Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T07:58:55.606Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

14 - Siblings’ Multilingual Discourse

from Part Three - Family Language Policy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 August 2022

By
Vicky Macleroy
Edited by
Anat Stavans  and
Ulrike Jessner
Anat Stavans
Affiliation:
Beit Berl College, Israel
Ulrike Jessner
Affiliation:
Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck, Austria
Get access

Summary

This chapter explores the integral role that siblings’ multilingual discourse plays across diverse family lives and sites of learning. In discussing key concepts in the field of family studies, young children are viewed as spending as much if not more time with siblings than their parents. This chapter looks at siblings as agentive in shaping the language environment in multilingual families and reflects on research in the area of siblings’ language choices, humour and intimacy as well as sibling rivalry in multilingual discourse. A distinctive feature of sibling relationships is their seriality, and research on the ‘niche’ of each child is looked at in relation to a child’s emerging multilingualism. Siblings’ multilingual discourse is viewed as dynamic and their language practices as in flux as the family grows, moves, or separates. Research on siblings as literacy mediators and studies on their creative multilingualism are examined. This chapter recognises the key role of digital technology in children’s lives and examines siblings’ multilingual discourse in these new digital spaces. New research is shared that investigates how multilingual siblings worked together on an international digital storytelling project.

Keywords

siblingsdiscourselanguage practices, mediatorsmultilingual literacies
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Childhood Multilingualism , pp. 325 - 352
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, J., & Macleroy, V. (2017). Connecting worlds: Interculturality, identity and multilingual digital stories in the making. Language and Intercultural Communication, 17(4), 1–24.Google Scholar
Anderson, J., & Macleroy, V., eds. (2016). Multilingual Digital Storytelling: Engaging Creatively and Critically with Literacy. Oxford: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arnot, M., Schneider, C., Evans, M., Yongcan, L., Welply, O., & Davies-Tutt, D. (2014). School Approaches to the Education of EAL Students. Report 2014. Cambridge: The Bell Foundation.Google Scholar
Azmita, M., & Hesser, J. (1993). Why children are important agents of cognitive development: A comparison of siblings and peers. Child Development, 64: 430–44.Google Scholar
Baker, C. (1995). A Parents’ and Teachers’ Guide to Bilingualism. London: Arnold.Google Scholar
Baker, C. (2001). Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 3rd Ed. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Barron-Hauwaert, S. (2011). Bilingual Siblings: Language Use in Families. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Bennett, J. (2010). Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things. Durham: Duke University Press Books.Google Scholar
Caldas, S. (2006). Raising Bilingual-Biliterate Children in Monolingual Cultures. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ćatibušić, B. (2019). Minority language development in early childhood: a study of siblings acquiring Bosnian and English in Ireland. In Mhathúna, M. & O’Brien, S., eds., The Journal of the Irish Association of Applied Linguistics. TEANGA Special Issue 10, 139–61.Google Scholar
Claxton, G. (2008). What’s the Point of School? Rediscovering the Heart of Education. Oxford: One World Publications.Google Scholar
Conteh, J., & Meier, G. (2014). The Multilingual Turn in Languages Education. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Craft, A. (2011). Creativity and Education Futures: Learning in a Digital Age. Stoke on Trent: Trentham Books.Google Scholar
Cremin, T., Mottram, M. Collins, F., Powell, S., & Safford, K. (2014). Building Communities of Engaged Readers: Reading for Pleasure. Oxford: Routledge.Google Scholar
Darvin, R., & Norton, B. (2014). Transnational identity and migrant language learners: The promise of digital storytelling. Education Matters, 2(1), 55–66.Google Scholar
De Leon, L. (2018). Playing at being bilingual: Bilingual performances, stance, and language scaling in Mayan Tzotzil. Journal of Pragmatics, 144, 92–108.Google Scholar
Dewaele, J.-M. (2002). Research on expressing emotions in multiple languages. The Bilingual Family Newsletter, 19(1), 3.Google Scholar
Dunn, J. (1988). The Beginnings of Social Understanding. Oxford: Blackwell.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fashanu, C., Wood, E., & Payne, M. (2020). Multilingual communication under the radar: How multilingual children challenge the dominant monolingual discourse in a super-diverse, Early Years educational setting in England, English in Education, 54(1), 93–112, https://doi.org/10.1080/04250494.2019.1688657.Google Scholar
García, O. (2009). Bilingual Education in the 21st Century: A Global Perspective. Malden: Blackwell.Google Scholar
García, O. (2017). Translanguaging in the crossroads of civilization. In Tsokalidou, R., ed., Beyond Bilingualism to Translanguaging. Athens: Gutenberg, pp. 15–19.Google Scholar
García, O., Flores, N., & Woodely, H. H. (2012). Transgressing monolingualism and bilingual dualities: Translanguaging pedagogies. In Yiakoumetti, A., Harnessing Linguistic Variation to Improve Education. Rethinking Education. Oxford: Peter Lang, pp. 45–75.Google Scholar
