A Study of Plurilingualism and Pluriculturalism Through the Lived Experiences of Three Young Adults from Multigenerational Homes

A Study of Plurilingualism and Pluriculturalism Through the Lived Experiences of Three Young Adults From Multigenerational Homes

Elissa Daniela Corsi

A dissertation submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Italian Studies University of Toronto

A Study of Plurilingualism and Pluriculturalism Through the Lived Experiences of Three Young Adults in Multigenerational Homes

Elissa Daniela Corsi

Doctor of Philosophy

Department of Italian Studies University of Toronto

2019 Abstract

This qualitative study explored the lived experiences that contribute to plurilingualism and pluricultural identity for three young adults living in multigenerational homes. The research focused on the shared stories of the participants in regard to their language, culture, and identity.

The timeline for the study was over various segments of the primary participant’s life, which began with her early bilingual language development as a child in the year 2000. Later, as a young adult, she explored her plurilingual and pluricultural identity through semistructured interviews and stimulated recall (SR). Data for the other two participants were collected over a three month period through one-on-one semistructured interviews. The participants all lived in multigenerational homes, where both Italian and English were spoken. Additionally, all participants received varying amounts of French language instruction at school. At the conclusion of the interviews, data were analyzed through the use of thematic analysis. The

themes explored were: family, in particular grandparents; language; and identity. The study found that positive relationships with family and extended family present in the home was a significant factor in the development of plurilingual and cultural identity for all three participants. Greater linguistic ability did not necessarily lead to greater language confidence, nor greater plurilingual self-identification. The interconnectedness of language and the acceptance of the varying degrees of language competency within an individual’s language repertoire was also explored. The data led to the conclusion that all three participants had found a way in which to be both Canadian and Italian in Alberta. Participants shared experiences in which they viewed their identity as linked to more than one language and culture. While the study allowed for a detailed view into which experiences impacted on the development of plurilingual and pluricultural identification, more attention to plurilingualism is needed in order to further develop the research concerning the topic.

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Acknowledgments

The journey to completion has been long and there are many people that have made this doctoral dissertation possible. I have to start by thanking my three participants. Without their stories, there would not be a dissertation. Thank you for the time you spent with me and for your willingness to share stories about your families, your languages, and your identities.

I wish to thank Dr. Enrica Piccardo, my thesis supervisor. Your guidance and support have been essential throughout this process. Thank you for the many hours of reading, editing and discussions. I am so grateful that you agreed to be my supervisor even though there had been such a long break in my doctoral program. Thank you for taking a chance and working with me.

To Dr. Gianrenzo Clivio, it was your encouragement and love of language learning and dialects that initially started me on this road many years ago.

Dr. Marcel Danesi and Dr. Simone Casini, my committee members, thank you both for your encouragement, insight, and willingness to work within tight timelines so that I could complete the process within a given timeframe. This dissertation is better because of your comments and suggestions. Thank you.

To my parents, it is hard to find the words to express what your support has meant to me. This journey began 18 years ago when I was a young adult living in your home. Your belief in me has not wavered since then and your encouragement had been constant. I am so very grateful for you both.

To my world, Maia, and Alessandro, this is for you both. Thank you for your understanding as I worked many evenings and weekends this past year. Remember that anything is possible with hard work and dedication.

Finally to Felice, thank you for allowing me this year to devote to myself and to my writing. Thank you for your understanding, your encouragement, and your love.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments...... iv

List of Tables ...... x

List of Figures ...... xi

List of Appendices ...... xii

List of Acronyms ...... xiii

Chapter 1 Research Introduction ...... 1

1.1 Research overview ...... 1

1.2 Setting the stage ...... 1

1.2.1 Identity, language, and culture ...... 2

1.2.2 Plurilingualism ...... 2

1.3 Purpose of the research ...... 3

1.4 Research questions ...... 4

1.5 Organization of the study ...... 4

1.6 Limitations ...... 5

Chapter 2 Literature Review ...... 7

An overview ...... 7

2.1 Origins of poststructuralism ...... 7

2.1.1 Poststructuralism defined ...... 8

2.1.2 Poststructuralism and second languages ...... 9

2.1.3 Poststructuralist language research ...... 10

2.2 Language and identity ...... 13

2.2.1 Language and identity research ...... 14

2.2.2 Identity and language learning ...... 17

2.3 Cultural identity ...... 19 v

2.3.1 Italo-Canadian biculturalism ...... 21

2.3.2 Pluricultural identity ...... 22

2.4 Bilingualism and multilingualism: More than just two languages ...... 23

2.5 Plurilingualism ...... 25

2.6 Children and language development ...... 27

2.6.1 Early childhood bilingualism ...... 28

2.6.2 Language of the community ...... 28

2.6.3 Vocabulary and language development ...... 29

2.6.4 Second or third language development ...... 30

2.6.5 School and identity ...... 31

2.6.6 Cross-linguistic influences ...... 34

2.6.7 Translanguaging ...... 34

2.7 Heritage language maintenance ...... 37

2.8 Caregivers and extended family: Influence on language and cultural identity ...... 40

2.8.1 Multigenerational considerations ...... 42

2.9 Significance of the study ...... 44

Chapter 3 Methodology ...... 47

Overall Research Design...... 47

3.1 The case study as an approach ...... 48

3.2 Previous case studies...... 50

3.3 The process ...... 54

3.3.1 Present day ...... 54

3.3.2 Stories ...... 55

3.4 Thematic analysis...... 59

3.5 The participants ...... 63

3.6 The researcher ...... 66 vi

3.7 Ethics...... 67

3.8 Summary ...... 68

Chapter 4 Me, Myself, and I ...... 69

4. The Researcher...... 69

4.1 Where am I from? ...... 69

4.2 Childhood memories ...... 72

4.3 The later years ...... 73

4.4 Family ...... 74

4.5 Language memories ...... 75

4.6 Summary ...... 76

Chapter 5 Maria ...... 77

5 Maria: An Introduction ...... 77

5.1 Input ...... 78

5.2 Nonverbal communication ...... 80

5.3 The later years ...... 81

5.4 School, language, and culture ...... 82

5.5 Reflections ...... 83

5.6 Family: Close, and closer ...... 83

5.6.1 People they admired ...... 84

5.6.2 Favourite memory ...... 84

5.6.3 Grandparents ...... 86

5.7 Language ...... 89

5.7.1 Tell me who, and I will tell you how I answer ...... 89

5.7.2 The why, the where, and the when ...... 91

5.8 Who am I? ...... 100

5.9 Summary ...... 106 vii

Chapter 6 Alia ...... 107

6 Alia: An Introduction ...... 107

6.1 Family: Close, and closer ...... 108

6.1.2 Favourite memory ...... 108

6.1.3 Grandparents ...... 109

6.2 Language ...... 112

6.2.1 Tell me who, and I will tell you how I answer ...... 112

6.2.2 The why, the where, and the when ...... 113

6.3 Who am I? ...... 118

6.4 Summary ...... 122

Chapter 7 Alex...... 123

7 Alex: An Introduction ...... 123

7.1 Family: Close, and closer ...... 124

7.1.1 Favourite memory ...... 125

7.1.2 Grandparents ...... 126

7.2 Language ...... 128

7.2.1 Tell me who, and I will tell you how I answer ...... 129

7.2.2 The why, the where, and the when ...... 132

7.3 Who am I? ...... 135

7.4 Summary ...... 136

Chapter 8 Tying It All Together ...... 137

8 The research ...... 137

8.1 Family ...... 138

8.2 Language ...... 142

8.3 Identity ...... 150

8.4 Summary ...... 155 viii

Chapter 9 Data Analysis and Future Research Implications ...... 157

9 Research questions ...... 157

9.1 Findings...... 157

9.1.1 Question 1 ...... 158

9.1.2 Question 2 ...... 160

9.1.3 Question 3 ...... 161

9.1.4 Question 4 ...... 163

9.2 Methodology ...... 165

9.3 Implications for further research ...... 168

9.4 Conclusion ...... 169

References ...... 170

Appendices ...... 202

List of Tables

Table 1. Maria’s Visits to Italy with Paternal Relatives and Longer Stays in Canada by Father ...... 78

List of Figures

Figure 1. Participants’ family trees ...... 65

Figure 2. Maria’s plurilingual journey ...... 99

Figure 3. Alia’s plurilingual journey ...... 117

Figure 4. Alia’s collage ...... 121

Figure 5. Alex’s plurilingual journey ...... 134

Figure 6. Common themes—family ...... 141

Figure 7. Common themes—languages ...... 150

Figure 8 . Common themes—identity ...... 155

List of Appendices

Appendix A . Information Letter and Consent Form ...... 202

Appendix B . Information Letter and Consent Form ...... 207

Appendix C . Primary Questionnaire ...... 212

Appendix D. Stimulated Recall ...... 216

Appendix E. French Immersion ...... 217

Appendix F. Maria’s Plurilingual Journey ...... 218

Appendix G. Alia’s Plurilingual Journey ...... 220

Appendix H. Alex’s Plurilingual Journey ...... 222

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List of Acronyms

HC Heritage culture HL Heritage language L1 First or native language L2 Second language MLU Mean length of utterance OPOL One person one language SNA Social network analysis SNS Social networking site SR Stimulated recall TA Thematic analysis

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Chapter 1 Research Introduction 1.1 Research overview

What are the lived experiences that lend to the development of plurilingual and pluricultural identity? Does the identification with more than a single culture naturally occur with the development of more than one language? What precisely does it mean to a be a plurilingual, pluricultural individual? In this dissertation, through the language and cultural journey of three young adults—Maria, Alia, and Alex—all of whom lived in multigenerational homes, I explore the life experiences that shaped their plurilingual and pluricultural development and identity.

Plurilingualism and pluriculturalism are defined by the Council of Europe (2001) as

. . . the ability to use language for the purposes of communication and to take part in intercultural interactions, where a person, viewed as a social agent has proficiency, in varying degrees, in several languages and experiences of several cultures. This is not seen as the superposition or juxtaposition of distinct competences, but rather as the existence of a complex, or even composite competence on which the user may draw. (p. 168)

I examine stories shared by the three participants in which they speak about partaking in plurilingual and pluricultural interactions that allowed them to draw upon their total language repertoire in order to effectively communicate in social situations with other individuals. As the Council of Europe (2001) effectively explained, plurilingualism does not view language competency as a standalone skill or skills, but as a toolbox, which contains languages and cultural knowledge. This toolbox of language and culture forms the basis from which an individual draws in order to effectively communicate with others.

1.2 Setting the stage

The study of languages and language development has, in the past decade, moved past the primary scope of and focus on the cognitive development of language in individuals, to include studies in the sociolinguistic aspects of language learning and use—in particular, the identity of the language learner and the relationship between language and culture. There is a plethora of

2 literature concerning identity, which I discuss in Chapter 2. However, for purposes of this study, identity is defined as the way participants see themselves fitting in, in their environment, and their sense of who they are. This sense of identity generally includes race, gender, sexual orientation, class, age, as well as multiple other factors. For purposes of the dissertation, I focus on identity in relation to language and culture. Hamers and Blanc (2000) stated that “all definitions of culture agree that language is an important part of culture” (p. 115). I examine identity through the lens of language and culture.

1.2.1 Identity, language, and culture

Since the three participants—Maria, Alia, and Alex, all young adults—were users of more than one language and one culture, it is important to understand that identity is composed of all the languages and cultures which the participants use in their daily lives. Kanno (2003) described the identity of language and culture of an individual this way:

. . . by bilingual and bicultural identity I mean where bilingual individuals position themselves between two languages and two (or more) cultures, and how they incorporate these languages and cultures into their sense of who they are. (p. 3)

At this intersection of languages and cultures is a place of tension that is of great interest, which I explore throughout this dissertation by seeking to answer the question, “Is it possible to identify as both Italian and Canadian in Alberta?” If so, what does that look like for each of the three participants?

Language and cultural identity are ever evolving, fluid and significantly linked to time and place and through this dissertation the experiences of three young adults, in relation to their language and cultural journey, shed light on the significant experiences in their lives that influenced and supported their plurilingual, pluricultural identity.

1.2.2 Plurilingualism

A relatively new development in the manner in which one considers multiple language use is plurilingualism , which has been defined as the complex relationship between languages and linguistics competences. For example, according to Prasad (2014), “The emerging plurilingual

3 paradigm suggests that individuals develop an interrelated network of a plurality of linguistic skills and practices that they draw on for different purposes in a variety of contexts” (p. 52). Plurilingualism views language and language use as fluid and dynamic—an interrelated and interconnected system from which individuals draw in relation to the context in which they find themselves. According to the Council of Europe (2001), in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages:

. . . the individual language components of plurilingual competence are uneven, differentiated according to the learner’s experience and in an unstable relation as that experience changes. However, all are available for use and a user may switch languages when the situation changes. (p. 34)

Thus, the fluidity of language and the degree to which languages interrelate and interact with each other are essential to the notion of plurilingualism (Piccardo, 2013).

The use of several languages is ever changing, fluid, and fundamentally connected to the identity of the user: “Plurilingualism . . . is focused on the fact that languages interrelate and interconnect particularly, but not exclusively, at the level of the individual” (Piccardo, 2013, p. 601).

There is still much work to do around the concept of plurilingualism and how it relates to the everyday lives of language users.

1.3 Purpose of the research

The research was a qualitative study in which I positioned the work within a poststructural stance to explore the language and cultural identity of three participants (Block, 2003, 2007; Kramsch & Whiteside, 2008; Norton, 2000, 2013; Norton & McKinney, 2011; Norton & Toohey, 2011). The three participants were asked to reflect on their feelings and experiences regarding their language development, cultural experiences, and identity. Additional information is discussed regarding the language journey of Maria, the primary participant; this research project originally began numerous years ago with the study of her bilingual (English and Italian) language development.

1.4 Research questions

This study examines the language and cultural identity of three young adults residing in multigenerational homes. Before beginning the research, four general questions came to mind:

1. Which practices used by the family were most significant in the fostering and maintenance of the heritage language and culture in the home? 2. What were the feelings of the participants towards their heritage language, minority cultural identity, and home composition? 3. How did the experiences of the participants contribute to the development of plurilingual, pluricultural identity in a minority environment? 4. To what extent was it possible to be both Canadian and Italian in Alberta, Canada?

In order to respond to these questions, I began the semistructured interviews with the three participants.

1.5 Organization of the study

This dissertation, with the purpose of examining the experiences of three participants as they navigate their plurilingual environments and wrestle with cultural identities, is divided into nine chapters. The first chapter is a general introduction to the study and will speak to purpose, rationale, the guiding questions, and the general organization of the research.

In Chapter 2, I discuss the current literature available concerning language identity, plurilingualism, and multigenerational homes. Additionally, I delve into poststructuralism as it relates to identity and language. The literature review includes current and past research regarding bilingualism and plurilingualism, culture, early bilingual language development, a discussion of Italo-Canadians in Alberta, and French immersion programming. The objective of this chapter is to provide a comprehensive understanding of what has been researched regarding the topics of language development and language and cultural identity and what has yet to be discussed.

I discuss the methodology I employed for this study in Chapter 3. I speak to the rationale of choice for the selection of a qualitative study. Further, I explain the choice of semistructured

5 interviews and SR to tell the story of two of the three participants in their growth through language and cultural identity. I include an explanation of the choice of participants.

In Chapter 4, the reader meets the researcher (me) as a plurilingual, pluricultural person, and in Chapter 5, the reader meets the primary participant. I explain the early years of the child’s language development and the environment in which the child spent her first few years. The language input for the child is discussed as well as the strategies used to develop and maintain bilingualism. I argue that this foundation established by the primary caregivers was an important first step in the development of her plurilingual and pluricultural identity. I discuss the impact of formalized schooling—both in Italy for her first few years and then in a French immersion classroom in Canada—on the language and culture identity of the child. As the participant moved from an Italian-as-the-majority-language environment to an English-as-the-majority- language environment, her level of comfort with each of the three languages is explored and presented. SR and semistructured interviews allowed the participant to tell her story through her reflections on her language journey, multigenerational home, and pluricultural environment.

Chapters 6 and 7 explore the stories of two other young adults who grew up in very similar home environments. These chapters examine their thoughts and ideas surrounding their language journey, their feeling towards pluricultural identification or lack thereof, and their multigenerational home environments.

In Chapter 8, I look for common themes and for how the experiences of the participants shaped their language and cultural identities. Finally, in Chapter 9, I tie together the loose ends and discuss further research needed in the area of plurilingualism, culture, and identity.

1.6 Limitations

There are limitations to every study and each method used to perform the research. The first limitation of this study are the participants themselves. It is a small sample size and they are of similar age, place, and socioeconomic background. Limitations include the willingness of the participants to share openly their thoughts, memories, and feelings surrounding the question of language and cultural identity. Although there will be transferability of ideas from the study, the milieu is one of a middle-class, White environment. Additionally, this study is not meant to provide a guide to being plurilingual or pluricultural; rather, it is an exploration of significant

6 events in the participants’ lives that led to their identity. It will be up to readers to develop their own understanding of these experiences in relation to their own experiences and life realities. In addition, my own experiences, formation, and background have influenced my interpretation of the data. As Norton and Toohey (2011) stated:

Identity and language scholars rely frequently on three methodological understandings. First, most reject the view that any research can claim to be objective or unbiased. Poststructural researchers must be reflexive about their own experiences, recognizing that their perspective on that which they are observing or analyzing is not the only one and their conclusions will inevitably be “situated” and partial. (p. 426)

I, too, am a product of a White middle-class environment and my life experiences are similar to those of the two participants. A further complication may appear to be the age of a portion of the data that was gathered when the case study began. However, on closer examination this is a benefit as it provides a broad look into the language and cultural development of a young adult. Although a portion of the data collection ranges back 18 years, it has not been affected by the passing of time as it is specific to the development of language of one child at the time of recording. Other studies such as Taura and Taura (2012) and Leopold (1970) relied on data recorded earlier in the participant’s life. Finally, it is my hope that this research, even with its limitations, will provide insight into the maintenance of an HL as well as the importance of preservation of the minority cultural identity.

Chapter 2 Literature Review An overview

Throughout this chapter, I discuss previous literature and research that have had an impact on this research over the numerous years of the study. Since the study is lengthy in time, the research topic, in its infancy, was purely one of linguistic development in a child simultaneously acquiring two languages from birth. However, as 18 years have now passed from the inception of the study, the research has developed into an exploration of language and cultural identity—not from a simply linguistic viewpoint, but more holistically, incorporating linguistic and sociocultural elements. It is therefore, in my opinion, necessary to include a wide range of topics, the majority regarding language and cultural identity, and some as well on language development, to complement the range of elements that have impacted this study.

2.1 Origins of poststructuralism

The origins of poststructuralism, as suggested by its name, began as a response to the structural positioning of scholars such as Jakobson, Strauss, Barthes, and Saussure, to name a few. In order to understand poststructuralism, one must therefore first consider its predecessor. The structuralist view of language posits that linguistic knowledge is organized into stable patterns and structures. Language usage, such as errors or omissions, is not considered important as it does not contribute to an idealized form of language (Norton & Toohey, 2011). Structuralism proposes a fixed notion of language which exists within a predetermined reality, which is then imposed upon all users.

Whereas structuralism is precisely that, structured, a poststructural view of identity and language is fluid; it evolves through socially constructed meaning: “Poststructuralism is primarily a linguistic movement [in which scholars] . . . consider that language is the place where our sense of self and our identity or ‘subjectivity’ is constructed and performed” (Baxter, 2014, p. 36). Language is “not as a set of idealized forms independent of their speakers or their speaking, but rather as situated utterances in which speakers, in dialogue with others, struggle to create

8 meanings” (Norton & Toohey, 2011, p. 416). This flexibility, fluidity, and ambiguity are at the core of poststructuralism.

Poststructuralism is not uniformly defined but can be found in the theoretical positioning of scholars such as Althusser, Bakhtin, Derrida, Foucault, Kristeva, and Lacan (Baxter, 2014).

One such scholar, Derrida, spoke of the constant state of change within language, particularly within the written text. The notion of difference , that is the words, sounds, and images that make up language, and deferral , the idea that any meaning is temporary and dependent on context, speak to the nonfixed meaning of language; both are integral to the poststructural idea of language. Texts, and thus may I suggest, conversations, are open to the interpretation of the reader in a certain time and place and therefore are dependent on the context in which they are being seen or heard. This multi-meaning-making of texts can be applied to the idea of identity, allowing for a multifaceted, fluid definition of the concept, one in which standard categories of identity, such as gender, race, and age, are only useful in certain societal contexts and are always open to negotiation of meaning and new definitions.

2.1.1 Poststructuralism defined

McNamara (2011) generally summarized three themes of poststructuralism as the following: (a) a putting put into question of stable truths and the stable structure of the linguistic sign, and a critique of the idea of system; (b) a form of social and political engagement, which is expressed in a sustained critique of current social, political, and cultural forms; and (c) a critical awareness of the irrational, of violence within social structures, and a lack of belief in the idea of progress. (p. 430)

The complexities associated with the language user are reflected in these three themes. The language user and language itself are more than the sum of their parts. In order to fully understand the language development of an individual, one cannot break this journey into individual parts. One must look holistically at the plurilingual and pluricultural process: “Atomistic views of multilinguals are widespread and generally accepted, but they have also been contested since the late 1980s” (Cenoz, 2013, p. 10).

Additionally, Block (2007) spoke of poststructuralism as being

. . . [in] very general terms, about moving beyond the search, associated with structuralism, for unchanging, universal laws of human behavior and social phenomena to more nuanced, multileveled, and, ultimately, complicated framings of the world around us. (p. 865)

Speaking to the complexity of human interactions with the world and more specifically for the purpose of language, the fluid and complex ways in which a language user navigates colours not only their language environment on a macro level, but also their own personal interactions with the languages they speak on a micro level.

2.1.2 Poststructuralism and second languages

In regard to second language learning, Pavlenko (2011) suggested that the beginnings of the poststructuralist exploration in this area can be linked to “Pennycook’s call for a critical applied linguistics for the 1990s, where he argued for the ‘need to rethink language acquisition in its social, cultural and political contexts’” (p. 282). Poststructuralism views language as more than its parts; it is more than a system consisting of grammar, phonology, and a lexicon; instead, it is “a collection of discourses, as symbolic capital and as a site of identity construction and negotiation” (Pavlenko, 2007, p. 283). Again, Pavlenko (2007) continued and broadly defined poststructuralism as “an attempt to investigate and theorize the role of language in construction and reproduction of social relations, and the role of social dynamics in the processes of additional language learning and use” (p. 282), in which the researcher is able to explore how “linguistic, social, gender and ethnic identities of L2 [second language] users, on the one hand, structure access to linguistic resources and interactional opportunities and on the other, are constituted and reconstituted in the process of L2 learning and use” (Pavlenko, 2007, p. 282).

The holistic view of the language learner allows for the complete picture of the language learner to be explored as an individual within the framework of their personal experiences and interactions with other language speakers in their environment (Cenoz, 2013; Cook, 1992; Grosjean 1985; Pavlenko 2011): “A holistic view of multilingualism focuses on multilingual language use in social contexts and takes into account the interaction between multilingual speakers and the communicative context” (Cenoz, 2013, p. 13).

With this holistic picture of language learning, Pavlenko (2011) provided nine indicators of the positive possibilities of a poststructural approach to the study of context-sensitive exploration of language learners and use. She compared the poststructural approach to the sociopsychological approach. However, for purposes of this dissertation, I summarize the arguments focusing on the possibilities that poststructuralism allows for a research basis in this specific situation and not on the comparison of the two approaches (for a detailed comparison see Pavlenko, 2002, p. 293).

2.1.3 Poststructuralist language research

Although Pavlenko’s (2002) focus was strictly on the possibilities of L2 learning research, I argue that all nine of her arguments below can relate to plurilingual individuals and the possibilities of using a poststructural approach to the journey through language and culture: 1. The poststructuralist belief in multiplicity allows for the researcher to avoid monolingual and monocultural biases. The researcher can explore the complex environments in which the multilingual navigates through various identities associated with language use. 2. Moving towards multiplicity and diversity, the researcher can view the language learner as individuals in their own right and not as “failed native speakers.” Language users should not be compared or held up to monolingual or monocultural standards. 3. The poststructural approach allows for a view of culture as complex and “acknowledge a range of possibly multicultural communities in which L2 users may seek memberships.” L2 learners may, in fact, create their own linguistic and cultural realities. This allows researchers more flexibility when asking questions regarding the communities that language users identify with, or communities in which language users have refused to be part of. 4. “Poststructuralist research demonstrates that language uses delineate and constitute identities of the speakers.” The choices that language users make speak directly to their identity. Additionally, the societal messages that language users receive daily concerning language and culture affect the way in which they identity with language and culture. 5. Through the poststructural lens, motivation is seen as investment. The investment of the individual is moulded not only by individual choices but also by the societal

context. Investment is flexible in that language users can make choices about which language skills to invest in. 6. The individual is not separated from society: “poststructuralist approaches theorise ways in which individual subject positions are implicated in societal relations of power.” 7. Numerous methods of studying language and learning are possible under the umbrella of a poststructural approach. Surveys and questionnaires are still possible with this approach, but a longitudinal ethnographic study that examines both the learner’s language itself and the social contexts of its learning and use is the favoured method. Verbal and nonverbal interactions are both studied within and outside of an educational setting. 8. The poststructuralist approach has allowed researchers to see that the identification of L2 learning as problematic is uniquely Western. In relation to this specific point, I would further differentiate between a European and North American view of language learning, as seen in the experiences with language in both Canada and Italy. 9. Finally, “the two-way relationship between language and identity recognizes that languages serve to produce, reproduce, transform, and perform identities, and that linguistic, gender, racial, ethnic, and class identification, in turn, affect the access to linguistic resources and interactional opportunities, and, ultimately, L2 learning outcomes.” And, I will add, plurilingual outcomes. (Pavlenko, 2011, pp. 295–298)

While Pavlenko speaks directly to a poststructural view which allows for research into second language learning, Baxter (2016) posited that a range of poststructural perspectives on identity that span

. . . a spectrum between the more radical thinkers, who perceive the concept simply in terms of discursive functions or effects, and the more moderate, who consider that identity embraces psychological elements such as the consciousness and memory of the individual, physical, and material aspects. (pp. 39–40)

The four key poststructuralist perspectives according to Baxter (2016, p. 40) are: performativity, positioning, feminist poststructuralist, and enunciative pragmatics (from most radical to least). For purposes of this dissertation, the positioning perspective, in which I have situated myself, is

12 discussed. The positioning perspective views language and identity in terms of a balance between the ways in which discourses position participants as subjects in competing ways and the ways participants make their own and other people’s actions socially determinant. Here, there is place for agency as more than simply individual acts of resistance to or compliance with discursive practices, but rather as recognition that people are capable of exercising choice in relation to those practices.

The positioning perspective allows space for the self; for the exploration of the “who am I” in relation to the language and cultural identity:

In speaking and acting from a position, people are bringing to the particular situation their history as a subjective being. This is not the history of accumulated experience in a liberal-humanist sense but rather the history of one who has been in multiple subject positions and engaged in different forms of discourse. (Baxter, 2016, p. 41)

Baxter (2016, referring to Davies & Harré, 1990) went on to discuss positioning as the lived stories of individuals and the retelling of stories as a way to make meaning of our multiple identities: “In order to produce some form of consistency and coherence between our multiple subject positions, we tell ourselves and others stories about how we have lived and how we intend to live our lives” (p. 42).

Plurilingual language learners are constantly negotiating and renegotiating their identities through the stories they live and the environment that surrounds them. Plurilingual pluricultural individuals navigate language and cultural identity from day to day. Their identities are in constant flux as they grow into the language and culture of their daily realities, which are ever changing and fluid.

Keeping in mind the nine possibilities for poststructural research into language and cultural identity put forth by Pavlenko (2011, p. 295) and the positioning perspective of “who am I” in relation to the language and cultural identity, I invited the study’s participants to share their stories with me in an attempt to make sense of their lived experiences with language and cultural identities:

Multilingual contexts are particularly fraught with the tensions of identity politics, whereby many individuals experience a perpetual conflict between self-chosen identities and others’ attempts to position them differently. Thus, it is not surprising that some scholars view all instances of language use in multilingual contexts as “acts of identity.” (Pavlenko, 2011, p. 284)

Through the stories that the three participants shared with me, I explored the relationship between language, culture, and identity.

2.2 Language and identity

“The theoretical assumptions that underlie the identity approach to SLA [second language acquisition] are best understood with reference to poststructuralist theories of language and subjectivity” (Norton & McKinney, 2011, p. 86). I argue that language and cultural identity are ever changing, fluid, and significantly linked to each other in both time and place. For purposes of this dissertation, my interest is in identity as it relates to language and culture. I am fully aware that identity is multifaceted and incorporates aspects such as gender, race, religion, language, culture, sexual orientation, and many more. However, due to the scope of the discussion regarding identity, I concentrate on how the identity of three participants related to culture and language.

Norton (2000) defined identity as “how a person understands his or her relationship to the world, how that relationship is constructed across time and space and how the person understands possibilities for the future” (p. 5). In a later article Norton (2011) further clarified this definition: each time individuals speak, whether as second language learners or as plurilinguals, they are in fact defining and redefining who they are and how this experience fits into the multiple dimensions of their linguistic identity.

The interest in identity as an essential component to the study of language began some time ago in Norton-Peirce’s (1995a) study of immigrant women in Canada and their experiences learning a second language. She (Norton, 2000; Norton-Peirce, 1995b) questioned the idea of identity as fixed and belonging solely to the individual and instead saw the social interactions of the individual with the learning process as influencing identity. She explored the issue with power in relation to language learning and identity and put forth the notion of investment, not the

14 previously common term motivation , as essential for language learning. Through the lens of poststructuralism, I explore the identity of the three participants in relation to their language and cultural interactions: “poststructuralist theories of language have become increasingly attractive to identity and language learning researchers” (Norton & Toohey, 2011, p. 415).

2.2.1 Language and identity research

Although there have been numerous studies concerning differing aspects of identity, within the field of SLA, bilingualism, and multi/plurilingualism (Hall, Cheng, & Carlson, 2006; Kondo- Brown, 2005; Kuboto & Lin, 2009; Oliveira & Ançã, 2009; Potowski, 2007; Rich & Davis, 2007; Teutsch-Dwyer, 2001; Toohey, 1996, p. 1998, p. 2000; Tsui & Tollefson, 2007), I limit myself here to several that specifically discuss identity and language or culture in adolescents.

In one such study, Kanno (2003) discussed the longitudinal identities of four bilingual, bicultural young adults who spent time in North America and then returned to Japan. Kanno used identity as

. . . the term . . . to refer to our sense of who we are and our relationship to the world. . . . In this study I am concerned with the parts of our identity that are related to language and culture. Thus, by bilingual and bicultural identity I mean where the individuals position themselves between two languages and two (or more) cultures, and how they incorporate these languages and cultures into their sense of who they are. (p. 3)

Kanno (2003) stated that there seemed to be a gap in the study of identity, language, and culture. He attempted to fill that gap with information regarding “how adolescent ESL learners evolve into bilingual and bicultural young adults and decide where to position themselves between multiple languages and cultures” (p. 7). Kanno spoke about the bilingual and bicultural identity. For purposes of this specific case study, particularly as it relates to the two participants, it is more suitable to speak about plurilingualism and pluricultural, since the participants worked in more than two languages and navigated through more than two cultural environments.

