Fiona Smythe – författare

In many parts of the world, there is a growing interest in how existing linguistic knowledge is involved in the acquisition of further languages; in particular how learning the language of schooling can be improved through inclusion of students’ home languages. This theme gathers around it a rich international network of multilingual researchers interested in promoting the benefits of bilingual and plurilingual education, the recognition of linguistic and cultural diversity in schools, and strategies for supporting young migrants to succeed in schools.Young Migrants and Plurilingualism in Schools: A Comparative Study of Language Diversity within Education Systems in France and Aotearoa, New Zealand presents findings from the author’s Ph.D. study carried out during 2017–2019 with young migrants and their teachers in France and New Zealand. These findings provide evidence for plurilingual learning spaces as improving student participation, interaction, sense of wellbeing and social cohesion—all elements of democratic coexistence in culturally and linguistically diverse societies.

In many parts of the world, there is a growing interest in how existing linguistic knowledge is involved in the acquisition of further languages; in particular how learning the language of schooling can be improved through inclusion of students’ home languages. This theme gathers around it a rich international network of multilingual researchers interested in promoting the benefits of bilingual and plurilingual education, the recognition of linguistic and cultural diversity in schools, and strategies for supporting young migrants to succeed in schools.Young Migrants and Plurilingualism in Schools: A Comparative Study of Language Diversity within Education Systems in France and Aotearoa, New Zealand presents findings from the author’s Ph.D. study carried out during 2017–2019 with young migrants and their teachers in France and New Zealand. These findings provide evidence for plurilingual learning spaces as improving student participation, interaction, sense of wellbeing and social cohesion—all elements of democratic coexistence in culturally and linguistically diverse societies.

Written during “the refugee crisis” (2017–2020) and the increasingly hostile international response to immigration at that time, this book reports on an in-schools study carried out with young migrants in two countries with highly diverse populations: France and Aotearoa New Zealand. Backgrounded by questions of how minority language speakers can succeed within monolingual education systems, case studies are presented of newly-arrived migrant, asylum-seeker and refugee-background teenagers learning in mainstream classes.A critical, comparative approach is taken to investigate background and foreground phenomena that construct and sustain inequalities in education. Findings highlight useful and effective solutions for teachers working in culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms.