PhD project aimed at understanding how kindergartens create opportunities for children to use of their mother tongue.
In this doctoral research project, I examine the kindergarten's translanguaging practices with multilingual children aged 3–5. More specifically, I explore how opportunities are created for children to engage with their mother tongues, how the kindergarten utilizes the multilingual competencies of staff as a resource in language development work, and how potential language barriers are managed.
Background
Although kindergartens are characterized by linguistic diversity among both children and staff, research shows that there is limited focus on children's mother tongues as a resource.
The multilingual competencies of kindergarten staff are primarily used in connection with special occasions, such as United Nations Day, and the kindergarten's translanguaging practices are marked by pedagogical and ideological challenges.
These challenges include how kindergartens can support both the development of children's mother tongues and the majority language, how pedagogical work can be organized so that the use of mother tongues does not exclude children with different linguistic backgrounds, and how children's mother tongues can be supported when staff do not speak the same language.
Methodology
To investigate the kindergarten's translanguaging practices, I will conduct a condensed ethnographic study involving participant observation and semi-structured interviews with directors and pedagogical leaders.
This project consists of three sub-studies:
- How is it facilitated for multilingual children aged 3–5 to encounter their mother tongues in kindergarten?
- How do educators facilitate the use of staff members’ multilingual competencies as a resource in language work with the oldest kindergarten children?
- How does the kindergarten handle language barriers that arise in communication between children and staff, as well as between the children themselves?"
