Publication details
Jazyková diverzita ve školách: zkoumání jazykové krajiny na mnohojazyčných školách
| Title in English | Linguistic diversity in schools: exploring the linguistic landscape in multilingual schools |
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| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2021 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | Linguistic diversity at Czech schools has increased in previous decades and it became a new everyday reality. Nevertheless, there is still lack of studies that investigate lived experiences with managing multilingualism at schools. In our study, we examine schools as multilingual social spaces in which the language choice is visible. We situate our study according to the context of top-down language policy in the Czech Republic and the essential theoretical concepts such as social space or language regime will be explained. To capture schools as multilingual social space, the linguistic landscapes at schools (so-called schoolscape) are analyzed and interpreted, while the focus lies on (1) languages displayed on the object; (2) authorship of the object: top-down or bottom-up and (3) location of the object. The data from schoolscaping are complemented by interviews with school headmasters, who are responsible for decisions on language choice in schools. The investigation took place in four schools facing multilingualism and linguistic diversity in their everyday life. The results indicate that despite the multilingual reality and the promotion of multilingualism, the monolingual norm is operative in the school. This is relevant not only for exploring the lin- guistic environments at schools, but it also reveals possible ways how to deal with linguistic diversity. |
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