Bilingualism and Bilingual Education in Iceland: A Study of the Importance of Mother Tongue Support for Bilingual Children in Iceland

Hugvísindasvið

Bilingualism and Bilingual Education in Iceland A Study of the Importance of Mother Tongue Support for Bilingual Children in Iceland

B.A. Essay

Maria Shukurova May 2009

2 Abstract The following paper discusses the phenomenon of bilingualism and bilingual education in Iceland. It reports on the results of a survey among parents of bilingual children investigating the importance of mother tongue teaching. The first part of the paper focuses on the difficulty in defining the concepts of bilingualism and bilingual education in particular. An overview of individual and societal bilingualism from historical and modern perspective as well as various examples of bilingual education are described. References to Jim Cummins and his research in bilingual education are provided to support the notion that mother tongue teaching on a regular basis is important to the general language development of bilingual children. Special attention is given to the overview of bilingualism and bilingual education in Iceland. Examples of mother tongue support in Iceland, including the volunteer organization, Móðurmál (the Mother Tongue Association), are presented. The second part of the paper includes results and discussion of a survey that was designed to collect information about participants’ perceptions of their and their children’s L1 and L2 proficiency, linguistic and social identity and attitude towards mother tongue teaching among bilingual children attending language classes at the Mother Tongue Association. Respondents were parents of bilingual children from four different language groups that were asked to complete a questionnaire. Conclusions were drawn from the received responses. The conclusions show that responses differ from one language group to another, which is influenced by social and linguistic differences between represented cultures. However, all the respondents stated that mother tongue support is an important part of the educational process. Thus, most subjects were positive about the implementation of mother tongue support in schools.

3 Contents 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 4 2. Bilingualism and Bilingual Education ................................................................................ 6 2.1. Bilingualism in the World ........................................................................................... 6 2.2. Bilingualism and Cognitive and Academic Achievement ........................................... 9 2.3. Maintenance of the First Language Through Bilingual Education ........................... 11 2.4 Bilingualism and Bilingual Education in Iceland ....................................................... 12 2.5 Móðurmál (The Mother Tongue Association) ........................................................... 14 3. The Study.......................................................................................................................... 17 3.1 The Research Question and Goal of the Study ........................................................... 17 3.2 Participants ................................................................................................................. 18 3.3 Research Methodology ............................................................................................... 19 3.4 The Questionnaire....................................................................................................... 19 3.5 Data Analysis .............................................................................................................. 20 3.6 Discussion of the Results............................................................................................ 20 4. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 26 5. Bibliography ..................................................................................................................... 28 6. Appendix A ...................................................................................................................... 30

4 1. Introduction

The last decades brought a large wave of immigrants to Iceland. Due to different personal and social reasons people move from their home countries bringing parts of their cultures to Icelandic society. Language, as an important part of a culture, plays a significant role in formation of immigrants' self-identity. Being placed into the new cultural atmosphere people learn the new language and their children usually master it to a native level. This factor influences a rise in bilingualism within Icelandic society as a whole. An important part of this phenomenon is the process of second language acquisition among immigrant children and its correlation to the level of their mother tongue proficiency. As recent studies in bilingualism conclude, children that learn a second language (known as L2) while maintaining their native language (L1) show more cognitive and academic success than children that stop learning their L1 after they begin learning the L2 (Hamers and Blanc 2003). This makes bilingual education and mother tongue support an important part of the educational process for bilingual children. The present paper discusses the phenomenon of bilingualism and bilingual education, bringing a special attention to the situation in the Icelandic society. It presents a survey of a parental group of bilingual children attending a supplementary mother tongue school Móðurmál. The purpose of this survey was to learn about the participants' attitude towards language learning in general, especially concentrating on mother tongue support, their and their children's linguistic and social identity. As will be demonstrated, all these factors play a significant role in the understanding of a bilingual personality and help to learn about its cognitive abilities and needs.

5 One of the central issues of the study was to investigate whether there is a need, according to the participants, for mother tongue support in compulsory schools. According to the Icelandic Curriculum Guidelines students of compulsory schools whose native language is other than Icelandic have a legal right to receive special instructions in Icelandic as L2, and schools are encouraged to help students to get support of their mother tongue (Aðalnámskrá grunnskóla 2007). Ideally, these guidelines are designed to help children from ethnic minorities integrate into Icelandic society and to make them functionally bilingual. However, due to a lack of teaching materials, specially trained pedagogical staff and other financial issues, there are no officially operating bilingual programs in Icelandic compulsory schools. This paper argues that bilingual education and particularly mother tongue support are essentially important for cognitive and academic development of bilingual children. The results of the conducted survey show that parents of bilingual children in the Mother Tongue Association agree with that. Strong mother tongue support on a regular basis will provide bilingual children with solid linguistic and social skills, which will help them develop and show their talents (Cummins 2003).

