelling of individual languages gave us basic information about the perceptions of their individual languages and the languages of their institution, the think-aloud-material allowed us to document and analyse the patterns of language use and awareness among the respondents more in-depth. Some of our respondents, on the other hand, seemed to feel somewhat embarrassed and uncomfortable with the use of think-­ aloud protocols. Two respondents stated explicitly that they would have preferred questions to be sure that they had provided the “essential” information, as if there would have been ‘correct, expected ways’ to answer. In addition, the presence of the researcher during the recording session, though the researcher remained silent, seemed to distract a couple of the respondents. The choice to have the researcher present was made since the method was applied to the institutional level for the first time and there was a perceived need to monitor how it would work. For the analysis, the think-aloud material was transcribed, and both charts and transcripts form the basis for our analysis (see Appendix 1 that illustrates one respondent’s completed individual and institutional DLC chart). The analysis set out as explorative with our attention focused on the identification of languages in the DLC and the respondents’ expression of their internal relationship (RQ1) and potential similarities and differences between our respondents’ perceptions of the presence of languages at individual and institutional level (RQ2). After we had identified and collected respondents’ statements on the above-related themes, we realised that a description of potential discrepancies at individual and institutional level would most likely be more beneficial for our educational domain if the description is interpreted with an added-value in mind. Thus, we have chosen to discuss the results in an affordances perspective (RQ3) to uncover the potential for promotion of multilingualism at both individual and institutional level in our study and to use DLC as a constellation of languages where internal relationships are given more attention than individual languages per se. As for the affordances perspective, we are well aware of the manifold approaches to define affordances, and our explorative study is just a first attempt to identify some types of affordances that may be applicable to our results. Therefore, we interpret our results as dominant and dormant affordances and initiate the possibility of using qualities of affordances (cf. Sect. 3) to identify tools to promote multilingualism in the environment. Whereas our respondents may have commented on differences and similarities at individual and institutional level, it is worth noting that their comments are not oriented towards affordances; the affordances-perspective is brought in by us as interpreters of the results.

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5  Results 5.1  Swedish-Medium Bilingual Teacher Training School Individual Patterns The three respondents from the Swedish-medium school all identify at least three languages as dominant in the inner DLC circle in their individual DLC chart. They all mention Swedish, Finnish and English. It is evident that these three languages are used both for different functions and in different domains, but there is also a clear overlap. For instance, Swedish is mentioned as the central language related to teaching and communicating with student teachers and colleagues, but English is also used for work purposes on an almost daily basis. Finnish is described as a language used in relation to friends, family, and to some extent also professionally. Swedish is the first language or one of the first languages of these teachers, and in addition, it is interesting to note how one of them identifies different vernacular variants as a separate entity among the dominant languages. so those [Swedish] dialects are a group of languages in its own right as well, that are very super interesting. (SwT 1)

This could be seen as an indication of a well-developed language awareness but can also indicate that a clear separation is made between the different vernacular variants of Swedish and for what functions and or in what domains they are used. Interestingly, the vernacular variants of the respondent are placed in the space between the inner and outer circle of the orbit in the individual chart, but marked with an arrow, indicating that dialectal variants come into the orbit from outside the system; i.e. coming from the regional level in to the individual orbit of the respondent. This interpretation of the importance of the region is further supported by the institutional chart of the same respondent. In the corresponding institutional chart, the respondent has placed dialectal variants outside the orbit system but with a filled star, maybe indicating that there is an informal use of different vernacular variants in the institutional context that it is neither part of the professional language use of the individual nor the officially recognised and dominant languages of the institution. In a sense, vernacular variants may thus be seen as a dormant affordance in the institution, but, on the other hand, the respondent is the only one of our six informants who goes beyond traditional language boundaries, notes intralingual patterns, and views them as a possibility (affordance width). If explicitly asked, we might have got comments on intralingual language behaviour also by the others. The different placement of dialectal variants in the individual and the institutional chart of the respondent seems, anyhow, to open similar perspectives on dominant constellations also within a language, not only between languages. The above-mentioned teacher also identifies another European language as part of the inner dominant language constellation. This language is not heard or used orally on a daily basis but used daily to acquire news and retain the linguistic ability in the language.

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All three respondents have included other Nordic languages than Swedish and Finnish in their individual orbit system. Whereas two of them identify Norwegian and Danish, the third teacher lumps them together under the label Nordic languages, without specifying languages. Characteristic of all three individual charts is that the languages are placed either in the middle of the in-between-space or close to the outer orbit, maybe indicating that the languages are part of at least the passive repertoire. Another characteristic is that the languages have stars with no filling contrary to several other European languages that have filled stars, but are placed with a similar distance from the inner DLC circle. A third typical trait is that Norwegian and Danish disappear in the institutional charts of the three respondents, while corresponding European languages maintain their position in the institutional charts. In other words, the acknowledged presence of Norwegian and Danish in the respondents’ individual repertoire represents a dormant affordance within the school. This may be explained by how visible the languages are in the school. Even though both Norwegian and Danish are to some extent included in the L1 Swedish teaching in the school, they are not taught as separate subjects. Consequently, the affordance height, measuring attractiveness, seems to be comparatively lower for Norwegian and Danish, and they are not even explicitly mentioned nor included as potential affordance width in the institutional charts. In addition to Nordic languages, the respondents identify three to seven additional languages or language varieties that are present to some extent in their individual constellation, albeit more at the outskirts of or outside the repertoire orbit. These languages encompass both European, Asian and African languages. Well, I recognise all French, English, Spanish I recognise, Portuguese I recognise a little, but that’s such an unusual language …Russian, it would be good to know a little Russian, but I do recognise it. (SwT 3) I hear Arabic …but I can’t …I would really like to know it, since I have pupils who speak Arabic. (SwT 2)

It ought to be pointed out that the languages mentioned at or beyond the outer orbit by these teachers do not represent a one-to-one relationship to the first languages of their pupils and student teachers. As seen in the quotations, the respondents master the ‘outer orbit’ languages to a varying extent from just recognising the language tune, knowing a few phrases, to the realisation that some languages in the repertoire lead to quite good comprehension of additional languages (such as Yiddish). Swedish-Medium School Pattern All three respondents in the Swedish-medium school identify three languages as belonging to the inner dominant language constellation of the school, Swedish, English and Finnish. The roles of these three languages overlap to some extent and in relation to English and Finnish, the teachers express their functions in slightly different ways. Swedish is without a doubt described as the major language of the school, but even English is described as one of the languages of the school by all

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three, which makes sense, since the school has a bilingual (English-Swedish) education programme. In addition to being one of the languages of teaching and learning, English is also described as a language used by international student teachers, for parental contact, social interaction among some of the students, and English literature is available in the school. Furthermore, all three members of staff mention Finnish, but the functions of Finnish differ to some extent in their think-aloud protocols. One of the teachers mainly mentions Finnish as one of the home languages of the pupils, and a language used in communication with parents, whereas the other two stress the fact that Finnish is a language which is increasingly used for social interaction between the pupils and as one of the languages of classroom interaction between pupils. Back to Finnish, among many children, it is the language that they use when they talk to each other and it also happens during lessons. So it is that language in which they have gotten to know each other that they use. (SwT 2)

One of the respondents specifically mentions that previously Finnish was not accepted as a language for social interaction within the school, whereas the situation now is very different, more openly multilingual. All in all, Finnish as one of the dominant languages in the inner DLC circle does not seem to have a similar affordance width as Swedish and English in the school, but the statements of the respondents point to Finnish gaining more depth and height as an affordance, climbing from being not only neglected but even blocked, to being part of the social interaction where Finnish is one of the languages in students’ and parents’ repertoires. Quite a few other languages are mentioned as part of the constellation of the school. These generally refer to the home languages of the pupils and to some extent to the first languages of international student teachers. Some of the languages are taught as home languages to the students, but several of them are not taught at all. One teacher mentions how the home languages of the pupils are included in teaching e.g. through counting activities, songs etc. in the home languages of the pupils in her teaching group/s. The pupils know what languages the other pupils speak, we highlight those languages and say that…how great it is to know so many languages and for example in Maths from time to time when they can count in their own language and teach the others. (SwT 1)

The number of languages mentioned by the teachers vary from six to nine and they include European, Asian and African languages. Only one of these languages is mentioned by all three, namely Spanish, whereas several languages are mentioned by two of them, and five languages are mentioned only by one. This might be taken as an indication of the fact that it is easier for the respondents to remember the languages the people they interact with represent. Two of the teachers also identify ‘Indian’ as one of the languages in the school constellation: Well, Indian, but there are a lot of languages in India, aren’t there? (SwT 3)

The use of ‘Indian languages’ recognises the width of language possibilities in the school but at the same time it can be viewed as a dormant affordance. Two of the respondents can geographically associate languages with certain students but do not

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name languages per se, whereas the third respondent explicitly mentions one of the regional languages spoken in India.

5.2  Finnish-Medium Bilingual Teaching Practice School Individual Patterns The individual DLC patterns identified by the staff members in the Finnish-medium bilingual school differ to some extent in terms of the numbers of languages identified as the dominant languages in their inner DLC circle. One of the teachers identifies Finnish, Swedish and English as the dominant languages, whereas the other two identify two dominant languages: Finnish and Swedish. I draw them here beside each other, because I find that in my daily life I use them to an equal extent, both Finnish and Swedish. (FiT 2)

The think-aloud protocols clearly show that both Swedish and Finnish are strongly connected to both the professional roles and social interactions of all three teachers, hence partly filling similar functions. The teacher who has included English as part of the dominant language constellation refers to English as a language used for both professional purposes and a language strongly connected to the extended family. The descriptions of the other two point out English as a language used in language teaching and for social interaction with acquaintances and/or foreigners. Also, one of them mentions English as a language used in interaction with parents. To some extent, it then seems that English in the two latter cases fulfils functions other than the domestic languages identified as their dominant languages. In addition to English, all three respondents identify French and German as languages placed in the middle space between the inner DLC circle and the outer orbit, and one respondent also includes Spanish in the same space. Spanish, that I have come into contact with during trips […] we have talked a lot about it, the resemblance to French. Would like to come into contact with it more, I would even like to study it. I think it is a beautiful language but also a good language to know. And via French one sort of recognises it. (FiT 3)

If there is only a slight deviation in the identified languages used immediately outside the inner DLC circle, the respondents report a considerable variation in the numbers of languages they know a few phrases of, recognise or would like to learn i.e. show awareness of. One teacher identifies two, and the other teacher four European national languages, whereas the third teacher includes no less than 12 languages, including both Asian and European languages as well as languages spoken by millions of people and smaller minority languages. Among these 12 languages the Russian language, although placed outside the orbit system, is marked with a distinct slot and with distance to the other 11 languages. The respondent states that the learning process of Russian is active and intentional, and involves

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explicit continuous learning efforts. This teacher also clearly professes a vested interest in languages: Languages have always been close to my heart and that is perhaps why I have such a large collection here. (FiT 1)

Interestingly enough, none of them identifies any of the other Nordic languages as part of their repertoire or the languages they are aware of, even though Swedish makes intercomprehension of Norwegian and Danish possible. Thus, the potential full width of the Swedish language is not acknowledged by any of the three respondents in the sense that Norwegian or Danish would be explicitly mentioned as add-­ ons or offspring of the knowledge of Swedish. In contrast to the individual charts of the three respondents, the institutional charts show a variety in what languages are marked in the space between the inner DLC circle and the outer orbit as shown in the next section. Finnish-Medium School Pattern The patterns of dominant languages of the school follow the ones identified as dominant for the individuals, i.e. one of the teachers identifies the school environment as dominated by Finnish, Swedish and English, whereas the other two identify two dominant languages for the school, namely the national languages Finnish and Swedish. Their think-aloud protocols show that Finnish seems to be used for the broadest range of functions in teaching, communication with parents and colleagues, and for administrative tasks. Swedish is used for teaching in the language immersion classes, on signs in the school, in information to some extent, and in communication among colleagues. The descriptions make sense in relation to the fact that there is a Swedish language immersion programme taught for parts of the pupils in the otherwise officially Finnish-medium school. On the other hand, the height of affordance Swedish can offer the school seems to be only partially exploited even though both languages are placed within the inner DLC circle by all three respondents. The teacher who identifies English as part of the dominant language constellation points out that English is one of the everyday languages. The other two respondents mainly identify English as one of the languages of the school repertoire, where it is used when taught as a language and in communication with visitors. The descriptions of the languages included in the school repertoire show extensive variation. One respondent identifies English, French, German and Russian as languages taught as (optional) foreign languages, and thereby placed in the middle of the area between the inner DLC circle and the outer orbit. A variety of unnamed home languages among the pupils is recognised, but placed outside the repertoire orbit, even though it is mentioned that pupils with immigrant background get teaching in their home language, that these languages are used as languages of communication between the pupils, and that interpreters are used in developmental

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discussions with parents and pupils and that the languages are sometimes made visible during special occasions. There are so many interesting languages that I, as I mentioned, cannot list off hand, not even how many […] one would like to have them more visible. In everyday activities. (FiT3)

Another respondent has no other explicit language than English in the in-between space representing repertoire but has drawn no less than 10 unnamed stars around the repertoire orbit and explains that there are numerous languages spoken by the pupils, but also admits to not having any experience with these languages. …well, they are the kind of languages I don’t really know even know the names of, or can recall … but maybe I can draw some stars there anyway, because we truly have lots and lots of children who come from countries other than Finland. (FiT 2)

The third teacher lists the same languages as the first respondent (French, German and Russian) but adds Italian, Spanish and Albanian as used by visitors and teacher(s) of home language in the space between the inner and outer circle of the orbit. The teacher goes on to list six pupil home languages outside the repertoire orbit, but orally describes that the languages spoken by these pupils are to be seen as part of the work community, even though they are only present to the extent that the pupils use them in conversations between themselves. The languages listed include European, Asian and African languages and the list overlaps to a great extent with the languages listed as part of the sphere of interest in the individual language constellation described by the teacher in question. As for the teachers in the Swedish-medium school, the variety shown by the teachers in the Finnish-­ medium school could probably be seen as an indication of what languages they are aware of and endeavour to refer to or make use of as a resource in their teaching. However, in terms of the level of explicit focus on individual languages there is a mixture regarding the degree of presence. Some languages may truly be said to represent dormant affordances of the school and their height and depth as affordances is not acknowledged at the institutional level as two of three respondents choose to present them as a package, labelled ‘home languages’.

6  Discussion Our explorative study shows that in two schools representing teaching practicum within teacher education, the internal relations between the languages in the expected inner DLC circle are expressed somewhat differently. The three expected dominant languages Swedish, Finnish and English are clearly indicated by all three respondents in the Swedish-medium school, with an expected emphasis on Swedish and some variation in relation to the functions of English, depending on the job descriptions and classes assigned to the different respondents. Only one of the teachers in the Finnish-medium school reports all three languages as part of the dominant language constellation, even though the think-aloud

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protocols of the other two also describe that English has a presence in the school institution that deviates from other languages such as German and French. There is, however, a difference in their descriptions in relation to the ones given by the teachers who identify English as one of the three dominant languages, since the latter clearly points out that English is also a language used for social interaction and/or communication within the school (cf. English as a third national language in Sect. 2). In relation to the functions of the different dominant languages in the Finnish-­ medium school, the results indicate that there is variation between the teachers’ perceptions of the institutional DLCs, but with a distinct emphasis on Finnish as the main language of administration and parental communication, even though Swedish is equal in terms of educational use and communication among staff and with pupils. The dominant languages identified by the individual respondents conform to the dominant languages they identify for the school institution. However, this does not seem to be an unreflected conformity. The think-aloud protocols show that the justifications for the institutional dominant languages differ from the individual ones, even though there also seems to be a link between the work situation or programme taught and the kind of linguistic awareness expressed at the individual level. This is exemplified by the fact that the teachers who list more home languages among the pupils, also list more languages in the individual repertoire and/or sphere of interest. The data does not allow us to draw any conclusions regarding the direction of that link or effect but seems to point towards a connection between the identification of the width of affordances at the individual and institutional levels. With the DLC chart tool all respondents easily identified themselves as multilingual language users and were given the opportunity to reflect upon their language use. The result is hardly surprising, considering the fact that school environments known to include bi/multilingual educational programmes were chosen for the study. The respondents also readily identified their working environments as multilingual work spaces, albeit to a different extent ranging between two and three dominant languages and a greatly varying number of other languages present in the repertoire and sphere of interest. It is encouraging in the sense that the Finnish educational system traditionally has had a strong focus on the major language of education of each school, sometimes even resulting in degradation of the other national language as a possible language for use within the school community, as exemplified in the results. This does not seem to be the dominant outlook on languages and language use among the studied teachers, which leads to a more open relation to multilingualism among teachers at the teacher training schools, which in turn offers student teachers opportunities for observation of and guiding discussions on multilingual practices during their teaching practice periods. The obvious affordances offered by the variety of languages that the pupils, staff, student teachers, parents and visitors represent, are made use of to a varying degree by the six respondents, probably in accordance with personal interest and perceived task description. It could be interesting to further explore the reasons behind the dormant affordances the respondents show awareness of, but still do not make active use of. The results also show that the available affordances in these two school environments could be made use of more effectively, if one would like to strengthen a

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variety of multilingualism, something that the 2014 national curriculum for basic education in Finland for the first time clearly brought to the forefront. This orientation at the national level combined with both dominant and dormant affordances at the institutional level of this study offers promising tools for development. The environments provide opportunities for a growing awareness of multilingualism among student teachers and could provide sufficient affordances for strengthening their readiness to work in multilingual school environments, if affordances are both recognised and made use of.

Appendix 1 The individual and institutional DLC charts of SwT1 in the original Swedish version are provided as examples of how the charts were filled in by the participants. Some of the languages are hidden for research ethical reasons.

Individual

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Institutional

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Björklund, M. (2013). Multilingualism and multiculturalism in the Swedish-medium primary school classroom in Finland  – Some teacher views. International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, 6, 117–136. Björklund, S. (2017). Språkmöten inom undervisningen. In L.-E. Edlund & M. Nordman (Eds.), Språkmöten i Västerbotten och Österbotten. Bottniska studier 4 (pp.  130–142). Kungliga Skytteanska Samfundet/Svensk-Österbottniska Samfundet. Björklund, M., Björklund, S., & Sjöholm, K. (2013). Multilingual policies and multilingual education in the Nordic countries. International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, 6, 1–22. Björklund, S., Björklund, M., & Sjöholm, K. (2020). Societal versus individual patterns of DLCs in a Finnish educational context: Present state and challenges for the future. In J. Lo Bianco & L. Aronin (Eds.), Dominant language constellations: A new perspective on multilingualism (pp. 97–115). Cham: Springer. Candelier, M. (2008). “Awakening to languages” and educational language policy. In N. Hornberger (Ed.), Encyclopedia of language and education (pp. 219–232). Boston: Springer. Cook, V. (1992). Evidence for Multi-competence. Language Learning, 42, 557–591. Cook, V. (2016). Premises of multi-competence. In V.  Cook & L.  Wei (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of linguistic multicompetence (pp. 1–25). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Diversity in Education. (2020). Project presentation. https://dived.fi/en/. Accessed 07 July 2020. Fiebich, A. (2014). Perceiving affordances and social cognition. In M. Gallotti & J. Michael (Eds.), Social ontology and social cognition (pp. 149–166). New York: Studies in the Philosophy of Sociality Springer. Gibson, J. J. (1979/1986). The ecological approach to visual perception. Hillsdale: Erlbaum. Greeno, J. G. (1994). Gibson’s affordances. Psychological Review, 101, 336–342. Grosjean, F. L. (1992). Another view of bilingualism. In R. J. Harris (Ed.), Cognitive processing in bilinguals (pp. 51–62). Amsterdam: Elsevier. Haan, D., Sanneke, E. R., Stokhof, M., & Denys, D. (2013). The phenomenology of deep brain stimulation-induced changes in OCD: An enactive affordance-based model. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7, 1–14. Hamers, J. M., & Blanc, M. H. A. (1989). Bilinguality and bilingualism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Hellgren, J., Silverström, C., Lepola, L., Forsman, L., & Slotte, A. (2019). Hur hanteras två- och flerspråkigheten i de svenskspråkiga skolorna? Resultat av en utvärdering i åk 1–6 läsåret 2017–2018. Nationella centret för utbildningsutvärdering. Herdina, P., & Jessner, U. (2002). A dynamic model of multilingualism: Perspectives of change in psycholinguistics. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Kordt, B. (2018). Affordance theory and multiple language learning and teaching. International Journal of Multilingualism, 15, 135–148. Leppänen, S., Nikula, T., & Kääntä, L. (2008). Kolmas kotimainen. Lähikuvia englannin käytöstä Suomessa. Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura. Lingustically sensitive teaching in all classrooms. (2020). Project presentation. listiac.org. Accessed 07 July 2020. Ministry of Education and Culture. (2016). Education lies at the Heart of Society.  https://minedu.fi/documents/1410845/4150027/Education+lies+at+the+heart+of+Society/5c22a89c-­ de25-­4bfd-­b903-­03ec9e317fe6/Education+lies+at+the+heart+of+Society.pdf/Education+lies +at+the+heart+of+Society.pdf. Accessed 05 Apr 2021. National Board of Education. (2004). National core curriculum for basic education. Helsinki: Finnish National Board of Education. National Board of Education. (2014). Grunderna för läroplanen för den grundläggande utbildningen. Helsinki: Utbildningsstyrelsen. Nightingale, R. (2020). A dominant language constellations case study on language use and the affective domain. In J. Lo Bianco & L. Aronin (Eds.), Dominant language constellations: A new perspective on multilingualism (pp. 231–259). Cham: Springer.

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Official Statistics Finland. (2020). Population structure [e-publication]. Helsinki: Statistics Finland. http://www.stat.fi/til/vaerak/index_en.html. Accessed 02 July 2020. Peltoniemi, A., & Bergroth, M. (2020). Developing language-aware immersion teacher education: identifying characteristics through a study of immersion teacher socialisation. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. https://doi.org/10.1080/1367005 0.2020.1757613 Regional council of Ostrobothnia. (2018). Österbotten i siffror. Pohjanmaa lukuina. Ostrobothnia in Numbers. https://www.obotnia.fi/assets/10/Pohjanmaa-­lukuina/2018-­Osterbotten-­i-­siffror-­ Pohjanmaa-­lukuina.pdf. Accessed 20 Nov 2018. Scarantino, A. (2003). Affordances explained. Philosophy of Science, 70, 949–961. Singleton, D., & Aronin, L. (2007). Multiple language learning in the light of theory of affordances. Innovation in Language Teaching and Learning, 1, 83–96. Slotte-Lüttge, A., & Forsman, L. (2013). Skolspråk och lärande. Helsinki: Utbildningsstyrelsen. Tella, S. (2005). Multi-, inter- and transdisciplinary affordances in foreign language education: From singularity to multiplicity. In J. Smeds & V. Kohonen (Eds.), Multicultural communities, multilingual practice/ Monikulttuuriset yhteisöt, monikielinen käytäntö: Festschrift für Annikki Koskensalo zum 60. Geburtstag (pp. 67–88). Turku: Turun yliopisto. West, S. (2016). Läroplansgrunderna i den flerspråkiga skolvärlden  – granskning av utvalda termer. In P. Hirvonen, D. Rellstab, & N. Siponkoski (Eds.), Teksti ja tekstuaalisuus, Text och textualitet, Text and Textuality, Text und Textualität. VAKKI-symposiumi XXXVI 11.–12.2.2016 (pp.  376–387). Vaasa: VAKKI Publications 7. http://www.vakki.net/publications/2016/ VAKKI2016_West.pdf. Accessed 07 July 2020. Mikaela Björklund  (PhD) is university lecturer in foreign language education at the Faculty of Education and Welfare Studies, Åbo Akademi University. Her research and developmental work interests focus on the premises for teaching and learning English as a foreign language in Swedishmedium primary schools in Finland, Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) at different levels in education, linguistic and cultural integration patterns in comprehensive education, including teacher beliefs, pupils’ patterns of multilingual language use, and linguistic schoolscapes. The most recent research interest is teacher education as an arena for developing language awareness and multilingual language use. Siv Björklund  is professor of Swedish immersion and Multilingualism at the Faculty of Education and Welfare Studies, Åbo Akademi University. Her research encompasses Swedish language immersion, Swedish as a second language, bilingual and multilingual learning and pedagogy, and language minority research. Recent research projects focus on the relation between multilingualism and identity in immersion programmes, pedagogical practices for languagediverse classes and development of participatory writing among students with Swedish as a first or second language, and older adult minority speakers. Björklund is also one of the founders of the Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language Education (JICB, John Benjamins Publishing Company).

