Children, childhoods and bilingualism: Exploring experiences, perspectives and policies

Citation

Peace‐Hughes T, Cohen BJ, Jamieson L & Tisdall EKM (2022) Children, childhoods and bilingualism: Exploring experiences, perspectives and policies. Children & Society, 36 (3), pp. 301-304. https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12556

Abstract
First paragraph: This special issue brings together scholars from a range of disciplines and contexts concerned with children,1 childhood and bilingualism; that is the ability to communicate in two or more languages with any degree of proficiency, from minimal to advanced (Grosjean, 2010). Language is fundamental to human culture and personhood and a key part of identity at an individual, family and community level. However, language may also be used at a national level as a tool for building nationhood and empire in ways that create power hierarchies. State-sponsored language polices have often marginalised minority languages, whether these are long-established and termed indigenous to the area2 or associated with more recent migration. Equally, bilingualism may be undermined in settings built on monolingualism. As seen in this special issue, national education policies in some countries now offer more support to minoritised indigenous languages but have been slower to recognise the linguistic resource offered by more recent migrant or ethnic language communities, whose languages are still too often treated as an impediment to educational achievement and social integration (Pavlenko & Blackledge, 2004).

Keywords
Education

Journal
Children & Society: Volume 36, Issue 3