García, O., & Kleyn, T. (2016). Translanguaging with Multilingual Students. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Gee, J. (1999). An Introduction to Discourse Analysis, Theory and Method. London/New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Gee, J., & Hayes, E. (2011). Language and Learning in the Digital Age. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Gennrich, T., & Janks, H. (2013). Teachers’ literate identities. In Hall, K., Cremin, T., Comber, B., & Moll, L., eds., International Handbook of Research on Children’s Literacy, Learning and Culture. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 456–69.Google Scholar
Gregory, E. (1996). Making Sense of a New World: Learning to Read in a Second Language. London: Paul Chapman.Google Scholar
Gregory, E., & Williams, A. (2000). City Literacies, Learning to Read Across Generations and Cultures. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Harding, E., & Riley, P. (1986). The Bilingual Family: A Handbook for Parents. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Heath, S. B. (1983). Ways with Words: Language, Life and Work in Communities and Classrooms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hoffmann, C. (1991). An Introduction to Bilingualism. Harlow/New York: Longman.Google Scholar
Hornberger, N. (1989). Continua of biliteracy. Review of Educational Research, 59(3), 271–96, https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543059003271.Google Scholar
Hornberger, N. (2009). Multilingual education policy and practice. Ten certainties (grounded in indigenous experience). Language Teaching, 42(2), 197–211.Google Scholar
Johnsen, R. (2020). Teasing and policing in a multilingual family: Negotiating and subverting norms and social hierarchies. Journal of Pragmatics, 158, 1–12.Google Scholar
Kalaja, P., & Melo-Pfeifer, S. (2019). Visualising Multilingual Lives. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Kalaja, P., & Pitkänen-Huta, A., eds. (2018). Double special issue ‘Visual Methods in Applied Language Studies’. Applied Linguistics Review 9(2–3), 157–473.Google Scholar
Kenner, C. (2000). Home Pages: Literacy Links for Bilingual Children. Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham Books.Google Scholar
Kenner, C. (2004). Becoming Biliterate: Young Children Learning Different Writing Systems. Stoke-on-Trent. Trentham Books.Google Scholar
Kenner, C., & Ruby, M. (2012). Interconnecting Worlds: Teacher Partnerships for Bilingual Learning. London: Trentham Books/IOE PressGoogle Scholar
Kheirkhah, M., & Cekaite, A. (2017). Siblings as language socialization agents in bilingual families. International Multilingual Research Journal, 12(4), 255–72, https://doi.org/10.1080/19313152.2016.1273738.Google Scholar
Li, W. (2010). Moment analysis and translanguaging space: Discursive construction of identities by multilingual Chinese youth in Britain. Journal of Pragmatics, 43, 1222–35.Google Scholar
Li, W. (2018). Translanguaging as a practical theory of language. Applied Linguistics, 39(1), 9–30.Google Scholar
Li, W. (2019). Translanguaging language education. EAL Journal, Spring, 70–74.Google Scholar
Macleroy, V. (2019). Object narratives, imaginings and multilingual communities: Young people’s digital stories in the making. In Moutsios-Rentzos, A., Giannakoulopoulos, A., & Meimaris, M., eds., Proceedings of the International Digital Storytelling Conference Current Trends in Digital Storytelling: Research & Practices. Zakynthos: UNESCO Club of Zakynthos.Google Scholar
McCloud, S. (1993). Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. New York: Harper Collins.Google Scholar
Mills, K. (2011). The Multiliteracies Classroom. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Mills, K. (2016). Literacy Theories for the Digital Age. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
McCarthy, J., & Edwards, R. (2011). Key Concepts in Family Studies. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Norton, B. (2000). Identity and Language Learning: Gender, Ethnicity and Educational Change. Harlow: Pearson.Google Scholar
Obied, /Macleroy, V. (2002). In and out of Sync with Bilingual Family Practices. Doctoral dissertation, Open University.Google Scholar
Obied, /Macleroy, V. (2009). How do siblings shape the language environment in bilingual families? International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 12(6), 705–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Obied/Macleroy, V. (2010). Can one-parent or divorced families produce two language children? An investigation into how Portuguese-English bilingual children acquire biliteracy within diverse family structures. Pedagogy, Culture and Society, 18(2), 207–20.Google Scholar
Rashid, N., & Gregory, E. (1997). Learning to read, reading to learn: The importance of siblings in the language development of young bilingual children. In Gregory, E., ed., One Child, Many Worlds: Early Learning in Multicultural Communities. London: David Fulton.Google Scholar
Reynolds, K. (2007). Radical Children’s Literature. London: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shin, S. (2005). Developing in Two Languages: Korean Children in America. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Thomas, C. (2012). Growing Up with Languages: Reflections on Multilingual Childhoods. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Yamamoto, M. (2001). Language Use in Interlingual Families: A Japanese-English Sociolinguistic Study. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Young, A. (2014). Looking through the language lens: Monolingual taint or plurilingual tint? In Conteh, J. & Meier, G., eds., The Multilingual Turn in Languages Education. Bristol: Multilingual Matters, pp. 89–110.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×