The Dominant Language Constellations of Immigrant Teacher Trainees in Israel: Russian, Hebrew and English Judith Yoel

Abstract  This research examines the dominant language constellations (DLC) of multilingual, immigrant teacher trainees in Israel. The seven participants in this study from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) have resided in Israel for 2–4 years. This qualitative research, conducted through a narrative method, reveals that while they possess different language repertoires (i.e., Russian, Ukrainian, English), all share a need to master the Hebrew language. This research examines how their competency in English facilitates social, academic, professional and personal assimilation, enabling their transition to Israeli society. This research reveals that unlike monolingual immigrants from the FSU, these participants have affordances at their disposal, based on their competency in English that allow them to negotiate their acculturation and assimilation processes, at least initially. Eventually, it is through Hebrew that their new identity is formed, and their DLCs are reconfigurated, and they move away from English towards Hebrew. The findings of this research have implications for the training of immigrant teachers, for immigrants in general, and for multilingualism in Israel. This research also provides additional insight into scholarly research on DLCs, their dynamic and flexible nature, and how they evolve within individuals in constitution and how they are reconfigured according to a person’s environment, needs and attitude. Keywords  Dominant language constellations · Multilingualism · Acculturation · Assimilation · Identity · Reconfiguration · Haifa · Israel · The former Soviet Union

J. Yoel (*) Oranim College of Education, Tivon, Israel Gordon Academic College, Haifa, Israel e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 L. Aronin, E. Vetter (eds.), Dominant Language Constellations Approach in Education and Language Acquisition, Educational Linguistics 51, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70769-9_8

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1  Introduction: The DLCs of Immigrant Teacher Trainees This research examines the changing dominant language constellations (DLC) of immigrant teacher trainees, studying to be English teachers in Israel, while assimilating into a new Hebrew-speaking society. All are recent immigrants from the Former Soviet Union (FSU). This study focuses on the ways in which their DLCs are reconfigured, as their use of the English language moves to occupy, temporarily, a significant and prevalent position. A dominant language constellation comprises the individual’s language use, and includes linguistic, social and cultural aspects. A DLC is a pattern of current multilingual practices (Aronin 2006). A study of one’s DLC examines an individual’s language use as it relates to communication, culture, socialization, cognition, and an expression of identity. It is “a group of one’s most important vehicle languages, which functions as an entire unit, and enables the individual to meet his or her needs in a multilingual environment” (Aronin 2006, p. 146, 2019; Ó Laoire and Aronin 2004; Aronin and Singleton 2008; Vetter and Jessner 2019). A DLC is smaller than a speaker’s linguistic repertoire, and each individual possesses a unique DLC. “It [a DLC] embraces everything that results from using and learning several languages, both in the present and potentially in the future” (Aronin 2006, p.  145). A dominant language constellation is often comprised of three languages (Aronin 2006), although knowledge can extend beyond three. A DLC is tied to affective factors (Krashan 1981; Dulay and Burt 1977), such as emotion, self-confidence and anxiety, which in turn can affect language learning and performance (Sharwood Smith 2004). The concept of a DLC is applicable to both individuals and to communities, as there are groups of people who share not only the same languages, but common patterns of language use, life experiences, and geographical, historical, political and educational backgrounds. The combination of these establishes a community DLC, one located within a larger community, as can be seen among native Russian speakers in Israel. Community DLCs can be supported informally, bottom-up, and/or formally, at a top-down level. The composition and distribution of a community DLC is related to numerous factors, such as a mass number of speakers, the density of a social network, and the strength of cultural customs. This paper hypothesizes that the DLC of these recent immigrants is undergoing a process of change, from one where English becomes a dominant language used, to one where Hebrew will soon be their dominant language, with their native tongue, Russian, maintained and always in use, according to circumstances in speakers’ environment. Investigating the use of their DLCs functions as a lens through which language use and changing patterns of language use become visible. It appears that the dominance of English within their DLCs is a relatively short-lived and transitional stage. For a period of time, it affords these teacher trainees advantages, professionally, practically, and personally, particularly in terms of socialization, however, it does not offer them the long-term stability or a sense of identity, not like Russian does or that Hebrew will—eventually. In order to assimilate into Israeli society, these immigrants will have to master the Hebrew language. While they

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attest to using mainly English outside of their domestic and native-language community environments, when they speak in English, they have already begun to code-­ switch between English and Hebrew to refer to key concepts of Israeli culture. The Russian speaking immigrants studied explicitly state the necessity of Hebrew for socialization and eventual, successful assimilation. It is predicted that their dependence on English lasts only as long as their re-training college experience does. The identity of Russian teaching trainees, as expressed in their narratives, is related to who they are as Russian immigrants and Russian Jews and as new Israelis, and Israeli Jews, but not as speakers of English. They speak English and their English is improving and they are aware of this, but it will not remain a dominant language for them. Since 1990, over one million immigrants (Remmenick 2012) (out of a total population of over just eight million) have arrived in Israel from the Former Soviet Union (FSU)—over 20% of the Jewish population in the country—and they have had a substantial impact on Israeli society in terms of demographics, the skilled labor force and education. Due to a shortage of English teachers in Israel, the participants in this study have their education, often re-training, funded by government agencies (e.g., The Jewish Agency, The Ministry of Absorption, The Ministry of Education). Thus, the findings of this study have implications for the training of future English teachers, specifically those who are immigrants, and immigrants from the FSU. Findings also shed light on the immigrant experience from a linguistic and cultural perspective, both in Israel and overseas, contributing to an existing body of scholarly literature. The findings also have ramifications for multilingualism in Israel’s strong Hebrew ideology, which has only recently begun to recognize linguistic diversity and multilingual practices. Lastly, this research provides additional insight into ongoing research on the DLCs of immigrants, their dynamic nature and how they change in constitution and configuration (Aronin 2016), as well as shedding light on the concept of a community DLC.

2  Literature Review 2.1  The Constitution and Configuration of Immigrant DLCs The concept of a verbal repertoire, first introduced by Gumperz (1964), refers to the sum of all an individual’s various language skills. Researchers have related this concept to bilingualism (Braun and Cline 2014) and to multilingualism (Lo Bianco 2020). A DLC is more than just an active part of a person’s language repertoire. It offers a more holistic view of language use. Aronin (2016) states that “a DLC is a form of social action. It is about actual behavior, rather than resources […]. [I]t is an open system […] [and is] the outcome of main life-forming events” (p. 7). It is made up not only of linguistic behavior, but metalinguistic behavior too (Bialystock 2000). Both individual and community DLCs evolve and are reconfigured as

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circumstances change. A person’s and a group’s DLC is modified as some languages are used more often and/or others only for certain functions. Change may be triggered by factors such as the origin of an individual’s life partner, the language/s used at work, and the language/s used within the nuclear or extended family, with friends and children. Individual language use influences patterns of community language use. People move in and out of communities and with varying degrees of involvement and frequency. When a community DLC undergoes change, this, in turn, can prompt subsequent linguistic reform (e.g., modification to linguistic policy). Attempting to fit into new surroundings, immigrants experience processes of adjustment. Individuals develop strategies to cope successfully, such as seeking out others like themselves, while simultaneously interacting with locals. They repeatedly attempt to locate and place themselves within their new society. The learning of an additional language is a major life change and is recognized as both a short-­ term and long-term stressor for immigrants (Pak et  al. 1992), for multilinguals included. The types of language skills required of immigrants (e.g., reading, writing, speaking) in Russian, English and Hebrew are manifested in three different alphabets, where the direction of writing and reading (from left to right and from right to left) changes according to the language used. As an individual’s language use changes, often so does the way in which they define themselves, the ways that they regard themselves as members of different communities and society, as well as the ways in which others perceive them. Issues such as inclusion and exclusion come to the forefront. Life experiences in a new culture contribute significantly to an individual’s sense of identity and to group identity as well.

2.2  B  ackground Information About Immigrants from the FSU to Israel All immigrants to Israel come on what is termed, in Hebrew aliyah, defined as an ascent to Israel (or an ascent to Jerusalem). They are referred to as olim, ascending returnees (based on the Israeli Law of Return). The very concept of immigration in Israel is ingrained with ideology. In research conducted by Remmenick (2003), she proposes four main indicators of immigration: (1) improving one’s command of the host language and emerging bilingualism, (2) skilled occupation in the mainstream economy, (3) diversification of the immigrants’ formal networks to include members of the host society, and (4) shifts in cultural and media consumption, from co-­ ethnic (Russian-based) to that of the mainstream (Israeli). This serves as a relevant framework within which Russian immigration and assimilation into Israeli society can be viewed. With patterns of immigration from the FSU spanning almost three decades, such immigration has been the subject of much research.

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Immigrants from the FSU enter a society that is mainly monolingual and wishes to uphold its “unidirectionality” (Horowicz 1999, p. X). The goal of Israeli authorities is to “transform the immigrant into a ‘full-fledged’ Israeli as quickly as possible and at any price” (Horowicz 1999, p. 5), and this entails learning Hebrew. Immigrants are entitled to an intensive Hebrew course, known as an ulpan, which teaches not only Hebrew, but also about Jewish heritage and the State of Israel, “a framework used to transmit the main values of Israeli society and its mainstream culture” (Horowicz 1999, p.  14). With some relaxation of former monolinguistic, nation-­ building ideology over the past two decades (Kopeliovich 2013), immigrants from the FSU often attempt to retain their mother tongue and culture. Linguistic challenges are also professional challenges. A teacher’s knowledge of Hebrew in Israel, even as a teacher of English, often plays a key role in his or her success or failure. In Remennick’s book Russian Jews on Three Continents: Identity, Integration and Conflict (2012), she quotes a teacher who says, “When I finally was able to tell jokes in Hebrew, the class experience changed for me profoundly. I saw how even the most bold and hostile students melted down and paid more attention to what I said” (p. 87). Initially (in the early 1990s), Soviet teachers in Israel faced challenges in the educational system, resulting from different methodological beliefs and practices. Today this is no longer the situation and many successful English teachers are former immigrants from the FSU.

3  Methods and Procedures This qualitative research examines the ways in which the DLCs of Russian immigrant teacher trainees are evolving. All participants have been in the country between 2 and 4 years and have at least a fundamental, base knowledge of Hebrew. All continue to study Hebrew formally. The collection of data was mainly conducted through a narrative method and a questionnaire (See Appendix), in which seven participants, all teacher trainees of English in the north of Israel, at two different teacher-training colleges, voluntarily provided recorded, personal narratives, analyzed by the researcher using descriptive and interpretive methods, focusing on ways in which the speakers’ language use is changing. The exact nature of this research was not revealed to narrators, for fear of observer’s paradox, and they were informed only that the researcher was examining ‘the immigrant experience.’ Each participant consented to providing data, aware that the results of their narratives and written text would be used for research purposes and would published without their identity revealed. The speakers were guided by a list of 25 guiding questions, but they were not required to relate to all of the questions, or the order of the questions presented, rather they were continually encouraged to speak freely. The researcher was an observer in this narrative process, prompting speakers only when narratives reached a standstill. Questions included those such as “Can you give me an example where you felt excluded from Israeli society because you did not know the language?” and

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“When you have difficulty expressing yourself, what strategies do you use to make yourself understood?” (See Appendix). All participants were chosen based on their status as immigrants from the FSU and teacher trainees of English, and the length of time they had resided in Israel, 4 years or less. Participants were also instructed to follow up their oral narratives in written form, sent to the researcher by email. Although all did so voluntarily, some repeated only what they had already said orally. Replies to the questions asked were analyzed for their patterns of communication in Israeli society (e.g., languages spoken), language use (e.g., language used for different functions), patterns of socialization (e.g., interaction with speakers of other languages) and their expression of their individual and community identity (e.g., as immigrants and as members of Israeli society). Particular note was made of content that indicated that the participants perceive changes in their patterns of language use or behavior to adapt to Israeli culture, such as the use of code-switching from English into Hebrew and self-report accounts of increased social and verbal interaction with native speakers of Hebrew. Attention was also paid to the functions they say their languages fulfill (e.g., pragmatic functions), particularly as related to social situations (e.g., peer interaction), cultural behavior (e.g., linguistic behavior within Israeli society) and a sense of identity (e.g., self-perception). Moreover, participants’ DLCs were examined for the roles that they play in community or group DLCs. Narrative inquiry was employed, studying speakers’ experiences via their narratives, with a conceptual framework based on the examination of present language use, language function as it relates to specific circumstances, and expressions of personal identity related to language use. The participants are seven teacher trainees, one male and six females, recent immigrants from the FSU (of 4 years or less), ranging in age from 25 to 52, and all are native speakers of Russian. All are attending college or have recently completed college in Israel at two different colleges, and all reside in the city of Haifa or its surrounding suburbs. Two of the seven are qualified English teachers from the FSU, retraining to meet Israeli certification standards, while the remaining five hold academic degrees in fields other than English (e.g., Engineering, Japanese, Cultural Studies) and are re-training to become English teachers. One participant in this study has completed a two-year retraining program and is in his first year of teaching at an Israeli high school. All declare Russian to be their first language, apart from one participant from Ukraine who identifies herself as bilingual, in Russian and Ukrainian. As a group they possess different language repertoires (Gumperz 1964; Blommaert and Backus 2013), all of which include English, but also Japanese, Hebrew, Latin, some Korean, “basic French”, “basic German” (as reported by participants) and a passive knowledge of Spanish. All possess a DLC of at least three common languages: Russian, English and Hebrew (R/E/H), cited in that order, with the exception of the aforementioned Russian/Ukrainian bilingual who stated her DLC as Russian, Ukrainian, English and Hebrew. All of the participants are fluent in English and attest to functioning mainly in English at the colleges where they study, using English outside of the college as well, with some of them explicitly noting the extent to which their

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Table 1  Participants in the study Name, (age), (gender) M. (25) (F)

Length of time Language: DLC, as in Israel reported by participants 2 years R/ H/ E

E. (52) (F)

2 years

R/ H/ E

L. (30) (F) Ma. (25) (F)

2 years 3 years

R/ H/ E R/ H/ E

J. (30) (M) A. (33) (F) T. (37) (F)

3 years 4 years 4 years

R/ H/ E R/ H/ E R/U/ H/ E

Language: Language repertoire (knowledge of languages) DLC + Latin, passive knowledge of Spanish DLC + some Ukrainian and Polish, basic German and French DLC DLC + Japanese, some Korean and Chinese DLC DLC DLC

R/ H/ E –Russian, English, Hebrew R/U/ H/ E –Russian, Ukrainian, English, Hebrew

knowledge of English and/or spoken English has improved since arriving in Israel. As a requirement of their studies, they must carry out practical teaching in Israeli junior high and high schools. Some of them also tutor children or adults, in English, as private lessons. All the participants have completed at least one ulpan (Hebrew study program) and have a basic knowledge of Hebrew. All are exposed to Hebrew on a daily basis, both at the college and outside of the college. The participants are introduced in the following chart (Table 1).

4  Findings 4.1  Evolving DLCs It becomes evident as elicited from the speakers’ narrative that English is currently widely used for communicative purposes within Israeli society. The participants consider English a bridge language—a pivot language—that connects the realities of their different languages within the Hebrew-dominant community. Opportunity to use Russian may be limited and participants may presently lack competence and confidence in their Hebrew language skills, although all continue to use Russian in domestic settings and within Russian-speaking communities. It becomes evident in their narratives that English suffices as an important means of communication, particularly as it is being supported by and improved upon within an educational setting. English permits immigrants to communicate at the college and outside of the college, in larger Israeli society. There is also evidence that the DLCs of these individuals are undergoing change, with evidence of interplay between their languages. Languages function independently of one another, and also complement one another. One speaker describes how her use of English gained her access to Israeli society when in an English lesson at school, she was asked to translate from English

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to Russian, for a Russian-speaking pupil. She says, “I was very proud…I really felt a part of the society” (A.), with her entry into Israeli society facilitated by her knowledge of English and Russian, not Hebrew. English serves these immigrants as a temporary measure, a language within their DLC that sees increased use until they are more confident in their Hebrew language skills. The role of English is important, for it holds none of the stigmas that may be attached to Russian immigrants in Israel. English provides these speakers with a sense of confidence, since its use is widespread and valued and it facilitates daily communication. In educational settings, English puts these individuals on par with their Israeli counterparts, and often their knowledge excels that of their peers. These speakers are conscious not only of their lack of Hebrew language skills and confidence, but also of how they sound (e.g., accent, educated vs. uneducated). One participant says that she checks [indicated by placing her forefingers on her temples] the same Hebrew word several times before she utters it, while another speaker admits to her lack of the lexicon and jargon necessary to communicate. 1) “When I have to talk in the bank, for example – English is more preferable, as I lack some special terms in Hebrew.” (L.) The participants in this study choose to use languages from their DLCs according to their surrounding circumstances. What influences their language choice is frequently their dissatisfaction with their competence in Hebrew. Expressions of dissatisfaction come to light in their use of hedging, as exemplified below. 2) “I hope that I am [at an] intermediate [level].” (Italics by author) (L) Frustration comes to light in comments such as, “[Not knowing Hebrew] is the same as being dumb, and ‘You are absolutely hopeless’” (A.). One person describes a conversation with her Israeli roommate. Discussing the foods she likes, she means to say ‘chestnuts’, but instead utters a Hebrew word that is similar that translates as ‘palaces,’ and her roommate laughs at her. When the difference is explained to her, she defensively notes, 3) “I fail to hear—much less pronounce—the difference.” (Ma.) There is fluctuation back and forth between the languages of speakers’ DLCs. One participant sums up her personal language preference for English, yet in doing so she code-switches into Hebrew for a key word of her discourse (in italics). While English may be her stated preference because she feels she lacks Hebrew language skills, this is evidence of the changing role of Hebrew in her DLC.

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4) “Since my Hebrew is not good enough I prefer not to use it if I can (for the same reason I was hesitant about speaking English for years—until I came to Israel and found myself in a situation when I have no other option than to use English. Now it is sometimes even easier for me to express myself in English). So, I am mostly avoiding situations when I know I’ll have to use a lot of Hebrew. For instance, I don’t have online banking (for almost half a year now), because to access this service I have to go to the bank and speak to a pkida [clerk], and I’d rather not. I suppose it’s not very adult of me, but well, I have a lot of other things to be adult about.” (Ma.) An individual’s DLC is a complex entity, unique to that individual, and inseparable from factors such as culture, socialization, cognition and one’s personal sense of identity. As immigrants negotiate a new reality, they move back and forth between languages, with language use determined by the environment and personal perception.

4.2  Changes Within DLCs, Cultural Adjustment Participants in this study exhibit evidence of a desire to retain Russian cultural norms, while at the same time, they express their desire to assimilate into Israeli society. Language plays a major role in this process. One person professes that her goal is to “try to find a balance between keeping my Russian culture and being involved in the new Israeli culture” while another focuses her fear of losing what she already knows, saying, “A biggest fear of mine was to lose my English—that it would be replaced by Hebrew in the process of absorption.” She says that in her ulpan classes (while learning Hebrew), she took notes in three languages—Hebrew, Russian and English—“to keep myself in practice.” She attempts to keep her DLC intact. Immigrants share their difficulty in adapting to life in Israel, citing difficult challenges (i.e., sandstorms) and different behavioral norms (i.e., students who [disrespectfully] eat and drink during classes). One person explains ‘rude’ Israeli behavior from a cultural perspective, hypothesizing that “Russians worry about the comfort of others, while Israelis look out for themselves.” She wonders aloud if she will behave in a similar manner “one day, when I become more Israeli…” (Ma.). The same subject defines herself as “part Russian and part Israeli,” neither of which, she says, she would be willing to forego, yet her verbal description of this situation retains linguistic notions of ‘us’ and ‘them.’ The discussion about unfamiliar patterns of linguistic behavior in Israel includes a more direct style of speech, higher volume, and the propensity to chat with strangers. It illustrates that newcomers are aware of a new reality, while their linguistic

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behavior reveals some evidence of adapting to it. One speaker’s use of the words “later” and “here” indicate that a process of adjustment is underway. The term “[i]n the beginning” is contrasted the word “later,” which imply not only a passing of time, but acclimatization, however, a separation and differentiation between “I” and “they” remains. 5) “First of all, I was shocked at how loud people are here. In the beginning, I thought that they were always arguing about something. Later I understood that this the manner in which they speak here and I also noticed that they like to speak a lot.” (Italics by author) (M.) The same speaker extends culture to the realm of material culture and language learning, in admitting that she is unfamiliar with material aspects of her new culture, and in doing so, she code-switches, using intrasentential code-switching, yet inserting a key word in Hebrew—further evidence of her changing DLC. She says, “It is really hard to catch up on all the realia (cultural artifacts), all the culture-specific elements that are an integral part of the language.” When confronted directly with the question, ‘Are you part of Israeli culture?’ hedging characterizes almost all of the immigrants’ responses, as they infer that cultural inclusion is an ongoing process. Replies include, “Sure, more and more with each year” (L.), “Hopefully, I do” (A.), and “I have noticed that I have got some ‘Israeli habits’ already” (T.). Definitive, affirmative responses are not evident—yet. Their previously exemplified, ongoing concern for language maintenance and cultural and linguistic behavior indicate a transitional period.

4.3  DLCs and Patterns of Socialization Language is an integral element of social interaction. In their narratives, these immigrants are honest about the difficulties they encounter regarding socializing and express their satisfaction when fulfilling socialization is facilitated by the language used, thus implying that they are aware of the connections between their social needs and language. Hebrew is the language that will contribute most significantly to social integration. Participants note that much of the social interaction at the college is conducted in Hebrew, and that they are often unable to fully participate. Self-declared linguistic difficulties, extend to: grasping the topic of the conversation, following a discussion, keeping up with the pace of the discourse, detecting topic switching, replying to enquiries, contributing to the conversation and understanding culturally-related content. One participant confirms this, saying that “within two minutes of discourse I… naturally become lost and the chance to communicate and get information disappears” (E.). When able to communicate and socialize successfully in Hebrew, the experience is described as “a kind of

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euphoria” (T.). In a college setting, English allows these subjects to communicate with native speakers of Arabic and speakers of other languages (i.e., international students), and with Israelis in Hebrew, but it does not contribute significantly to socialization. Successful socialization involves interaction in Hebrew. Limited knowledge of Hebrew limits their interaction within Israeli society, as related by the one participant in this study who has entered the work force. He implies that his professional ability was compromised by his limited ability to communicate (indicated in italics). He attributes his failure to a lack of Hebrew. The fact that he speaks English well aids him because he finds a job teaching English elsewhere. 6) “I did not get on well with my supervisor and the administration of the school because their English was very bad and my Hebrew was not good enough. Eventually I could not continue working there.” (Italics by author) (J.) Participants generally speak Hebrew only when their addressee does not speak Russian or English, as indicated in the words of the speaker below, by the use of the modal may. She implies that she speaks Hebrew when ‘forced to’ (when her addressee does not speak English), in this case, because he or she is not from the English department. 7) “I may use Hebrew in the shops, on public transport, at the college—when it’s not in the English department—and when meeting new people—in short—when I have to.” (Italics by author) (Ma.) The ease with which one is able to maintain the Russian language and Russian customs is aided by the size, proximity, accessibility and density of a native Russian-­ speaking community. In the Haifa area, such communities are not difficult to locate. These groups offer immigrants an opportunity to actively participate in a large and strong, stable native-language and cultural community. Members maintain contact and affiliation with others who share not only a similar language, but a similar mentality, values, experiences and way of life. This group strengthens solidarity and can perpetuate cultural autonomy and language maintenance. Their community DLC also adds increased diversity, linguistic and cultural pluralism to Israeli society. The narratives of participants indicate their awareness of language in socialization, particularly the Hebrew language, as it contributes to what they perceive to be ‘successful’ acclimatization. In English alone they are often unable to attain this. However, also present is their community DLC of Russian, which contributes in positive manner, at an individual and group level, to the multicultural plurality of Israeli society.

