"In school, it's only English": A participatory sociolinguistic study of linguistic diversity in Glasgow schools

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Even those who consider themselves to speak only one language are able to vary how they pronounce words or structure sentences to present themselves in different ways. They are able to use this variation to align themselves with particular groups or social identities (e.g. 'middle-class' or 'working-class', 'popular' or 'geek'), to present themselves as having certain qualities (e.g. as 'refined' or 'laidback') or to articulate different attitudes (e.g. to show agreement or dissent). What is less clear is whether this linguistic behaviour can be distinguished from what those who consider themselves to be multilingual do when they move between or mix their languages. Traditionally, we tend to distinguish between speakers who are monolingual and multilingual: but does this distinction hold up to scrutiny? This project focuses on a city where multilingualism is already being actively rethought in the public consciousness: Glasgow. Glasgow is home to a large number of languages, including those brought to the city by migrants, and Scots. Although sometimes thought of as a variety (or collection of varieties) of English, Scots gained official recognition and protections as a language in its own right in 2000. This means that many speakers who would previously have been classified as monolingual are now officially multilingual. Scots and English are closely related languages, which are sometimes difficult to distinguish from each other, and which are integrated in everyday interaction. This means that to accept Scots as a language in its own right, we must also accept that the boundaries between languages are not always clearly defined. There is also a complex class dimension to multilingualism in Glasgow: Scots is a language spoken for the most part by working-class people, and it has traditionally been stigmatised in formal and educational settings. The majority of the city's new arrivals enter working-class communities. For these reasons, Glasgow's working-class communities are some of the most linguistically rich, but public perception still views these communities as being linguistically deficient. This project addresses this misconception.This project compares how young people from different linguistic, class and migration backgrounds use language in interaction. It brings together different theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches, leading to a better understanding of how language and identity interact. It also explores how young migrants come to understand and express class identity in new languages.The project will be ground-breaking in developing and expanding the PI's pioneering work using collaborative podcasting as an arts-based participatory research method. This method will involve working with the young people to create podcast episodes about their own experiences of language use in their communities, which will then be released publicly. This will not only allow the young people to take an active role in the project as co-researchers, it will also be a key element of the project's public engagement. In addition to exploring questions about language and identity, the project will work with the young people as co-researchers in order to come to mutual understandings of how they view their own language use in terms of identity, social class and power. Particular emphasis will be placed on how this understanding relates to their educational experiences. Does the nature of a pupil's linguistic profile interact with how they engage with school? A central objective of this project is to inform how schools understand the experiences and needs of learners from different linguistic backgrounds, and to ask how we can create learning environments that understand, support and welcome linguistic diversity.