CHILDREN’S PERSPECTIVES ON BILINGUALISM : A qualitative study on how Somali children talk about being bilingual in a Swedish context

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Linköping University | Master’s thesis, 15 credits|

Master’s program in Child Studies, Year 2|

Fall, 2020|

C

HILDREN

’

S PERSPECTIVES ON BILINGUALISM

: A qualitative

study on how Somali children talk about being bilingual in a

Swedish context

Hinda Mohammud Hussen

Supervisor: Asta Cekaite

Examiner: Anette Wickström

Linköping University

SE-581 83 Linköping, Sweden

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i Abstract

This is a qualitative study on bilingualism from Somali children’s perspectives. It aims to examine how Somali-Swedish bilinguals understand their bilingual experiences in a Swedish context. It looks at questions that relate to their views on language use in family and peer group interactions, their attitude towards heritage language maintenance, and challenges they may face in their everyday bilingual experiences. Three interviews were carried out with six children of Somali background between the age of 12-15 years, interviewed in pairs, and the empirical data were subsequently analyzed thematically. The findings of the case study show that children have a high-level of awareness about achieving monolingual-like bilingualism. This is linked to their language investment in Somali and Swedish languages in order to be better members of both the Somali community and the Swedish society. From the interviews, it became clear that Somali and Swedish are equally important for their everyday life for a variety of reasons, including: maintaining healthy family relationships and bonds, continuing contact and ties with extended-family, developing ethnic and societal identities, and

understanding and fostering friendship. However, many experienced challenges such as bullying and embarrassment as a result of, for instance, insufficient knowledge of their language or avoidance of using multiple languages in public for fear of being mocked. Furthermore, children are active agents in their learning and in acquiring proficiency in Somali and Swedish as they explain their choice of preserving their heritage while they negotiate with teachers to find a balance between language demands in the parental

interactions and those with others in their ethnic group, and achieving native-like mastery of spoken Swedish.

Keywords: children’s perspectives, bilingualism, heritage language maintenance, identity, Somali-Swedish bilinguals

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ii PREFACE

I would like to thank all the staff of Linköping University, the Department of Thematic Studies/Child Studies, for their professionalism and support they have provided in order to successfully complete my two years master's program in Child Studies. Special thanks to my current supervisor, Asta Cekaite, who has provided professional help and supported and guided me throughout this study process.

In truth, I could not have achieved this without a strong support group. First, my mother, who has supported me with her prayers and love. Secondly, my husband and daughter, for their love and understanding, especially my daughter, for giving me the honor to include me in her bilingual upbringing. Thirdly, the two friends who introduced me to the research participants. Finally, the children and their families who agreed to participate gave me valuable time to talk to me and made this qualitative study possible. Thank you all.

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List of tables

Table 1 Demographic information of the children and their spoken languages ... 13 Table 2 Children’s different ways of using languages ... 19

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Introduction

Many children in Sweden and around the world are bi/multilingual. Among the reasons for early bilingualism is migration; children either migrate by themselves or reunite with their parents or may even be born in the new country to immigrant parents. Sweden has a high record of welcoming refugees from all over the world. People of Somali background are among the people who came to Sweden, mainly for refugee and family reunification reasons. According to recent statistics, the number of Somali people in Sweden who were born in Somalia is over 105,000 (Statiska Centralbyrån, 2019). However, many other Somali people speak Somali as their mother-tongue, like those from Ethiopia, Kenya, and Djibouti, of which their statistics are not included in the recent statistics. It is because these statistics' nature differs from what I was looking for, i.e., these people’s spoken language or mother-tongue. When looking at the number of Somali children in Sweden, 21,100 primary-school children were eligible for Somali mother-tongue teaching classes in the school year 2018/2019 (Skolverket, 2019: 10). Nevertheless, these statistics could give us an estimation of children of Somali backgrounds in Sweden.

This qualitative study focuses on children’s perspectives on their bilingual experiences, the meanings they attribute to bilingualism in a Swedish context. The present study takes an interpretivist epistemological approach to understand children’s meaning-making on bilingualism. Children are also regarded as competent and capable social actors who can express their feelings and views; hence can contribute knowledge to the social world they are part of; therefore, their perspectives worth study on their own rights (James and Prout, 1997: 4). For that reason, the current study investigates how children as social agents interpret their bilingual experiences and skills. It specifically seeks understandings and insights into how 12-15-year-old children describe their skills and experiences while using language (s) in relation to family and peer group interactions; their attitudes towards Somali; and how these relate to ethnicity and social identity.

Language and identity are often linked; by exploring children’s perception of language practices and maintenance, I hope to provide more insight into children’s meaning-making about bilingualism in relation to their everyday life experiences. To reach the present study’s aim, I conducted three group interviews with six children from Somalia and Djibouti who are living and growing up in Sweden. I analyzed the collected data through thematic analysis and provided a concluding discussion.

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Research motivation and objectives and questions 2.1 Research motivation and objectives

This qualitative study investigates children’s perspectives on bilingualism since many studies account for parents’ perspectives, few rely on children’s own meaning-making on this

phenomenon. My previous study with Somali parents on their views regarding raising bilingual and bicultural children serves as a point of departure for the current study (Hussen, 2019). In the previous research, I discovered that children’s agency was crucial in family language policy and heritage language maintenance. Several other factors were influential in forming family language policy, such as: parenting style regarding sustaining heritage language and culture; division of linguistic ideologies between fathers and mothers; and challenges children encounter within their ethnic group. However, in this study, I am interested in exploring children’s own viewpoints on heritage language and bilingualism, especially aspects that relate to language use in family interactions and peer group interactions, ethnic/social identities, and challenges they may face due to their bilingual realities.

Apart from giving children voices, two other things that motivated me to carry out the current study with children were my curiosity as a mother-tongue teacher and recent statistics on Somali children’s enrolment and attendance rates in mother-tongue teaching classes. First, my curiosity as a Somali mother-tongue teacher inspired me to conduct this study with Somali children in order to look for deeper understanding and insight into what motivates children to learn their language. During my several years’ career as a mother-tongue teacher and working in a school environment, I have seen many Somali children who have been active and

attentive in the late afternoon mother-tongue teaching instruction (MTI)1 classes. Therefore, I always wanted to hear from children on how they feel about their language. Second, Somali children regularly attend mother-tongue teaching classes that are taught outside the school timetable, mostly in the late afternoons. As a report by Statens Offentliga Utredning (SOU, 2019:18) shows, the ten largest mother-tongue teaching classes in primary schools in the school year 2017/18 were Arabic, Somali, English, Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, Persian, Kurdish, Spanish, Finish, Albanian, and Polish respectively. The report revealed that Somali

1_{Modersmålsundervisning or mother-tongue instruction (MTI) in English is a language subject that is offered to} students who do not have Swedish as their native language to take in public school (Skolverket, 2020).