Kanno’s study focused on the perspectives of the young adults as they reflected, through semistructured interviews, on their language and cultural identity over time. The focus of this

15 dissertation is on the reflections of this young adult and two others concerning their identity in relationship to language and culture.

Kanno’s (2003) study pointed at first to the participants’ rather fixed opinion of bilingualism and bicultural identity, an opinion which for the most part was negative. However, he concluded that it was in fact possible to reach a balance as a bilingual, bicultural individual. As the youth negotiated through the two languages and two cultures and moved into adulthood they developed a more balanced manner in which to live with both languages and cultures: “I argue that as they exit adolescence and enter young adulthood, the four kikikushijo became increasingly better at striking a balance between two languages and cultures” (Kanno, 2003, p. 107; italics added).

This kind of balance is in fact difficult to achieve. Kanno (2003) stated “that the emphasis in my study, then, is on life with two languages . . . On life betwixt two worlds” (p. 8). In Chapters 4 to 7, I speak to my own experiences with balance in regard to languages as cultures, and I explore experiences with balance in the stories of the three participants. Balance is not a key defining factor in plurilingualism. The imbalance in an individual’s language repertoire should not be considered negative, that as a space for growth, creativity, and experimentation with language. In fact, Piccardo (2018) stated: “Plurilingualism integrates the idea of imbalance, adopts a perspective of development and dynamism, and encourages risk-taking through a flexible and creative use of the language” (p. 80).

Whereas Kanno spoke about bilingual, bicultural youth, I focus on the plurilingual and pluricultural perspectives of three young adults. These young adults move through language and identity with a fluidity that cannot be defined strictly within the confines of two languages or two cultures.

A snapshot of identity is provided in the Kondo-Brown’s (2005) examination of bilingual heritage learners of the Japanese language who at the time were living in Hawaii. These students were asked to reflect on their own learning experiences in regard to the maintenance of Japanese as a HL and on their feelings about their cultural identities. During adolescence, the young Japanese Hawaiian students did not relate well to their Japanese heritage, whether culturally or linguistically, and tended to want to assimilate to the dominant culture of the community. As they moved into adulthood and went to university, they became more open to the idea of their dual language-and-culture identity. Kondo-Brown’s discussion of HL identity and maintenance

16 relates well to the current case study, in which the participants are living in an English-majority environment where the presence of the HL is not highly valued or highly present in the community. Kondo-Brown used retrospective stories of the students to examine their language and cultural identity changes over time. This aspect of identity (i.e., moving from youth into adulthood) is interesting. I discuss it further in Chapters 4 to 7 both in regard to my background and in relation to the experiences of the participants in this study. Additionally, the discussion of HL identity and maintenance relates well to this specific case study in which the participants were living in an English-majority environment, where the presence of the HL was not highly valued or highly present in the community.

Additionally, Fielding and Harbon (2013) examined “the bilingual and bicultural identity in students from monolingual, bilingual and multilingual homes who attended a bilingual French and English . . . school in New South Wales” (p. 529). The authors explored the feelings of the students towards bicultural and bilingual identification. Twenty-three students in Grades 5 and 6, aged 10 to 12, participated in interviews and completed questionnaires. Four themes emerged from the findings of this study: • the perception of bilingual status; • the perceptions of bicultural status; • the conflicting feelings towards the bilingual and bicultural identities; and • the value of both of these identities. (Fielding & Harbon, 2013, p. 530)

The researchers concluded that the “students who participated in this study showed that the two notions of bilingual identity and bicultural identity may represent closely related, but separate, constructs for young learners” (Fielding & Harbon, 2013, p. 538). The majority of students identified primarily with the bicultural position, and less so with the idea of being bilingual. This study was of interest in the current research because the primary participant in it attended a French immersion program from Kindergarten to Grade 12, and developed language and cultural skills sequentially.

Finally, the study by Oliveira and Ançã (2009) relates specifically to the plurilingual, pluricultural European environment. The authors of the study explored the experiences of two adolescent Ukrainian students, aged 15 and 13, who attended school in Portugal, through semistructured interviews:

Plurilingual identity is understood as self-ascribed culturally and linguistically plural identification, resulting from an individual’s experiences in different social, cultural, and linguistic arenas throughout a lifetime. Plurilingual identity is therefore based on a sense of belonging to a community of speakers characterized by pluralism and by the sharing of linguistic and cultural diversity. (Oliveira & Ançã, 2009, pp. 404–405)

The researchers concluded that although the participants identified as plurilingual and saw the value in a pluralistic language and cultural environment, they were not necessarily more successful language learners. The authors posited that in order for language awareness to influence the development of plurilingual competence,

. . . language awareness work should focus on an integrated, transversal, and explicit/open discussion about language forms and functions, linguistic diversity, similarities/differences between languages, identity/cultural affiliations, power, representations attitude, and learning processes. (Oliveira & Ançã, 2009, p. 418)

Oliveira & Ançã’s study is of interest since it considers, as do I, the participants as plurilingual and pluricultural, and defines the concept of identity closely along the same lines as I.

2.2.2 Identity and language learning

From Norton’s (2011) poststructural perspective, three areas of identity important to language learning can be identified: the multiple or nonunitary aspect of identity; identity as a place of struggle; and identity as ever changing (p. 74). These three areas are of particular interest as they address the issue of the participants’ multiple uses of languages in different contexts, with different speakers, and in different social environments—pointing to the multiple identities needed to navigate the differing social environments. I would posit that identity as a place of struggle is an internal and external battle that internally occurs within the individual, in their need to be two or more people within the same body and at the same time, depending on where they are and with whom. Externally, identities are assumed, as the pressure to fit in to socially accepted identities. These identities are pushed onto the participants by family, friends, and the community. Finally, identity as changing over time will be explored through the changes that

18 took place over time as the primary participant reflected upon her childhood through SR in Chapter 5 of the study.

Although identity and language learning are intertwined and self-influencing, there are certain factors that must be considered in order for an individual to successfully navigate through one or more languages. Preece (2016a) suggested that the development of identity, whether it be language or culture, is limited by three factors: • discursive spaces : the ability of the individual to access the social environments in which they inhabit and the relationships they are able to establish; • ascribed identities : the identities that the individual is given by others; and • resources : physical resources, such as income, property, and employment. (p. 3)

I discuss these limitations in relation to the opportunities for identity development in language and culture for the primary participants in Chapter 5. They were privileged to experience throughout their life a multitude of spaces in which to develop their language and cultural identities through interactions with other users of the same language and culture. These experiences allowed them possibilities that not everyone would have.

According to Norton and Toohey (2011):

Poststructuralist theorists have reminded us that identities are contingent, shifting, context dependent, and that while identities or positions are often given by social structures or ascribed by others, they can also be negotiated by agents who wish to position themselves. (p. 418)

The language and cultural identity theory within the poststructural framework has allowed me to explore language and cultural identities from a position of fluidity—as nonfixed and evolving. I refer to Pavlenko’s (2011) nine indicators of poststructural theory for the exploration of identity with language and culture in Chapter 2, Section 2.1.3. Additionally, from the positioning perspective, I will explore the individual within the societal contexts as having power to influence the question of “who am I?”

2.3 Cultural identity

Bicultural bilinguals are not simply the sum of two (or more) different languages, or of two (or more) distinct cultures. They have their own linguistic and cultural competence that is different from that of bilinguals who are not bicultural and from that of biculturals who are not bilingual. . . . They are unique linguistic and cultural beings. (Grosjean, 2015, p. 585)

Bilingualism and bicultural identity are two concepts that are closely intertwined (Laponce, 1987) although, as stated by Grosjean (2015, p. 573), there is little work uniting the two concepts into one reality. In addition, the “recent work focusing on bilingualism in education emphasizes the need to better understand the process of identity development” (Fielding & Harbon, 2013, p. 1). This being said, I sought to examine what the current literature said in regard to the cultural identity development of children and young adults and then further examine this in relation to the three participants in the study.

Luna, Ringberg, and Peracchio (2008) emphasized the importance of knowledge as the key defining feature in biculturalism and state that there are two separate knowledge structures for each culture. The defining characteristics of a bicultural individual proposed by Grosjean (2015) in his paper, “Bicultural Bilinguals,” include both fluency and use. The first definition, as with bilingualism, speaks to the fluency of the identification with a culture and the depth of knowledge of the individual in regard to that culture.

The second definition has to do with the use of culture; that is, how and when an individual interacts with two or more cultures. This was put forward by Grosjean (1983) where he set out three criteria for defining bicultural individuals:

(a) These individuals will participate in some degree with two or more cultures during their life. (b) Their identity (that is, their attitudes, behaviour, language, and values) will reflect the norms of the two cultures. (c) They will combine aspects of the two cultures to create a unique identity.

Grosjean (2013) further clarified the definition of a bicultural individual thus:

(a) Individuals will fully identify with both cultures. (b) They will accept their bicultural status. (c) Both cultures have been present throughout their lives. (d) The individuals have a knowledge of both cultures.

An additional way of looking at biculturalism is the way in which individuals navigate their culture identity. Laframboise, Coleman, and Gertaon (1993) proposed two patterns of bicultural participation. The alternating bicultural travels between the two cultures and these two cultures do not overlap. That is, alternating bicultural individuals are able to identify with and be culturally appropriate depending on the situation in which they may find themselves. This could be true of adolescents moving between the dual realties of their home life and their peers, two environments that are often not compatible. Alternatively, Laframboise et al. (1993) proposed the blended bicultural identity, in which blended bicultural individuals are able to combine aspects of both cultures to create a new reality for themselves. In doing so they can move comfortably back and forth between the different cultures/tg2he two cultures without separation or conflict in their identity.

According to Laframboise et al. (1993) six elements are necessary for developing a bicultural bilingual identity:

(a) Knowledge of cultural beliefs and values (b) Positive attitude towards the cultures (c) Belief that they are able to function as active members within both (d) Ability to communicate with both groups within the culture (e) Ability to act in a culturally appropriate manner within each culture (f) Feeling socially secure within both environments

This being said, it is important to clarify that the importance that a culture holds in the life and identity of a child or young adult will vary with situation, time, and environment. There are times, when one of the two cultures will hold a more dominant place in the life of individuals. Just as with bilingualism and language dominance, culture dominance is fluid and will reflect the experiences of individuals at different points in their lives and just as with two languages, it is rare that both cultures will have the same importance for the individuals. It is also possible that

21 individuals will identify with only one or other of the cultures, that both cultures will meld into one, and finally that neither culture will be acceptable for them (Grosjean, 2008; Lambert, 1967).

The factors that lead to biculturalism, much like bilingualism, vary. A child can be born into a family that incorporates two diverse cultures in their daily lives. One may be the heritage culture of the parents and the other the dominant culture of the community. Immigration can play an important role in the identity of individuals and their identification with a culture. When a family moves from one place to another, the culture of their new home will play an important role, especially for young adults, who strive at each and every occasion to fit in with their peers. While the parents may be models for the heritage culture, peers, schooling, and media will be influential proponents of the majority culture. Additionally, schooling can allow for monolinguals who enter a bilingual program to identify with the culture that accompanies the language they are learning. Fielding and Harbon (2013) found that the majority of students in a French immersion program in Sydney, Australia (eight out of nine students interviewed) identified more easily with more than one culture than stated that they had abilities in more than one language.

In fact, schooling can be a key transition time for the identity of children, whether in regard to the development of an additional identification with a culture or the rejection of their heritage culture:

For young learners to develop a bilingual identity, there is a complex process of social interaction and negotiation needed between the child and the other people with whom they come into contact—their peers, parents, siblings, teachers, and members of the community at large. (Fielding & Harbon, 2013, p. 528)

These “places” of transition are key times in the life of children and young adults where support and positive attitudes towards their language and cultural identity is essential.

2.3.1 Italo-Canadian biculturalism

Specifically looking at the Italo-Canadian biculturalism of teens in Canada, Ballarini (1993) wrote: “language, knowledge, norms, values, beliefs, and art and customs are all important parts of culture, it will be a salient of an individual’s social cultural identity” (p. 23). The identity of an adolescent is affected by many different forces that all push inwards. The acceptance of the

22 culture within a community, the attitudes of peers, and the involvement of parents are three factors that weigh heavily on the development of an adolescent’s identification with a culture. For a time in children’s life, the parents will have the largest impact on their cultural development and then the importance shifts to friends and the larger community in general.

Canada is culturally pluralistic, and particularly in Toronto the Italian language is present not only in the home but in parts of the community as well. This is not the case in other areas of the country, specifically in Alberta, where the community language, English, and community culture are strong and ever present. It is difficult for teens to want to stand out and be different from their friends. The pressure to conform is felt most strongly within the teenage years and therefore in order for a language and culture to thrive within an adolescent there must be the need and desire. This is a concept that we will discuss in later chapters of the research.

2.3.2 Pluricultural identity

Much of the discussion focusing on living with more than one culture has been until most recently focused on bicultural identification. The defining difference that separates biculturalism from pluriculturalism is that of fluidity and change. Here is Moore and Gajo’s (2009) definition of pluriculturalism:

• It develops a vision of competence which includes the situated mobilization of the linguistic and cultural components of the repertoire, and its potential evolution and reconfiguration over time and circumstances. • It considers plurilingual and pluricultural competence as highly individualized and dependent on singular trajectories and personal history, and as such, always subject to evolution and change. (pp. 143–144)

Pluricultural individuals are constantly adapting and morphing according to time and place. Their cultural identity changes over time and it is not one culture or the other, but mostly some combination of both, including “mediation abilities, related to circulations and passages . . . between cultures. This last aspect emphasises the social positioning of the speaker as a cultural intermediary” (Moore & Gajo, 2009, pp. 143–144). Pluricultural competence is developed through their interactions with other users of culture. Pluricultural individuals can have varying

23 degrees of competence at different times in their lives, and in one culture and another. Their competence is not fixed but evolves through interactions with others.

2.4 Bilingualism and multilingualism: More than just two languages

The reaction of many friends, acquaintances, and colleagues to the ability of my family to converse in three languages, often switching from one language to another within the same conversation, is always one of astonishment and awe. This is always surprising to us as the use of more than one language is natural in our home. In reality, bilingualism resides, in all countries, across socioeconomic divisions and in all age groups (Grosjean, 2013). It is, in fact, the monolingual that is the exception, not the bilingual (Baker & Wright, 2017). In a survey conducted by the European Commission in 2006, 56 percent of respondents reported being able to speak in a language other than their mother tongue. In many countries that percentage is even higher—for instance, 99 percent of Luxembourgers and 95 percent of Latvians speak more than one language (European Commission Special Eurobarometer, 2006 ). Even in the United States, which is widely considered to be monolingual, one-fifth of those over the age of five reported speaking a language other than English at home in 2007, an increase of 140 percent since 1980 (United States Census Bureau, 2012). In Canada over 19 percent of Canadians reported speaking more than one language at home. This is an increase from the last reported census in 2011, where 17.5 percent of respondents reported speaking more than one language at home (Statistics Canada, 2017a).

Although bilingualism is a common phenomenon worldwide, a clear definition of bilingualism is still elusive. Is it enough to say that being bilingual is equivalent to having the ability to speak two languages? What of the ability to read and write? Does being bilingual indicate that the speaker is equally competent in both languages? What parameters must we use to qualify and quantify bilingualism? A common, but outdated definition proposed by Bloomfield (1933) stated that the ability to have native-like fluency when speaking qualifies as bilingualism. If this were the defining measure that one used for bilingualism, then many of the speakers of two or more languages would not qualify. It is indeed quite rare that an individual will have equal fluency in both languages, even less so the ability to sound like a “native speaker.” Grosjean (2010)

24 proposed the regular use of the language in everyday lives of bilinguals as the defining characteristic of bilingualism, not fluency.

Grosjean (2015) explained the complementarity principle , in which bilinguals acquire their two languages for different purposes, to use in differing situations and dependent on with whom they are speaking. W. Mackey (2000) stated: “Bilingualism is not a phenomenon of language, it is a characteristic of it use” (p. 22). As well, he spoke to the alternate use of the two languages by the individual as the main characteristic of bilingualism. He further clarified this statement by including several defining factors of bilingualism:

(a) the degree of competency in both languages; (b) the function or in what context is each language used; (c) the amount of alternation between the two languages; and (d) the interference from one language to another.

Additionally, Baker and Wright (2017, p. 30) specified that language use cannot be separated from the context in which it is used. The environment in which the language is used is essential and therefore function and use are inseparable when considering bilingualism. Baker and Wright specified that functional bilingualism speaks to the when, where, and with whom the language is used.

Although the term bilingualism and the act of being bilingual has been explored for years, it is obvious that there is still no clear definition. Additionally, since there are no clear criteria for determining who is to be considered bilingual or not, it is impossible to determine with all certainty if one can be considered bilingual or not (W. Mackey, 2000). As a bilingual viewpoint was the starting point for this study over 18 years ago, I feel it important to include the topic as background information. However, as research moves forward and discussions around language use move towards a more fluid definition of use, it is essential to consider bilingualism as a singular aspect of plurilingualism.

2.5 Plurilingualism

Plurilingualism is not a theory of language that exists in isolation. In fact, it may be viewed as a catch-all or umbrella lingualism for multiple language development theories, which may include bilingualism, multilingualism, code switching, translanguaging, and plurilanguaging:

Plurilingualism is not in every respect different from multilingualism. To begin, it is important to state that plurilingualism is first and foremost a term that describes sociolinguistic phenomena in contact situations, where people use two/three or more languages in interactions, as does multilingualism. (Marshall & Moore, 2018, p. 20)

However, where multilingualism and plurilingualism differ is in the idea of the individual’s language use and choices. Plurilingualism focuses on the interrelation and interconnectedness of languages “particularly, but not exclusively, at the level of the individual” (Piccardo, 2013, p. 601). Plurilingualism is about the everyday language use; the practice of drawing from one’s linguistic repertoire in order to communicate in differing social interactions. Plurilingualism is dynamic, and ever changing, and language competency is viewed as a work in progress; competences are never full or complete, often partial, and in a heuristic sense, “capable of creating links between linguistic and cultural elements, but also of adapting to situations and interlocutors” (Piccardo, 2013, p. p. 609). Plurilingualism includes elements of other lingualisms, but specifically allows for agency, a flexible use of language. Unlike bilingualism and multilingualism, plurilingualism places value on all the languages in an individual’s repertoire, no matter what the level of competence:

Plurilingualism is a lens. If we look through a plurilingual lens, we bring certain features to the fore—agency, creativity, hybridity, learning, meaning-making— while at the same time recognising context, social factors, and institutional/structural constraint when we change the focus of the same plurilingual lens. (Marshall & Moore, 2018, p. 28)

“A plurilingual individual is therefore someone who claims to possess a plural linguistic and cultural repertoire, developed through a variety of experiences which promoted the development of different competences at various levels” (Oliveira & Ançã, 2009, p. 405). The study that I

26 have undertaken looked at the development of a participant’s identity in regard to her plurilingual development, beginning with simultaneous first-language development in English and Italian, and then adding French as an additional language for schooling purposes.

“Plurilingual identities are situated in time, discourse, and are context based, as well as enhanced by interactions with other people” (Oliveira & Ançã, 2009, p. 405). Not only is the development of plurilingualism dependent on interactions with others, it is also dependent on the interaction between languages, which are in constant flux, one influencing the other, the usage dependent on the situation (Piccardo, 2013). According to Piccardo, research in the last 20 years, especially in a European context, has highlighted the notion of plurilingualism in multilingual communities where language is ever shifting. This is a paradigm shift in the way one sees language. Languages are no longer distinct, but fluid and dynamic entities (Taylor & Snoddon, 2013).

As our world evolves and becomes ever more globalized (Piccardo, 2013), there is a direct impact on language. The population as a whole is more mobile and migration continues to increase (Blommaert & Rampton, 2016). In Canada, in 2016, over 7.5 million people reported having an immigrant mother tongue. This had risen by 13 percent since the data was last gathered, in 2011 (Statistics Canada, 2017a). Migration continues to rise, for economic, sociopolitical, and personal reasons (Genesee, 2006). In addition, we are linked by ever-changing technologies, which allow for more rapid and easier means of communications. The ability to communicate with other language speakers across the world through FaceTime and Skype has continued to evolve over the years and numerous additional applications now allow for face to face or voice calls: “Social networking sites (SNSs) are distinct among platforms for online writing in the ways in which they support and shape identity construction” (Schreiber, 2015, p. 71). They allow users to communicate wherever they are in whatever language they wish.

Younger generations are increasingly communicating in all daily interactions, even if divided by oceans. They play online together using their PS4s and X-Boxes, chat through WhatsApp, send each other videos through Instagram, SnapChat, and other SNSs. Genesee (2006) referred to the “revolution in electronic means of communication” (p. 547). Difficulty in communicating and isolation of language and culture no longer exist (Piccardo, 2013): “Obviously, globalization has caused the emergence of entirely new forms of communities and forced us to think about the connections between language, individuals and collectives” (Blommaert, 2014, p. 86).

All of these factors insist that the way in which we look at language use and identity shift from the more static terms of bilingualism and/or multilingualism to the fluidity of personal language use as permitted by plurilingualism. As later discussed in the research findings, the three languages spoken by the participants were in no way static and did not function as three separate systems: “The plurilingual person uses two or more languages—separately or together—for different purposes, in different domains of life and with different people” (Moore & Gajo, 2009, p. 141). Even though there are definite separations at times in the context in which the participants use the languages, their use is often melded in the same discourse with the same person. Their identification as a plurilingual language user, is neither static nor fixed, but evolves as their language use evolves in different times and places.

2.6 Children and language development

According to De Houwer (2015), little to no research has been done regarding the well-being of bilingual children. This gap in research is problematic, since, as Bremner and Wachs (2011) stated, the daily reality and experiences in the life of a child will shape their future. How do language and culture affect the sense of self in children as they grow?

Early well-being as dependent on harmonious bilingual development, then, is likely to have an overall beneficial effect on several individuals. In the early years of life, young children’s well-being is to a large extent linked to their families’ well-being. (De Houwer, 2015, p. 171)

As previously discussed, identity and language are interlaced. I posit that the influence of language and culture on the development of identity begins early, as the child begins to navigate their environment and interacts with other language and culture users, particularly their close family members. From a young age, language is a key factor in the development of children’s identity. In fact, language is what is used to express identity and culture. In order to fully situate the environment in which the primary participant navigates, let us examine what current research says about children living with more than two languages and the development of the languages in early infancy and throughout childhood.

2.6.1 Early childhood bilingualism

The majority of children are to some degree bilingual or multilingual during some point in their childhood (Lightbown & Spada, 2013). However, once again, as with bilingualism, the discussion surrounding childhood bilingualism differs greatly from scholar to scholar. McLaughlin (1978) defined “simultaneous” acquisition as receiving input in two languages before the third birthday. Lightbown and Spada (2013) referred to “simultaneous bilinguals” as those children who learn two languages from earliest childhood. Quay (2001) went on to give further clarification to this categorization, stating that regular exposure to another language before a child utters his or her first words should be considered as first language acquisition. De Houwer (2009) reserved the term bilingual first language acquisition for children who had been exposed to two languages regularly since birth or very soon after.

Genesee (2010) differentiated between simultaneous dual language learning , when a child is exposed to two languages from or shortly after birth, and sequential dual language learning . In sequential dual language learning, children receive input in one language at home during the first and/or second year of life and then, after the age of three, attends a preschool where a second language is spoken. Accordingly, sequential dual language learning would occur after the age of three, when one language (or more) is firmly established already (Genesee, Paradis, & Crago, 2004). Genesee did caution that the distinction between simultaneous and successive dual language learners is not clearly established, simply because there is no well-defined evidence that demonstrates how the two input strategies differ from one another. Additionally, one must consider that there are situations in which a child’s exposure does not fit nicely into one category or the other, such as a child being exposed only to French input in the home and has limited exposure before the age of three to English through extended family, playmates, and television. Would this then be considered simultaneous language development, even if not intentional on the part of the parents?

2.6.2 Language of the community

Furthermore, the dominant ethnolinguistic presence in the community must be taken in account. The ability and ease of maintenance and intergenerational language transmission depends largely on whether the child belongs to a majority community or to a minority ethnolinguistic community (Genesee et al., 2004). A language from a majority community, such as French or

English in Canada, will receive a great amount of government funding and hold a high level of prestige, both socially and economically. A minority language will receive little funding and be seen as less socially, economically, and politically important. This is the case of Italian in Canada, along with all other HLs spoken throughout the country. The ease of maintaining a first language, when it is part of the dominant community, is much greater than maintaining a minority language.

The political and social capital of the language impacts not only language development, but identity as well. In Canada, both English and French have political and social prestige and support, whereas the HL of Italian does not. The primary participant later attended a French immersion program—100 percent of all formal instruction for the first three years of schooling was in French. Through the semistructured interviews and SR, she revealed information regarding her identity growing up as a simultaneous bilingual as well as a sequential language learner, both contributing to her identity as a plurilingual.

It is impossible for a researcher to judge the well-being or even identity development of a young child (De Houwer, 2015) without going directly to the source, and therefore through my research I asked that the participants share their earliest feelings, as early as they could recall, concerning the development of language and cultural identity.

2.6.3 Vocabulary and language development

Vocabulary development is an important indicator of later success of literacy in general. B. A. Clark (2000) suggested that all normally developing children become language users and develop vocabulary during the same period and at the same rate, no matter the language. Additionally, Genesee (2003) found that early bilinguals produce their words at the same time as monolingual children. (I go into further detail of the primary participant’s vocabulary development in Chapter 5.)

In regard to second-language learning, by the age of three a child will have achieved much spoken language development (E. V. Clark, 2009) and will have a sound basis for the development in a second language. The progression in both languages will come from the experiences of the child and their language input. Halliday (1977) posited seven functions for language development in the early years. The first four categories fulfill the physical, emotional,

30 and social needs of the child. The following three allow the child to interact with their environment:

• Instrumental (express a need) • Regulatory (tell other what to do) • Interactional (form relationships) • Personal (express feelings) • Heuristic (gain knowledge about the environment) • Imaginative (tell stories and jokes) • Representational (share facts and information)

Play; literacy activities such as story time or innovative ways of making words using playdough, shaving cream, or straws; and different participants in the language input are all strong opportunities for vocabulary enrichment and language development in general. In considering whether plurilingualism is beneficial, not only cognitively but also emotionally, one must consider not only the language development of the child, but as well the environment and the quality of the vocabulary input that the child is receiving. In Chapters 5 to 7, I describe how plurilingualism allowed the participants to communicate with others, and how the creative use of their language repertoire allowed them to create and maintain relationships with family and friends. Additionally, I discuss the manner in which several of the participants used language for humour and to share and gain knowledge about themselves and the communities in which they lived.

2.6.4 Second or third language development

The difficulty with the classification of child language learning into nicely compartmentalized categories is that there are situations in which the context, the home environment, the language input, and the age of acquisition do not fit into one category or another. In this case study, the primary participant was exposed to two languages from birth, receiving regular input in both English and Italian. Although there were variations in the amount of input received at differing times, because of changes in the home environment and the dominant language of the community, regular exposure to both English and Italian continued for the first five years of her

31 life. However, at age of five a third language was introduced, when she attended Kindergarten in a French immersion setting.

Genesee (2010) defined dual language learning as the acquisition of two or more languages before the age of five, but after the first language has been well established. He chose the age of five for several reasons, first because this is the age before formalized schooling begins, and second because he felt that the language acquisition at this point would no longer fit into the simultaneous language acquisition phase. The primary participant had two well-established languages, with regular exposure to both, when the third language was introduced at the age of five.

2.6.5 School and identity

The question of language and cultural identity in school-age children has been previously studied (Block, 2007; Bucholtz & Hall, 2005; Day, 2002; Fielding & Harbon, 2013; Rich & Davis, 2007; Toohey, 2000). In their study of two bilingual children and their coping strategies in regard to their identity at home and at school, Rich and Davis (2007) found that “considerable interest in recent literature has focused on issues of identity construction for these learners and the impact of this of their learning” (p. 35). Through this research these authors focused on the management of two children as they navigated their home and school environments in the United Kingdom. In this three-month study, they interviewed the boys and their mothers using a semistructured interview format. Through data analysis they found that three principal strategies were used by the boys to manage their identities both in and out of school: (a) Attempting to assume notions of pupil identity promoted by the school (b) Drawing clear dichotomous boundaries between identity positions adopted at home and in school (c) Attempting to create a link between home and school identity positions. (Rich & Davis 2007, pp. 41–44)

The negotiation through this new linguistic and cultural environment for the primary participant was explored through semistructured interviews, allowing for insight into the language and cultural shift in identity at this crossroad in her life.

French immersion

In Canada, at the age of five children enter the world of formalized schooling via a Kindergarten program. As this is a major transition in a child’s life, the effect on the language and culture can be quite profound:

All children in a key site of transition such as the move into formal schooling may at times be faced with the management of diverse and conflicting demands on those identity positions they take up in their in-school and out-of-school worlds and will find themselves needing to negotiate around. (Rich & Davis, 2007, p. 37)

In Alberta, Kindergarten programs have historically been offered for a half day every day of the week. Recently, due to the cost of busing and funding restraints, Kindergarten providers have opted to offer the program on an alternating basis, two days one week and three days the next. Kindergarten is not mandated by the Alberta School Act (2000) and in Alberta parents can choose to send their children directly to Grade 1 at the age of six. In addition, Kindergarten programming can be offered by public schools as well as private Kindergarten providers. In the public-school domain, in Alberta, Kindergarten programming is offered in English for the majority of students; however, bilingual and French immersion options are available as well. In 2017–2018, 71,049 students in Alberta were registered in Kindergarten programs across the province (Alberta Education, 2018), 5.9 percent of whom were enrolled in a French immersion program (Canadian Parents for French Alberta, 2012).

Bilingual education is defined by Abello-Contesse (2013, p. 4) as the regular use of two or more languages for teaching and learning in a setting where biliteracy and bilingualism are the long- term goals. Genesee et al. (2004) defined bilingual competence as “the ability to use the target languages effectively and appropriately for authentic personal, educational, social and/or work- related purposes” (p. 3). Genesee (2013) described the French immersion program initially established in Montréal in 1965 with the aim of allowing English-speaking children to acquire proficiency in French. French immersion programs in Canada has been studied extensively (Genesee et al., 2004; Lambert & Tucker, 1972; Lyster, 2016) and since their beginnings in Montréal have spread across the country with ever-increasing enrolment gains.

Although French immersion programs across the country vary, for the most part, bilingual and immersion programs will use the target language for at least 50 percent of the instructional time (Genesee et al., 2004). The programs vary. Some are early immersion beginning in Kindergarten or Grade 1, while others are late immersion beginning anywhere from Grades 5 to 7 (Genesee, 2013). For purposes of this study, early total immersion is discussed (Genesee, 2013). Early total immersion usually consists of programming solely in the second language (L2), in this case, French. The majority language of the community, which in Alberta is most definitely English, is not introduced formally until Grade 2 or Grade 3. Where there is no instruction in the native or first language (L1), there is initially some lag in the development of early literacy skills in L1. Genesee (2013) predicted that after one year of instruction in L1, immersion students would gain parity with nonimmersion students in all skills except for spelling. They would continue to lag behind nonimmersion students in this skill for several years. In Alberta, this parity of immersion and nonimmersion students in L1 is seen through the Grade 6 provincial achievement tests. Immersion students will be equivalent and sometimes above the average of their nonimmersion counterparts in the English language test, in both reading comprehension and writing (Alberta Education, 2017).