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4.4  Cognitive Changes in Immigrants’ DLCs Language use cannot change unless preceded by cognitive changes. Cognitive changes come to light in code-switching and participants’ self-reported observations of their own linguistic behavior. In immigrants’ narratives, they specifically refer to cognitive aspects of language learning. Learning a language of a different typology is challenging. One person observes that “[a]ll this process [of assimilation] is very difficult, but interesting. A new language definitely changes the way a person thinks” (Ma.). They make additional, specific observations about phonology, noting the presence of “raised intonation” and “prolonged vowels,” and say, “[initially] I couldn’t differentiate between the words. It [Hebrew] all sounded like one long word with a lot of sh sounds” (A.), and “I am trying to control my speech” (E.). On one level, these newcomers analyze their language learning ability based on the linguistic concepts that they are familiar with from their professional experience, using terminology like “sociolect”, “norm-breaking,” and “non-obedience to the rules”, while on the other hand, they present their practical, day-to-day challenges, such as trying to read Hebrew subtitles while watching a movie. They repeatedly describe the effort they have invested and continue to invest in learning Hebrew, listing what they do, “I listen to the radio, read newspapers, and [read/write] Facebook posts in Hebrew; I read street signs and advertisements and I fill in official documents for the Ministry of the Interior—in Hebrew” (T.). The subjects continue to function in Russian and use English daily, but it is Hebrew—not English—that ‘interferes’ when they speak. One immigrant shares her problems with lexical retrieval and recall caused by the simultaneous use of Russian and Hebrew. There is evidence of code-switching, which occurs when speakers have a relatively strong command of languages. Although they may not verbally attest to a strong command of Hebrew, they describe how they code-switch between Russian and Hebrew, producing utterances that contain more than a single language, English not being one of these. 8) “Sometimes when I talk to my mother [overseas] I have to think before I remember the word in Russian, because the word in Hebrew comes to my mind faster.” (M.) Immigrants who contributed to this study express concern about the ways in which the use of their native languages is changing, with this expressed verbally. Despite the speaker’s insecurity, it appears that common expressions in conversational Hebrew have been mastered and are used.

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9) “I haven’t learnt Hebrew yet, but have already forgotten my Ukrainian and Russian. My native language turns out to be a mix of native and Hebrew words, idiomatic expressions, and rhetorical questions: ‘ma pitom’ [What the heck? Also used as an expression of surprise], ‘beseder’ [ok], ‘haval al hazman’ [What a shame; awesome; not a waste of your time], ‘yofe’ [nice], and ‘yofi’ [great].” (T.) Cognitive aspects of language, such as unconscious code-switching between Russian and Hebrew and an awareness of patterns of Hebrew language use are evidence of the role the Hebrew language plays in the process of immigration, and their assimilation into mainstream Israel society. While such a process may be facilitated by English, even accelerated by English, the English language plays a different role in their evolving DLCs, one that eases their entrance into Israeli society.

4.5  Individuals’ Changing DLCs and Their Sense of Identity Immigrants who move from one country to another experience transnationalism, a geographical, social and cultural phenomenon whereby the mobilization of people from one place to another leads to a situation in which they then try to negotiate the links between their place of origin and their present place of residence. This is not without effect on their language practices. Russian is a minority language in Israel, but the Russian population has a substantial influence on Israeli society. This comes to light in immigrants’ narrative, as exemplified below. 10) “It is a commonplace situation that one feels like a Russian in Israel and like an Israeli in Russia. It is like having more than one home, culture, language etc., but none of them to the full. In Russian, it is called ‘to sit on two chairs at the same time.’” (Ma.) The same speaker goes on to say, “I also don’t think I would ever be ready to give up on either of these chairs. Both Russia and Israel are part of my personality now.” In a subjective process of self-identification, she portrays herself as someone who is linked to two places, two languages and two cultures. The immigrants hedge around the issue of identity, with statements such as, “I perceive myself to be a part of the culture—sure—more and more each year” (Italics by author) (A), and “I don’t consider myself to be a natural part of Israeli culture, I do not feel as if I don’t fit. I don’t think though that I will ever feel there [which is actually here completely, in a physical sense, perhaps ‘there’ in a mental one, for the speaker]” (Italics by author) (M.). One participant infers that mastering a new

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language does not define one’s identity—that identity is much more complex, and it involves how one feels. In relating this, she code-switches using key concepts characteristic of and unique to Israeli culture. 11) “My friend’s stepfather, who made aliyah [immigration] in 2014, almost doesn’t know Hebrew. He went to ulpan aleph [the first and most basic Hebrew course], but in his daily life, he uses Russian, even when he is speaking to the Israeli vendors at the market. He is in his sixties. That being said, he considers himself Israeli, and thus, I think he is.” (Ma.)

5  Discussion Language use is not without the influence of numerous immeasurable, external factors and the group studied is strongly influenced by the proximity, strength and accessibility of a native Russian-speaking community within Israeli society for linguistic, social, cognitive and cultural support. Additional factors also play a role in their DLCs, such as their participation in a program of study established specifically for immigrants. The college setting, in English, eases these immigrants into Israeli society via the English language. As practicing teachers, institutions connect immigrant teacher trainees with local mentors and teacher trainers within the Israeli educational system. Eventually Israeli society will come to play an increasingly significant role in their daily routine, and the Hebrew of these immigrants will improve, leading to increased socialization with native Hebrew speakers and further cultural acclimatization. It is assumed that the DLCs of these seven teacher trainees will continue to change as additional languages that they knew in the past (e.g., Japanese, Latin, Polish) are accessed less frequently and for fewer functions. Circumstances in Israel have also changed the way too that they use the Russian language. It is likely that the individual who described her first language as Ukrainian will experience further and increased exposure to Russian. Similar assumptions can be made regarding dialect, as confirmed by one participant from Odessa, who notes the limited access to her dialect in Israel. All of these participants are presently using English differently than they did in the FSU, mainly for communicative purposes and not only for professional purposes, and with improved competence, particularly in specific areas like oral proficiency. They have modified their DLCs, so that the English language is presently moving towards the forefront, and more frequently unused languages are fading into disuse, but all while Russian is maintained and the significance and role of Hebrew creeps steadily forward. At the present time, the immediate social networks of these participants remain predominantly Russian, and participants confirm the significance of strong, native

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Russian-speaking social networks. They access a community DLC regularly, but like their individual DLCs, their community DLCs too will change, for just as individual DLCs change, so do those of communities. Their identity is currently a mixture of both a Russian and an Israel identity, which reflects both their roots and immigrant status. Researchers who have studied immigrants from the FSU in Israel observed that Russian immigrants in Israel gradually begin to seek out increased interaction with members of Israeli society, and as they do their language use and behavior change (Horowicz 1999; Remmenick 2003). One’s attitude towards language changes, which in turn influences language leaning and other aspects like one’s identity. These immigrants relate to their identity as Russian, Israeli, Jewish or combinations of these (e.g., Russian-Israeli). English serves as a functional language, one that is not related to their identity. It performs a professional purpose. It functions as a temporary means through which they mediate a new culture and new society—until they learn more Hebrew and gain further access to mainstream Israeli society. The subjects’ narratives suggest that they are in the process of gaining new perspective about who they are and where and how they fit into their new environment. At the time this research was conducted, the participants’ use of English is likely to be at its peak. It is the language used daily in their studies, the place where, for the moment, they have the most communication and interaction with native Israelis, and it is directly related to their short-term, professional goal of becoming qualified English teachers. However, as future English teachers, there will be a limited staff of English teachers, and relatively few English speakers at schools. Much professional activity at school, if not most of it, is conducted in Hebrew. These immigrants are currently using English to go about their daily routine, but as their Hebrew competence and performance improve and their attitude towards Hebrew and Israeli society changes, it is to be assumed that they will gradually and eventually begin to rely less on English and use an increasing amount of Hebrew, particularly as their desire to be identified as a member of Israeli society grows stronger. This particular group of teacher trainees is in no way representative of the larger body of Russian immigrants to Israel, but a minority group with similar DLCs (Russian, English and Hebrew). Individuals possess unique DLCs. While Hebrew plays an important role in Israeli society and ideology in general (e.g., nation-­ building) and while the country is becoming increasingly globalized, a process which is accompanied by the globalization of the English language, English affords this particular group of people temporary dispensation. The use of English aids them in their assimilation into Israeli society and culture. In a study conducted on the use of Russian media by Russian immigrants in Israel, Elias (2012) presents a general assumption that a proliferation of Russian media (e.g., newspapers, online sources, libraries) leads to isolation, alienation and a lack of assimilation. Her research findings, however, prove the contrary—that media access does not encourage segregation, but facilitates social integration, because users are exposed to media that is oriented towards and focused on Israeli society and is centered on life in Israel. Likewise, this group of teacher trainees that uses and studies mainly in English is learning about Israeli society and the Israeli educational system,

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including how English is taught in Israel, all while interacting with Israelis on a daily basis and learning Hebrew, all of which contributes significantly to the makeup of their DLCs and significantly towards the configuration and reconfiguration of their DLCs. It is assumed that these immigrants will likely undergo further processes of cultural and linguistic acculturation to Israeli society. Likewise, their DLCs may gradually experience some movement away from Russian, paralleled by movement away from English as a language of daily communication, in favor of English as a professional language, and a strengthening of Hebrew language skills, and eventually Hebrew as a dominant language. It is expected that Russian will be maintained as a dominant language too, but perhaps within certain domains, like communication with parents. Likewise, it is expected, too, that over time the community DLC of Russian immigrants will change in ways that reflect passing time and increased contact of this group with Hebrew speakers and Israeli society.

6  Conclusion There is evidence that the DLCs of these participants are undergoing reconfiguration on several levels, with different languages being used for specific purposes. While immigrants rely largely on English now, and perceive it to be a dominant language of their current DLCs, there is evidence of ongoing interplay between Russian, English and Hebrew, and change to come. They maintain the use of their first language, Russian, because this is a way by which they maintain their identity, particularly amidst the turmoil of transnationalism. Their language is inseparable from their culture, which they also aim to maintain. In doing so, these immigrants seek out others like themselves, a native Russian-speaking community, a social network that offers them stability and support. They attest to the learning of Hebrew as a goal, but at this present point in time, the participants in this research find Hebrew cognitively challenging (e.g., the orthography, a new alphabet, new sounds) and 2–4 years after immigration, they report that they lack Hebrew language skills (e.g., the lexicon, the jargon of specific domains) that they deem necessary for assimilation. Currently, Hebrew still arouses some personal doubt and reservation, as expressed for example in one person’s fear of losing the language skills she already possesses. This is why they are using English, it suffices, whereas at present Hebrew often does not—yet. By their own accounts, English is used for a variety of day-to-day functions (e.g., shopping, banking, at work, at the college). Their competency in English allows them to carry out daily and routine activities within Israeli society. Simultaneously, it permits them gradual access to Israeli society, also to specific aspects of society, such as a profession (e.g., being college students, teaching). Being able to communicate in English affords these immigrants an opportunity to interact with Israelis and learn about Israeli society. Further professional and social development facilitates access to Israeli society.

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Their current use of English for purposes of socialization is limited, at the moment, predominantly to the colleges they attend, where it will seemingly function as a dominant language of communication for as long as they continue to study, a year for some, 2  years for others. While it can be expected that Russian will remain a dominant language of socialization, it is predicted that the language use of these individuals will undergo further modification, as their life experiences evolve (e.g., intermarriage with Israelis, the education of their children in Israeli schools). Likewise, it can be expected that their dynamic community DLC of Russian will evolve, as this group too is influenced by external and internal factors, such as the language of community members from previous waves of Russian immigration to Israel (e.g., 1970s, 1980s, 1990s), which, in turn, may lead to some restructuring of community DLCs. A study of their narratives reveals that Hebrew already plays a role in their DLCs. These immigrants explicitly share the effort invested in learning Hebrew and cite its importance for their future. They cite incidents related to their awareness of their new culture, and their changing attitudes and linguistic behaviors. In doing so, they insert Hebrew words, expressions and key concepts into their discourse in English. In discussing their identity, they speak in terms of being Russian, Israeli and Jewish, but nowhere does English figure. English serves as a temporary pivot language that allows these immigrants and teacher trainees to bridge between Russian and Hebrew, and between their previous culture and their new culture. English is presented as a language detached from emotion. It is to be expected that Hebrew will continue to increasingly move to the forefront of their DLCs, fulfilling the role presently fulfilled by English, and that over time, English will come to serve largely and mainly as a professional language.

Appendix Questionnaire Name: ________________ (First name only) Age: ________________ Where you study: ______________ What you study: _______________ 1. How did you come to Israel? 2. What were your first impressions of Israel? 3. What is your first language? 4. How often do you use this language (your L1)? 5. Who do you use this language with (your L1)? 6. Did you have difficulty with language when you first arrived in Israel?

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7. Can you describe this difficulty? 8. How long have you been here? 9. What languages do you know? 10. Which languages do you use or not use? 11. What is the level of your Hebrew? 12. When did you begin studying Hebrew? 13. Where, when and with whom do you use Hebrew? 14. How often do you use English? 15. How has your use of English changed since you began your studies? 16. Do you feel more comfortable using English or Hebrew? 17. Do you use English outside of the college? 18. Do you perceive yourself to be a part of Israeli culture? 19. Do you think that knowing a language makes you feel connected to the culture? 20. Can you give me an example where you have felt included in the society because you know the language? 21. Can you give me an example where you have felt excluded from the society because you know the language? 22. Which language do you prefer to use when you are out in Israeli society? Why? 23. When you have difficulty expressing yourself, what strategies do you use to make yourself understood? 24. Which language is the most ‘useful’ for you are the present time? Why? 25. Would you like to add information about your general language use, or how your use of language has changed since coming to Israel?

References Aronin, L. (2006). Dominant language constellations: An approach to multilingualism studies. In M. Ó Laoire (Ed.), Multilingualism in educational settings (pp. 140–159). Hohengehren: Schneider Publications. Aronin, L. (2016). Multicompetence and dominant language constellations. In V. Cook & L. Wei (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of linguistic multicompetence (pp.  142–163). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Aronin, L. (2019). Dominant language constellation as a method of research. In E.  Vetter & U.  Jessner (Eds.), International research on multilingualism breaking with the monolingual perspective (pp. 13–26). Berlin: Springer. Aronin, L., & Singleton, D. (2008). Multilingualism as a new linguistic dispensation. International Journal of Multilingualism, 5(1), 1–16. Bialystok, E. (2000). Language processing in bilingual children. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Blommaert, J., & Bakus, A. (2013). Superdiverse repertoires and the individual, In I de Saint-­ Georges & J. Weber, Multilingualism and mulitimodality. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. Braun, A., & Cline, T. (2014). Repertoires revisited: Knowing language. In Language strategies for trilingual families: Parents; perspectives. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. Dulay, H., & Burt, M. (1977). Remarks on creativity in language acquisition. In M. Burt, H. Dulay, & M. Finnochario (Eds.), Viewpoints on English as second language (pp. 95–126). New York: Regents.

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Elias, N. (2012). Russian-speaking immigrants and their media: Still together? In L. Remmenick (Ed.), Russian Israelis: Social mobility, politics and culture (pp. 89–107). New York: Routledge. Gumperz, J. (1964). Linguistic and social interaction in two communities. American Anthropologist, 66(6), 137–153. Horowicz, T. (1999). Children of perestroika in Israel. Lanham: University Press of America. Kopeliovich, S. (2013). Happylingual: A family project for enhancing and balancing multilingual development. In M. Schwartz & A. Verschik (Eds.), Successful family language policy, multilingual education (pp. 249–275). Dordrecht: Springer. Krashen, S. (1981). Second language acquisition and second language learning. Oxford: Pergamon Press. Lo Bianco, J. (2020). A meeting of concepts and praxis, multilingualism, language policy and the dominant language constellation. In J. Lo Bianco & L. Aronin (Eds.), Dominant language constellations: A new perspective on multilingualism (pp. 35–56). Berlin: Springer. Ó Laoire, M., & Aronin, L. (2004). Exploring multingualism in cultural contexts: Towards a notion of multilinguality. In C. Hoffman & J. Ytsma (Eds.), Trilingualism in the family, school and community (pp. 11–29). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Pak, A., Dion, K., & Dion, K. (1992). Personality-based hardiness as a buffer for discrimination: Related stress in members of Toronto’s Chinese community. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science/Revue canadienne des sciences du comportment, 24(4), 517–536. Remmenick, L. (2003). Language acquisition as the main value of social integration: Russian immigrants of the 1990s in Israel. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 64, 83–153. Remmenick, L. (2012). Russian Jews on three continents: Identity, integration and conflict. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers. Sharwood Smith, M. (2004). In two minds about grammar: On the interaction of linguistics and metalinguistic knowledge in performance. Transactions of the Philological Society, 102, 255–280. Vetter, E. & Jessner, U., (Eds.). (2019). International Research on Multilingualism: Breaking the Monolingual Perspective. Switzerland: Springer. Judith Yoel is a sociolinguist and a teacher trainer. Her main areas of research include English as a globalized language, linguistic landscapes, language and m ­ aterial culture, signed languages, and academic writing. She teaches in the English departments of Oranim College of Education, in Tivon, Israel and Gordon Academic College, in Haifa, Israel.  

Part III

Dominant Language Constellations and Identity Through Narratives and Visualizations

Exploring Identities and Life Stories of Multilingual Transnational Couples Through the Lens of Multilinguality and Dominant Language Constellations Anna Krulatz and Jennifer Duggan

Abstract  As international migration is becoming a commonplace phenomenon, there is a marked increase in the number of transnational multilingual families worldwide. This contribution examines the multilingual and multicultural identities and life stories of five transnational, multilingual immigrant couples residing in Norway and aims to contribute to the study of the diverse ways in which language use by multilinguals can undergo shifts and changes as a result of international mobility. The chapter employs the notions of multilinguality and dominant language constellations (DLCs) as the theoretical lens through which the individual and social factors that shape the ways in which multilinguals define and experience themselves are examined. The data set consisted of ten personal narratives, biodata and language use data obtained through a Language Use Questionnaire adapted from Fielding and Harmon (Examining bilingual and bicultural identity in young students. For Lang Annals 46(4):527–544, 2013), as well as dominant language constellations drawn by the participants. The findings suggest that transnational multilinguals form complex and multifaceted linguistic identities as a result of immigration and constantly evolving individual language trajectories. Keywords  Dominant language constellation · International migration · Multilinguality · Multilingual families · Multilingual identities · Norway · Transnational couples

A. Krulatz (*) · J. Duggan Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 L. Aronin, E. Vetter (eds.), Dominant Language Constellations Approach in Education and Language Acquisition, Educational Linguistics 51, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70769-9_9

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1  Introduction Language is a central component of identity and “constitutes one of the most defining aspects of the individual” (Aronin and Ó Laoire 2004, 1), yet increased international migration has dissolved any straightforward, one-to-one correspondence between identity, language, ethnicity, and/or place of origin. Experiences associated with moving to a new country and the resulting changes in linguistic repertoire can shift how multilinguals perceive themselves and use their linguistic resources. Accordingly, the formation and sustenance of multilayered, multistranded relations associated with “the crossing of cultural, ideological, linguistic, and geopolitical borders and boundaries of all types” (Duff 2015, 57), called transnationalism (Basch et al. 1994), has received increasing attention within applied linguistics. Transnationalism affects the ways in which people use their linguistic resources. Some languages may be used more frequently or added to a repertoire, while others fall into disuse. Multilinguality, or the subjective lived experience of an individual multilingual, is shaped by many and varied factors, including linguistic and cognitive behavior, career choices and social stratification choices and opportunities, language and milieu, and educational upbringing/awareness, as well as the range of accompanying and pervading emotions, affective states, attitudinal preferences and, subsequent to this, social, family and career activities and lifestyles. (Aronin and Ó Laoire 2004, 18)

Transnational multilinguals’ cultural and linguistic identities are complex and multifaceted as identity “[fluctuates] in the crossing from one culture to another where [multilinguals] have to accommodate themselves to a new environment” (Aronin and Singleton 2012, 38), which “plays a decisive role in the structure and ‘specifications’ of multilinguality” (Aronin and Ó Laoire 2004, 24). Each individual’s or community’s central languages are referred to as a dominant language constellation (DLC) (Aronin 2020; Aronin and Ó Laoire 2004). This term refers not to a linguistic repertoire as a whole but rather to those languages within a repertoire which are regularly and actively in use across the domains of a multilingual’s daily life. Because multilinguality and DLCs are premised on individual experience, this chapter combines background questionnaires with autobiography as a mode of ethnographic inquiry into the nexus of transnational multilinguals’ linguistic repertoires and experiences of selfhood. DLCs and multilinguality (Aronin 2020; Aronin 2016; Aronin and Ó Laoire 2004) are used as a theoretical framework to examine how transnational multilingual couples construct their linguistic identities and address their communicative needs. Exploiting autobiographic narratives and background questionnaires, we focus on how transnational multilinguals define and experience the roles of different languages in their linguistic repertoires, and how they construct and negotiate their identity through language use. The study illustrates the intricate relationships between multilinguals’ cultural and linguistic roots, their lived experiences, and their language ideologies in how they construct their identities.

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2  Background 2.1  Multilingual Families Intensifying globalization and migration have increased the number of multilingual, transnational families across the globe. As individuals of varying cultural and linguistic backgrounds establish bonds, various considerations can prompt them to relocate their family or gain new languages. Such decisions can have complex consequences for the family’s language trajectories and linguistic identities. Multilingual families can be considered communities of practice (Lanza 2007) that construct their identities through shared language practices. International migration can lead to role reassignment amongst the languages in use by a multilingual family, including adding languages, variation in the functions of the known languages, and less frequent use or even language loss. Thus, transnational multilingual families are characterized by complex life trajectories and constantly evolving and reconfiguring DLCs. Former research on multilingual families has assessed language practices, policies, and ideologies (e.g., Obojska and Purkarthofer 2018; da Costa Cabral 2018); family literacy and language planning (e.g., Curdt-Christiansen 2009; Li 2012); and the relationship between ideological discourses and family identities (e.g., Palviainen and Berhroth 2018). The overreaching goal of many of these studies has been to provide critical examinations of “how [multilingual family units] manage their linguistic and cultural heritage in contemporary society” (Lanza 2018, 232). At the same time, researchers acknowledge that it is crucial to also examine the individual voices of different members of transnational families, as they likely have synchronically and diachronically varied and “unique perspectives and attachments to their local and more distant communities, networks, and languages” (Duff 2015, 65).

