The population of Iceland has become increasingly diverse in recent decades as a result of immigration. The diversification of Iceland’s population is reflected in student populations at all education levels and the growing number of heritage languages spoken by children in schools. This research project explores the language policies and practices of diverse immigrant families in Iceland, how schools on pre- and compulsory levels respond to these policies and build on the language resources which the children bring to the schools. The theoretical framework includes writings on children’s bi- and multilingualism (Cummins, 2021), family language policies (Wilson, 2020) and home-school cooperation. The project is a qualitative research study. Data was collected from 2022 to 2023 in semi-structured interviews with altogether sixteen parents of immigrant background in four municipalities in Iceland, their children’s teachers, and principals. Data was also collected with the children through child friendly methods. Findings indicate that the families have developed diverse language policies and practices, often with active participation of their children who contribute with their ideas, input, choices, and preferences of languages. While all schools in the study claim to respect the children‘s heritage languages, educational practices in some of the schools are monolingual, emphasizing Icelandic. The teachers in the study are interested in supporting the children’s multilingualism, while many of them claim that they lack knowledge and support in implementing multilingual practices. The findings also reveal that the participating families value their children’s language repertoire and use diverse tools to support their children’s multilingualism. While the parents value their children's learning of Icelandic in school, they would appreciate more support for their children's multilingualism.

References

Cummins, J. (2021). Rethinking the education of multilingual learners: A critical analysis of theoretical concepts. Multilingual matters.

Wilson, S. (2020). Family language policy: Children’s perspectives. Palgrave Macmillan.