Conference Programme (PDF, 1019KB) - Trinity College Dublin

abstracts by stream and session
metalinguistic awareness (Bialystok 2002; Cummins 2000). On the other hand, it is argued, that proficiency in the language of origin is an
important resource providing opportunities for mobilizing additional resources which may in turn promote educational success
(Bankston/Zhou 1995; Mouw/Xie 1999). Although the underlying mechanisms differ, both views suggest a positive relationship between
skills in L1 and achievement over and above the effect of L2 on achievement.
In the empirical account, we analyze primary survey data from a study of Turkish students in German primary schools. The dataset
contains objective and in the German context almost unique information about students’ language skills in Turkish (L1) and German (L2),
assessed with a standardized language test. To measure educational outcomes we use achievement test scores as well as grades. The
analyses reveal that proficiency in Turkish (L1) does not affect children’s educational achievement. Instead, the driving force for school
success is proficiency in German (L2). In other words, students who have acquired good language skills in Turkish on top of good skills in
German do not profit extra with regard to their performance in school. These results persist when controlling for students’ immigration
history and socioeconomic background.
Mapping The Diversity of home Language Resources. Two case studies of Turkish and Chinese language
maintenance in Sydney, Australia.
Liam Morgan, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
Home Language Maintenance is one of the most important issues facing so-called multilingual societies such as Australia. It is important
for individual children in terms of their cognitive and affective development and it is important to multicultural societies in terms of the
development of their linguistic resources and in terms of the strength of their social fabric. Although almost one in 4 Australians come
from homes where a language other than English is spoken, language attrition remains a major problem for second and third generation
migrants. The loss of the home language represents a significant loss of a national economic resource, but it also represents a loss of
connection and weakening of identity can be disastrous in terms of the individuals affected. Although lip service is given to the notions of
multilingualism and linguistic pluralism the critical importance of home language maintenance to cognitive and affective development of
school age children continues to be underestimated (Cummins, J. 2008).
Through the Saturday school of Community Languages, through mainstream schools and through government supported Community
Schools, opportunities exist in Australia for students to maintain their home language. Nevertheless, the take up of these languages
remains low and this research addresses the acute need to know more about the whole picture of home language provision and take up.
Using data from two case studies focusing on Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese) and Turkish speaking parents and children in Sydney,
Australia this paper will examine and compare the affordances and hindrances to the maintenance of these languages at a number of
different levels. The methodology for this research draws on the Multilingual Cities project (Extra, G. and Yagmur, K. 2004) and explores
home language from three perspectives: the demographic; the sociolinguistic and the educational. The theoretical framework also draws
on the work of Jim Cummins in explaining the significance and the need for this research.
The results of these studies will form the basis for an interesting comparison between two community languages experiencing quite
different dynamics of growth and development. The first case study presented focuses on the more established Turkish community in
one local government area of Sydney. Turkish migrants are part of the early waves of migration that came to Australia from the 1940’s
to the 1970’s. The Turkish community, though well established, is now working hard to maintain its language among the third and fourth
generation descendants of those post war migrants.
The second case study presents findings from Chinese community from the inner-western suburbs of Sydney. Although the Chinese
presence in Australia has a long history, the current wave of new arrivals from mainland China, Hong Kong and South East Asia has
created vibrant and diverse communities interested in maintaining their links to home language and culture.
The paper will focus on the range of factors that inhibit and encourage home language maintenance for both communities, from the
perspectives of home, school and society. It will also present a survey of local formal and informal opportunities for maintaining these
languages. Finally, the paper will suggest a framework for collaboration with colleagues researching Turkish language maintenance in
Europe and Chinese language maintenance in the USA.
SESSION 5f The Role of Migrants’ Home Language at School
How to deal with plurilingual repertoires in multilingual classrooms?
*Piet Van Avermaet, Ghent University, Belgium
Sven Sierens, Ghent University, Belgium
The educational debate about multilingualism and immigrant minorities in Western societies has been dominated by a set of static
and decontextualised views. Monolingualism has been juxtaposed categorically with multi- or bilingualism. A set of related features
can be identified in the ways in which education systems have responded to heightened multilingualism in the wake of globalization:
assimilation has been presented as a civic ideal, proficiency in the dominant language as a preferred outcome, and debates have mostly
adopted a deficit view on the effects of linguistic and sociocultural diversity on language learning, on educational achievement and on the
relationship of parents to their children’s schooling.
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