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2. Bilingualism and Bilingual Education

2.1. Bilingualism in the World Bilingualism is the term referring to an ability to communicate in two languages. There is no one single definition of the term: some scholars describe bilingualism as a native-like skill in two languages; some consider people having at least some knowledge of a second language to be bilingual (Hamers and Blanc 2003). Thus, if the first category excludes anyone whose knowledge of two languages is not perfectly established, the second case allows the possibility of defining tourists with a limited vocabulary in a language of a country they visit as bilinguals, or imagine someone being considered bilingual if Latin or any other dead language is his or her second language. This paper will use the term bilingualism as a concept that stands between these two radical definitions and describes it as an ability to have the potential to be a native speaker in two languages. Since this paper discusses child bilingualism and mother tongue education, both children that operate in two languages as native speakers and children that are not equally proficient in two languages, but receive input in these two languages on a daily basis, will be considered to be bilingual. From an historical perspective, bilingualism has always existed, but before the 20th century was never considered as an important aspect of human life. However, it is possible to find records of bilingualism already in the Roman Empire. The contact between Romans and other cultures gave rise to various forms of bilingualism, including evidence of the existence of bilingual education for children. Going forward

7 on the bilingualism time-line, we meet other forms of imperial bilingualism: the widespread use of English, French, Russian, Spanish and other languages of the imperial powers during colonial times. The result of colonialism is that people in postcolonial countries e.g. in Africa still speak English, Spanish and French along with their ethnic languages; Indians consider English their native language together with Hindu; Central Asian bilinguals use Russian as their second native language. If imperial bilingualism can be considered as a natural form of bilingualism, the 19th century fashion of European aristocracy learning French as a native language appear to be an artificial form of bilingualism. Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace, which is written in French as well as Russian, is a good example of this kind of bilingualism and shows that the author was educated to be able to use both languages to a near-native level (Timm 1978). Lately, the 20th century introduced the concept of Soviet bilingualism. More than fifteen countries spoke Russian as a second native language for seventy years. Today, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, some of them still do. As was mentioned above, before the 20th century bilingualism had never been considered as an important aspect of human life. On the contrary, it was seen as harmful for child's cognitive development, producing various kinds of cognitive and even psychological retardation. The year 1962 became crucial in the history of bilingualism. In that year two scholars, Elizabeth Peal and Wallace Lambert, published their study on Canadian 10-year old bilinguals that showed more cognitive capability than their monolingual counterparts. This research was a turning point in the study of bilingualism. Since then native-like knowledge of two languages has started to be regarded as beneficial for children (Hamers and Blanc 2003).

8 Peoples’ ability to move with relative ease from one country to another has seen an increase in bilingualism. Due, in part, to a huge increase in immigration, more intercultural communication and other reasons, bilingualism has become more prevalent in modern society. This migration forces people to learn the language of the country they move to, and their children to master the language to a native level. This type of bilingualism is known as an individual bilingualism (or bilinguality), and usually refers to individuals speaking two languages natively (Hamers and Blanc 2003). Along with bilingualism on the individual level, there is societal bilingualism. This type of bilingualism (multilingualism) is found in countries or regions using two or more languages on a regular basis. This category includes countries like Canada (English-French bilingualism), Belgium (French-Dutch-German), India (Hindu-English-other official languages), Soviet bloc countries before 1991 (Russian-Belarusian, Ukrainian, Kazakh, Tadjik, Lithuanian, and many more) (Hamers and Blanc 2003). Societal bilingualism also includes bilingual societies within countries and regions. Here it is possible to talk about Basque and Catalan in Spain, minority languages in Canada and the US, Gagauz in Moldova, and so on. All these mother tongues from certain groups form the minority languages of countries. Some languages have been integrated in a culture of their countries for a long time, some were brought by a large group of immigrants and some were adopted by a state due to political or economic reasons (Hamers and Blanc 2003). Today there are more bilinguals than monolinguals in the world, making the concept of bilingualism an even more important part of social, linguistic, historical and educational studies. Modern studies show that bilingualism is beneficial for cognitive, creative, social

9 development of a person (Bialystok 2001). These factors make the development and support of bilingualism an important part of the educational systems in many countries.

2. 2. Bilingualism and Cognitive and Academic Achievement Debates about the merits of bilingual education and mother tongue support have been around for a long time. Does mother tongue support lead to cognitive, linguistic and academic achievement or does it only slowdown the process of adaptation to a new culture? This question is the most important issue in the process of the education of young bilinguals. A number of recent studies show that mother tongue support in education has only positive effects on children’s cognitive, linguistic and academic achievement. Starting with Peal and Lambert (1962) and their research on Canadian students and ending with more recent studies by Ellen Bialystok (2001), Jim Cummins (2001), James Crawford (1998/99) and other educational specialists results show that mother tongue support helps bilingual children not only reach their monolingual counterparts in academic proficiency, but even surpass them. According to studies, bilinguals transfer their knowledge of L1 into the new linguistic frame, which means that while developing literacy in a mother tongue children easily transfer these skills to their second language. In his article Bilingual Children's Mother Tongue: Why Is It Important for Education? (2001), one of the most significant specialists in bilingual education, Jim Cummins, refers to a modern research about the importance of mother tongue teaching in schools. The author believes that the following points show mother tongue teaching to be very important for the educational process of bilingual children:

