Multilingual Migrants and Monolingual Teachers: The Discursive Construction of Identity in a Flanders Primary School

Abstract

As a result of politically, economically and socially motivated migration, which started in the seventies, Belgium has undergone a considerable demo-linguistic change. Flanders, the Dutch speaking part of Belgium, is no exception to this (see, Ramaut 1998; Verlot and Delrue 2004). While for those immigrants who belong to Western European groups there has been a form of integration within the mainstream culture, a strong case for social (and linguistic) integration still needs to be made for non-western minorities, such as the Turkish and Moroccans (Blommaert and Verschueren 1998). This is also seen in the ambiguous attitude toward minority communities which emerges from the analysis of Flemish educational policy documents. These, in fact, while calling for the preservation and nurturing of group identity and community languages, are in sharp contrast with a minority perspective which demands that minority community members recognize and respect the values and norms of mainstream society, that is, acceptance of cultural boundaries, without being included in them (see, Verlot 2000; De Caluwe et al. 2002).