Since French immersion students leave the program after 12 years of instruction in the target language, they will have a functional knowledge of the language, both oral and written. The weakness in the French immersion program, however, continues to be in the ability of these students to have nonacademic conversations with native French speakers (Lyster, 2016). Their exposure to the language is strictly in the school setting where it is used for instruction of other subjects and for the study of French grammar and general literacy. Their knowledge of academic vocabulary is strong, but their ability to converse and use colloquialisms is underdeveloped. This is of course due to the setting in which they learn the language. The overwhelming majority of French immersion speakers do not use it as their L2 in the home or outside of the school.

Although educators attempt to counteract a narrow use of French by the students by introducing cultural components and social language to the program, these activities are not producing the desired results. French immersion students develop a strong academic language and continue to lag in conversational and social French (Haj-Broussard, Beal, & Boudreaux, 2017; Keating & Bokhorst‐Heng, 2018; Mougeon, Rehner, & Nadasdi, 2004; Nadasdi, Mougeon, & Rehner, 2005; Rehner, & Mougeon, 2003).

2.6.6 Cross-linguistic influences

“Language is a system of symbols that people use to communicate thoughts and feelings and learning a language is not just a process of accumulating language structures and content” (Lin, 2012, p. 1). The discussion surrounding the influence of one language on another continues to garner much discussion amongst linguists of all strands. Grosjean and Li (2013) spoke about bilinguals as having two modes of functioning. In monolingual mode, bilinguals speak with a monolingual speaker of one of their languages; in bilingual mode, they speak with another bilingual person. In this mode they have the option readily available for language mixing. Switches that occur between languages, termed codeswitching , defined by Adamson and Fujimoto-Adamson (2012) as “a term to describe the interactional changes between language in various contexts” (p. 59). Codeswitching sees languages as two separate systems in which a component from one language is being used within the structure of the other language in a conversation. Codeswitching takes place “either within or across sentences, in the same conversation or discourse” (Baker & Wright, 2017, p. 244). Codeswitching is viewed as a purely linguistic perspective in which the code is studied; that is, the interest in codeswitching lies in where the switch takes place, in what order, and what the grammatical rules around the switch are. Codeswitching is common amongst multilingual families and can often be used to enhance conversation. It is an option of communication which is available to speakers of more than two languages and may be used for numerous reasons, some of which I describe in Section 2.67, Translanguaging.

Although codeswitching has been and continues to be a common term used to speak about language use, I prefer translanguaging as a concept and go on to explain the reasons it is preferable.

2.6.7 Translanguaging

Relatively new to the linguistic scene is the term translanguaging . The meaning and the use of the term are still developing as researchers apply the idea of translanguaging to broader applications within language learning and use. The term has become very popular among many different disciplines (Baker & Wright, 2017). The birth of translanguaging as a concept came from the classroom and was first used to describe the practices between teachers and students. For example, Lewis, Jones, and Baker (2012) first used the Welsh term trwsieithu (translate ) to

35 describe the language practices of English and Welsh bilingual students who Williams (1994) had observed interacting with their teacher in class. Translanguaging includes such practices as teachers speaking to early bilingual students in one language (L2) and having the student reply in their dominant language (L1); or a student may ask a question in the L2, to which the teacher responds in L1 to ensure that the student understands clearly the explanation given. Through this fluid use of the two languages both learner and teacher are empowered. García and Kleifgen (2010) allow for translanguaging as a way in which emergent bilingual speakers make meaning of the new world that surrounds their learning.

According to Baker and Wright (2017), the main difference between codeswitching and translanguaging is that the codeswitching focus is primarily on the code and translanguaging focus is on the speaker. Gorter & Cenoz (2015) point to translanguaging as moving beyond looking at cross-language use as an individual sign. The focus of translanguaging would therefore now be on how plurilinguals actually use their languages in their everyday lives, and not specifically on the linguistic code itself. Although the line that separates codeswitching and translanguaging may be fine and drawn in the sand, it may be that translanguaging actually encompasses all the previous terms used to describe the interference from one language to another that were previously described as codeswitching, code-meshing, or language interference (W. Li, 2017).

García (2009) defined translanguaging as fluid, dynamic, and inventive; the use of language across people, situations, and places as ever evolving. The languages that plurilinguals use in their lives every day shift according to the other speaker, the situation, and the social context in which the speaker finds themselves. Translanguaging as a concept seeks to explore not only the changes in language use, but also the changes in the speaker, whether on identity and/or experience.

Even though the concept of translanguaging was first reported in a classroom setting, W. Li (2017, p. 9) pushed the application of translanguaging out of the bilingual classroom and into everyday experiences of the bilingual or multilingual: “It has been applied to pedagogy, everyday social interaction, cross-modal and multimodal communication, linguistic landscape, visual arts, music, and transgender discourse” (p. 9):

[Translanguaging] goes beyond the artificial divides between linguistics, psychology, sociology etc. . . . and as such it requires analytic methods that move the focus away from treating languages as discrete and complete systems to how language users orchestrate their diverse and multiple meaning and sense making resources in their everyday social life. (W. Li, 2017, p. 27)

For Velasco and García (2014), in translanguaging multilingual speakers have one complex linguistic system from which they can decide which features to pull and when, depending on what would be socially appropriate. Although neither W. Li (2017) and Velasco and García spoke of this as plurilingualism, it is in fact the very definition of plurilingualism. That is, it points to the interconnectedness of languages within the complete identity of the plurilingual speaker and once again shifts the conversation away from language as a system of codes to language as an integral part of the human makeup.

In order to further define the use of translanguaging, Baker and Wright (2017, p. 252) put forward 14 overlapping uses for codeswitching and translanguaging: (a) Emphasis : in order for the speaker to put stress on a word or particular part of the sentence (b) Substitution : when the knowledge is not present to allow for conversation in the main language used for discourse (c) Concepts without equivalencies : the perfect phrase to describe what needs to be said in one language or the other may not be available (d) Problem solving : rephrase or rethink in order to find a solution to a problem (e) Reinforcement : repeating a request for additional emphasis (f) Clarification : teachers or parents may use clarification to ensure that a child has understood what is being said or asked of them (g) Identity : How does translanguaging bring out the identity of the speaker? How does the switch between one language and the other reinforce the relationship of the participant with another speaker? (h) Reported speech : in retelling a story, a speaker may include snippets of another language (i) Interjections : a way to break into a conversation that is taking place

(j) Inject humour : may be used to lighten a conversation or tell a joke that will only be effective in one language and not the other (k) Change of attitude or relationship : this may indicate more social distance or less, depending on the context of the conversation (l) Exclusion : a method to exclude people from a conversation (m) Change in topic : some topics may lead to a more fluid conversation in one language than the other (n) Imitation : often used by children to identify with either a higher status or the people that are important to them

In what follows, I explore the creative process that is translanguaging and how it is used by the participants to enhance their communication with others using various languages within their repertoire. The relationships between languages spoken, their use by the speaker, the impact on identity and the social context were my focus in the analysis of language use in the participants’ everyday lives in the current study. Languages are ever changing, fluid representations of a person’s identity built within the social context in which speakers find themselves.

2.7 Heritage language maintenance

When one speaks of HL in terms of teaching, the assumption is that students have had exposure to the language at home or are connected culturally to the language (Cummins, 2005). The term first came to be used in Canada in 1977 at an Ontario HL conference (Cummins, 2005). The recommendations for the policy came from the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism and was intended to protect the cultural freedom of all Canadians and recognize the value and contributions of ethnic groups in Canada (Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, 2018).

Around this same time, the Canadian educational context saw legislation that would influence the use of heritage languages in teaching with the approval of the policy on multiculturalism. In 1977, Alberta became the first province to bring about legislation that would allow for languages other than English and French to be taught in schools and a few years later, in 1973, both Edmonton public schools and Edmonton Catholic schools introduced the first bilingual HL program in the country. Since the introduction of this first HL program, numerous other heritage languages have been included in Canadian school districts.

The first Italian immersion programs began in the early 1970s. The Toronto Board of Education introduced a program in pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten that presented the curriculum to students in the program in Italian. This program was not intended solely for students that already had knowledge of Italian, and, in fact only 53 percent of children registered spoke Italian in the home (Cummins, 1993). The situation in Alberta in regard to programs in Italian for students was quite different mainly due to the smaller number of Italian immigrants living in the province. Edmonton Catholic schools began offering an Italian bilingual program as a 12-year option in 1999. The program takes place at one elementary, one junior high, and one high school located in the north corner of the city (Edmonton Catholic Schools, n.d.).

Regardless of the HL being used for instruction, the benefits are clear. Developing HL skills improves all language skills and other academic areas as well. Cummins (1993) agreed—there is considerable data to support the positive effects of promoting HL programming.

An HL speaker is defined by Baker and Wright (2017) as a person having grown up with a language other than English in the home, regardless of whether the person was born in the majority community or immigrated to the community. For purposes of this study, all participants in the current study were considered as HL speakers of Italian. Although all were born in Edmonton, they were linked linguistically and culturally to the HL and were exposed to both language and cultural experiences before school.

When looking nationally at the Canadian context there are over 400,000 speakers in 2017 census data who consider Italian to be their first language, either solely or in combination with another language. This is a decrease of over 30,000 or 6.9 percent since the previous census data were collected in 2011 (Statistics Canada, 2017a).

The Alberta context is quite different for Italian language speakers than that in the eastern part of the country, specifically Ontario and Québec. Speakers of Italian in Alberta are often only able to use their language in the home and not in the wider community. In Alberta, only 9,475 people out of a total population of over four million reported that the language they used most often at home was Italian. Of these, 1,595 reported only using Italian at home; the remainder used a combination of two languages in the home (Statistics Canada, 2017d). Using only the HL at home as the indicator is the language input strategy said to have the greatest chance of HL intergenerational transmission (De Houwer, 2017). The numbers show the unfortunate situation

39 for the transmission of Italian from one generation to another as well as the outlook for the presence of Italian in the province of Alberta.

HL use in Canada is steadily increasing, and rose 13.3 percent from the 2011 census through to the 2016 census, but this is not the case with the Italian language. It has dropped from the fourth place in 2011 to the seventh most-spoken HL in 2016 (Statistics Canada, 2017a). This is perhaps due to the decrease in numbers of Europeans immigrating to Canada. The percentage of overall immigrants from Europe has decreased drastically since before 1971, when the large majority of immigrants were European; in 2011, only about 15 percent of immigrants to Canada were European (Statistics Canada, 2017c). Because of the difficulty of intergenerational transmission of an HL (Guardado, 2002), the first language of most immigrants rarely continues beyond a third generation (Portes & Hao, 2002).

In Canada, the retention rate of speaking the HL in the home is relatively high, with some languages at over 80 percent retention. However, Statistics Canada (2017a) reported that the retention rate for European languages is quite low, at or under 50 percent. Looking specifically at Italian as a home language, the full retention rate, that is speaking a mother tongue at home, is a mere 37 percent.

The advantages of maintaining a HL are well documented. The positive effects are found not only in additional language learning, but across all subject areas. However, how does one ensure language maintenance across generations? The loss of an HL is more than a linguistic deficit; it is a loss of culture and tradition. A lost opportunity for bilingualism can at times bring a lost opportunity for biculturalism and more (Lee & Oxelson, 2006), and “when children and parents do not share a language, both parents and children may feel a sense of loss of identity, cultural and emotional bonding” (De Houwer, 2015, p. 173).

Although the research (De Houwer, 2015; Kouritzin, 1999; Portes & Hao, 1998) points to the positive effects on cultural and language identity through the preservation of an HL, it is not an easy task, particularly when the minority language is not well supported by schools and there is not a strong community presence, as in this study. The ability to preserve an HL in the home and to honour its presence in the school still remains a struggle, even knowing the benefits not only linguistically but culturally for its speakers. The good intentions of parents may be hindered by societal factors, sibling interference (Kouritzin, 1999), and peers. According to B. A. Clark

(2000), a child will only continue to use a language if there is a reason to do so and it is of some value to them. How does one promote the value of a language and a culture, through childhood, the teens and into adulthood?

2.8 Caregivers and extended family: Influence on language and cultural identity

The choice that parents make in regard to language use in the home has been a source of discussion for numerous years with still no clear answer into what language model used in the home will lead to bilingual children. Children who grow up in a home where two languages are spoken may not in all cases be able to speak both languages (De Houwer, 2007). Language choice in the home has most recently been identified as “family language policy” (Schwartz & Verschik, 2013). Parental attitudes towards a language will most definitely influence when, how, and if the HL is used with their children. Language choice can also change over time and depend on where the family is living at a particular time.

There are many variations on how parents may decide to communicate with their children. Sometimes they divide languages between the adults in the home, so that one adult will speak one language exclusively and the other, another. This is referred to as the one-person-one- language (OPOL) method. Others may choose to use OPOL in the home while the majority language is used by others in the school and community. Some will base their language use on the environment, using the HL at home with the child and the majority language when they are with the child in the community (Baker & Wright, 2017). Finally, as in the present study, parents may use both the HL and the majority language in the home, and formalized schooling will introduce yet another language through an immersion program. Language use and decisions regarding language instruction will depend on the value parents place on language and cultural identity. This language and cultural value will affect the development of the language and cultural identity of their children.

Specifically looking at studies in HL maintenance, Cho and Krashen (2000) studied bilingual Korean children. They found four major predictors of HL maintenance: the parents’ use of the HL language; travel to the country of origin; literature; and watching television in the HL. For De Houwer (1999), parental language beliefs (i.e., whether parents feel that they have control over the language maintenance) affected language choice and use in the home. She found that

41 parental beliefs directly impacted the linguistic choices and interactions with their children. It was essential that parents allowed opportunities for their children to participate in language and cultural experiences and interactions from an early age.

Parental language beliefs can be broken into four categories as defined by Kemppainen, Ferrin, Ward, and Hite (2004): L1-centric, bilingual, multilingual, and L2-centric parental language and cultural orientations. The parents’ own language orientation influenced their language choices and the choice of schooling for their children. Parents with L1 preferences sent their children predominantly to schools where L1 was the language of instruction; parents who valued a bicultural orientation chose a range of schools for their children, bilingual L1 and L2, L1, or L2. Lao (2004) looked into the language attitudes and home language use of Chinese parents, whose children were in Chinese-English bilingual programs. She found that L1 could not be maintained without a concerted effort on the part of the parents. Portes and Hao (1998) studied the language use of approximately 5,000 adolescents from varying immigrant backgrounds in the United States. They found that all children knew English. Only 40 percent said they knew the HL, and there was a greater chance of the child speaking the HL if both parents used the language in the home. This again reinforces the critical situation in Alberta, where fewer than 2,000 people use exclusively Italian in the home.

Additionally, De Houwer (2004) studied the home language use of 244 families in Flanders. Questionnaires were sent home with school children in Grades 1, 2, and 3. The study found, as many other previous studies have also found, that children growing up in a home where two languages are spoken learn to speak the majority language. The two most successful parental input strategies were when either both parents spoke the minority language in the home or when one parent spoke the minority language and the other spoke the minority language and Dutch, the language of the community (De Houwer, 2017). The language input pattern with the least chance of success for bilingual children was when one parent spoke the minority language and Dutch and the other spoke Dutch. From this pattern, two of three children would not speak the minority language. Yamamoto (2001) put forth the “principle of maximum engagement with the minority language” (p. 128), in which the more engagement and input the child receives in the minority language, the greater is his or her chance of achieving bilingualism.

Raising bilingual children is not an easy feat and requires dedication on the part of the parents, and on the part of the extended family as well. According to Deuchar and Quay (2000), there is no one proven method of language use that is more or less beneficial to bilingual upbringing. Parents must feel comfortable with the choices they are making and engage in authentic communication with their children. Children, especially at an early age, will be sensitive to the language and cultural choices that parents are making. Their identity will begin to develop through these early interactions with parents and extended family. As previously discussed, language and cultural identities are formed through the interactions with other language and culture users. If opportunities for language and cultural interaction with parents and other members of the community are not present, then the identity associated with the particular language and culture will not develop (Preece, 2016a). However, again as previously discussed, language and cultural identity are not static nor fixed, and so the ability to gain or lose identity is possible and probable.

2.8.1 Multigenerational considerations

Extended family is also considered when language choices are also made. Parents may want to ensure that their child is plurilingual so that they are able to communicate with their grandparents: “The grandchildren have to know the grandparents’ language in order to get together and make friends with them” (Baumgartner, 2012, p. 1). Kouritzin (1997) found that the loss of an HL was felt most significantly in the inability to communicate with extended family, including grandparents. In H. Lee’s (2004) study of Aboriginal people in Taiwan, the effort by grandparents in the maintenance of an HL was duly noted. Further research was conducted by Alba, Logan, Lutz, & Stults (2002), who found that the presence of nonparental adults in the home who do not speak the majority language would increase the possibility of children speaking the nondominant language.

Although the studies regarding extending families and language use are not plentiful, Braun & Cline (2010) studied 70 trilingual families who were interviewed with semistructured questions, 35 families in England and 35 in Germany. His question was “in which ways do grandparents and other relatives affect language maintenance in trilingual families?” (Braun & Cline, 2010, p. 425). Braun and Cline categorized families into three types: the first had monolingual

43 grandparents; the second had bilingual grandparents; and the third, who believed in the importance of English, the community language.

Type 1 families, where the grandparents did not speak the community language, overwhelmingly stated that communication with extended family members was very important to their use of the HL in the home. The ability for the grandchildren to communicate with grandparents was in the parents’ minds as they decided on language use in the home. Type 2 families often dropped one of the three languages, as most of these families had grandparents who were bilingual and could speak with the grandchildren in one of the other two languages.

Type 3 families, who believed in a greater importance for English, were divided distinctively between English and German families. Whereas the English families tended to drop both HLs, the German families for the large part dropped only one HL for the English language. The majority English grandparents spoke English and therefore they did not see a need for the maintenance of the HL. English was the majority language in the community, so that the children could communicate with both family and friends using English. The importance of the HL, according to this set of grandparents, was reduced. The majority of the German families who believed in the importance of English first and foremost still stated that grandparents were influential in their decision to maintain one of the HLs in the home. English was not a language spoken by the grandparents and was not the language of the community; therefore, the maintenance of one HL would still allow the children to communicate with their grandparents. All participants in the current case study have extended family, including grandparents, who were monolingual Italian speakers.

As previously stated, research on the influence that extended family has on language maintenance has been scarce, particularly regarding grandparents and children in multigenerational homes. In 2016, according to Statistics Canada (2017b), the number of households that include at minimum three generations were only 2.9 percent. Although this number may seem insignificant when compared to family composition as a whole, it is important to note the rate of increase in multigenerational homes over the past 16 years. Between 2001 to 2016, multigenerational homes rose by 37.5 percent. This household makeup was most common among Indigenous and immigrant populations. Both these groups have a great stake in the maintenance of HL.

In this study, I have explored the influence of grandparents in a multigenerational home as a catalyst or motivator for the development of language and cultural identity with the two participants. Additionally, I have discussed the tension that may have existed within the homes in regard to language and culture. Is it possible that the participants were conflicted by the desire to conform to the standards set by an older generation in regard to what was socially appropriate in a cultural and linguistic settings, yet still wanting to fit in with the majority community in regard to language and culture?

2.9 Significance of the study

A relatively new development in the study of multiple language use is that of plurilingualism; which has been defined by the Council of Europe (2001, p. 168) as:

The ability to use language for the purposes of communication and to take part in intercultural interactions, where a person, viewed as a social agent has proficiency, in varying degrees, in several languages and experiences of several cultures. This is not seen as the superposition or juxtaposition of distinct competences, but rather as the existence of a complex, or even composite competence on which the user may draw.

The degree to which languages interrelate and interact with each other and the fluidity of this interrelation are essential to the notion of plurilingualism (Piccardo, 2013). Therefore, plurilingualism views language and language use as fluid and dynamic; an interrelated and interconnected system of which the individual draws from in relation to the context in which they find themselves. I believe that there is still much work to do around the concept of plurilingualism and how it relates to the everyday lives of language users. It is my understanding that plurilingual use is ever changing, fluid and fundamentally connected to the identity of the user.

The maintenance of plurilingualism is complicated and takes a specific and focused effort on the part of families. Research has shown that a family’s HL is lost by the third generation (Fishman, 1966; Veltman, 1983) and the current demographic situation in Canada in 2016 according to Statistics Canada (2017b) showed that although there is a strong increase in languages other than French and English being spoke in Canadians homes, only approximately 28 percent of

45 respondents reported speaking exclusively a language other than English or French at home, which according to De Houwer (2009) is the most impactful way of ensuring HL transmission from one generation to the next. The loss of an HL can have far-reaching effects on an individual, not only linguistically but culturally as well. This detachment from the HL can bring about feeling emotionally distant and culturally unattached, in addition to impacting language and cultural identity. Additionally, the transmission of European languages from one generation to the next is on the decline in Canada.

There have been numerous case studies on bilingualism in young children. One of the earliest was by Ronjat and Escude (Ronjat, 2014). Others include Leopold (1970), who documented his daughter Hildegard’s language development from 1930 to 1949; Fantini (1985); Yukawa (1997); Deuchar and Quay (2000); and Taura and Taura (2012), who studied the linguistic development of a Japanese-English bilingual girl over a 14-year time span, just to cite a few. There are far fewer that focus on the language and cultural identity, from a bilingual or plurilingual and a bicultural or pluricultural perspective (Kondo-Brown, 2005; Kanno, 2003; Prasad, 2018). I was not able to find a study that took place over a period of time from birth to adulthood. The bicultural, bilingual, or better yet, the pluricultural and plurilingual individual, as a unified entity has not yet been fully explored (Grosjean, 2015). Through the semistructured interviews I delve into the interconnectedness of plurilingual and cultural identity.

Similarly, there has been little attention paid to the effects of multigenerational participation in the language and cultural identification of an individual. Numerous studies focus on the feelings of parents regarding bilingualism and bilingual education, such as King and Fogle (2006). However, to date there have been few case studies on the feelings of children and youth themselves towards plurilingualism (Rich & Davis, 2007) and their pluricultural identity.

The present research explores the language and cultural experiences of three participants through a mixed-methods data collection, the earliest data having been collected by the researcher when the participant was still a child and the later through SR of the primary participant and semistructured interviews of the two participants. It is my hope that this study will contribute to the literature on plurilingualism and pluricultural identity and reinforce the importance and positive effects of HL maintenance.

I believe that cultural identity, like language identity, is ever changing and fluid and significantly linked to both language and the environment in which the individual finds themselves. Through this dissertation, it is my hope that the experiences of these young adults, in relation to their language and cultural journey, will shed light on the significant experiences in their homes, communities, and life journey that influenced and supported their plurilingual pluricultural identity.

Chapter 3 Methodology Overall Research Design

The primary aim of this study was to explore the experiences of three young adults—one primary participant and two secondary participants—in regard to their identification with two or more language groups and their views concerning pluricultural identity. Scholars studying language and cultural identity, according to Norton and Toohey (2011), incorporate the three following methodological understandings:

(a) They reject claims that research is objective and unbiased. They are reflexive about their own experiences and recognize that the results will be partial and situated within their own understandings. (b) They understand that both structure and agency must be considered in the research. They must acknowledge that both social situations, as well as individual choice influence identity: “Methods for examining L2 learning and identity thus need to pay close attention to how individuals are placed by common societal practices, but how also they place themselves by engaging in societal practices in innovative ways.” (c) They must seek to understand how political and economic issues interact with language learning, constraining or enabling human interaction. (pp. 426–427)

There were four main research questions: 1. Which practices used by the family were most significant in the fostering and maintenance of the heritage language and culture in the home? 2. What were the feelings of the participants towards their heritage language, minority cultural identity, and home composition? 3. How did the experiences of the participants contribute to the development of plurilingual, pluricultural identity in a minority environment? 4. To what extent was it possible to be both Canadian and Italian in Alberta, Canada?

I collected data about the primary participant for the first three years of her life, initially through observations and video recordings and later through semistructured interviews and SR. Data for the secondary participants were collected through semistructured interviews over the course of

48 three months. These data will be used to enrich the primary findings and for purposes of comparison and similar theme analysis. “Poststructuralist, interpretivist approaches . . . require the researcher to gather different sorts of data, which may of course include naturally occurring talk-in-interaction but not exclusively. Instead emphasis is placed on triangulation” (Eppler & Codò, 2016, p. 304). Specific discussion regarding the data collection is described later in this chapter. The case study began 18 years ago with the early collection of data for the primary participant, was interrupted, and began again with the primary participant as a young adult. In this chapter I seek to define the case study design and the narrative process, clarify the research process, and introduce the three participants.

3.1 The case study as an approach

According to Creswell (2009) there are five types of qualitative studies: narrative, phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, and case study. Each of these is unique in its own respect. The qualitative approach is defined by Dromi (1987) as the analysis of behaviours within their natural environment. De Capua and Wintergerst (2009) add to this definition:

Qualitative research provides multiple opportunities to explore participants’ views, emotions, and experiences. Because such research is by nature interpretive, themes emerge from participants’ discourse, rather than having been predetermined beforehand. (p. 8)

The case study approach is used extensively in the social sciences and the medical field and is commonly used to discuss and document the development of language in bilingual children (Deuchar & Quay, 2000). Although the majority of case studies are qualitative in nature (Deuchar & Quay, 2000), mixed methods of data collection are used as well. According to Crowe et al. (2011), case studies involve the collection of multiple sources of data and can be quantitative (through the use of questionnaires) as well as qualitative (through observations and interviews).

Case studies investigate contemporary phenomena through real life stories and situations. They are effective for answering how and why , and gathering data in a holistic and in-depth manner. This is “a research approach used to generate in-depth, multi-faceted understanding of a complex issue in its real-life context” (Crowe et al., 2011, p. 1). Huberman and Miles (2002) spoke to the

49 case study as a research strategy that allows an in-depth understanding of the numerous factors involved within a phenomena. In the medical field, it “is particularly useful to employ when there is a need to obtain an in-depth appreciation of an issue, event or phenomenon of interest” (p. 1). The approach can be broadly applied across fields. The issue of plurilingualism and plurilingual identity, in a similar setting and as a single phenomenon, is most definitely complex and multifaceted, and lends itself well to the case study approach. The how, what, and why were examined throughout this case study.

Although the case study approach is a valid method for data collection over an extended period of time and for few participants, like all research approaches there are pros and cons. The benefits, according to Guba and Lincoln (1982), include the researcher’s ability to provide detailed description, present data in a manner that is relatively simple to understand, and share an in-depth understanding of a particular situation. Through the case study the researcher is able to provide a lifelike image of the individual or situation and the reader is able to become involved in the topic being discussed due to the many details presented.

Platt (1988) posited that the case study as a method had generally been considered unable to provide generalizations, but this is not necessarily true, since case study is not explored in isolation. The topic, situation, and/or individual is researched thoroughly and in relation to other studies previously conducted.

A complication may arise be if the case study researcher is a parent of a participant, as is the case in the current study. When this is the case, additional considerations that must be explored. There is the possibility of the parent-researcher becoming too emotionally involved, being biased to the progress of their child, and a tendency to “over-interpret a child utterance as representing a particular word or word sequence” (Deuchar & Quay, 2000).

The negative possibility for the parent-researcher to be biased or to overgeneralize exists, but the positive possibilities for parents are ample. Parents have a wide access to children and their time. Parents are, for the most part, a constant in children’s life: “the parent can be present over a much wider range of situations . . . and so has access to a potentially much larger sample of utterances” (Deuchar & Quay, 2000).

In order for researchers to provide assurances that their study has a strong foundational base they must be transparent in describing the steps in detail taken throughout the research. The explanation of participant selection, data collection, and data analysis must be exhaustive and comprehensive. They must examine and disclose their own biases and background. All these issues are disclosed and described in detail later in this chapter.

I do not define this study as a longitudinal one, however, one must take into consideration earlier data for the primary participant and earlier videos incorporated through SR. Kanno (2003) stated the longitudinal study is particularly important for the exploration of identity issues in language and culture:

Longitudinal studies . . . are extremely valuable as they can capture gradual changes in bilingual learners’ identities that escape the notice of short-term studies. Since these researchers observe these changes as the happen, they can record the complexity and contradictions involved in identity changes that are often smoothed over in retrospective accounts. Also, a longitudinal approach often involves following the same students from one sociocultural context to another-such as from one classroom to another, or from high school to college— resulting in a heightened awareness of the ways in which different settings shape the learner identities. (p. 7)

The primary participant was able to observe changes in her language and culture through SR, as she moved in different language and cultural communities, and interacted with various speakers from differing age and socioeconomic backgrounds. This allowed for a more complete understanding of the complexities of her language and cultural identity.

3.2 Previous case studies

As previously stated, the case study is not a new or undeveloped area in language development of children. However, it is less common in the area of language and cultural identity. There are numerous case studies, some lengthy in nature and others relatively brief snapshots, of the children’s language development. In the following section, I discuss case studies that focus on language development. Although this is not the main area of focus for this particular study, I believe that it is important as it sets the stage; it brings the study back to its original intent, to

51 where it began 18 years ago. Furthermore, there are aspects of the following case studies that provide valuable insight for this particular situation.

Two of the first case studies of bilingual first-language acquisition are, as previously mentioned in the introduction, Ronjat (1913) and Leopold (1970). Both these individuals were linguists who studied the bilingual language development of their own children. Ronjat (2014) documented the language development of his son, who received language input in German from his mother and French from his father in a French-speaking community. This was the first documented OPOL study.

Leopold (1970) documented the language development of his daughter Hildegard over an extensive period of time, from 1930 to 1949. The daughter grew up in an English-speaking community, where her mother spoke English and her father German. Leopold documented the shifting balance between the two languages during the study and found that during his daughter’s teenage years she was reluctant to speak German, the nonmajority community language.

Following Leopold (1970) there were numerous case studies of bilingual children (De Houwer, 1990; Deuchar & Quay, 2000; Fantini, 1985). However, a study spanning the majority of childhood into adolescence was not conducted again until 2012 when Taura and Taura (2012) documented the bilingual language development of a child from ages 4,09 to 19,01. The child was educated in Japan and received English input from the mother and Japanese from the father. The language of the community was Japanese. The child attended a bilingual English- Japanese school from the 7th to the 12th year; 50 percent of instruction occurred in English and the other 50 percent in Japanese. I conclude from this study that the child experienced language development in both languages that was either identical or very similar to that of a monolingual speaker; however, there were shifts in language dominance throughout the study. Additionally, I wonder whether this near-monolingual development and hold on the language would have been possible without the considerable amount of time, both when the child was in Kindergarten and Grade 6, spent in Australia, in an English-speaking community. This is a topic of great interest for the present study as the primary participant spent considerable time in Italy and similarly attended an immersion setting where the language of instruction was French and English. For her, therefore, three languages received varying but constant degrees of input throughout the research time frame.

There have been very few case studies of the development of multilingual children (Baker & Wright, 2017; for a comprehensive list of research in the language development of trilingual children, see Chevalier, 2012, p. 441). For purposes of this dissertation, I have limited the discussion to three of the longer case studies presented on multilingual children, discussed below.

Dewaele (2000, 2007) examined the language development of a child, first until the age of three and in the later study, the same child until the age of 10. The child lived in a bilingual home, in which her mother spoke Dutch and her father spoke French. She was introduced to English, the majority language, through interactions in the community. The case study examines the development of two-word utterances and the metalinguistic awareness of the child. Dewaele discussed the influence of peers and school language as English became the dominant language. The author concluded that the development of multilingualism was not difficult to achieve for the child, however the maintenance of three languages by the age of 10 was to be the major struggle.

