Conference Agenda

When young migrants move to a new country, they face the double challenge of learning a new language as well as entering a new educational system. A bridge between their mother tongue and that of their new home has been shown to be a necessary support for academic success and social inclusion. In Sweden, there have been various forms of so-called “multilingual tutoring” that have provided this bridge informally, and since 2015 it was officially adopted as a support structure for recently-migrated students (Avery, 2017). The purpose of the role of a multilingual tutor is to support subject learning by alternating between the students’ mother tongue and Swedish in different ways, a practice that is nowadays often referred to as “translanguaging” (Reath Warren, 2017). Multilingual tutors work in a school setting and collaborate with subject teachers. There are no specific legal limits to the length of time that students can receive study tutoring but local school policies often aim on making students independent after a few years (Rosén et al., 2019; Skolverket, 2020).

The few studies that exist on multilingual tutors underline the key role that they play for recent migrants and have described them as a "language bridge" between the students and learning in the various school subjects (SOU, 2019). Multilingual tutors often lack a pedagogical degree and their working conditions vary across the country. In many cases, multilingual tutors work outside normal school planning (Skolinspektionen, 2017), which allows them to define their own role. However, it can also mean that they work with poorly defined responsibilities, deficient resources and a lack of collaboration opportunities with subject teachers (Avery, 2017; Dávila, 2018; Ganuza & Hedman, 2015; Gareis et al., 2020; Kakos, 2022; Reath Warren, 2016). Research has emphasized the importance of the role, as reiterated by Rosén et al. (2019), who showed that multilingual tutors framed it as a ‘bridge’ for recently-migrated students that made subject courses more accessible. Furthermore, Bunar and Juvonen (2021) and Nilsson and Axelsson (2013) spoke to recently-migrated students, who described multilingual tutoring as an essential part of their education.

These research contributions, as well as national policy, emphasize the critical role of the multilingual tutor role for a group of students with high needs. However, since multilingual tutoring is a relatively new endeavour, there are few studies exploring it and the practices of multilingual tutoring are not yet well understood (SOU, 2019). Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore the practices and competencies that multilingual tutors identify as essential to their role.

The study shows how multilingual tutors implement a variety of translanguaging strategies to support students’ learning in their linguistic and non-linguistic subjects. Moreover, the study identifies the multiplicity of roles multilingual tutors take on, including informal duties such as providing recently-migrated students with emotional and social support. The study also provides some insights on the role that available resources and teacher collaboration has for multilingual tutors’ professional development and fulfilment.

This paper derives from the research project Language policies and practices of diverse immigrant families in Iceland and their implications for education.

The objectives of the project are to explores language policies and practices of diverse immigrant families (Curdt-Christiansen, Schwartz & Vershik, 2013), how these affect their children’s education and the relationships and interactions between these families, their heritage language communities and their teachers.

The main research question posed in this paper is: How do the families support their children in their education, navigating between two or even three languages and diverse cultures?

The theoretical framework includes writing on familiy language policies. Families face various challenges in their attempt to bring up a bilingual or a multilingual child. Schwartz & Vershik (2013, p. 1) note that there are, for example, “identity conflicts, time pressure restraints in negotiating conflicting language demands and the negative effects of macro-level social processes such as state language policy”. Even in these challenging circumstances, some families do succeed in holding on to their heritage language and using it with their children. Families are in a key position for maintaining and preserving languages. The relatively new research field of family language policy (FLP) presents “an integrated overview of research on how languages are managed, learned and negotiated within families” (King et al., 2008, p. 97). It brings together research on multilingualism, language acquisition, language policy and cultural studies. Spolsky (2004, p. 5) distinguished three components of family language policy: 1) language practices „the habitual pattern of selecting among the varieties that make up its linguistic repertoire“; 2) its language beliefs or ideology; „the beliefs about language and language use“; and 3) „any specific efforts to modify or influence that practice by any kind of language intervention, planning or management.” These have been extended further by Curdt Christiansen (2013), who notes that FLP also recognizes the relevance and influence of economic, political and social structures and processes in a given society. While early approaches to FLP emphasized language input, parental discourse strategy and linguistic environmental conditions according to Curdt-Christiansen (2013), more recently there has been a shift of focus in research towards issues such as why different values are ascribed to different languages, how parents view bilingualism from sociocultural, emotional and cognitive perspectives, and what kinds of family literacy environment and parental capital are likely to promote bilingualism. These components are different from one family to another and Schwartz (2018) notes that pro-active family language management might interact with and be influenced by the surrounding ethno-linguistic community and schools (policy-makers, teachers, and peers). When children enter a new socio-cultural community, such as a school, where a majority language is spoken, they also encounter culturally related challenges. They have to learn not only the vocabulary and grammar, but also recognize and acquire the cultural norms connected to the language use. Bi- or multilingual children, a heterogeneous group, experience the differences on a daily basis and gradually acquire insights into all languages that they are exposed to. Sometimes translanguaging, i.e. the effective communication through activating all linguistic resources of the individual, is used to achieve communicative goals (García & Wei, 2014). Wilson (2020) argues that whilst the language management of minority-language parents tends to be geared towards transmitting a linguistic heritage, often associated with their emotional bond to the home country, their children, who may be born in the country of immigration, may not share such a deep connection with the heritage culture. As a result, their language choices may differ from their parents’.