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Language planners are increasingly aware of the importance of new speakers (individuals acquiring a language outside the home, typically later-on in life) for the revitalisation of minority languages. Yet, little is known about new speakers’ activation (the process by which they become active and habitual minority language users). This article presents a questionnaire-based investigation of new speakers’ (n = 264) use of West Frisian in Fryslân, Netherlands—and the role traditional speakers play in new speakers’ activation. Qualitative and quantitative data show that participants use West Frisian only rarely; and when they do use it, it is mainly in the classroom. Minority language interactions outside the classroom, with traditional speakers, consist mostly of a few tokenistic words or phrases. The findings show to what extent different behaviours by traditional speakers discourage and/or encourage new speakers’ minority language use, highlighting how the complex dynamics between the speaker groups are hindering revitalisation efforts. The article discusses the implications of these findings for language planning to promote the activation of new speakers, and thereby the revitalisation of West Frisian.

Many parents express concerns for their children’s multilingual development, yet little is known about the nature and strength of these concerns – especially among parents in multilingual societies. This pre-registered, questionnaire-based study addresses this gap by examining the concerns of 821 Quebec-based parents raising infants and toddlers aged 0-4 years with multiple languages in the home. Factor analysis of parents’ Likert-scale responses revealed that parents had (1) concerns regarding the effect of children’s multilingualism on their cognition, and (2) concerns regarding children’s exposure to and attainment of fluency in their languages. Concern strength was moderate to weak, and cognition concerns were stronger than exposure-fluency concerns. Transmission of a heritage language, transmission of three or more languages, presence of developmental issues, and less positive parental attitudes towards childhood multilingualism were associated with stronger concerns. These findings have both theoretical and practical implications: they advance our understanding of parental concerns and facilitate the development of support for multilingual families.

This report is based on the research project New Speakers of West Frisian: Promoting Language Learning and Use to Foster Revitalisation. The report begins with an overview of the project design, followed by separate discussions regarding the four parts of the project – Part 1: motivations for learning West Frisian, Part 2: attitudes towards West Frisian, Part 3: evaluations of the standardised variety of West Frisian, and Part 4: use of West Frisian. The report presents the main outcomes and outputs of the project, it offers reflections on these, and it concludes by providing research-based recommendations regarding language policy and planning measures as well as future research.

This is the first study to demonstrate a systematic link between (1) attitudes towards minority languages and (2) ideologies regarding the standardised varieties of minority languages that tend to be taught to new speakers – that is, individuals who are acquiring a language outside the home, typically later on in life. A questionnaire was used to elicit new speakers’ (n=264) attitudes towards West Frisian and their ideological evaluations of its standardised variety. The results revealed that status-related attitudes correlate with ideological evaluations in terms of anonymity, and solidarity-related attitudes correlate with ideological evaluations in terms of authenticity. The paper argues that more comprehensive insights can be gained if the different ontological and epistemological positions typically associated with attitudes and ideologies research are reconciled. Moreover, the Frisian context exemplifies the important implications that new speakers’ attitudinal and ideological evaluations have for language planning that aims to promote minority language revitalisation., Little is known about the connection between individuals’ evaluative reactions to (i) minority languages as such, and (ii) specific varieties of these minority languages. This study investigates such evaluative reactions amongst new speakers of Frisian in the Netherlands (n = 264). A questionnaire was used to elicit participants’ attitudes towards the Frisian language and their evaluations of the specific variety of Frisian they were taught. The results reveal a significant correlation between participants’ status-related attitudes towards Frisian and their anonymity-related evaluations of the variety they were taught—as well as between participants’ solidarity-related attitudes towards Frisian and their authenticity-related evaluations of the variety they were taught. The former are close to neutral; the latter are mildly positive. The article discusses how these results not only advance our general understanding of language in society, but also facilitate the development of more comprehensive science communication to inform revitalisation strategies in minority contexts. (Language attitudes, language ideologies, minority languages, language planning, language revitalisation, language transmission, new speakers)

Many infants and children around the world grow up exposed to two or more languages. Their success in learning each of their languages is a direct consequence of the quantity and quality of their everyday language experience, including at home, in daycare and preschools, and in the broader community context. Here, we discuss how research on early language learning can inform policies that promote successful bilingual development across the varied contexts in which infants and children live and learn. Throughout our discussions, we highlight that each individual child’s experience is unique. In fact, it seems that there are as many ways to grow up bilingual as there are bilingual children. To promote successful bilingual development, we need policies that acknowledge this variability and support frequent exposure to high- quality experience in each of a child’s languages.

This is the first large-scale, quantitative study of the evaluative dimensions and potential predictors of Quebec-based parents’ attitudes towards childhood multilingualism. Such attitudes are assumed to constitute a determinant of parental language choices, and thereby influence children’s multilingual development. The newly-developed Attitudes towards Childhood Multilingualism Questionnaire was used to gather data from 826 participants raising an infant/toddler aged 0-4 years with multiple languages in the home. The results reveal three separate dimensions: status and solidarity (the same dimensions found in attitudes towards individual languages) as well as cognitive development (not previously attested as a separate dimension). Participants’ approach to promoting multilingualism (and specifically, whether they used the one-person-one-language-approach) and the combination of languages transmitted (and specifically, whether this included a heritage language) correlated significantly with parental attitudes towards childhood multilingualism. Parents’ linguistic background and location within Quebec were not significant predictors of attitudes. The paper discusses directions for further research.

