This study presents a close-up view of the presence of heritage languages (HL) in a sample of secondary school aged students in an inner-city London borough. The research examines the potential for accurate and meaningful data collection that records the diverse linguistic repertoires of inner-city school communities, to inform practitioners and policy makers when planning for inclusion and linguistic representation.

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Findings indicate that the proportion of pupils who speak a language other than English in the sample is significantly larger than would be expected from consideration of the data published by the Department for Education. When targeted questions go beyond whether, or not, the student has English as a home language, the data reveals that proficiency in HLs amongst the students in the sample is high and that attitudes towards HLs are generally positive. An exploration of patterns of language use and dominance confirm previously found patterns in heritage language users; such as speakers using the language less with siblings (Extra, Yağmur, & Van der Avoird, 2004, Jernigan 2015), and certain domains being stronger in one language than the other (Grosjean and Li 2013), such as prayer and talking to distant relatives, compared with talking about school.

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The data suggest that many factors which in part can be influenced by practitioners and policy, such as attitudes and home language policies, are linked to proficiency, pointing to constructive ways in which education policy can be guided to make the most of the benefits of bilingualism in our highly multilingual cohorts.

The Children's Language Book Making project was inspired the lack of heritage language books available for many language communities in London. Together with the Brawenese Welfare Association, we worked together to create books by children, for children who might want to learn some more about these languages.

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Click here to read a blog about the project!

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The series includes:

The Somali Junior Language Book

The Chimwini Junior Guide

The Dari Book

The Pashto Dictionary

(Click on the image above to view!)