FaMiLanG: Language Policy in (newly) Migrated Families in Germany

 

• Project Title: Language Policy in (newly) migrated families in Germany (FaMiLanG)
• Project Team: Prof.'in Dr. Julie A. Panagiotopoulou & Dr.'in Yasemin Uçan (project leader) & M.Ed. Diana Samani (research assistant and doctoral student in the project)
• Sample: Families with (refugee) migration experience living in Germany
• Survey method: guided interviews with parents and children; digitally as well as, if necessary, multi- and translingually realized by multilingual BA-/MA-students at the UzK.

 

Project description:

Initial research findings on family language policies and language practices of (newly) immigrant parents and children are now also accessible in German-speaking countries (e.g. Braband 2019, Uçan 2022; for an overview see Panagiotopoulou & Zettl 2021). However, media and professional discourse is still dominated by deficit views, in particular, towards migration-related (early) childhood multilingualism.

In the FaMiLanG teaching research project at the University of Cologne, prospective educational professionals and teachers who are themselves multilingual utilize their own language repertoire as student researchers to conduct interviews with (newly) immigrated parents and/or children about their own perspectives and (language) practices. The aim is to gain insights into the language policies of different families and family members with different migration histories who, for instance, are already in their third generation or have only been living in Germany as new immigrants for a few years. The focus of the GT analyses is, on the one hand, on the reconstruction of parents' and children's views on language(s) and language prestige (keyword: language ideologies), their narrated decisions, strategies and practices that (should) drive the acquisition and use of language(s), and, on the other hand, on their related - also conflictual - experiences in the context of monolingually oriented educational institutions in Germany.

 

Research questions:

- What are the perceptions of (family) languages and language utilization inside and outside the family held by multilingual parents and children?

- Which strategies do parents employ to support the (multi-)language acquisition of their children? What translingual (literacy) experiences do parents and children have in their everyday life?

- What experiences of difference and discrimination do parents and children gather in day care centers and schools with regard to their multilingual practice?

 

Literature

Braband, J. (2019): Multilingualism in Early Childhood Education. Subjective Theories of Parents and Daycare Professionals against the Background of Migration Societal Orders. Bielefeld: transcript.

Panagiotopoulou, J. A. & Zettl, E. (2021): Language Policy in Immigrant Families and Institutions of Early Childhood Education. In: Georgi, V. B.; Karakaşoğlu, Y. (Eds.): Early childhood. Vol. 1. series Migration, Diversity, Education. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer Verlag, pp. 49-64.

Uçan, Y. (2022): Educational Goal Multilingualism. A Qualitative Study on Education and Parenting in the Context of Migration. Wiesbaden: Springer.

 

Project Publications

- Panagiotopoulou J.A. & Uçan, Y. (2023): Dynamic multilingualism of refugee families meets monolingual language policy in German ECE institutions, International Journal of Multilingualism, DOI: 10.1080/14790718.2023.2239286

- Panagiotopoulou, J.A.; Uçan, Y. & Samani, D. (2023): Family Language Policy between Language Acquisition and Language Maintenance: Findings on Children's Perspectives from the FaMiLanG Teaching Research Project. In: ZIF - Journal of Intercultural Foreign Language Teaching, Thematic focus on "Multilingualism and language maintenance in the context of school, out-of-school and family learning settings" (forthcoming: 2023:2.).

- Panagiotopoulou, J.A. & Samani, D. (2023): "They ask so 'why do you have to learn this language, why is this language so stupid' and so...": Experiences of Difference and Discrimination of Multilingual Parents and Children from Refugee Families in the Context of German Educational Institutions. In: Seyran Bostancı & Emra Ilgün-Birhimeoğlu (Eds.): Elementary Education in the Postmigrant Society. Theoretical and Empirical Approaches to a Pedagogy Critical of Racism. Weinheim Basel: Beltz Juventa (forthcoming).

 

Project related presentations:

- Julie A. Panagiotopoulou: "Migration and Multilingualism in (Early) Childhood: The perspective of (newly) migrated parents". Online presentation on 18.11.2020, Forum Postmigrant Perspectives, Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences.

- Uçan, Yasemin & Samani, Diana: "[…] because you are allowed to speak in Dari, aren't you?" Experiences of discrimination and exclusion of newly migrated children and adolescents based on the difference category 'language' in monolingual German educational institutions. Research workshop on June 16, 2023 at the 6th conference of the AG Inclusion Research in the DGfE at the University of Bielefeld.

 

Completed and ongoing BA/MA theses at the UzK

1. Samani, Diana (2020): Multilingualism as an Everyday Practice of Newly Immigrated Families. BA thesis; interviewed parents of two families from Afghanistan living in Germany since 2015.
2. Paiva Sobrado, Tamara (2021): Multilingualism as an Everyday Practice in Immigrant Families. BA thesis; interviewed parents of a family from Brazil and a family from Italy who have lived in Germany since 2009 and 1998, respectively.
3. Korkmaz, Senay (2021): Multilingualism as an Everyday Practice of Second and Third Generation Immigrant Families. BA thesis; parents of two families from Turkey were interviewed.
4. Monarca, Francesca (2022): We speak mishmash!" - Multilingualism as an Everyday Practice of a "Sicilian family" in Germany. BA thesis; interviewed a mother and her two children.
5. Samani, Diana (2022): Language Policy and Language Practice in Newly Immigrated Families. The Children's Perspective. MA thesis; interviewed the children of two families from Afghanistan whose parents participated in Diana Samani's (2020) BA thesis.
6. Tajbueva, Amina (2022), "If you don't know your language, you are homeless." - The Importance of Language of Origin as a Construct of Belonging. MA thesis; interviewed families from Chechnya.
7. Ensan, Franziska (2023): Multilingualism in the German Migration Society - Views, Strategies and Challenges of Members of a Family of Turkish Origin, MA thesis.
8. Di Matteo, Anna Clara (2023): Multilingualism as an Everyday Practice of Families. BA thesis; interviewed parents of two families, from Italy and Greece.
9. Koukoudis, Martina (2023): Multilingualism as an Everyday Practice of Immigrant Families of the Second and Third generation; BA thesis, interviewed were families from Greece.
10. Eminoglu, Murat (2023): Experiences with linguicism and language practice of Kurdish families. MA thesis.

 

Comparative GT analyses of selected project data in the context of courses

(Prof.'in Dr. Julie A. Panagiotopoulou, with the assistance of Diana Samani)

- Summer term 2021: Language and Educational Biographies of Newly Immigrated Children: Results of Current Research on Migration and Families

- Winter term 2021/22: Ethnographic Educational Research: Research Workshop

- Summer term 2022: Language Policy and Language Practice in Multilingual Families and Day-Care Centers

- Winter term 2022/23: Language and Educational Barriers in the Transition to German Educational Institutions: Inclusion and Exclusion Experiences of Children from Newly Immigrated Families

- Summer term 2023: Family Migration and (Language) Education: The Perspective of Parents and Children