“English on a pedestal”: the language attitudes and practices of African migrant bilingual parents and early years professionals in the U.K

Amankwah, Denise; Howard, Katie

doi:10.1080/04250494.2024.2310660

English in Education

2024

DOI: 10.1080/04250494.2024.2310660

|View full text |Cite

“English on a pedestal”: the language attitudes and practices of African migrant bilingual parents and early years professionals in the U.K

Denise Amankwah,

Katie Howard

Help me understand this report

Search citation statements

Order By: Relevance

Paper Sections

Select...

Citation Types

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Year Published

2024

Publication Types

Select...

Article1

Relationship

Self Cite1

Independent0

Authors

Journals

Cited by 1 publication

References 47 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

Exploring Different Stakeholder Perspectives on Bilingualism in Autism

Howard,

Gibson,

Katsos

2024

Languages

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

An increasing body of research suggests that bilingualism is possible and perhaps even advantageous for autistic individuals. However, several factors might influence parents’ decisions about raising their autistic child bilingually, including national language policies, educational contexts, advice received from key professionals, and the child’s individual strengths and needs. Accordingly, there is a clear imperative to understand how the views of different stakeholders converge and diverge when language decisions are made in the context of autism. This paper brings new insights by synthesising the findings of three qualitative studies that used interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to explore the perspectives and experiences of bilingual autistic children (n = 11), parents (n = 16), and educational practitioners (n = 13) of bilingualism in autism in England and Wales. Despite wide variation between and within groups, a striking tension emerged between individuals’ beliefs about bilingualism in general, which were positive, and their experiences of bilingualism in autism specifically, which often foregrounded more monolingual approaches. This paper examines this tension, with a particular focus on stakeholders’ attitudes towards the feasibility of bilingualism, families’ language choices in the context of autism, and how notions of contextual linguistic diversity accentuated differences between England and Wales. We conclude by arguing that greater awareness of both bilingualism and neurodiversity in educational and clinical settings may improve the experiences of bilingual autistic children and, crucially, the language advice families receive.

show abstract

Exploring Different Stakeholder Perspectives on Bilingualism in Autism

Howard,

Gibson,

Katsos

2024

Languages

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.

Contact Info

customersupport@researchsolutions.com

10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614

Henderson, NV 89052, USA

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Blog Terms and Conditions API Terms Privacy Policy Contact Cookie Preferences Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information

Made with 💙 for researchers

Part of the Research Solutions Family.

“English on a pedestal”: the language attitudes and practices of African migrant bilingual parents and early years professionals in the U.K

Cited by 1 publication

References 47 publications

Exploring Different Stakeholder Perspectives on Bilingualism in Autism

Exploring Different Stakeholder Perspectives on Bilingualism in Autism

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About