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has the highest attendance rates among these languages, whereby 4 out of 5 eligible Somali pupils regularly attended the MTI teaching classes (SOU, 2019:18: 18). Therefore, I want to explore further children’s own meaning-making of learning and keeping their language hence being Somali-Swedish bilinguals.

The concept of children's perspectives is a vital aspect in the field of Child Studies. James and James (2012: 12) claimed that child-focused research, which is the center of childhood

studies, respects children's individuality, perspectives, and standpoint, given that children do have something to contribute on matters that affect their lives. This thesis research is situated within the field of child-focused research because it sees children as competent social actors who can “negotiate, share, and create culture with adults and each other” (Corsaro, 2012: 488). Therefore, the purpose of my research is to contribute to the field of childhood studies that regards children as individuals and active participants in their societies who have something to say about their everyday experiences; hence they are worth study in their own rights (James, 2009: 34).

2.2 Research questions

To achieve the current study’s aim, I formulated an overarching research question: What are

Somali children’s notions about being bilingual in a Swedish context? Mainly, the present

study investigates children’s perspectives on being bilingual in relation to three aspects:

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How do children interpret their experiences using Somali or/and Swedish in their everyday interactions with peer groups in school and leisure time?

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How do children perceive their everyday communication with parents and siblings? And so, how do children talk about the significance of heritage language skills and maintenance?

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What challenges do children associate with their everyday bilingual experiences? I have conducted qualitative semi-structured interviews to get more insight into children’s viewpoints on bilingualism.

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Previous research

3.1 Main research concepts

3.1.1 Language, heritage language, and bilingualism

Language, whether written or spoken or sign/language that is conveyed through gestures, is a medium of communication between humans. Language is not static but “open, dynamic, energetic, constantly evolving and personal” (Shohamy, 2006: 5). Individuals use language to express their views and thoughts; therefore, spoken languages and their varieties are likely to change and evolve fast since individuals in various communities speak different dialects and varieties (Shohamy, 2006: 8). In the context of immigration, a variety of terms are used to refer to what is called “first language” (L1), which is a language learned and spoken by a person: mother-tongue, heritage language (HL), family language, and a minority language. On the other hand, a second language (L2) refers to a majority language or a dominant language in a particular society. Usually, it is the national language and/or the language of instruction at the school.

In the present study, I will be using the term “heritage language” when referring to the children’s spoken language linked to their heritage or country of origin. First, the term “heritage language” is a new way to refer to what is used to be called a “minority language” within a dominant language context. It is originated in the USA and usually is used in the context of second-generation immigrants– children whose parents immigrated at a younger age– are referred to as heritage-speakers (Benmamoun et al., 2013: 133). I would argue that this term can also be extended to children of Somali immigrants since their language is a minority in the Swedish context. It means that Somali children who were born in Sweden or came at a younger age are Somali heritage-speakers since, even if they were born to

immigrant parents, they might have Swedish as their primary language, given that Swedish is the national language and the language of instruction at school. The other term that I will use in this study is bilingual or bilingualism, although children can be multilingual. But then what is bilingualism? Bilingualism is “the ability to speak two languages” (Merriam-Webster, 2020). It entails that a bilingual person can express their views in two languages in their daily lives. It also means that bilinguals have native-like abilities to control two languages

(Macrory, 2006: 160). I argue that Somali children born in Sweden or came at a younger age are Somali-Swedish bilinguals since they learned both languages from infancy.

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It can be said that culture is a way of life of a particular group of people who have their own system of beliefs, norms, and values. Culture and language are linked in that one of the primary modes of transmission is through language (Reaume and Pinto, 2012: 40). Culture also relates to language in terms of symbolic and communication relationships; when people speak, they tend to translate and interpret but what helps them comprehend depends on the unique culture of that language (Edward, 2009: 55). It is because, during a speech, a speaker uses non-verbal signs and gesture that is unique for that particular language and its native speakers (ibid. 2009). The other concept that is related to language and culture is ethnicity. Ethnicity, according to James and James (2012: 49), is “the combination of characteristics derived from a person’s geographic and hence national origins and heritage, which are acquired by birth and used to demarcate and maintain different in background and identity.” Ethnicity revolves around race and culture because people with the same ethnic group often have the same physical outer appearance and “cultural heritage in terms of their traditions, behaviours and attitudes” (ibid. 49). In other words, people with the same ethnic backgrounds often dress the same way, eat the same food, have the same dressing styles, etc., and “this heritage is often reflected in similarities between their languages, religious beliefs and shared history” (ibid. 49). I argue that this can be applied to the children of Somali backgrounds in Sweden because, even though they may have different nationalities, they share the same cultural and language heritage, religious beliefs, and origins.

Moreover, ethnicity is crucial in understanding the way we define and understand ourselves as persons and understand social identity “in terms of creation and recognition of difference” (ibid. 49). Additionally, understanding ethnicity is essential since it is connected to structure and agency (James and James, 2012: 50), which is very important in understanding childhood bilingualism and heritage language management. I will discuss these connections in the next sections.

3.1.3 Agency and structure

Children in the present study are understood as human agents. Agency is a complex and multidimensional concept. To be an agentic being in relation to human persons means to have a conscious mind, have free will to do things, and reflect upon actions (Fuchs, 2001: 26). The agentic individuals are aware of themselves, the world around them, and their relationship with other humans; hence their intrapersonal and interpersonal interactions are “symbolic and meaningful” (Fuchs, 2001: 26). Micro/macro theorists discussed agency in relation to

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structure. Habermas (in Fuchs, 2001: 24) argues that individuals with the agency can make changes through their actions and intentions by reconceptualizing and renegotiating the situation they find themselves in; however, the structure or macrosystem sets the limit on what the agency can achieve. According to sociocultural theorists (Wertsch et al., 1993), the agency is not just an individual who initiates and takes actions in isolation; instead, the agency is an individual who operates within a group or a larger society. Thus, an agent’s thoughts and actions are heavily influenced by “mediational means” such as the social

language of a particular historical, cultural, and institutional context (Ibid., 1993: 342, 352). In other words, the agency is socially and culturally mediated; although individual actions are initiated inward, understanding the agent's actions means understanding the group to which the agent belongs (Ibid., 1993). The issue of children’s agency is a crucial factor in

understanding HL maintenance and bilingualism. I will discuss this further in the next section.

