Author(s)

Ann-Christin Torpsten

Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden.

In order to increase knowledge and understanding of school as language practice, a life story approach is used to study multilingual pupils’ narratives about their nine years in compulsory school. Texts with the heading My School Years are interpreted. Experiences of being outside and initially lacking access to the linguistic contexts in school as well as approaches to linguistic competence or incompetence emerge from the analysis. The pupils’ overall language potential is invisible. Other findings are efforts toward what can be described as linguistic uniformity, school and education and development of the pupils’ social and cultural capital and linguistic competence.

Multilingual Practice, Life Story, Linguistic Uniformity, Competence, Incompetence

Torpsten, A. (2017) Multilingual Students Strategies for Participation in Language Contexts
—Students Tell about Language, Language Development and Language Competence in a School Practice. Creative Education, 8, 678-692. doi: 10.4236/ce.2017.85053.