The Sociolinguistics of Iran’s Languages at Home and Abroad by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030196059
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

MT and MTE in Denmark

The national context of the present study is Denmark. MTE has a complex tradition in Denmark affected by the overall political shifts with respect to interest in guest laborers (gæstearbejdere) in the 1960s and 1970s from Yugoslavia, Turkey, and Pakistan and to the arrival of refugees and skilled workers from multiple origins—including Iran—in subsequent decades. Since 1975, MTE (modersmålsundervisning) has been presented as an institutional term compared to education in minority languages (mindretalssprog) (Holmen & Jørgensen, 1998). Children of speakers with ethnic backgrounds other than Danish have been MT speakers, regardless of their linguistic command in the MT and “levels of knowledge” (Blommaert & Backus, 2011). Over the years, MT classes were catered for MT students by municipals; the Danish Ministry of Education defined the children eligible for the subject as children with a maternal language other than Danish who learn Danish not before their contact with Danish official institutions and society (UNI.C Statistics and Analysis for the Danish Ministry of Education, 2008, p. 48).1 Children with this eligibility were and still are called bilingual pupils. The term is, however, rather a normalized and idealized term that limits spaces and boundaries specified for language practice, for example, home language, institutional language, and the like. It also denies the complex world of language users with access to multiple languages, vernaculars, and lects, undermines families’ access to a diversity of media and the digital world, and ignores the imbalance of language exposure and language skills in children’s everyday worlds, including core families. If supported by the state and municipals, MTE composed of limited languages has been offered primarily by children’s schools outside the ordinary curriculum.

However, policy shifts and the perception of an unstable position of MTs and MT courses have highly encouraged communities, community-based associations, and individuals to start their MT courses within several municipalities or regions for the sake of families’ regular access.

This study reports on sequences from two MT classes in two different municipalities in the capital region of Denmark. Both classes were established by two local associations of the larger Iranian community, living in and around Copenhagen. In Denmark, approximately 21,180 Iranians and their descents live, with different interests in establishing and maintaining bonds to the linguistic and cultural heritage of Iran.2 The MT classes involved in the study shared the same teacher and represented a typical institution that privately promoted Persian as an MT for those with diverse Iranian origins.

The following section presents the theoretical framework based on which the study data will be analyzed and discussed.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.