3.1.4 Language policy at a family and a national level

The present study examines how Somali children perceive their HL's maintenance in the majority context based on their everyday life experiences. However, children’s experiences cannot be understood in isolation from their parents who raise and foster them. Therefore, to understand children’s attitudes towards HL preservation in a dominant language context, it is very relevant to understand factors that may influence their bilingual experiences, such as family language policy (FLP). Family language policy refers to “explicit and overt planning in relation to language use within the home among family members and provides an

integrated overview of research on how languages are managed, learned, and negotiated within families” (King, Fogle, and Logan-Terry, 2008: 907). FLP can be understood in relation to language policy, which is closely linked to ideology and practices (Shohamy, 2006). Language policy has three characteristics, i.e., language beliefs or ideologies, language practices, and “efforts to modify or influence that practice by any kind of intervention,

planning or management” (Spolsky, 2004: 5). In other words, within a speech community, there are language varieties and dialects, and people may prefer to use one variety over the others (ibid., 2004). Therefore, individuals with authority make efforts to change language ideologies and practices of their community in order to keep the original texts such as “sacred texts” or to maintain “the purity of standard varieties,” for the latter to safeguard “national identity” (Spolsky and Hult, 2008: 2-3). Consequently, language ideologies play a very significant role in child bilingualism and heritage language maintenance.

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Language policy is used within social organizations such as a state and a family. On the one hand, at the state level, it focuses on language use in the public sphere and how different policies affect language shift or loss (Spolsky, 2004). On the other hand, it focuses on

language beliefs and practices at the family level and how these influence children’s language use and acquisition (Spolsky, 2004). Therefore, the field of FLP combines research on

language policy and child language acquisition to understand how family language policy works (King, Fogle, and Logan-Terry, 2008). Bridging the gap between the two fields, FLP investigates how language is used in parent-child interactions; parental linguistic ideologies, beliefs, and language use; their expectations about language and efforts they do to shape language use in the family and learning achievements (King, Fogle, and Logan-Terry, 2008: 909). King and colleagues (2008: 907) assert that family language policies are very crucial for “children’s developmental trajectories, connect in significant ways with children’s formal school success, and collectively determine the maintenance and future status of minority languages.”

The resent research in the field of family language policy investigates three areas: namely, how children’s agency influences parental language policy and decisions; what kind of link exists between family’s internal and external ideologies and language use; and how all these interconnects with raising children in a transnational family context (Fogle and King, 2013: 5). To implement FLP, parents keep speaking the preferred language in conversations;

however, children often use the majority language (King and Logan-Terry, 2008). As a result, in some cases, parents introduce explicit rules such as punishment if a child does not comply with the parent’s language choice in parent-child interactions in order to reinforce FLP at home (Fogle and King, 2013: 8). However, children negotiate and challenge parental language choices, which affect family language policies over time (ibid., 2013).

3.1.4.1 Identity, language ideologies, and practice

In the multilingual and indigenous contexts, attitudes towards languages change and evolve over time; these depend on various factors such as different contexts, ages, time, aims, and socio-political structures (Shohamy, 2006: 9). Language is dynamic, and the dynamic nature of language results from the construction and reconstruction of language by individuals or groups in relation to social, political, cultural, and economic grounds (Shohamy, 2006;

Kroskrity, 2004). One of the constructions of a language is that language is a marker of ethnic identity; this means that when you speak and use a language you belong to a specific ethnic group. Thus, ethnic or ethnicity is not stable; instead, it is “self-perceived or external

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attributed, complex and constantly modified by changing social, political and demographic conditions” (Spolsky, 2012: 7). Ethnic identity and language policy are also linked, and these are influenced by socio-political and socio-economic contexts in which we find ourselves (Garcia, 2012: 86).

Individuals identify themselves with a group by using language, and this act is called

ethnifying and languaging (Garcia, 2012). However, the action of “ethnifying and languaging change internally and externally” (i.e., at family and state level) depending on the political economy and language ideologies of a situated social context, which then affects language policy (Garcia, 2012: 88). It means that the language policy of a particular social context either enables or constrains the opportunity to practice the minority language; therefore, specific ethnic identities and language identities constitute a continuum (ibid.). It is the external power and ideologies that facilitate and make it possible for minority language to prosper in the dominant context. It is achieved through language policy that supports multilanguaging; through political and economic support of language management; and the promotion of diverse languages within its education system (ibid.). In the Swedish context, bilingualism and multilingualism are highly supported and encouraged. According to the National Agency for Education (Skolverket), children who do not speak Swedish as their mother-tongue are offered opportunities to learn their native language (HL) at school; and this gives children the chances to develop knowledge in and about their language by way of supporting the development of children’s language, identity, personality, and creative thinking, which in turn are prerequisites to learn Swedish, other languages, and school subjects (Skolverket, 2020, my own translation). The statement of the Skolverket shows that language equals identity, which Sweden strives to uphold for children of diverse ethnicities.

3.2 Reviews of studies on bi/multilingualism

3.2.1 Research on children’s bilingual acquisition and development

Acquisition of both HL and societal language and achievement of native-like bilingualism are complicated issues. It is because many factors may contribute to the realization of successful bilingualism. Early language acquisition often occurs in child-parent interactions. Studies have shown that language input quality correlates with children’s competency in language/s (De Houwer, 2011; Zauche et al., 2016). It is also possible for children, who are learning two languages at birth or L2 before six years, to achieve equal proficiency in two languages if their parents invest more in both languages (De Houwer, 2011). In the case of immigration, many parents try very hard to teach and maintain HL to socialize their cultural heritage and

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good parenting. HL maintenance is linked to the children’s well-being because parents make effective communication with their children if they use HL than the societal language, which is significant for good parenting since parents feel more respected and competent