2.2  Multilingualism, Transnationality, and Identity The humanities and social sciences have recently been influenced by the intersectional critical movement, which has argued that “universal categories like ‘woman’ reinforce an exclusionary norm of privileged and elite whiteness” and ignore “important matters of identity such as race, class, religion, national identity, and sexual orientation that constantly influence how all of us understand and negotiate our own personhood and how we are treated by others” (Weber 2017, 111–112). Most recently, the term intersectionality has concerned assemblages that are both “diffuse” and “incoherent” (Weber 2017, 113), with intersectional studies seeking to engage in analyses considering “a complex social and ideological world of pluralized meaning making” (113); that is, they seek to consider the complex

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interweaving of the varied vectors of identity that can impact a person’s identity and life experience. An important contemporary critique of intersectional analyses is their continued rootedness in Anglo-American contexts and, thus, their elision of transnational and non-Anglophone perspectives. In linguistics, this has resulted in a return to phenomenological inquiry and a concomitant insistence on the irreducibility of individual experience, resulting in an increased focus on the importance of identity to linguistic analyses. Aronin and Ó Laoire (2004) have argued that “it is necessary to base the study of multilingualism on the notion of identity, given […] that language constitutes one of the most defining attributes of the individual” (11). Studying how and to what degree language impacts identity is, however, extremely difficult, as although “multilingualism appears to be more complex than bilingualism, […] [these differences are] qualitative rather than quantitative” (Aronin and Ó Laoire 2004, 15) and vary from individual to individual. As Aronin and Ó Laoire (2004) argue, “[e]very multilingual possesses a […] multilinguality of his or her own” (19). This multilinguality is shaped not only by the individual’s current environments and contexts but also their past environments and contexts (25), as well as other identity factors such as gender, ethnicity, education, sociocultural position, and so forth. Globalization has led to increased multiethnic interaction, diversification of experiences of pluralism, and growth of multilingual populations around the world (Duff 2015; Vertovec 2007). For both individuals and communities, this can imply the extension of linguistic repertoires through the addition of new languages or new language varieties, language shift, or language loss, and consequently, the formation of new, possibly “multifaceted, and multilingual or syncretic (hybrid) identities” (Duff 2015, 59). Consequently, the body of research on personal stories of transnational, multilingual individuals and families, and the impact of mobility on their linguistic resources and identities, has been steadily increasing (see for example chapter “Languages as Ways of Being: The Linguistic Biography of a Nordic Nomad”, Gísladóttir in this volume; Kannangara 2020; Yazan et  al. 2020). This chapter aims to contribute to this research tradition by examining the varied experiences of individuals within multilingual immigrant families in Norway through the lens of multilinguality and DLCs.

2.3  Multilinguality and Dominant Language Constellations As multilingualism and third language acquisition (TLA) display more complex patterns and individual configurations than mono- and bilingualism (Aronin and Ó Laoire 2004; Jessner 2008), and as “the complexity of TLA is also linked to individual or psycho-social factors in language learning” (Jessner 2008, 20), a qualitative focus on multilingual individuals as an approach to the study of multilingualism is strongly warranted. To expand the focus of research beyond that of individual multilingualism, which is strictly language-related, the concept of multilinguality (Aronin and Ó Laoire 2004; Aronin and Singleton 2012) allows for the inclusion of

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other factors that characterize multilinguals. Multilinguality comprises a person’s cultural and ethnic origins, social ties, cognitive abilities, individual traits, attitudes, emotions, educational experiences, and a language profile. It is observable through a multilingual’s actions and perceptions, as well as personal attitudes and abilities, and it can exhibit one or several of the following features: complexity, interrelatedness, fluctuation, variation and inconsistency, multifunctionality, inequality of function, self-balance, self-extension, and non-replication (Aronin and Ó Laoire 2004). The complexity of multilinguality refers to the language skills, language use, and preferences individuals have regarding the languages they know. Interrelatedness denotes the complex ways in which different components of a multilingual system interact with each other, while fluctuation focuses on changes the system undergoes over time. Variation and inconsistency refer to the imbalance of multilingual systems, with some languages mastered and others used and known to a lesser degree. Multifunctionality denotes the multiple functions a multilingual system performs, including purposes and types of communication, while inequality of function helps explain the ways in which different languages in the system contribute to fulfilling various communicative purposes. Self-balance accounts for the attrition and development of different languages in the system. Finally, self-extension refers to multilinguals’ ability to extend their linguistic knowledge to other languages and language domains, and non-replication accounts for the lack of overlap between different languages in the system regarding the functions they fulfill in a multilingual’s life. To describe the linguistic resources available to multilinguals, Aronin (2016, 2020), Aronin and Ó Laoire (2004), and Aronin and Singleton (2012) have also proposed the concept of dominant language constellation (DLC). In contrast to language repertoire (Blommaert 2013; Gumperz 1964; Schiffmann 1996), which originated in a monolingual perspective and which refers to all known languages and language skills, including various registers and styles that are available to an individual or community (Aronin 2019a, b), DLC denotes “a set of languages on which the life of an individual or a society is dependent” (Aronin and Singleton 2012, 59). In other words, while a language repertoire includes all languages and language skills possessed by an individual or a group, DLC enables a narrower focus on those languages and skills that are of prime importance (Aronin 2019a, b). The concept is based on the assumption that, on a daily basis, given time and other constraints, individuals and societies typically make use of about three key languages rather than engaging all of their linguistic resources (Aronin and Ó Laoire 2004). The languages that constitute the DLC function as a unit that enables language users to communicate effectively in multilingual settings. They are the languages that “are used intensively and bear the load of the functions necessary to meet the individual’s [or language community’s] routine needs” (Aronin and Singleton 2012, 63). An important characteristic of each DLC is its particularity and specificity. Even in DLCs composed of the same languages, the functions, interrelationships, and weights of the languages used can vary among individuals and communities (Aronin and Ó Laoire 2004). Additionally, DLCs change, evolve, and reconfigure during an individual’s life span. Some languages in the DLC may undergo attrition or even fall

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out of the DLC, while new languages may be added. For these reasons, the construct of DLC is particularly suited to the study of the multilingualism of individuals and migrant families.

2.4  Research Objectives To add to the existing research on individual aspects of multilingualism, this chapter employs the notions of DLC and multilinguality, with a special focus on complexity, variation, fluctuation, and self-balance, to investigate how five multilingual transnational couples presently residing in Norway construct their evolving linguistic identities and meet their communicative needs. Specifically, we investigate how the couples define and experience the configurations of languages and skills in their DLCs, how their language trajectories have changed over time due to migration, and if these changes lead to shifts in their identities and attitudes toward the languages in their DLCs. We are particularly interested in the ways in which the couples’ DLCs conjoin or diverge and what factors impact the similarities and differences in their DLCs. The focus of the study was the emic perspectives of both individuals in each couple, namely, their perception and understanding of the roles different languages have played in their lives over time, and their insights into the roles different languages have had on shaping their present identities.

3  Methodology 3.1  Autobiographic Narratives The use of (auto)biographical narrative in the social sciences and humanities has been widespread in the twentieth century despite a lack of popularity in linguistics (Chik et  al. 2014), particularly since the postmodern turn (see, e.g., Roth 2005). This attention to the possibilities of narrative reflects an increasing understanding of the “ontological, epistemological, and axiological limitations” of academic knowledge production in general, and in particular, reflects the belief that researchers are situated and that the choice of research object and method, amongst other aspects of research, is affected by the researcher’s own positionality (Ellis et al. 2011, para. 2; see also Geertz 1973; Harding 1995; Haraway 1985/2006). Narratives are currently experiencing a renaissance (Chik et al. 2014, xi–xiii), driven by a belief that the narrative mode not only provides convincing evidence but is also more closely tied to “the lived reality of phenomena” than other modes (Chik et al. 2014, 2). Narratives—more, perhaps, than any other data source—provide a window into “the inner mental worlds” of language users (Chik et al. 2014, 2). The narrative mode is seen as a valuable source of data because it “blend[s] ethnographic

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interests with life writing” and is thus able to provide detailed data regarding subjects’ individual perspectives on lived sociocultural experiences (Roth 2005, 4). It also allows researchers to combine faithfulness to a perspective with faithfulness to an object of study, as well as to acknowledge their own limitations as situated individuals (Ellis et  al. 2011; Geertz 1973; Haraway 1985/2006; Harding 1995). Narratives constitute a valuable source of information about “people’s private worlds, inaccessible to experimental methodologies, and thus provide the insider’s view of the processes of language learning, attrition, and use” (Pavlenko 2007, 164–165). However, most studies that have used autobiographic narratives as methodology to date lack a theoretical framework and a clear analytical procedure (Pavlenko 2007). In contrast to those studies, the present study adopts DLCs and multilinguality as theoretical premises to analyze the data. These concepts align well with the use of autobiographic narratives because both they and narratives emphasize situated individual experience (see also chapter “Understanding Dominant Language Constellations through Analysis of Visual Linguistic Autobiographies by Foreign Language Student Teachers in Germany”, Melo-Pfeifer in this volume).

3.2  Data Sources The present study was conducted in a large city in Norway and employed mixed methods. Five transnational, multilingual couples were selected using convenience sampling. The researchers took advantage of their links to the local international expat community and selected the participants based on the number of languages they knew (a minimum of three) and time of residence in Norway (from relatively new arrivals to over 5 years of residence). All subjects approached with an invitation to participate consented. Data were collected using a biodata and language use questionnaire adapted from Fielding and Harmon (2013), autobiographic narratives, and visual representations of the participants’ DLCs. In order to protect the participants’ privacy, all names used in this chapter are pseudonyms. The participants were invited for a preliminary meeting with the researchers during which they were informed of the scope and goals of the project, asked to fill out the language use questionnaire, and instructed to visually represent the languages they know by completing a provided DLC chart (Appendix A). They were also given instructions to either write or record an audio file of their autobiographic narrative. The narrative guide consisted of eleven questions which the participants could answer in any order that they found useful or logical (Appendix B). They were also given a sample autobiography, organized by language, written by one of the researchers. They were told that they could follow the same organizational pattern or choose another organizational principle (e.g., time). The participants were asked to read the questions in the guide and then put them aside for a few days to reflect and take notes before writing or recording and possibly revising their

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narratives and submitting them to the researchers. They were told to use a language of their choice. All participants responded within 2–4 weeks of the original meeting. They all chose the written format, and the narratives ranged in length between 800 and 2152 words (mean 1304 words). With the exception of one participant, who decided to write the autobiography in Norwegian (Ole), all participants wrote their texts in English. In the instances when we quote from Ole’s autobiography, we provide our English translations of his text that were verified by the participant to provide truthful representations of his meaning.

3.3  Participants Five mixed-sex multilingual couples participated in the study. Three of the couples reported the same mother tongue(s) and nationality (Spanish/Spain; Afrikaans & English/South African; German/Germany), whereas two had different mother tongues and nationalities (American English/USA & French/France; Canadian and British English/Canada and England & Norwegian/Norway). The age of the participants ranged from 26 to 51, and the educational levels from a bachelor’s degree to a PhD.  With the exception of one participant who was born in Norway, all others reported that their reason for residence in this country was either their own job or the spouse’s/partner’s job. Eight of the participants stated that they intended to remain in Norway indefinitely or until retirement, while two answered that they were not certain how long they would remain. All couples reported at least two languages as central. Biodata information, including time of residence in Norway, age, first language(s), shared languages, and the language(s) of identity are summarized in Table 1. For the shared languages, we listed the languages in which the participants indicated an advanced or native proficiency, and Norwegian was added for all as the most important language in their current country of residence.

3.4  Data Analysis The current DLCs of the participants were determined based on the DLC charts they completed as well as the percentages they provided regarding their daily language use in the thirteen language domains listed in the language use questionnaire (adapted from Fielding and Harmon 2013). These included: communicating orally and in writing at work; talking with spouse/partner; talking with children; talking with friends; thinking about things; inner speech; dreaming; asking for something in a shop; watching movies or TV; listening to music; and reading for pleasure. Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 visualize the participants’ current DLCs. The languages in the inner circle represent the most central languages in each person’s life, or their DLC, whereas the languages on the orbits represent other languages

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Table 1  Summary of biodata Participants Zonja (Z) Barke (B)

Residence in Norway 16 months

Gabriela (G) 15 months Matias (M) Hermione (H) Ole (O)

H – 5 years 4 months O – 33 years

Laura (L) Jean-Paul (J-P) Johanna (J) Robert (R)

5 years 4 months 6 years

Shared languages Afrikaans English Norwegian G – 39 Spanish Spanish M – 40 English Norwegian H – 30 H – English English Norwegian O – 33 O – Norwegian German Age Z – 26 B – 26

L1 Afrikaans English

L – 37 L – English J-P – 35 J-P – French J – 50 German R – 51

English French Norwegian German English Norwegian Dutch French

Shared L1 (+/−) L of identity + Z – Afrikaans English B – English + G – English M – Spanish −

− +

H – English Norwegian French German O – English L – English & signed languages J-P – English J, R - German

Fig. 1  Zonja’s DLC

they may know and use to a lesser extent. The numbers on the sections of the inner circle denote the estimated percentage daily use of each language. The arrows indicate language shift between the two spheres. Finally, following Aronin and Singleton (2012), the languages outside the orbits indicate peripheral languages that may be present in personal or community spaces, but are rarely used or noticed. In the analysis of the autobiographies, we focused on the following a priori themes: the complexity and variation within individual and family DLCs; the varying functions of the different languages within each DLC and how these functions

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Fig. 2  Barke’s DLC

Gabriela

Catalan German

34

Spanish Latin Greek Italian Fig. 3  Gabriela’s DLC

French

English 66

Norwegian

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Fig. 4  Matias’ DLC

Fig. 5  Hermione’s DLC

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Ole

German French

48

Norwegian English

Spanish

Fig. 6  Ole’s DLC

Fig. 7  Laura’s DLC

Swedish 52

Danish

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Fig. 8  Jean-Paul’s DLC

Johanna

Spanish Italian

10

Latin 33

Fig. 9  Johanna’s DLC

5

German Norwegian 52 English French

Dutch

185

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French Latin

Robert 25

Dutch

German English

48

Norwegian 27

Fig. 10  Robert’s DLC

may have been reassigned as a result of migration; and the identities of the individuals and the couples in relation to the central languages in their lives.

4  Findings 4.1  C  omplexity and Variation Within Individual and Family DLCs In this section, we examine the participants’ linguistic resources and distinctive histories, focusing specifically on complexity and variation within their DLCs. Echoing Norton (2002), we argue that “such biographical insights are important in understanding the relationship between identity and language learning” (85). Zonja and Barke Zonja and Barke were born into Afrikaans-speaking families in South Africa and spoke Afrikaans exclusively for the first years of their lives. English was the next consecutive language for both, and it currently dominates their language use in most domains, especially for professional purposes. However, when speaking with family members and each other, they use almost exclusively Afrikaans. Both consider Afrikaans and English to be their mother tongues and at the core of their DLCs (Figs. 1 and 2), albeit used for somewhat different purposes. However, their pathways to mastery of English differed. For Zonja, it was mostly the language of schooling and, at present, is the language she uses at work and in the community. Barke, however, used English to communicate with a close childhood friend; it gave

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him access to online gaming communities and was the language of some of his college education (e.g., readings and written assignments). Since the couple moved to Norway, Barke also uses English in professional and community life. Zonja and Barke had different motivations for learning the languages of their DLCs, which, in turn, led to different levels of proficiency. The couple has only resided in Norway for 16 months, and Norwegian is not one of the languages they perceive as central. They had no knowledge of Norwegian upon immigration, and they are not required to use this language at work. However, they display quite different attitudes to learning Norwegian. Whereas Barke has been actively seeking opportunities to learn it through various apps and websites, Zonja confessed that she “resisted learning Norwegian at first” because she felt that she “already [had] too many languages that are rarely used and took so long to learn.” These perceptions of the importance or relevance of Norwegian has impacted the couples’ willingness to add it to their DLCs. Besides English, Afrikaans, and Norwegian, which Zonja and Barke share, they each have other languages in their DLCs. Zonja studied and used Mandarin Chinese for many years, including two extensive periods of study abroad in China and completing a postgraduate degree in Mandarin. Currently, she uses it sporadically for activities such as watching movies, listening to music, reading for pleasure, and inner speech. She also learned and used modern standard Arabic while her family was stationed in Cairo, although she did not report using this language at present. Finally, when filling out her DLC diagram, she also listed Spanish, although she did not explain to what extent she uses this language or why and how she learned it. For Barke, Finnish fills a very special niche in his DLC, reserved exclusively for music, where it has resided since his teenage years. His interest in Finnish metal bands has led to his life-long fascination with Scandinavia, without which he would likely never have “ended up here in Norway.” Overall, in addition to changing life circumstances, Zonja’s and Barke’s DLCs evidence that attitudes, perceptions, and interests can impact the formation and change of individual DLCs. Gabriela and Matias Spanish is Gabriela’s and Matias’s first language, and both started learning English in elementary school. However, their English language skills developed differently. Gabriela encountered positive attitudes towards English in her family and attended a bilingual school until she was eleven. Matias, however, encountered English as a school subject for the first 22  years of his life and “was not very fond of it.” Interestingly, their very different initial relationships with English—positive attitudes and fascination for Gabriela, and a lack of interest bordering on open dislike for Matias—led them to make very similar choices in an effort to improve their proficiency in this language. They both participated in an Erasmus program and took an academic proficiency test in English; and they both obtained summer jobs and undertook graduate studies in English speaking countries. Today, English clearly dominates their daily language use not only because of their reliance on this

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language at work but also because they use it socially and in the community, as well as to raise their son bilingually. According to Matias, the couple mostly uses Spanish to communicate at home, although Norwegian is currently gaining a more prominent role in their communicative needs. Both are enrolled in a Norwegian course, and on his DLC chart, Matias indicated that Norwegian is moving from the orbit to the center. Gabriela and Matias also noted that this language is becoming increasingly important for their son, who is now in kindergarten and “understands everything” in Norwegian. In fact, Gabriela stated that their son “has started to use [Norwegian] at home, so I have started to use it in my everyday life as well.” She also listed French as one of the languages that are important to her and that she uses for work purposes when she collaborates with colleagues in Francophone Canada. Thus, the formation of their DLCs has been affected by attitudes towards different languages, migratory history, and more practical needs such as work requirements and raising a child in a new country. The other languages that figure in the couple’s DLCs play minor roles in their lives. Gabriela briefly explained that she took some German, Latin, Greek, and Italian either in high school or in college, and that she is able to follow oral Italian and use some functional German. She also learned some Catalan from her grandparents as a child and studied Catalan for a short period of time as an adult. Matias listed Italian, Catalan, French, and German as his peripheral languages, yet he did not comment on these languages in his autobiography. The fact that these languages never gained more prominent functions in Gabriela’s and Matias’s DLCs demonstrates that there are constraints on the number of languages that can fulfill prominent functions in an individual’s life (Aronin and Singleton 2012; Aronin 2019b). Hermione and Ole Hermione and Ole do not share their first language. Hermione was born to British parents in Canada. She spoke with a British accent until she went to school. Ole’s mother tongue is Norwegian. Both Hermione and Ole stated that English and Norwegian are the most central languages for them, yet the extent to which they employ these languages differs. For Hermione, English clearly dominates in most domains, whereas for Ole, the distribution is more or less even. Hermione stated that she can “speak and read English and Norwegian fluently,” yet she declared English to be her strongest language. For Ole, both languages are equally strong, but for different reasons: Norwegian is his language of heritage and upbringing, but English dominated his educational experience, and he now uses it daily with his spouse. Interestingly, however, he pointed out that he is “not so good at [his] mother tongue, but it has not affected [him] much in [his] life.” He explained that it could be because English has played such a prominent role the last 12 years of his life that he did not have a chance to develop a richer vocabulary in Norwegian. Thus, Hermione’s and Ole’s use of English and Norwegian spans over different domains: upbringing, education, work, and home life. Ole’s assertion about the important role English plays in his life despite the fact that he resides in a country where his

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heritage language is spoken illustrates how fluctuations in a DLC can take place without migration. There is also some overlap in the other languages that figure in Hermione’s and Ole’s DLCs. Swedish and Danish are mentioned as relatively important by both, presumably due to their typological and geographical proximity to Norwegian. Ole explained that he had been exposed to both these languages on TV and during family vacations his whole life. He also studied in Sweden for 3 years. Hermione mostly encounters these languages at work, either when interacting with Swedish and Danish colleagues via email or when reading academic articles in these languages. For her, French and German also fulfill some important functions. She learned French as a part of her compulsory education, but as she grew up in English-­ speaking Canada, her learning experience was limited to the classroom. Nowadays, she “[tries] to read Le Monde […] online a few times a week to keep up [her] passive language skills.” She describes German as a language that she “desire[d] to learn,” and she had moved to Germany in order to study it in an intensive language program. However, when she first moved to Norway, she made a conscious effort not to use German as she felt it “mixe[d] up/confuse[d] [her] Norwegian.” Nevertheless, she now reads in this language regularly in an attempt to maintain her “passive knowledge.” This suggests that individuals can attempt to resist external forces (e.g., lack of time and exposure) that are normally expected to cause deterioration in proficiency in a language that no longer “bear[s] the functions necessary to meet the individual’s routine needs” (Aronin and Singleton 2012, 63). Laura and Jean-Paul Like Hermione and Ole, Laura and Jean-Paul have different mother tongues: American English and French, respectively. Laura listed four languages in the center of her DLC, including Norwegian Sign Language (NSL) and American Sign Language (ASL). She shares English and Norwegian as central languages with her husband. English is the language they use to communicate with each other at home as well as with their numerous multilingual friends. Norwegian also figures as a central language for both, and they use it “almost on par with English while at work and with friends.” As a result of their daily communicative needs, Norwegian has become one of the central languages of their DLCs. In contrast to her husband, who did not indicate any languages on the intermediate orbit, Laura listed two: French and Auslan (Australian Sign Language). French is placed there, perhaps not surprisingly, as it is her husband’s mother tongue and a language she studied extensively in high school, college, and during her 1.5-year sojourn in France. Laura and Jean-Paul indicated three peripheral languages each, including Japanese, Swedish, German, Yoruba, and ASL. For both of them, Swedish is gradually moving closer to the orbit, likely due to exposure to this language at work, through cable TV, and during frequent visits to neighboring Sweden. The configuration of languages in their DLCs illustrates how complexity and fluctuation

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can occur as a result of a range of factors such as languages spoken by a partner, language demands at work, and communicative needs within the community. Johanna and Robert Johanna and Robert share German as their mother tongue. They also use English and Norwegian regularly, which they both indicated to be central languages, and Dutch, which they both learned when they lived in the Netherlands, and which they placed on the orbit. For Johanna, French is also a central language. It was her third foreign language, but because of a positive experience with it from ninth grade on and frequent opportunities to use it for communication outside of school, she chose it as one of her majors in college. Johanna’s and Robert’s central languages fulfill their most important communicative functions. As a result, Norwegian has gained a prominent role since they moved to Norway, while Dutch has moved from the center to the orbit as they use this language less frequently now that they left the Netherlands. Johanna and Robert had to take Latin as a required subject at school, and it now figures as a peripheral language in their DLCs. As a part of her degree in Romance studies, Johanna also took some Spanish, but she only has receptive knowledge in it. Robert developed some basic communication skills in French, which he learned in language courses and during travels to France. As neither of them utilizes these languages to meet their routine communicative needs, they remain in the periphery.