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Bilingualism has positive effects on children's linguistic and educational development. Cummins says that children that study two or more languages in early age tend to understand a structure and a concept of a language better, because they have a chance to compare and contrast (Cummins 2001) the insights of both languages;

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The level of development of children's mother tongue is a strong predictor of their second language development. The author talks about the interdependency of languages. A child that gets support for his/her mother tongue at home has an advantage in being academically successful;

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Mother tongue promotion in the school helps develop not only the mother tongue but also children's abilities in the majority school language. As it can be seen from two previous points, bilingual children successfully transform their mother tongue skills into their second language. Thus, support of mother tongue by schools is very important for developing academic skills of bilingual children;

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Spending instructional time through a minority language in the school does not hurt children's academic development in the majority school language. The author gives an example of a program in Belgium where children successfully learn German, French and their native language. Mother tongue teaching helps children to learn linguistic concepts and transfer them into another language;

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Children's mother tongues are fragile and easily lost in the early years of school. It is important to support children’s mother tongue because it can be

11 lost within two to three years in early school years. Parents should practice mother tongue at home and teachers need to encourage students to use their native language; -

To reject a child's language in the school is to reject the child. Language is a significant part of a child’s identity. When young bilinguals feel they shouldn't use their native language at school, it can lead to a partial loss of identity. It is necessary for teachers to be positive about their students’ mother tongue usage (Cummins 2001).

According to Jim Cummins, bilinguals can bring a great contribution to modern society, but it is necessary to support their talents and needs. It is not enough for teachers to have only passive attitude towards their students’ mother tongue, on the contrary, they need to encourage them use it in class and provide a positive atmosphere that will help children to develop strong cognitive skills in both languages (Cummins 2001).

2.3. Maintenance of the First Language Through Bilingual Education This section will concentrate on various types of bilingual education and discuss the phenomenon of mother tongue support. The term bilingual education refers to the kind of education that provides a curriculum in two languages or supports mother tongue development. There are certain types of bilingual education in which the main are: -

early-exit or transitional bilingual programs. These programs are designed to use students’ mother tongue to provide them with basic knowledge of L2, these programs usually last for 2 or 3 years before students are being moved to a mainstream language classroom;

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on the contrary, late-exit programs last for a longer time and show more success than early-exit programs. They start as a pre-school bilingual education, and only after the 4th grade students have classes mostly in a mainstream language;

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two-way bilingual education programs. These programs are considered as the most successful type of bilingual education. The programs include both majority and minority languages students at the same classroom and the instructions are given equally in two languages. Thus, all students, regardless to their mother tongues, become bilingual (Hunemorder 2005).

Together with bilingual programs inserted in the compulsory educational process, there are supplementary mother tongue programs represented all over the world. These programs are designed for children from minority linguistic groups and are usually supported by ethnic communities, embassies or various cultural funds. Programs like that concentrate on helping children maintain their L1 and learn aspects of their native culture.

2.4 Bilingualism and Bilingual Education in Iceland The factor influencing the development of bilingualism in Iceland is the great increase of immigrants coming to the country. According to Hagstofa Íslands (http://statice.is/) the total number of foreigners living in Iceland in 2008 were 27, 240 people, and the number of foreigners living in the Reykjavik area in 2009 is 10, 729, which makes up over 9% of the total population within the Reykjavik area. In 1998 the total number of immigrants in Iceland was 6,514 people (http://statice.is/). These statistics show that the number of people

13 with a mother tongue other than Icelandic living in Iceland has increased enormously over the last ten years. According to Icelandic National Curriculum Guidelines (Aðalnámskrá grunnskóla), the legal rights concerning immigrant children’s education include a provision of special classes of Icelandic language, and schools are encouraged to provide instruction in a mother tongue (where possible) at compulsory schools of Iceland (The Compulsory School Act 2008). These guidelines are designed to support students of foreign origin living in Iceland receive an instruction that will help them to become functionally bilingual. The Icelandic Regulation regarding teaching Icelandic as a second language in compulsory schools says “students with a mother tongue other than Icelandic should receive 2 class periods per week in special Icelandic, while s/he is becoming proficient in the Icelandic language…” It also says: “Where possible, and with the consent of the appropriate local authority, students with a mother tongue other than Icelandic shall, in consultation with their legal guardians, receive instruction in their own mother tongue.” (Aðalnámskrá grunnskóla 2007). Unfortunately, the recommended guidelines are not always easy to implement, due to a lack of specially trained pedagogical staff and financial support. However, even though there are no official bilingual programs operating in Icelandic schools, there is some support for maintenance of students´ first language. Books and other teaching materials are being published by the National Centre for Educational Materials; some schools (very few) provide mother tongue instruction; a language teaching service was created by Tungumálaver (a language laboratory) of one of Reykjavik schools (this centre provides mother tongue teaching in the compulsory school program in languages like

14 Polish, Philippine, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish); and volunteers from various organizations like the Red Cross help foreign children with homework in Icelandic (Daníelsdóttir, Hulda K. 2008). The other kind of bilingual children’s support in Iceland are supplementary mother tongue courses. The program described below represents this category.