(Leyendecker et al., 2018: 62). Apart from instilling and socializing their culture, it may also be possible that many parents communicate emotions and describe feelings better in their language (Leyendecker et al., 2018: 65; Hussen, 2019: 18). However, today’s busy world may prevent many parents from having a good time with their children since many children spend longer hours at day-cares. The limited exposure to parent-child interaction due to work (or even study) may affect children’s acquisition of HL in their early years of life, although they may catch-up over time if given opportunities to learn their HL (Macrory, 2006: 162, 167). To compensate for the missed time with parents, early childhood educators could contribute to HL development. For instance, allowing the children who speak the same language to interact with one another, provide books and other learning material, and follow up children’s bilingual development by engaging with parents for their children’s learning HL (Macrory, 2006: 162, 167). In that way, children may have a positive mindset to accept HL's importance not only for the home but also outside the home (ibid., 2006). Interactions between siblings may also shape children’s language acquisition. Older siblings act as the more knowledgeable and become the role-models of their younger siblings as they take the role of a mother or a father, promoting the child’s successful bilingual competence (Barron-Hauwaert, 2011: 3-4). However, some children speak only one language in the bilingual family context if the parents support both languages' coexistence in child-parent interactions; that is, the parent says in L1 and the child responds in L2 (De Houwer, 2011).

How fast one learns and becomes competent in two languages could be a genetic factor. Scholars have shown that language aptitude2 equally affects knowledge of L1 and L2 (Bylund et al., 2012). Bylund and colleagues found in their study with adult Spanish/Swedish

bilinguals whose age of acquisition of L1 and L2 were within the optimum period of acquisition of language, i.e., 1-12 years achieved native-like bilingualism (Bylund et al., 2012). The authors compared the control group with Swedish monolingual and Spanish monolingual speakers. Most of the bilinguals did not achieve a monolingual level of

2_{Language aptitude is an innate, relatively fixed skill for acquiring and processing language structure} (DeKeyser, 2000, in Bylund, et al., 2012: 222).

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proficiency either in Spanish or Swedish; however, a few bilinguals reached a monolingual-like level in L1 and L2 (Bylund et al., 2012).

3.2.2 Research on the advantages of bilingualism and heritage language

Previous studies have discovered several advantages associated with bilingualism that are not possible in monolingualism. For instance, bilingual children could develop bi-lexical skills in two languages when formal mother-tongue teachings are offered in school settings (Ganuza and Hedman, 2017). According to Polinsky (2015), the acquisition of two languages before the age of five has some cognitive advantages, such as the human brain becomes more flexible to alternate between different tasks. Bilingualism has social benefits as Ikizer and Ramírez-Esparza (2018) note, bilinguals alternate two languages they speak and possibly alternate between these languages' cultures. Bilinguals could use this tool to fit in different social situations since they have the skills to smoothly socialize with people who have different cultural and linguistic backgrounds (Ikizer and Ramírez-Esparza, 2018; Hussen, 2019). In a Somali context, HL facilitates children to mingle with other children and adults of the same heritage (Hussen, 2019). However, children who cannot speak proper Somali face bullying and even isolation from the rest of their ethnic group since HL is both a medium of appropriate communication and understanding among these people and a marker of

Somaliness and belonging (Hussen, 2019).

On the one hand, knowledge of HL helps children to keep ties with families and ethnic groups; on the other hand, mastering the societal language also helps children connect with the outside world, such as: making friends outside their ethnic group, having good grades in school, and career goals (Leyendecker et al., 2018: 62). Indeed, play, friendship, and peer group interactions are paramount for children’s wellbeing and learning. Bilingualism help children find friends from various ethnic backgrounds and consequently learn languages (Hussen, 2019). Playing with children of the same heritage helps children get friends of the same origin; hence they could master languages. For instance, children born to Somali immigrant parents who could not speak HL and those who are newly-arrived in Sweden who could not communicate in Swedish could learn Somali and Swedish from one another

(Hussen, 2019). Speaking Swedish and sometimes English at school and leisure time further help children get more playmates and friends and learn more language/s (Hussen, 2019). Other advantages related to knowing heritage language include, but are not limited to, keeping family ties and connections to their origin, and it is linked to keeping cultural identity (Park

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and Sarkar, 2007; Hussen, 2019). In their interviews and questionnaires-based study with Korean immigrant parents in Montreal in Canada, Park and Sarkar (2007: 232) found that parents believe if their children maintain their language, their children would also preserve their cultural identity.

3.2.3 Children’s role in bi/multilingualism

Views and experiences of Somali children in Sweden have not been studied much before. However, a significant number of studies on bi/multilingualism explore how children view their HL and become bilingual. For instance, Gyogi (2015) investigated how two Japanese-English bilingual children with varying backgrounds use their agency in choosing specific languages in the family and other places. The author found that children negotiate and create space to practice both languages in the family despite differing situations. The author also found two types of agency, i.e., a positive agency whereby a child reacts to a parent’s attitude towards bilingualism and shows competence in two languages. In contrast, in the negative agency, a child shows agency through negotiation and resistance to a parent’s monolingual policy by speaking both Japanese and English in family interactions and not just Japanese. Gyogi’s (2015) data comprised semi-structured interviews, participant observations, and audio-recordings of family conversations and were analyzed through interaction analysis and thematic analysis. Gyoji (2015) conceptualized children’s perspectives in the form of action and examined them through observations. Gyoji (2015) also interpreted children’s own interpretation of languages and showed children’s awareness of their family language policy and the need to learn English since they live in the UK. Although children felt speaking exclusive Japanese as “strange and unnatural,” they managed to use only their language, especially when they have no choice but to speak only Japanese; for instance, when one of the two children were talking to the researcher (Gyoji, 2015: 761-762).

In her conversational analysis of data from two fieldwork studies, Kheirkhah (2016) investigated language policy and practices within a family environment, focusing on

children’s contribution to language maintenance. The research questions deal with how family language policy, practice, and management are possible when children oppose parents’

aspirations. Kheirkhah (2016) found that parents’ strategies to heritage language maintenance interrupt parent-child social relations. She also discovered that family language policy

changes over time since children resist language management strategies, and parents adjust accordingly. Kheirkhah (2016) also noticed siblings' role in language management, whereby older siblings correct younger siblings’ words and language use in their parents' presence.

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Kheirkhah (2016) claims that age is an essential factor in understanding how family language policy and practices work. In summary, the findings of the study of Kheirkhah (2016) confirm that family language policy is a collaborative task between all family members.

