Anat Stavans

The effect of immigration, acculturation and multicompetence on personality profiles of Israeli multilinguals

The present study investigates the link between immigration, multilingualism, acculturation and personality profiles (as measured by the Multicultural Personality Questionnaire) of 193 residents in Israel. Participants born in Israel tended to score higher on Emotional Stability than those born abroad. Participants with one immigrant parent (but not two) scored higher on Cultural Empathy, Open-mindedness and Social Initiative. Participants who had become dominant in Hebrew as a foreign language scored lower on Emotional Stability than Hebrew L1-dominant participants. The number of languages known by participants was not linked to their personality profile. A high level of use of various languages was linked to significantly higher scores on Cultural Empathy and Open-mindedness. Gender and age were also linked to personality profiles. Advanced knowledge of more languages and frequent use of more languages were linked to higher levels of Social Initiative and Open-mindedness, while advanced knowledge of more languages was also linked to higher levels of Cultural Empathy. These findings confirm that some personality traits are shaped by individuals’ linguistic history, degree of multilingualism and a combination of social and biographical factors.

Language Switching as a Window on Trilingual Acquisition

The present study discusses and describes codeswitches produced by two trilingual children acquiring English, Spanish and Hebrew simultaneously from birth. Data were collected regularly over a period of 20 months (from age 2;6 to 4;2 for M and from age 5;5 to 7;1 for E), in naturalistic tape-recorded sessions. Codeswitches drawn from transcriptions of 32 h of spontaneous conversation were analysed. We describe and explain trilingual switches involving morphosyntactic boundary violations, some of which have not yet been reported in the literature. We claim that these switches provide incipient evidence for a developing trilingual competence that stands at the base of trilingual performance.

The evolution of trilingual codeswitching from infancy to school age: The shaping of trilingual competence through dynamic language dominance:

This article reports on a study of the codeswitches produced by two children who acquired their three languages in early childhood. We compared formal and functional aspects of their switches recorded at two different stages of their development. Of particular interest was the consideration of sociolinguistic variables that have intervened in the childrens environment. We undertook a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the childrens codeswitches to ascertain the frequency of switching, the use of each of the three languages employed for switching and the linguistic complexity of the switches. We assumed that the sociolinguistic conditions that changed the linguistic landscape in which these children operated would be reflected not only in the development of each of their languages, but also in the kind of switches that they produced. We tried to establish whether it is the case that certain forms and functions of codeswitches constitute a “core” of trilingual language behavior while others are prone to change. Ultimately, our aim was to gain an insight into the specific trilingual language production processes over a given period of time that can shed light on the development and nature of trilingual competence.

Parental perceptions of children's literacy and bilingualism: the case of Ethiopian immigrants in Israel

Abstract The present study describes factors affecting the home and school literacy patterns in the Ethiopian immigrant community in Israel. Parents were asked to complete a questionnaire evaluating their childs development, literacy, schooling, and language proficiency (L1 and L2). The results indicate that while non-Ethiopian and Ethiopian parents seek the same future for their child there are significant differences in the means to bridge between home and school literacy patterns. Ethiopian immigrant parents engage in their childs educational and social life until first grade. Once schooling begins, these parents disengage from the childs educational needs and the generational worlds begin to part. Such disengagement is often accompanied by relinquishing the maintenance of the first language, its culture and traditions in favour of a yet inappropriate second language devoid of ethnic or cultural values to be acquired. We contend that mutual respect and interaction between the two literacy traditions could enhance both childs and parents confidence and wellbeing contributing greatly to literacy enhancement and development.

Language policy and literacy practices in the family: the case of Ethiopian parental narrative input

Abstract The present study analyses the Family Language Policy (FLP) in regards language literacy development of children in Ethiopian immigrant families. Bridging the gap between linguistic literacy at home and at school hinders a smooth societal integration and a normative literacy development. This study describes the home literacy patterns shaped by internal and external forces in parent–child interaction among 60 Ethiopian families in Israel. Participants performed four extended discourse tasks. The findings indicate that these parents have preferences for certain extended discourses, and that the form and function of these preferred discourses coincide with those needed for better scholastic literacy. Ethiopian parents prefer oral not written discourse as the anchor for their literacy-driven parent–child interaction. They resort to descriptions and folk narratives coinciding with expected vocabulary use and the cannons of narrative syntax in their native language. The need for the institutionalised language education policy to make the ‘cultural and linguistic affordances’ for these families’ language policy requires mutual respect and interaction between the two literacy traditions. Legitimacy of the FLP can enhance both childs and parents confidence and well-being contributing greatly to literacy enhancement and development.