4.2  Fluctuation and Self-Balance This section examines how the participants’ DLCs have changed over time as a result of changes in their lives associated with migration. It considers how new life circumstances affected both development and deterioration of language skills as the individual DLCs adapted to “the environment and personal needs” (Aronin 2019b, 24). Zonja and Barke Some degree of fluctuation and self-balance is observable in Barke’s autobiographic narrative. For example, his level of English mastery increased over the years as he realized that this language allowed him to communicate with a close friend and gave him access to an international online community. He also preferred English to Afrikaans as a school subject: “English felt more relevant for my future, hence I gave more attention to learn it […] [It was] much more relevant in regard to gaming, computers, and technology which I was very passionate about.” However, he experienced some temporary English language loss during his employment at a

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company where the majority of his colleagues and clients used Afrikaans. As a result, upon his arrival in Norway, his “English felt a little rusty […] but that quickly improved after using it on a daily basis to converse with [his] colleagues.” Thus, his English has undergone a revival, while at the same time, Barke is now adding Norwegian to his linguistic repertoire. Zonja’s DLC has undergone much more fluctuation and self-balance over time than her husband’s. When young, she lived in different countries and on different continents as a result of her father’s job as a diplomat. In her autobiography, she reported several instances of language shift, language expansion, and language loss. For instance, whereas Afrikaans had always been the language she used with family, English gained a prominent role as a language of schooling since she was enrolled in an international elementary school in Israel through college. Over the years, her use of English for education fluctuated to some extent, particularly when she briefly returned to South Africa and entered a bilingual English–Afrikaans university program, and later, when she undertook a postgraduate degree in Mandarin. Her use of Mandarin expanded to domains outside of education during two study abroad programs in Beijing and Shanghai, which she describes as “the most enjoyable part of my Mandarin journey as I could understand Mandarin at a nearly-fluent level and enjoyed conversing with native speakers.” During that time, she also used Mandarin to watch TV and listen to music. However, once she returned to South Africa and lost daily opportunities to use this language, it quickly underwent the process of attrition, and today, Zonja feels that she is “definitely losing [her] Mandarin proficiency.” Gabriela and Matias Both Gabriela and Matias report some degree of fluctuation in their language use, especially concerning English. Whereas Spanish appears to have had a central role in their domestic communications, over the years, English has gained a more prominent function, in particular as a language of education. They now both use English as their primary language at work and find it easier to write in English than Spanish. Matias’s English proficiency appears to have been gained more unsteadily than Gabriela’s, with his attitude having shifted slowly from indifference and dislike to positive, which he believes has affected his language learning. He also feels that his partner’s encouragement and help with learning English has had a positive effect on his rate of acquisition and his improved attitude towards it. However, he commented that “my accent never got better,” possibly due to extensive exposure to foreign-­ accented English or because he started applying himself to the study of English so late in life. Norwegian is Gabriela and Matias’s most recent language, but although they are making a conscious effort to learn it, it is difficult for them to progress quickly. In Matias’s words, since most of his colleagues speak English, “practicing [Norwegian] gets difficult because it is easier to switch to English.” Thus, Norwegian is not

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replacing English and Spanish in any domains, although they are gradually introducing it at home because of their son. Hermione and Ole Language expansion, shift, and loss are also evidenced in Hermione’s and Ole’s autobiographies. For instance, Hermione limited her exposure to German after moving to Norway because she was concerned that it would interfere with her developing proficiency in Norwegian, while Ole experienced some Norwegian attrition as a result of his 3-year residence in Sweden. In his own words, “Swedish affected my Norwegian, so that when I went back to Norway, I often used Swedish words.” For Ole, English was initially a school subject and a language he encountered on television. As he entered college in Norway, however, he quickly realized that some of his classes and required readings were in English and that he therefore needed to improve his academic English proficiency. The next opportunity for him to get “more training in English” occurred when he met Hermione, his wife-to-be, who was able to give him “solid answers to [his] questions about English” and thus helped him improve. Additionally, it is apparent that the languages in Hermione’s and Ole’s DLCs occupy different domains and fulfill varied functions. While English dominates their interactions with each other, and for Hermione, interactions with colleagues, they use Norwegian with their Norwegian friends and Ole’s family. More generally, for Ole, language is “a tool for communication,” and he therefore resents having to learn a language for which he never has any practical use. For instance, while he has some basic knowledge of simple words in Spanish and French, and friends from both these countries, he feels that learning these languages would require “too many resources” and is not worth his time. Laura and Jean-Paul For Laura, learning languages has been a life-long passion, and in her autobiography, she gives numerous examples of language expansion, shift, and loss, as she has lived, studied, and worked in different countries. Following her first additional language, ASL, she learned Japanese, French, Yoruba, Aslan, NSL, and Norwegian. However, she was unable to attain and maintain advanced proficiency in all her languages because “there are only so many hours in the day.” For example, she experienced severe attrition of Japanese, with her proficiency decreasing from a level that would have allowed her to attend a university in Japan to a basic memory of a few words and some knowledge of the writing system. Nonetheless, she extends her prior knowledge of languages to access or learn new languages, as when she uses her knowledge of Aslan, her “language of access,” to communicate with speakers of British Sign Language.

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Jean-Paul experienced an expansion of English and German during his early college years due to an extensive study-abroad program in the United States. He referred to this experience as “brutal,” as he suddenly transitioned from a few hours of English per week to using it as “the main language 95% of the time.” Interestingly, during this time, the scope of his use of German also increased as he enrolled in a German class at university and “started to actually like German,” to the point that he “left the US with a bachelor [degree] and a new language.” Upon his return to France, English remained in the center of Jean-Paul’s DLC, and it has occupied this central role in his life ever since. However, his German skills underwent attrition once he started learning Norwegian, which he ascribed to similarities between these two languages. Johanna and Robert Johanna and Robert are consecutive multilinguals who added several languages to their DLCs throughout their lives. Among these, English, Dutch, and Norwegian stand out—the couple learned these as a result of extended residence in target language communities. In the case of English, an additional factor was their daughters’ schooling in this language, as well as the importance of English as an academic language, and they have both maintained advanced competence in English. For Robert, a positive experience using and learning English during his internship in the US was “an important milestone” as it changed his attitude to learning languages in general. The couple reported a range of domains in which they use their different languages. While German dominates at home, they currently use Norwegian and English to varying degrees at work and with friends. They described several instances when they extended their knowledge of previously learned languages as a scaffold to acquire new ones—Latin was helpful with French and Spanish, while German helped to “crack the Dutch language code.” They lost some Dutch after leaving the Netherlands, and they now experience some “delay” or “barrier” when they need to switch to it. Learning Norwegian took both longer than what they had anticipated, and despite their 6-year-long residence in Norway, they both admitted challenges with understanding non-standard dialects.

4.3  Identity Construction We now turn to examine the relationship between the participants’ DLCs and identity. We assert that “an individual’s interaction with specific aspects of particular languages can lead to major identity modification” (Aronin and Singleton 2012, 94) and offer insights into how construction of identity can intersect with changes in DLCs.

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Zonja and Barke Although both Zonja and Barke declared that they use English more frequently than Afrikaans and consider it a central language, only for Zonja is English strongly linked to her identity. In fact, she stated that when it comes to identity, she considers English and Afrikaans equal. It appears that after many years of schooling in English, she realized that she was unable to use Afrikaans for all her communicative needs and had trouble “with spelling and things like metaphors and cultural expressions.” Nevertheless, Zonja acknowledged that Afrikaans is her “emotional language,” the language she uses with her husband and would want to emphasize in the future when she has children. Likewise, although Barke explained that he considers both Afrikaans and English to be his native languages, Afrikaans is the language he uses to “talk from the heart” and express his emotions naturally. He explained that although “culturally, I also relate more to Afrikaans,” it is more natural for him to use English in academic and business settings. Gabriela and Matias Like Zonja and Barke, Gabriela and Matias rely on English extensively in their daily lives and, in fact, use English more frequently than Spanish, which they both declared to be their first and strongest language. In her autobiography, Gabriela recalled that her attitude to English had always been positive, and she has always been passionate about learning and using this language. She stated, “I remember always getting excited when I had the opportunity to use [English]. I feel like I never had that strong affective response with Spanish.” Although she was unable to answer the question about her language of identity in a straightforward manner, it appears that she favors English over Spanish. For Matias, however, there was no question: Spanish, “the language that comes naturally and that reminds [him] of [his] childhood and youth,” is the language he associates with his identity. For these reasons, it is also important for him to use Spanish with his son. Hermione and Ole Ole’s and Hermione’s autobiographies give very little insight into their linguistic identities, yet the data suggest that both Hermione and Ole perceive English and Norwegian to be their strongest and most important languages. They most often speak English with each other, possibly because they met in an English-speaking country at a time when Hermione did not know Norwegian. Since moving to Norway, Hermione quickly acquired Norwegian, which is now her second strongest language. However, even though she feels she has attained an advanced level of proficiency, she sometimes “cannot think of specific lexical terms, especially rare terms such as ‘rosehips’ in Norwegian.” Nevertheless, she uses Norwegian to communicate with her in-laws and Norwegian friends, as well as at work, and if asked

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where she is from when traveling outside of Norway, she typically responds that she “live[s] in Norway.” More importantly, Hermione appears to have a strong identity as a language learner and a multilingual, and she is deeply aware of the benefits multilingualism brings. As she asserted, “I am proud of the knowledge I have […] I think that learning new languages has given me deeper insight into other cultures […]. It has also opened up personal and career opportunities.” Laura and Jean-Paul Laura’s autoetnography, including a detailed account of how she was adopted by a deaf community although not deaf herself, suggests signed languages are a central aspect of her identity. Early in her life, she “knew she had to be with deaf people and signed languages” and “HAD to go to Gallaudet University one day.” However, both Laura and Jean-Paul found it difficult to provide a straightforward, explicit answer to the questions about their identity. Laura stated that the languages most strongly linked to her identity are English and signed languages, whereas Jean-Paul listed English, yet they both explained that these answers are not complete and leave out some important information. Jean-Paul went as far as to say, “I am not sure where I am from exactly.” Laura also has a strong multilingual identity, and learning new languages has been her dream since childhood. Now, her “everyday life in Norway is full of languages—English, Norwegian, NSL, Swedish, ASL…” She values the opportunities her knowledge of languages gives her to access other cultures, which is perhaps an important token of transnationality. In her own words, “[W]e may forget languages […] but I find the culture behind those languages stays for much longer—the various understandings of the world take much longer to fade. And for me, this is the most important.” Johanna and Robert Johanna and Robert stated unanimously that their identity is German. They reported German as their mother tongue and the language they use with each other and their two daughters. However, Johanna recalled some discrimination she has experienced due to her German heritage and reported some feeling of shame as “a descendant of the Nazi criminals.” As a result, she went through a period in her life when she tried to “hide [her] German accent” and was proud when native speakers of French assumed she was from the south of France. Overall, she admitted that it is important for her to be perceived as a competent user of the languages she knows, although she confessed that despite her fluency in several languages, “it is only in my mother tongue [that] I have the ability to master [sophisticated language].”

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5  Discussion and Conclusion Increasing migration has led to growing diversity worldwide, including a constant growth in the number of transnational multilingual families. Consequently, there have been calls for “more attention […] [to] linguistic identity and, in particular, multilingual identity” (Fisher et al. 2018, 1). In this chapter, we examined the life stories, language trajectories, and multilingual identities of five transnational couples through the theoretical lens of multilinguality and DLC to provide insights into the multiple realities (Todeva and Cenoz 2009) of multilingual transnationals. Specifically, we investigated the different, evolving language configurations of their DLCs, including complexity and variation, varying functions of the different languages, and shifts of balance among language functions as a result of migration. We have chosen this theoretical framework because it provides “a useful tool for analyzing the state and process of multilingualism” (Aronin and Singleton 2012, 70) and it “acts as a prism presenting the opportunity to consider the multiplicity of factors underlying and influencing multilingualism” (75). Although due to the qualitative nature of this project, the findings are not generalizable, a few interesting observations regarding the DLCs of the examined transnational couples have emerged. Most notably, our findings testify that for multilingual individuals, linguistic identity is extremely complex and multifaceted, and its construction is affected by a multitude of factors, including the changes a person’s language trajectory undergoes over time and attitudes to and perceptions of different languages and the cultures associated with them. Whereas some of the participants in our project were able to link their identities to one or several languages in their DLCs, for others, their multilingualism, rather than individual languages, lay at the core of their identity. Thus, for multilingual transnationals, “the intersections and interdependence among language, identity, and transnationalism” (Duff 2015, 57) are extremely complex. The monolingual, nation-state ideology, with its assumed straightforward, one-to-one correspondence between language, ethnicity, and identity, fails to account for the complexity of multilinguals’ identities. Laura’s conclusion to her autobiography strongly articulates the ongoing shifts in identity caused by migration and linguistic change in transnational multilinguals: “I always hesitate after someone asks me where I’m from…‘I’m American, but live in Norway’ […] leaves too much out.” Another important finding concerns the role of English in the DLCs of transnational couples. English figures as a central language for all participants, regardless of whether they list it as their mother tongue or whether they share a first language. For the two mixed couples (Hermione and Ole, and Laura and Jean-Paul) in which one partner claims English as a native language, this language is also chosen as the language of communication at home, presumably because each couple first communicated and forged their relationship in English. Yet, even in the DLCs of the

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couples who do not list English as their mother tongue or first language, English figures prominently as a central language. This could be due to the important role English plays in Norway, where its status has been transitioning from a foreign to a second language (Phillipson 1992), as well as the role of English as a lingua franca, including in academic settings. As Robert asserted, “[A]n academic career without English [is] not possible.” For transnational couples in Western countries in particular, English can also be expected to fulfill an important role upon arrival in a new country and before they acquire proficiency in the language of the local community, as well as when individuals interact with other multilinguals for whom English is the default language of transnational communication. In the words of one of the participants, Laura, “English […] has given me access to the world, for better or for worse.” Finally, it is possible that the length of residence in the target community affects the placement of new languages within individual’s DLCs. For the two couples who have resided in Norway short-term (Zonja and Barke, and Gabriela and Matias), Norwegian is not a central language but rather figures on the orbit. Only for one of these participants, Matias, is Norwegian gaining importance and moving towards the center of the constellation. Thus, it appears that it takes some time for the language of a new community to become a central language in a DLC. Future empirical studies could examine the length of time needed for this transition to happen, as well as investigate the factors that either accelerate or delay the process. Taken together, the analysis and examples presented in this chapter attest to the extreme complexity and distinctiveness of DLCs and multilinguality, as well as to the varied ways individuals’ lives can impact language expansion, shift, and loss or effect a transition in linguistic and cultural identity. Our findings illustrate that language can impact important life choices such as relocating to another country. Contrariwise, relocating to another country can impact a DLC. Changing attitudes to language can affect language configurations in DLCs, and a friend’s or partner’s attitude towards and use of a language can affect one’s own attitudes. Other factors, such as personality, social ties and influences, group affiliation, education and career choices, and lifestyles (Aronin and Ó Laoire 2004), may be decisive as well. Many of the participants indicate, for example, that English has been central to their education and work lives. What transpires, however, is that multilingual systems of transnational families display “intricate complexity, considerable variability, and almost overwhelming webs of learning factors and all sorts of other interconnectivities” (Todeva and Cenoz 2009, 288).

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Appendices Appendix A: DLC Chart Provided to Participants

Appendix B: Autobiography Guide 1 . What is your native language(s)? 2. What other languages do you speak? When and how did you learn them? When and how do you use them now? 3. Do you feel that you know all of your languages equally well? Why or why not? 4. Is it important for you to maintain a certain level of proficiency in the languages you know? If yes, what do you do specifically? 5. What do you usually answer when someone asks you, “So, where are you from?” 6. What language do you feel defines you or you associate with the most? Why? 7. In what circumstances and with whom do you use the languages you know? For example, what language(s) do you use on a daily basis at home with our partner/ spouse/children? What language(s) do you use with your colleagues at work? What languages do you use with your friends? Etc.

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8. Tell us your “life story” of your language use. You can use the timeline like this one to talk about the most important milestones. For example, what language(s) did you use in your childhood? Once you started school? In higher education? When you moved to another country? Once you moved to Norway… Birth --------------|----------------------|----------------------|----------------|---------->Now. 9. How important is it for you to maintain and use the different languages you know? Why? 10. Do you feel that you are “losing” some of your languages? Why and how is it happening? 11. Do you see a relationship between language and culture? If so, how would you describe this relationship?

References Aronin, L. (2016). Multi-competence and dominant language constellation. In V. Cook & L. Wei (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of linguistic multi-competence (pp. 142–163). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Aronin, L. (2019a). Dominant language constellation as a method of research. In E.  Vetter & U. Jessner (Eds.), International research on multilingualism: Breaking with the monolingual perspective (pp. 13–26). Cham: Springer. Aronin, L. (2019b). What is multilingualism? In D. Singleton & L. Aronin (Eds.), Twelve lectures on multilingualism (pp. 3–34). Bristol: Multilingual Matters. Aronin, L. (2020). Dominant language constellation as an approach for studying multilingual practices. In J. Lo Bianco & L. Aronin (Eds.), Dominant language constellations: A new perspective on multilingualism (pp. 19–33). Cham: Springer. Aronin, L., & Ó Laoire, M. (2004). Exploring multilingualism in cultural contexts: Towards a notion of multilinguality. In C. Hoffmann & J. Ytsma (Eds.), Trilingualism in family, school and community (pp. 11–29). Multilingual Matters: Clevedon. Aronin, L., & Singleton, D. (2012). Multilingualism. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Basch, L.  G., Schiller, N.  G., & Blanc-Szanton, C. (1994). Nations unbound: Transnational projects, postcolonial predicaments, and deterritorialized nation-states. London: Gordon and Breach. Blommaert (2013, January). Paper 74: Language and the study of diversity. Tilburg papers in culture studies. https://www.tilburguniversity.edu/upload/2648cf26-­31f2-­4138-­83d3-­3176ca bc28b0_TPCS_74_Blommaert.pdf. Accessed 15 Nov 2018. Chik, A., Barkhuizen, G., & Benson, P. (2014). Narrative inquiry in language teaching and learning research. New York: Routledge. Curdt-Christiansen, X. (2009). Invisible and visible language planning: Ideological factors in the family language policy of Chinese migrant families in Quebec. Language Policy, 8(4), 351–375. da Costa Cabral, I. (2018). From Dili to Dungannon: An ethnographic study of two multilingual migrant families from Timor-Leste. International Journal of Multilingualism, 15(3), 276–290. Duff, P.  A. (2015). Transnationalism, multilingualism, and identity. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 35, 57–80.

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Ellis, C., Adams, T.  E., & Bochner, A.  P. (2011). Autoethnography: An overview. Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 12(1), 10. http://www.qualitative-­research.net/index.php/fqs/ article/view/1589/3095 Fielding, R., & Harbon, L. (2013). Examining bilingual and bicultural identity in young students. Foreign Language Annals, 46(4), 527–544. Fisher, L., Evans, M., Forbes, K., Gayton, A., & Liu, Y. (2018). Participative multilingual identity construction in the languages classroom: A multi-theoretical conceptualization. International Journal of Multilingualism. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2018.1524896. Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures. New York: Basic Books. Gumperz, J.  J. (1964). Linguistic and social interaction in two communities. American Anthropologist, 66(6), 137–153. Haraway, D. (2006). A cyborg manifesto: Science, technology, and socialist-feminism in the late twentieth century. In J.  Weiss, J.  Nolan, J.  Hunsinger, & P.  P. Trifonas (Eds.), The international handbook of virtual learning environments. Dordrecht: Springer. https://doi. org/10.1007/978-­1-­4020-­3803-­7_4. Harding, S. (1995). “Strong objectivity”: A response to the new objectivity question. Synthese, 104(3), 331–349. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20117437. Jessner, U. (2008). Teaching third languages: Findings, trends, challenges. Language Teaching, 41(1), 15–56. Kannangara, S. (2020). The evolution of personal dominant language constellation. In J. Lo Bianco & L. Aronin (Eds.), Dominant language constellations: A new perspective on multilingualism (pp. 169–186). C: Springer. Lanza, E. (2007). Multilingualism in the family. In P. Auer & L. Wei (Eds.), Handbook of multilingualism and multilingual communication (pp. 45–67). Berlin: Mouton Gruyter. Lanza, E. (2018). Editorial: Multilingual families: Aspirations and challenges. International Journal of Multilingualism, 15(3), 231–232. Li, W., (Ed.). (2012). Language policy and practice in transnational, multilingual families and beyond. (Special issue) Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 33(1). Norton, B. (2002). Identity and language learning. Extending the conversation. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. Obojska, M., & Purkarthofer, J. (2018). “And all of a sudden, it became my rescue”: Language and agency in transnational families in Norway. International Journal of Multilingualism, 15(3), 249–261. Palviainen, Å., & Berhroth, M. (2018). Parental discourses of language ideology and linguistic identity in multilingual Finland. International Journal of Multilingualism, 15(3), 262–275. Pavlenko, A. (2007). Autobiographic narratives as data in applied linguistics. Applied Linguistics, 28(2), 163–188. Phillipson, R. (1992). Linguistic imperialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Roth, W.-M. (2005). Auto/biography and auto/ethnography: Finding the generalized other in the self. In W.-M. Roth (Ed.), Auto/biography and auto/ethnography: Praxis of research method (pp. 3–16). Rotterdam: Sense. Schiffmann, H. (1996). Linguistic culture and language policy. New York: Routledge. Todeva, E., & Cenoz, J. (Eds.). (2009). The multiple realities of multilingualism. Personal narratives and researchers’ perspectives. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Vertovec, S. (2007). Super-diversity and its implications. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 30(6), 1024–1045. https://doi.org/10.1080/0141987071599465. Weber, B. R. (2017). Intersectionality. In L. Ouellette & J. Gray (Eds.), Keywords for media studies (pp. 111–113). New York: New York University Press. Yazan, B., Canagarajah, S., & Jain, R. (2020). Autoethnographies in ELT: Transnational identities, pedagogies, and practices. New York: Routledge.

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Anna Krulatz  is Professor of English at the Faculty of Teacher Education at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway, where she works with pre- and inservice EFL teachers. Her research focuses on multilingualism with English, pragmatic development in adult language learners, content-­based instruction, and language teacher education. Jennifer Duggan  is Associate Professor of English at the University of South-­Eastern Norway in Drammen, Norway, where she works with pre- and in-service EFL teachers. Her research focuses on identity, reader response, language learning, and language teacher education.

