MULTILINGUALISM AND MULTICULTURALISM: CHALLENGES FOR EDUCATION AND SOCIALIZATION IN THE XXI CENTURY
Abstract
Our paper has two goals. First we review the state of multilingualism in the world today, with a particular emphasis on Europe which was the cradle of foreign education many centuries ago and has remained the leader in this field. There is no doubt that bi- and multi-lingualism characterize successful people of the XXI century, while the confinement to one language can be seen as a personal and social handicap or a socialization problem.
We argue next, that the growing bilingual potential should be analyzed as integral part of bicultural personality of our time. Whether we speak native or second language, we participate in cultural communication. Language is not just a multilevel linguistic structure but also part and parcel of its culture, the warehouse of its meanings and history. Learning a language one acquires its culture. In this context we set research questions pertaining to the language ↔ cultural values and identity mutuality: Which and under what conditions impacts the other?
Two studies were conducted by the second author on Polish-French bilingualism and bicultural identity of Romanesque university students and immigrants of two generations in France and Belgium. Opposite to our hypotheses, there was no evidence for mutual reinforcement of linguistic proficiency and cultural identity. French language skills among Romanesque students were low but their idealistic French identity was high. Polish cultural identity was dominant, over French, among second generation immigrant youths. We explain these results referring to theories of idealized identity and nostalgia.
We conclude with recommendations, that second language teaching should not only be intertwined with general culture learning but also should convey realistic and not idealized versions of other cultural worlds. Extending learner’s identity, rather than replacing one by the other should be the goal of bilingual education.
References
Benedict, R. (2005). Patterns of Culture. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Benet-Martínez, V., & Haritatos, J. (2005). Bicultural Identity Integration (BII): Components and Psychosocial Antecedents. Journal of Personality, 73(4), 1015–1050. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2005.00337.x
Benet-Martínez, V., & Hong, Y. (2014). The Oxford Handbook of Multicultural Identity. Oxford University Press.
Benet-Martínez, V., Leu, J., Lee, F., & Morris, M. W. (2002). Negotiating Biculturalism Cultural Frame Switching in Biculturals with Oppositional Versus Compatible Cultural Identities. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 33(5), 492–516. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022102033005005
Bennett, J. M., & Bennett, M. J. (2004). Developing Intercultural Sensitivity: An Integrative Approach to Global and Domestic Diversity. In D. Landis, J.M. Bennett, & M. J. Bennett (Eds.),Handbook of Intercultural Training(3rd ed., pp. 147–165). SAGE Publications, Inc. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452231129
Bialystok, E. (1999). Cognitive Complexity and Attentional Control in the Bilingual Mind. Child Development, 70(3), 636–644. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8624.00046
Bialystok, E. (2011). Reshaping the Mind: The Benefits of Bilingualism. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology = Revue Canadienne de Psychologie Experimentale, 65 (4), 229–235. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0025406
Boski, P. (2006). Humanism-materialism centuries -long polish cultural origins and 20 years of research in cultural psychology. In U. Kim, K.-S. Yang, & K.-K. Hwang, Indigenious and Cultural Psychology. NY: Springer.
Boski, P. (2021). Kulturowe ramy zachowań społecznych: Podręcznik psychologii międzykulturowej (2nd ed.). Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN; Academica Wydawnictwo SWPS.
Boski, P., Kmiotek, Ł. (2021). Acculturation as a Learning Process of Bilingual Competences and Bicultural Identity Acquisition. International Journal of Psychology (under rewview).
Cenoz, J., Genesee, F., & Gorter, D. (2013). Critical Analysis of CLIL: Taking Stock and Looking Forward. Applied Linguistics, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amt01
Crystal, D. (2003). English as a Global Language. Cambridge University Press. http://ebooks.cambridge.org/ref/id/CBO9780511486999
Delvin, K. (2015). Learning a foreign language a ‘must’ in Europe, not so in America. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/07/13/learning-a-foreign-language-a-must-in-europe-not-so-in-america/
Emmorey, K., Luk, G., Pyers, J. E., & Bialystok, E. (2008). The Source of Enhanced Cognitive Control in Bilinguals. Psychological Science, 19(12), 1201–1206. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02224.x
Grosjean, F. (2010). Bilingual: Life and reality. Harvard University Press.
