What stops Australia from doing something like Sweden has done to promote multilingualism? Is it too hard to implement mother tongue instruction in the education system of Australia? On the occasion of International Mother Language Day, Anne Reath Warren (Uppsala University, Sweden) tackles these questions, with input from Juan Manuel Higuera González, Maria Håkansson Ramberg and Olle Linge.
***
(Image credit: Cruickshank et al, 2021, NSW Community Languages Report)
“What stops Australia from doing something like Sweden has done to promote multilingualism? Is it too hard to implement mother tongue instruction in the education system of Australia?”
These questions about language education planning in Australia (where I was born and grew up) and Sweden (where I became a researcher and now live and work) were asked during an online conversation I got involved with after a conference (#ICCHLE21) organized by the Sydney Institute for Community Languages Education (Sydney University). As the questions relate directly to the topic of my Phd research, they engaged me, to say the least!
Multilingualism is a fact of life
In our globalized world, many people speak languages in addition to the official language(s) of the country they live in. Different terms , for example “home language” “heritage language” even “native language”, are used in different contexts to describe these languages and the forms of education that may exist to promote their development.
(Image credit: Cruickshank et al, 2021, NSW Community Languages Report)
In Sweden they are labelled “mother tongues”, and education to promote their development is called Mother Tongue Instruction (hereafter MTI). In Australia the term “community language” is well-established, but terms “first” and “background” language are also used, specifically in the Australian National Curriculum. There are a range of different approaches to the study of community, first, or background languages in Australia.
Is Sweden really better at promoting multilingualism?
So why did the person who asked the questions above think that the Swedish model of MTI might be better for promoting multilingualism in Australia than the range of approaches that currently exist? In my thesis I argued that organizational, ideological and classroom factors impact on the opportunities for the development of multilingualism that the different models offered. Unpacking the organizational and ideological factors can help answer the questions.
How does Mother Tongue Instruction (MTI) in Sweden work?
In Sweden, since the Home Language Reform in 1977, students from primary to upper-secondary school have been entitled to apply for MTI in any language other than Swedish that they speak at home. If the student has basic proficiency in the language, more than five students in the local area apply for it and a teacher is available, the school is required to organize MTI in that language.
(Image credit: Cruickshank et al, 2021, NSW Community Languages Report)
National funding for MTI is administered by local municipalities, who collaborate with schools in the organization of MTI and who employ many of the 6,183 mother tongue teachers who work in Swedish schools. While teacher education is not mandatory for MTI teachers, there are a range of teacher education programmes and professional development courses offered at universities throughout the country that prepare and support MTI teachers for their work.
MTI has a syllabus, and grades in the subject at the end of lower-secondary school can boost the scores that give students eligibility to upper-secondary school programmes. During the academic year 2020-2021, 150 languages were taught through MTI in Swedish schools.
Mother tongue instruction (MTI) within a strong policy framework
Sweden’s system, offering MTI through the national school system, is relatively unique. Although other countries may have some form of support for the maintenance and development of languages other than the national languages, there is no other country where the right to study mother tongues that are different from the national languages, is offered such strong legal protection.
Community language schools in Australia
Education in first, background or community languages in Australia is organized quite differently. It is possible to study five languages as background or first languages through the school system. Education in the other 295 or so languages spoken in Australia is organized through the community language school network.
(Image credit: Cruickshank et al, 2021, NSW Community Languages Report)
Community language schools have existed in Australia since 1857 and are located in most large cities and some smaller towns throughout the country. Each state has a different approach to organizing community language education. See for example how different the systems in the Victorian School of Languages is from Queensland. New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania have their own systems as well.
While many community language teachers have tertiary qualification, not infrequently in education, they often receive only symbolic payment or work voluntarily. Most community language schools hold lessons on weekends or after school hours, and it is not always possible for all students at community language schools to gain certification or formal recognition of their community language studies.
Community language schools are disconnected from mainstream schooling
Education in community languages in Australia thus usually takes place outside the mainstream school system, is concentrated in larger cities, run by volunteers and not always recognized by the formal education system. These organizational factors can impact negatively on equality of access (for bilinguals living in remote regions) and on student motivation.
It all comes down to language ideologies and policy frameworks
So how do ideological factors impact on the promotion of multilingualism in Sweden and Australia? Language ideologies are not about truth but rather are “beliefs, feelings and conceptions about language that are socially shared and relate language and society in a dialectical fashion” (Piller, 2015). Language ideologies are thus socially situated and dynamic.
Sweden underwent a political and social transformation in the 1970s, throwing off anything associated with the “old assimilationist Sweden” and embracing the vision of “the new Sweden” (modern and pluralistic). It has been argued that it is partly because these ideas were so powerful at a community and political levels that an educational reform as radical as The Home Language Reform, a reform that politicians from every party were committed to, was possible (Hyltenstam & Milani, 2012).
(Image credit: Cruickshank et al, 2021, NSW Community Languages Report)
Collaborations between researchers, activists, social scientists, and officials were instrumental in transforming attitudes in Sweden concerning the value of education in all languages (Wickström, 2015). As Sweden’s policies on mother tongue instruction have traditionally been influenced more by the academic field than the political field, it is clear that language ideologies held by policymakers in Sweden have been influenced by researchers, community members and collaborations between them, leading to the Home Language Reform of 1977 and the establishment of mother tongue instruction.
Australia’s monolingual mindset remains a barrier
In Australia, a major hindrance to funding and giving equal access to the study of a wider range of languages other than English is a very particular set of beliefs about language that researchers have called, the monolingual mindset. This is a deep-rooted, widespread belief that “Standard Australian English” is the most important language and that being monolingual is common and expected.
There is a lot of research that discusses the negative impact of the monolingual mindset on language learning and use and multilingual identity in Australia. However, policy makers do not appear to have engaged with this research, or if they have, they have not had the political means to enact legislation that would make the study of community languages more widely accessible.
Two diverse societies with different approaches to multilingualism
Although Sweden today is not socially or ideologically the same place as it was in the 1970s and there is no longer unanimous support in the Swedish parliament for MTI, the number of students who study the subject has increased steadily since its introduction. Almost one-third of the student population (Table 8A) in the compulsory school was eligible for the subject in the 2020/2021 academic year. MTI thus remains an important, elective subject in the Swedish curriculum, part of a national and systematic approach to language education.