2.5 Móðurmál (The Mother Tongue Association) Móðurmál (The Mother Tongue Association) is a non-for-profit organization that provides mother tongue teaching for bilingual children living in Iceland. The main goal of the association is to support children's mother tongue, to introduce and maintain their mother tongue culture. The program operates as a supplementary weekend school, and lessons are usually two hours long. The teaching staff mostly consists of professional teachers working on a voluntary basis (http://www.modurmal.com/). Founded in 1994 the Mother Tongue program developed over the years to include the seven language groups it has today. For six years, it was supported financially by the Sports and Recreation Council of Reykjavík (Íþrótta og tómstundaráð Reykjavíkur). Since 2001 the program has been supported through various grants and donations by the parents of students and by the University of Iceland and the Intercultural Centre (Alþjóðahús) that provide free housing for the program. At the moment the Mother Tongue Association offers courses in English, Russian, Lithuanian, Spanish, Dutch, Japanese and Thai. Three more language groups plan to start teaching in the next academic year 2009/10. These groups are Italian, Hungarian and Chinese. At the moment the Mother Tongue Association is the only

15 officially registered organization in Iceland that provides mother tongue support in languages mentioned above (http://www.modurmal.com/). The teachers operate on an individual basis tailoring their courses to the specific requirements of each group. Below is an overview of teaching programs practicing by the English, Russian, Spanish and Japanese groups. The English group is the largest group at the Mother Tongue Association. The group is divided into four sub-groups according to the age of students. The first sub-group is for preschool age children (4 to 6 years old), students attending these classes learn the alphabet with a phonics system called Letterland, sing traditional songs and do crafts. The second and the third sub-groups provide classes for six to nine and nine to twelve years old children. These two groups choose an appropriate theme that can be introduced from various angles, and work on it during the semester. The last sub-group is created for thirteen to fifteen years old students. It involves both conversational practice and grammar learning. The English group teachers try not to focus mainly on grammar exercises, instead they concentrate mostly on helping their students develop solid conversational skills in English. The Russian group has three sub-groups that provide classes for children who are six to eight years old, nine to eleven and thirteen to sixteen. The Russian classes focus to a significant percent on grammar learning. Spelling is also important, as the Cyrillic alphabet is very different from the Latin, which makes mastering it an important part of the learning. In the first and the second sub-groups, the grammar exercises are usually integrated into the teaching process through games. Students of the youngest Russian sub-group learn the alphabet, basics of the grammar, sing traditional songs and listen to traditional fairy tales.

16 The second sub-group concentrates mostly on grammar, reading, writing short essays and learning cultural aspects through games and cartoons. The oldest group does projects on various topics, e.g. history of the Russian language, traditional holidays, famous Russian paintings, national costumes, etc. Along with the group teaching, students often celebrate traditional holidays together and do theatrical performances for parents. The Spanish group practises a communicative teaching method: they mostly concentrate on practising their speaking skills rather than doing grammar exercises. Communicating in Spanish helps them to develop oral skills in the language. The instruction is student centred. Students choose a topic that is interesting for all of them and discuss it. They also learn cultural aspects of Spanish speaking cultures by bringing artefacts and ideas to class and sharing with their classmates. Using the language in outdoor activities is another way of teaching used at the Spanish group. Like the Spanish group the Japanese classes mostly consist of conversational practise. The main goal of these lessons is to provide students with a solid knowledge of Japanese traditions, help them to understand their background. Teachers of the Japanese group believe that their students need to develop strong conversational skills, so they can keep in touch with their relatives in Japan. They also aim to create a positive image of Japan in the students' eyes, because it will help the children to respect their second culture (in this case Japanese) in the future. As can be seen from the examples above, all the groups have different methods of mother tongue teaching. It depends on certain values that determine cultural and educational traditions of a language group and meet students' needs. However, all the teachers have a mission to encourage bilingual/bicultural children to have a positive attitude

17 towards their mother tongue culture and cultivate it in the future. All teachers and Board members of the Mother Tongue Association strongly believe that bilingual children living in Iceland need to receive a support of their mother tongue. Unfortunately, the association can only provide a limited amount of teaching hours for its students. Thus, the success of the program depends on how much time children spend practicing their mother tongue during a week. In this case, support of compulsory schools in mother tongue teaching would be undoubtedly beneficial for bilingual children. This support would be productive not only for foreign children living in Iceland, but also for the future society itself.