In a study of a multilingual school setting, Cekaite and Björk-Willén (2012) investigated how peer group interactions promote children’s understanding of school norms for appropriate language use. Cekaite and Björk-Willen (2012: 185) found that children correct each other’s language and propose appropriate words; in this way, children present signs of “competences, conduct and identities” that are associated with language skills. Cekaite and Björk-Willén (2012) also discovered that language corrections were a positive way of showing agency among the peer group. Similarly, Cekaite and Björk-Willén (2012) also noticed that children’s language acquisition occurs both through teacher-pupil and among peer group interactions. The reviewed studies support the ontological perspective on bilingualism as a social

phenomenon and used various types of data to understand this phenomenon.

Method

4.1 Participants recruitment

The present study consisted of six Somali adolescents who are living and growing up in Sweden. I have selected participants from three different places: two large-sized towns and one small-sized town in Sweden. I consciously decided on this type of selection to get different viewpoints, and I used snowball sampling3 (Bryman, 2016: 415). It was not appropriate to conduct at a center where I work because I avoided putting pressure on participants to consent. It was also not reasonable to carry out at school; instead, it was more logical to approach parents since access to parents would enable me to ask children if they want to partake in my study. However, this choice has two consequences. a) parents would function as gatekeepers for individual children, whereas school principals and teachers serve as gatekeepers for an entire group of children. In the end, this may not make a difference for which children participate in the study as the parents who would not allow me to ask their

3_{Snowball sample is “a technique in which the researcher initially samples a small group of people} relevant to the research question, and these sampled participants propose other participants who have had the experience or characteristics relevant to the research” (Bryman, 2016: 415).

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child to participate would probably not have consented even if I would have asked the children first in school. b) With data collection at a particular school, all participants would have common denominators— they would probably live in the same area, and their families would perhaps know each other— and possibly influence each other’s views on bilingualism. It is not necessarily negative, but it differs from approaching informants through friends and networks, in which case the children and their families may reside in different parts of Sweden.

My positionality as a Somali helped me find potential participants of the same descent. First, I called two of my six previous participants. I informed my interest in interviewing their

children on their bilingual experiences, one child from each family since their children know each other. Only one child agreed to partake in the current study after parents discussed it with their children. The child who accepted to participate in the interview facilitated to find another child among his friends. I communicated with the child’s friend and her family, and the child and her parents agreed on her participation in the study. Second, I also spoke with an old friend and asked her if she knows families with children of that age, and she connected me to two families who are living in two different towns in Sweden. Each family introduced me to another family so that I can interview children who are best friends in pairs. Friendship pairs are often children who are close friends or know one another very well (Tinson, 2009: 50). In this way, I have got the remaining four children, and snowball sampling helped me find children who are friends so that the discussion can go smoothly.

I collected both the children’s and their parents’ consent. Three out of the six children were born in Sweden to two immigrant parents, while the other half of the children were born outside Sweden and came at a very young age. Five of the six participants were from Somalia (or their parents came from it), while one child came from Djibouti. Most of the children speak Somali, Swedish, and English fluently, while some speak other languages such as Japanese, French, and Spanish. Please see more detailed demographic information of the children and their spoken languages in table 1.

Table 1 Demographic information of the children and their spoken languages No. Age sex Years in

Sweden Is living with No. of siblings Country of origin Spoken languages Friendship pair

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14 Child 1 15

years

Female 10 years The mother 4 Somalia so, sv, en,ar and ja In Interview 1 Child 2 14 years

Female 11 years The mother

- Djibouti so, sv, en, ar, and es)

In interview 1

Child 3 14 years

Male 4 years Both parents 3 Somalia (so, sv, and en) In interview 2 Child 4 12 years Male 12* Both parents 1 Somalia (So, sv, and en) In interview 2 Child 5 13 years Female 13* Both parents 3 Somalia (so, sv, en and fr) In interview 3 Child 6 14 years Male 15* Both parents 3 Somalia (so, sv, en and fr) In interview 3

Note: * means the child was born in Sweden. - also indicates the child has no siblings. Language codes also mean So=Somali, sv= Swedish, en=English, ar=Arabic, ja=Japanese, es=Spanish and fr=French. The bold text shows children’s reported fluency in language while no bold means little knowledge of that language.

I have carried out three interviews in total. Children in interview one I paired child one and child two; the same applies to interview two and three. In the analysis, I will be using CH plus number (CH1, CH2, and so on).

4.2 Interviews and interview setting

I collected the empirical data of the current study through semi-structured group interviews with six Somali children. In semi-structured interviews, one can formulate open-ended

questions with specific issues of interest to address (Bryman, 2016: 468-469). To carry out the planned interviews with Somali children, I prepared an interview guide4_{that helped me}

organize questions and allowed me to capture participants’ perspectives on their everyday life experiences regarding HL and bilingualism (Bryman, 2016: 469). I conducted three

interviews— children were grouped in pairs, either two girls or two boys were paired, or a boy and a girl were paired. Children were free to choose which language to be interviewed;

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therefore, two pairs have chosen Swedish, while one pair preferred English. In the present study, I used semi-structured group interviewing to capture children’s shared meanings and experiences on bilingualism (Tinson, 2009: 43). In the research, I paired children as

friendship pairs. According to Tinson (2009: 50), friendship pair is useful in research with children because in order to “prevent socially desirable responses (e.g., it will be more difficult for the children in a friendship pair to say what they think the researcher wants to hear as typically the other child will ‘correct’ them).”

In the present study, I adopted an interpretivist epistemological stance to understand heritage language maintenance and child bilingualism. The interpretivist epistemology is an

intellectual tradition adopted within social science in order to capture the “subjective meaning of social action” as opposed to objective views of natural science (Bryman, 2016: 26). Social science differs mainly from natural science because of its emphasis on understanding the meanings of social reality for the people; thus, “human action is meaningful— that is, it has a meaning for them, and they act on the basis of meanings that they attribute to their acts and the act of others” (ibid: 27). In relation to heritage language, bilingualism, and indeed multilingualism, social reality is created by experiences, actions, and meanings attached to them. Therefore, I talked to children and asked about their experiences, meanings, and actions of their bilingual realities in order to get an in-depth understanding of their feelings on

bilingualism, in some cases, even multilingualism.