A second case study of interest is Wang (2008) in which the development of the researcher’s two sons, Leandre and Dominique, is discussed. The study incorporates discussion of trilingual language development from birth to age 10. The study includes video and audio recordings of the two boys who were exposed to French and Chinese in the home and English in the community. Baker and Wright (2017) described the study as “refreshingly holistic, including linguistic and sociolinguistics perspectives, while at the same time revealing considerable parental insight and wisdom” (p. 240). Again, this study is of particular interest for the present research due to the inclusion of both linguistic and sociolinguistics ideas.

Faingold (1999) studied the language development of her son, Noam, until the age of 14 and documented the re-emergence of both Spanish and Hebrew in an English-dominant community. The author stated the re-emergence of Spanish and Hebrew were due to positive attitudes towards the HL from family, school, and peers.

Faingold (1999) posited four factors in the loss and reappearance of the two minority languages:

1. the high or low status of the minority language(s);

2. the child’s own family linguistic situation (e.g. the parents’ proficiency in the majority languages); 3. lack of contact with speakers of the minority language; and 4. psychological concerns of the child (e.g. the need to conform with his peers and embarrassment in speaking the minority language). (p. 283)

The author listed six stages in which Noam initially developed language skills in Spanish, Portuguese, and Hebrew and then regained language proficiency in Spanish and Hebrew. At age six, with a move to the United States and an English-dominant community, Noam acquired English within approximately six months. At this point he refused to speak any other language besides English, even though he would spend every summer either with his paternal grandparents in Argentina or his maternal grandparents in Israel. Again, of interest, as the participant in the current case study spent the majority of her summers with her paternal relatives in Italy.

However, at age 12, Noam was once again introduced to significant input in both Hebrew and Spanish at school and once again began to use the minority languages in the home to a limited extent. Quay (2001) stated that even a passive knowledge for multilinguals is valuable, because minority languages can be reactivated with a significant increase in input at a later time in life. A passive multilingual can thus shift to a productive one (Quay, 2006). This was the case for Leopold’s (1970) second daughter, Karla, who had a passive knowledge of German. She could understand when spoken to, but was not an active user of the language. At the age of 19, Karla visited Germany, where with the increased input and stimulation was able to pass from a passive bilingual to an active one (Baker & Wright, 2017).

I focus on these three case studies of multilingual acquisition because they were conducted over a longer time frame from most, as was the present study. Discussion of case studies that speak to identity development in regard to language and culture are presented in the theoretical framework and identity section of Chapter 2 in this dissertation. It is my hope that this case study will add to the present research on the topic of language and cultural development in plurilingual, pluricultural young adults.

3.3 The process

Due to the complicated nature of this dissertation and its lengthy time frame, I describe the research project here, in quite some detail, starting from the beginning.

The research process began approximately 18 years ago with the early language development of the primary participant, Maria. For the first three years of her life, I incorporated two primary sources of data collection for her language development: diary records and video recordings. In the diary records, Maria’s utterances were noted as they occurred, beginning with the first words she produced at 0;9 and continuing until she was 2.0. The diary entries were recorded with each new utterance Maria produced and since, at the time, I (her mother and researcher) was not employed, the large majority of my time was spent with Maria. The diary entries include the situation in which the utterance was produced, its phonological transcription, and my interpretation of the utterance.

As Maria began to use more two-word utterances, it became difficult to record all her new utterances. At the age of approximately 2,1, two-word utterances became her priority and her mean length of utterance (MLU) was calculated, by adding the total number of morphemes she produced at a certain point in time, divided by the number of utterances (Casby, 2011). General notes on the use of language continued until Maria was three.

In addition, video recordings of free conversations with Maria began at the age of 2;2 until the age of 3;1 years. These video recordings include conversations between the researcher and the child, the child at play on her own or interacting with grandparents. The recordings were made on a monthly basis. The original equipment used to record the interactions was a Samsung video camera. The video recordings were recently transcribed and transferred from the original cassette tapes to DVDs. They were used as a method for Maria to reflect on her own language development through SR, discussed later in this chapter.

3.3.1 Present day

For personal reasons I was not able to complete the dissertation in the early 2000s. In order to complete the doctoral requirements, I was reinstated by the University of Toronto’s Italian Department and allowed to continue with the original dissertation topic. However, because of the

55 lapse in time, I am now able to conduct a broader research. I can now consider the original data as well as supplementary material. The new data took the form of semistructured interviews and two SR sessions with the primary participant, Maria, in which she would view herself in conversation in both English and Italian. Through the semistructured interviews and the SR, the now 18-year-old participant reflected on her life as a plurilingual, pluricultural young adult.

Two other participants, who are approximately the same age as Maria, the primary participant, are referred to as Alia and Alex. All young adults have similar experiences with language and culture and for the thematic analysis (TA), they were interviewed using the same questions. More details regarding the participants are found later in this chapter.

Although this process of combining earlier data collection with current data is not common in dissertation writing, it is not unheard of. Many researchers in their study of language development have re-examined data and/or written about the same subject during various times in their lives (Dewaele, 2000, 2007; Faingold, 1990, 1999; Leopold, 1970). What is unique in this dissertation is that the evidence collected is included within one case study and includes observations by the researcher and reflections by the participant.

3.3.2 Stories

I interview because I am interested in other people stories. Most simply put stories are a way of knowing. . . . In order to give the details of their experience a beginning middle and end, people must reflect on their experience. —Seidman, 2013, p. 7

I interviewed the three young adults—Maria, Alia, and Alex—over the course of three months. We met on a somewhat regular biweekly basis even though, at times, scheduled meetings had to be rescheduled due to other commitments. Meetings took place in the homes of the two individuals and for their convenience I would travel to them. The theme of each interview varied (see Appendix C for a list of interview questions). However, the overarching theme was the language identity of the participants and their identification (or lack thereof) with two or more cultures.

In order to enter into the lived experiences of others, we must listen to their stories and try to understand what those stories tell us about the individual. Kanno (2003) said:

Those of us in narrative inquiry pay particular attention to the role of narratives in the meaning making process of the human experience. . . . We are interested in what connections individuals make between separate events, how one experience leads to another and what identities they express in the telling of their stories. (p. 8)

Through the participants’ stories I have made connections between identity, language, and culture. Through the stories the participants shared with me, what and who was important to them became evident.

According to Pavlenko (2007) autobiographical narratives make three major contributions to the study of SLA and multilingualism:

(a) A personal narrative allows for a window into the private world of the language learner, the process of language development, language attrition and language use. (b) Autobiographical narratives allow for new connections to emerge between the learning processes. (c) Autobiographical narratives provide important information regarding historic sociolinguistic research. (p. 164)

Pavlenko (2007) described three major types of autobiographical narratives commonly found in the study of multilingual studies. For purposes of this dissertation, I focus on the linguistic biography or autobiography which is primarily interested in language development stories during an individual’s life. These focus on how and why languages were developed, and the use and the loss of language. These personal stories are usually collected in an interview process. The stories that the three participants in this study shared with me focused on their realities about languages and culture and how they experienced language development and use, and cultural identification.

I began to ask questions of the participants through the lens of interviews: “Interviewing, then, is a basic mode of inquiry. Recounting narratives of experience has been the major way throughout recorded history that humans have made sense of their experience” (Seidman, 2013, p. 8).

“Interviews have been considered to be the privileged point of entry into people’s life meaning, identities and experiences” (Eppler & Codò, 2016, p. 307). I was hoping that I would be able to make sense of their journey through language and culture by sharing their experiences with me.

J. Ellis (2006) spoke to the importance of making participants comfortable in an interview process so that they would be able to share real and important events, thoughts, or feelings. With this in mind, I began the interviews with general, get-to-know-you, semistructured questions. This also allowed me a general insight into the history and background of the participant, relating to their language development. This was particularly important for the secondary participants as it allowed for a view into the language use and practices in their homes as they were growing up.

Within a poststructural framework, interviews are not about revealing the innermost secrets of participants. Rather, they are more of a conversation between two people, and are “situated in particular linguistic, socioeconomic, historical and political regimes” (Eppler & Codò, 2016, p. 307). Semistructured interviews consist of predetermined questions allowing for flexibility within the process to further expand on answers and ideas shared by participants (Eppler & Codò, 2016; Perry, 2011). Additionally, we discussed thoughts and insights into their identification with the minority culture, their use of two or more languages, and their feelings about the multigenerational homes in which they grew up and in which they still resided: “life narratives are often built in the sequence of semistructured interviews in which the individual is invited by the researcher to consider (and express) past experiences through a filter (a series of topics that guide the interview)” (Oliveira & Ançã, 2009, p. 408; parentheses in original).

Although there were prepared questions for each of the eight sessions, occasionally something participants said would pique my curiosity and I would ask them to tell me more about what they had just said: “at the root of in-depth interviewing is an interest in understanding the lived experience of other people and the meaning they make of that experience” (Seidman, 2013, p. 9). With this purpose at heart, it was important to allow participants to share their stories, even if they were not within the prepared set of questions. Often, such impromptu reflections by participants would prompt further thoughts or reflections of my own, and I would jot them down and include them in our next sessions. So even if the sets of questions were prepared before the process began, the questionnaire was a living document that was influenced by both participant and researcher (Gass & Mackey, 2016).

The primary participant was also to participate in SR, a methodological technique initially developed by Bloom in 1953 in order to study the thought process of his students (Gass & Mackey, 2016). In SR sessions, participants are invited to recall prior events through reflections on their thought processes: “participants are asked to recall thoughts they had had while performing a prior task or while they had participated in a prior event” (Gass & Mackey, 2016, p. 14). This flexible tool, which originated in the fields of psychology and philosophy, is presently used across disciplines. SR is often used in the field of education. Recently SR has been used frequently in the study of L2 learning for topics that range from learner motivation to strategy use, reading, and writing in L2 (see Gass & Mackey, 2016, p. 29 for a list of L2 studies using SR dating from 2000 to 2015). The popularity of SR as a methodology is documented in Gass and Mackey (2016), in which they stated that in their previous edition of this work (Gass & Mackey, 2000), 12 studies incorporated SR, while in the newer edition they had found roughly 125 language-related studies. However, I was unable to find one study that used SR as a method for which a participant reflected on their language journey while viewing videos of themselves as a young child after numerous years had passed.

This would be perhaps new territory because since Gass and Mackey’s (2000) first work on SR, Mackey and Gass (2016) and Lyle (2003) have all cautioned about the lapse in time between when an event occurs and is taped and is then viewed. Gass and Mackey spoke to the “temporal relationship” between the event and the recall. In their study of the use of SR, time lapse was anywhere from immediately after the event to several weeks after. They cautioned that a delayed SR would often lead to challenges on the data and claims made from the SR: “when the delay is long, one often compensates for a lack of memory by filling in the memory gap, often based on what is expected” (Mackey & Gass, 2016, p. 47; quotation marks in text). However, it is not unheard of, in terms of diary studies and exit interviews, for a longer time lapse between the SR and the actual event. As Eppler and Codò (2016) said, “memories are always reconstructions, which are fashioned as they are (re)told” (p. 307). It was not my intention to understand how the participant viewed herself in the past, but how she viewed her past in the present (Block, 2006). It is, however, important that I make a full disclosure and report the time lapse accurately.

For purposes of this study the time lapse between the recorded event and the use of SR to elicit thoughts of the participant in relation to her language journey was 15 years. The researcher did not use SR in isolation but triangulated the data with her own observations noted at the time, as

59 well as with semistructured interviews during which the participant reflected on the journey through plurilingualism. The language used to discuss the video is Italian, the language the participant saw herself speaking as a three-year-old child. When the video was recorded, the dominant language used by the participant was Italian. This is not the case, at the present day, and I believe, even just this fact alone would provide for an interesting reflection on the participant’s part. She was to view a specific time in her language development, in which her dominant language was not the language she currently used today.

Although I believe this is relatively new territory for the use of SR, I am confident that the data collected provides useful information in regard to Maria’s view of her language development. Again, although the time lapse is long between the event and the SR, this data will not be used in isolation, but as part of a greater work of data that was to be collated and analyzed for common themes.

3.4 Thematic analysis

For purposes of this dissertation, TA is used in the context of the case study, to identify key concepts and themes that come forward within the interview process. “Thematic analysis (TA) is a method for identifying, analyzing, and interpreting patterns of meaning (themes) within qualitative data” (Clarke & Braun 2017, p. 296). According to Clarke and Braun, TA can be used across diverse theoretical frameworks and within diverse research paradigms: “it offers an accessible and theoretically flexible approach to analysing qualitative data” (Clarke & Braun, 2006, p. 77). Clarke and Braun (2006) also stated:

TA provides accessible and systematic procedures for generating codes and themes from qualitative data. Codes are the smallest units of analysis that capture interesting features of the data (potentially) relevant to the research question. Codes are the building blocks for themes, (larger) patterns of meaning. (p. 297)

In autobiographical narratives of multilingualism and cultural identity, TA has been much used for data analysis within the “subject reality” (Pavlenko, 2007) narrative: “In language identity projects, researchers may, for example, want to code passages in which the speaker indexes multiple identities” (Eppler & Codò, 2016, p. 314).

The participants’ stories were coded—sorted into emerging themes. Previous studies on the participants’ attitudes toward their bilingualism include: Heinz, 2006; Pavlenko and Lantolf, 2000; and Yelenevskaya and Fialkova, 2003. Additionally, both Hinton, 2000 and Tse, 2000 discussed HL maintenance and cultural identity in the narratives they explored. These studies will be referred to throughout the dissertation in relation to the data gathered and analyzed from the shared narratives.

As with all methods of analyzing data, there are positives and negatives to TA used in personal narratives. Pavlenko (2007) stated that, through TA, the possibility exists of discovering themes recurring throughout the narrative. It allows the researcher to identify themes not only within a data set, but across data. It gives the researcher the opportunity to experience the lived reality of the participants and to gain an understanding of the participants’ thoughts and feelings. For Pavlenko, autobiographical narratives are unique in their makeup, are appealing, and are relatively simple to read. Clarke and Braun (2017) point to TA as providing “accessible and systematic procedures for generating codes and themes from qualitative data” (p. 297) and for collecting a variety of data that can be analyzed: “Virtually any data type can be analyzed, from widely used qualitative techniques such as interviews and focus groups, to emerging methods such as qualitative surveys and story completion” (p. 298). TA allowed me to look at the data closely both for themes that were common among the three participants and for stories that were unique.

I incorporated the following process of thematic data analysis into the TA:

1. Familiarize oneself with the data : This phase includes transcribing the data and reading and re-reading the transcription. This phase may include an initial noting of ideas. 2. Generate initial codes : The researcher codes interesting features across the data collected and sorts relevant data into the codes. 3. Search for themes : At this point the codes are gathered into themes that emerge. 4. Review themes : The research must ensure that the themes function according to the codes that were uncovered within the data. 5. Define and name themes : The refining of themes continues to form an overall story of the data analysis. I would add that the researcher at this point ensures that the themes

are well centred within the theoretical framework, which for this specific dissertation in one of language socialization. According to Clarke and Braun (2006), “a ‘theoretical’ TA would tend to be driven by the researcher’s theoretical or analytic interest in the area, and is thus more explicitly analyst-driven” (p. 85). 6. Produce the report : This is the final opportunity to further refine each of the themes and to provide examples from that data as well as to loop back to the initial research questions and previous literature on the subject. (Braun & Clarke, 2016, p. 87)

In order to ensure reliable and valid theme identification with TA, one must avoid certain common pitfalls of the TA method. Pavlenko (2007) identified several weaknesses with it, including include a lack of theoretical basis. However, for purposes of this study the theoretical framework was grounded firmly in language—a poststructural view of identity. Secondly, Pavlenko pointed to a lack of a clearly established procedure. Once again, for purposes of this dissertation the above mentioned six TA phases guides the data analysis. Additionally, Pavlenko stated, focusing overly on the common themes can lead to excluding important events or themes that did not occur as frequently. Lastly, Pavlenko mentioned the small amount of attention given to the manner in which the storyteller uses language to speak about the experiences, and cautions against the possibility of TA becoming primarily a list of observations pulled from the narrative. It is important for a researcher to acknowledge such limitations.

Pavlenko (2007) explained several ways in which TA could be strengthened. She stated that the focus should not be solely on the narrative, but must include considerations regarding the context and the form in which the stories take place. Furthermore, the researcher must adopt a specific theoretical framework, to allow for deeper connections within the recurring themes. However, for Clarke and Braun (2006), TA was possible with or without a guiding theoretical framework: “Themes or patterns within data can be identified in one of two primary ways in thematic analysis: in an inductive or ‘bottom up’ way or in a theoretical or deductive or ‘top down’ way” (p. 83). Furthermore, for them an inductive use of TA would allow the researcher to closely tie the themes to the data itself, thereby seeing a strong reliance on the text as a positive aspect of TA.

Pavlenko (2007) proposed collecting narratives as a cross section of the language(s) spoken by the participant and to allow for the same story to be told in different languages. In the specific

62 circumstance of this case study, that would depend on the comfort level of the participants and their competence in two or more languages. However, the primary participant was afforded the opportunity to tell her story through a series of semistructured interviews, as well as through SR using videos.

A caution regarding the transcription process of the interviews was signalled by Pavlenko (2007). The researcher must be aware of any additions—even simple punctuation and omissions—to the participants’ false starts and repetitions. She recommended that the researcher allow the participants to review the transcriptions. This was done with all three participants in this research after each interview. Finally, in reference to the transcription process, the researcher must consider the language choice of the participant during the interview process.

Although the narrative is the primary source of data, the researcher must consider both global and local influences within the story told by the participants. These stories took place in a larger context than just their homes. Consideration was given to their local communities and, as well, national or international elements where appropriate. The influence on language and culture of the participants’ language choice and the power relationships at play, both during the interview and outside the interview process, was contemplated when analyzing for themes both within the personal narrative and across narratives.

Finally, the TA included, as suggested by Pavlenko (2007), a consideration of the different voices used by the participants to tell their stories. The researcher was cognizant of the fact that participants might be using their story to include the story of others and perhaps to tell the story of others through their personal view. In regard to personal voice, the inclusion of linguistic devices, such as translanguaging, was to be noted and pondered for their importance as to what they told about the participants and their narratives. With the above information in mind, I am respectful to the stories of all participants and sought to ensure that their many voices were heard.

The recommendations that are relevant to this specific study put forward by Pavlenko (2007) were considered as the research continued. The six phases proposed by Clarke and Braun (2006) were followed in order to ensure the best possible TA in this specific case study.

3.5 The participants

The participants are introduced in what follows, and a detailed account of their language and cultural journey follows in the next chapters: “their personal trajectories are explained in full detail” as recommended by Eppler and Codò (2016). Maria was the primary participant in this case study. Her language development was originally recorded by the researcher beginning18 years ago. Here, the narrative of her journey through plurilingualism and bicultural identity is explored.

Maria’s mother (the researcher) mother was born in Edmonton, Alberta, to Italian immigrants and is a first-generation Canadian. She has lived the majority of her life in Sherwood Park, a predominantly White, middle-class suburb of Edmonton. She attended a French immersion school from Kindergarten to Grade 12 and continued onto postsecondary education with a Bachelor of Arts with a major in French and Italian, and a minor in History. She speaks English, Italian, and French fluently, and some Spanish. After she completed her first degree, she moved to Italy for two years and resided with her paternal grandparents. During this period, she met Maria’s father, an official in the Italian navy and a monolingual speaker of Italian. She returned to Canada to continue with a master’s degree at the University of Toronto in the Department of Italian studies, while Maria’s father remained in Italy to continue his work with the military. Two years later they were married, although the separate lives in Italy and Canada continued.

When Maria was born in 2000, at full term and at a healthy weight, her mother had completed her MA and began a PhD within the same department at the University of Toronto. At this time, her father requested and received a two-year leave from the military and moved to Sherwood Park, Alberta, where the family resided with Maria’s maternal grandparents. A more detailed description of living arrangements, travel, and language use continues in the data analysis chapters.

Alex, the second participant, is included in this case study; however, his language development is not discussed. The principal data collection occurred through semistructured interviews, the topics will focus on his views of multilingualism and cultural identity.

Alia, the third participant, was also born in Edmonton, in 1999. Alia’s home composition was very similar to that of the other participants. She grew up in a family with two children, mother

64 and father, and grandparents within the home. Alia’s grandparents both emigrated from the same small town in central Italy and are related to Maria’s great-grandmother and Alex’s grandfather. They immigrated as monolingual Italian speakers and gained a working knowledge of English through their time working and living in Canada. Alia’s parental situation is slightly different from the other two participants in that only one of her parents, her father, is of Italo-Canadian descent. He is a first-generation Canadian, born in Edmonton to Italo-Canadian immigrants. He completed high school in Edmonton and went on to own and operate a very successful business in the oil and gas industry. Alia’s mother is a first-generation Canadian. She grew up in rural Alberta, attended her local high school and a postsecondary institution in business. Alia grew up in the same Edmonton community as the other participants, however throughout her life, has spent considerable time at the family farm in rural Alberta.

Similarly to Maria and Alia, Alex was born in Edmonton, Alberta, to a first-generation Italo- Canadian mother. She graduated from university and now worked in the health care sector. She speaks both English and Italian. Maria’s mother, Alia’s father, and Alex’s mother are cousins. Alex’s father emigrated from Italy after meeting his mother while she was visiting Italy and they were married in Edmonton. Like Maria’s father, Alex’s father is a monolingual Italian speaker; both fathers have high school education. Like Alia, Alex grew up in Millwoods, a middle-class community on the south side of Edmonton and attended an English school from Kindergarten to Grade 12. All three participants have lived from birth with either maternal or paternal bilingual grandparents in a multigenerational home.

The two communities in which the participants still resided did not have a large number of Italian families and the Italian language was restricted to the home environment. English is the language of the community. Additionally, all participants come from families of two children. Both Maria and Alex are second-generation Canadians on their mother’s side and first- generation Canadians on their father’s side. Alia is a second-generation Canadian on her father’s and mother’s side.

(Great)-Great- Grandparents

Grandfather Great-Grandmother sibling Grandmother

(Father ) Mother (Mother) Father Grandmother cousin cousin

(Father) Mother

Alex Alia Maria

Figure 1. Participants’ family trees.

On paper the participants are very similar in their home composition, family makeup, and home and community language use. Using semistructured interviews the researcher attempted to

66 identify similar themes that emerged from the data in relation to their language and culture identities, and also paid particular attention to which experiences were included, pointing to differing experiences for the three in both regards. As we shall see, even though the participants appeared to have similar grounding, their experiences with language and identity were very distinct and their eventual ability in the community and HL were also quite different.

The participants were chosen based on their cultural and language backgrounds as well as their similarity in upbringing. Initially, six participants were available for the research. However, I chose to focus on the three who were the most similar in home, culture, and language makeup. The three participants were eager to share their stories with me and I believe they were honest and open regarding their experiences.

3.6 The researcher

Within a poststructuralist framework, “researchers are required to self-reflect on how their subjectivities have shaped the research process; they are not mere collectors, but active generators of data” (Mason, 2009, cited in Eppler & Codò, 2016). A detailed explanation of where I am from and who I am follows in the next chapter, but for now here is a brief explanation of my history. I am the mother of the primary participant, Maria, and the aunt of the other participants. I have teaching experience that ranges from small children to adults in both Canada and Italy and most recently have been an assistant principal, principal, and district languages coordinator for a school district in the Edmonton area. I have taught English; French, in both a second-language setting and a French immersion setting; and Italian. From early on in my university years I have had a fascination with languages and the ways in which languages are used in people’s everyday lives.

As the researcher, it was very important that I do the right thing (Angen, 2000) and with this in mind I was particularly conscientious of these three participants and the stories they shared with me. J. Ellis (2006) emphasized the importance of ensuring that the participants felt comfortable during the interview. Seidman (2013, p. 81) enumerated three kinds of listening necessary for the use of interviews in qualitative research: “Interviewers must listen on at least three levels. First, they must listen to what the participant in saying. They must concentrate on the substance to make sure they understand” (p. 81). This is particularly important in order to assure that the participant is sharing the information needed to the degree needed.

Second, the interviewer may consider follow-up questions for the participants: “Interviewers must listen for what George Steiner (1978) calls ‘inner voice,’ as opposed to an outer, more public voice. If the interviewer is able to bring out the ‘inner voice’ of the participant, then more authentic, thoughtful information will be gathered” (Seidman, 2013, p. 81).

Third, interviewers, “like good teachers in a classroom must listen while remaining aware of the process as well as the substance” (Seidman, 2013, p. 81). The interviewer must take into consideration the progress of the interview, what is being covered, the time, and any verbal or nonverbal cues being given by the participant.

3.7 Ethics

In a qualitative research project, ethics is of the utmost importance. “Interviewers seek and are given the opportunity to enter the lives of their participants” (Seidman, 2013, p. 144) and therefore we must be “worthy witnesses” (Winn, 2011, quoted in Seidman, 2013, p. 144). Keeping this foremost in mind as I was undertaking this research project, I ensured that I treated my participants with respect and honoured the stories they shared. This was particularly important in this study as the participants were three young adults and I am much older than all of them.

I asked permission from the ethics review board to proceed with the study in March 2018. Permission was granted, and information and consent forms were shared with the three participants. I shared the interview questions with the participants before the interview so that they were afforded the opportunity to delete any questions they felt necessary. I also shared the transcripts with the participants after the interviews and sought their feedback. I informed all participants that at any time during the process they could decide to end their participation and ask that their data not be used in the dissertation. It was my primary goal to ensure that all participants felt comfortable with the process, so that “the sense of [my] responsibility [as researcher] to do good work, as best [I] can, in order to be worthy of the privilege of interviewing” (Seidman, 2013, p. 144). With this in mind I embarked on my journey through language and cultural identity with the three participants.

3.8 Summary

In this chapter, I outlined the methodology that I used for this qualitative case study. I described the process for the semistructured interviews and the SR, using videos. Additionally, I clarified that the data collected spanned numerous years, the earliest being collected by the researcher and the most recent the sharing of language and cultural journeys by the two participants. I refer back to the literature review and a poststructuralist framework in which the study is grounded. Finally, I shared information regarding the participants, the researcher, and the ethics of this study.

Chapter 4 Me, Myself, and I 4. The Researcher

Many linguists themselves began their careers through transnational . . . experiences at home or abroad. Their theoretical orientation to language learning and use, as well as identity, often reflects those experiences and histories. Like their students and research participants, they may have complex migratory and linguistic histories. . . . These concepts are often connected with their own sense of identity. (Duff, 2015, p. 58)

This is how I have felt for as long as I can remember—three pieces of one puzzle that do not always fit perfectly together. I am a first-generation Italo-Canadian, daughter to two immigrants from central Italy. My mother came to Canada as a young child, at the age of three, and my father immigrated later as a young adult. I am the first child of four, the product of an English- and Italian-speaking—well mostly the Rocchighiano dialect—home and French immersion schooling.

4.1 Where am I from?

Italians have a long history of presence in Canada. The first recorded Italian to land in Canada, Giovanni Caboto, arrived in 1497. However, the first true settlement of Italians did not occur until 1695 when the French recruited soldiers from what is known today as Italy to fight with them in the new colony. The next wave of Italian immigrants came after the unification of present-day Italy in 1870. These were mainly migrant labourers and skilled tradesmen who came to work on the railway, in the mining industry, and in construction. One of these labourers was Antonio Corsi, the great-great-grandfather of Maria, the primary participant in this study. He came to North America several times, to work on the railway. He first arrived in February of 1907 on the SS Verona , arriving in New York; his second arrival, also to New York, was in 1914 aboard the SS Hamburg . He did not settle in the United States. After accumulating enough money for a return ticket, he would head home for the hills of the Italian region of Lazio. Incidentally, Maria’s other great-great-grandfather, Antonio Ciotti, had good intentions of sailing

70 for the United States to work, but each time he would get to the port in Naples, he would see a bad omen and return for home. He never did leave Italy for the Americas.

In the early 1900s the first wave of permanent migration took place, when Italians left Italy with the intention of making Canada their home. At this time Italian business districts began to develop, especially in large urban areas, such as Montréal. To this day, Toronto and Montréal have the highest concentration of people in Canada who identify as Italians. Italian immigration continued and, throughout the Depression era, strong family ties and the ingrained value of not spending unnecessarily helped Italo-Canadians through the dirty thirties. In this same period, beginning in 1935, Canadians developed a strongly negative view of fascism and Mussolini and following this during WWII, Italians were designated as “enemy aliens” in Canada. The War Measures Act saw hundreds interned at Camp Petawawa in northern Ontario (Canadian Encyclopedia, 2013).

The second wave of Italian immigration began after World War II and continued into the 1970s. The majority arrived at Pier 21 in Halifax, Nova Scotia; however, some continued to arrive in New York, where they were loaded onto buses and crossed into Canada at Niagara Falls. They would then travel west by train. From 1948 to 1973, Italians would be second only to Great Britain as a source of immigration to Canada (Ramirez, 1989) and between 1946 and 1967 more that 90 percent of the newly arrived immigrants from Italy were sponsored by family. This was the case for Maria’s extended family.

The first of the family arrived in New York in 1911, on the SS Canada . Antonio Vona, the first member of the extended family for all participants tried several times to immigrate to America but was sent back to Italy as he had a congenital hip deformity that made one leg shorter than the other. Port documents show that he attempted to gain legal entrance to the United States in 1911 and again in 1913. On both these occasions, he was sent back to Italy. The story goes that in 1915 he was smuggled in, in a crate of coal. There is no formal written record of his lawful entry into the United States, but at some point, he did enter the country as he began working on the docks and later was hired by the railway. He remained in New York, married, and established his family there.

Some years later, in 1946, Angelo Vona (Alex’s grandfather and Maria’s and Alia’s great-uncle), arrived in Canada. He was sponsored by his uncle, Antonio Vona (mentioned above), who had

71 been established in Albany, New York, for quite some time and was already a successful businessman. Antonio was looking for a husband for his niece and therefore looked to the old country for a suitable match. However, upon his arrival, his nephew Angelo, refused to marry the cousin and made his way from the United States first to Montréal, then to Winnipeg, and finally to Edmonton, in search of work. He established himself in Edmonton, where a small number of Italians, mostly originating from the southern part of Italy, had begun to form a small community northeast of downtown. He later sponsored six of his eight siblings to immigrate to Canada. Two of those six were Alia’s grandmother and Maria’s great-grandmother. The majority of the immigrants to Canada after World War II came from southern Italy. However, the family of all three participants came from a small town approximately 80 kilometres southeast of Rome.

Upon arrival, many Italians were employed in low-income occupations, however by the mid- 1980s the second generation of Italian immigrants had achieved higher levels of education and were at par with the national level for secondary level education. Maria’s grandmother was the first of her family to receive a university degree—in nursing, from the University of Alberta, in 1971. By the mid-1980s, over 86 percent—higher than the national average—of Italian first- and second-generation immigrants owned their own homes.

According to census data, in 2016 there were over 1.6 million Canadians of Italian descent. Approximately 60 percent lived in Ontario and 21 percent in Québec. In Alberta, Canadians of Italian descent numbered approximately 10,000. Although Little Italies still exist throughout Canada, the majority of Italians have moved away from these urban areas to the suburbs and more well-to-do neighbourhoods. In Edmonton, Little Italy can still be found just northeast of the centre core of the city, where the first immigrants established themselves. There one can find the first Italian grocer that was established in Edmonton still in business. In addition, there are cafés and a park dedicated to Giovanni Caboto. However, most Italians in Edmonton have moved away from the downtown area further north to newer sections of the city. The Italians who reside in the northern part of the city originate mainly from the southern areas of Italy, particularly Calabria.

