Developing resources for multilingualclasses in Belgium

Orhan Agirdag, University of Leuven, Belgium

RUTU ROUNDTABLEMULTILINGUAL EDUCATION FOR MIGRANT CHILDREN IN EUROPE6 NOVEMBER/ UTRECHT, THE NETHERLANDS

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DEVELOPING RESOURCES FOR

MULTILINGUAL CLASSES (IN FLANDERS)

Orhan AğırdağUvA & KULeuven

Context

Flanders (Belgium)

1. Large ethnic inequalities

2. (Dutch) monolingualism in education

3. Bilingual education: small projects

Agirdag (2010) in British Journal of Sociology of Education

How is monolingualism imposed in schools ?

Benefits of bilingualism unknown

Use of ‘other languages’ (e.g. Turkish)

• Excluded

• Discouraged

• Punished

Institutional racism: Not all languages are ‘bad’

However: internalized...

Agirdag et al. (2014) in Bilig

Does speaking Turkish (frequency) have an effect on:

1- Academic achievement

2- Sense of school belonging

Speaking Turkish at home

No effect on achievement

Speaking Turkish at school

No effect on achievement

Lower sense of school belonging

Agirdag et al. (2013) in Teachers College Record

Teachers have lower expectation of immigrant

students

Lower expectation due to language issues

Pulinx, Van Avermaet & Agirdag O. (2016) in International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism

Pulinx, Van Avermaet & Agirdag O. (2016) in International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism

Pulinx, Van Avermaet & Agirdag O. (2016) in International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism

Agirdag (2014) in International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism In the US:

Incomes of bilingual vs. English only Latino’s

Bilingual earn about 3000 $ more than English

only

In Europe ?

E-Validiv Case Collection

School Policy Guide Metrotaal