Language is a vital tool for social research because it facilitates us to ask questions with interviewees and get answers, and from there, we can find how people use words, language, and meanings (Bryman, 2016: 525-526). I revealed a specific version of children's meaning-making of their bilingual experiences and realities to the scientific world (Bryman, 2016: 28), but it cannot be applied to other contexts. Moreover, children as social actors interpreted their bilingual or multilingual realities; however, these views are prone to change over time. In that case, this phenomenon could be understood here and now. I also acknowledge the “double interpretations of social realities”; in that children interpreted their social world, I then interpreted children’s interpretations, and even related to the existing literature on the field of bi/multilingualism (ibid. 28).

Initially, I intended to carry out face-to-face interviews with the children, but this was not possible because of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic and its risk of transmitting through human contact. For that reason, the program director recommended switching to Skype

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interviewing. I have consulted with parents and the children since it was crucial to inform them about this change, notably to update them about privacy-related issues and check if they have good Wi-Fi connections. Both the parents and their children were still interested in the study. Parents assured me about children’s participation in the interviews; therefore, I revised the consent form and sent it to the families. After school hours on three separate days, I conducted the three interviews while I was at my home. I called the parents and asked if the children returned from school and were at home. The paired children go to the same school. All the children were consistent with the agreed time and came online on Skype. For instance, one friend went to the other paired friend's home, and for that reason, both children sat in front of one computer. Considering Covid-19 and its risk in human contact, I asked if it was safe to be in one place, and both parents and the children assured me that the paired children would keep their distance from the rest of the people at home.

Using Skype was convenient and the second-best option when face-to-face interactions were not possible because I could still maintain eye-contact and see children’s relationships during discussions. Friendship pairs worked well since each child had chosen his/her friend, of course, with their parents' help, and the children helped one another during discussions. For instance, when I asked questions, I addressed the child with his/her name; if both the children answered the question, I will either ask a follow-up question/s or to the next interview

question. However, if in case the child did not answer the question or he or she provided an answer that disagreed with the understanding of the other child, the second child was making corrections, explaining more to find answers from their own knowledge and experiences on bilingualism (Tinson, 2009: 50). Other times I just asked questions without addressing a specific child, and the paired children took turns and agreed on one or many answers. Several times, in the interviews, a child had started saying something, and the other child was

finishing the sentence for him/her, while the first child was nodding the head in agreement. Most importantly, I gave children time to discuss questions and seek clarifications if they needed them.

4.3 Ethical considerations

My study's basic assumption was that children are competent and knowledgeable; therefore, they were actively involved with the research process from planning to executing the semi-structured group interviews (Alderson, 2005: 29-30). However, they were not engaged during the analysis and reporting phases (Powell et al., 2016: 12) because it was impossible to do so.

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To safeguard the ethical integrity of the study, I have taken several considerations. First, I did not disclose the exact places of the participants, and I used pseudonyms in order to prevent harm to participants (Bryman, 2016: 125-126). Second, I provided an information letter about the study's purpose during my search of prospective participants; and I sent a consent form in Somali, Swedish, and English to prevent lack of informed consent5 (Bryman, 2016: 129). I assumed that children were capable of withdrawing their consent at any time (Farrell, 2005: 1). Third, I was able to minimize the invasion of privacy of interviewees since I informed participants that the research would not intervene in their privacy by asking very personal questions because it was not necessary for this study (Bryman, 2016: 131-132; Tinson, 2009: 45). To ensure that, I avoided questions that were too personal, such as why they have chosen English or Swedish because they are Somali children. Such a question could humiliate some children since I revealed this in my previous study with parents (Hussen, 2019). Those children face bullying because of their insufficient knowledge of the Somali language.

Forth, I minimized the deception of participants because it was irrelevant considering the current study's aim (Bryman, 2016: 133). For instance, to prevent deception, I presented myself as a parent, a teacher, and a student. I decided to include my career because I could deceive the participants if I hide that I work as a mother-tongue teacher. Even though I was not their teacher, I knew a teacher has an influential position; however, being a parent and a student could reduce the possible tension or anxiety. Furthermore, interviewing children in friendship pairs helped me reduce the power imbalance between me (the researcher) and the children, as well as to reduce informants’ anxiety (Tinson, 2009: 50). I minimized asking questions that may be causing distress, and I was also attentive during discussions; in case some questions were likely to cause distress.

Additionally, I gave children age-appropriate oral information on what entails participation, confidentiality, and anonymity before the interviews commenced (The Swedish Research Council, 2020). I relied on children’s and parents’ consent (Alderson, 2005: 34). Before I started to interview the children, I briefly talked about my research and its aim. I asked again if they allowed me to record the interviews and reminded them that they are free to accept or refuse the interview and even withdraw their consent to participate if they wish to do so at any time. Moreover, I carefully processed all personal data during data collection, data analysis,

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and dissemination (Linköping University, 2019: 1-4). I have also informed participants that I will voice record the interviews, but I will work offline during transcriptions.

Ethically, the present study is significant because it encourages children’s participation in matters that affect their lives, such as bilingualism (Alderson, 2005: 28, 30). I hope my study's findings will contribute to the knowledge of children’s perspectives and understanding of bilingualism.

4.4 Data analysis

Once I collected the empirical data, I relied on what Braun and Clarke (2006) call thematic analysis to analyze the collected material. Thematic analysis is a method of “identifying, analyzing, and reporting patterns (themes) within data” (Braun and Clarke, 2006: 79). When I was identifying the themes, I also employed recommendations provided by Ryan and Bernard (in Bryman, 2016: 586) to look for themes, I searched for topics that appear many times, “indigenous typologies” such as informants’ own meaning-making on bilingualism, the language children used to describe events, the transition from one topic to another, and

“similarities and differences.” I was also looking for “Linguistic connectors, missing data, and theory-related material” (Ryan and Bernard in Bryman, 2016: 586).

I used six phases of thematic analysis by Braun and Clarke (2006). Step1) I transcribed the data in Swedish and English in a Word document, and I thoroughly read and re-read several times to become familiar with the whole range of the data (Braun and Clarke, 2006: 87). Step2) I started coding the data and arranged them into groups that relate to one another. Step3) I then gathered the coded data into potential themes. During the planning of my study, I assumed that the themes such as: cultural identity; children’s agency within the family language maintenance (FLM); language practice and strategies; and challenges related to bilingualism could appear in children’s talks since these emerged both in my previous study with Somali parents and the reviewed studies. However, not all the emerged themes matched the assumed themes (I will discuss this in section 6.2). Step4) I evaluated if the themes match with the coded excepts and the whole data and can make a “thematic map of analysis” (Braun and Clarke, 2006: 87). Step5) I described the themes and named them. Step6) I prepared the report by going back and forth to the whole data and checked if there is a relationship between the emerged themes and the research questions, and the reviewed literature. I carefully

assessed and re-assessed all phases (Braun and Clark, 2006: 86). Three themes emerged, and they are as follows:

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➢ Choice of using languages for different purposes

➢ Importance, views, and values related to bilingualism and heritage language ➢ Challenges associated with bi/multilingualism

Findings

5.1 Choice of using languages for different purposes

The interviewed children talked about different ways of using language that may help them learn languages. According to children’s views, the multicompetence of languages is

beneficial for their daily lives, be it communicating with different people within Sweden and overseas, education, career opportunities, and entertainment.

