Exploring the Value of Multilingualism in European Urban Schools

1. guus.extra@uvt.nl Mercator Seminar on the Added Value ofMultilingualism and Multilingual Education3-4 June, 2010, Leeuwarden/Ljouwert Mapping Urban Multilingualism in Europe: in search of untapped resources at primary schools • Prototypical examples of large-scale data on home language use • Overview of kernel census questions on identification of population groups in non-European English-dominant immigration countries • Operationalization of languages questions in EU countries • Rationale for home language surveys amongst school populations in multicultural cities • Multilingual Cities Project and follow-up studies in Europe • Data collection, data processing and data analysis • Overview of the MCP database • Specification of language profiles and language vitality • Crosslinguistic perspectives on language vitality • Follow-up study in Dublin (2009)

2. Prototypical examples of large-scale data on home language use • Three types of data on immigrant minority groups (Poulain 2008): • Census data in non-European English-dominant • immigration countries (Table 2a) • Register data (Baker & Eversley 2000: • meta-analysis of ILEA data) • Survey data (Multilingual Cities Project)

3. Kernelcensus questions on identification of population groups in non-European English-dominant immigration countries(Source: Extra and Yağmur 2004: 67)

4. Comments on Table 2a • Five clusters of questions • Variation in total of dimensions per country and in crossnational coverage of dimensions • The cluster of ethnicity, ancestry and race • The cluster of four different language questions (Canadian data on mother tongue and home language use; mother tongue defined by researchers as language first learnt at home and still understood) • The home language question as standing out with the highest validity • The paradox of South African statistics (Post-Apartheid racial question: White/Coloured/Black/Indian) • The importance of comparing different groups using equal criteria • The violation of this principle in the public and political discourse

5. Operationalisation of language questions in 17 EU countries(Source: Extra and Gorter 2008: 20)

6. Comments on Table 3a European census questions on non-national languages focus on RM languages, not on IM languages; The three most commonly asked questions on language use relate to mother tongue (11 countries), (other) language(s) spoken (frequently) (6 countries) and language(s) (most frequently) spoken at home (5 countries); This variability in the operationalization of language questions leads to serious limitations in carrying out crossnational comparisons of language data; Hungary makes the most investments in finding out about language use. For a complete picture, it should be mentioned that in some countries collecting home language data is in fact in conflict with current language legislation. This holds in particular for Belgium, where no census data on language use have been collected since 1947 and traditional language borders between Dutch, French and German have been allocated and fixed in language legislation. The predictable result is an increasing mismatch between such legislation and actual language use.

7. The challenge of formulating language questions • Variability in the operationalisation of questions and limitations of crossnational comparisons of outcomes • European preference for mother tongue question vs. non-European preference for home language question • European focus on RM languages vs. non-European focus on IM languages • Ethnographic vs. demolinguistic challenges • Single vs. multiple language questions • UK Census of 2011 (“What is your main language?”) • ECF Multilingual Cities Project (Extra & Yağmur 2004) • The value of data on language distribution and language vitality • The notion of “ethnolinguistic” vitality: MCP vs. Giles et al.

8. Rationale for home language surveys amongst multiculturalschool populations • Taken from a demographic perspective, home language data play a crucial role in the definition and identification of multicultural school populations • Taken from a sociolinguistic perspective, home language data offer valuable insights into both the distribution and vitality of home languages across different population groups, and thus raise the public awareness of multilingualism • Taken from an educational perspective, home language data are indispensable tools for educational planning and policies (and yet such planning and policies occur in absence of even the most basic empirical facts) • Taken from an economic perspective, home language data offer latent resources that can be built upon and developed in terms of economic chances

9. Rationale for focus on multicultural cities • International migration concentrates in urban settings • The same holds for intergenerational and reciprocal processes of acculturation • Multilingualism is most prevalent in urban settings • Cities are primary spaces where urban planners create local policies on multiculturalism and multilingualism • Cities reinforce translocal and transnational dynamics in dealing with diversity

10. Multilingual Cities Project and follow-up studies in Europe

11. Dominant Germanic Mixed form Dominant Romance Swedish German Dutch Spanish French Göteborg Hamburg The Hague Lyon Brussels Madrid The Multilingual Cities Project:six cities from North to South Follow-up studies: three cities from East to West (rationale for selection)

12. Overview of the MCP database (a Dutch-medium schools only; b Reseau d’Education Prioritaire only)

13. References made by pupils in terms of types and tokens (x = not specified)

14. Overview of the numbers of pupils (6–11 years) per reported language and city

15. Language vitality per language group and age group (in %, LVI in cumulative %)

16. Intergenerational distribution (in %) and intergenerational language vitality (LVI in cumulative %) per language group