3. The Study

3.1 The Research Question and Goal of the Study The survey was created to gather information from parents of bilingual children attending weekend mother tongue classes at Móðurmál (the Mother Tongue Association) on the value of mother tongue instruction. This included learning about their children’s reading, writing and oral L1 and L2 proficiency, social and linguistic identity, their attitude towards language learning and use. The study also aimed to investigate whether there is a need, according to the participants, for mother tongue support in compulsory schools. The other goal of the survey was to see whether there is a difference between answers of different language groups and if it is so, then what influences this difference. There were 37 questions represented in the questionnaire by the following sub-groups: 1) Questions about respondents’ oral, writing and reading L1 and L2 proficiency. These questions were created to understand what level of mother tongue and a first

18 foreign language proficiency participants have and whether the level of proficiency correlated with their opinion about the importance of mother tongue support for their children; 2) Questions about participants' children's L1 and L2 proficiency. It was important to learn whether the children are more proficient in their mother tongues or in Icelandic/other L2; 3) Questions about children's linguistic and social self-identity. Children that are placed into a multicultural environment develop certain pattern of linguistic and social behaviour. It was important to learn from their parents whether children consider themselves foreigners or Icelanders, what are their language preferences, etc.; 4) Questions about participants' attitude towards mother tongue and foreign language learning and use. Parents' attitude towards language use and learning often shapes a level of children's proficiency and their will to learn a language; 5) Questions about participants' attitude towards mother tongue support. The subjects were asked whether their children receive enough support of their mother tongue, would they like to have mother tongue classes in schools and what would they expect from these classes.

3.2 Participants The subjects were parents of children attending supplementary weekend mother tongue classes and were represented by four different language groups: English group, Russian group, Spanish group and Japanese group. Respondents from the United States, Great

19 Britain, Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Japan, Spain and Venezuela have participated in the survey. A special category of respondents was formed by ethnic Icelanders whose children became bilingual after being abroad for a relatively long period of time and learning a language of a country they were living in. These subjects form a different group of answers, because their children get access to a mother tongue (in this case, Icelandic) on a daily basis and attend the Mother Tongue Association classes to support their second language. Twenty respondents participated in the survey.

3.3 Research Methodology The questionnaire was send out to participants by e-mail or given to them in class. A quantitative group survey method was used in this study, since it was considered to be the most appropriate way to collect the data. The data is based on the inductive research theory, and uses a limited number of answers to create a general picture regarding the chosen area of observation ( Wei, Li and Melissa G. Moyer 2008).

3.4 The Questionnaire The questionnaire was designed in a self-administered way, which allowed participants to answer questions individually in writing. The questionnaire was originally created in English, then translated (where possible) into the participants' native languages to make them feel more comfortable when filling it out. Close-ended, open-ended and multiplechoice format questions were represented in the questionnaire. The variety of question formats made the questionnaire style less monotonous and easier to answer. The questionnaire is presented in Appendix A.

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3.5 Data Analysis The analysis was made according to the sub-groups of questions and sorted out by the language groups. Conclusions were drawn from the comparison and contrast of the received answers.

3.6 Discussion of the Results The results of the survey are represented and discussed according to the sub-groups of questions described above. 1) Questions about participant's oral, writing and reading L1 and L2 proficiency: At the beginning of the questionnaire participants of the survey were asked to answer a group of questions about their L1 and L2 proficiency. L1 proficiency In most cases subjects described their L1 reading proficiency as excellent (eleven answers), six participants evaluated their L1 reading proficiency as very good, and three described it as good. The L1 writing proficiency question gave similar results: eleven participants described it as excellent, four answered very good and five answers were marked as good. Similarly, the L1 oral proficiency question in most cases was marked as excellent (nine answers), eight participants described it as very good and only three answers were received with a good mark. There were no answers in this category marked as sufficient or poor. The specified results show that the average level of participants' L1 reading, writing and oral proficiency is excellent. When comparing answers of the language groups participated in the survey, the English group has the most answers marked as

21 excellent, but at the same time the Russian group contains the biggest number of answers marked as good. L2 proficiency However, results of participants' proficiency in L2 show that only two of twenty participants consider it as excellent; five describe it as very good; seven explain that their level of L2 is good; four think of it as sufficient and two participants report that their first foreign language proficiency level is poor. Thus, the average level of participants' L2 is good. Bilingualism The last question belonging to this group was aimed at learning whether participants consider themselves bilingual or not. Eleven of given answers show that the most part of participants do consider themselves bilingual, and only nine subjects gave a negative answer on this question. What is interesting here is that in two of the twenty completed questionnaires the answer about participant's level of L2 proficiency does not coincide with whether he or she considers him/herself bilingual. Both participants described their level of L2 proficiency as sufficient, but at the same time they considered themselves being bilingual in their native language and English/Icelandic. At first sight, this looks very complex, but becomes clearer after close examination of the bilingualism concept. As it was mentioned at the beginning of this paper the term bilingualism has a number of various descriptions. One of them allows considering a person to be bilingual even with a minimal knowledge of a second language (Hamers and Blanc 2003). Thus, from this point of view the subjects can be seen as bilinguals. The majority of bilinguals were found among the