Australia is also home to many people who speak languages in addition to English. The person who asked the questions at the beginning of this blogpost and many researchers as well believe that a national, systemic approach to education in community languages would benefit these individuals, their families, and the Australian community.
So what is stopping Australia from doing something like Sweden then? To answer this, I ask another question: Are Australian policymakers ready to listen to and collaborate with their multilingual citizens and researchers? Until they are, an Australian version of the Home Language Reform is still a way off.
This work is licensed under a
I have learnt such a lot through reading all the comments on this blogpost, thank you to everyone who has written! Thanks also to Ingrid Piller and Language on the Move for providing a forum where researcher and readers can engage with each other so easily! /Anne
Thank you, Anne, for your kind words! And thanks for generously sharing your work!
Speaking of heritage language, I would like to talk about the dialects in China.China is not an immigrant country, but the minority population accounts for 8.98% of the national population. Minorities with more than one million people, such as Miao, Tibetan, Korean, Uyghur, etc., all have their own languages and scripts. According to the definition of Heritage language introduced above, there are also a large number of heritage language learners in China. They are learning their own language. The problems encountered in the process of national language acquisition are also worth pondering by Chinese second language acquisition researchers.
Thanks, Shiyi! Recent educational reforms in China have made the maintenance of these languages much harder: https://www.languageonthemove.com/will-education-reform-wipe-out-mongolian-language-and-culture/
Thanks for this comment. There are specific regulations and stronger rights concerning the study of Sweden’s five national minority languages (Finnish, Meänkieli, Romany Chib, Sami and Yiddish), facilitating language rejuvenation. Among other policy differences, you can learn the national minority languages as a beginner (do not need to have basic competence).
/Anne
Language heritage is something which is vanishing gradually from today’s world. Countries like Sweden, no matter what is providing for MTI, I think first world countries would always stick with monolingual tendency for a lifetime. I have seen myself, many of my friends who were not originally Bengali (people of Bangladesh) , but from Bihar or were indigenous /sub-indigenous, had to literate themselves in country’s official and national language to get themselves admitted to schools. They had to learn Bangla at an early age probably when they began learning their own home languages. As a result, they suffered through the same problems which other multilingual citizens are facing in Australia these days. It is very complicated subject and I reckon it is mostly depended on social and political norms. A country’s decision has a greater impact on the languages which are in use in the locality.
Thanks, Ayesha! Complex problem, indeed, but that doesn’t mean we should lose hope and continue to strive for equal opportunities
The situation you describe is unfortunately all too common. Policymaking is simpler when you only have to cater for one dominant language, but this puts the development of all other languages at risk!
/Anne
The heritage language maintenance that I have seen here in Japan is more similar to the Australian system, as families are required to organise classes in the home language by themselves. The main official forms of language education I have come across are Japanese, Portuguese and English.
Japanese – Most students learn Japanese as a native language, and this is the system most readily provided for.
Portuguese – Because of the high number of Brazilians living in Japan, there are schools that are designed for native Portuguese speakers to take classes (either as an extracurricular or as their main school) in Portuguese.
English – English schools are more commonly marketed for Japanese children to learn as a second language than for children of international families to learn as a first language. For those not attending international schools, English classes often fall outside of school hours or on weekends.
I think that any language learning system that places classes outside of the regular schools and hours makes it less accessible to students, as it eats into their time and requires more organisation and money. Let alone the lack of support in any languages other than the above three.
Thanks, Emily! You might enjoy this article about the educational outcomes of Brazilian migrant children in Japan: https://www.languageonthemove.com/educational-outcomes-of-migrant-children/
Thank you!
Thanks Emily, and I agree with your final observation. Not only does “after-hours” education eat into students’ time, it seems to signal “low status” as well. This is also problematic in Sweden. Even though MTI is a school subject, it is frequently timetabled after or before other lessons take place, also signalling that there is a difference between this and other subjects.
/Anne
Unlike Australia, Korea has an overwhelming number of Koreans in its population composition. I have never seen a non-Korean student in my elementary, middle, and high school period. When I was in college, I began to see international exchange students. Of course, now it’s not unusual to see international marriages and foreign workers in Korea, but it hasn’t been so long.
Therefore, it is also true that the case of Sweden and Australia mentioned in the text is accepted as a special social issue for me. In this respect, I think Korea is implementing a policy that is close to the “monolingualism” policy. This article provokes me that I also need to have an interest in school and government policy for students having other mother tongues.
Thanks, PurebearJo! Some time ago I read a study about foreign wives in S Korea and the pressures they faced to give up their mother tongue and not pass it on to their children. Can’t find the reference right now but will try and dig it up when I get a minute …
Interesting observation PurebearJo. As a teacher or student, simply asking what languages others in the class use/speak can open up spaces for discussions that challenge the monolingual mindset!
/Anne
Thanks for sharing such an excellent article. Bangladesh is noted for the ethnic homogeneity of its population. Over 98 percent of the people are Bengalis, predominantly Bangla-speaking peoples. However, Bangladesh is home to a significant number of tribal people. There are more than 11 types of tribal people living here who have different kinds of languages. And generally, they use their language among the community, and outside the community, they use Bengali. Most schools and educational organizations in Bangladesh are monolingual, where they don’t get the opportunity to practice their language. However, Once I visited the Chakma community of Bangladesh. They have different cultures, languages, and traditions. And they always use their language inside their community even though their school is bilingual, where they have their own language textbooks. And their school puts more emphasis on their language than the national language (Bengali). They inspire their children to nurture their own language rather than any other language.
Thanks, Abdulla! This is the first time I learned about the Chakma language. I’ve just googled it and found this interesting article published on the 2021 International Mother Language Day (derived from Bangla Language Day, as you’ll undoubtedly know):
Partha, Pavel. (2021, 2021-02-21). Indigenous languages and linguistic pluralism. New Age. Retrieved from https://www.newagebd.net/article/130792/indigenous-languages-and-linguistic-pluralism – have you seen it? And can you maybe recommend any other sources?
It’s amazing what you find out about your own country when you start digging a bit isn’t it Abdulla? In Sweden, all school students learn that Sweden has five national minority languages, but I do not think that they learn that the right to study them at school exists. And unless you have a friend who takes MTI, most Swedish students would not be aware that the right to study other languages spoken at home exists either. The fact that these rights are not widely know about also signals that it is not a prioritised aspect of education/knowledge in many educational systems.
/Anne
Thank you for introducing the article that demonstrates how Sweden and Australia support multilingualism.