The extended family of the participants have lived on the south side of the city since they first arrived in Edmonton, together with several other families from similar geographical Italian areas.

Their children and grandchildren have, for the most part, tended to stay on the south side of the city or in the southern suburbs.

Maria, the primary participant, resided, most of the time, on an acreage just outside the suburb of Sherwood Park, a predominantly White, affluent, middle- to upper-class town. The use of Italian in her immediate environment, when in Alberta, was limited to the home. The other participants grew up on the south side of Edmonton, a section of the city where very few Italians lived. I explore the environment where the participants lived, as well as their frequent trips and stays in Italy, as influences on their language and cultural identity, in Chapters 5 to 7.

4.2 Childhood memories

I grew up in Sherwood Park, Alberta—often referred to as Sherwhite Park . During my childhood, it was still a bedroom community of Edmonton, small enough so everyone knew their neighbours. At this time, there were very few visible minorities living in the area. I did not have any friends who were Italo-Canadian. You did not hear languages other than English in town, other than the odd conversation in Ukrainian.

Although I always felt as if I did not quite fit in, my childhood was not far removed from that of all the other children I went to school with. In fact, my parents were one of the founding families of the Catholic school in the town. At the time that I was about to begin school, the only option was the public school. My parents and some other community members went from house to house in order to gather enough support to petition for a Catholic school. I began in the new Catholic French immersion school in Sherwood Park at the age of four in the Kindergarten program. I remember crying every day because I hated school so much and I was terribly afraid, for no good reason at all, of my teacher.

I did not finish school that year, because my parents sold our house and we moved to Italy. The intention was perhaps to remain. This did not happen. Instead, we spent six months travelling around Europe in a small Lancia Fulvia. We would at times even sleep in the car if no hotels were available. We returned to Canada later that year and moved in with my maternal grandmother while my father built a new house for the family on an acreage just outside of Sherwood Park. I returned to French immersion school in a Grade 1 class, where I continued to cry, not as much as previously, but still on occasion. The day felt as if it was never going to end

73 and I kept asking my Grade 1 teacher what time it was. I remember one day thinking that she was definitely keeping us longer than the school day. I could not tell time yet, but I believed that it was certainly past home time.

My father always tells me I was lucky that they did not hold me back in Grade 1 or 2 and that in fact they had wanted to, but my mother would not let them. The school encouraged my parents to remove me from the French immersion program because I was struggling. They believed that the regular English stream was probably the best for me. My mother again refused and so I continued with French immersion. To this day, I am still not sure why I struggled so much in the beginning. I do know that school was not at all of any interest to me and it was not until I began Grade 6 that I started to figure out how to navigate through the Alberta education system. At the end of Grade 6, all students had to write the provincial achievement tests in all core subjects. These provincial achievement exams still happen to this day in Grades 6, 9, and 12 in Alberta. I remember that, as usual, I did not prepare for any of the exams. So, when I received the highest mark in Social Studies among all students in the school, not only was I shocked, but so was my teacher. I knew things about the world that other students perhaps did not. I had lived in Europe and returned frequently to visit relatives and I listened to adult discussions about world issues. As we did not have a television, we entertained ourselves by arguing over random topics and then ran to the prized set of Encyclopedia Britannica to prove who was right. Although, on a side note, even if you proved my dad wrong, he was still always right. It was the encyclopedia that was mistaken! After Grade 6, I started to believe more in myself as a learner, although I was still not completely comfortable with myself as a plurilingual. This came much later in life.

4.3 The later years

During my childhood I did not focus on the differences between myself and classmate, but during my teens, I fought desperately to be like everyone else. I felt embarrassed when my parents spoke to me in Italian in Canada and I felt equally embarrassed when they spoke to me in Italian in Italy. In Canada, I did not want to draw any attention to myself and in my mind, speaking Italian in public did just this. Additionally, my father did not sound like all the other speakers of English and so I was constantly worried that people would not understand him. In Italy, their Italian was different, especially my mother’s. She sounded so different from everyone else. The language was changing in Italy, particularly due to increased schooling and the spread

74 of Standard Italian, but hers had remained stuck in the 1950s. And so, I am ashamed to admit this now, but as a teenager, I would cringe every time my mother spoke Italian to me in front of my Italian friends and my father spoke to me in English in front of my Canadian friends.

It was not until I left high school and entered university in a general arts program that I began to feel more comfortable with my Italian identity. Fresh out of high school and with no idea of what or who I wanted to be, I decided to declare Italian as my major. This set in motion the remainder of my university career and my passion for languages. I continued to study Italian, French, and Spanish and eventually came full circle—I began my teaching career in a French immersion school. I can comfortably speak these three languages anywhere and feel proud. I am not afraid to make mistakes and even borrow words from one language, adding them to the other. It took some time, but I am a confident plurilingual, pluricultural individual. However, I still at times feel that I am not quite at home anywhere. I have often said that I belong somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, halfway between Europe and North America. I do not quite feel Canadian, but neither do I completely identify as an Italian.

4.4 Family

I remember feeling different when growing up in Sherwood Park. I would want so badly to eat pancakes for dinner, like my friends did. I wanted to have bologna for lunch and be allowed to sleep over at my friend’s house. But Italians, according to my definition based on the decisions of my parents, did not do those things, or least my Italian family did not. I remember constantly having to make excuses for why I was not able to sleep over and it was not until many years later, that a school friend told me she thought I was afraid of her dad and that was why I did not ever sleep over. At that point in my life I had become comfortable with who I was, and laughed as I admitted to her that I was not allowed to sleep over anywhere because Italians, according to my definition, did not do that, at least not my Italian family.

I am the oldest of four children; I have two brothers and a sister. During my childhood, both my parents worked. My mother was a nurse and my father worked in the construction business. We grew up with our Nonna (grandmother) as our main caregiver. Although she had her own house in town, she would come out to stay with us while my mother worked. She would make us breakfast, lunch, and dinner, made sure we got on the bus for school, and brushed our teeth before we went to bed. She spoke very limited English, so we grew up hearing the dialect from

Roccagorga (a small town in the Monte Lepini), on a daily basis. We knew she understood English, so we would often answer her in English even though she spoke to us in her dialect. On the off day that my father did not work, he would stay with us. On these days, we were left to our own adventures as he would spend his time in the garage working on one project or another. Sometimes he would remember to make us dinner and sometimes we would rummage in the fridge to find whatever we could. I remember these as some of the best days, as we had complete freedom to do whatever we wanted.

My father immigrated to Canada in his early 20s in the late 1960s. He met my mother then, also an immigrant, but one who had grown up in Canada and had only been back to Italy once during her childhood. They were from the same small town in central Italy and shared the same dialect; my mother had had no formal schooling in Italian and so she spoke the dialect that she heard from her mother, a dialect from the early 1950s. It had changed in the 20 years since she left Italy, but it remained the same for the small community of Italian immigrants in Edmonton. To this day my father still teases my mom when she uses dialect words that very few people would know—words like ngubo , which means a small place, or mbambaciato , which she uses to refer to the fluffy fried pastries she makes at Christmas.

4.5 Language memories

I vividly remember three language experiences that yield an understanding of who I am as a language learner and user. The first took place way back when I attended French immersion elementary school, back over 30 years ago. As a family, we had just returned to Sherwood Park from a summer spent in Italy, speaking Italian with my grandparents and many cousins. I believe I was in Grade 8 at the time. The summer was over, and it was time to get back to the usualness of life. Unfortunately, I could not remember a word of French, or at least at the time it seemed that way. I was trying, as most students who do not want to draw attention to themselves, to avoid eye contact with the teacher. However, it was not my lucky day. My teacher called my name, Elissa . . . and instead of oui I said si . This came naturally out of my mouth and I was horrified. I quickly corrected the si with a oui , but my mind drew a blank to any other words or phrases in French. I was experiencing anxiety at the thought of having to speak in front of my peers and not being able to remember a word. Slowly, as the week progressed, the French returned, or my anxiety lessened, and I was able to recall more readily. It was an interesting

76 experience, as I remember vividly only having recall issues with French, not at all during the English classes. There was no Italian interference in my English conversations.

Fast forward 20 or so years later, I was now living in Italy, back in the country after an absence of quite a few years. I still had childhood friends and cousins, and visited regularly with one particular cousin, Maria. I would often visit in the afternoon, for two reasons: the summers were hot, and her house was much cooler than my small apartment; and she made a wonderful espresso. She lived on the second floor. I would ring the bell and say into the speaker, è Elissa . She did not tell me until many months later that she would giggle each time I would say this. I finally realized that I was supposed to be saying sono Elissa ; however, this in English translates as I am Elissa and I would never say that. Instead, I was literally translating it’s Elissa , which does not work in Italian. I was quite offended that she did not tell me sooner and even today, each time I return to visit and ring the doorbell, I remember saying è Elissa .

Finally, and most recently, I was having dinner with my husband, who has lived in Italy for most of his life, and a few of his colleagues from the navy. One of the dinner guests asked me what part of Italy I was from. He said my accent was different, but that he could not place it. I remember feeling quite impressed with myself at that moment and proudly told him that I was Canadian and had reconnected with my Italian side at university. It was interesting that in that moment in a restaurant in Italy, I declared that I was Canadian, which is true, although technically I am also Italian and have had the dual citizenship since birth.

These are just some of my stories, some of the pieces that make up my language and cultural identity. As an adult, I am comfortable living within the three languages (English, French, and Italian, and sometimes Spanish) and the three cultures (Canadian, Franco-Albertan, and Italian) that make up who I am. This was not always the case.

4.6 Summary

My experiences with languages and the cultures associated with each language have shaped who I am today. It is through my experiences that I developed a passion for learning languages and finding out who we are as language learners. With this in mind, I will delve into the topic of plurilingual and pluricultural identity through the experiences of three young adults, who were similar and yet so very different from each other and from myself.

Chapter 5 Maria 5 Maria: An Introduction

Maria was born in February 2000 into a family who spoke three languages and had two strong cultural ties. Her early experiences with language included English input from her mother and maternal grandmother; Italian input from her mother, father, and grandfather; and an Italian dialect input from the town of Roccagorga from her maternal grandmother. Maria’s father also spoke Pantesco, the dialect from Pantelleria, the island where he was born and spent the majority of this childhood. This dialect is quite different from the ones of central Italy and difficult for a non-islander to understand or follow in conversation. Maria’s exposure to this dialect was limited, as her father spoke the language infrequently and usually in jest or to add humour to a conversation. The family did not follow a specific pattern for language input (Baker & Wright, 2017; De Houwer, 2004, 2017; Deuchar & Quay, 2000), but relied primarily on the situation and the participants in the conversation. For example, if as an infant Maria was with her immediate family, then Italian would be used, as since her father at this time was a monolingual Italian speaker. However, if she was in the presence of extended family in Canada, then the main language of conversation would be English, as the extended family possessed only a passive knowledge of Italian. This language input characterized the first nine months of her life. The language input was unlike the majority of studies that focus on the “one language one parent” method of input (Smith-Christmas, 2014).

At nine months, Maria embarked upon what would become a regular back and forth between Edmonton, Alberta and Latina, Italy. During this first trip, she met her paternal relatives for the first time and during this stay and all others to follow (of which I give details Table 1), the sole input and later conversational language, for everyone excluding me, was Italian. At this point, I would speak to her in English if we were alone, and in Italian if we were in the company of others.

I feel it is important to go into the details of these early interactions for Maria, since identity is shaped by one’s interactions and as a young child, these interactions are often with close family members. Maria interacted with family in Canada and Italy on a regular basis throughout her childhood and adolescence.

Table 1 Maria’s Visits to Italy with Paternal Relatives and Longer Stays in Canada by Father Year Month 2000 Maria’s father was in Canada from December 1999 to May 2000 2000 May–August (Italy) 2001 May–August (Italy) 2002 December–January (Italy) 2002 May–August (Italy) 2003 July and August (Italy) 2004–2006 July 2004–August 2006 (Italy) 2007 July and August (Italy) 2008 July and August (Italy) 2008–2010 Maria’s father was in Canada from September 2008 to May 2010 2010 November–December (Italy) 2012–2017 July and August (Italy each year)

Maria’s language and cultural journey has straddled the two languages and two cultures since birth. Input varied, but there was a continuous flow of both English and Italian conversation. “Transnational mobility . . . appears to be a growing phenomenon among families across ethnic groups and diaspora. This mobility is most attainable for those with the means, desire and need to move across continents” (Duff, 2015, p. 61). In Maria’s case, the mobility was attainable for several reasons. First, both parents had careers which allowed them to travel frequently. Second, the family’s desire to keep connections alive with both families, languages, and culture was strong. Third, the need was present because both parents had careers on different continents, which they were not willing to give up.

5.1 Input

Maria’s early language development was quite normal for other simultaneously developing bilingual children. Although much of language development is similar for both monolingual and bilingual children (De Houwer, 1995; Genesee & Nicoladis, 2006; Paradis, 2007), “linguistic competencies of bilingual children, like those of bilingual adults, should be examined and evaluated on their own merit” (Grosjean, 1997, quoted in in Genesee & Nicoladis, 2006, p. 4).

There are, however, similar stages through which all language children pass. “Like monolingual children, L2 children go through stages, which include an initial stage in which babbling occurs, a one-word stage, a two-word stage and a multiple-word stage” (Peçenek, 2010, p. 15). Maria’s first utterance came early, at nine months when she said mama and by the age of 12 months her vocabulary included approximately eight utterances. Lexical development is similar for both monolingual and bilingual children “as long as both languages are considered for bilinguals” (Genesee & Nicoladis, 2006).

Between 15 and 17 months, as Maria rapidly produced more one-word utterances in both languages and moved into early two-word utterances, she was able to use appropriate vocabulary from each language with speakers of that language. This was seen in her communication with her aunt in Canada and her aunt in Italy. Maria did not use English with her Italian aunt and rarely used Italian with her Canadian aunt (Poulin-Dubois, Blaye, Coutya, & Bialystok, 2011). Maria continued to develop vocabulary in both languages, since she spent time in both Canada and Italy. However, her level of production in each language fluctuated depending on where she spent the majority of her time and with whom. Below, I discuss this and several other aspects of the language development that reflect growth in language and cultural identity as perceived by the participant, especially when she viewed two videos of herself as a young speaker of both Italian and English through SR.

Maria travelled often during the first two years of life and received constant input in the home in Italian and English. The family provided input in both languages, which is important to the development and maintenance of two or more languages (DeCapua & Wintergerst, 2009). The majority of time was spent with her family; however, twice a week, she did attend a playgroup in which all children spoke English and the instruction was in English. At two years of age, I began teaching full time and Maria spent her day, from 7:30 to 15:30, with her great-grandmother, who mainly spoke a dialect of Italian, although she was able to understand English well. During this same time, Maria was very close to her maternal aunt, who spoke only in English with her.

It is essential to find the interest and motivation for children to want to continue with both languages. Without this effort, comes the possibility of a passive knowledge of the minority language as the majority language in community takes over (Chevalier, 2012). Even at a young age, it was essential to provide motivation for Maria to actively use Italian. Maria had access to

80 opportunities other than conversations with me that allowed for input both in the HL and in English (Cho & Krashen, 2000; Tse, 2001). Because Maria lived with her maternal grandparents, the extended family members provided input and, later, interaction opportunities for Maria in Italian. This was an important aspect in the development of plurilingualism, since extended family is an important indicator of the development of plurilingualism (Braun, 2012; Braun & Cline, 2010; Chevalier, 2012; Smith-Christmas, 2014).

5.2 Nonverbal communication

The use of gestures is an important part of the development of linguistic capacities and, I suggest, part of their language and cultural identity. “Cross-cultural analyses show that children begin to use different types of gesture at around the same age” (Marentette, Pettenati, Bello, & Volterra, 2016, p. 944). A study conducted by Merentette et al. of 22 monolingual Italian children and 42 monolingual English children, ranging between the ages of 25 and 37 months, found a difference in the use of gestures between these two groups:

We found that the frequency of gesture production differed significantly by group though the effect size was modest. This finding provides support for the claim that English-speaking children belong to a low-gesture culture, at least in comparison with Italian children . . . A possible explanation for the frequency differences included cultural differences in the use of representational gestures. (Marentette et al., 2016, p. 956)

The first nonverbal indication that Maria had appropriated some identification with other children in Italy during this trip was when we realized, upon on return back to Canada, after a month stay in Italy, that she no longer waved like a Canadian child. Before our departure, Maria had started to wave at people. She would wave palm forward, shaking her hand back and forth. However, upon our return it was her aunt who noticed the change. Maria no longer waved with her hand forward, but did it with her hand backward, fingers bending towards the palm of the hand, a wave that many Italian children use.

“A variation of the European wave could be called the ‘Italian wave’ or the ‘Greek wave’: the difference is that the palm of the hand is pointing either sideways or upwards and you wave by curling all fingers repeatedly towards the palm” (Lindmark, 2009, p. 1). I now realize that I did

81 not notice this while we were in Italy because it was not an oddity there. She was doing what most other Italian babies did. However, upon our return, her way of waving no longer fit in with the norm of other Canadian babies. “What seems entirely natural in one place can be strange behaviour in another” (Lindmark, 2009, p. 2). It is not only the verbal behaviours that one incorporates into their everyday lives that give a sense of identity, but the nonverbal as well.

5.3 The later years

As Maria continued to grow, she developed important relationships both in Alberta and in Roccagorga. She attended organized activities in both countries, had important family influences in both locations and, importantly, especially as she grew, developed early friendships in both countries, which she maintains to the present day. These friendships were essential to the development and maintenance of Italian (Mania, 2004; Quay, 2001) and became very important to her language and cultural identity in later years. However, the family influence was critical during the early years of life, since she spent most of her time with family members: “The family is a particularly important social domain for the investigation of immigrants’ language use and identity issues since it is within this domain that members of different generations come together and deal with potentially different choices and attitude” (De Fina, 2012, p. 350).

Maria was able to maintain the friendships that she created in Italy because she was willing and wanting to keep travelling back each summer. Additionally, these friendships encouraged her to continue speaking Italian, both while in Italy and even when in Canada. Although she spent only two short months each summer with her Italian friends, she continued to communicate with them in Italian, throughout the year, through several social media apps, such as SnapChat, WhatsApp, FaceTime, and Instagram. These new means of communication have made the possibility of keeping in touch easier than was the case for previous generations. This online presence in Italian according to Vince and Joyce (2018) “enhanced language confidence, which in turn contributed to language identity” (p. 97). For example, Maria was able to participate in special events with her friends without physically being in the country. On one occasion, she virtually attended her friend’s 18th birthday party through FaceTime and was able to participate in singing Happy Birthday and giving a speech with others in the same friend group. This ability for her to be present virtually, I believe, has allowed her to maintain not only her linguistic identity, but her cultural identity as well. Lanza and Svendsen (2007) stated that although more research is

82 needed into the area of SNA (social network analysis), these tools provide a window into how individuals and communities are able to maintain their language and culture. Vincze and Joyce (2018) stated that “online language contact also appeared to directly, and positively relate to language identity, especially of those with little face-to-face exposure” (p. 97). During the months that Maria was not able to speak face to face with her Italian friends, she was able to continue communicating with them through social media. This allowed her to continue to feel Italian even though she was in a predominantly English-speaking environment.

5.4 School, language, and culture

The school in the family’s region of Italy is organized into three years of scuola materna (Kindergarten) or asilo as it was referred to by most of the parents. Scuola materna was a full- day program, beginning at 8:30 to 15:30, every day of the week. Children enter scuola materna at three years of age and continue for three years, at which point they enter Grade 1. Maria began formalized schooling there in 2004, entering the second of three years of scuola materna . In her class there were 22 children and two teachers. Italian was the language of instruction for 100 percent of the time and all her classmates were Italian speaking.

Maria attended scuola materna for two years. During this period the sole source of English input on a regular basis was from me, her mother. Her Canadian grandparents visited twice during the two years, for several months each time, as did her aunt and great-grandmother. At this point, Italian was definitely her dominant language and, even though I had begun to speak only in English to her, after several months of living in Italy and attending school in Italian, she would at times speak in Italian to me as well. This occurred most often when we were in public. On one occasion, at the age of 5;4, during a shopping trip a few days before Christmas, I asked her, in English, what she would like for Christmas, at a busy toy store. She motioned to me to bend down and she whispered quietly, “I want Ciccio Bello Bua ” (a popular Italian doll that speaks). I asked her why she was whispering, and she answered that when I spoke English, people looked at us. This is common behaviour for children, when their circle of association becomes larger and the family influence begins to lose the importance it once held. They begin to realize that they are speaking a language that is not like everyone else’s and the need to fit in becomes important for many. During this period in Maria’s life Italian was her dominant language and the language of the environment. In order to “fit in,” she needed to speak Italian. This was not

83 always the case as she grew, when her language environment and interests fluctuated between languages and cultures.

This change in dominance or competence of a language is well recorded in previous research. (Faingold, 1999; Leopold, 1970). Additionally, there are examples of a passive knowledge of a language becoming active, after a period of immersion. This was the case with Leopold’s (1970) second daughter, Karla, who had a passive knowledge of German, but was quickly able to reactivate this knowledge on a trip to Germany, where she was immersed in the German language. This shift in linguistic competence was a constant in the life of Maria as she moved from one linguistically dominant environment to another. What is more interesting than the fact that her linguistic abilities changed, is the fact that her plurilingual and pluricultural identity was also fluid and dependent on numerous internal and external factors.

5.5 Reflections

It is a rather complex issue to investigate the development of children growing up in a family where different languages and cultures encounter. A fair investigation approach must take into account all related factors, such as possible combinations of family/cultural backgrounds, amounts and types of exposures to the L1s, the nature and status of L1s in society, the socioeconomic backgrounds of the family, the attitudes of the parents, peers, schools, general public, and society. —Kao, 2015, p. 11

With these factors in mind, I embarked on a journey of discovery with three young adults. Through semistructured interviews, which often turned to stories of their experiences, I tried to uncover how they felt about their languages and cultures and what factors influenced their linguistic and cultural identity. I begin with Maria’s reflections, which I have divided into three themes: family, language, and identity.

5.6 Family: Close, and closer

The family is a particularly important social domain for the investigation of immigrants’ language use and identity issues since it is within this domain that members of different generations come together and deal with potentially different choices and attitudes.

—De Fina, 2012, p. 350

Throughout the interview sessions, family emerged as a common theme. Although some specific questions related to the family or members of the family, most questions were general in nature. Even though many of the questions did not pertain specifically to family members, numerous answers the participants gave mentioned situations or memories that involved various family members. I divided the responses into three subcategories: people they admired, favourite memories, and grandparents.

5.6.1 People they admired

When speaking with the young adults, I asked whom they admired most. I stated that it could be anyone, real, fictional, alive, or not. In the case of Maria, she stated that she admired her mother. She became very emotional with this question and we had to take a break and later continue with the interview. I believe this was particularly difficult for her because I, her mother, was the researcher. When asked the question, without hesitation she said “you.” When coming back to the interview, after a short break, I asked Maria if she would be ready to tell me a little more about why she admired her mother. She stated, “you work hard, you take care of us and you are not afraid to do anything.” This respect or looking up to family member was a recurrent theme as we explored other topics during the interviews. The element of family was clearly important for Maria, as she often spoke of other family members as well.

5.6.2 Favourite memory

As a favourite memory growing up, Maria chose to speak about a situation in which her family found a stray cat. One would think that the story was about the excitement of a new pet, but in reality, it was about the discussion with her mother and brother on what to name this new member to the family. She began her story saying, “The thing that I remember most was that you wanted to name the cat Ernie .” She laughed as she continued, “who names a cat Ernie, I mean what a stupid name, I mean Ginger, which we finally agreed on was way better than Ernie, even Gingerbread would have been better .” On a side note, the cat was orange in colour. I asked Maria to tell me why this was her favourite memory. She said she did not really know, so I decided to ask her to elaborate on what she remembered.

I remember that we were in the garage at the acreage [our family home is referred to as the acreage by everyone in the immediate family and all of Maria’s uncles, aunts, and cousins] and you said let’s name the cat Ernie. Ale [her brother] was there too and we both laughed. We both said No at the same time.

Finally, I asked why this was her favourite memory. She did not answer right away and when she did she simply said, “because we were together, and it was a happy time .”

I continued with the theme of memories, except this time, asking specifically about a time that stuck in her mind about living with her grandparents. After thinking for a few minutes and starting with her usual answer of “I don’t know . . . “ she chose to speak about a memory of her Nonna, from a few Christmases past. “Oh, I know! [as she laughs] When Nonna slipped on Kitty Wilson’s car and did the splits .” I asked her to explain the incident further:

Ale had a cat [stuffed animal] named Kitty Wilson and he had this little Lego car or something like that anyway, and it was Kitty Wilson’s car and all that I remember [laughs], all I remember is Zia [her aunt] yelling that Nonna had slipped on Kitty Wilson’s car and was doing the splits and she came back in the room and her face was super red from laughing so hard [Maria continues to tell the story through laughter] and then Nonna came into the room and I don’t even know, I don’t remember exactly what happened after that other than we were all laughing about Kitty Wilson and his car. I don’t remember what Nonna’s reaction was. It was Christmas and we were all here at the acreage. Good thing Nonna is flexible. [still laughs as she thinks back on the memory]

I believe, that again, this memory Maria spoke about points to an ease of being together. She felt comfortable enough in the moment to laugh along with her grandmother and aunt. I asked her if there was anything else about living with her grandparents that came to mind. She spoke about both her Nonno and Nonna:

Oh, you know, Nonno and his iPad. He is pretty silly with his iPad. Especially when he can’t do stuff and he asks me, and it is always the simplest solution. Like with technology. Like Nonna’s phone this morning [her grandmother had just asked her before starting the interview if Maria could help her with her cell

phone] which she clearly dropped in water. Yeah, they always ask me about technology.

I asked her how this made her feel as I was wondering if she considered it an annoyance or not, although I did not state this in the question. She stated that it was good to be able to help them. Whereas grandparents are often able to share knowledge about and L2 or cultural aspects, grandchildren are able to help with emerging technologies or other advances that grandparents may find difficult to navigate without assistance (Gregory, Arju, Jessel, Kenner, & Ruby, 2007). I continued to ask Maria specifically about her home life with her grandparents.

5.6.3 Grandparents

Maria has always lived in a multigenerational home, which at one point in her life, for just over a year, contained four generations. When her great-grandmother broke her arm and needed assistance with daily tasks, she moved into the acreage with the rest of the family and it was during this time that there were four generations in the home. Nonna Vecchia, or old Nonna, as Maria referred to her with affection, was her primary caregiver other than me before she began school. Maria had developed a close relationship with her great-grandmother from a very early age.

However, for the majority of her life her home composition has been her mother, brother, and maternal grandparents. As previously stated, until recently Maria’s father would stay for short periods in Canada and then return to work in Italy. Living with her grandparents has been an important, stable element in Maria’s life and it is essential that the comments and stories shared by Maria regarding her Nonni are explored. I believe that the presence of her grandparents in the same home has affected her linguistic and cultural identity. Furthermore, grandparents and other extended family members have been little studied with regard to language, culture, and identity (Braun, 2012). This therefore requires further attention.

According to Statistics Canada (2017b) census results for families, households, and marital status, approximately 2.2 million or 2.9 percent of Canadians across the country live in a home with at least three generations. This is a rise of over 37 percent since 2001. Although multigenerational families living in the same home is on the rise in Canada, they are still the minority. Several factors have influenced the rise of multigenerational homes, such as an aging

87 population, the cost of housing, and a change in the ethnographic composition of the country. Ontario and British Columbia lead the country in the number of multigenerational homes, with 3.9 percent and 3.6 percent, respectively, of multigenerational households; Alberta has 2.2 percent of multigenerational homes.

Even though the number of multigenerational homes is on the rise, it is still not the norm across Canada. I admit that it can be complicated at times, but there is also a multitude of benefits for both my children and me. The answers that Maria provided during the semistructured interviews led me to believe that my positive attitude in general about the multigenerational home has been passed down to my children.

When I asked Maria specifically about the advantages she felt that living in a multigenerational home, at first, she was unsure of how to answer. However, without prompting, she continued to expand upon her response;

Ummmm . . . I don’t know. It’s not like you have to go visit them all the time. They are just there. I don’t know. I have just grown accustomed to it. I just see it like, they are in the house, they live with us. I don’t know what not having your grandparents live with you is like anyways. They are there, Nonna cooks for us all the time and they would drive me around all the time, like to school and skating, so I guess I had that advantage.

I asked Maria to share with me any drawbacks she had experienced living in a multigenerational home, things that were more difficult because there was more than just her immediate family in the house. I did not use the word negative as I did not think that she would feel comfortable sharing anything with me that she would perceive as negative towards her grandparents. She was quick to say No, there were no situations that she could think of that were more difficult because she lived with her grandparents. I waited a few seconds and asked again. Once again, she said No.

I am not entirely sure if this was true, as I had witnessed first-hand a few situations where she and her grandmother had a discussion about coming home too late or not cleaning up after herself. During such conversations, she would often look at me and roll her eyes. When I asked her about this and gave the example of comments made regarding her coming home late, she

88 defended her Nonna, demonstrating a great respect for her grandparents: “Mom, she’s old school. It’s OK. I don’t mind .” Maria said that there were six people in her family, not just the immediate four.

Granted that Maria was at ease with her home composition, I was curious to see what her friends thought about her living with her grandparents or if the subject ever came up. This was not part of the original set of questions, but one that I would later ask of all three participants. She was vague with her answers, but was not able to remember a time where either her Canadian or her Italian friends questioned her about her family dynamics. She did state that most of her Italian friends either lived with or in close proximity to their grandparents. In the town of Roccagorga, where Maria has spent most of her summers, multigenerational homes are quite common. Most often, small apartment buildings will house grandparents on one floor and their adult children and families on the other floors.

Family demographics have rapidly changed in Alberta. Families are blended. There are single- parent families, families with two moms, families with two dads, and families in which the grandparents are the primary caregivers. This was quite obvious to me as a principal of an elementary school.

The original set of questions for the semistructured interviews including one asking for general information about the participant’s grandparents. I left it very general on purpose in order to see if any particular themes would emerge. Once I began to look through the data, it was obvious that there was an underlying theme to each story that was shared with me by the participants. Maria began by telling me about her grandparents immigrating to Canada.

They are both from Italy and they came here when they were younger . . . Nonna was a nurse and Nonno had his company. A building houses company. I’ve lived with them my whole life. They are fun, I guess. I think it was hard for them when they first came to Canada. They had to work hard, and they didn’t know the language.

The topic of language and hard work, even though not specifically part of the question, recurred throughout the interviews with Maria. For example, she had previously said that she looked up to her mother because she worked hard. In addition to the dedication of parents and grandparents,

89 she often spoke of language when giving examples or telling stories even when the questions were asked in general terms and with no mention of language. She showed an awareness of language that underlay our discussions, common perhaps because of the plurilingual nature of the families. This ability to reflect upon and reveal awareness of her own feelings regarding language, culture, and communication with others was defined by Andrade et al. (2003) as socioaffective competence , the first dimension in plurilingual competence. I speak in further detail on the language used by Maria and her family in the following section.