Monolingual and multilingual discrimination of written sequences' readability

Multilingual literate landscapes are ubiquitous input for children in many places in the world. This type of input (albeit visual only) may propel literacy awareness, integration and cognitive assimilation of different writing and notational systems even before schooling. This study explores quantitatively and qualitatively the ways in which young multilingual children understand and interpret the principles underlying different writing systems. The focus is to compare how bilingual and monolingual children judge ‘readable and non-readable’ representations which are alphabetic or non-alphabetic (single, other or mixed); and whether readable strings comply with a qualitative and quantitative condition assigned to the string of signs presented. There are similarities as well as differences in the distinction as ‘readable’ between alphabetic and non-alphabetic notations among bilingual Ethiopian children and monolingual non-Ethiopian children who are pre-readers. Both groups regard as ‘readable’ sequences that contain varied and multiple combinations of alphabetic signs. There are revealing differences between the groups as to the quantity of signs in the sequence and whether it comes from a single, familiar or mixed alphabet. The Ethiopian bilingual children are more inclined to regard different alphabetic systems—whether they combine signs from within a single alphabet or from multiple alphabets—and tend to ‘detect’ them as ‘readable’ more so than non-Ethiopian monolinguals.

Multilingualism: Globalisation, language spread and new multilingualisms

Postmodernity is the age of the multilingual speaker. David Graddol (2006) Introduction In Chapter 1 we took a historical perspective to language contact and much of the discussion entailed an examination of factors that had contributed towards the spread of certain languages in the past. For example, conquests, religious crusades and colonisation led to the establishment of languages such as Arabic in parts of Africa and Spanish in Central and South America. By the eighteenth century, a whole range of political, economic and social developments that had been set in motion earlier started to gather momentum, most notably large-scale migration, overseas trading in commodities and slaves, the establishment of overseas colonies and plantations, and the beginning of missionary activities, all of which were to have far-reaching linguistic consequences. English was transported around the globe, to America and the West Indies, to Africa, Australia, New Zealand and the Indian subcontinent, as well as many of the islands in the Pacific Ocean. Wherever it was taken, it added another sociolinguistic layer to an already highly multilingual linguistic landscape. Other European languages, too, were spread beyond Europe as a result of colonial practices, although their trajectories followed a different course than English. In many instances, indigenous languages became threatened and, of those that have been able to survive, many are today seriously endangered. Postcolonialism brought new linguistic challenges to newly independent states. In most cases, these states were not in a position to shake off the linguistic legacy bequeathed by the former dominant powers, as there were persuasive political arguments in favour of maintaining an official position for the former colonial language. At the same time, there was also a strongly perceived need to promote one or more indigenous languages that would symbolise independent nationhood. Nowadays a disproportionately high percentage of foreign aid from former colonising countries continues to be given to former dependencies, which helps maintain linguistic ties.

Enabling bi-literacy patterns in Ethiopian immigrant families in Israel: a socio-educational challenge

This paper explores the role that languages and literacy practices play in Ethiopian immigrant families transposed to Israel as part of Israels family language policy, by examining parental perspectives on their respective L1 and L2 usages, in both parents’ and childrens lives, as well as by examining the home literacy provisions supporting childrens literacy development. The study profiles 67 Ethiopian immigrant families and describes the factors affecting home and school literacy patterns, assessing usage and attitude in L1 and L2 proficiency, as well as families’ literacy-driven discourse practices. The findings of this study indicate that Ethiopian parents engage in their childrens educational and social life until first grade, when they relinquish the maintenance of L1 in favour of a yet-incomplete L2. The Ethiopian case is instrumental to describe language and literacy affordances in a country that is officially trilingual, a neighbourhood that is at least quadrilingual, a home that is bilingual and a schooling system that is monolingual. Furthermore, the results of this study indicate that although both Ethiopian and non-Ethiopian parents have different extended discourses and perhaps even discursive preferences, the form and function of these discourses coincide with those needed or assumed for successful development of scholastic literacy. Against this background, a need emerges to espouse a mutual respect and interaction between the two literacy traditions to enhance both childrens and parents’ literacy development.

Language education policy by proxy: the ‘ideal’ meets the ‘real’ in the educational network of the Jewish Community in Mexico City

Language is the most immediate tool of inclusion into a social group and as such is central in creating, understanding and participating in the group. Language policy can serve, establish and organise such groups, and to assure that they are maintained and implemented for posterity. Language policy in education is imperative for a group to build and maintain its past, present and future. This paper discusses the formulation of a language policy in the Jewish Educational Network of Mexico City, following its daily management. More specifically, this paper will address: (1) the discrepancies between the minoritys language policy and ideologies and its reality; (2) the status of Hebrew as a burden or a benefit in pacesetting language education in this community; and (3) the outcomes of implementation of a language policy ‘by proxy’ (i.e. a policy created elsewhere to be carried out locally).

The pragmatics of requests and refusals in multilingual settings

ABSTRACT This study investigated the mode of directness of requests and refusals and the background variables that explain this production in two trilingual populations in Israel (i.e. native speakers of Arabic for whom English is an L3, and Hebrew, an L2, and native speakers of Hebrew for whom English is an L2 and another language is their L3). Data were collected using language background questionnaires and a Discourse Completion Task. The findings revealed that both groups preferred indirect over direct requests but the L1 Hebrew participants produce it more than the Arabic L1 cohorts. There was no difference between the two groups in the production of either direct or indirect refusals. Explanatory background variables as exposure to English, language use for specific purposes and language proficiency were linked with the level of directness in the non-native English productions of both populations.