When it comes to preserving the heritage language, I have an opportunity to witness the way Vietnamese mothers who live in Japan try to help their children to learn Vietnamese. One of my students got married to a Japanese man and moved to Japan to live with him. When she was in Viet Nam, she was a literature teacher in primary school and it was amazing that she still kept her major when she settled down in a foreign country.
Apart from being a housewife, she still posted information about her Vietnamese class on Facebook and it is surprising that several Vietnamese mothers who are also living in Japan want to register their children for her class. Even though the children have a chance to grow up and study in a developing country like Japan, Vietnamese parents still have awareness of maintaining Vietnamese culture to them by teaching them the language or sending them to Vietnamese classes. They are not required to be proficient in Vietnamese but their parents still want them to know how to write the basic Vietnamese alphabet and read it appropriately. It is probably because they think about the future when children come back to Viet Nam, at least they can communicate with their relatives well and understand part of the culture that has in their blood.
Thanks, Clara, for this interesting example. The world is getting smaller and back-and-forth migration becomes a real option for many people – migration is no longer just a one-way ticket and so investing more in maintaining the heritage language makes perfect sense …
Thanks for this example of grassroots mother tongue education Clara. Becoming a parent in a country where a language other than your own is the socially dominant language is often a catalyst for thought about and action on mother tongue education.
/Anne
Thank you for sharing this article!
Through this reading, I learned about heritage language education in Australia and Sweden.
In Australia, I was fortunate enough to work as a teaching assistant at the NSW Community Chinese School. As far as I know, the NSW government attaches great importance to the promotion of community language learning and provides funds for community language schools every year to provide extracurricular language classes for school-aged children in NSW.
However, in China, Chinese is famous for its many dialects. In order to better protect and inherit dialects, China has continuously increased its support for Chinese dialect institutions in recent years. At the same time, China has launched a huge national project called the Chinese Language Resources Protection Project. This project provides a more convenient way and a more effective guarantee for the protection and inheritance of dialects. For example, the Chinese Language and Writing Committee has launched the construction of the “Chinese Language Resources Audio Database” to record contemporary Chinese dialects and minority languages through scientific and technological means in order to avoid the disappearance of individual dialects over time.
Thanks, Kelly! Digital technologies offer so many new opportunities for language learning and language maintenance. Exciting to see China putting in so much effort!
Digital technology certainly offers increased opportunities to learn all languages/dialects. And so important that projects such as the one you describe exist for small as well as large languages!
/Anne
When it comes to maintaining the status and usage of a language in the society, it all comes down to the factors like priority given to a language, ideologies, economic factors, etc. If I talk about Indian languages, most of the background languages are disappearing from the written form and that’s why, are used only verbally and therefore losing their literacies as well. The best example can be Sanskrit. Sanskrit is one of the most important languages because it is vital to Indian culture because of its extensive use in religious literature. In order to keep this language alive, the government has made it essential for all the government schools to have a language class in schools for at least 2-3 years of schooling. In my school, as I remember, the students who chose to study this language additionally in high school, used to get extra points for it. Even, the availability of Sanskrit teachers is reducing and the government needs to come up with new plans to keep this language alive. Overall, whether a language survives or not, is financially mostly dependent on the government of a country and the collective ideologies of the members of the education system.
Thanks, Tushar! You are absolutely right that maintaining literacy is vital to keeping the literatures and civilizations associated with a language alive … for languages with a literary tradition, the loss of literacy is a real impoverishment
Tushar, your comment “Overall, whether a language survives or not, is financially mostly dependent on the government of a country and the collective ideologies of the members of the education system” resonates with me. It is of course possible for individuals with a lot of resources (money, time, interest, education) to pass on languages and literacies within their own family unit. But without interest, advocacy and financial support from governments, it is less likely that many languages will continue to flourish on a broader scale. Lack of governmental funding also contributes to inequity, where individuals from homes where there are less resources risk missing out.
/Anne
As a Vietnamese girl living with families in Australia, I understand that heritage language education is a big concern because the first-generation immigrants of my family – my grandparents tended to speak a little English, but preferred to use our heritage language – Vietnamese at home. The second-generation immigrants of my family – my parents are inclined to use both English and Vietnamese at home but only use English to communicate with friends and colleagues. For my generation, we are more likely to speak in English in almost all situations. Therefore, some Vietnamese parents in Australia who desire for their children to retain their home language – Vietnamese send their children to some centers which provide Vietnamese Language Courses in Bankstown or Cabramatta (Vietnamese areas in Sydney). It is undeniable that a heritage language helps people connect to their culture and strengthen family bonds, even while they live in a different, more dominant culture. This is the reason why Vietnamese children in Australia need to learn Vietnamese if they want to have a better understanding about their ancestors and origins. I do believe that the same holds true for other communities. Moreover, as we are living in the globalized world, heritage language education and maintenance genuinely offer a life-long benefit that exerts an influence on professional opportunities. For example, as I can speak fluently in both English and Vietnamese, i got a part – time job in a digital learning company – Encyclopædia Britannica, which required me to research about Vietnamese cultures and interests.
Congratulations on that job, Hai Trang Tran! So great to hear a positive example of someone growing up bilingual and being able to reap the benefits of maintaining the heritage language. I often do info sessions about bilingual education for parents and schools, and I’ll make sure to include your example in the future 🙂
What a great example of how learning a heritage language can be beneficial on both a personal and professional level!
It’s so interesting to get to know about MTI in Sweden. I am so stunned by how well the national funding and also a strong policy framework supports the maintenance and development for MTI. This may be attributed to the large size of Sweden’s immigration program and its desire to protect the cultures of immigrants and achieve a truly multicultural society. With this program it is likely that Sweden can maintain diverse heritage languages in the future. In contrast, even though Australia is multilingual society, with an extensive immigration program, its monolingual mindset, entrenched deeply from past to present and geared towards assimilation rather than diversity, doesn’t support opportunities for children to learn their valuable mother tongue and inherit their own culture. It’s time for Australian policymakers to seek a change of perspective and more collaboration with researchers to reform the education system for heritage languages.
I second that, Suyeon! But I’m also wondering what we are missing when we only look at the national picture. Have you seen Haein’s comment about the important role of Korean churches in supporting Korean language maintenance in Sydney?
