Hierarchies of home language proficiency in the linguistically diverse primary school classroom: Personal, social and contextual positioning

‘Multilingualism in Heads, Hearts, and Hands’

“…Through the recognition and validation of pupils' languages and multilingual identities, multilingual educational approaches such as pedagogical translanguaging can contribute to a harmonious learning atmosphere where pupils feel valued and connected, ultimately promoting social cohesion and a sense of belonging among diverse learners (García and Baetens Beardsmore, 2009;Wei, 2011). Due to varying language competencies in the classroom, such approaches cannot be a straightforward one-size-fits all approach: adaptation of tasks is required to take pupils' literacy in their home languages and the availability of language support into account to prevent imbalanced participation with a focus on the most proficient pupils (Foster et al, 2023;Mortini, 2021). As such, positive attitudes towards all pupils' languages are required, alongside the flexibility to tailor materials to pupils' needs.…”