Migration, Multilingualism and Schooling in Southern Europe

Sandro Caruana · Liliana Coposescu · Stefania Scaglione

Aug 2014 · Cambridge Scholars Publishing

About this ebook

Migration, Multilingualism and Schooling in Southern Europe, edited by Sandro Caruana, Liliana Coposescu and Stefania Scaglione, deals with a highly current topic in Europe today, namely migration in Southern European countries and its impact on children in primary schooling. The volume deals with migration, both through the contribution of experts in the field, and through the results of an EU-funded project, MERIDIUM, which spanned over three years and touched on a number of topical issues. The studies included in the volume mainly take place in six countries, traditionally known for outbound rather than inbound migration, and they examine how recent waves of migration are affecting language use, linguistic attitudes and perception towards language diversity. Some of the questions addressed in the various chapters of the volume are: how has migration in Southern Europe altered the sociolinguistic profile of some regions? How do children in schools, and their parents, react to the presence of different languages and to different cultures in educational institutions? Do educational authorities, school directors and teachers feel adequately equipped to face the challenges that these demographic changes are bringing about? Is there adequate planning and are there sufficient language policies in order to provide the necessary framework which could lead to better integration of migrants in schools?

About the author

Sandro Caruana is Associate Professor at the University of Malta, where he holds courses on Italian language teaching methodology. His publications include Mezzi di comunicazione e input linguistico (2003); Intercultural Communication in Bureaucratic and Institutional Contexts (2008, edited with Gabriella B. Klein); ‘Letter to a Teacher’: Lorenzo Milani’s Contribution to Critical Citizenship (2009, with Carmel Borg and Mario Cardona); and Variation and Change: The Dynamics of Maltese in Space, Time and Society (2011, edited with Ray Fabri and Thomas Stolz).

Liliana Coposescu is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Languages and Literatures, Transylvania University of Brașov, Romania. Her research interests and publications are in the field of intercultural communication and discourse analysis, among others. She has published The Construction of Meaning in Intercultural Communication: Pragmatic Analysis of Interactions between Native Speakers of English and Romanians Speaking English (2012).

Stefania Scaglione is Associate Professor of Linguistics at the University for Foreigners of Perugia, Italy, where she holds courses on Sociolinguistics and Language Policy and Planning. Her main areas of research include sociolinguistic aspects of migration and linguistic rights. On these topics, she has published Attrition. Mutamenti sociolinguistici nel lucchese di San Francisco (2000); Italiano e Italiani nel mondo (2004); and Lingue e diritti umani (2011, edited with Stefania Giannini).