i37
Issue 37. Autumn 2024
Thematic section: Linguistic acculturation and education
Editors of the thematic section: Cecilio Lapresta-Rey (Universitat de Lleida) and Josep Ubalde (Universitat de Lleida)
Important dates:
- Deadline for submission of articles: 30 August 2024
- Notification of review or acceptance: 15 October 2024
- Publication date: November-December 2024
*Pre-proposals with an abstract of 400 words will be accepted until 30 June 2024, writing to the guest editor Cecilio Lapresta-Rey (cecilio.lapresta@udl.cat).
Linguistic acculturation is understood as the result of linguistic adjustments that occur as a result of continuous contact between different ethno-linguistic groups (Redfield, Linton and Herkovits, 1936).
From the point of view of minority groups, whether descendants of migrants or non-migrant speakers of minority and/or minoritised languages, this prolonged contact may lead to the construction of four typical linguistic acculturation strategies; i) multilingualism, in which both the maintenance of the inherited language(s) and the adoption of the majority language(s) are valued; ii) assimilationist, in which priority would be given to the adoption of the majority language/s, relegating the inherited language/s to second place; iii) separation, in which the maintenance of the language/s is valued over the adoption of the majority language/s and; iv) marginalisation/anomie, in which there is no special valuation of the languages, either because the linguistic question is not relevant to the subjects, or because they refuse to identify with any of them and what they represent symbolically (Bourhis, 2001).
The construction of these strategies is conditioned by several factors.
In the first place, by the degree of inclusiveness of societies and in our case of the Education System. That is to say, a priori, intercultural and multilingual Education Systems would enhance the construction of multilingual linguistic acculturation strategies. Secondly, acculturation preferences, understood as the ideal choices of the majority group(s) regarding the strategies that minorities should adopt. Or in other words, the extent to which their peers and teachers are linguistically pluralistic/ assimilationist/ segregationist/ marginalisers (Lapresta et al., 2020).
A further assumption is that each of these profiles would be found to be interrelated with students' educational achievement and linguistic-educational inclusion (Berry et al., 2011). In this respect, international empirical evidence shows ambivalent results. Thus, multilingual linguistic acculturation strategies have been shown to be more common among certain groups and contexts, leading to higher educational achievement and linguistic-educational inclusion (Neumann, Kozac and Gil, in press). But also, in other environments, even in some where the Education System is supposedly organised under the parameters of intercultural and multilingual education, students who linguistically assimilate obtain better educational outcomes than those who build multilingual strategies (Lewis, 2021; Sáenz et al., 2021).
To understand these apparent contradictions, other directly or indirectly interrelated processes must also be taken into account, such as attitudes towards languages, linguistic ideologies or language uses.
Against this background, the aim of this section of RNLAEL is to provide empirical evidence on the relationship, in a broad sense, between language acculturation strategies (and/or correlates such as language attitudes, language ideologies, usages, etc.) and educational achievement and/or linguistic-educational inclusion. National and international papers on the status of any language, written in the various languages accepted by the Journal, are welcome. Papers should be applied and contain empirical data. National and international papers on the status of any language are encouraged.
References
Berry, J. W., Poortinga, Y. H., Breugelmans, S. M., Chasiotis, A. y Sam, D. L. (Eds.) (2011). Crosscultural Psychology. Research and Applications. 3rd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bourhis, R. Y. (2001). Acculturation, language maintenance and language loss. En J. Klatter-Folmer y P. Van Avermaet (Eds.), Theories on maintenance and loss of minority languages (pp. 5-37). Waxmann.
Lapresta, C., Huguet, Á., Petreñas, C. y Ianos, A. (2020). Self-identifications of youth in Catalonia: a linguistic acculturation theory approach. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 41(10), 829-843.
Lewis, L. (2021). Assimilation as ‘false consciousness’: Higher education immigrant students’ acculturation beliefs and experiences. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 83, 30-42.
Neumann, H., Kozac K. y Gil, L. (en prensa – avanzado en línea). The Impact of Academic Acculturation and Language Proficiency on International Students’ University Experience and Academic Success: A Longitudinal Study. The Canadian Modern Language Review. https://www.utpjournals.press/doi/ref/10.3138/cmlr-2021-0055?role=tab
Redfield, R., Linton, R. y Herskovits M.J. (1936) Memorandum on the study of acculturation. American Anthropologist 38, 149-52.
Sáenz, I., Lapresta, C., Petreñas, C. y Ianos, A. (2022). When immigrant and regional minority languages coexist: Linguistic authority and integration in multilingual linguistic acculturation. International Journal of Bilingual Education & Bilingualism, 25(8), 2774-2787.