Yes, national funding and also a strong policy framework are key. Solid support and use of the heritage language at home is also extremely important. Policies in Sweden emphasise that the languages taught through mother tongue instruction should be used “on a daily basis with at least one caregiver” for the student to be eligible. This is not always followed; mother tongue teachers describe students whose parents enroll them in order to “learn” their mother tongue, but in fact the subject and its syllabus were designed to support “development” only. It is possible to “learn” and “develop” the five national minority languages (Finnish, Meänkieli, Romany Chib, Yiddish and Sami) but all other languages can only be “developed” through the subject of mother tongue instruction.
The Swedish mother tongue education model is an excellent example of protecting the languages of immigrants or minorities. Besides parents, school is the place that can best help students maintain their native language.
I know of certain families where the loss of their mother tongue causes a schism between parents and children. Some immigrant families prefer to educate their children in English rather than in their home tongue. This is because they are anxious that their child will fall behind other students in school, and they also assume that when they relocate to a different country, their child will need to learn a new language. Unfortunately, when there is a demonstrable mismatch in parents’ and children’s foreign language ability, the gap between parents and children widens. Some older people still attempt to acquire English to communicate with their grandchildren and younger generations in the family. Moreover, losing a heritage language can also result in language loss in a country. If the younger generation of that community does not preserve their native tongue, the language of that community may progressively disappear due to the small number of speakers.
Thanks, Kat! You are right: families can’t maintain a minority language on their own and need the support of the wider society. Communication gaps between minority parents and their children are very real, and constitute another facet of linguistic oppression.
Kat, these are real problems, that have have been examined and analysed by researchers as well. Here is a reference to an article by Lily Wong FIlimore that you might be interested
in!
Wong Fillmore, L. (1991). When learning a second language means losing the first. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 6(3), 323–346. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0885-2006(05)80059-6
/Anne
This article creates no doubts why the education system in Nordic countries is among the top countries in the world for education quality. I love how the article also compares and contrasts the differences in organizational and ideological factors in multilingualism among the two countries.
I think easy accessibility to heritage language education is an important factor to promote multilingualism in the community as well as to enable learners to formally learn their heritage languages. For me, having to study heritage language on weekends seems to push the learning burden onto learners, and also decrease the importance of the heritage language to just an optional class, not equivalent to mainstream education in school. Inability to communicate in heritage language could potentially make them lose connection with their family or generation before.
One thing my mother as well as my family in Thailand are always afraid of is that I might teach my future children to speak English only in case I migrate to Australia and that they would not be able to communicate with my children and teach them our culture. Because sometimes it is not only language that is being taught, but also the belief, ideology as well as culture that are enacted within language.
Maintaining connections with grandparents and extended families is one of the most important reasons for heritage language learning! Hope your children will be bilingual and at home in both worlds ☺️
Sweden’s system for MTI is indeed unique. But we cannot take anything for granted! Elections in September 2022 resulted in a new coalition government that wants to commission an inquiry into MTI. The largest party in the coalition wants to abolish tax-funded MTI, so researchers and speakers of languages other than Swedish here in Sweden need to keep communicating about the benefits of the maintenance and development of all languages, and how MTI facilitates that.
/Anne
Thank you for introducing what multicultural countries such as Australia and Sweden have done to encourage language diversity. Vietnam is well-known as a multi-ethnic country, however ethnic language teaching has never been seen as a concerning aspect in the country’s development process. Teachers in remote areas are encouraged to learn the minority dialects, not as a way to promote them but solely as a tool to transmit knowledge and make the lessons more comprehensible to the minority children. Many of the 54 languages of Vietnam’s ethnic groups are reported endangered with a plunge in users within the recent decade, resulting in the loss of cultures and disappearance of undiscovered knowledge associated. Later generations inevitably adopt Vietnamese because that is the only way to escape poverty and improve their social mobility,
There have been some positive changes in Vietnam’s policy framework in the effort to implement inclusive and quality education for people of all communities. Particularly, in January 2022, the country’s Prime Minister signed a decision approving a programme to complete the compilation of textbooks and instructional materials at the primary school level for eight major minority languages by 2025, and ensure a sufficient supply of them in schools having these minority students. This also draws attention to having enough qualified teachers of these minority languages, which can both promote minority students’ education, teachers’ quality and research on related areas such as customs, cultures, lifestyles…
It is important for all nations to embrace the differences and values brought by ethnic minority groups. Vietnam still has a long way to go, but this decision shows a good sign that the national authority has finally acted on its duty of preserving and promoting ethnic diversity.
Thanks, Quynh, for sharing information about these important language policy developments in Vietnam! It’s good to hear that language policy is changing and hopefully that will lead to improved resources and teachers etc. Do you think the new policy will have a real effect or are the associations between minority languages and poverty too deeply entrenched to change through schooling?
There are apparent positive outcomes brought by the promotion of multilingualism within ethnic communities in Vietnam. This will help tackle some constraints that are leading to the persistent poverty of minority people. In addition, it sets the foundation for the next generation to find ways for themselves to escape poverty.
– The mother tongue of ethnic minorities is valued as a tool to ensure the preservation and promotion of the community’s cultural identity. This scheme will encourage the members to preserve the distinctive features and find creative ways to introduce them to local and international visitors. Heritage tourism in ethnic minority areas is on the rise in the recent decade, bringing in more income and employment chances to the residents.
– Teaching ethnic languages will generate employment for the residents such as teachers and community officers in their own localities.
– This increases confidence. People will have stronger language skills to communicate with their group members and those speaking other languages.
– This could help remove unsound customs or prolix, outdated habits that pose challenges to socio-economic development (child marriage, burying infants alive with their dead mothers, asking shamans to cure diseases and many more). Changes can only be made through the people of these communities in their own languages.
– Learning two languages simultaneously will benefit the acquisition of both minority and official languages. This will undoubtedly improve young minority people’s access to essential services and increase their chances of getting higher education, in turn escaping poverty.
The association cannot be broken within a short-term period, but slowly these small benefits will accumulate and lead to a bigger change.
There are many benefits from communicating and educating people in a language they understand Quynh.
/Anne
Unlike Sweden, China has a history of cutting off the local dialects (speaking local dialects in school was forbidden) which were mother tongue languages in certain places in order to promote the national language-Mandarin. I was the one who do not speak my local dialect while the generation of my parents do. People who speak standard Mandarin will be considered as well educated.
