Aims and objectives: This paper sets out to examine Italian bilingual children’ attitudes about Child Language Brokering (CLB), with a focus on the perceived feelings (affective component of attitudes) and benefits (cognitive component of attitudes) related to CLB. The aim is to study the presence of any relationship between the affective and cognitive components of child language brokers’ attitudes, since they can affect the outcomes of CLB and their analysis can provide tools to reduce the stressors related to it. Methodology: A survey was carried out among 150 immigrant students attending vocational high schools in the Northern and Central regions of Italy. Demographic and linguistic data were processed by means of a descriptive analysis, while attitudinal scales were processed by means of both descriptive and inferential analysis. Findings: The results will show that the child language brokers who perceive stronger positive feelings about CLB also report stronger attitudes towards the benefits of the practice. Originality: Considering the lack of research examining child language brokers’ attitudes in Italy by means of attitude scales, and the lack of attention to the affective and cognitive dimensions of such attitudes, this study addresses this gap by investigating these two dimensions of CLB.

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In the last decades Italy has been undergoing large migratory waves and Italian schools have been reporting the highest numbers of multilingual students coming from immigrant families and speaking minority languages. These multilingual immigrant students may be asked to act as translators or mediators for their peers or family members who do not speak Italian fluently, thus contributing to the practice defined as Child Language Brokering (CLB). This paper will present the results of a research carried out during the school year 2014-15 in the province of Ravenna, among 27 teachers and 126 immigrant students attending four junior high schools. The aim of the study is to analyse by means of structured questionnaires whether multilingualism matches with language brokering experiences or not, to examine teachers’ opinions about this activity and the perspectives of those students who reported having acted as translators using their linguistic knowledge to help people understand each other.

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