22 English and the Spanish groups. The Japanese group shows an equal number of bilinguals and monolinguals and the Russian group consists mostly of monolinguals. 2) Questions about participants' children's reading, writing and oral L1 and L2 Proficiency: The participants of the survey were asked to answer questions about their child's proficiency in both his/her mother tongue and Icelandic. Differently from their parents, children's mother tongue proficiency was represented with a whole range of levels (from poor to excellent). The answers show that six children have a good level of reading proficiency in their mother tongue; five of them were considered to have a sufficient level in L1 reading; three children have received a very good mark from their parents; two of them have an excellent level of proficiency and the rest (two children) were described as having a poor knowledge of reading skills in L1. Very similar answers were received about children's L1 writing proficiency. Most children have good writing skills in their L1 (six children); five children are sufficient; only one child is excellent in L1 writing and four children have poor skills in their mother tongue writing. Oral skills are mostly described as very good and good (eight and five answers). In this category the Japanese and Spanish groups had no answers marked as excellent, therefore both groups had the same number of replies marked as poor and, compared to the other language groups, the Japanese group had the most number of answers marked as sufficient. On the contrary, the majority of the English group answers in this category were marked as very good. According to the received answers, children's proficiency in Icelandic (L2) is generally described as very good or good. Children that received sufficient and poor level of reading, writing and oral proficiency in Icelandic belong to families that just moved to Iceland and have only recently started to learn the language. One child's proficiency in Icelandic could

23 not be evaluated by his/her parent because according to the answers the child “doesn't learn Icelandic”. However, the child's proficiency in English (as L2) is excellent. It is important to mention, that the only answers marked as poor in this category were received from the Russian group. Regarding the question “Do you consider your child bilingual (multilingual)?” most of the received answers show that parents do consider their children bilingual (fifteen answers). However, five participants answered that they do not view their children as bilinguals. In most cases this answer is interdependent with a level of a child's proficiency in either L1 or L2. Here the Japanese group had the most number of negative answers. 3) Questions about children's linguistic and social self-identity: Various questions were asked about the self-identity of participants' children. The first question belonging to this group was about child's national self-identity. This question did not show any surprising results and all received answers coincide with other responses given by the same subjects. According to the participants’ perceptions eight children consider themselves as Icelanders; five think of themselves as foreigners in Iceland and seven children are both Icelanders and foreigners, depending on a situation. It is interesting that the only groups that answered that their children consider themselves as foreigners in Iceland were Japanese (one answer) and Russian (four answers) groups. Regarding children's linguistic self-identity responders were asked questions like “What language does your child use when addressing you in public places?” and “Does your child have any language preferences?” The answers show that most children use L1 when addressing parents in public places (thirteen answers), but seven of them communicate with their parents in Icelandic. According to the answers, the most children using L2 when they

24 address their parents in public places come from the Japanese group. However, the Russian group had the most number of opposite answers. When talking about language preferences, eleven children prefer to use L1, L2 or “all foreign languages they know”, but nine children do not have any language preferences. A question about children's communicative skills in L2 was formulated as “When you and your child are in your (his/her) home country does your child easily communicate with people around?” Surprisingly, the large majority of answers (nineteen answers) were positive and only one responder had a negative reply. The negative reply was received from the Japanese group member. These results conclude that a large majority of Móðurmál students have not only solid conversational skills in their mother tongue, but also feel comfortable with their mother culture. 4) Questions about participants' attitude towards mother tongue and foreign language learning and use: The participants were asked a number of questions regarding the language use at home and in public places. The question about the language use between responders and their children at home gave results directly dependent on the language use within the family. In families, where both parents, or caretakers come from the same country, they naturally use only their L1 on a regular basis. On the contrary, in a situation where parents belong to different language backgrounds, code-switching between L1 and L2 becomes constant. Half of the responders (ten answers) reported that they use only L1 when addressing their children at home, the other half code-switch. According to the received answers, the overwhelming majority of English and Russian speaking families use only L1 at home. The Japanese and Spanish groups tend to mostly use a mixture of L1 and L2.

25 However, the situation with the language use in public places looks different. Only four responders reported that they use only Icelandic or other foreign language in public places, when sixteen of them use or try to use their mother tongue addressing their children in front of other people. Furthermore, responders were asked about their attitude towards learning Icelandic as a foreign language. The results show that most of them have a positive attitude towards learning Icelandic: twelve responders reported that they think it is important to fully learn the language, and six of them believe that it is enough to learn the language to a level where they can make themselves understood by native speakers. Only one respondent (the Russian group) answered that he/she does not need to learn Icelandic (however, this answer can be influenced by the fact that the respondent is planning to stay in Iceland for less than five years). Regarding their children's language learning preferences, all respondents unanimously reported that it is important to learn both L1 and L2, because it will give their children an opportunity to have access to both cultures and will be beneficial in the future. 5) Questions about participants' attitude towards mother tongue support: The last group of questions was aimed at learning whether participants consider mother tongue teaching important and beneficial for their children or not. These questions were also designed to investigate what attitude this particular group of immigrants have about the possibility of mother tongue classes being provided in compulsory schools on a regular basis. The results show that most parents find mother tongue weekend classes very beneficial for their children. The respondents expect their children not only learn mother tongue grammar, but also gain solid oral skills, receive knowledge of culture and meet