China has a strong monolingual mindset that Mandarin stands at the highest position of any other language in China even though there are more than 200 dialects in China (10 of them have been recognized as so-called ‘mainstream dialects’). Now China intends to preserve the local dialects as those are part of the culture. I think the MTI of Sweden will be a better example for China to keep all the mother tongue languages well. Gather around the teachers and come down to build the teaching and learning system in local schools.
Thanks, Maya! There is a new recognition of the value of minority languages in many places. Are you re-learning your local dialect or is it too difficult? And what about the next generation?
Education is national languages only, together with a generally negative attitude to (or even prohibition of) the use of other languages in schools is not conducive to the nurturing of linguistic diversity. Sometimes adults re-learn the language that their families use, but this of course a huge undertaking, requiring significant investment (time, energy).
/Anne
As my home country-Vietnam is a multiethnic country with about 100 minority languages/dialects, Vietnamese—the language of the Kinh majority—has been chosen as the official language for national communication. The dominance of Vietnamese in all important domains is derived from the Vietnamese monolingual ideology with the aim of accomplishing national integration and unity. Besides, implicit ideologies regarding the essential roles of heritage languages in educational success of minority students are parallel present in this context. This ideology encourages the policy makers to develop some bilingual programs where young ethnic students can learn their heritage languages and Vietnamese simultaneously in their elementary school (from grade 1 to grade 3). After that, their heritage languages classes are removed as minority students are believed to have enough Vietnamese academic proficiency to learn all subjects in Vietnamese. My schoolmate who participated in this program shared with me that her 4th grade’s scores were really low as her Vietnamese language competence was still insufficient to keep up with the Vietnamese only program. She overcame this language barrier’s problem by making friends with her Vietnamese deskmate and having him tutor her after school.
Thanks, Tu Nguyen! Schools everywhere are relatively poorly equipped to support the (language) learning needs of minority children. It’s hard for children to have to rely on their own resources – lucky your friend’s desk mate was there to help; but edcuational opportunity shouldn’t rely on chance …
Transitional bilingual education can only promote bilingualism and development of minority languages if it ceases to be transitional!
What a memorable summary! 🙏
https://twitter.com/lg_on_the_move/status/1577236845976436739?s=46&t=VkdgaM0JLxfyZ9zZ2AFNgA
Thank you for sharing a fascinating article about heritage language maintenance. This article reminds me of Hoa community in Vietnam. Hoa people, who are also known as Vietnamese-born Chinese, are one of the largest minorities in Vietnam. They were originally Chinese people who migrated to Vietnam in the middle of the 16th century. Hoa people mainly populate in the southern region of Vietnam, especially in District 5, Distric 8 and District 11 in Ho Chi Minh City – one of the biggest cities in Vietnam. Most Hoa people are bilinguals who can speak Cantonese and Vietnamese. As far as I am concerned, Hoa people not only can speak Vietnamese fluently to communicate with Vietnamese people but also use Cantonese to communicate in Hoa community. Hoa people are always proud that despite using Vietnamese every day, they still do not lose their Cantonese. In fact, Hoa people always use Cantonese when they are with family members or people in their community. However, they are also afraid that young Vietnamese-born Chinese can only speak Cantonese but cannot read or write in that language. Therefore, nowadays, more Hoa ngu schools, where Cantonese is taught to young Vietnamese-born Chinese, are founded in their populated area. These children often attend classes at Hoa ngu schools in the evenings or at weekends to study Cantonese and cultural traditions of their community.
Thanks, Dung! So impressive that Hoa people have maintained the Cantonese language over so many centuries!
So interesting to read about Cantonese language schools in Vietnam! Are they run by local authorities or voluntary community schools, like the community language school model in Australia?
I agree that the effectiveness of heritage language maintenance is closely tied to people’s beliefs. Whilst Australian policies promote the development of multilingual communities, different language ideologies lead to different realities. One of my lecturers, who migrated from Malaysia to Australia and started a family here, believes that it is vital for her children to maintain their mother tongue, Malay, despite them living and working in Australia where simply having English is enough. By talking to her children solely in Malay and giving them extra classes at home, she ensures that they can perform all 4 skills in Malay at an intermediate level.
On the other hand, an acquaintance of mine who is a Vietnamese living in Australia, insists on using English at home due to the monolingual mindset. She believes that knowing only English is enough because the language can equip people with better educational and employment opportunities in comparison to Vietnamese. Another thing I notice is that she avoids code-switching (she speaks in either English or Vietnamese) because her children might imitate it, which results in them being complained by others to “just pick a language”. Such a monolingual mindset, which is further reinforced by social expectations and favoritism over English-speaking people, leads to the loss of heritage languages and cultural identities, as well as the inability of the younger generation to connect with the older ones in different countries.
Thanks, Brownies! As your two examples illustrate, different people approach family language policies differently. Unfortunately, in Australia the onus to pass on the heritage language is almost exclusively on the parents and family, and there is little public support. For many people who don’t have the resources and determination of your Malay friend it is simply to hard …
Unfortunately it is all too common that multilingual parents in a monolingual contexts decide to use the socially dominant only language at home instead of their own mother tongue/first language. Unless the children themselves make an active decision to learn the language(s) spoken by their parents/guardians at a later stage, the parents’ decision inevitably leads to language loss instead of language development.
Very eye-opening piece!
Reform on Australian Curriculum will be such an inspiring project to see, specifically in NSW. As a home to world class linguists, semiotician, interpreter, translator, and educators, Australian Government has all the resources to design a great MTI model that can be applied and be adapted not only in Australia but also in the other parts of the world. This should be seen as an opportunity that can drive Australian educational industries above beyond!
In Indonesian Curriculum, local tongue is a subject that students learn once a week, only in the elementary school. Many private schools delete this subject from their lists. The demand of the industry, both national and global, make people think that local languages are not promising area to explore. So far, Bali is the only province in Indonesia that successfully integrate their local tongue and heritage to be part of its curriculum. If you come to Bali, the names of the roads are written using Latin alphabets and Nusantara Sanskrit. Their national school calendar is adjusted to their cultural and religious events. Balinese people and their government are on the same page. They view their local tongue and cultures as a legacy and intellectual properties that drive the tourism industry in this island.
Thanks, Ziadah! Appreciate your point that Australia has the resources to design and implement a better language policy. Mind-boggling that it doesn’t happen … interesting to learn about language-in-education policies in Bali. Does this mean that education policy in Indonesia is not centralized and each province has their own policies and curricula?
