Speaking Turkish in Belgian primary schools: teacher beliefs versus effective consequences

In this mixed-method study, we explore teachers’ beliefs concerning the use of the Turkish language by Turkish children in Belgian primary schools, and we compare these findings with the effective consequences of language maintenance. The qualitative analyses revealed thatteachers have very negative views about the use of the Turkish language, as they believe that speaking the mother tongue is detrimental to academic achievement. These adverse teacher beliefs are not only shaped by the assimilationist policy context in Belgium, but they are also (re)produced and reinforced by interactions betw... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Agirdag, Orhan
Jordens, Kathelijne
Van Houtte, Mieke
Dokumenttyp: journalarticle
Erscheinungsdatum: 2014
Schlagwörter: Social Sciences / BILINGUALISM / ACADEMIC-ACHIEVEMENT / IMMIGRANTS / NETHERLANDS / STUDENTS / CHILDREN / GERMANY / CONTEXT / FRANCE / POLICY / Language use / language maintenance / academic achievement / sense of school belonging / European Turks / Belgium
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-26981430
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/5664851

In this mixed-method study, we explore teachers’ beliefs concerning the use of the Turkish language by Turkish children in Belgian primary schools, and we compare these findings with the effective consequences of language maintenance. The qualitative analyses revealed thatteachers have very negative views about the use of the Turkish language, as they believe that speaking the mother tongue is detrimental to academic achievement. These adverse teacher beliefs are not only shaped by the assimilationist policy context in Belgium, but they are also (re)produced and reinforced by interactions between teachers and the Turkish middle-class. Nevertheless, the quantitative analyses with a data of 435 Turkish pupils in 48 schools have shown that there is no evidence that speaking Turkish, at home or at school, harms pupils’ academic achievement. However, the negative school culture about the Turkish language causes feelings of rejection and reduces the sense of school belonging for pupils who speak Turkish more frequently at school