Understanding Dominant Language Constellations Through Analysis of Visual Linguistic Autobiographies by Foreign Language Student Teachers in Germany Sílvia Melo-Pfeifer

Abstract  This chapter describes and analyses visual linguistic autobiographies of Spanish and French student teachers at Hamburg University, making use of the Dominant Language Constellation (DLC) perspective. In order to determine, compare and explain the constellations depicted by the two groups, the author makes use of dynamic systems’ theory and complexity theory to highlight the intricate, dynamic and unpredictable evolution of individual DLC. Because linguistic autobiographies are a partial and chronological representation of a narrative identity, this chapter claims that it is impossible to assert whether depicted heritage or foreign languages are an actual constituent of the DLC. The text therefore suggests the distinction between latent and actual DLC. Latent DLC from both groups show important similarities and differences, related to the ecology of languages in the world and to educational language policy in Germany. Keywords  Dominant language constellation · Dynamic systems theory · Complexity theory · Foreign language student teachers · Professional development · Visual linguistic autobiography · Drawings · Germany

1  Introduction Multilingualism, at both an individual and a societal level (and not one rather than the other), is an indisputable and inescapable reality. Such a situation has come about because of the more or less historically established linguistic cohabitation of several languages in the same territory, or because of the broadening of foreign language teaching in most school systems or yet because of an increased mobility, S. Melo-Pfeifer (*) University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 L. Aronin, E. Vetter (eds.), Dominant Language Constellations Approach in Education and Language Acquisition, Educational Linguistics 51, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70769-9_10

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for different reasons and with different purposes. It is a fact that individuals and societies do not function monolingually and, one could add, they do not function monoglossically either. The multilingual and heteroglossic functioning of individuals and societies thus importantly depends on the constitution of a societal and individual Dominant Language Constellation (DLC), that is, “not all, but only those languages or skills selected for their prime importance” (Aronin 2016, p. 144). English, for instance, is often included in DLCs through its spread in school systems around the world. This particular language seems to have made its way from the school curriculum to a part of individual and societal DLC around the world. But it is not just the massive and global promotion of one language or another that introduces changes in DLCs. In Germany, for example, changes in educational language policies in some federal states made Spanish increasingly popular, opening the path to a competition, if not substitution, between French and Spanish, leading to potential changes in the DLC. Recently, in some of the German federal states, Spanish has surpassed French as the second most learnt foreign language. Thus, while it may be stated that the typical DLC in Germany includes maintaining English as an important part of individual and societal multilingualism, the same cannot be said of the maintenance of other modern school languages (French, Spanish and Russian), due to curricular shifts. We can then say that English, because of its number of speakers (native or otherwise), maintains its hyper-­central status (Calvet 1999). Other languages, depending on their circle of influence, move between a super central and peripheral status. In light of the above, it is plausible to assume that the linguistic ecology present in the world, and its mirroring in schooling systems, have an impact on individuals’ linguistic biography. This study aims to look closely at the composition and evolution dans la durée (Aronin, this volume; Aronin 2020) of the linguistic biographies of German student teachers of both Spanish and French as foreign languages, in Germany, specifically at the University of Hamburg. The objective of the study is to describe and compare the DLC of the two expert language groups of student teachers and attempt to explain the observed differences, namely through an analysis of the linguistic biographies with which the student teachers represent their path to multilingualism. To achieve the stated aim, a rather innovative methodology in applied language studies is used: the analysis of visual linguistic autobiographies (see Melo-­Pfeifer and Chik 2020), produced by the students in each cohort. Visual linguistic autobiographies are graphic representations and narratives of language learning and use paths made by individuals. Instead of words and textual progression typical of written narratives, individuals use drawn elements and captions to refer to moments, places and actors related to their linguistic biographies. My analytical approach to this corpus will be based on a combination of insights on DLC (Aronin 2016), dynamic systems theories (Verspoor et al. 2011; also Aronin 2020) and complexity theory (CT) (Larsen-­Freeman 2017 for a recent account), that will be explained in the following part of this chapter.

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2  M  ultilingual Repertoires and Dominant Language Constellations as Complex and Dynamic Systems: A Theoretical Lens to Analyse Multilingual Biographies While it may be granted that individual and societal multilingualism is not a new phenomenon (May 2014; Piller 2016), the acknowledgement of its spread and growing complexity in contemporary societies has led to the emergence of new terms to refer to it: Vertovec coined the concept “superdiversity” (Vertovec 2014) and Aronin and Singleton have described the current “linguistic dispensation” (Aronin and Singleton 2008; Aronin and Singleton 2012). Superdiversity in applied linguistics and multilingualism refers to the complexification of multilingual combinations at the individual and societal level. On the other hand, the new linguistic dispensation describes this complexification, justifying it through two main, apparently contradictory indicators: the spread of learning and use of English and the unparalleled diversification of linguistic resources in use (Aronin et al. 2013, p. 6). Hence, the new linguistic dispensation makes use of concepts such as linguistic repertoires and DLC to describe the unprecedented diversification of semiotic resources and the complexity of their combinations. Linguistic repertoires refer to the linguistic resources individuals have at their disposal, and are composed of all the linguistic knowledge and skills individuals possess, even if just “bits of languages” (Blommaert 2010, p. 8). The concept of DLC, as a specific share of a broader linguistic repertoire, refers to specific linguistic resources that make a subject a multicompetent user of those languages—“unlike a language repertoire, a DLC comprises the languages which, together, perform the most vital functions of language” (Aronin 2016, p. 147). This does not mean that DLC focuses on perfect command of all or of some of the languages of the repertoire, but instead recognises the distributed and complementary use of some of those languages, which may be considered central in individuals lives, whilst at the same time recognising the complexity of the interactions across linguistic resources (thus recognising also phenomena such as partial and receptive competences). DLC stresses the values of all languages while at the same time recognising that not all languages have the same roles and functions at an individual and societal level, nor are used with the same mastery. As explained by Lo Bianco (Lo Bianco 2020, p. 262; see also Aronin 2019): [L. Aronin] distinguishes DLC from the concept of the linguistic repertoire. The latter aims to capture all the skills and registers of an individual’s languages, and other communicative resources, while the DLC restricts its focus to the languages that serve most immediately and fully the communication needs of that individual. As such the DLC involves a selection based on saliency and prominence for the individual and its study involves gathering data about concurrent use of these expedient languages across settings and contexts, time and interlocutor.

The recognition of these characteristics calls for theoretical and empirical paradigms capable of acknowledging the complexity and dynamics of linguistic

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repertoires throughout a lifespan. Thus, e.g., Dynamic Systems Theory may be useful for accepting linguistic repertoires and DLC as unfinished, mutable and made of diverse connections, with no one point at which it can be said that a language of the DLC is completely acquired (adapted from De Bot & Larsen-­Freeman 2011, p. 6). The point with this concept is also to stress that DLC change through internal and external individual and societal forces (idem: 8). From the nine characteristics of Dynamic Systems that De Bot & Larsen-­Freeman describe, it is important, for the purposes of this study related to the depiction of linguistic biographies, to highlight the nonlinearity in development of DLC, as well as its change and reorganisation through internal restructuring and interaction with the environment (idem: 9). Looking at DLC from a Dynamic Systems Theory perspective means that all the languages that constitute it are interconnected and that changes may occur both in the constitution of the DLC (some languages being added, others being suppressed) or in the use of different linguistic resources (e.g., through increased competence in a particular language). From Complexity Theory (De Bot & Larsen-­Freeman 2011; Ortega and Han 2017), it is important to acknowledge that DLC is more than the simple addition of knowledge and skills in separate languages, as it encompasses the relationships between and continuous influence on all of the languages that orbit the DLC (as well as the relationships between those languages): every new linguistic resource influences the already acquired resources and is influenced by these previous linguistic sources, whether or not included in the DLC. Consequently, from this perspective, DLC cannot be apprehended through dualities, causalities, and linearity (Ortega and Han 2017). Indeed, “every meaningful use of language changes the resources of the language learner/user, and the changed resources are then potentially available for the next speech event” (Larsen-­Freeman 2017, p. 18), leading to possible changes in the DLC. So, the state of a DLC at any given point depends on its history: initial language learning and acquisition contexts (for example, monolingual or bilingual societal contexts, migrant backgrounds and linguistic socialisation in the family) and continuous support for multiple language learning and use (for example, through language learning at school or in non-­formal contexts). This means that any individual agency in the constitution and development of a DLC is contingent and temporally situated, “connecting together the dynamics of a person’s ongoing life history including their past and present experiences as well as their future goals, expectations and imaginations” (idem, p. 20). Relating Dynamic Systems Theory and Complexity Theory to DLC, it becomes clear that the languages in which an individual is more performant (at the individual level) or the languages considered strategic for a particular period of time and particular setting may change, some increasing in value, others decreasing. Thus, DLC are mutable and made up of linguistic resources, acquired more or less randomly or willingly, with an unstable and unpredictable (symbolic or economic) value in the “linguistic market” (to recall Bourdieu’s metaphor). These theoretical aspects are relevant for an analysis of DLC through linguistic biographies as they make it clear that, in spite of curricular prescriptions, “language users  – first, second, and beyond  – chart their own individual paths to

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communicative success and are agents of their own learning” (Ortega and Han 2017, p.  2). Linguistic biographies, as signs of specific “narrative identities” (Dörnyei 2017), therefore contain important information about which languages individuals decide to speak of, which relevant aspects of language learning and use trajectories individuals choose to express, how they conceive their agency in those processes and which values and roles they attach to the languages learnt. Referring to Dörnyei’s narrative identity framework, Ortega and Han assert that “how people story their lives is both revealing of their mindset and transformative of it” (Ortega and Han 2017, p.  5). Dörnyei provides a definition of the L2 narrative identity (which is appealing to extend to multilingual narrative identity in this chapter) as the specific aspect of an individual’s ongoing internal narrative that relates to learning and using a second/foreign language […]. It is an integral part of the individual’s overall life narrative, responsible for processing past L2-­­related experiences and constructing future goals (Dörnyei 2017, p. 90).

Likewise, the study of linguistic biographies emphasises how linguistic repertoires are acquired and develop and how they turn into unitary but dynamic DLC. Following Larsen-­Freeman’s theories, it may be concluded that researching language biographies and thus DLC through a Complexity Theory paradigm “accentuates change, insists on the importance of context, and respects variability” (Dörnyei 2017, p. 38).

3  The Empirical Study In this section, the context of data collection will be described, as well as the participants in the study. Further to that presentation, details will be provided on visual linguistic autobiographies as data within applied language studies and as a method for data collection. The following shall describe and explain the methodological path adopted for the analysis of the collected drawings.

3.1  Data Collection: Context and Participants The empirical data for this study was collected in the winter semester 2017–2018 at the University of Hamburg, from student teachers of Spanish and French as a foreign language. They first produced their drawings within the subject “Pluralistic approaches to teaching and learning of Spanish as a Third Language” and the second in the seminar “Kompetenzorientierung in French foreign language teaching and learning”. Both subjects are part of the Master programme and taught by the author of this study and both are strongly oriented towards the development of professional skills to deal with linguistic and cultural diversity in school settings (following principles such as those contained in Vetter 2013).

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All students reported being at least trilingual, with German being mostly recognised as mother tongue and English as the first foreign language. So, the basic DLC is constituted by German, English and Spanish/French (national language, first foreign language and target language) and shall be labelled as German/English/Spanish and German/English/French correspondingly. Furthermore, French and Spanish was reported both as heritage and foreign languages, in cases of students that have grown up bilingually with those languages and then learnt them as school subjects at school. Both groups also reported knowledge of diverse heritage languages, such as Arabic, Dari, Portuguese, Russian and Turkish (see Graphs 1 and 2). The corpus for this chapter is constituted of 34 drawings by Spanish student teachers and 31 by French student teachers, a total of 64 drawings. Regarding the instruction given to produce the drawings, students were asked to draw their linguistic biographies, with a blank sheet and coloured markers being provided. The aim of the instruction was to access students’ mental representations about becoming multilingual: Do they conceive the process as an addition or as an integration of competences in different languages? What metaphors do they employ, using visual strategies, to represent the process of becoming multilingual? Since some differences had already been noticed in a previous study between Spanish and French student teachers regarding their relationship to the target language (Melo-­Pfeifer 2019), the aim of the present study was to verify whether both groups represented their path to multilingualism differently. An additional question that is specific of

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Graph 1  Languages represented in Spanish student teachers’ autobiographies

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Graph 2  Languages represented in French student teachers’ autobiographies

this chapter and was not considered while carrying out the activity is the following: Are there any differences in the DLC of both groups? How is it possible to analyse those differences resorting to visual methods?

3.2  V  isual Linguistic Biographies as Data: Methodology of Data Analysis The use of drawings and other visual materials in applied language studies has received some attention in recent years (Kalaja and Pitkänen-­Huhta 2018; Kalaja and Melo-­Pfeifer 2019), revealing a growing tendency to consider arts-­ based approaches as significant and effective methods in research (Leavy 2015; Merriam and Tisdell 2016; Rose 2001). A particular research field being studied resorting to visual methods is the study of social representations of multilingualism (Chik and Melo-­Pfeifer 2019), as individuals are not always aware of their representations and these are not always easy to express through language. Linguistic biographies have been studied through written narratives (Molinié 2006, 2009, 2011). Nevertheless, since different modi of representation offer different affordances to individuals, it was decided to give students the opportunity to represent their linguistic biographies resorting to other means of (subjective) expression. Because these drawings usually narrate a path to becoming multilingual, they can be considered an example of the narrative and biographic turn in applied language studies (Busch 2017; Dörnyei 2017; Pavlenko 2007). Furthermore, because

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the use of drawings in research overcomes an acknowledged linguistic bias in research (Block 2014), visual linguistic autobiographies also embrace the visual turn within this research field (Kalaja and Pitkänen-­Huhta 2018). Recognising these “turns” carries some methodological implications: • we decided to draw exclusively from the visual material for the analysis, as resorting to linguistic explanations by students cannot be said to be more objective than resorting to drawings only; • drawings were considered narratives even when students decided to tell their linguistic stories through a single frame (see Esin and Squire (2013) for a definition of narrative). In a previous study of the Spanish student teachers’ production (Melo-­Pfeifer and Chik 2020), the authors concluded that Spanish student teachers mostly perceive their path to multilingualism as linear and cumulative, made up of the succession of different languages represented as discrete entities. Thus, it was decided for the present chapter to analyse the constitution of both groups’ linguistic repertoires, in order to study the genesis of the respective DLC and identify similarities and differences between them. The analysis follows a quantitative and a qualitative content analysis: first, the author quantitatively counted the languages represented and/or named in each drawing, establishing the common and specific trends in each group; second, selected drawings were described resorting to a multimodal analysis, combining the analysis of selected elements by students, their choice of colour and their strategies for identifying the relationship between chosen components of the drawing (Kress and Van Leeuwen 1996). For this analysis, drawings were thus selected based on their representativity: they provide us with tendencies and commonalities among the visual productions. Relating to the theme of the present volume, the analysis allowed a depiction of the (latent) DLC of both groups. Considering, for the purposes of the present text, DLC as the principal and useful codes used by groups, the analysis of DLC is started by presenting a quantitative account of the languages depicted within both groups, since these are the sub-­­ systems of the DLC and might be considered a preliminary unit of analysis. Based on the frequency of linguistic resources, we shall infer about their possible inclusion in the DLC of both groups and discuss possible factors behind the differences and similarities observed. This option is based on the fact that the visual linguistic autobiographies do not give us a full account of language proficiency or frequency of language use—as would be expected from the definitions of DLC previously provided—but rather a picture of how subjects perceive the acquisition and learning (and sometimes the use) of specific languages. Subsequently, a distinction is proposed involving, on the one hand, a potential or latent DLC based on the ‘linguistic socialisation’ at school, in the family and in the professionalisation path and, on the other, an actual DLC, i.e., individuals’ current multilingual lives at a given point in time-­space. So, a latent DLC refers to languages that may have been acquired (with different levels of proficiency) at some point of the linguistic biography and could be potentially drawn upon and integrated into the DLC later in life. A linguistic

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biography, because it is a personal reconstruction of a chronological language learning and use path, does not provide enough information about the real proficiency and use in the represented languages. Consequently, analysing linguistic biographies is an adequate methodology to grasp latent DLC.

4  Analysis of Visual Linguistic Autobiographies The presentation of results will resort to quantitative and qualitative content analysis. First, the quantitative distribution of languages shall be presented and then some chosen drawings shall be analysed in detail. The choice of drawings for the detailed multimodal analysis is based both on their representativity in terms of common features across the corpus and their singularities (in order to give a more accurate account of the complexity of paths leading to individual multilingualism).

Fig. 1 Representing linguistic biography as a tree: French is the falling language from the DLC German/English/Spanish

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4.1  L  anguages Included in the (Potential) Dominant Language Constellation of Spanish Student Teachers The languages present in the linguistic biographies of the future teachers of Spanish as foreign language are predominantly Spanish, English, German and, even if with slightly lesser significance, French (Graph 1). A significant number of other languages follows these four, most of them related to the migratory background of students. Drawing 1 (Fig. 1) represents what could be called a stereotypical DLC in this group: the majority of students state German as the first or mother tongue (represented in this drawing by the trunk) and also some degree of competence in English, Spanish and French. Other languages included in the tree are represented but are given no names (notice that only two from five apples on the tree are named). This drawing is very telling in the way it represents the dynamics of the linguistic repertoire, as French, which could initially be included in the latent DLC, is now a “falling language”. Therefore, in this case, we could certainly say that not all the languages learnt are part of the DLC and some are represented through metaphors that allude to foreign language attrition or even loss. Drawing 2 (Fig. 2) represents, using a cyclical timeline, the multilingual path of another student teacher having grown up bilingual in Germany (Spanish and German). In her account of language learning and acquisition, French is closely related to the school curriculum (she explains on her drawing that she chose to learn French because it is close to Spanish), English and German is related to friendship

Fig. 2  A cycle of becoming multilingual

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Fig. 3  Actors and places in becoming multilingual

Fig. 4  A timeline representation of a linguistic biography

and Spanish is the language of emotions. The circle, represented with arrows around the individual, suggests a continuous process of language learning and use and somehow an unfinished process that feeds into itself. Drawing 3 (Fig. 3) has some similarities with Drawing 2. This student teacher also depicts an experience of internal migration inside Germany (from Bayern to Hamburg) at the age of three. She shows she has had German classes during all 4 years of primary school and English as a first foreign language in the third and fourth grades. As already concluded by Melo-­Pfeifer and Chik (2020), in this specific task students usually depict the start of a learning process. Similarly to Drawing

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Fig. 5  Stairway to multilingualism

1, the student teacher represents learning French as a foreign language from the fifth to the tenth grade, when she changed to Spanish, which she kept as the elected language for her academic path. So, in Drawing 3, we lose sight of French in the biography and this language seems to be school-­specific. Importantly, the student associates having had a teacher from Costa Rica as an important element leading her to pursue learning Spanish—the teacher is represented speaking the target language very prominently. Also relevant is the importance attached to a 7-­month academic sojourn in Madrid. Drawing 4 (Fig. 4), as with drawings 2 and 3, depicts a migratory background (German and Portuguese), learning German being attached to entering Kindergarten and the need to socialise with other children. The school path is bilingual but associated to two different schools: one German and one Portuguese. It should be clarified that the term “Portuguese school”, as a parallel system, designates the complementary schools providing children with classes in the heritage language, usually as extra-­curricular activity: the drawing makes the lack of relationship between these two parallel schools quite obvious. As in Drawing 3, after a period of learning French at school (the drawing does not explain for how long), the student went on to learn Spanish, which thus becomes the language used for professional purposes. Differently from most other drawings, English is not depicted as the first foreign language learnt: rather, English seems to have been learnt in an informal context, notably as an au-­pair in Manchester, constituting an immersive situation occurring before the start of university. The last drawing of this section (Fig. 5) depicts the metaphor of a stair as a linear progression in the path leading to multilingualism: Perhaps obviously, this path is always chosen in an ascending way and never descending. Student teachers that chose this metaphor see themselves as climbing a stairway and never on the top of it, making it clear that they find themselves in the process. Figure 5 depicts what

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could be called a ‘double mother tongue’, a bilingual heritage or two L1 (Dari and German). English, French and Spanish are languages attached to the schooling path, some of them being still present in the student’s life: English (she writes the debut year—2002—and adds that it lasts until the present day) and Spanish (the language she decided to become teacher of). French is limited to a period of 7 years, beginning in 2005. It could be argued that even if the linguistic quartet German/English/French/ Spanish is consistently represented by the subjects of the analysis, in the lives of these Spanish student teachers Spanish has taken over from French, which seems no longer to be a part of the actual DLC of the group.

4.2  L  anguages Included in the (Potential) Dominant Language Constellation of French Student Teachers The languages present in the drawings of French student teachers at Hamburg University display some similarities regarding our analysis of Spanish student teachers from the previous section: Again, the four most represented languages are English, French, German and Spanish, but not in the same order (Graph 2). In this group, Spanish is the language which either does not appear in the drawings (less than 50% of subjects acknowledge learning Spanish) or its relevance is replaced with French.

Fig. 6  A timeline representation of a German/English/French DLC

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Fig. 7  Disrupted linguistic paths in a DLC?

Fig. 8  Acknowledging formal and informal learning situations in the constitution of a DLC

Drawing 6 (Fig.  6) represents what could be designated as the most common (latent) DLC, composed of German (L1), English (L2) and French (L3). While English, as a foreign language, is associated to school only, French is closely connected to exchange experiences in formal and informal situations (internships, studies abroad, student exchanges, etc.), in a diversity of places in France (Biarritz, Paris and Strasbourg).

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Fig. 9  The dominant relationship to French as a foreign language in the DLC

The next drawing (Fig. 7) in this section represents the same three languages, but English is shown in a discontinued process, as if it has been interrupted somewhere along the way. It seems that French also became a serious linguistic project only after a period of work using French (maybe in France), which may indicate that the new professional path was induced by the use of that language as a vehicular language for a certain time. Drawing 8 (Fig.  8) shows a double heritage (Russian and Dari) with French, English and German associated to learning (from books) at school. Interestingly, the student further acknowledges the role of informal contacts with languages, through media and friendship, and the knowledge of different religions as important elements leading to a plurilingual and intercultural competence. The next drawing (Fig. 9) depicts German as a family language leading to the command of that language (the arrows are illustrative of this linguistic transmission inside the family). Foreign language learning appears to start with French, a language that is associated to correspondence with French students and to quite varied visual stereotypes (moustache, Eiffel tower, baguette), therefore acquiring a much more emotional allure compared to English and Spanish, which are represented only through flags and associated to secondary school. The emotional relationship to French and its choice as a subject at university is highlighted by the representation of a shining French flag associated to the university. The last drawing in this section (Fig. 10) is unique in the corpus of visual linguistic biographies. Almost all drawings show the starting point of the learning process of each language and then a sequential addition of different linguistic resources,

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Fig. 10  Cumulative, porous and open multilingual learning path in the latent DLC Table 1  Comparison of languages included in DLC in each group of student teachers Languages German English French Spanish

Spanish student teachers (N = 34) 28 (82%) 30 (88%) 20 (59%) 33 (97%)

French student teachers (N = 31) 28 (90%) 29 (94%) 28 (90%) 15 (48%)

depicted as isolated (as in most of the examples discussed so far). Contrary to this tendency, the author of drawing 10 seems to conceive language learning as cumulative and with a lot of communication between different languages, as the borders between each language learning path are porously represented through discontinuous lines. The learning path is not represented with a starting and an ending point: The starting age is provided, but the learning process is depicted as ongoing and open. The linguistic biography starts with the representation of the subject’s birth and contact with German (the only language captioned in capital letters), continues with English, French, Latin and Italian and is paralleled by a “phantasy language” (“langue de phantaisie” as the student teacher puts it in French). As with drawings 6, 8 and 9, while other foreign languages are associated to school only, French is associated to a diversity of situations such as an Erasmus semester and holidays in France. The analysis of singular yet representative drawings of the corpus shows that this group has a tendency to depict two languages learnt at school (English and French) and that Spanish is less represented as a language possibly integrating the DLC.

