Two languages in the air: a cross-cultural comparison of preschool teachers’ reflections on their flexible bilingual practices

ABSTRACT

Bilingual preschool education is under researched compared with bilingual school education. There is also a lack of research on bilingual preschool teachers’ agency and how they negotiate between two languages in the classroom. We examined the language practices of five bilingual preschool teachers working within three different socio-linguistic settings, in Finland (Finnish–Swedish and Russian–Finnish contexts) and Israel (an Arabic–Hebrew context) and interviewed the teachers about their use of languages in the classroom. We found that in each context the teachers reported modifications to an initial bilingual education model over time: from a strict separation of languages, to flexible bilingual practices. A thematic analysis of the contents of the teacher reflections as they emerged through interviews revealed five shared categories: (a) the flexible use of two languages; (b) responsible code-switching; (c) contextual and linguistic supports; (d) adjustments for individual children; and (e) role-modelling. Despite the different settings and socio-linguistic conditions, the similarities in teachers’ practices and the rationale they gave for applying flexible bilingual practices were significant. The shared practices across contexts may have important implications for bilingual education.

KEYWORDS:

• Bilingual preschool education
• flexible bilingual practices
• teacher agency
• early childhood bilingualism
• language attitudes
• code-switching

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Åsa Palviainen is full Professor of Swedish at the Department of Languages, University of Jyvaskyla, Finland.

Ekaterina Protassova is adjunct Professor of Russian at the Department of Modern Languages, University of Helsinki, Finland.

Karita Mård-Miettinen is adjunct Professor and Research Manager of Immersion Education at the Department of Scandinavian Languages, University of Vaasa, Finland.

Mila Schwartz is Professor in Language and Education and Head of Language Program (MA) in Oranim Academic College of Education, Israel.

Notes

1. Transcription keys: (.) A brief pause; [—] Stretches of speech have been omitted; [= ] Clarification; Text within [ ] added to complete an utterance syntactically or semantically; and (( )) Extra-linguistic information.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Research Council for Culture and Society, The Academy of Finland [grant no 266850] and The Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland [grant no 13/1118–1303].