It is obvious that learning, developing, and sustaining language/s need continuous efforts. Therefore, when children were asked to tell their preferred language to read, communicate in social media, and listen to music, etcetera, they provided very diverse answers that will be illustrated in table 2.

Table 2 Children’s different ways of using languages No. Preferred language to read books Preferred language to communicate in social media Preferred language when listening to music Preferred language to watch television or play games

Child 1 English Swedish and English

English Arabic

Child 2 English Swedish and English

English English

Child 3 Swedish and French

Swedish and English

English Swedish

Child 4 Swedish Swedish and English

English English

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Child 6 Swedish

_-

Swedish/English

Note: - Indicates no use of social media or listening to music

Four out of the six children said they prefer to read books in Swedish, while the remaining two said they like to read in English. They read books either in Swedish and/or in English to be fluent in those languages. They said Swedish is significant since education is taught in Swedish, and people communicate mainly in Swedish; therefore, one must acquire fluency in Swedish. All of the children think knowledge of English is crucial since it is an international language that facilitates them to have many opportunities, such as communicating with different people of different backgrounds in the world and studying at university since some higher education (mainly the second cycle) is taught in English. The children remarked that, even though the primary teaching is Swedish in the first cycle, some reading materials are written in English as they observed from siblings of their friends who study at university. Some even mentioned that knowledge of English is a must, especially when traveling overseas and future career opportunities.

As multimedia becomes common and available to children, children choose which language to communicate on social media. Four out of the six children use social media such as: WhatsApp, Instagram, Viber, Snapchat, etc. These participants remarked that they prefer to communicate in Swedish or English, depends on who they are communicating with, for instance, friends or classmates. Children also stated that they use these languages in different situations, as CH2 specifically told:

“[...] when it comes to my friends, I communicate in Swedish, like the chat is Swedish. But when it comes to posting on a chatroom, I write in English. Because it is like a more common language [...].”

The girl in the statement above said she uses Swedish when communicating with close friends. It may be that her friends live in Sweden, and they all understand Swedish. However, when it comes to writing in public places on social media, she uses English since, as she said, “English is more common.” It may be that the chat is open to all people in all corners of the world.

Four out of the six children said they listen to music in English, while two others maintained to not listen to music at all. The majority of the children said they watch television; one said

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she used to watch in Arabic when she was young. The rest of the children said they watch in their free time either in Swedish or English, depending on what they are watching— the news, films, comedy, etc. Some of the children also mentioned they play games connected to the screen of the TV and play either in Swedish or English, depending on where the game was produced.

In the children’s talks, knowledge of Swedish is a must since they live in Sweden; therefore, it is crucial to invest in Swedish. It may reveal their eagerness for inclusion and be members of the Swedish society. Knowledge of English is an added advantage when it comes to

communication with people living in many places in the world, education, and carrier prospects.

5.2 Importance, views, and values related to bilingualism and heritage language

The analysis of the interviews with six Somali children reveals that heritage language and being bi/multilingual are vital in many aspects of their lives, such as: making friends with different people globally, creating healthy family and community ties, and being good at school, and career prospects.

The interviewed Somali children have expressed their views on being bilingual in Sweden by presenting the significance of bi/multilingualism. All of the participants agreed that

bilingualism or even multilingualism has various advantages. Children expressed their feelings about languages as follows:

Interviewer: can you tell me what you think and feel when you hear about bilingualism?

Ch3: Someone who can interpret in two languages. It is good, for example, if you know two languages [Somali and Swedish], then you can speak Somali with those who speak Somali and Swedish with those who speak Swedish.

Here, we can see the child understand bilingualism as the ability to use two languages with different people of different contexts. Similarly, when children were asked the same question in the interview1, they replied:

Interviewer: can you tell me what you think and feel when you hear about bilingualism?

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Ch2: I think it is really cool to speak many languages. It is like having many

opportunities to speak with different kinds of people from different places on earth. Ch1: [...] if you go to a country, and you speak mainly one language, it is gonna really be hard. If you speak multiple languages [...], that is pretty awesome! So,

multilingualism is a pretty useful tool. It mainly means multiple languages, talking different languages at the same time.

The above statements of the children uncovered their feelings about bi/multilingualism, such as: feeling great, having the ability to interact with different people in the world, or using Somali and Swedish with different people, depending on who the child is speaking. It indicates children’s eagerness to master Somali to speak with their heritage people, Swedish with the larger society, and other languages with the world.

5.2.1 Feeling of belonging

Language is a means of communication, but interlocutors’ in-depth understanding depends not just on the speakers' uttered words, and it is a lot more complicated. When I asked children: how do you feel when you hear someone speaking Somali? CH6 replied:

I feel at home. That is my language. That is where I come from and stuff, so it feels good to have people from the same country.

The above quote demonstrated that keeping the company of someone speaking HL creates feelings of ethnic belonging. It seems that the child linked language and the origin country; therefore, speaking the shared language, that is, Somali, is a marker of ethnic identity. Language and cultural identity are linked since shared culture facilitates understandings among native speakers (Edward, 2009). Two other children connected a sense of belonging and understanding by speaking HL with ethnic HL speakers. Especially, CH3 and CH5 said that shared ethnic identity creates a sense of belonging, facilitating a better understanding between them and their heritage encounters.

Interviewer: how do you feel when you hear someone speaking Somali? Ch3: I feel he can speak Somali and I talk to him very much in Somali. And he understands what I mean.

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Here, the child’s statement explains that the conversation goes more smoothly when speaking with HL speakers since they, the child and the interlocutor, understand each other more efficiently. In another interview, I asked the following question.