This paper examines minority language education in the Dutch province of Fryslân from a rights-based approach. To conduct the analysis, we employed a qualitative (legal) content analysis. We explored minority language rights at different levels to answer the following question: To what extent are international and regional standards on minority-language education applied domestically to education in Frisian and through the medium of the Frisian language? We discuss the historical trends in the international community regarding minority-language education and elaborate specifically on the Netherlands’ shifting approach on the matter. Our analysis of international, regional, and domestic regulations shows that the issue of exemptions and the reduction in the Frisian core objectives have weakened the position of Frisian in education. Owing to the lack of proper implementation of the current regulations, the Netherlands has been deficient in fulfilling the right to mother-tongue education in Frisian primary schools. The analysis further shows that the Netherlands do not treat Frisian education as a right. Legal solutions to remedy this situation are discussed.

This is the first large-scale study of resources as a form of language management – that is, a way of influencing children’s language practices. We introduce the distinction between child-directed resources (i.e., those providing parents with opportunities to engage with their children in the languages they are transmitting) and parent-directed resources (i.e., those providing parents with information about multilingual child-rearing). This pre-registered study focused on the awareness and use of, as well as the desire for, such resources among Québec-based parents (n=826) raising infants/toddlers (0-4 years) with multiple languages in the home. Data were collected with a questionnaire. Quantitative data were analyzed statistically, and qualitative data were analyzed using a computer assisted discourse study. We compared parents transmitting at least one heritage language – usually in addition to English and/or French (HL parents), and parents transmitting only the societal languages English and French (non-HL parents). Overall, the findings show that non-HL parents were comparatively satisfied with existing child- and parent-directed resources in English and French. By contrast, HL parents had a stronger desire for additional resources in their HLs. All parents desired multilingual resources. The paper discusses the theoretical and practical contributions of this study as well as directions for further research.

In the last decade, thousands of forcibly-displaced people have sought refuge in the Netherlands. Many of them are highly-educated, and their integration into the host society’s labour market could improve their own quality of life as well as making a significant contribution to the country’s economy. However, refugees face many challenges in their search for employment. This is the first exploratory study of the role that professional intercultural communicative competence (PICC) plays in highly-educated refugees’ integration in the Dutch labour market. Interviews and focus groups were used to collect data from refugees who had already successfully integrated into the Dutch workforce as well as from newcomers who were still in the process of achieving this. Content analysis was performed on the data, using rounds of deductive and inductive coding and analysis. The findings indicate that the development of PICC (including resilience) plays an important role in helping refugees overcome the challenges they face. The article discusses the implications of the findings – should they generalise – in terms of PICC training offered to refugees themselves (as part of their language courses) and to professionals who work with them, with the aim of facilitating and promoting the refugees’ labour market integration.

This chapter examines what research falls under the epithet of ‘mixed methods’ and discusses the main advantages of conducting mixed-methods research. The chapter introduces the key issues of mixed-methods research planning and design: that is, the tackling of ontological and epistemological challenges, the equal weighting of methods, and the sequencing of methods. The chapter also provides information regarding the analysis of data resulting from mixed-methods research, and how this can be done in a manner that provides appropriate integration. The key issues of the chapter are illustrated by means of two case studies. The first investigates attitudes towards French and English in Montreal, making use of a questionnaire and a matched-guise experiment. This case study shows how mixed-methods approaches can lead to a deeper understanding of language attitudes as part of larger social processes in a manner that no one method on its own could do. The second case study examines attitudes towards Catalan in Northern Catalonia by means of interviews and variable analysis. This case study demonstrates how mixed-methods research allows for a broader representation of the attitudinal and ideological landscape of a specific language community than could be afforded by the use of one method alone.

Policy makers are increasingly aware of the importance of new speakers (i.e. individuals acquiring a language outside the home, typically later-on in life) for the revitalisation of minority languages. Consequently, in many contexts, new speakers’ acquisition of the local minority language is now promoted through the education system. Yet, knowledge of a language does not automatically entail its use, and little is known about the activation of new speakers (i.e. the process by which they become active and habitual minority language users). This article presents a questionnaire-based study conducted in the Dutch province of Fryslân, which investigates new speakers’ (n=264) use of the local minority language – West Frisian – and the role that traditional speakers play in new speakers’ activation. Qualitative and quantitative data show that new speakers use West Frisian only very rarely; and when they do use it, it is mainly in the classroom. Minority language interactions outside the classroom, with traditional speakers, consist mostly of a few tokenistic words or phrases. The results highlight how the complex relationship between traditional and new speakers (in which questions of legitimacy and linguistic insecurity are highly pertinent) is hindering revitalisation efforts. The study provides nuanced insights into the dynamics of new speakers’ activation by showing to what extent different behaviours on the part of traditional speakers discourage and/or encourage new speakers’ minority language use. The article discusses the implications of these results for language policy and planning in Fryslân, and potentially also in other minority language communities.