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4.3  C  omparison of Dominant Language Constellations and Discussion of Results The approach to DLC in this chapter is that of dominant codes used by groups. The analysis reveals that the potential or latent DLC of both groups follows the schooling multilingualism (which is to say the German educational language policies) and not the societal multilingualism (i.e., the languages present at a societal level, e.g., heritage languages), seen in Table 1. So, while “an assortment of DLCs can coexist in the same physical space” (Aronin 2016, p. 151) and “it is common under the new linguistic dispensation […] to have a number of DLCs in a country” (ibid.), we could observe striking similarities between both groups, related to what could be called a common ‘linguistic socialisation’ at school: So, parallel to German (whether as mother tongue or second language), student teachers of both foreign languages have had contact with at least two more curricular languages. This is a direct consequence of German educational language policy, which follows the European formula of “Mother tongue plus two foreign languages” as a principle for language education at school. Another interesting aspect to observe is that, whereas German and English are stable elements in both cohorts, as the national and first foreign language, French and Spanish invert their position regarding their places in both groups. Also very telling is that in the Spanish group, unlike the French, the number of students not referring to German in their drawings is higher, possibly because of the number of students that identify Spanish, and not German, as their mother tongue. Also relevant is the fact that more Spanish student teachers refer to learning a third language (French), than French student teachers referring Spanish. These observations

Spanish student teachers

French student teachers

German

Spanish

English

French Fig. 11  Visual representation of the latent DLC of each group (based on data of Table 3)

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Spanish student teachers

French student teachers

German Turkish

English

Portuguese

French

Russian

Spanish

Italian

Latin

Fig. 12  Extended visual representation of represented languages and comparison of each group’s DLC (based on data of Graphs 1 and 2)

suggest that French and Spanish may be a part of the linguistic repertoires of the subjects, but not necessarily part of their DLC. Figure 11 visually represents the (latent or potential) DLC of each group. The proposed visual representation again shows clearly the coincidences but also the differences between both groups: German and English have a central status for both groups, and it is the choice of a third language (either Spanish or French) that most distinguishes the groups. This may be because Spanish is generally learnt at the secondary level, after English and French. This makes it again clear how language policies at school impact the multilingual profiles of individuals and therefore their DLC.  It may thus be claimed that the DLC of these individuals is constituted by three main linguistic resources: the official language (German), English (as a foreign language learnt from primary school) and the ‘target language’, vital for professional reasons (Spanish or French). Additionally, these prototypical DLCs can be complemented by some of the heritage languages listed in Graph 1 and 2. Analysing the comparison between groups within an extended version of the graph (to include other languages with more than one occurrence in each group— Fig. 12), we arrive at a much more complex image of the linguistic repertoires and potential DLC, but the differences are less clear: Figures 11 and 12 make it clear that despite the complexity and diversification of repertoires in both groups, a simple account of separate languages does not give a

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complete account of potential language use and competencies in both groups. Indeed, resorting to DLC provides us with a more concrete description of language learning and use. In the same vein, it should be highlighted that what makes the DLC in both groups so unique is also the combination of these common resources with a greater individual variability of heritage languages (in both groups, almost 50% of the students depicted one heritage language).

5  Synthesis and Perspectives The theoretical and empirical stance adopted in this paper is that of DLC being a dynamic and complex system, depending on a life story and a learning trajectory, which can be more or less regular depending on different affordances at the individual and societal levels. DLC development depends on individual agency even if, as Larsen-­Freeman puts it, “there is also always the question of just how much free will humans actually have, given social and historical constraints” (Larsen-­Freeman 2017, p. 20). The analysis of chronological elements depicted in visual linguistic biographies also highlights the factors that can facilitate potential integration of languages in the individual DLC: bilingual acquisition, bilingual schooling, foreign language learning at school, studies abroad and student and professional mobility, informal multilingual and intercultural contacts and so on. Indeed, the visual linguistic biographies provide us with information about the genesis of the DLC, tendencies in this genesis and development, but cannot tell us for sure how the DLC will evolve. This analysis of DLC through the use of visual linguistic autobiographies has emphasised a certain coincidence between: i) the ecology of languages in the world (as described by Calvet 1999), in which some languages appear as hyper-­central (English and the official language), while others are peripheral (the heritage languages); ii) the educational language policy and curricular offer at German schools; and iii) the potential DLC of both Spanish and French student teachers. It could be demonstrated that the prevailing (at least latent) DLC encompasses the co-­presence of German, English, French and Spanish, even if these languages were not always acquired/learnt in this specific order nor are they always attributed the same importance. So, while it may be an oversimplification, our observations on the predominant French and Spanish situations in these biographies could be summarised as follows: French suffers attrition in the potential DLC of Spanish student teachers, and Spanish rarely enters the linguistic repertoires of French student teachers, thus not being considered part of their DLC. As development possibilities of this research, it would be important to analyse not only the constitution of the latent DLC of both cohorts, but also its chronological and contextual development (at least to identify tendencies). This would leave more space to individual variability in the analysis, combining two approaches to DLC: the dominant codes used by groups and the dominant codes used by individuals. Thus, despite the relative homogeneity in DLC, it would be relevant to compare

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individual profiles and DLC in both groups more in-­depth, to grasp the specificities of individual DLC. It should, however, be recognised that there might be greater variability in learning paths and in the DLC than could be analysed through visual language autobiographies alone. Therefore, as pointed out by Larsen-­Freeman regarding application of Complexity Theory to language learners/users, “we can make claims at the level of the group, but we cannot assume that they apply to individuals” (Larsen-­Freeman 2017, p. 27). Another aspect worth further research is the evolution of DLC across the lifespan of individuals, to grasp the biographical events—or the ecological transitions in individuals’ lives, following the metaphor by Brofenbrenner (1996)—that induce changes in language learning and use, namely in adulthood, when curricular obligations disappear (see Kannangara 2020, for research based on this chronological approach). Such research would highlight the longstanding relationship between linguistic repertoires and DLC or, in other words, the evolution that occurs in both and how changes in one affect the other. In this chapter, the distinction was tentatively introduced between potential (or latent) and actual DLC, to exploit the material collected in the empirical study and, especially, to address the explanatory potential of DLC as a framework to study language biographies. It could be interesting to further research whether this distinction has further heuristic capabilities and if it can contribute to the evolution of studies in DLC, mainly if we take language learning at school or mobility as possible enhancement and transformative sites of linguistic repertoires and DLC.  A possible research question based on this distinction would be which factors facilitate or hinder the transformation of potential DLC into factual ones, both at the individual and societal levels.

References Aronin, L. (2016). Multi-competence and dominant language constellation. In V. Cook & L. Wei (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of linguistic multicompetence (pp.  142–163). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Aronin, L. (2019). Dominant language constellation as a method of research. In E.  Vetter & U. Jessner (Eds.), International research on multilingualism: Breaking with the monolingual perspective (pp. 13–26). Cham: Springer. Aronin, L. (2020). Dominant language constellations as an approach for studying multilingual practices in. In J. Lo Bianco & L. Aronin (Eds.), Dominant language constellations: A new perspective on multilingualism. Berlin: Springer. Aronin, L., & Singleton, D. (2008). Multilingualism as a new linguistic dispensation. International Journal of Multilingualism, 5(1), 1–16. Aronin, L., & Singleton, D. (2012). Multilingualism. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Aronin, L., Fishman, J., Singleton, D., & Ó Laoire, M. (2013). Current multilingualism: A new linguistic dispensation. In D. Singleton, J. Fishman, L. Aronin, & M. Ó Laoire (Eds.), Current multilingualism (pp. 3–23). Berlin: Walter de Gruyton.

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Block, D. (2014). Moving beyond ‘lingualism’: Multilingual embodiment and multimodality in SLA. In S. May (Ed.), The multilingual turn. Implications for SLA, TESOL and bilingual education (pp. 54–77). London: Routledge. Blommaert, J. (2010). The sociolinguistics of globalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Bronfenbrenner, U. (1996). A Ecologia do Desenvolvimento Humano: Experimentos Naturais e Planejados. Porto Alegre: Artes Médicas. Busch, B. (2017). Biographic approaches to research in multilingual settings. Exploring linguistic repertoires. In M. Martin-Jones & D. Martin (Eds.), Researching multilingualism. Critical and ethnographic perspectives (pp. 46–59). London: Routledge. Calvet, J.-L. (1999). Pour une écologie des langues du monde. Paris: Plon. Chik, A., & Melo-Pfeifer, S. (2019). Social representations of multilingualism. In G. Barkhuizen (Ed.), Qualitative research topics in language teacher education (pp.  149–154). London: Routledge. De Bot, K., & Larsen-Freeman, D. (2011). Researching second language development from a dynamic systems theory perspective. In M. Verspoor, K. de Bot, & W. Lowie (Eds.), A dynamic approach to second language development (pp. 5–24). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Dörnyei, Z. (2017). Conceptualizing learner characteristics in a complex, dynamic world. In I. L. Ortega & Z. H. Han (Eds.), Complexity theory and language development (pp. 79–96). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Esin, C., & Squire, C. (2013). Visual autobiographies in East London: Narratives of still images, interpersonal exchanges, and intrapersonal dialogues. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/ Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 14(2). See http://www.qualitative-­research.net/index.php/ fqs/article/view/1971 Kalaja, P., & Melo-Pfeifer, S. (Eds.). (2019). Visualising multilingual lives: More than words. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. Kalaja, P., & Pitkänen-Huhta, A. (2018). Introduction to the ALR double special issue ‘visual methods in applied language studies’. Applied Linguistics Review, 9(S2–3), 157–176. Kannangara, S. (2020). The evolution of personal dominant language constellations based on the amount of usage of the languages. In J. Lo Bianco & L. Aronin (Eds.), Dominant language constellations: A new perspective on multilingualism. Berlin: Springer. Kress, G., & Van Leeuwen, T. (1996). Reading images. The grammar of visual design. London: Routledge. Larsen-Freeman, D. (2017). Complexity theory: The lessons continue. In L. Ortega & Z. H. Han (Eds.), Complexity theory and language development (pp. 11–50). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Leavy, P. (2015). Method meets art. Arts-based research practice. New York: The Guilford Press. Lo Bianco, J. (2020). Quo Vadis, DLC? In J. Lo Bianco & L. Aronin (Eds.), Dominant language constellations: A new perspective on multilingualism (pp. 261-275). Berlin: Springer. May, S. (Ed.). (2014). The multilingual turn. Implications for SLA, TESOL and bilingual education. Oxon: Routledge. Melo-Pfeifer, S. (2019). „Ich werde Fremdsprachen lehren, also (wer) bin ich?“ – Berufsbezogene Überzeugungen künftiger Frendsprachenlehrerinnen und Lehrer für Französisch und Spanisch in der ersten Phase der Lehrerausbildung (Bachelor). Zeitschrift für Romanische Sprachen und ihre Didaktik, 13(2), 9–33. Melo-Pfeifer, S., & Chik, A. (2020). Multimodal linguistic biographies of prospective foreign language teachers in Germany: Reconstructing Beliefs about Languages and Multilingual Language Learning in Initial Teacher Education. International Journal of Multilingualism. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2020.1753748. Merriam, S., & Tisdell, E. (2016). Qualitative research. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Molinié, M. (Ed.). (2006). Biographie langagière et apprentissage plurilingue [Linguistic biography and multilingual learning]. Le Français dans le Monde, Recherches et Applications, 39.

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Molinié, M. (Ed.). (2009). Le dessin réflexif: Élément pour une herméneutique du sujet plurilingue [The reflexive drawing: Elements for the hermeneutics of the multilingual subject]. CRTF: Université de Cergy-Pontoise. Molinié, M. (2011). La méthode biographique: de l’écoute de l’apprenant à l’herméneutique du sujet plurilingue [The biographic method: From hearing to the learner to the hermeneutics of the multilingual subject]. In P. Blanchet & P. Chardenet (Eds.), Guide pour la recherche en didactique des langues et des cultures (pp. 144–155). Paris: Edition des archives contemporaines. Ortega, L., & Han, Z. H. (2017). Introduction. In L. Ortega & Z. H. Han (Eds.), Complexity theory and language development (pp. 1–10). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Pavlenko, A. (2007). Autobiographic narratives as data in applied linguistics. Applied Linguistics, 28(S2), 163–188. Piller, I. (2016). Linguistic diversity and social justice. An introduction to applied sociolinguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Rose, G. (2001). Visual methodologies. An introduction to researching with visual materials. London: Sage (4th ed, 2016). In M.  Verspoor, K.  De Bot, & W.  Lowie (Eds.), A dynamic approach to second language development. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Verspoor, M., De Bot, K., & Lowie, W. (Eds.). (2011). A dynamic approach to second language development. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Vertovec, S. (2014). Reading ‘Super-diversity’. In B.  Anderson & M.  Keith (Eds.), Migration: A COMPAS anthology. Oxford: COMPAS.  See http://compasanthology.co.uk/wp-­content/ uploads/2014/02/Vertovec_COMPASMigrationAnthology.pdf. Vetter, E. (Ed.). (2013). Professionalisierung für sprachliche Vielfalt [Becoming a professional to deal with linguistic diversity]. Baltmannsweiler: Schneider. Sílvia Melo-Pfeifer  is an Associate Professor at the Department of Education at the University of Hamburg (Germany). Under Camões  – IP, she coordinated the language department of the Portuguese Embassy in Berlin between 2010 and 2013. Among her research interests are: multilingual and intercultural interaction, pluralistic approaches to teaching and learning of foreign languages and heritage language education. She was a research member of the European projects SPIRAL (“School-­teacher Professionalization: Intercultural Resources and Languages”), Koinos (“European Portfolio of Plurilingual Literacy Practices”), and EVAL-­IC (“Evaluation des compétences en intercompréhension: réception et interactions plurilingues”). She currently coordinates the Erasmus Plus Project LoCALL (Local Linguistic Landscapes for global language education in the school context).

Languages as Ways of Being: The Linguistic Biography of a Nordic Nomad Guðrún Gísladóttir

Abstract  This paper documents the Dominant Language Constellations (DLC) in my personal multilingual repertoire, as it traces my path and pathos (or passion) of learning languages—starting with my mother tongue which has been a point of reference for most other languages that I have learnt during my life. It is also a sort of memoir of different periods in my life, inevitably linked to cultural and linguistic experiences, to formal and informal language education and self-access learning, as I was acquiring the languages that I speak today, and of the strategies I have used instinctively as a language learner—language learning strategies that served my purposes and worked for me. In providing a detailed account of when and how I enriched my linguistic repertoire, primarily with the five North Germanic or Nordic languages some of which are to a certain extent intercomprehensible, but also with other languages acutely different from the Germanic languages such as Lithuanian and Greek, I talk about how I felt or feel about each of these languages which have played different roles in my life, depending on a wide variety of factors, including place of residence, work, family, close friendships and social networks. Keywords  Dominant language constellations (DLC) · Language repertoire · Multilingualism · Language learning strategies · Foreign language learning · Nordic languages.

1  Introduction Languages have always been important for me, though I never ventured to put into words what the role the various languages I have learnt have played in my life, and definitely not so as to contribute in an academic publication on multilingualism. As G. Gísladóttir (*) European Civil Society Platform for Multilingualism (ECSPM), Copenhagen, Denmark e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 L. Aronin, E. Vetter (eds.), Dominant Language Constellations Approach in Education and Language Acquisition, Educational Linguistics 51, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70769-9_11

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a photographer I think in images and also actually feel through them. Languages are ways of being, doing social critique, learning new concepts, managing relations and experiencing new cultures. I would have continued to think of ‘my’ languages as coloured images only, if I’d not been asked to do what I am presently calling my ‘linguistic biography’ by Larissa Aronin, who was impressed by the Dominant Language Constellations chart I made in clay as part of a game she asked us to play during a talk she gave at a multilingualism symposium, in which I had taken part in organising.1 I had handed in to Larissa the colour chart, after explaining what the colours and the position of the shapes meant for me. Later, I wrote a detailed commentary of the DLC clay chart, which I have included here as an Appendix. It was this clay chart and my commentary that prompted Larissa to ask me to write about my language experiences,2 which are both rich and enriching. They are colourful and sensational—meaning that they contribute to my thoughts, emotions and feelings.

2  Languages in My Homeland 2.1  Icelandic: The Language I Was Born to Born in Iceland in the 1950s, I was the youngest of six children in a home with many books, daily newspaper which I always read, and I made good use of my library card. Regular visits to the theatre and to concerts, the radio would be on in the evening. At the time I was born, there was no Icelandic television channel, neither Public Service nor commercial, but there was a television channel that broadcast from the American Military Base in Keflavík. All programmes were in American English, with no subtitles. We did not have a TV in the house until I was 8, first watching the base-television only. A year later, Icelandic National TV (RUV) started broadcasting (only a few hours each day, no TV on Thursdays, no TV in July). I had five older brothers, boisterous boys who took up space, so I did not talk a lot. Rather, I spent a lot of time listening, watching, observing. I do not remember learning how to read, but I do remember that I could do so when I was very young, long before going to school. I think I might have been observing my brothers learn. I started primary school a year early. My parents were going on an extended trip to 1  The symposium I am referring to was part of the 2018 ECSPM event, “Paradigm shift in language education for the development of multiliterate and plurilingual agencies” hosted by the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany, at which Larissa was an invited speaker. 2  I would like to thank Larissa for asking me to prepare this contribution, for encouraging me throughout the preparation process and for making useful suggestions as I made one draft after the other. I have enjoyed the cooperation throughout. Many thanks are also owed to my friend Prof. Bessie Dendrinos, president of the ECSPM, who has been my interlocutor during the writing process, has edited drafts of my text and also made useful suggestions for the final version.

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the US during the winter, so I stayed with my mother‘s cousin and was sent to their neighbourhood school, so she could go to work every day. School started at the age of seven, but I was only five at the time (being born in December). I had no problems whatsoever in keeping up with the others, quite the contrary. However, the following year, I started in the first class of primary school again, in our local school so that I’d be in sink with the others agewise. I have always felt that it was a good decision, because this meant that I was in a class with children born the same year, and with the friend I had since I was a toddler. I liked schoolwork and it was always easy, apart from writing line after line, with the same letter. I found this task tedious. Numbers, I liked; they were easy, and I liked doing arithmetic. Having been away from Iceland most of my adult life, I have tried to keep my Icelandic alive, more or less all the time. Possibly apart from periods during the 12 years I spent in Sweden, where Swedish was the language I used most. My sense of language is strong. I know that my Icelandic is good despite the fact that I don’t use it extensively on a daily basis and that I have a rich vocabulary. I believe that my love for language reflects in my use of other languages I’ve learnt. Keeping my languages alive needs considerable work. I read articles and books in each of them, not translations, if I know the original language. Lately, I have actually tried to acquire books that ARE translated in Icelandic—by translators whose Icelandic is very rich, and I feel reading their work refreshes my vocabulary. Most are translated from languages I do not speak. It was when I returned to Iceland, after I’d spent 12 years in Sweden that I had a deeper, a more conscious experience in relation to my mother tongue, Icelandic. I felt it on my skin, in my heart and in my mind. I had always done well in school, taught through the medium of Icelandic. My spelling was good and so was my lexical range. I needed no help when I wrote in Icelandic. On the contrary, at some point, I stopped asking my father to read my spelling exercises in Icelandic, since more often than not, his corrections were incorrect. My Icelandic is closely tied to my identity. I am an Icelander and Icelandic is my treasure. Not least after I had lived in Sweden and became aware of that learning Swedish perfectly came at a cost—I felt that I was losing some of my Icelandic. Since then I have made sure that I take good care of my mother tongue and my friends have promised to keep me in check; good friends who are professional proofreaders and/or authors whom I know I can trust. When I first moved back from Sweden to Iceland, it was difficult and I felt challenged. It seemed that something had changed. I felt like an outsider. It was not the language only—it was that I was no longer part of one way of life, but of several. Once I realised this, it was no longer an issue. Icelandic is my home, no question about it. It is the language I best play with, can be most accurate in expressing myself with, whether it is anger, happiness or passion. One of Iceland’s most renown proofreaders is my best friend, playing with the language with her was a joy and we have continued doing so, with the Atlantic between us. A year ago, her mind disappeared into the cloud of dementia and I miss our wonderful playful conversations and it saddens me profoundly that we will probably never have another conversation, at least not one that makes much sense.

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My other best friend passed away several years ago, one of Iceland’s best-known authors, a master of the language, and it took me time to come to terms with our conversations coming to a halt. Now, I go back to our conversations in my mind and enjoy them again, they were of the kind you would not forget. The same is happening with my friend mentioned earlier and with whom I had so much in common. She had also lived in Sweden and we would often ‘fool around’, mixing Swedish into our Icelandic. She was also a translator and when translating from Swedish, she would confer with me when she knew somehow, that there was a point she was missing. I remember one book in particular where we had the opportunity to sit down together with her list of ‘strangenesses’, where she felt there was an underlying meaning, but could not put her finger on what. The author in question is from the south of Sweden where I used to live, but my friend had lived in Stockholm and some of these ‘oddities’ had to do with regional differences in language use. There were ‘unclear’ idioms I could help her sort out. Since my friend’s condition was diagnosed, we have actually had several conversations on the phone. She is very far from her former self, far from coherent, but has moments of some clarity. In one instance she actually made a joke, playing with words, like she used to do better than anyone I know. We both laughed and she then said: “I made a joke there, didn’t I?” “Yes, you did”, and I reminded her that we have laughed a lot together through our decades of friendship. “We have?” she asked. “Yes, very much so”, I told her. There was a long pause, and then she said: “That makes me happy, but I don’t remember that at all”.

2.2  English: The Language of Convenience From the time I was a baby, English would be spoken around me, although not on a daily basis. My father, who worked for the United States Information Service in Iceland, was a travel guide for Americans from the military base during the summer. Throughout the year, guests who spoke English would regularly visit us at home, and I sometimes visited my father at work, where both English and Icelandic were spoken. From the age of three or four, I would often travel with him on one-day trips. I was not a forward child, certainly not among foreigners, but I would say my name, when asked in English, and how old I was. Do you speak English? “A little bit”, would be my answer. But I listened, both to what my father was saying to the tourists on the bus about Iceland, the history, the scenery etc., as well as to the tourists talking to each other. At 11, 1 or 2 years before having English as a second foreign language in school, my father told me that he had enrolled me in an English class in the language school where he offered evening classes. I went to evening language school and liked it. I found English easy. I had attended classes for only a couple of months when my father and I were downtown together and ran into my English teacher. They spoke in English and I understood every word, but I do not think my father realised that I did. He asked her

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how I was doing, and the teacher told him that there was no reason for me to be taking classes; my English was excellent. He seemed surprised. That teacher was British, and in the evening class there was exclusive use of English. It was the only time during my school experience that the ‘foreign’ language being taught would actually be used in the classroom for communication purposes. In other foreign language classes, the school language was used for all communication and the activities involving the foreign language would include –– reading aloud in English, Danish or German from the textbook. –– orally translating from the textbook into Icelandic and translating in written form from Icelandic into English, Danish or German. –– reading short stories in English, Danish or German and making sure we would know the meaning of all the words. –– doing grammar exercises. My English is good, I am fluent in it, but I do not feel that it has a big place in my heart. For me, English is a tool I use with ease in many situations, but my feelings towards it are neither particularly warm nor cold. As in the other languages I know, I like to play with words, and I can do this in English as well, which I enjoy. We are being told that English is the international language, and we know only too well that the British and the Americans expect that the rest of the world will speak in English for them. It is a fact of course that English is a dominant language that is out to conquer, to take over areas of other languages. And, indeed, it is making changes to ‘my’ languages, and I almost resent this. Actually, English is like water that causes floods, but not many people seem to mind.

2.3  D  anish: The Language I (Have to) Live with on a Daily Basis At the time I was in school, Danish was the first language we were offered, when we were in the sixth grade of primary school, because of the relationship between Iceland and Denmark. Until then, my only contact with Danish had been through my maternal grandmother, whose vocabulary included words borrowed from Danish. I remember that she used words my mother and father did not, but I did not realise at the time that her vocabulary was coloured with Danish. During her time (she was born 1890) this was very common. Danish did exist in my home; it was not spoken, but there was reading material. My mother would buy magazines in Danish and Donald Duck comics for us children. Donald Duck was only available in Danish at the time. I would skim through the comic books but would not attempt reading through them because I didn’t particularly like comics at the time and still don’t—in any language. Once I’d learnt to read Danish in school, I would sometimes actually read the text in the comics, though I was not that interested in comics.