26 counterparts with similar backgrounds. One of the respondents reported that mother tongue classes are important because “these classes stimulate my child to study at home”. Indeed, to fully take advantage of Mother Tongue classes parents need to encourage their children study at home. Unfortunately, not every parent has enough time to help his/her child with homework and spend it teaching mother tongue regularly. Thus, only half of respondents say that their children get enough mother tongue support to keep it alive. Most of the respondents (seventeen) think that an increase of mother tongue classes would be beneficial for their children. Also the same number of respondents would like to have mother tongue classes provided in schools on a regular basis. They believe that it will help children not only gain more knowledge of their native language and culture, but also transfer this knowledge into other academic aspects.

4. Conclusion Although the results of the survey are based on a limited number of subjects' responses, they can be generalized as average opinions of parents of bilingual children living in Iceland. The survey gave a possibility to learn about participants’ perceptions about general level of their and their children’s L1 and L2 proficiency, social and linguistic identity and their attitude towards mother tongue teaching in schools. In the process of the evaluation of the responses it became possible to see that answers differ from one language group to another. This fact can be influenced by a linguistic and social identity of the analyzed language groups. For example, the Japanese and Russian parents tend to have more conservative homogenic views towards problems of language proficiency and national identity of their children. At the same time, the English mother tongue group parents

27 showed more tolerance in these questions. However, it is important to notice that Englishspeaking bilinguals usually get more access to their mother tongue through obligatory English classes in school, the abundance of TV programmes in English, and so on. On the contrary, Japanese, Russian and Spanish bilinguals do not have this opportunity. Understandably, it makes them be more provident and focused on their native cultures. This difference in answers between language groups illustrates why English speakers had the most number of positive answers on the question whether their children are bilinguals or not. However, according to the results from the survey almost all responders were positive about benefits of the increase of mother tongue support for their children. The implementation of mother tongue classes in a school program as either a compulsory or an elective course, according to the answers, would be beneficial for bilingual students. Coming back to Jim Cummins (2001) and his statements about importance of bilingual education it appears that mother tongue classes help children develop strong L2 skills, enrich their personality and self-identity. Many researches all over the world show that strong mother tongue support has mostly positive effects on children's academic, social and personal development (Bialystok 2001; Crawford 1998/99; Cummins 2001). In Iceland, where education of children of foreign origin is only becoming a regular phenomenon, provision of mother tongue teaching programs in compulsory schools can become an essential part of the educational process. By having mother tongue teaching provided on a regular basis, Icelandic educators will recognize their students' rights for showing their talents and will help them to open the door to the future.

28 5. Bibliography

Baker, Colin. Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. Third Edition. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 2001; Bialystok, Ellen. Bilingualism in Development: Language, Literacy, and Cognition. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001; Bialystok, Ellen. “Second-language acquisition and bilingualism at an early age and the impact on early cognitive development” Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development (2008), 6 April 2009 (http://www.childencyclopedia.com/pages/PDF/BialystokANGxp_rev.pdf); Bhatia, Tej K., and William C. Ritchie. The Handbook of Bilingualism. United Kingdom: Blackwell Publishing, 2006; Crawford, James. “Does Bilingual Ed Work?” Rethinking Schools Online (1998/99), 15 March 2009 (http://www.rethinkingschools.org/special_reports/bilingual/biside.shtml); Cummins, Jim. “Bilingual Children's Mother Tongue: Why Is It Important for Education?” (2001). Retrieved 15 March 2009 (http://www.iteachilearn.com/cummins/mother.htm); Daníelsdóttir, Hulda K. “Report Iceland. Immigrant Pupils with Special Educational Needs: Cultural Diversity and Special Needs Education” (2008). Retrieved 20 March 2009 (http://bella.mrn.stjr.is/utgafur/report_immigrants_special_education_needs2.pdf); Hamers, Josiane F., and Michel H.A. Blanc. Bilinguality and Bilingualism. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2003; Hunemorder, Rebecca “ELL in Elementary Schools” University of Michigan Webpage (27

