Browsing by Author "Schultz, Stephen"

The current study is an exploration of Vantaa city primary and lower-secondary teacher attitudes towards multilingualism, as well as their attitudes towards the specific multilingual program the oma äidinkieli program. The oma äidinkieli program is a voluntary program which provides mother tongue instruction to pupils who speak a different language at home than the official languages of Finland, Finnish and Swedish. The aims of this study are to investigate and assess the attitudinal positioning of primary and lower-secondary teachers towards multilingualism and the oma äidinkieli program during a time when the number and concentration of foreign language speaking residents in Vantaa and the capital region of Finland is increasing, to increase the visibility of multilingualism and multilingual pupils, and to contribute to the study of teacher attitudes and multilingualism. A total of 45 primary and lower-secondary teachers from the Finnish city of Vantaa completed a paper questionnaire designed to assess attitudes towards multilingualism and the oma äidinkieli program. Quantitative data was collected using Likert-scale questions and a direct approach to studying attitudes. Results were analysed using descriptive statistics. Findings in this study indicate positive teacher attitudes towards both multilingualism and the oma äidinkieli program. This positive attitudinal positioning runs parallel to the approach to multilingualism prescribed in the Finnish National Core Curriculum for Basic Education. While encouraging that overall results indicate positive teacher attitudes towards multilingualism and the oma äidinkieli program, the frequency of negative and neutral responses to certain items, such as items regarding multilingual pupil’s language development, may indicate possible gaps in teacher understandings regarding multilingual pupils and their development. The overall positive attitudes of Finnish teachers are important because positive teacher attitudes towards multilingualism can positively affect the academic, linguistic, cultural, and identity development of multilingual pupils. Positive teacher attitudes towards the oma äidinkieli program are important because the program supports multilingual and multicultural development and supports the transition of foreign language speaking migrants into Finnish society. Also, as the oma äidinkieli program is a voluntary program for pupils, support from primary and lower-secondary teachers is needed in order for the program to be successful.