Being ‘the strange one’ or ‘like everybody else’: school education and the negotiation of multilingual identity

• Autores: Viktorija Ceginskas
• Localización: International journal of multilingualism, ISSN 1479-0718, Vol. 7, Nº. 3, 2010, págs. 211-224
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Based on first-person accounts, the negotiation of identity and belonging in 12 adults with multilingual and multicultural backgrounds is examined. The narratives show contradictory feelings towards the issue of multilinguality, which generally is experienced as a greater obstacle by multilingual adults who have predominantly gone to state schools than by adults who went to international schools. Education and different school systems play a role in constructing the cultural frameworks of inclusion and exclusion. This paper concludes that a significant factor for the differing perceptions may lie in the opportunity or lack thereof to share the experience of multiple allegiances and identifications with peers. In that respect, some school environments contribute to the cultivation of their students' linguistic and cultural awareness, and multilinguality is consequently no longer perceived as a personal or communal threat.