Multilingualism and multiculturalism: transatlantic discourses on language, identity, and immigrant schooling

Salomone considers identity not only with regard to the individual student's need for family and community relationships, but also with a view toward the nation's interest in social cohesion. She focuses on the extent to which these dual interests have weighed in the policy making balance on the federal level in the US, and on the supranational level, in Western Europe where decision makers operate against a wider spectrum of concerns. To that end, she uses contrasting discourses on multilingualism and multiculturalism in the US and Western Europe as a framework for examining how history and politics have shaped attitudes and policies on immigrants and their languages and how the current political rhetoric at times defies reality and reason. She describes the challenges faced by Western European nations where multilingualism is officially promoted for European integration while multiculturalism, whether official or not, has come under broad attack. In making the case for recognizing language as a constituent of culture, she examines research findings supporting the emotional and academic benefits that students derive when schools affirm their home language. In conclusion, she attempts to resolve the apparent conflicts and contradictions in transatlantic discourses on multilingualism and multiculturalism and suggests that schools on both sides of the Atlantic consider a range of policies and practices that recognize and respect the language of all linguistic minority students, and most specifically the children of immigrants.