Interviewer: How do you feel when you speak Somali with Somali people in Sweden? CH5: I feel very happy! So, here in Sweden, it is not good to know only Swedish, but it is also good to speak Somali [...].

Interviewer: Can you tell me a little more?

Ch5: So, it will be easier to fit in and feel at home with other friends, maybe Somalis. It will also be easy to understand each other.

From the above statement, the child revealed that shared language creates a sense of belonging and positive feelings.

The above statements of the children of two interviews illustrated that HL enables better understanding and that children feel belonging when they interact with people of the same heritage. It seems that children have these feelings since they and their heritage encounters have a common culture. It also tells the role of culture in facilitating understanding among heritage speakers.

5.2.2 Child-parents and child-siblings relationships

Family language policy may influence how children perceive their language, and some

children may normalize the daily routine of speaking Somali at home. When this question was asked: How do you feel when you speak Somali with your parents, two participants replied:

CH1: Natural.

Interviewer: What do you mean natural?

CH1: Normal, in everyday life you use [Somali]. In your home, your parents speak one language not multiple.

CH2: hahaha I guess, I can say natural too. And I use it every day, pretty much, yeah! The statement above showed that, for some children, it is the norm to speak only the HL at home and not too many languages. The children normalized FLP as they may have passed the

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time of negotiating and resisting language use at home as they, together with their parents, may have established consensus on which language to use within family settings.

Other interviewees reasoned that speaking Somali at home eases understanding and improves the child-parent relationship. They also think it is a win-win situation since they can develop language skills in HL; more precisely, two participants responded:

CH6: it feels normal. I speak Somali with my parents so that they understand me more.

CH5: For me, it is not that special, but it feels good to speak in Somali with parents because it is the language they know most, and it feels better, and I learn more. The first child was aware of the importance of speaking HL at home since the child and his parents understand better if they talk their HL in their interaction, which creates a strong child-parent relationship. The second statement added that the child develops more Somali skills, on top of improved understanding between her and her parents, when she speaks Somali at home with her parents. The children's statements disclosed that speaking HL at home plays a significant role in a strong parent-child relationship and bond.

Five out of the six children have mentioned that they speak HL with their siblings. They said it is the same as speaking with parents and sometimes learn from one another. Especially CH5 noted the following:

Ch5: I Speak Somali with my siblings, maybe to help them Interviewer: Does that mean you teach them?

CH5: I teach the younger ones and the older ones teach me?

The above statement demonstrated that since she has both older and younger siblings, they teach HL one another; in that, while she teaches younger children, the older children teach her. It shows the siblings' role in family language management and confirms previous studies (Kheirkhah, 2016; Hussen, 2019). However, Kheirkhah (2016) adopted a different

methodology to understand the role of siblings in FLM.

5.2.3 Bi/multilingualism for creating friendship

Children who are bi/multilingual can make more linguistic friends at school and in their free time. The different languages facilitate them to interact with both friends from their ethnic group and friends from broader society, both ethnic Swedish and immigrant children. When I asked: How does bilingualism relate to your everyday life? CH5 responded:

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Bilingualism relates to my daily life because I frequently change [between Somali and Swedish]. For example, when I am at school or when I am at home. It also varies with who I talk to. It can be when I am out, so maybe, when I speak with Somali friends, then I mix the languages a little, both Somali and Swedish.

The above statement illustrated that the child frequently changes between HL and the societal language, which depends on the situation she finds herself in, such as: at home, at school, or the playground. It shows how FLP regulates which language to speak at which place. In other words, the strict use of HL at home. Interestingly, the child has more freedom regarding which languages to use at the playground when interacting with children of the same heritage.

5.2.4 Mastering heritage language

Some children are aware of the benefits of learning heritage language at home and in school in terms of bi-literacy skills. When I asked these questions: do you attend mother-tongue

teaching classes, and if so, do you find it easy to learn Somali? Two children replied:

CH6: Yes, it is easy because I always speak Somali at home, and I attend mother-tongue teaching classes.

CH5: Yes, for the most part, it is easy, but some words are more difficult. I sometimes learn new words.

CH6: I think it is good to write a little bit in Somali and learn how to write and speak at home. So, the mother-tongue class teaches me grammar and writing in Somali which is advantageous in other parts.

The above statements illustrate that children combine speaking Somali at home and partaking in MTI at school and that this enables children to master their HL. MTI, in particular, helps, as the children said, to acquire grammar and formal language to develop better writing and vocabulary skills, which then affects their biliteracy competence and abilities. The children's claim concurs with findings of a longitudinal study on the effects of MTI on Somali-Swedish bilinguals’ literacy and vocabulary by Ganuza and Hedman (2017). They found that Somali children who participate in MTI for a year or more advanced their vocabulary and reading skills in Somali, which significantly affected school language proficiency (Ganuza and Hedman, 2017: 126). It is relevant to mention that the two studies differ in terms of methodology.

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5.2.5 Family ties and interactions with the ethnic community

All the children agreed that learning Somali is vital for their life because they use their language to communicate with their overseas extended- families and relatives. They said it is the only language that their aunts, uncles, and grandparents usually speak. Some children even stated that their people speak other languages, but it is easier to understand one another when the HL is used. Remarkably, CH2 mentioned that her father lives in the USA, so it is normal for her to speak with him in English and Somali equally. As she said, she sometimes needs each language, even though she considers English as her primary language in terms of the degree of proficiency.

Another child said it is significant to learn Somali to see how Somalia looks like or the people's daily lives in Somalia and to know a language that all people there can understand.

Interviewer: How often do you travel to your home country? Ch4: I have never seen my homeland.

Interviewer: Do you think it is cool to travel to Somalia?

CH4: yes, you can see how it looks like. What they usually do. Interviewer: Do you think it is good to learn Somali?

CH4: yes, so as to talk to those who cannot speak Swedish or English, and so [...] The above viewpoint demonstrated that learning HL would help the child understand the origin country and its people’s everyday life. The desire to visit the origin country and the curiosity to understanding how the daily life of people of the same heritage back home reinforces him to learn HL.

In this section, the interviewed children talked about the significance of bilingualism or multilingualism in their everyday lives. They mentioned HL’s importance for strong family bonds and relationships and the importance of Swedish and English to connect to different people here in Sweden and other places in the world. They also describe how HL helps them connect with children of the same ethnic background in Sweden since HL carries a culture that would facilitate better understanding. Children also talked about family language management by speaking and teaching HL within the family environment. They even spoke