ERIC Number: EJ1336829
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2022-May
Pages: 20
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0167-8507
EISSN: N/A
Multilingual Education in an Italian Public Preschool: Teachers and Families among Mobility Processes and Inclusive Practices
Multilingua: Journal of Cross-Cultural and Interlanguage Communication, v41 n3 p321-340 May 2022
This paper focuses on the integration of translanguaging practices in a public preschool situated in a small village in North-West of Italy. Mobility processes and local Italian families' school choices have led to the raise of the number of students with an immigrant background enrolled at the studied preschool up to 85%. After a brief overview regarding mobility and translanguaging in education, particularly in relation to preschool domain, I describe the macro and micro contexts of this ethnographic case study. I then focus on the analysis of the main learning activities designed by teachers to engage children's multilingual repertoires. Later, applying qualitative content analysis, I outline the main patterns and categories emerging from interviews and focus groups conducted with teachers and parents to investigate how they experienced the marginalization of immigrant minority children in their preschool and how they received the introduction of multilingual education approach. The results shows that the adoption of a translanguaging lens contributed to the educational legitimation of language diversity and to the acknowledgment of immigrant families. Finally, I discuss the results in terms of democratic language education and social justice, underlining their implications and relevance for preschools teachers' professional development and agency.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Translation, Code Switching (Language), Preschool Education, Preschool Children, Public Schools, Immigrants, Student Diversity, Preschool Teachers, Minority Group Students, Turkish, Italian, Teacher Attitudes, Parent Attitudes, Language Usage
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Early Childhood Education; Preschool Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Italy
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A