Fascinating to hear about language policies in Bali and the value placed on the languages spoken there. Thank you for this contribution!
I have always heard about how Asian parents and students admire and praise the Swedish education system. In comparison to the Asian exam-oriented culture, attention is frequently raised to the way how Swedish education put less pressure on academic homework and focuses on students’ development in critical thinking and personal advancement. It was the first time I learned about how Swedes have also put so much respect and consideration into promoting students’ heritage languages. Having a language teacher available for every five applications will certainly cost a lot in finance and educational resources, however, I certainly believe that it will be a good investment for the country. Coming along with an expected competitive workforce with mental well-being, a state-support and balanced development in bilingual ability signifies sustainable socioeconomic and cultural benefits for the whole community.
On the other hand, when English as a lingua franca maintains a significant linguistic role around the world, I notice a different trend in Macau where parents tend to urge their children to learn English at a really young age. Some children are even capable of speaking English numbers and alphabets before they learn the equivalent knowledge in Cantonese, which I think is an unhealthy learning atmosphere because the importance of a balanced linguistic development is often overlooked in this context, and both languages should be cherished and given equal values as a cultural identity.
Thanks, Hakunamata! Really good point to highlight the mental health and well-being benefits of heritage language maintenance, and, conversely, the dangers of the English craze in some contexts
Hakunamatata, the global dominance of English puts a lot of pressure on people doesn’t it? So important that schools and societies together promote the idea and that it is not only possible but also beneficial to learn two languages at the same time, and create resources to do so!
/Anne
The Swedish model MTI is a great idea to promote the students’ development of the first languages!
My Korean church in Sydney has a Korean language school that promotes learning Korean to children year 1 to 12 who are Korean-Australian or from immigrant families. My Korean church’s language school is not an official school, but we call it a school among Koreans. The Korean language teachers have to get a certificate in a language teaching course, which is organised by the Australian government, and a cyber training course for overseas Korean language schoolteachers, organised by the Korean government. Furthermore, they use various kinds of textbooks, such as those for overseas Korean education organised by the Korean government. In addition, more than five big Korean churches in Sydney have Korean language schools. Some of those are formal educational institutions registered with the Australian Government’s NSW Department of Education. For this reason, I think it is reliable to learn precise Korean from educated teachers. The Korean community has made an effort to maintain our language for children who are second-generation immigrants or who have Korean backgrounds.
Thanks, Haein! That is so interesting! Can I ask what the name of the church is? You might be interested in this research about language maintenance in Chinese churches in Sydney: https://www.languageonthemove.com/what-can-churches-teach-us-about-migrant-inclusion/
My church is Sydney Saesoon Church, and the other one is Sydney Full Gospel Church. The Korean language school in Sydney Full Gospel Church is a formal educational institution registered with the Australian Government’s NSW Department of Education.
Most interesting to read that the Korean church invests in language and culture in Australia. I knew it did in the USA through Holly Pak’s work ( Pak, H. R. (2003). When MT is L2 The Korean Church School as a Context for Cultural Identity. In N. H. Hornberger (Ed.), Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 41: Continua of Biliteracy: An Ecological Framework for Educational Policy, Research and Practice in Multilingual Settings (pp. 269–290). Multilingual Matters) I wonder if the schools are affiliated with Community Languages Australia or if they are completely independent?
/Anne
This research blog post has drawn my attention to the benefits of implementing heritage language(s) in education. In other words, heritage language education (HLE) has the potential regard to the effectiveness of their language competence (Cho, 2010). The findings in the study of Cho (2010) revealed that competency in one’s heritage language influences social interactions, connections with heritage language(s) speakers from their ethnic minority group, and the persons themselves. Having said that skilful heritage language(s) individuals have a strong ethnic identity, communicative skills, and a great intimacy towards their ethnic group in terms of understanding their cultural values, ethics, and manners. Furthermore, HLE needs to be aligned with the learners’ needs which address cultural and social issues beyond each learner (Martínez, 2016). For example, HLE can significantly help learners maintain their heritage language(s), expand their bilingual language knowledge, enhance their literacy skills and academic skills, and encourage positive heritage language attitudes. Finally, I believe that HLE can be instrumental in raising cultural awareness in the minority language(s), especially when the language(s) is encountering language shift or even extinction.
References
Cho, G. (2000). The role of heritage language in social interactions and relationships: Reflections from a language minority group. Bilingual research journal, 24(4), 369-384. https://doi.org/10.1080/15235882.2000.10162773
Martínez, G. (2016). Goals and beyond in heritage language education. In M. Fairclough & S. M. Beaudrie (Eds.), Innovative strategies for heritage language teaching: A practical guide for the classroom (pp. 39-55). Georgetown University Press.
Thanks, Minnie, for this helpful summary!
I would like to also give an example of the benefits of heritage language education in the context of my relatives living in Australia. In my opinion, heritage language education can help protect and maintain the heritage language(s) for future generations. For example, my relatives are Vietnamese who immigrated in Australia, and they have children (my uncles) who were born and raised in Australia. The children went to school using only the English language because in Australia being monolingual is common and expected. Thus, to make sure that the children do not forget Vietnamese, my grandmother taught them Vietnamese folk songs and proverbs in every day conversations and read Vietnamse bed time stories, and at the same time connected with the Vietnamese people around. Hence, when the children grew up, they could still communicate fluently in Vietnamese. However, learning how to speak a language is different from learning how to read and write in that language. The problem appears in the next generation (my uncle’s children) that they barely speak Vietnamese at home and do not know how to read or write in Vietnamese. This is because they communicate with each other only in English at home, and my uncles do not have enough literacy skills to be able to convey and teach the children in their heritage language. Therefore, perhaps Australia should really have a policy of ways to preserve the community lanaguge(s) through education.
Thanks, Minnie! The situation you describe is very common across communities: heritage languages are lost by the 3rd generation and low literacy levels in the heritage language in the 2nd generation is a key factor …
Thanks for sharing both research and your personal experience Minnie. How long is a heritage language a heritage language is indeed an interesting and important question to investigate. Ingrid provides the current figures, which indicate that these languages are often lost by the third generation. If a language is not longer used at home, is it still a “mother tongue” or “heritage language”? Regulations regarding MTI in Sweden currently restrict access to the subject to those who “use the language on a daily basis with at least one caregiver”. Research reveals though that some students study languages through MTI that are not necessarily used on a daily basis at home, but are important for other reasons to the family. This highlights the complexity of the subject of MTI and of the motivations behind language learning and maintenance in general.