29 Nov. 2005), 22 April 2009 (http://sitemaker.umich.edu/356.hunemorder/home); Iceland. The Ministry of Education (Menntamálaráðuneytið). The Compulsory School Act No.91, (12 June 2008), 23 April 2009 (http://eng.menntamalaraduneyti.is/media/MRN-PDFAlthjodlegt/Compulsory_school_Act.pdf); Iceland. The Ministry of Education (Menntamálaráðuneytið). National Curriculum Guidelines (Aðalnámskrá grunnskóla 2007), 23Apr.2009 (http://bella.mrn.stjr.is/utgafur/adalnamskra_grsk_islenska.pdf); Kecskes, Istvan, and Liliana Albertazzi. Cognitive Aspects of Bilingualism. The Netherlands: Springer, 2007; Nordic Roads to Multilingualism – How to Help Minority Children to Become Multilingual. Helsinki: Hakapaino Oy, 1997; “Supplementary and Mother-Tongue Schools”. Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (2009), 22 April 2009 (http://www.qca.org.uk/qca_7299.aspx); Timm, Lenora A. Code-switching in War and Peace (in Aspects of Bilingualism), Columbia: Hornbeam Press, 1978; Wei, Li, and Melissa G. Moyer. The Blackwell Guide to Research Methods in Bilingualism and Multilingualism. United States: Blackwell Publishing, 2008;

30 Appendix A

Bilingualism Questionnaire

Please put a mark before the most appropriate answer 1. Which of the following categories best describes your reading proficiency in your mother tongue? - Excellent; - Very Good; - Good; - Sufficient; - Poor 2. -

Which of the following categories best describes your writing proficiency in your mother tongue? Excellent; Very Good; Good; Sufficient; Poor

3. Which of the following categories best describes your oral proficiency in your mother tongue? - Excellent; - Very Good; - Good; - Sufficient; - Poor 4. Which of the following categories best describes your proficiency in Icelandic/ English/your first foreign language? - Excellent; - Very Good; - Good; - Sufficient; - Poor 5. Do you consider yourself bilingual? - Yes; - No 6. If yes, in what languages?

31

7. Which of the following categories best describes your child’s reading proficiency in his/her mother tongue? - Excellent; - Very Good; - Good; - Sufficient; - Poor 8. Which of the following categories best describes your child’s writing proficiency in his/her mother tongue? - Excellent; - Very Good; - Good; - Sufficient; - Poor

9. Which of the following categories best describes your child's oral proficiency in his/her mother tongue? - Excellent; - Very Good; - Good; - Sufficient; - Poor 10. Which of the following categories best describes your child's reading proficiency in Icelandic? - Excellent; - Very Good; - Good; - Sufficient; - Poor 11. Which of the following categories best describes your child's writing proficiency in Icelandic? - Excellent; - Very Good; - Good; - Sufficient; - Poor 12. Which of the following categories best describes your child's oral proficiency in Icelandic? - Excellent;

32 -

Very Good; Good; Sufficient; Poor

13. Do you consider your child bilingual (multilingual)? - Yes; - No 14. If yes, in what languages? 15. Do you think your child considers him/herself to be… (please, choose one of the following categories): - an Icelander; - a foreigner in Iceland; - both 16. What language do you use at home? - your mother tongue; - mix of mother tongue and Icelandic / other foreign language; - only Icelandic / other foreign language 17. Which of the following best describes your attitude towards learning Icelandic? - I think it is necessary to fully learn the language of the country I live in; - I think it is useful to know Icelandic to a level where I can make myself understood by Icelanders; - I have no need for Icelandic and I am not planning to learn it 18. What language do you use when you address your child in public places? - your mother tongue; - Icelandic / other foreign language 19. Why? Why not? Please, explain your answer

20. What language does your child use when addressing you in public places? - Icelandic; - Your mother tongue 21. Does your child have any language preferences? - Yes; - No 22. If yes, what language does he/she prefer and why do you think it is so?

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23. In which situation would you use your mother tongue addressing to your child and in which situation would you use Icelandic (please, give a few examples):

24. Which of the following best describes your attitude towards language use: - I think that the most important for my child is to become fluent in Icelandic, so he/she can completely integrate into Icelandic society; - I think that my child should learn both Icelandic and his/her mother tongue, so he/she can have access to both cultures and it will help him/her to have more opportunities in the future; - I think that my child should concentrate on learning his/her mother tongue to keep a connection with his/her home culture and to identify him/herself with it. 25. What school does your child go to? - local school; - private school; - International school 26. Is it important to you that your child has mother tongue classes? Why or why not?

27. What expectations do you have from these classes?

28. Do you feel that an increase of mother tongue classes would be beneficial for your child? - Yes; - No 29. Do you spend time teaching your mother tongue to your child during a week? - Yes; - No 30. If so, what activities do you do? - I read to my child in my mother tongue; - I play with him/ her traditional games;

34 -

We watch cartoons/ films in my mother tongue together; I do language/grammar exercises with him/her using text books

31. How often does your child visit your (his/her) home country? - More than once a year; - Once a year; - Less than once a year 32. When you and your child are in your (his/her) home country does your child easily communicate with people around? - Yes; - No 33. Do you think your child gets enough support of his/her mother tongue to keep it active? - Yes; - No 34. Would you like to have mother tongue classes provided in school on a regular basis? - Yes; - No 35. If so, how many hours per week? 36. Do you have any suggestions for mother tongue teaching or curriculum?

37. How long do you think you will stay in Iceland? - indefinitely; - 5-10 years - less than 5 years

Thank you for your participation!