Stockholm university
Department of Teaching and Learning

Monolingual habitus meets multilingual reality: Policies and practices from the French school contex

Seminar

Date: Tuesday 25 November 2025

Time: 13.00 – 14.30

Location: E362, Svante Arrhenius väg 20 A, house E, Floor 3

Andrea Young, Professor at the University of Strasbourg, explores how language policies shaped by the idea of “one country, one people, one language” meet today’s diverse schools. Using French examples, she shows how teachers oppose such policies through collaboration across subjects.

Andrea Young- Photo: Private.
 

Abstract

The second article of the French constitution states that the language of the République is French. At the heart of language policy in France lies the protection and promotion of the French language as a, if not the, federating element of the nation. The “one people, one nation, one language” mantra has for centuries constituted the ideological basis upon which many school-based language policies have been built and justified.

As our world evolves, and populations become increasingly interconnected and mobile, how is France adapting to the new normal of inner city schools where an increasingly diverse number of languages are spoken by pupils, families and staff? In the interests of effective teaching and learning across the curriculum through the language(s) of schooling, what roles can/should practitioners and researchers play in such complex multilingual contexts? How can professionals support each other as they deal with the challenges and opportunities inherent to highly multilingual environments? In this talk I will present the relatively recent evolution in school language policy, outline chalkface, in schools.

Bio – Andrea Young

Andrea Young works at the Faculty of Education and Lifelong Learning (INSPÉ) at the University of Strasbourg where she is a Full Professor of English and member of the Language(s) and Society unit of the LiLPa (Linguistique, Langues, Parole, UR1339) research group. Her research and teaching interests include teacher education for the support of (emergent) bi/plurilingual learners, home/school educational partnerships, critical teacher language awareness and plurilingual and intercultural education.

Andrea regularly participates in European and international projects related to her research interests and is currently a member of the ACTIN (ACT and connect for INtegration: language learning and cultural awareness) European project consortium, working to strengthen ties between universities, NGOs and schools.

 

Research subjects
Language Education Swedish as a second language

Last updated: October 17, 2025

Source: Department of Teaching and Learning

eventNewsArticle

standard-article

true

{
  "dimensions": [
    {
      "id": "department.categorydimension.subject",
      "name": "Global categories",
      "enumerable": true,
      "entities": [],
      "localizations": {}
    },
    {
      "id": "department.categorydimension.tag.Keywords",
      "name": "Keywords",
      "enumerable": false,
      "entities": [],
      "localizations": {}
    },
    {
      "id": "department.categorydimension.tag.Person",
      "name": "Person",
      "enumerable": false,
      "entities": [],
      "localizations": {}
    },
    {
      "id": "department.categorydimension.tag.Tag",
      "name": "Tag",
      "enumerable": false,
      "entities": [],
      "localizations": {}
    },
    {
      "id": "webb2021.categorydimension.Category.Events",
      "name": "Event Category (Webb 2021)",
      "enumerable": true,
      "entities": [
        {
          "id": "webb2021.categorydimension.Category.Events.research",
          "name": "Research",
          "entities": [],
          "attributes": [],
          "childrenOmitted": false,
          "localizations": {}
        }
      ],
      "localizations": {}
    },
    {
      "id": "webb2021.categorydimension.Label",
      "name": "Etiketter (Webb 2021)",
      "enumerable": true,
      "entities": [],
      "localizations": {}
    },
    {
      "id": "webb2021.categorydimension.Label.en",
      "name": "Labels (Webb 2021)",
      "enumerable": true,
      "entities": [],
      "localizations": {}
    },
    {
      "id": "webb2021.categorydimension.Keyword",
      "name": "Keywords (Webb 2021)",
      "enumerable": false,
      "entities": [],
      "localizations": {}
    },
    {
      "id": "amnesdidaktik.eng.lokala.kat",
      "name": "Lokala kategorier Eng",
      "enumerable": true,
      "entities": [
        {
          "id": "amnesdidaktik.eng.lokala.kat.calendar",
          "name": "Local calendar",
          "entities": [
            {
              "id": "amnesdidaktik.eng.lokala.kat.calendar.om",
              "name": "About the department",
              "entities": [],
              "attributes": [],
              "childrenOmitted": false,
              "localizations": {}
            }
          ],
          "attributes": [],
          "childrenOmitted": false,
          "localizations": {}
        }
      ],
      "localizations": {}
    }
  ]
}