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My mother was fluent in Norwegian, having studied in Norway and my father spoke what we Icelanders call Scandinavian. It is mostly Danish, with a dash of Norwegian and Swedish, spoken with a very distinct Icelandic accent. He was fluent in English, having lived in Canada for 10  years as a young man. My mother‘s English was fairly good. I had Danish for 7 years at school. I did well, but we did not get any practice in listening comprehension. Danish pronunciation is complicated; so, when I came to Denmark for the first time, I could hardly understand anything of what was being said. I could speak Danish (with that very distinct Icelandic accent), and I could read and write well, but could hardly understand oral speech, which is—by common Nordic consent—very difficult, because the Danes do not pronounce the words the way they write them. In other words, Danish is a language whose writing is far from phonemic. Consider the following example, an utterance in written Danish: “Vil du have mere kage?” (which in English means “Would you like to have more cake?”). This utterance is pronounced as “Vi d’ha me ka?” Today, Danish is the language of my daily life, or at least parts of my life and it is the language of my grandchildren. The oldest (aged 20) wants us to use English between us and we do that, when we’re on our own. She has learned English by chatting with others online, from she was about eight or nine, she would sit by my side and ask for words in English, ask how they were spelled and would very seldom have to ask twice. Now her 11-year-old brother is starting to use English with online gamers. He too is learning on his own, frequently asking for words. His writing is not good yet (in any language), nor his reading, as he is dyslexic, but he uses Siri on his iPhone and iPad, usually in English, since Danish does not work as well. In order for Siri to understand him, he knows he has to pronounce the words and sentences very clearly, otherwise Siri does not understand, and this is very good practice.

2.4  German: The ‘Foreign’ Language for Me After finishing 6 years in elementary school and 2 years in secondary school it was time to choose which way to go. I took the entrance exams to a Commercial College and graduated from there, four years later. German, which had been the third foreign language there, was a part of the curriculum all four years at the College, along with Danish and English. In addition to General English and German, both languages were offered as languages for specific (business) purposes, which meant basically that we practiced writing business letters. German was rather unpopular at the time, there was a negative attitude towards the language for political reasons. I didn’t like to study a language that had negative undertones and neither did the rest of the class (negative affectivity). As a grown up, I no longer have adverse feelings towards the German language, and I use it whenever necessary. I can make myself understood and can understand quite a bit. There

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are, of course parallels between German and all the other Scandinavian languages that I speak, which have Germanic origins. In my German classes at school, we learnt about the language rather than the language itself. Language teaching focused on the structure of the language rather than its use. We had few opportunities to actually use the language. So, it was many years later that I could actually put to use the little bit of the German I knew. Now, whenever I visit a German-speaking country, I do try. And German has sometimes been a vehicle language for me as, for example, in Lithuania, Hungary and Serbia.

3  The Languages Away from Home When I was a teenager, I had been very excited when I was offered the chance not only to travel but, actually, to live away from my home country for short periods of time. My very first experience occurred when I was 16 and I lived in England for nearly 6  months. Then, when I was 19, I was given the opportunity to live for 3 months in Canada. I used English of course, in both countries, and had no problem with everyday communication. During the time I was in London, it never entered my mind to develop my English further. I could use it to communicate, I read a lot in English and that was enough for me. So, I enrolled in an evening class to improve my German, which was still at elementary level thanks to the poor language teaching approach used back home. However, the German classes in England disappointed me too. The method of teaching was pretty much the same as back home and it was not helping me in any way to become more proficient in the language. This and the fact that I had quite a way to travel to get to the school made the German course I was taking not worth my time.

3.1  Swedish: The Language of My Second Heart When I moved away from my homeland and emigrated to Sweden, I was 22, recently married and had given birth to my first daughter. I stayed at home with her during the first year of her life; I did not go to school, nor did I work. Knowing some Danish helped me read texts in my environment, but at the beginning, I understood almost nothing of what was being said in Swedish (even though Swedish is easier to understand than spoken Danish—for an Icelander at least). Since my husband and I had moved to this new country to stay for at least a couple of years, I set out to learn the language. We had brought a tiny black’n’white TV with us and when my daughter napped, I watched Swedish television, especially children’s TV programmes. Programmes in Swedish with Swedish subtitles proved very useful. I almost immediately acquired a library card, subscribed to a daily newspaper and read every page. I was determined to learn the language (by myself),

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but there were difficulties. For example, at the time there were no Icelandic-Swedish dictionaries. So, what I did sometimes was to look up words in a dictionary at the library, English/Swedish or Swedish/English. Pretty soon, I could make myself understood and understand others, more or less without using English as a vehicle language. I liked and still like the Swedish language very much and am very fond of the country and its people. When visiting from Denmark, I feel more at ease, more self-­ assured when using this language. Using Danish, I still feel a bit nervous or unsure in certain situations. When my daughter was 1 year old, and I thought that it was time for me to seek employment, I enrolled in an SFI programme (Swedish for Immigrants). It was a nine or 10-week, full-time course. We were placed in classes based on our level of competence in Swedish. Mine was a class of nine students who were all at post-­ beginner level. Soon the teacher started giving me special assignments to do in class. I liked the Swedish language from the very start—the feel of it. The language spoke to me. I wanted to master it, wanted to learn it well, get the pronunciation right. I was hoping to learn it so well that I would have no accent. Prior to moving to Sweden, I had not had any contact with the country, nor its people. But when I was there, I liked most everything about the social milieu I was living in. My wish to learn Swedish well had nothing to do with possibly getting a better job. It was for me, my personal goal. After the SFI course, I found employment and then I began university studies aiming at a degree in political science. When I completed my first university year, I took Scandinavian/Swedish studies programme, involving language and linguistics, for one possibly two terms. However, I found linguistics interesting and decided to continue the rest of my studies with the programme that I had chosen as interim. I think it is safe to say that of the languages I know, other than my mother tongue, Swedish is closest to my heart and so are the people of Sweden and the country itself. The distance from Denmark to Sweden is only a matter of half an hour by train and I visit regularly. Every time I am there, I feel that I communicate with ease; that words taste good in my mouth. It is very different from how I feel in Denmark, even after 25 years as a resident in the country. I still feel uneasy in some communicative situations. I still prepare phone calls—if I need to make a formal call and want to make sure I get it right, I write down what I need to say, the points I need to make clear, my questions. I am a different self, when there. Even though I am fluent in Danish, I feel more at ease using Swedish. And it is not only the language, it is also the attitude of the Swedish people, how they move, how they do not get in the way, not blocking a sidewalk, move to the side on the escalator, make room for others. I am always in a good mood, when I return to Denmark from Sweden.

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3.2  Norwegian: One More Scandinavian Conquest The programme of Scandinavian/Swedish Studies at the University in Lund included one obligatory course in Norwegian, which I took, and I also took a second more advanced course in the Norwegian language, as well as a course in Norwegian literature. It was then that I received a scholarship to attend a summer course in Bokmål in Oslo. I was 26 at the time. As I mentioned before, my mother studied in Norway, just before WWII. She had enjoyed her years in Norway very much and had become very pro-Norwegian. This positive attitude had a beneficial effect on me, I believe. She spoke with such warmth about her years there that I developed a fondness for this country, which grew when I started learning the language—perhaps partly as a tribute to her. It made her very glad to know that I was learning the language and that in turn made me happy. Actually, I became fluent in Norwegian, and still am. My oral skills are quite good, unlike my writing skills which are rather poor. The spellchecker in Word helps, and so do online dictionaries and Google Translate. Danish used to be the written language of Norway, which meant it had a strong influence on the Norwegian language and there are many similarities. My errors are mostly transfers. There was also an elementary course in Danish, a part of the curriculum at the Institution for Nordic Languages. As I did with Norwegian, I added a second more advanced course on offer and I also chose a course in Danish literature. By this time, I could understand Danish perfectly. Partly since Danish television channels were available and that helped a lot. Like in Swedish during my first year, I would try to find programmes that were in Danish, but also with Danish subtitles, which I would read, while listening and watching. And I would visit Denmark frequently, usually only 1-day visits, but they made a difference for my understanding of and fluency in Danish. After 12 years in Sweden, when I was 34, I moved back to Iceland and enjoyed using the Icelandic language again immensely. I realised that I had possibly made too big an effort to become proficient in Swedish—so much so that I had been using very little Icelandic, losing out a bit. On the other hand, I think it was needed in order for me to master Swedish to the degree I did, and still do.

3.3  Faroese: The ‘Sister’ Language Five years later, I spent a couple of years in the Faroe Islands and learned Faroese very quickly—‘she learnt Faroese on the boat from Iceland’, said the professor at the University in Tórshavn, where I attended classes. Faroese is quite close to Icelandic, in writing. However, Faroese has several dialects, some are quite difficult to understand for a newbie. But I got there, more or less and I enjoyed learning a language that is so close to my mother tongue. I enjoyed becoming aware of the

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differences, and the similarities, of loans from Icelandic. Icelandic is not a language words are borrowed from, except by the Faroese. At 41 I moved to Denmark, where I have lived since. There is quite a bit of interference from Swedish and Norwegian. I decided not to do as I did in Sweden and try to become ‘native-like’. My Danish improves, gradually, my vocabulary grows, I definitely try to make a clear distinction between the Nordic languages, as opposed to some of the Danes I met during my years in Sweden, who would identify the words and phrases that were almost identical but had different meaning (what we Nordics call false friends), and exchange the Danish words/phrases for the Swedish ones but otherwise, continue using Danish, or that is how it sounded in my ears.

3.4  L  ithuanian: The Language of the Country that Likes Me Back Eight years ago, I visited Lithuania for the first time and since then I’ve been back about 15 times. Since most of my friends there are around my age and older and had Russian as their first foreign language in school, English has not always been of much help. During my first two or three visits, I built an active vocabulary of about 60 words and some sentences and have added a little bit during each visit. Every-­ day words and phrases that help me make myself understood, order food, ask simple questions and so on. German has on a few occasions been helpful. My dentist there is Uzbek, speaks Uzbek and Russian, and a little Lithuanian. I use Google Translate when I send him emails, preparing and planning my visits. I use Google Translate in the following manner: I form the sentences/text in very simple language, simple syntax, short sentences, avoiding subordinate clauses, using either English or Swedish. Then I translate the sentence into all the languages I know well and see if the translation makes sense in each of them. And then I will translate for example to Russian and send it as an email. If I have any doubt, I send it first, in English and Russian, to a Russian speaking friend and ask her just to tell me if the text makes sense. Not to make changes, just check if it works/makes sense. I follow a similar pattern when I write in Norwegian; I test my sentences in Google Translate or use the spellchecker in Word. I recently returned from a week’s visit in Lithuania and it is a good feeling to be able to communicate a little bit. Not complex conversations, but to shop groceries, order food, exchange pleasantries. From Lithuania I travelled to Berlin and used German there and each time, I feel pleased that I am using more than I thought I would be able to. My knowledge in Lithuanian is elementary, I can make myself understood, I am happy to be able to do that and Lithuanians are especially happy when a foreigner tries to use their language. Furthermore, Icelanders are extremely welcome in Lithuania, being the country that was the first to support the Lithuanian declaration of independence. I had a memorable experience a few years ago. I had been

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traveling for some days in Latvia, and although the languages are related, I could not use any of my Lithuanian while there. Shortly after crossing the border, I visited a gas station and it was a good feeling to be able to use my Lithuanian when paying for gas, buying coffee, asking for the bathroom.

3.5  Greek: The Language of a People with a ‘Heart of Hearts’ At 59 I visited Greece for the first time, and since then I keep going back, as there is so much to love, to explore, to learn—including the language from which so many other languages have borrowed. I’ve been learning the alphabet, slowly (I can now read a little bit), I have learned a few words and phrases. Icelandic has very few loanwords from Greek (even in the fields of medicine, physics, and other sciences) but the other Nordic languages (and English of course) have quite a few loans, and this is an advantage. I recognise the Greek words that my other languages have borrowed, and this can be a great help when you are trying to learn a language—to recognise words it has lent to languages you know. There is not much help to be had from other languages when learning Lithuanian, for instance. But, where Greek is concerned, help is there to be had if one pays close attention. On the other hand, the Greek alphabet is totally new to me, and I have to make an effort to learn how letters are used to form words. I enjoy learning new words and sentences as well as all the pleasantries and the well-wishing that Greek people exchange with each other, every day. I like these patterns of communication and enjoy being able to take part in them. I am enjoying learning a little bit of Greek, although I would want for it to go a bit faster. Pronunciation has proven quite easy— I do like the feel of the words, how they sound. And I also like learning to read, learning the alphabet. Interestingly enough, this is the first time I feel I am actually learning how to read, since I do not recall learning to read as a child. It is a challenge to learn Greek, a welcome challenge. I do enjoy trying to pronounce, trying to make myself understood, albeit on a very ‘primitive’ level. As I mentioned above, I am very fond of all the pleasantries and well-wishing the Greek people use, especially since I have a feeling that they really mean all the nice things they say to each other.

4  Summing Up on My Linguistic Treasure Chest I learnt the languages I can use today, either proficiently or at a basic level, because I felt they were useful to me; not because I simply wanted to add a language to my repertoire. I travel quite extensively, and I want to be able to speak to people in their own language, even if it is just to say hello, thank you, please excuse me. It is my way of showing respect to the country I am visiting and its people.

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I use Icelandic, English, Danish and Swedish every day, in order to speak, write or chat online. However, I also use Norwegian and German, when the opportunity arises—not on an everyday basis. During different periods of my life, my DLC has changed. It depends on where I live, what I am working on, who I am communicating with. Until I was 16 years old, and living in Iceland, I used Icelandic exclusively and a little bit of English here and there. Danish was lurking far behind and still considered the language of the colonial power, so I rarely used it outside the school context—my Danish classes. Living in London for half a year when I was 16/17, was also a turning point for my English, as I communicated in English with native speakers of the language. German was also a language used within the educational context in the commercial college and later on Swedish which was relevant for my academic literacy as well. For the first six years, while I was living in Sweden—having moved there with my husband and my firstborn daughter—I used Icelandic at home and Swedish out in society, at work and at university. The textbooks at university were mainly in Swedish, but some were in English, while I remember one in Norwegian. However, our academic writing was all in Swedish—something which I understand has changed since then. The last six years of my life in Sweden, Swedish was dominant, even at home. When I moved back to Iceland, I used Icelandic again, but also Swedish occasionally with my daughters and then English. During the 2 years I lived in the Faroe Islands, I spoke Faroese with everyone, except one friend with whom I spoke Icelandic and she spoke in Faroese to me. At the University, everything was in Faroese and I wrote my essays and papers in Faroese. Presently, when I’m in Denmark, which is my home, I use Danish of course to be an active citizen, part of the wider and immediate community, as well as to respond to my everyday social needs—shopping, communicating with institutions, services etc. With my family, I translanguage quite a bit. I use Danish and Icelandic, mixed sometimes with Swedish and English words or expressions. I use exclusively Danish with my grandchildren, apart from the oldest one with whom I spoke Icelandic for the first few years, then Danish and now English because for the past five or six years she wants to use English with me as she does with her friends, online. I myself use English in intimate relationships, with close friends and collaborators, communicating off- or online. Icelandic is the language I use with friends who are of Icelandic origin but live in Denmark, with a salt of Danish. I use Swedish most days, with friends online and on the phone. Occasionally I use Norwegian online and face-to-face conversation when I encounter Norwegians in my daily life, as is true of other languages. When I travel, I use English primarily and rarely a bit of German. I also use only English, Danish, Swedish or a mixture of the three, and not Icelandic, in some domains of language use. For example, in linguistics and language-related academic subjects I used to use Swedish only because of my studies in Sweden. Today, I also use English because of my involvement in the field through the ECSPM. In photography which is my main professional activity I use English and

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Danish, even with a friend who is half Icelandic and half Danish. When we discuss issues regarding our photography, I use Danish and English diction primarily though my 83-year-old friend’s Icelandic is remarkably good. It is not because photography related terms do not exist in Icelandic. They do and even if they did not, the Icelandic ‘word committees’ would make sure that they are made up. It is just that neither she nor I were in the profession when we lived in Iceland and neither of us is an active part of the Icelandic photography scene. Being a bookworm, like many Icelanders, I read a lot. I read a lot of literature in Icelandic, Swedish and English, as well as media texts—in all three languages. And I chat quite a bit in all three languages as well. I follow Danish media for news and on occasion, I read books in Danish and in Norwegian, while I have been struggling with a book in German for some time now. I manage, but I know there is a lot I do not get quite right. Nowadays, however, when I read an English text—especially literary text—I have started going back to Icelandic to check a word or a phrase, which is so easy to do with all the online tools available. They may be words or expressions that I know but feel the need to understand their deeper meaning. And the process or outcome is always fascinating for me. I feel that I ‘widen’ my understanding; I realise nuances of the word or expression that I look up that I might not have been aware of. I use Lithuanian as much as I can when there, German when in Germany/Austria/ Switzerland and I am learning more Greek during each visit and using it as much as I can. As I come to the end of my linguistic biography, I must say that I am a proud language learner and language user. I love to interact with languages—not only through languages but with languages themselves. I have been told, that I have a ‘talent’ for languages. One of my linguist friends has said that I am an exemplary language learner because I have instinctively been putting to use strategies of the ‘good language learner’, without actually realising it. Some of these strategies that I have been made aware of are, first of all, that I am a language risk taker; I experiment and take risks in pronouncing words or using them without being afraid of making mistakes. Secondly, I try to take responsibility for my own learning and to be active in the process. Thirdly, I try to figure out how each language that I am committed to works; that is, I look for patterns across the languages I know, similarities, differences and symbolisms. Most importantly, I use ‘my’ languages as much as I can. I love them and I like to taste them, sniff and breath through them, sense them in any way possible. There was only a short period in my life when a language other than Icelandic prevailed. That language was Swedish and it ‘took over’ for a period of time during my years in Sweden. At that time, both my daughters preferred to communicate in Swedish (one of them even refused to speak Icelandic) and I myself communicated in Swedish during my daily life, since my partner at that time was Swedish, and did not speak any Icelandic. Furthermore, I did not socialise much with the Icelandic community in the Swedish town where I lived. I worked with Swedes only, overseas phone calls were rare at that time, so I seldom spoke to family and friends back

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Table 1  My changing DLCs over time 1977–1980 Icelandic  Swedish   English    Danish

1980–1985 Icelandic  Swedish   English    Norwegian    Danish

1994–1996 Icelandic Faroese  Danish  Swedish   English

1996–2012 Icelandic  Danish   Swedish   English    Faroese    German

1985–1989 Swedish Icelandic  English   Norwegian   Danish    German 2012–2015 Icelandic Danish  English  Swedish   Norwegian   Faroese   German    Lithuanian

1989–1994 Icelandic  English  Swedish    Danish

2015–(today) Icelandic English Danish Swedish  Norwegian   Faroese   German    Greek    Lithuanian

home, in Iceland, where I moved back in 1989, only to move away again—this time to Denmark, where I use Danish daily. In closing, I should perhaps stress that my DLCs changed during different periods of my life (Table 1). While my mother tongue, Icelandic, has always been central to my being, even when other languages seemed to prevail for a while (as in my case with Swedish), the languages which I have learnt take a more or less important role based on practical circumstances and various affective factors.

Appendix Commentary on My Clay Chart

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The big blue clay ball is for Icelandic, and the others ‘come’ from that source, so to speak—it is the language of the heart, the soul, the language of thought—it is the language I best play with, think in—my mother tongue. It is the language closest to my heart, but not always the language I think best in. As I get older, sometimes English or Swedish might take that part/take on that role. I have a sense that it has to do with vocabulary and not being used to expressing myself in certain areas, using Icelandic. As I mentioned somewhere here, I have been looking up words that I mean I understand, but that I might not have a ready Icelandic word for. This has deepened my understanding. Can be time consuming, maybe that is why I do not do it all the time/under other circumstances. Words touch me in Icelandic in a way they do not in other languages. Deeper. I feel more deeply about them; they fill me with warmth. I need to think whether it works the other way around, if they ‘give me the creeps’.

The lilac is Swedish, the language (apart from Icelandic of course) that is closest to my heart, and thoughts. Important years of my early adulthood were spent in Sweden. It is where I raised my children, acquired parts of my education, was politically active, acquired social skills that I treasure and have made use of.

The red ball is Danish, the first foreign language at school—this relates to the fact that Iceland was a ‘colony’ of Denmark for many centuries and up until 1999, was the first foreign language in schools—Denmark is where I now live. While living in Sweden, with close proximity to Denmark, I would visit regularly and gradually understand more. I would also pick up Danish, while in Sweden, by watching Danish TV. As I add to my years in Denmark, my vocabulary grows, I can express myself with more ease, but my fondness for the language is nowhere close to that of Swedish, and certainly not Icelandic. Danish is the language of my grandchildren and from them I also pick up, toddlers’ Danish proved tricky for me and one of the children was particularly difficult to understand, very slurred. Good training there. There is also some reverse affectivity from the fact that Iceland was a colony of Denmark for several hundred years. I am born 10 years after we were completely independent and in school, history lessons would not be particularly positive, regarding Denmark and the Danes.

The yellow clay ball is Norwegian, a language I hold dear, that I am fluent in but do not use as much as Swedish and Danish. My mother studied in Norway before the war and always spoke well of her time there, but she would never use Norwegian at home. I know that her Norwegian was good. Norwegian was one of the subjects she took in Norway, she told me once that she wanted to make sure she would not get behind in class and her marks were excellent (affectivity). A much more positive attitude towards Norwegian, but I do not feel very strongly about it. I am fond of Norway and the Norwegians; glad I speak the language.

Brown/white/yellow (using the colours left) is Faroese, in which I am also fluent, but seldom use.

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It is the language closest to Icelandic and there are strong bonds between the Icelandic people and the Faroese. I enjoyed learning and am always glad when I get the opportunity to use the language.

I put the Nordic languages together, they are related, not only linguistically, but also attached to me in many ways—seeing myself as something of a Nordic nomad. On several occasions, speaking to a mixed Nordic audience, I might use all five, Ice, Swe, Dan, Nor and Faroese. Especially in discussions where I want to address someone in particular and do it in their language/mother tongue.

Brown is English, the first foreign language I learned and the foreign language I am most at ease using, and most fluent in  – along with Swedish. I did not learn English in school, but from hearing it from early childhood. My father was a travel guide in Iceland, I often travelled with him. Orange is German, which I had in college, but have had very little use for. I often use it with English, and relate to it in a way, through English—and English is often a ‘helper’ when I speak German. When in a German speaking country, I try to use it and it works okay. I sometimes watch the German TV channels I have at home. And on social media, I try to use some German. German was very unpopular; I can’t remember any of my classmates (one exception, whose mother was German) liking the subject and the teachers did not do much to make up for the negative attitudes. And, on social media, I get new opportunities to use the languages I have not used much in recent years, and I enjoy the opportunities and that I get to freshen up my knowledge in them.

Yellow, white and orange is Lithuanian which I started learning in 2012—it is on its own, since I have mostly learned it from people who do not speak English and, whose first foreign language is usually Russian, which is not of much help to me, since I only know a couple of words in Russian. Lithuanians over 35 years of age had Russian as a first foreign language in school. Greek is the blue and white because of Greece’s colours and it is the language I have begun getting a feeling for and learning a little—starting only six years ago. I place it in relation with English, since I use English when learning Greek. Guðrún Gísladóttir, born, raised and schooled in Iceland, did undergraduate work in Scandinavian studies and political science at the University of Lund, Sweden and continued her studies at the Faroese University in Tórshavn in Linguistics and Philosophy. She worked in publishing and media, always interested in politics and political activity, alongside photography. Today she is a professional fine art photographer living in Copenhagen, Denmark and has exhibited her work in Europe and the USA (www.gudrun.cc). She is Co-director of the European Artists’ Rights organisation, and General Secretary of the European Civil Society Platform for Multilingualism