cohesion - European Centre for Modern Languages

Multilingualism in school and with friends
Although all children were bilingual and although there are a lot of bilingual children
in Umeå, the children in the study had no bilingual friends and most were the only
bilingual child in their class.
Mother tongue education
Mother tongue education was important for all the children I interviewed, but that is
understandable considering that they had all chosen to attend tuition themselves. With
the help of mother tongue education they wanted to improve their language, especially
in writing. One pupil also said that she was afraid of forgetting her mother tongue and
that tuition helped her not to forget. Some had also noticed some improvement in their
language. In addition to speaking with the family member(s) who lived in the country
where the language is spoken, the children wanted to improve their mother tongue
because they might in the future study or work in the country of origin of the parent(s).
Summary
Mother tongue education can look back at over 40 years of history in Sweden and
although there have been changes – not always to the benefit of mother tongue
education – it is still part of school life in Sweden. One of the problems is that there are
not always trained teachers who can conduct the tuition. This problem is not restricted
to exotic languages.
The pupils I interviewed were of the opinion that mother tongue education is very
important for them. It is through mother tongue education that their language gets a
place in their school curriculum. Otherwise they are alone with their bilingualism in
their classes and with their friends. To learn to write in mother tongue tuition is
especially important for these pupils. This tuition fulfils a function which cannot be
covered by other areas of education or by parents. As one pupil stated with a mocking
face: “Without mother tongue education, I would have to study with my parents!”
References
GOGOLIN, I. (1994), Der monolinguale Habitus der multilingualen Schule, Münster:
Waxmann.
HYLTENSTAM, K. and TUOMELA, V. (1996), ”Hemspråksundervisning”, in
Hyltenstam, K. (ed.), Tvåspråkighet med förhinder. Invandrar- och
minoritetsundervisning i Sverige, Lund: Studentlitteraturen, pp. 9-109.
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