Language Awareness and Cultural Awareness in the Subject Danish: Learning Opportunities for Students With Danish as L2

Abstract As Europe becomes a more multicultural society, schools have more students with various cultural and linguistic backgrounds. For the last 40 years, migration has been changing the schools in Denmark, but policy documents, and thus teaching in schools, do not seem to keep pace with the changes. This chapter’s goal is to examine the school subjects Danish as a first language (D‑L1) and as a foreign language (D‑L2) as described in official policy documents, with a focus on the use of the term “language.” The term seems to be used in two very different ways for different subjects. The D‑L1 description in policy documents seems to “naturalize” Danish as the only language to be taught and used, meaning it is seen as something natural and therefore unchangeable; it is considered something that cannot be different. This naturalization seems to legitimize the exclusion of D‑L2 students or those with different cultural backgrounds. On this basis, the learning opportunities for D‑L2 students in Denmark are discussed regarding aspects of culture and language. D‑L2 students have fewer opportunities to use their linguistic repertoire and learn Danish for functional purposes than D‑L1 students. This situation connects to the description of language in the policy documents, and the findings call for a new way of describing the D‑L1 school subject to achieve a more culturally sustaining pedagogy in Danish schools.