5.7 Language

From a strict linguistic point of view, growing attention is being given to notions such as language families, metalinguistic awareness, and intercomprehension of languages, which also contribute to reconceptualizing languages as dynamic and interdependent entities/phenomena. —Piccardo & Puozzo, 2015, p. 319

There are numerous facets to plurilingualism, which shift the way we see languages. The focus moves from a separation of languages, from a “pure ideal” of speaking and allows a fluid and ever-changing capacity of the language user and all language capacities to be valued. As I examined Maria’s data, two themes centring on her use of languages emerged: the flexibility in her language use depending on the speaker, the content, and/or the social situation; and her view of herself as a speaker of more than one language. (See Figure 2 for a graphic representation of Maria’s plurilingual journey, and Appendix F for a textual version of this information.)

5.7.1 Tell me who, and I will tell you how I answer

Maria’s language environment is in constant flux. There is primarily Italian and English in the home. When we discuss school work or homework, we will often use French. She speaks French and English at school and she has a complete set of family and friends in Italy, with whom she communicates solely in Italian. Her language use has been influenced by time, place, and interactions and she adjusts her use drawing on previous experience, drawing from her entire linguistic repertoire. Piccardo and Puozzo (2015) have this to say about this subject:

This use of language in a certain time and with certain other language users enables a comprehensive view, capable of factoring in the positioning of the

individual as a social agent who, on the strength of her/his experience and her/his linguistic and cultural background, operates in and is affected by a multilingual space that is constantly changing. (pp. 319–320)

In one interview, Maria said:

I mainly speak English, but I will speak Italian to Papi [her father] if he, sometimes if he is talking to me, but usually I will just answer back in English. . . . I mean, I use English more than any other language. I mean if I am with Nonna’s aunts and they speak to me in Italian then I feel comfortable answering in Italian, but I still usually answer them in English. It depends.

This intrigued me, and I wanted to know more. I asked for some clarification on how or why she decided to use Italian or English. She stated: “Well, if I know they understand English, then I speak to them in English most of the time .” I again went back to a previous answer where she had stated: “So when you said earlier that if someone speaks to you in Italian you answer in Italian, what did you mean ?” She answered: “Well, if we are in Italy then I will answer them in Italian. Here [in Canada] if I know the person speaks English too then I usually answer in English .”

As Maria lived in multigenerational home, I was curious to know more about her language use with her grandparents, since “the affective factors of grandparents on language maintenance have attracted comparatively little attention” (Braun, 2012, p. 423). Would being able to communicate with grandparents and other relatives in their first language be important to language maintenance for the three participants? I asked Maria about how she communicated with her grandparents specifically: “Papi and Nonno usually use Italian. They always talk in Italian to each other. Nonno usually talks to me in Italian. Sometimes Nonna speaks Italian too, but her Italian is weird .”

Since Maria lived with her grandparents, she was exposed every day to interactions in both English and Italian. She spoke Italian quite often in Canada, but as her father learned more English, she was beginning to use more English with him. Although Maria’s Nonno spoke to her in Italian most of the time, she used both English and Italian with them, but mostly English, especially with her Nonna. By her grandmother’s “weird Italian ,” she was referring to the dialect her grandmother spoke. (I explore this topic further, later in this chapter.)

Maria valued being able to speak Italian so that she could communicate with her Italian-speaking family. This was of great importance for her. In a previous conversation she stated that if she did not speak Italian, then she would not be able to communicate with half her family and “that would be pretty terrible .” This small statement pointed to the effect that extended family members had on the motivation to speak the HL, backing up Braun’s (2012) claim that “the residency and language proficiency of grandparents partly affected the language maintenance effort in trilingual families” (p. 434).

5.7.2 The why, the where, and the when

I wanted to know where or when Maria felt more comfortable using one language over another. I will remind the reader that Maria can comfortably use three languages—English, French, and Italian. Additionally, she has a passive knowledge of Spanish, which she studied for just a few years in elementary and junior high school. I asked about the three languages that she used most frequently. She stated that she felt most comfortable using English, as according to her “it’s my first language. I am comfortable, and it comes naturally .” In regard to French, Maria stated:

French is OK, just because I speak it more often than I would Italian, like for school and stuff and I have been taught the verbs and everything, but in Italian, I learned it on my own. So, in French I am a little more comfortable speaking it because I know the proper verbs and all that.

In fact, her use of French is very academic, to the point that at times when discussing subjects such as science or social studies she would have to use a French word or two when speaking to her family in English as she had not developed the necessary academic vocabulary in English. She was aware of this deficit in her English as she stated: “English, except maybe for certain things, like in school. Sometimes it’s easier to find the French word for school stuff, like science or math because I always learned them in English .”

Having studied a language at school was a recurring theme for Maria. Several times, she said that she was more comfortable in one language over another because she had had formal instruction it (see the examples that follow). This feeling of being or not being a good user of a language was also a theme that appeared to be important for all three participants, reflecting similar statements in the literature, such as: “Second language competence reflects individuals’ belief

92 about their ability to communicate in the second language and entails low levels of second language anxiety and high levels of perceived second language competence” (Vincze & Joyce, 2018, p. 86).

It is important to remember that being plurilingual does not necessarily mean being equally competent in all languages. Plurilingualism is the ability to use languages in different situations and with different people (Oliveira & Ançã, 2009). In fact, whereas Maria felt confident in both English and French, this was not always the case with Italian: “I feel way more comfortable speaking French than I do Italian. Even when I first go back [after having spent the summer in Italy] I still remember all my French. I don’t think I ever had a problem with the French when I went back [to school].” As we continued to speak about her feelings about her use of Italian, it was obvious that weaker competence in the language was something that she was aware of and thought about.

In one of our first interviews, I asked Maria about her use of Italian and how comfortable she felt as a user of this language. Maria answered that her comfort with the language changed frequently and her confidence in herself using the language did as well: “That’s a little trickier because I don’t speak it all the time. Um, I stumble on words and verbs and stuff. It’s not like I am amazing at it you know, yeah.”

Because I believe that language use, like identity, is fluid, ever changing and evolving, I was curious to know if Maria felt differently about herself as a user of Italian at different times in her life. There are several situations she spoke about that led me to believe that this confidence in herself as a language user was very fluid and changed often, depending on the situation in which she finds herself:

Sometimes, it depends like, towards the end of summer when I have been speaking it [Italian] quite a bit, I am a little more confident but then towards the beginning, when I just get there [Italy], I am a little scared of like, oh, maybe I don’t remember I will stumble on my words.

Being a plurilingual and using the languages in one’s repertoire involves a certain amount of risk taking and the willingness to be creative with language use. The sentiment of language use being scary was expressed by a young participant in a study of collages produced to express

93 plurilingualism by Grades 5 and 6 students. Prasad (2018) asked that learner “to elaborate further about how being plurilingual requires an individual to be brave and he explained that ‘sometimes people are shy to learn a new language and if you have courage like a firefighter, you won’t be scared’” (p. 12). In Maria’s situation, she was wary and concerned with her ability to communicate in a language she had not consistently used for some time.

Maria’s identity as a plurilingual language user would change shortly after her arrival in Italy. Upon arrival she would be timid and often remained silent in a group situation. As she reaccustomed to the language environment a more dynamic and talkative Maria would emerge, both linguistically and culturally: “it is important to highlight the view of identity as multidimensional and intersectional. Dimensions of identity consist of a range of identity inscriptions that are viewed as intersecting and shaping each other” (Preece, 2016a, p. 368). Maria’s identity seemed to shift along a continuum, which was tied to how she viewed herself as a language user in a certain time and place and was dependent on whom she was speaking with.

The second story that Maria shared with me about how she perceived herself as an Italian speaker was about how she felt differently speaking Italian with her father and her friends. She shared that “I feel more judged in Italy with my friends .” I asked her to expand on her answer:

Well, because like there, no I mean like here [in Canada] Papi is used to hearing me speak English, whereas there I can’t talk to English to them [her friends] really, so it’s the only way of communicating with them [in Italian] and I know my Italian is not perfect, so I am just like, you know, feel awkward. Like once when I was speaking with my friend [name] I said the word bucio like a hole, because that is what Nonna says all the time and she [her friend] didn’t know what I was talking about and finally, after I explained, she laughed and said oh you mean buco . I felt kinda silly.

This story clearly demonstrates that her comfort level and how she views herself as a speaker of Italian was tied to the other individual in the conversation and to the environment in which she was using her languages.

Maria spoke on various occasions of the Italian dialect her Nonna and other immigrants to Canada used. It had remained unchanged, other that the insertion of English here and there:

“recent work on the analysis of language in use in small communities and among families has pointed to the complexity of a picture that includes ambiguous and often contrasting attitudes towards Italian and Italian dialects by members of different generations” (De Fina, 2012, p. 352). However, the linguistic situation in Italy evolved; the population became better educated and the use of standard Italian spread. Thus, Maria’s Nonna spoke a dialect that is rarely heard today in the town she immigrated from. Maria was aware of the difference in Italian that her friends in Italy and even her father used compared to the dialect used by both her grandparents, but especially her Nonna. This compounded uncertainty in an already less than confident language user.

Maria shared another story with me about her use of Italian and her view of herself as a less than perfect speaker of the language.

Another time when we went to the house in Pantelleria [a small island located between Sicily and Tunisia], my friends wanted everyone to think that we were from Roma and not Roccagorga [a small town in the Monte Lepini], so they told me, as a joke, oh Maria you better not talk because they will know right away that we are not Romane [Roman]. I know they were joking, but I felt like maybe a little they really weren’t.

Maria obviously perceived a weakness in her language ability and this weakness bothered her. In other conversations, she has stated that she is proud to speak three languages and that “I think it’s pretty cool, not a lot of people can so. . . . I’m impressed with myself .” However, when it came to having conversations in Italian, even with people she has been friends with since childhood, she felt anxious about making mistakes. This is not unlike what the students in Kanno’s (2003) “Negotiating Bilingual and Bicultural Identities” described about their feeling towards Canadian speakers of English. In his chapter entitled “Canadians Look Down on Us: The English Barrier,” Kanno described how three of the four students felt: “the learning of English was a formidable challenge, intertwined with their struggle to negotiate their identities in the host country” (Kanno, 2003, p. 108). Maria experienced the same feeling of wanting to be accepted by the more competent Italian speakers and feeling uneasy in her communication with them. I believe that Maria was on the road to considering herself a plurilingual individual, however she was still uncomfortable with the imbalance in her language competence. Only once she allowed herself to

95 accept this, would she truly be able to give herself permission to use language creatively in order to communicate without having to worry about the perfect standard Italian.

Through this conversation surrounding language use and language confidence, I was curious if Maria could expand on the topic of being uncomfortable or feeling embarrassed about speaking Italian in one place over the other. I left the question general, and I was expecting an example of some instance in Canada where her dad had spoken to her in Italian in front of her friends. I was thinking that this would be her answer, since when I was in school, I had often experienced a feeling of unease or embarrassment when my grandmother spoke to me in Italian in public. However, Maria did not speak of Canada. She instead told me of the summer she was travelling with her school in Europe.

Yes, when I was in Germany. My friend told a random lady, well actually one of the waiters, in an Italian restaurant that I spoke Italian and then the lady started talking to me in Italian. I answered, but it felt weird because of where I was. It’s not a place I would normally use Italian in. It took me by surprise and it was someone that I did not know. When people speak to me in Italian in Italy then it’s normal.

Maria was taken by surprise and had to adjust quickly in this unexpected situation where she was asked to use Italian, a language she considered her weakest. She repositioned her preconceived notion about time and place in order to communicate and negotiate through this new environment. Maria went on to state that for the remainder of the evening the waiter continued to speak to her in Italian and she felt more comfortable answering in Italian as the evening progressed.

I asked her about Canada and how would she feel if this same situation happened in Canada:

Not very many people know I am Italian, so I don’t think that they would talk to me in Italian and the people who do know that I am Italian, well they don’t speak Italian. If it’s Papi then it doesn’t bother me or if it’s someone I know that speaks Italian, like one of our relatives. If it was some random person on the street, then I think I would be surprised too. I would answer in Italian, but I think I would be a little nervous. I would not be expecting it. You never hear Italian in Sherwood

Park or Edmonton. Maybe if I was at Spinelli’s [the Italian food market] then I wouldn’t be so surprised . . . you know you kind of expect it there, especially at the old Spinelli’s store.

The delineation of identity according to certain times, places, or circumstances is not uncommon. We associate language or linguistic behaviours with our environment. However, after her initial surprise at being spoken to in Italian, Maria was able to react and participate in the language interaction. “Plurilingual identities are situated in time, discourse, and are context based, as well as enhanced by interactions with other people” (Oliveira & Ançã, 2009, p. 405). This was certainly true for Maria. Her association of language and place was very strong and would cause her some initial anxiety when put in question.

5.7.2.1 Way back to a younger Maria

Maria also spoke of herself as a younger Italian speaker after having watched two videos of herself from the period she spent in Italy. I chose the two videos because they covered the time that Maria lived with her family in Italy—one from the first Christmas and another from the second. I was interested to see her reaction, to herself as a young confident speaker of Italian. When asked, she was not able to remember many details about the time she spent in Italy This is the reason the two videos are both from the period that she lived in Italy. The first video is a recorded session with her mother and father on Christmas morning in Italy. It 2004 and she was four years old; the family had recently moved to Italy for what would become a two-year stay. In the video, she is opening her presents and speaking fluently in Italian. As she opens her first gift, Ciccio Bello Bua, an Italian doll that speaks and feels sick, she said: “E poi se si sente male come faccio ?” After looking at the box for several seconds, she said: “Ah, si, faccio la puntura e ci do il biberon, poi ci faccio fare il ruttino? / [But what if he gets sick, what will I do? / Oh yes, I will give him a needle and his bottle and then I will burp him ].” Maria’s response to the video was “Wow, I spoke better then than I do now. I was surprised that I spoke so well ,” although as a mature speaker she did pick up on an error that she made as a younger speaker. Upon opening her second gift Maria was surprised to receive a blond Winx doll, similar to a Barbie doll. Up until Christmas, her mother had told her that she could only find the redhead doll. In the video young Maria stated “ma tu hai detto che compravi quella con rossi cappelli.” The present day

Maria said, “I thought it was funny that I said ‘ma tu hai detto che compravi quella con rossi cappelli .’” That’s what you would say in English, red hair .”

The second video that Maria viewed was of a Christmas concert in 2005 that was put on at her Italian Kindergarten. During the video Maria is singing Italian Christmas carols with her school friends and as she watches, before the end of a carol, she says:

I know what comes next, “La befana vien di notte colle scarpe tutte rotte, col capello alla Romana, via la Befana .” I wish I remembered it all, I did at one time.

This was in fact what came next in the video. The group recited this poem about La Befana, a Christmas witch that delivers gifts to the children on January 6 each year. Maria stated again that she was impressed with her language abilities as a small child.

It’s weird seeing myself speak Italian and being so small. I can remember knowing the poem and saying it over and over in the apartment, but now I can only remember the first few lines.

As the video concluded, I asked Maria if there were any other thoughts that came to mind about how she spoke or acted in the video.

I see myself in the little pink grembiule [an apron that the students in Kindergarten wore at the time] but it doesn’t seem real. It’s different from school here. It’s almost like another person wearing the dress and speaking the language so well. But I’m glad the Befana still comes to Canada. [she laughs] but it’s really hard to explain to my Canadian friends about her. It’s kind of weird that she is a witch.

As Maria has grown, and the experiences of living in Italy have faded. They have faded, but they are still part of who she is. The two Marias collide at times, for example, when explaining of Befana to her Canadian friends. This is part of who she is, part of her reality in Canada, but not common to those who surround her.

This journey through her plurilingual development has allowed Maria the opportunity to reflect upon who she is as a language user. She has much to say about Italian, as I discuss in the next section on plurilingual identity, and the SR was a powerful tool for her. She spoke about it for

98 days and when I asked about it several months later, she was able to tell me, word for word, what she had said in the Christmas video. One of Oliveira and Ançã’s (2009) findings was that through a narrative approach to language learning a plurilingual individual can further develop and reflect upon their plurilingual journey.

Viewed from a poststructuralist framework, one can see that language identity is not fixed and individuals adapt and change as they travel through new situations or environments. Maria’s belief that each language belonged in a nicely compartmentalized box was shaken when she encountered language use outside that box. She needed to readjust and recalibrate her beliefs (Block, 2007).

Figure 2. Maria’s plurilingual journey.

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5.8 Who am I?

In relation to plurilingual identity, Maria provided interesting answers regarding who she was linguistically and culturally. As previously stated, identity is a multifaceted, wide-ranging topic; for purposes of this research, I explore identity through the lens of language and culture. “Identities are conveyed, negotiated, and regimented through linguistic and discursive means; therefore, linguistic processes are at the core of identity processes” (De Fina, 2016, p. 163). Additionally, as language is an important component to culture (Hamers & Blanc, 2000), I discuss the participants’ shared thoughts and stories regarding their plurilingual and pluricultural identity.

The lived experiences of language and cultural identity was a term that I used even before reading Busch (2017). It was the basis of my research and I wanted to know if the experiences the participants lived through language and cultural shaped their plurilingual identity. Busch (2017) stated:

. . . juxtapositionally, or in overlapping form. At different periods in their lives, at different moments of their day, or even simultaneously (with the help of digital means of communication, for example), speakers participate in several spaces that are socially and linguistically constituted in different ways. (p. 343)

And so, do these interactions shape who they are? Does language play a role in who you are as a person? This was a question that I posed on several occasions during our interview sessions. Maria’s answers were similar and at the same time contradictory. On the first occasion where we discussed language and identity, I asked if speaking Italian was important.

I mean, yes, I guess. I need it because I have friends over there. How would I communicate with them, but I would still feel Italian even if I didn’t speak it, well maybe not, I don’t know. I have always been able to speak Italian, it’s a part of who I am, but I think people see me as more Italian because I can speak Italian. I would still feel Italian if I didn’t speak the language. I am Italian.

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It was difficult for her to imagine herself without having the ability to speak Italian. As she stated: “it is part of who I am.” Being Italian was one part of how Maria saw herself—as Pavlenko (2011) stated, identity is nonunitary and multiple.

Although Maria later went on to state that she would still feel Italian even if she did not speak the language, having the skill to do so was part of who she was. It was not possible in her mind to separate her identity from the language. But ambiguity or uncertainty about who we are is a fundamental part of identity. Identity is difficult to pin down in a sentence or two; however, when there are two or more languages within the same being, there is always a struggle for power and identity. This is obvious in Maria’s contradictory statements about language and identity.

When I then asked her whether or not she had a stronger attachment to any of the languages that she spoke, she stated: “Well, yeah, [Italy] it’s like where I am from, so if I didn’t speak it would be a little like embarrassing, because I wouldn’t be able to talk to half of my family pretty much .” However, she continued with “but I don’t think that it helps me. Not Italian because Italian doesn’t really do anything for me here [in Canada]. Maybe French. It’s more useful as a language in Canada .” Although she felt that Italian was an important part of who she was, an integral part of her being, at the same time, she was able to rationalize that it may not be the most useful language in her toolbox.

In regard to French, Maria had many thoughts to share including the fact that she did not feel culturally tied to the language. She thought it was bizarre that I would even ask if she identified culturally with any aspects of la francophonie . “No, never [laughing].” I ask: “Why are you giggling ?” Maria said: “Because we study school stuff at school in French, but I’m not French. I can just speak it. ”

Having been a school principal in a French immersion setting in Alberta, in the same school district as Maria, I know for a fact that an important aim of the French immersion program is to expose the students to the cultural component of the language. The focus on academic language and not the natural communicative side of the language is often a criticism of the program. Students graduate after 12 years in the program and are not able to communicate on a social level with other French speakers about everyday topics (Fielding & Harbon, 2013; Lyster, 2016). Fielding and Harbon (2013) found that although students may see themselves as bilingual, they

102 do not necessarily see themselves as bicultural and vice versa. Due to this and other studies, there has been an increase in the focus on cultural components included in the program and the opportunity for French immersion students to partake in real-life use of the language in Alberta.

Whereas Maria did not identify culturally as a francophone, she did identify as a French speaker. This linguistic ability was definitely part of who she was, however after a trip first to Québec and then to France, her identification as a francophile was shaken. In the following quote, she is speaking about her experience using French outside of the classroom:

When I went to Québec and when I went to France. [in reference to using French outside the classroom] They didn’t like my French in Québec because they heard my English accent. They never answered me in French. They told me [in Paris] that it was Québecois French, and they didn’t seem to like that either. So, when I am in Canada, I am an anglophone and when I am in France, I am a Québecois. [Maria laughs]

Although Maria laughed, this again seemed to have her question her competence as a plurilingual. I believe that she felt an uncertainty about how and where she fit in as a French speaker outside of her French immersion classroom. “While personal identities capture characteristics and attributes that the individual regards as defining her/himself as a particular and unique kind of person, social identities refer to memberships into social groupings.” Into which social group did she fit into, other than her immersion classroom?

Throughout her school career she considered herself plurilingual and identified with a group of French speakers within her classroom; but once she left the classroom, she no longer had a point of reference for her identity. She found herself not belonging to any group that she encountered. In these two circumstances, Maria had to struggle to claim a plurilingual identity (Norton & Toohey, 2011) which did not fit into a socially constructed community outside her classroom.

If Maria struggled with fitting in socially as a French speaker, she was also uncertain about how she negotiated her Canadian and her Italian self. Pavlenko (2011) spoke about identity as a place of struggle. I jokingly referred to this place as the middle of the Atlantic Ocean for myself. Maria, as well, struggled with this in-between place. She spoke of how she was torn between her

103 two selves, the English-speaking winter Maria and the Italian-speaking summer Maria; this was very evident when Maria spoke about the time she spent in Italy and Canada:

Everyone here [Italy] is so close with me and I am so excited to see them, and I always want to stay longer. But in Canada is where I have my house and my Canadian friends. I never forget about the other place when I am in the other, but it’s different. I still feel Italian when I am in Canada and Canadian when I am in Italy. I guess I am a little different than everyone else. It really does depend on who I am with. Like when I am in Italy, I know that there are things that I can talk to my Italians friends about that my Canadians friends just would not get.

I can confirm that she struggles with the in-between of places. In the spring when the family is planning the summer vacation, without fail she would state that she wanted to return to Canada at the earliest possible date. However, every year without fail, after a few weeks of being in Roccagorga, the Italian town where we would spend the majority of the summer, Maria would begin to talk about postponing her flight home. For De Fina (2016),”postmodern thinking . . . underlines how modern identities cannot be equated with coherent selves and how they are often fragmented, multivocal, discontinuous and contradictory” (p. 168). Plurilinguals and pluricultural individuals are unique. They are not one or the other, nor do I believe are they a combination of both. They are unique, and they draw from their toolbox of language and cultural experiences in order to interact with others.

This fragmentation is further seen in Maria’s answers regarding national and cultural affiliation: “Being a speaker of a language used in many parts of the world connects one potentially with those wider linguistic communities” (Duff, 2015, p. 61). This affiliation to a country is also seen in Dressler’s (2015) research on the linguistic identity of youth: “affiliation is often expressed as identification or attachment to a language” and for “children, this identification was often represented through the use of a flag of a country where the language is spoken” (p. 47). When asked about nationality, Maria began by stating that she was Canadian. When I asked her to tell me a little more about what being Canadian meant to her, she spoke of having opportunities in Canada that she would not have elsewhere and that she was born in Canada. She did however go on to speak about being Italian as well.

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I have dual citizenship, I guess that means that I am Italian too, or maybe even European now because of the Union. I could actually travel or work in most places in Europe. It’s kinda weird. When I am in Italy and people ask me what I am, I say Canadian. When I am in Canada, I say Italian.

This is consistent with what Duff (2015) described as “flexible citizenship” (p. 71)—there may be links to two or more countries through family ties, assets, and friendships. This notion of flexible citizenship brings to mind the notion of flexible identities . I believe that this is true in Maria’s case. As she travels geographically between one place and the next, I believe she travels through various manifestations of her linguistic and cultural identity as well.

Even though Maria was flexible in her association with language and country, she was quite specific about how she viewed herself culturally. Therefore, it is essential that we look at how Maria saw herself as a pluricultural individual. “People become bicultural because they are in contact with two (or more) cultures and have to live, in part at least, with these cultures” (Grosjean, 2015, p. 577). Culture, for purposes of this research, is defined as knowledge, beliefs, and customs held by a group of people (Hamers & Blanc, 2000), and “all definitions of culture agree that language is an important part of culture” (Hamers & Blanc, 2000, p. 198). Although there are varying negative views on the notion of culture, as seen in Kubota and Lin (2009), “racial difference has increasingly been replaced by the notion of cultural difference, a more benign and acceptable signifier than race, yet used as a means to exclude the experiences of certain racial/ethnic groups” (p. 5), I viewed the discussions I had with the three participants from a positive standpoint. Culture was common thread that linked them to communities, whether real or imagined, and to a time, place, or feeling.

When I spoke with Maria about nationality and culture her answer came quickly and decisively. She stated that if someone asked her what her citizenship was, she would most often answer Canadian, but if she was asked about culture she would say Italian. I asked her what were the traditions or identifiers allowed her to feel Canadian or Italian? She explained that her ties to Canada were as her place of birth and the location where she lived most of the time and went to school. Although her younger brother was not part of this research project, I did ask him out of curiosity what his nationality was. He immediately responded Italian. Although Maria was born in Canada, her younger brother was born in Italy. They both live and go to school in Canada but

105 view themselves as belonging to two different nations. I did not delve into this further but found the difference in their perspectives interesting.

When we spoke about culture Maria focused on traditions she had with her family and friends that made her feel Italian. I did not ask about traditions she linked with her Italian culture, but simply what traditions she had with family or friends.

It’s warm, it’s more fun [Italy]. Because people are more relaxed over there and not so busy and worried about work. And the beach. I really like the beach. We have traditions that make me feel Italian even when I am not there. We eat fish on Christmas Eve. I really hate fish. It’s my least favourite family traditions, but it is still part of who am I. The food, the pasta that we eat every day, even though I am celiac; the Befana , pandoro , panettone . Nonna used to make me these egg babies on Easter. Now I can’t eat them anymore because I am celiac. And both of you and Papi are from there and that we go there every summer and we have a house there. I feel a part of Italy because we go there every summer and we have house over there.

Food was a topic that she linked to her cultural identity. She spoke about it not only as a family tradition but referred to when speaking about a tradition she has with her friends. “On the night of the shooting stars in August we all pack food to share, they we hike up to the saint statue and we eat and sleep under the stars .” Religion, another topic that Maria briefly mentioned, was also linked to cultural identity. Her only reference to Catholicity was to the saint statue , a statue of Saint Erasmo found on the hillside of Roccagorga. Even though she had been raised as a practising Catholic, at this point in her life, she did not consider religion to be part of who she was. This was a shift from her younger self, a version who would willingly accompany her grandmother to church on Sundays and pray, with her Nonna or Nonna Vecchia, each night before going to bed. Again, this showed a shift in her pluricultural identity.

“Bicultural bilinguals are not simply the sum of two (or more) different languages, or of two (or more) distinct cultures. They have their own linguistic and cultural competence that is different from that of bilinguals that are not bicultural and from biculturals who are not bilinguals” (Grosjean, 2015, p. 585). This statement applies to Maria in every sense. She is unique in that she is a plurilingual speaker of three languages with a range of competence and comfort and an

106 identification with two of the three cultures that can be associated with the languages she speaks. She describes herself as Italian and Canadian and says that her identity is dependent on her experiences; “who I am with, where I am, and when .” Her journey through language and culture have made her aware and sensitive to the fact that the languages she holds in her basket of skills all work together. She is still working through some aspects of being a plurilingual and her comfort in language use. This is a journey that will continue, however I believe that through this process of speaking with me about language and culture, she better realized that being a plurilingual was truly is a work in progress. Ortega and Piccardo (2018) spoke about it being a journey:

It is like after you have gone on a journey through different languages and cultures, you may know more about different languages and cultures. But one thing is for sure; you will never see your own language and culture in the same way as before. You will have acquired an awareness, and a capacity to compare it to other cultures and to appreciate your mother tongue more than you did before because it is not just something you learned automatically when you were a child. [p. 81]

Maria, through her interviews, was able to see herself at varying stages in her life with varying degrees of linguistic abilities. She had had the opportunity to reflect on all her languages and both cultures in her repertoire.

5.9 Summary

Maria, through this experience of reflecting upon her linguistic and cultural journey, came to a better realization about her identity as a plurilingual. At the end of our last interview, I asked her what her biggest takeaway would be from the time she spent speaking with me. Her answer was short and simple, as most were, but I believe that it revealed a deeper language awareness: “I had to think about who I was and what language meant to me .”

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Chapter 6 Alia 6 Alia: An Introduction

Alia was a Grade 12 student in her final year of high school in Alberta. After graduation, she planned to enter university in the Faculty of Business. She was the younger of two siblings and, just like Maria, had lived in the same home for 18 years with her parents, sister, and paternal grandparents. Although all participants were willing to share their stories with me, Alia was the most prepared with her responses. We would go over notes together after they were transcribed, and she prepared images to help explain important elements of her identity. At the beginning of the process, I explained to all participants that I would ask them to share adjectives or images that they felt reflected who they were. Again, Alia was the only one who chose images; the other participants provided adjectives at the time of the interviews. She would look at the questions before our interviews and prepare written notes. She stated that this helped her remain focused and calm during the interviews. We also communicated by Messages (an iPhone app) when I had follow-up questions regarding one of the interviews.

From very early in her life, Alia divided her time between the family farm and the family home in the city. She attended her community elementary school in a very multicultural neighbourhood, and then a charter school in the city with a focus on athletics and a flexible timetable. As a young child and until a few years ago, Alia was involved in high-level competitive gymnastics and would train every day, including early morning and afternoon practices. She would also spend a few weeks training in the United States. Her flexible school schedule allowed her to keep up with the academics and continue to focus on her athletics pursuits as well.

Alia’s parents are both first-generation Canadians. Her father’s parents emigrated from central Italy, both from the small town of Roccagorga. Her mother’s parents emigrated from Poland and Hungary. Although both sets of grandparents emigrated from Europe, her Italian grandparents came as adults already married to each other, whereas her Polish-Hungarian grandparents emigrated as children and attended school in Alberta. Alia had much to share with me about how she viewed herself linguistically and culturally in regard to her heritage languages and heritage cultures on both sides of her family.

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6.1 Family: Close, and closer

As we began our getting-to-know-you interview, I asked Alia some rather general, easy-to- answer questions about herself. I sensed some anxiety on her part and wanted to establish even a minimum of rapport with her before asking her to share with me who she was and what she believed in. I had known her family since she before was born, although in more recent years we had seen less and less of each other as our lives became busy and more complicated. So, it was important for me to establish a rapport with her again.

Near the end of the first interview, I asked her about who she admired the most. Again, as with Maria, it was a close family member: “Probably my dad because he has a lot of drive and passion and he knows a lot of knowledge about everything. Like you can ask him anything and he like knows it. ” Alia shared the same value of hard work that Maria had spoken about in the previous chapter. In one of our first interviews, she also showed me a picture of hands covered in dirt. I asked her to explain what this meant to her and she spoke about work ethic, working hard in the garden and dedication.

