Bilingualism: Disruptive Practices in Mainstream Schools

Ph.d in linguistics: Department of language and communication (SDU).Postdoc at Center for Middle East Studies (SDU).

Why do minority pupils lag behind their monolingual peers in several academic subjects? How do bilinguals spend the time allocated for cooperative learning? This study uses non-technical language to answer these questions and many more. Through empirical investigation and micro-analysis of pupils' interactions, the study sheds light on how the participants orient to school demand. The book demonstrates that minority pupils' deviation from academic work is entrenched in religious, ethnic and gender issues that pertain to the minority pupils. A great deal of this deviation emerges in a form of dispute among the minority participants themselves, or between minority pupils and teachers. Language use and code-switching are vital in the process of deviation and transgression, as minority children resort to the use of minority language in their disputes and in situations of violating classroom norms. The study is based on empirical research in a number of Danish schools and it is of interest to policy-makers, teachers, parents of school children and specialists in the field of bilingualism and education.