Grosjean, F. (2015). Bicultural bilinguals. International Journal of Bilingualism, 19(5), 572–586. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367006914526297
Hamers, J. F., & Blanc, M. (2000). Bilinguality and Bilingualism. Cambridge University Press.
Hong, Y., Morris, M. W., Chiu, C., & Benet-Martínez, V. (2000). Multicultural minds: A dynamic constructivist approach to culture and cognition. American Psychologist, 55(7), 709–720. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.7.709
Hurtado, Aída. (2016). The Social Psychology of Spanish/English Bilingualism in the United States. In M.Gelfand, C. Chiu, & Y. Hong(Eds.), Handbook of Advances inCulture and Psychology (Vol. 6).Oxford University Press. http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190458850.001.0001/acprof-9780190458850-chapter-4
Hurtado, Aida, & Gurin, P. (1987). Ethnic Identity and Bilingualism Attitudes. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 9(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1177/073998638703090101
Kmiotek, Ł. K. (2020). Polsko-francuska dwujęzyczność i dwukulturowa tożsamość: Badania z udziałem polskich emigrantów w krajach frankofońskich i studentach filologii romańskiej w Polsce. [Polish-French bilingualism and bicultural identity. Studies on Polish immigrants in France and Belgium, and French language students in Poland.] [Unpublished PhD thesis]. SWPS.
La Fromboise, T., Coleman, H. L., & Gerton, J. (1993). Psychological impact of biculturalism: Evidence and theory. Psychological Bulletin, 114(3), 395–412. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.114.3.395
Lapresta-Rey, C., & Huguet, D. Á. (2019). Multilingualism in European Language Education. Multilingual Matters.
Mohanty, A., & Perregaux, C. (1997). Language acquisition and bilingualism. In Handbook of Cross-Cultural Psychology. Alladyn and Bacon.
Schönpflug, U. (2008). CulturalTransmission: Psychological, Developmental, Social, and Methodological Aspects. Cambridge University Press.
Sedikides, C., Wildschut, T., Routledge, C., Arndt, J., Zhou, X. (2009). Buffering acculturative stress and facilitating cultural adaptation. Nostalgia as a psychological resource. In R. S. Wyer, C.-y. Chiu, & Y.-y. Hong (Eds.), Understanding culture: Theory, research, and application (p. 361–378). Psychology Press.
Smolicz. (1981). Core values and cultural identity. Ethnic & Racial Studies, 4(1), 75.
Tadmor, C., Chao, M., Hong, Y. Y., & Polzer, J. (2012). Not Just for Stereotyping Anymore: Racial Essentialism Reduces Domain-General Creativity. Psychological Science, 24. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797612452570
Tadmor, C. T., Satterstrom, P., Jang, S., & Polzer, J. T. (2012). Beyond Individual Creativity: The Multicultural Experience for Collective Creativity in Culturally Diverse Teams. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 43(3), 384–392. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022111435259.
Weinreich, P., & Saunderson, W. (2005). Analysing Identity: Cross-Cultural, Societal and Clinical Contexts. Routledge.
Weretiuk, O. (2006). FILOZOFIA PORAŻKI: BERESTECZKO LINY KOSTENKO. Przegląd Humanistyczny, 404(01), 123–136.
Wierzbicka, A. (1997). Understanding Cultures through Their Key Words: English, Russian, Polish, German, and Japanese. Oxford University Press.
Wierzbicka, A. (1999). Język, umysł, kultura. Wrszawa: Wydawn. Nauk. PWN.
Wildschut, T., Sedikides, C., Arndt, J., & Routledge, C. (2006). Nostalgia: Content, triggers, functions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91(5), 975–993. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.91.5.975.
