Early Years Education and the Reversal of Language Shift

Abstract

[Abstract] In this chapter we provide an international overview of the role of early years education in revitalizing endangered or minoritized languages. Unlike mother tongue or maintenance bilingual programs, these initiatives often operate in contexts where the majority of children and their families are not habitual or confident speakers of the target language. This means that, aside from difficulties associated with finding qualified teachers and appropriate classroom materials, teachers have the additional task of addressing deeply rooted language prejudices and raising community awareness of social and linguistic inequalities that have been rendered invisible by widespread misconceptions about historical realities and language acquisition processes. Such community and school-based projects face the challenge of bringing to life a language that may very well not form a part of children’s linguistic and social repertoire, which involves not only increasing linguistic competence but also making their heritage language feel attractive, natural, and fun.

Beginning with an overview of key theoretical concepts, such as language hegemony, language shift, diglossia, and symbolic capital, we will examine past and current research data and analyze some of the sociolinguistic, political, and educational factors involved, including language policies at the local, state, and supranational levels. We will then review some of the strategies that have been employed at the level of early childhood education (ECE) in a variety of European contexts, which are not meant to be exhaustive, but rather to represent a variety of strategies that have attempted to address universal tendencies by responding to the local, situated nature of these realities.