6.1.2 Favourite memory

Family, both immediate and extended, played an important role for Alia. I had not asked for a memory about grandparents, but simply a memory that she was fond of. She responded with a memory of her grandmother gardening and cooking, when thinking back to a favourite memory. Alia did not speak of a specific event, but of the times she has spent at the family farm and the home in the city with her Nonna. “My favourite memory and the time I still like best is when my Nonna was teaching me how to garden and cook at the farm. We used to have two separate gardens. It is lots of work, but I like it .” Gardening is mentioned as one of the activities that link together grandparents and grandchildren in the study by Kenner, Ruby, Jessel, Gregory, and Arju (2007). It is an activity that allows grandparents and grandchildren to not only spend time together, but for grandparents to share knowledge with the younger generation.

I went on to ask her to think about the times she spent with her Nonna and about how the communication takes place. She said that she used “kinda both ” [English and Italian]. Her Nonna would speak to her in Italian and she would for the most part answer in English, but sometimes in Italian. In a later interview when I was asking her about her language use and in particular if

109 there were certain places, subjects, or people where/with whom she spoke Italian, she came back to the topic of gardening and cooking: “I sometimes find it even easier than English [Italian], because certain words, I can’t think of in English, but I know in Italian. Like words for plants, the garden or when we talk about cooking. Like sugo [tomato sauce]. It sometimes takes me a while to think about what the English word is, so I usually just use the word that my Nonna taught .” As Piccardo (2018) stated:

Awareness is really the keyword. Plurilingualism is not the same as polyglottism. I mean plurilingualism does not mean that you are phenomenal in several languages, it means that you have this awareness, this capacity to draw on different resources, and also freedom to do that, not just the ability, but this confidence and risk-taking attitude of using whatever elements you have. (p. 80)

Although Alia had the linguistic skills to find the English equivalent for the sauce she prepared with her Nonna, she chose to use the word that worked best for what she needed to express. This is an example of the intrasentential codeswitching that was common within Alia’s dialogue with her Nonna. Alia used codeswitching because the English word did not hold the same meaning for her (Baker & Wright, 2017). The word sugo did not just describe for her a tomato sauce, but held a stronger meaning, that brought to mind not only the physical product, but the emotions and memories associated with time spent with her grandmother.

6.1.3 Grandparents

Grandparents and extended family are an important part of the language and cultural development of children. This was clearly the case for Alia. Whereas Maria grew up with only one set of grandparents present in her life, Alia had both paternal and maternal grandparents as active participants in her life for many years. The impact of her interactions with grandparents and extended family was clearly reflected in the answers she provided.

Alia had lived with her paternal grandparents since she was born. Her grandfather was recently deceased. When I asked her about her grandparents, she spoke of both her paternal and maternal grandparents. I did not ask about a specific topic, only for her to tell me a little bit about them. This was one of our first interviews and Alia was quite nervous. As we continued to meet during the weeks to follow, she began to feel more comfortable answering questions. Whereas at first

110 she would script all her responses, in later interviews she would jot down notes. If I had any follow-up questions, I would send them to her by text message and not ask them on the spot, as I knew that this would cause her to be anxious about her answers : A: OK, I actually wrote a lot of stuff down. (we both laugh) I phoned up Nonna. (who at the time was at the farm with Alia’s older sister) So they came, like Nonna came to Canada when she was 20 years old and my Nonno was 28 and her first job, like do want to know. E: Yeah, I wanna know everything. Tell me everything. A: She was like a dishwasher and my Nonno, he was a brick layer and before she retired, she was, she owned her own cleaning business and he was janitor at Safeway. And so, I actually wondered how she learned English and she said people taught them English at work and she only went to school until Grade 5 and he went to school until Grade 3 (in Italy) . I also asked them if they were discriminated against and she said no, people actually helped them, and she continued to speak both English and Italian and she taught her kids her Italian. And then my grandparents . . . I am out of breath. E: Why don’t we take a little break. . . . A: OK, so then my grandparents on my mom’s side, my Grandma was a baby when she came here, and my Grandpa was nine years old and my Grandma came from Poland and my Grandpa came from Hungary. They both spoke Polish and Hungarian, but they went to an English school, and they never taught their children their native or home language because they were told to assimilate, and they face a lot of discrimination and then, so my Grandma was a teacher and my Grandpa was in the Canadian army in WW2 as an engineer. Then he became blacksmith, welder, and farmer. My Grandma was Grade 12 and my Grandpa was Grade 6. (years that they completed school in Alberta)

Alia was very excited to share with me what she had learned about her grandparents. In interviews that followed, Alia often spoke of them. When asked about the positives of living with her grandparents, Alia replied: “It was awesome. They used to walk us to school, made us lunch, made us dinner. It was like having another set of parents. We were very close, and it was very disciplined though, like old school, like you can’t do this. It was nice .” I asked her about the

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“old school” comment and if she considered this a drawback. As with Maria, she stated that it was not. Her grandparents had raised her, when her parents were working, and she was grateful for the time she had with them. Again, as with Maria, Alia stated that she had six family members, which included her grandparents.

As noted above, the impact of extended family on language development is an important factor in the transmission and maintenance of HLs (Braun, 2012; Braun & Cline, 2010; Smith- Christmas, 2014). The close rapport Alia had with her grandparents allowed for additional interaction in Italian. She spent most of her time with them, and most of the time they spoke Italian. This had a great influence on who Alia, considered herself to be Italian, both linguistically and culturally. (I address this specifically in the “Who am I?” section.)

Alia shared two favourite memories about her grandparents. They were both about her paternal grandparents. This did not surprise me, as Alia had lived with this set of grandparents since birth. What was surprising was the fact that in that both of these memories she spoke about language as well; language was an integral part of her relationship with this set of grandparents. I had simply asked for her to share a memory about her grandparents. Alia spoke about the time she would spend in the car with her Nonno while he drove her and her sister to and from gymnastics: “My Nonno would drive us to gymnastics all the time and we would listen to Italian music and he would get really mad at the other drivers and say not nice things in Italian. [Sister] and I would sit in the back laughing .”

She went on to speak about her Nonna. Although her favourite memory, in general, was about time spent with her grandmother gardening, she had more to say. “When she [grandmother] says certain words in English, it’s really funny. Like when she tries to say cranberries and she say Grande Prairie [the name of a city in northern Alberta]. I don’t know, it’s so funny, but we know what she means anyway .” This awareness and reflection upon memories and the language component for each language was unique to Alia. Although all the participants spoke of language, and demonstrated keen language awareness, Alia was the most reflective. This was not what I expected before I began the interviews, simply because Alia had had the least contact with Italian speakers, both in Canada and in Italy, and came from a home where only one parent was of Italian heritage.

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6.2 Language

In a plurilingual view, every new language or dialect acquired builds on pre-existing knowledge and in turn shapes that knowledge as part of the individual’s plurilingual trajectory (Piccardo, 2017). Languages became the topic of my discussions with Alia, specifically during our third interview. (See Figure 3 for a graphic representation of Alia’s plurilingual journey, and Appendix G for a textual version of this information.)

6.2.1 Tell me who, and I will tell you how I answer

Whereas Maria was afforded continuous opportunities to interact with Italian and French speakers of differing ages and from differing social contexts, Alia’s opportunities for “discursive spaces” (Preece, 2016a) in a language other than English were more limited. When I asked her about the language use at home she responded that both Italian and English were used.

It’s like day-to-day stuff, intertwined with English and Italian. I don’t know how to divide it. My Nonna uses Italian the most. It depends on what she is doing, and it flip flops. She will use Italian and English in the same sentence. We all will actually. She [her Nonna] uses Italian in the kitchen a lot.

Alia stated that other than speaking with her immediate family in Italian, she spoke Italian with her cousins who visited from Italy for a couple of weeks a few years back. Additionally, she would use an Italian word or two once in a while with her cousins who lived in Edmonton. However, when it came to her sister, she said: “Ya, everyone does [speak to her in Italian] at some point except for my sister. Like we just talk in English .” There is much research that supports the importance and impact of family, particularly siblings, on language use ( Barron- Hauwaert, 2011 ; Bartram, 2006; Braun, 2012; Bridges & Hoff, 2014; Williams, Burden, & Lanvers, 2002). The fact that Alia and her older sibling did not use Italian was not surprising, since it is common among siblings to use the majority community language between themselves, especially when one or the other begins school. However, this was probably not helpful for Alia’s HL maintenance . It is important to note that, although Alia refers to speaking Italian, she in fact speaks a dialect of central Italy, the dialect of the town of Roccagorga. As in Maria’s story, Alia’s grandparents immigrated to Canada as young adults with very limited formal education. They spoke little standard Italian, more commonly speaking the dialect of their home

113 town of Roccagorga. As they arrived and maintained contact with other immigrants from Roccagorga and less with relatives in Italy, their language did not evolve. They continue to speak the dialect of Roccagorga of some 40 years ago.

Alia was quite flexible with who she felt was and was not a speaker of Italian. The fact that one was more or less of a competent speaker of language did not play an important role in her consideration of language use. She said that all members of her family were language users of both English and Italian and that additionally she was also a speaker of French, having studied the language in a second language classroom while at elementary and junior high school. I believe that Alia, even though having never heard the word plurilingual before we spoke about it, was in fact an excellent example of a plurilingual and pluricultural individual. In one of our conversations, Alia shared with me that she considered her mom a user of Italian as well. “Even my mom speaks Italian, well she understands more than she speaks, but my Nonna talks to her in Italian all the time .” As previously stated, Alia’s mom is a first-generation Canadian, whose parents emigrated from Poland and Hungary. Her knowledge of Italian before meeting Alia’s dad was very limited—I would venture almost nonexistent—as Edmonton is not a place where one hears Italian often. However, when I asked Alia how her mom reacted to Nonna speaking to her in Italian, she simply said “she tries her best to answer in Italian, but really it’s mostly English .”

Parental attitude towards languages and their use is of utmost importance in the development of plurilingualism. If a parent insists on using only the proper form of this language or that language, the child may in turn be less willingly to take language risks (Piccardo, 2018). This was not the model used in Alia’s home. Languages were intertwined in conversations by all members of the family. This allowed Alia to view herself and her family members as plurilingual, even if this was not the word she used, as she did not see the need to be equally competent in each language that she used. But this was in fact plurilingualism, which allows for an imbalance in languages (Piccardo, 2017).

6.2.2 The why, the where, and the when

Experiences and interactions with languages are essential in the development of a plurilingual speaker: “I do not understand the speaker as an [independently acting) individual but—in a poststructuralist move—as a subject formed through and in language and discourse” (Busch, 2017, p. 346). It is this space of interactions with both language and culture that provide the

114 experiences for Alia and the other participants to grow as in their plurilingual and cultural identity. The interactions with her paternal grandparents and parents, with cousins in Canada, and for a limited time, cousins from Italy—plus her experiences in a language—all contributed to Alia as a plurilingual individual.

Experiences provided the basis for interaction, but it is the motivation, as well, that is an important part of the puzzle in language development. I was curious to know why Alia was motivated to continue in her plurilingual journey because she had shared with me that she had never travelled to Italy and that she did not have close relatives in Italy, with whom she was in regular contact. She also told me that she did not have any friends in Canada who spoke Italian. When I asked her about why speaking Italian was important for her, she had much insight to share:

I feel like being able to speak Italian brings me closer to my culture and makes me feel like I’m closer to the part of my family that only speaks Italian. I feel that I am luckier than most people that I can speak more than one language and that I have been taught two languages because I feel that I can connect with people who are Italian and know how to speak it, so it opens up different social situations and it is important for travelling. Almost like I have an advantage over people that only know one language.

Motivations (or, as defined by Pavlenko [2011], investment) for learning a second language, including “foreign, Indigenous, minority, or heritage languages” (Douglas Fir Group, 2016, p. 19) are many and vary according to the individual language user. Gardner’s (2001) socioeducational model suggests that second language learners are motivated by the need to fit into a community of speakers. The need to belong to her extended family and the community in which they participated was important to her.

This model is now considered by many to be a monolingual view of plurilingual motivation: “A multilingual turn is taking place in SLA research, the monolingual bias that has shaped the formulation of research problems and development of methodologies no longer sustainable.” (Henry, 2017, p. 560). More recently, Csizér and Dörnyei’s (2005) motivational self system (p. 2009) suggests three common underlying factors that influence investment in second language learning.

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• the internal desire to become a competent language user; • pressure from the individual’s environment; and • the process itself of learning a second language.

I posit that Alia was motivated in her pursuit of plurilingualism both by an internal desire to communicate in all her languages, but particularly Italian, and by feelings of necessity—she wanted to be able to communicate with her Nonna in both English and Italian, with her aunts, and in certain social situations.

One such social situation was presented in a story she shared about the visit of some relatives from Italy:

Relatives of my family from Italy stayed with us for a few weeks. I spoke to them in Italian every day. I would sometimes have to use an English word, or ask my dad to help me if I didn’t know the Italian word. By the end of the stay I was pretty comfortable speaking with them about many topics. At first it would be just daily occurrence stuff in Italian. Like simple conversations about coffee, food, how many sugars in your coffee. But by the end we were having day-to-day normal conversations.

This situation with her Italian-speaking family necessitated that Alia put her plurilingual skills to use. She was flexible enough with her language that she would work around an unknown word or use the English equivalent, hoping that they would understand.

Alia’s statement regarding her comfort level increasing with the passing of time and the added social interactions in Italian was similar to Maria’s statement about her confidence increasing with each day she passed in Italy with her friends: “Language learning is seen as a nonlinear process where linguistic competences and experiences come into play, alongside conditions and constraints, while accomplishing real-life tasks in a social context” (Piccardo, 2017). Alia’s comfort with Italian and other languages was flexible and changed with the context and interactions available to her at the time.

In regard to general language use, Alia stated that both English and Italian were used at home, but the family tended to use more Italian when “we cook, we garden, we watch TV, play cards

116 and grocery shop .” She does not recall anyone reading to her in Italian as a child, nor watching Italian programming, other than RAI international, which, she jokingly said, was on nearly 24 hours a day because Nonna insisted. She spoke with ease about the languages she used and when I asked if there was a time that she felt uncomfortable with someone speaking to her in Italian, she replied, “No, not all at. Canada is multicultural. You hear different languages all the time .” Again, a comfort with being different from the majority community similar to what Maria expressed, and so very different from what I felt as an adolescent.

I knew that Alia felt comfortable with languages other than English. Because she had not travelled to Italy, and because her use of Italian (and French) had always been in a Canadian context, I was curious to know her comfort level with each of her languages. She shared with me that she was most comfortable speaking English and felt that this was her strongest language;

Definitely English, because all my school subjects were in English, all my friends speak English. I have never had school in Italian. I just learned it because it was around me growing up. Other people spoke to me in Italian. Sometimes I find it easier to say things in Italian, like with my family about the garden or the pigs.

Farming was an important part of Alia’s life. She would spend her weekends at the farm and she and her sister raised and sold pigs. Although she is still in high school, the sisters own a business together. Her grandparents have always been an important part of their farming lives. At this time and place, Alia communicated in Italian with her Nonni about specific topics; and she found it easier to use an Italian word in an English sentence, even when she communicated with her sister or parents. She was aware that there was an equivalent in another language, but still preferred the Italian. The Italian expressed what she needed to communicate more than the English.

As with Maria, Alia felt that she was more competent in English than in Italian because she had never had school in Italian. In a later interview, Alia again spoke about her use of English at school and Italian for other situations: “At school I obviously just strictly speak English, but when there is a social situation, like a baptism, I feel comfortable speaking Italian to more of the older adults, like my aunts, because it feels more like I belong .” This sense of belonging by being able to communicate in a one language over another is essential to who Alia believed herself to be.

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Figure 3. Alia’s plurilingual journey.

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6.3 Who am I?

“As a social agent, each individual forms relationships with a widening cluster of overlapping social groups, which together define identity” (Council of Europe, 2001, p. 1). It is through relationships with other individuals and groups that we form an idea of who we are. These relationships and the interactions they afforded were essential for Alia when she spoke about her plurilingual self. When I asked her how she would described who she was, linguistically and culturally, she replied:

I feel Italian and Canadian. I don’t really consider myself my mom’s side [Alia’s maternal grandparents emigrated from Poland and Hungary when they were both children] because we don’t do anything, basically we don’t have any traditions based on that and I don’t speak any of the languages. I don’t even know how to describe why I feel Italian. It is part of who I am. Part of who I always was. I feel like being able to speak Italian brings me closer to my culture and makes me feel like I’m closer to the part of my family that only speaks Italian. Speaking Italian makes me feel like a more interesting person, if that makes sense, more worldly, I guess, but I feel my attachment would be increased if I visited there [Italy] regularly.

Alia was able to describe connections she had made with both her Canadian and Italian self because she had lived both linguistic and cultural experiences and through these experiences, her plurilingual identity developed. Even though both her parents were first-generation Canadians, Alia at this time only identified linguistically and culturally with her paternal heritage: “Plurilingualism stresses the role of the user/learner as a holistic being acting socially, whose personality develops through complex interaction of his/her own entire set of resources: cognitive, emotional, linguistic, and cultural” (Piccardo, 2017, p. 5). As I understand identity to be fluid, it is not impossible that Alia’s identification with her Italian heritage may change. If she were afforded opportunities to interact and experience the language and culture of her maternal grandparents, then these may very well become a part of her plurilingual identity.

The experience with language and culture allowed Alia to develop a strong sense of self and, like Maria, Alia was comfortable with this plurilingual identity, even in an English-majority

119 community. When I asked if she ever felt that it was not OK to be Italian in Edmonton, she replied:

No, I was always comfortable. Even when I was young and my Nonna would speak to me in Italian in front of my friends. Like in Canada, everyone speaks their own language. I went to school in Millwoods (a community in Edmonton) where everyone is from somewhere else.

Whereas I was definitely not comfortable with my multilingual self, both Maria and Alia said that they could not recall a time where they felt uncomfortable with their linguistic or cultural identity.

As language and culture are intertwined and language is a way that we express our cultural selves (Piccardo, 2018), I asked Alia to speak with me about her experiences with culture. Again, I did not ask specifically for examples of what culturally defined her as Italian. However, through our many conversations, her focus was continuously on what made her feel Italian. Prasad (2018) analyzed children’s collages they had created to reflect their plurilingualism in order to further understand plurilingual identity. In five different elementary classrooms, in both Canada and France, Prasad (2017) engaged with teachers and students in order to create language identity collages:

Recurrent theme across learners’ collages was the representation of individual plurilingualism as more than linguistic skill. Learners’ collages make visible children’s conceptualization of the notion of linguistic repertoire as more than a sum of its parts. Through diverse images, language is depicted not only as letters, words but also as cultural practice and a form of personal development and self- expression. (Prasad, 2017, p. 12)

Alia in her reflection on language and culture stated:

I think that being able to speak Italian is important to who I am because it connects me to my culture which then connects to me to all of the Italian traditions that I practice which in turn plays a role in defining who I am.

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In this one sentence, which Alia texted to me after one of our interviews, she summed up everything that she believed fits into her plurilingual and pluricultural identity. The sentence surprised me, but then as I looked back to her previous interviews, I realized that Alia had a deep awareness of language and culture. Plurilingualism allows the individual to see the interconnectedness between languages and culture. They are reflective and positive towards their languages and cultures, just as Alia is (Piccardo, 2017; Zarate, Levy, & Kramsch, 2008).

In regard to a visual expression of cultural identity, I offered the participants the opportunity to express themselves in either image or text form. Alia was the only participant who chose imagery. She prepared six images to represent who she was culturally. As she began to explain her images, I realized that they were all tied to her Italian self. She spoke of food and how her Nonna and dad would have cooking competitions each weekend, “food, pizza, every weekend my dad is making something, like a competition between him and Nonna. And it’s like everything we learned, like making sausages pasta, and bread .” The pictures of the cards and the music notes were tied to family memories as well. She spoke of weekend card games at the family farm and of listening to Italian music, especially in her Nonno’s car. Whereas Maria briefly mentioned Catholicity, with a fleeting mention of a statue of a saint, Alia specifically spoke to the fact that being Catholic was an important part of her identity and she associated this part of herself with her Italian heritage, even though she attended church in Edmonton and went to a Catholic elementary school.

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Figure 4. Alia’s collage.

These images would point to an individual who is plurilingual, but not pluricultural. However, when I asked Alia about this and if she felt culturally Canadian as well, she replied that she was Canadian and that living in Canada, she did not have to work at being Canadian. Her vacations in Nelson, BC were part of who she was. The time she spent hunting and fishing with her father and uncle, and the weekends at the farm, where she would ride her Quad with friends, were all part of her Canadian identity. What made her feel Italian was “practising her family traditions and speaking Italian .” As Busch (2012) stated: “entanglement of language and the nation-state takes place not only through official language policy but also through language ideologies, through discourses on language, language use, and the legitimacy of speakers” (p. 504). Even though I believe Alia could truly see herself as a plurilingual, she still associated her English language

122 with her country, and because she lived in Canada the association of language and nation state was natural. However, just as with Maria, her Italian language and culture were tied to her heritage and she felt she needed to work on this aspect of her identity in order to preserve this part of who she was.

6.4 Summary

I would like to close with a quote from Alia regarding her thoughts about Canada and the people her age:

I like the outdoors and the work opportunities as well as the feeling of safety. What I like the least is the limited history and culture. I find people my age can be closed minded, I’m not sure that that is the right word, like for example they want to remain in Canada and not want to be immersed in other cultures and languages through working abroad and travelling. I want to do this.

This openness to new cultures and languages shows an awareness that there is so much more to add to her plurilingual and cultural identity. Plurilingualism

. . . enables a comprehensive view, capable of factoring in the positioning of the individual as a social agent who, on the strength of her/his experience and her/his linguistic and cultural background, operates in and is affected by a multilingual space that is constantly changing. (Piccardo & Puozzo, 2015, pp. 319–320)

I believe that Alia will use her experiences with language and culture to continue to build her plurilingual identity in the future. As identity is fluid and ever changing (Norton, 2011), who Alia considers herself to be will change. I believe that she will adapt to new experiences and interactions. The Alia I spoke with today may be different from the Alia of years to come.

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Chapter 7 Alex 7 Alex: An Introduction

The final participant was Alex. Throughout this next chapter, I discuss the experiences that Alex spoke about concerning his family, his language, and his identity. My connection with Alex’s family is much closer than that of Alia. My mother has always been very close with both Alex’s mother and his aunt. They grew up together and are more like sisters than cousins. It was not difficult to establish an easy-going conversation with Alex, although this was not what I expected. Upon first meeting Alex, one would think him to be extremely shy and not the most talkative of individuals. Much to my pleasant surprise this was not the case and Alex was very willing to share his experiences with me. He was very well spoken.

Alex had completed high school a few years previously and was only slightly older than the girls. Presently he worked two jobs, one with his father and the other in a music store. On weekdays, “I’m drafting, so doing blueprints and estimates for jobs and stuff and then on weekends I just kind of have a casual job working at a guitar store, it’s more a hobby than a job .” In interviews to come, Alex would share with me his passion for music and how he enjoyed playing the bass and the guitar.

Growing up, Alex lived with his parents, younger brother, and his maternal grandmother. Like the other two participants, he had lived in the same house with the same people since birth and continued to do so to this day. He attended his community elementary, junior high, and high schools in the same neighbourhood as Alia. Like Alia, his community is multicultural with a high percentage of new immigrants to Canada. Most of the new Canadians and permanent residents in this area are from East Asia. Alia and Alex still live only a couple of blocks from each other in their childhood homes.

Alex’s family composition was more similar to Maria’s than to Alia’s. His father is a permanent resident who emigrated to Canada after meeting and marrying Alex’s mother. He, like Maria’s father, came to Canada with a very limited knowledge of English and still uses Italian mainly to communicate in the home. Alex’s mother is a first-generation Canadian.

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7.1 Family: Close, and closer

Although I had maintained a closer relationship with Alex’s family, I still began the interview session with some general questions. As I stated, I was hopeful that Alex would be willing to share his stories with me, but I was also anxious because he appeared shy and reserved. After a few general questions about his age, school, work life, and so forth, I asked him if he could think of three adjectives that people would use to describe him. His answer was simple, “laid back, calm, and quiet; I don’t talk much .” This was exactly as I would have described him, however as the interview continued Alex shared some insightful thoughts about his family, language, and identity.

As with the other two participants, I was curious to know about who Alex looked up to and again I asked if there was anyone, real or fictional, that he admired and would like to be like. He responded: “Probably my parents or my Nonna here, they are all hardworking, honest people. They are really admirable. ” And again, in a later interview, Alex returned to the topic of his family and work ethic:

Yes, very hard working, very honest. Because I work with him closely [his father] I understand all the sacrifices he has made. Ya he works like a dog and sometimes he is under appreciated for that, which is not right, but I really appreciate what he does for us and I understand.

Finally, in one of our last interviews, I asked him to think about his family and share with me three adjectives that would describe who they were as a unit. He began by saying “Loud, food, loyalty between us .” And then added: “We are honest people, hardworking, never take an easy way. We always take the honourable way. ”

Alex spoke about and came back to the admiration he had for his family, particularly his father, numerous times throughout the interviews. He looked up to his parents and his Nonna and valued the honesty and hard work that they represented. I believe that Alex not only respected his close family members and their dedication, but this respect and admiration had become part of who he is. He was currently working two jobs and spoke about the long hours he dedicated to both employers. Alex would come back to the theme of work ethic later, when he shared memories about his grandparents.

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7.1.1 Favourite memory

Family played an important role in the stories Alex shared about his favourite memories growing up. When I asked him to share a favourite memory, again, not specifically mentioning family, he chose to speak about his family.

There are so many of them, but probably just the typical day around the house here you know. There are a whole bunch of them when you think about it. Just hanging around the house interacting with my Nonna and my dad and my mom, you know. There are so many of them, I can’t think of one specific one. Growing up here in the house with my family, you know everyone would come over for Sunday dinner, [aunt], [uncle], [cousin] and [cousin].

As with the other two participants, there was a strong connection to the family running through Alex’s stories. However, Alex referred explicitly to family as the foundation for his identification to the HL and heritage culture (HC). I believe that the constant presence of grandparents in the home strengthened family ties for all three participants. This connection and fondness for family was obvious in the story he told regarding his favourite memory of his Nonna:

There are so many. She doesn’t really expose it after, but she has a great sense of humour. She does like to make jokes. When she is in a good mood she starts laughing and she makes you laugh. Funny things like old style words. Like we discussed earlier [I will come back to this story in section regarding language] that no one uses to describe us like in a joking way to tease us and once we figure out what she is saying, it’s pretty funny. She calls me a lizard eyes sometimes too. Just weird stuff like that in Italian. She says funny words like garabiccio and gabinetto . She used to chase us around with the wooden spoon too when we were little. When we were older we would be able to catch it and take it and run. She wouldn’t like it when we did that. She is constantly locking the doors. I go outside for one minute and come back to the door and it’s always locked. It’s annoying, but it also makes me laugh.

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We were sitting at the table in the family home as Alex was telling me these stories—his Nonna constantly trying to feed both of us. We relented, knowing that if we did not have at least one piece of fruit or one of her homemade ciambelle [doughnuts] she would not stop asking. I think that she realized we were speaking about her and she smiled at Alex.

Alex’s story included information on his grandmother’s use of language. Again, I did not ask for a memory of her speaking Italian, but it seemed that for all three participants, the language and the person—that is, their grandparents—were so intertwined that none were able to speak of one without the other. It is this meshing of language and individuals that perhaps has been one of the driving forces in the development of the HL. The influence of grandparents in Alex’s life was obvious and constant. I believe that it had shaped how he saw himself as a plurilingual and cultural individual.

7.1.2 Grandparents

Alex had many stories to share with me regarding his grandparents, but especially his grandmother. His grandfather passed away before he was born, so he had only second-hand knowledge to share about him. Just as Alia did, Alex shared with me a plethora of information regarding his Nonni. I have focused on the stories which I believe reinforce the influence they had on his linguistic and cultural identity:

She came here when she was 19 by herself on a boat. She came to Halifax. We saw her, like pictures of the boat. I think with the museum [Pier 21] they sorta walked you through what it was like for someone coming off of the boat. Like there was a video of it and everything and there was so many people coming through and nobody speaking English and a lot of time people on the boat were not speaking the same language. It was like a whole bunch of culture clashes just all at once kind of thing.

Here Alex was speaking of this visit to Pier 21 in Halifax Nova Scotia with his family. He mentioned both language and culture, how the travellers would encounter a new language and culture as they entered the country, but as well how they would have their own language and culture with them. As he continued with this story, he shifted to more recent memories and returns to the topic of work ethic:

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She has been working nonstop since she got here to this day. She won’t stop. People are amazed and impressed of how strong she is now, how mentally sharp she still is for her age. She still drives. She was the first one to get her licence of the woman in the family and the first time she went to get her licence the instructor was outside the car and she was inside the car and she wasn’t really feeling well so she couldn’t really hear, so the instructor was saying something and she couldn’t hear, so she said what, excuse me and the instructor said, well I’m not taking you if you can’t listen. So, she failed for something without even starting. So, the next time when she took the instructor passed her and said you are the perfect driver. I don’t understand why that guy failed you without even taking the test. He should have never done that kind of thing. I always thought she was a good driver.

He was obviously proud of what his Nonna had achieved, first from her independent travel to Canada, a place where neither the language nor culture was familiar to her; to her ability to pass her driving test and be the first woman in the family to do so; and finally, to working nonstop to this very day. According to Tan and Ng (2010), “it is not the mere presence of grandparents in the household alone, but also the nature of their relationships with their grand children, which determine language maintenance in the home domain” (p. 73). Alex had many positive comments to share with me about living in a multigenerational home. It was clear that the relationship he had with his grandmother was positive and respectful and had guided his plurilingual and cultural growth.

When I inquired specifically about who made up the family at home, many of the comments were similar to both Maria’s and Alia’s. For all of them, there was a comfort in having their Nonna live with them as well as an additional person to “take care of you.” Alex shared: “It was good, it was awesome. We really appreciate her. There was always some there. Food, clean clothes. Someone to take care of you when you are sick. She was dependable always at home. A good safety net .” However, unlike Alia and Maria, Alex was willing to share some of the less positive aspects of having a third adult living in the home:

Ya, when you are going out with your friends you always had to be back at a certain hour. You weren’t allowed to sleep over, so you had to miss out on all the

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social things and also you had to go to her cousin’s grandson’s wedding kind of thing, you would lose your weekend running after other people and stuff like that. I guess that’s a disadvantage, but it’s really because she cares.

At the end of this statement Alex felt the need to restate that although there might have been disadvantages, they existed because in reality his Nonna cared about him. He even went on to give reasons that justified the disadvantages: “When you are a little kid growing up in World War II [referring to his grandmother], you know, strange people, you don’t want your children and grandchildren around them. Even your grandkid’s friends. You don’t know them, you don’t want them over there .”

As we moved from memories of grandparents and attitude towards living with them to language use in the home, once again, Nonna played an important role.

7.2 Language

Alex demonstrated an openness to languages and language learning throughout the interviews. He was reflective when he spoke about his language use and verbalized connections between languages. He spoke about learning languages and connections on two separate occasions. This awareness of language and linguistic awareness was an essential part of the plurilingual process (Piccardo, 2017). (See Figure 5 for a graphic representation of Alex’s plurilingual journey, and Appendix H for a textual version of this information.)

When I asked Alex if there was any particular language that he would want to learn he replied:

As many as I could. I don’t think there is a language that I wouldn’t want to learn. If I was anywhere in the world, I could find my way, speak properly. I think it’s important to be able to speak with people in their language. A lot of places, they do speak English, but still in a lot of smaller places, like a smaller community, the English might not be there, so it would be good to learn to their language.