/Anne
For the maintenance of multilingualism and traditional languages in a country, Sweden’s MIT model gives us great inspiration. These policies or measures increase the existence of multiple languages and challenge the dominance of traditional languages. From a developmental point of view, multilingualism has advantages, but as time goes by, it becomes difficult to maintain traditional languages under the influence of this’ advantage ‘. Perhaps there should be more consultation with language users and relevant institutions. Perhaps it is possible to maintain traditions at some point.
Thanks, Tviq! Good suggestion but I’m wondering who you think the representatives of “language users” would be? It’s different for each minority group and many communities don’t have a central organisation? Supporting a variety of languages through the school system is actually a big challenge …
Tvik, Joseph Lo Bianco has written about combining top-down and bottoms-up approaches to community language education, in a kind of “fusion model” of language planning. You might find this interesting to read about? Lo Bianco, J. (2004). A Site for Debate, Negotiation and Contest of National Identity: Language Policy in Australia. Strasbourg: Language Policy Division, Council of Europe. LoNM.
/Anne
I really liked learning about Sweden’s model of MTI. I am curious about the number of kids needed to obtain an MTI teacher (the blogpost says that it is 5). I wonder, does it often occur that there are only one or two kids at a school who need the MTI teacher? And if that happens, what do they do? I keep thinking about the kindergartener at my kids’ school who I know could really benefit from having an MTI instructor in Chinese, but there aren’t any other kids at the school who need it (at least at the moment), so even if Australia had Sweden’s model I don’t think he would “qualify” for an instructor.
Thanks, Brynn! Children who are not of Chinese background could also benefit from learning Chinese …
I am sorry for my late response to your question Brynn. In fact, the “five students” minimum is no always implemented by municipalities. It makes MTI more expensive of course, but some school principals offer MTI even though there may be only 2 or three students who apply.
/Anne
When it comes to the matter of maintaining the heritage language in a bilingual or multilingual context, I have to say the Chinese, to some extent, have achieved keeping their language so well. I would like to share my observation on this matter in both countries Vietnam and Australia
In Vietnam, most of the Vietnamese-born Chinese I know can all at least speak (there are still people who cannot write and read the Chinese characters) the Chinese language despite they are the third or even the fourth generation in an immigrant family. The same thing happens in Australia. I used to work in Chatswood (a suburb with quite a large number of Chinese people there) and most of my colleagues are Chinese ranging from 16-23 years old. And all of them are able to speak Chinese fluently. On the other hand, there was this Australian-born Vietnamese colleague who can only listen to and understand a limited spectrum of Vietnamese. And of course, she can only utter some of the Vietnamese words. So I’ve been thinking about what makes the Chinese so successful in maintaining their mother language. Hopefully, I could unpack this question and share whatever technique that the Chinese use with the Vietnamese community.
Thanks, Tram! Good question! I would suggest these considerations:
(1) Community size: in terms of first language speakers, Chinese is the largest language on the planet; the language is well-resourced by a strong state; and diasporic communities are relatively large (in Australia, (Mandarin) Chinese is the most widely spoken language after English, and I’m guessing that the Chinese are the largest minority in Vietnam, too?)
(2) Perception: many people think that others are better at maintaining their language than their own community. However, research with Chinese families shows that they are struggling, too, to maintain Chinese, e.g.,
Wang, Yining. (2020). The heritage language maintenance of Chinese migrant children and their families. (PhD), Macquarie University, Retrieved from http://minerva.mq.edu.au:8080/vital/access/manager/Repository/mq:71673
(3) The relationship of the diasporic community with the origin state matters; earlier generations of Vietnamese in Australia were mostly opposed to the Vietnamese state and may have wanted to sever all ties, and seeing their children’s future only in Australia; as this is changing for the current generation, and as there is more back-and-forth migration maybe Vietnamese will be better maintained into the next generation?
Any other reasons anyone can think of?
As well as the size of the community, engagement with and use of the language at a family and community level are vital for language maintenance and development. Chinese communities in the town where I did field work in 2014 had a vibrant and active group of community language schools, catering for different ages and supported with resources from the strong state referred to by Ingrid.
This week’s lecture and writing task made me really keen to know how all the school regulations in Australia were set. I wonder what the purpose of the studies that have been done on multilingualism and language diversity is. I believe that this type of studies is conducted in order to understand people’s needs, so policy makers can rely on the findings to create better opportunities for multilingual people. However, we can’t see that in real situations.
As a former community language teacher, I can say that community language schools are something that has nothing to do with the education system and its not taken as serious as it should be. I think that even parents do not take it seriously, as I have never had any parents asking about their children’s progress in learning the language.
I can’t comment on the effectiveness of the Swedish’s approach, but I believe that it is a good example for Australia to consider in the future.
Thanks, WAA! I share your concern that a lot of multilingualism research is based on a naive belief that multilingualism is good and should be supported in principle. But, as you say, “in real situations” speakers of minoritized languages often have so many more pressing problems than maintaining the heritage language; and maintaining the heritage language may seem like a unnecessary and impractical luxury. Your experience in the community schools sector is spot on, too, and shared by most people involved with community schools: they are nice to have on the side but no one takes them seriously; the fact that community language school teachers are volunteers and are widely considered as “not real teachers” provides further evidence … it is a wicked problem and too many children end up alienated from both their parents’ communities and the majority society …
Thanks for this observation Waa. The amount of contact between the community language school and the mainstream school is often minimal, which is problematic. A Vietnamese school I visited “solved” this problem by preparing and supporting their students in the taking of external exams in Vietnamese that could contribute to the students’ school leaving certificate. But the students needed a lot of motivation to continue studying on Saturday mornings up to senior level!
/Anne
Many community languages schools offer that option – but usually less than a handful of students hang on all the way …
I have never experienced the issue of heritage language maintenance myself but it can be found easily in the special school that I work at. A few clients of mine have a Filipino background. Looking at the clients’ case history, the family mainly uses Tagalog and English at home. However, the child understands very little Tagalog but mainly uses Chinese/English instead. When I had the chance to interview the parents, they all believed that Chinese and English are the languages that can help them survive in different social situations. Thus, children with intellectual disabilities are more likely to experience discriminations outside of the school context. That was the reason why those parents chose to give up teaching Tagalog at home. Instead, they hope for their children to master at least one of the dominant languages (Chinese or English) in order to survive on their own.
