Constructions of Cultural Identity in the Primary Foreign Language Classroom

Abstract Research and theory in the field of intercultural education and language learning highlight that plurilingualism and pluriculturality are valid resources for learning in today’s classrooms. Students should be encouraged to share their views and identities, which in return exposes the classroom to multiple perspectives. This chapter summarizes a qualitative, explorative study into how 10- and 11‑year-old students communicated their cultural identities while participating in autonomous and cooperative biographical learning activities in an English as a foreign language classroom. The focus was on what students mentioned when it came to perception of the self—their own identifications and the perceptions of others—including their views on languages, religions, home countries, and families. The study examined the ABC’s of cultural understanding and communication for young language learners. The data corpus included documents from 61 students, consisting of writings and drawings complemented by classroom observation and semistructured interviews with eight exemplary cases.1 The findings generated from triangulation and qualitative content analysis indicated that parents’ cultural origins have a strong impact on children’s construction of cultural identity, which also mirrors normative views of peers on legitimate identity constructions. Attitudes towards language were related to personal identifications and the perceived status of languages. Additionally, the study showed that despite the wealth of resources in multicultural classrooms, students have only limited knowledge about one another. Thus, I provide material to stimulate intercultural learning in primary and lower secondary classrooms.