When providing individual sessions with these clients, the language input of Chinese and English are equal. A client whose dominant language is English and learning Chinese syntax for example, the teaching materials involves the child putting pieces of puzzles together (sentence scaffolding). Then, the child expresses the sentence in English and gradually the sentences will be taught in Chinese once the English sentence is mastered.
Thanks, Sharkie, for sharing this experience. Maintaining heritage languages in a dominant bilingual context can be extra difficult, as your example demonstrates.
Thank you for your response. Your description of the situation in the Philippines was also fascinating. I look forward to reading more about it! It is clear that every country/region has a unique language ecology that needs a local response. It also appears that there are forces for both linguistic homogenization and diversity in all contexts, as Bakhtin pointed out long ago. My best wishes to you Rhen!
/Anne
Hello, Dr. Warren! It was a delight to read your article on so many levels. I agree that language ideologies and policy frameworks are pivotal in strengthening mother-tongue instruction in the educational landscape. I must likewise say that there is undeniably an intricate, albeit loosely interwoven, thread of realities linking the multilingual experience of my country to that of Australia and Sweden. In the Philippines, mother tongue-based multilingual education (hereafter MTB-MLE) remains an inchoate language policy with its implementation only in 2012.
Like the Swedish model, MTB-MLE is integrated into the national school system. An observed difference, however, relates to the number of languages taught in schools, classroom instruction, and enforcement of legal safeguards. To date, the MTB-MLE curriculum is focused on teaching 19 major languages, which does not even approximate a quarter of over 187 Philippine languages. Linguistic diversity in classrooms tends to be neglected, especially in urban areas where most students do not necessarily speak a dominant regional language. An L1 mismatch appears inevitable, and teachers who have different L1 may even heighten the problem. For example, my cousin’s L1 is Pangasinan, but her MTB-MLE teacher’s L1 is Ilocano. To make matters worse, some of her classmates do not speak Pangasinan in their homes. It is also regrettable to note that, despite the global recognition of indigenous education and its legal safeguards stipulated in the Philippine constitution, community language learning centers in the country are under threat of attacks. One clear example of this is the case of Lumad groups in Mindanao whose schools were forcibly closed by the Philippine government.
Like the Australian model, however, MTB-MLE is continuously challenged by homogenizing (instead of monolingual) mindset. The recognition of multilingualism in the country is an abstraction, as evidenced by the sustained negative sentiments regarding the use of regional languages. Some Filipino teachers lament the fact that MTB-MLE tends to delay the language acquisition of students in Filipino and English. Oftentimes, like in my community, parents do not transfer their L1 to their children because of the perceived marginality and marketability of these languages. Similarly, we take pride in colonizing the English language, as evidenced by our homegrown variety called Philippine English (PE). However, this variety is underpinned on the educated variety spoken by educated Filipinos, which subsequently put other identities at a disadvantage. As Dr. Isabel Martin points out: PE is a pluralized language that captures the multilingual and translingual realities of the Filipino speakers.
Implementing multilingualism in language classrooms is feasible with adequate resources, but ensuring that it fosters inclusivity and positive language attitudes is a lifelong commitment. I genuinely believe that, as a globalized community, we have the power to demand our policymakers to do better in ensuring that all linguistic identities are equally represented. Yet, it is worth considering that arresting linguistic inequalities and linguistic demise entails an arrest to state-sponsored violence against minority groups. The militarization of the countryside, which subsequently endanger linguistic ecology and erode indigenous schools, should be put to grave. A reversal of its repercussions on linguistic mobility can be achieved when concerted efforts on revitalization practices are made by the global community. Echoing Dr. Tuting Hernandez’ words: “We should restore dignity to the marginalized and the disenfranchised.” Only then will we be able to make mother tongue instruction a definitive success.
Thank you for this informative comment! Maybe you’ll consider writing an actual blogpost about minority (or minoritized) languages, people an practices for us? We’d be happy to consider such a post!
Thanks for this enlightening description Rhen. Your comment “Implementing multilingualism in language classrooms is feasible with adequate resources, but ensuring that it fosters inclusivity and positive language attitudes is a lifelong commitment” really resonates, and reminds me that language use and language learning is dynamic. Researchers and teachers can discuss language, language education and linguistic justice with their students, but it is on-going use of the language and structures for becoming literate in it that will ultimately lead to language maintenance and development.
/Anne
While the Swedish model for mother tongue instruction certainly is not perfect, researchers in the Nordic context agree that that it is more constructive to develop and improve implementation and organization of the subject than to ditch the model itself. Carol, you are in part correct when it comes to the issue of hours. I address this in my thesis too, pointing out that the students studying Vietnamese on Saturday mornings in Australia received more hours of instruction that those who studied Kurdish, Turkish, Arabic and Urdu through MTI in Sweden, both of whom I followed in my fieldwork (Reath Warren, 2017, p. 103-104). But there are Swedish municipalities/schools that provide more than one hour per week as well. The fact that the number of hours is unregulated has been criticised in a recent government sponsored investigation (https://www.regeringen.se/rattsliga-dokument/statens-offentliga-utredningar/2019/05/sou-201918/). It is indeed problematic that not all students studying MTI are guaranteed a certain numbers of hours for their studies.
I do not agree however that the article is misleading. It is an attempt to answer the question (a tough one I’ll admit) about why Australia is unlikely to organise MTI in the same manner as Sweden.
Thank you Anne for sharing your research and for this comparative perspective!
It seems there are completely two different sets of policies when it comes to the mother tongues of migrants and the national minority languages here.
Thank you for this feedback Gegentuul. Policies relating to national minority, as opposed to immigrant languages overlap to some extent in Sweden (all of them can be taught through MTI), but there are special provisions for the national minority languages, for example, that students can study them as beginners, while speakers of immigrant languages are required to use the languages on a regular basis with at least one caregiver. There are also a small number of schools where minority languages are one of the languages of instruction (Sami school; The FInnish school) and this is more uncommon among immigrant languages (apart from English, French and German).
What this report fails to explain is that most “mother tongue education” in Sweden, unless learners are members of certain designated non-dominant groups, consists of an hour per week OR LESS and that it is usually outside school hours. This is not at all ideal, nor does it promote a multilingual habitus. It is IN NO WAY a model of bi/multilingual education that actually builds on children’s own languages and literacies to develop Swedish or other languages. I find this article very misleading.