Being able to communicate with others was an important aspect of language for Alex. I believe that this played a role in this choice to maintain his HL. He spoke often of how Italian and dialects were important because they allowed him to communicate with his family. His father

129 and maternal grandmother all had relatives that lived in Italy. Again, when speaking about the languages that he was able to use for communication, he spoke of the French that he learned in school: “Yes absolutely . [He has an advantage over people that speak one language.] I remember learning French in school and a lot of the language transferred over into Italian. They are so close. All the Latin languages .” He made many comments regarding the importance of languages and the connections amongst languages as we continued to speak over the course of the next few months.

7.2.1 Tell me who, and I will tell you how I answer

Alex and I spoke numerous times regarding his language use. He spoke of the use of both English and Italian in and outside of the home:

We use dialects, Italian and English. I mostly use English with [brother]. We might just use an Italian word when we are making a joke or when we are in public. If we are in public we will probably speak Italian to each other, especially if we don’t want people hearing what we are saying, it’s like a secret code—our own language.

Like Alia, Alex used English with his sibling and would also use Italian with him for several purposes—first of all, for humour. The use of translanguaging and humour is documented in the study by M. Li and Zhu (2013). They found that young men would use language to make others laugh through language crossover, using various accents and double voicing. Alex also spoke of the use of Italian as a secret code between himself and his brother and he later came back to this same use with other members in the family. In describing how he used language with his mother he said: “Italian word here and there just to describe something, or like a joke, if we are in public and it’s something kinda personal, then we’ll use Italian .” Using codeswitching or translanguaging for reasons of humour is outlined as well by Baker and Wright (2017). This fluid use of language, switching from one to the other, or using elements of both within the same sentence, is a theme evident in Alex’s description of his language use. Baker and Wright also refer to using codeswitching to exclude others from the conversation. Alex would use dialect with his mother if he wanted to communicate with her in public and did not want others to understand. This exclusion of the larger community by switching the code was a strategy that Alex incorporated routinely into his communication with both his mother and brother.

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In reference to his dad and Nonna, he stated:

With dad and Nonna it’s Italian and a little bit of English, but English if they don’t understand. They are hard of hearing, sometimes they don’t understand either. [laughter] My Italian isn’t that great so, so if I’m not pronouncing things right, sometimes it’s easier just to go to English and then they don’t understand what that English word—it’s a vicious circle. [laughter] It’s a mix, when they speak Italian I can understand for the most part, more than I can speak so it’s not a big deal if they speak Italian. They say three words in English and an Italian word or three words in Italian and an English word. It’s all mixed together but we understand, so . . .

The mixed communication they used within their home was what they needed to best communicate with each other. There was no clear delineation of who spoke what, when, but languages were used in order to ensure that they understood one another.

I was interested to know if this fluid use of English and Italian was also the norm between his father and grandmother. As Tan and Ng (2010) said: “the presence of parent-to-grandparent interactions, within an extended family, provides a certain amount of passive language input for participants, which is not available for participants living in a nuclear family” (p. 86). Alex told me that his grandmother and father regularly used Italian or dialect when speaking to each other. It was rare for them to speak in English, although sometimes an English word would be heard in their conversations. Alex’s father is from the outskirts of Roccagorga, the same town Maria’s grandparents emigrated from. He attended school in Italy, including high school, and therefore speaks standard Italian, although he will often use the dialect from his home town in conversations with close friends and family. Similarly, Alex’s grandmother is from central Italy, but from the small town of Supino. She emigrated as a young woman; her formal schooling was limited to a few years of elementary school. She uses the dialect of Supino in her conversations with Alex and his father. The dialect she uses today is still that of her small town from many years ago. Since the two dialects are from the same province and region in Italy, they are very similar, although it is important to note that the grandmother uses a dialect that existed in her small town 50 years ago, whereas Alex’s father speaks a dialect that has evolved over the years.

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When I specifically asked about the different dialects used by his grandmother and his father, Alex said:

I think they are [the dialects are similar], but there is the occasional word. Just the old, old words, they probably don’t even know what it means. There is more old style slang, like if you met someone who came right out of the 30s from Edmonton. You would have a hard time understanding what he meant because he would use so many different words that no one uses anymore. [in regard to some of the words that his Nonna uses]

Alex was able to articulate the similarities and differences in the dialects that his father and grandmother used, and as well he had an appreciation that the English he spoke today might be quite different from what was used in years past. This awareness of the many forms of languages is important to the definition of plurilingualism (Ortega & Piccardo, 2018). Alex was able to recognize that not only were many different dialects were spoken in Italy, but also the dialects of Italian spoken in Canada were different from those spoken in Italy, and finally, that not all English was the same.

Although the influence of family is important in language development, so is that of peers. Input outside of the home provides important “discursive spaces” (Preece, 2016). I asked Alex if he had the opportunity to use Italian with friends:

Not really outside the family. Well actually, I met a couple of friends through a friend [a friend that I know as well] and then he had some other Italian friends and we all speak Italian together. Other than that, I’ve only met a few other Italians and they don’t speak Italian at all. They are first-generation Canadians. I met one guy at NAIT [Northern Alberta Institute for Technology] and his parents never spoke Italian to him at all and he never picked up on it.

I was interested to know what he thought about this and so I asked. He simply said; “I think it’s too bad, kind of sad. It’s like he is missing a piece of who he is, a missed opportunity .” I believe that this comment spoke for itself. It is a profound statement, in just a few words revealing how important Alex believed language was to identity. (I further develop this subject in the “Who am I?” section of this chapter.)

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7.2.2 The why, the where, and the when

According to Pavlenko (2011), investment in language is shaped by the individual language user as well as by society. Investment, like identity, is flexible; users can decide in which language skills they will invest their time. Alex had two main motives for his wanting to learn additional languages. In a first interview, Alex said: “You have an advantage, always good on a résumé for work .” This statement points to a societal motive Alex may have had for investing in an additional language: multiple languages are an asset. Secondly, Alex explained: “If you are in public and you need to speak to someone privately in your family, you can speak in front of other people in private and no one will understand .” And in a later interview, he said “For me it is because of my family. All my dad’s side is over there, and they don’t speak English, so it’s important to me to be able to communicate with my family. But if they spoke English then it wouldn’t matter to me as much .” Being able to communicate with family, both here in Canada and in Italy, was worth the investment of additional learning for Alex. Through this additional language he had access to a secret code as well as the ability to communicate with his paternal relatives; he had the opportunity to use his language skills when communicating face to face with them on the family’s three trips to Italy. This investment was personal for Alex. As previously explored, family was important to him and therefore being able to communicate with them was essential.

Whereas Alex used his Italian language skills in Italy on a few occasions, his use of both English and Italian was constant at home in Canada. On his use of Italian Alex shared that the where was flexible:

In the home mostly [he uses Italian], but if we are with other Italians, like family and cousins or even family friends in public then we will speak Italian and English as well. It’s usually a mix. It [Italian use] has always been the same. Because I’m older, I understand more. Pick up more things and I am probably more aware of when things are going on. When you are kids it’s just in the background. I didn’t learn it officially in school. I just picked it up at home. I don’t really have a, how do you say, like a scholar’s perspective on speaking the language. Like an academic base. I wasn’t properly educated in how to speak it. I just picked up what I hear and repeat it and understand.

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There was a flexibility in how Alex described language that spoke about a plurilingual use. He was not rigid in his division of what to speak when, but described an interaction between the dialects his father and grandmother spoke, Italian, and English. “Plurilingualism integrates the idea of imbalance, adopts a perspective of development and dynamism, and encourages risk- taking through a flexible and creative use of the language” (Piccardo, 2017, p. 5). Alex incorporated this flexible and creative language use in his daily communications, by blending together languages and using whichever word he knew or best worked in the situation or with other speakers.

Furthermore, Alex, like the other two participants, was less sure of his skills in Italian because he did not receive any formal education in the language. He heard Italian and two dialects growing up, and learned them in an informal way. For all three participants, this lack of formal education gave them a feeling of uncertainty about their competency in their additional languages.

This lack of confidence came through again in a conversation we had about whether there was a specific time when speaking Italian made him feel uncomfortable. I was wondering if he had ever felt embarrassed or awkward with someone speaking to him in a language other than English. As with the other two participants, he was completely comfortable with a language other than English being used in public; however, it was own his level of linguistic ability that bothered him:

Well sometimes, only because I can’t find the words to respond in Italian. I stumble and choke up, but other than that, it’s just because of my inability to proceed with the conversation. But generally, I am not embarrassed. But not because it’s another language, just because of my lack of skill.

Finally, I asked Alex if there was a time or place that he was more comfortable using a language other than English. “No not really. I just mish mash through the conversation. The thing about Italian here [in Edmonton] is that you can mix English and Italian in the same conversation. The conversation continues. Just use and English word when you need to .” Perhaps there is an ease of use that comes with living with a minority language, particularly if both parties participating in the conversation are able to communicate in both languages. Alex did not see a need to keep his languages separate but used them in whichever way was needed to best communicate.

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Figure 5. Alex’s plurilingual journey.

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7.3 Who am I?

From the beginning of this research project, one of the main questions I have had is the role that language and culture play in identity. I posed this question to Alex, who answered, “I never really thought about that. People know us as being Italian. I guess when we speak the language it reminds us that we are Italian. It’s who I am, and the language is part of that. I don’t think you can separate one and the other .” This being “part of who I am” was expressed by all three participants in almost these exact words. The language and the culture were part of their identity, meshed together and inseparable. They could not explain it, nor separate one from the other.

In explaining why language was an important part of his identity, Alex leaned heavily on his family connection:

For me it is because of my family. All my dad’s side is over there, and they don’t speak English, so it’s important to me to be able to communicate with my family. But if they spoke English then it wouldn’t matter to me as much. For me it’s really more about our family. When I am with my family, my dad, that’s when I feel Italian, not really so much in public.

Perhaps then, this is an example of an “ascribed identity,” the identity that an individual is given by others (Preece, 2016a). As Alex only felt Italian when he was with family, this may be an expectation that was placed on him in certain situations. In a later conversation, when I asked Alex if he would still feel Italian, if he did not speak the language, he said:

To be honest, I don’t even feel that Italian now. I am, I was raised [Italian], it’s my background. Dad’s Italian. I think it might be different if he [father] weren’t actually from Italy. If he was first or second generation, but since he is an immigrant it does change the feeling of being Italian. That, I think, helped a lot. I have always been Italian, but I don’t necessarily always feel Italian.

He shared with me that in a recent visit to Italy, to spend time with this paternal grandparents and other relatives, he did not feel as if he fit in. “For me not so much. I think it’s because my interests are so different from the people there. I didn’t really fit in, but I did have a lot of family .” Family for Alex was the link to his plurilingual and pluricultural being. Family was

136 what made him feel Italian. He maintained plurilingual and cultural competences because they allowed him to communicate and belong to a similar community of language and cultural users, his family. His identity was fluid and as he stated he didn’t always feel Canadian, but he sometimes did.

7.4 Summary

As with the other two participants, the Alex I spoke with over the past few months might not be the Alex of the future, who may look very different from this version. Identity builds over time and changes. According to Baxter (2016):

People are bringing to the particular situation their history as a subjective being. This is not the history of accumulated experience in a liberal-humanist sense but rather the history of one who has been in multiple subject positions and engaged in different forms of discourse. (p. 41)

The discourse for Alex will change over time as will his identity. As family connections change, so will his link to this part of his identity. As family is the key ingredient to his plurilingual and pluricultural identity, as his family evolves, so will his identity. In the following chapter, I discuss the experiences of the three participants in terms of emerging themes in the light of the four initial research questions.

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Chapter 8 Tying It All Together 8 The research

As I began this study, my focus was to explore the identity of three young adults in regard to language and culture. My initial question was:

What are the lived experiences that lend to the development of plurilingual and pluricultural identity?

Through semistructured interviews, text messages, and emails, I asked the participants to share their experiences with me. In this chapter, I bring together the stories that the participants shared with me through an analysis and interpretation of key themes that emerged. I consider these key themes in relation to current literature on the topic of plurilingualism and identity.

The four questions that guided the first part of this project were: 1. Through the analysis of data collected, which practices used by the family were most significant in the fostering and maintenance of the heritage language and culture in the home? 2. What did the data demonstrate about the feelings of the participants towards their heritage language, minority cultural identity, and home composition? 3. How did the experiences of the participants contribute to the development of plurilingual, pluricultural identity in a minority environment? 4. To what extent was it possible to be both Canadian in and Italian in Alberta, Canada?

With these questions in mind I began the interview process, which continued over several months. We met once or more weekly for 30 minutes to an hour and I would follow up with the participants by text message or social media if I required any clarification or elaboration of a topic. After each interview, I relied upon interpretive TA to analyze and interpret the data. Seidman (2006) points to several key steps in a TA analysis: • Are there themes that run through each of the stories shared by the participants? • How can I examine and explain these themes?

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• What is clearer to me, as the researcher, now that I have concluded the interview process? • Are there any surprises? • Is there anything that confirms my initial thoughts going into the research process? • How do the data confirm or contradict present research in the field of plurilingualism and identity. (p. 87)

With these six points in mind, I turn to the TA of the stories shared by the participants. Following, I examine each of the subsections discussed in the previous chapters: family, language, and identity in terms of common themes.

8.1 Family

I chose the three participants due to their similarity in home composition. All three were from a family with two parents, a sibling, and with at least one grandparent living full time in the home. As I began the interviews, I was curious to know what the relationship with the grandparents was like for the three young adults. I soon realized that all three had a positive relationship and were appreciative of what living with their grandparents had given them. The theme of family ties was clear and strong. Maria stated: “I don’t know what not having your grandparents live with you is like anyways. Well Nonna cooks all the time and they would drive me around all the time, so I guess I had that. Basically, they took care of me .” Alia’s response was quite similar in nature: “It was awesome. They used to walk us to school, made us lunch, made us dinner. It was like having another set of parents .” Finally, Alex said: “It was good, it was awesome. There was always someone there. Food, clean clothes .”

I believe that living in a multigenerational home provided a stable and strong family base for all three candidates. As Tan and Ng (2010) stated:

Living in an extended family provides participants with an opportunity to establish stronger relationships with grandparents, especially if their grandparents played a primary role in their upbringing, to some extent, building an inseparable connection between language and emotional attachment to their grandparents. (p. 86)

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The participants all stated that their grandparents were involved in their day-to-day lives and played an important role in their upbringing. Additionally, the participants all had a strong emotional attachment to their parents and grandparents. This seemed to have built the base from which language and culture became important. As we all have agency to choose where to put our focus, the focus on HL and culture for the three participants was encouraged by their emotional attachment to their grandparents, grandparents who were in large part responsible for raising the three and who were a constant presence in their lives. This emotional attachment can be seen in the stories of favourite memories that were shared by the three participants.

Both Alia and Alex shared stories about their favourite memory growing up, which included their grandparents. Alex’s story was quite general in nature as he spoke of “a typical day around the house . . . interacting with my Nonna and my dad and my mom .” However, when he spoke about his connection to language and culture it was always in relation to his family members. Language was important to him primarily because it allowed him to enter into discursive spaces with his family that spoke primarily Italian. In terms of his identity, similarly, he felt Italian when he was with his family. The strong connection to his family was the investment he needed to move towards his plurilingual and pluricultural self. De Fina (2012) found in her study of an Italo-American family that “members of multigenerational families who deal with varied repertoire and differential language competencies maintain some level of engagement with the heritage language” (p. 374). For this author, a strong connection to family was a defining factor to connecting with HL and culture.

Alia spoke specifically about the time she spent with her grandmother learning how to garden and cook. It was obvious that she had a very strong attachment to her grandmother and also to her grandfather before he died. This relationship, I believe, built the “inseparable connection between language and emotional attachment” that Tan and Ng (2010, p. 86) spoke of. As I stated above, I was surprised by Alia’s strong connection to both her HL and the culture of her paternal grandparents because her mother was not of Italian heritage and because she had never travelled to Italy; of the three participants, she had the weakest ties to Italy. Upon reflection, I believe that she was able to articulate what being Italo-Canadian meant to her and was able to provide examples that were clear and specific about her ties to language and culture because of her strong relationship with her paternal grandparents. This was the foundation needed in order for to view herself as plurilingual and pluricultural. The constant interaction with her paternal grandparents

140 allowed her to develop an identity that was strongly linked to their language and culture. Luo and Wiseman (2000) in their study of family and peer influence on Chinese American HL maintenance also found that respect and good relationships with grandparents had a positive effect on HL maintenance.

Although Maria did not speak specifically about her grandparents in her favourite memory, she still showed a strong dedication and respect for family, which I believe influenced her language and cultural development. Her favourite memory was of her, her brother, and her mother naming the new kitten they found. When speaking about whom she admired the most, she spoke of her mother—her mother’s dedication to the family and her work ethic. It is through this strong family connection that Maria was in part able to connect to her HL and minority culture. Even though Maria had the strongest connection with both family and friends in Italy, it was this early positive relationship with her grandparents that allowed her the opportunity to develop an early identity which encompassed more than one language and more than one culture.

Each of the participants spoke about their grandparents’ dialect or language use when speaking of memories. They were not asked to speak about specific language memories, but simply to share a favourite memory of their grandparents, and yet each of the three, within the story they were telling, included comments on language. They displayed an awareness of language that perhaps would not be present in the stories of a monolingual speaker. Maria spoke of her grandmother’s “weird Italian ,” as she referred to it, and how she used words like bucio instead of buco (hole) in a story she was telling about her Italian friends. Alia, as well, spoke of her grandmother and language, although her story was one of “funny English words.” She laughed as she told about how her grandmother often mixed up the words cranberry and Grande Prairie . Finally, Alex spoke of his grandmother and how she would use funny words that made him and his brother laugh. Words like garabiccio (garbage), the Italianized form of the English word garbage , and gliotrucco when speaking about his truck.

Finally, a common thread, of admiring a parent or grandparent, tied together the three participants. Each of the three spoke of a family member when asked about who they respected and/or admired most. Alex chose to speak about his parents’ honesty and work ethic and Alia spoke about her dad and “his drive, passion, and knowledge .” If there are strong family ties and the home environment is considered as safe language space, then language maintenance is

141 possible (Giles & Johnson, 2009; Laframboise et al., 1993). All three participants felt safe to use their language skills, at whatever level they were, in order to communicate in new and creative ways (Piccardo, 2018), using whichever word, phrase, or language worked best for the situation in which they found themselves. This collection of discourse (Pavlenko, 2007) within their multigenerational homes allowed for opportunities in which the three participants were able to develop their plurilingual skills and in turn their identities as language users. I believe that their home composition was directly related to their language maintenance and their identities (discussed below). With the additional language support of grandparents and their strong relationship with them, they were able to navigate through a community that was predominantly English speaking while maintaining a connection to their HL and culture (Braun, 2012; De Fina, 2012; Tan & Ng, 2010).

Positive Admiration relationships of a family with parents member and grandparents

Family

Flexibility in Memories of language use language use among family (dialects) by members, grandparents including grandparents

Figure 6. Common themes—family.

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8.2 Language

Block (2007) defined poststructuralism as:

. . . in very general terms, about moving beyond the search associated with structuralism, for unchanging, universal laws of human behaviour and social phenomena to more nuanced, multileveled, and ultimately, complicated framings of the world around us. (p. 865)

The multilevel complicated element in poststructuralism relates perfectly to the multifaceted, negotiated, and fluid elements in plurilingualism (Aronin & Singleton, 2008) and the fragmented and contested view of identity (Block, 2007).

When reviewing the data and looking for common themes or elements that stood apart, I realized that each of the participants shared stories of their language with me that demonstrated their language flexibility. Each of the participants, again, to some degree, was willing to take a risk, to be creative (Ortega & Piccardo, 2018) and communicate as a plurilingual. Although the three participants all had a range of capabilities in the languages that comprised their repertoire, it is important to look past competency as the defining element in plurilingual language use. Plurilingualism looks not solely at competency in an individual language or in parts of a language, but at language users and the way in which they are able to use all of their skills, in any of their languages, to communicate in social situations with other language users (Piccardo, 2017).

The level of language competency of the three participants did not necessarily equate to a higher level of perceived plurilingualism. Maria was the most proficient user of Italian, in that she could communicate fluently with other Italian speakers; she was able to write, as seen through the social media communication she continued throughout the year with friends in Italy; and she could read Italian as well. Additionally, Maria was a competent user of the French language, having been enrolled in a French immersion program for 12 years. Maria had the most exposure to different discursive spaces. She had opportunities to visit Italy often, which many believe to have a strong impact on language development (Clyne, 2003; Takeuchi, 2006; Valdés, 2011) and had developed and maintained peer relationships in all three languages; a factor again believed to

143 be important in language maintenance (Maneva, 2004; Quay, 2001, 2004). She had also travelled to countries in which French was the main language of communication.

Alex, as well, had the opportunity to travel to Italy several times throughout the past years and had close family ties with Italy. His father, like Maria, was predominantly an Italian speaker and his grandmother, who lived in Italy, a monolingual speaker of Italian (if this even really exists). He had studied French at school and was able to speak about the close relation of French and Italian as languages from a common Latin root.

Alia, on the other hand, had never travelled to Italy and did not have close relations in Italy with whom she communicated. She had also studied French in school for several years and considered French to be one of the languages in her repertoire. Her grandmother and father spoke Italian often in the home, but she was most comfortable communicating in English

As I began to look for underlying themes, I was surprised by my findings in regard to the confidence level of the participants regarding their language use, and I therefore re-examined the information several times. Their uncertainty about their use of Italian and/or French was a common theme that emerged. Language learner confidence or investment has been studied by numerous scholars (Dörnyei, 2001; Dörnyei & Kubanyiova, 2014; Henry, 2014; Norton, 1995b, 2000; Pavlenko, 2007); however I will limit my focus to what Xu (2011) stated as “both external factors such as power relations in specific contexts of interaction and internal factors (i.e., the learners’ previously established L2 identities) arise as relevant” (p. 253). Before comparing the data for each participant, I believed that Maria would be the most confident plurilingual participant due to her exposure to the languages she spoke and to the varied social interaction opportunities where she could use each of the languages. Although each participant expressed uncertainties about their language use, Maria had the most to share with me regarding this topic, especially regarding the languages she considered nondominant. On several occasions, she spoke of being embarrassed by something she had said in Italian: “I know my Italian is not perfect, so I am just like, you know, feel awkward .” Or a comment made to her by her Italian friends “oh Maria, you better not talk because they will know right away that we are not Romane. I know they were joking, but I felt like maybe a little they really weren’t. ” Additionally, she said: “That’s a little trickier because I don’t speak it very often [Italian] all the time. Um, I stumble on the words or the verbs and stuff and it’s not like I am amazing at it, you know, yeah .” Finally, she

144 spoke about the shift in her confidence: “towards the end of the summer when I have been speaking it quite a bit [Italian], I am a little more confident but then towards the beginning, when I just get there [Italy], I am like a little scared of like, oh maybe I don’t remember it, maybe I will stumble on words .” These were stories about her Italian use in interactions with Italian speakers in Italy. In regard to her level of comfort speaking Italian with her father, Maria did not share any unease and was quite comfortable speaking Italian with other family members in Canada.

This reflection on language use points to an awareness of how she communicated with others and how she navigated different social communities of which she is a member. It is possible that Maria had the most to share with me about her language confidence because she had had the most opportunities, in different social settings, to communicate with other speakers of both French and Italian. These social situations were not always in the safety of her own home, surrounded by family members (Tan & Ng, 2010) but often with strangers, in strange places, who were first-language speakers. This takes a certain amount of courage, to step outside of the language box created in either the home or classroom. I argue that taking these risks and being able to reflect on the experience is an essential element to plurilingualism.

Maria shared numerous stories about her uncertainties with language. Alex also made several comments regarding his language confidence:

My Italian isn’t that great so, so if I’m not pronouncing things right, sometimes it’s easier just to go to English and then they don’t understand what that English word—it’s a vicious circle [laughter] It’s a mix, when they speak Italian I can understand for the most part, more than I can speak so it’s not a big deal if they speak Italian.

In a conversation several weeks later, he said: “Well sometimes, only because I can’t find the words to respond in Italian. I stumble and choke up, but other than that, it’s just because of my inability to proceed with the conversation .” Although Alex was able to communicate in Italian, he was aware that his ability to understand the language was stronger than his ability to communicate verbally. He spoke as well about this ability to read in Italian when he mentioned a story about a trip to Italy that his parents took: “My parents went to Italy a few years ago and brought me back comic books in Italian. That was really cool, but that’s the only example that I can think of [reading in Italian]. For the most part, I was able to read them .” His interactions

145 were mainly restricted to his family in Canada or close friends in Canada, who were also speakers of Italian as an additional language. He had fewer interactions with Italian and particularly first-language Italian speakers.

Alia only briefly mentioned feeling unease or anxiety when speaking in Italian in regard to a visit by relatives from Italy.

Relatives of my family from Italy stayed with us for a few weeks. I spoke to them in Italian every day. By the end of the stay I was pretty comfortable speaking with them about many topics. At first, I was a little nervous, it would be just daily occurrence stuff in Italian. Like simple conversations about coffee, food, how many sugars in your coffee. But by the end we were having day to day normal conversations.

She did share with me that being able to speak in Italian allowed her to feel more interesting as a person and more worldly. She, of the three, had the least amount of interactions in Italian in her daily life. Although her Nonna often spoke Italian to her, she would answer in English. Perhaps this lack of opportunity to use the language with language users other than her family was in fact the reason she did not speak in great detail of language anxiety.

Although all three participants spoke about various levels of anxiety in regard to language, they were all very constant in their comments regarding languages and lack of formal education. Alia shared with me that English was her strongest language because she had never had any formal instruction in Italian: “Definitely English, because all my school subjects were in English. All my friends speak English. I have never had any school in Italian. I just learned it because it was around me growing up. Other people spoke to me in Italian .” In fact, all three participants stated that they felt more comfortable in one language over another due to their experiences with formal education. Alex said: “English, growing up in Canada, school, friends, TV, speeches. I think we missed out on an opportunity. I never took any Italian classes. They never offered any Italian classes at our high school. We still got a good education though .”

Lastly, Maria had two comments to make about the lack of formal schooling in one language over another. The first was about her abilities in French: “Fine, I feel way more comfortable speaking French than I do Italian. Even when I first go back, I still remember all my French. . . .

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French is OK, just because I speak it more than I would speak Italian, like for school and stuff and I have been taught the verbs and everything, but in Italian I learned it on my own. So, in French I am a little more confident speaking it because I know the proper verbs and all that .” Even though French was an additional language she learned after the age of five (Genesee, 2008) she still felt more confident in use than with Italian because she had received formal language instruction. The second was about her lack of formal instruction in Italian, which she said affected her confidence level with the language.

In Xu’s (2011) case study of the lived experiences of second-language English speakers, the focus on an established identity and preparation were significant. One of the study’s participants stated, in regard to her ESL confidence level, in China: “When I was in China, I felt fairly confident about myself because firstly as a university lecturer I had received years of formal language training” (Xu, 2011, p. 255). This formal training gave the participant confidence in herself as a language user. She was, in this language environment, seen as a competent language user. A lack of formal training in Italian was a focus for all three participants in the present study and played a role in their lack of confidence linguistically. Additionally, Maria felt more confident speaking French because she had received formal language instruction in that language.

When the above participant from Xu’s (2011) study moved to Australia, a predominantly English speaking country, she faced some significant challenges and her identity as an English speaker changed. She described feeling at a disadvantage linguistically, as she was surrounded by very competent language users and had a lack of confidence because of her anxiety. These are the same feelings expressed by Maria in her communication with more competent speakers of Italian. They were less present in the discussions by Alex and even less by Alia because they did not engage in interactions with Italian speakers from Italy on a regular basis. Xu (2011) concluded that “self-confidence is a dynamic, socially constructed conception grounded within the lived experiences of language learners, subject to power relations in specific contexts of interaction” (p. 263). I would also put forward that self-confidence, like identity, is fluid and flexible and will change and adapt to one’s lived experiences. It may change over time and space and it is subject to social power balances and imbalances.

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Although not the intent of this research, I believe that the comments the three participants made regarding the lack of formal education in their HL spoke to the importance of second-language education and the inclusion of HL in school programs. Even though French was an additional language Maria developed through school, she felt more confidence in her abilities because as she stated, “I have been taught the verbs and stuff .” The three participants in very similar words expressed a lack of confidence in Italian because they did not have the opportunity to study the language at school. We must move past the traditional idea of teaching languages in isolation and shift towards a more holistic method of language instruction, for example giving validation and importance to the languages that children bring from their homes into their daily classroom life. School is an important element of a child’s life for 12 years. They spend a great part of their waking hours in classroom. There is no better space to assist them in developing their HL and plurilingual abilities than in the classroom.

The participants were connected by a common theme: creative ways they used to communicate with others. Plurilingualism and pluricultural are defined by the Council of Europe (2001) as:

The three participants all used several languages and interacted with several cultures to varying degrees. An essential component to plurilingualism is the ability to creatively and flexibly use a repertoire of languages to communicate with other language users (Piccardo, 2017). The notion of repertoire encompasses all the languages spoken by an individual, such as family, school, and national language(s) (Beacco, 2017, p. 159) and with deeper understanding of plurilingualism, the focus has now shifted from the language to the user. The three language users in this study were able to share with me stories of their language use that demonstrated an awareness of language as well as a flexibility in use.

Alex told me that Italian in Edmonton was great because you could; “just mish mash through the conversation. . . . Mix English and Italian in the same conversation. The conversation continues.

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Just use an English word when you need to .” Even though his linguistic skills in Italian were not at the same level as those in English, he was able to communicate with other Italian speakers because of his flexibility and willingness to see his language repertoire as one and not specifically two languages to keep separate at all times. He spoke at various times about his flexibility with languages throughout our interviews. He shared with me that he and his brother “might just use an Italian word when we are making a joke or when we are in public. If we are in public we will probably speak Italian to each other, especially if we don’t want people hearing what we are saying, it’s like a secret code—our own language .” This was another example of his flexible and creative use of language.

Maria spoke both about her flexibility with Italian and French. In regard to her use of French at school, Maria described a Frenglish , as she called it, that was common amongst all students. “Sometimes we use and English word if we don’t know the French one and sometimes we’ll just put an ‘er’ on any English word .” I asked for and example and she said: “We’ll say something like –j’ai runer à la classe [I ran to class]. We usually know the word, but it’s funny and drives our teachers crazy .” She shared that it was like their own language and they were not afraid to use or borrow elements of one into the other. Maria also spoke about her communication with her Italian friends. “Like if I am trying to explain something and I don’t know the word in Italian, they tell me, just say it in English and then I try to explain it to them. They usually get it .” Maria’s friends had all learned English since scuola materna [Italian Kindergarten) and had some varying degrees of competence with the language. Her willingness to be creative and their willingness to be creative, and their willingness to seek to understand, made for a space in which both parties could communicate.

Alia as well described her use of language as fluid and dependent on context, content, and speaker:

The theme that links these three young adults is one of openness towards language use. In the spirit of plurilingualism, the participants did not keep their languages in separate boxes but used

149 their lived experiences to build competencies that allowed them to communicate with other language users. Languages interact, and the participants could flexibly use parts of each as needed to most effectively communicate. Their linguistic repertoires grew, changed, and evolved with each language interaction. As Alex stated in one of our conversations; “I just mish mash through the conversation. The thing about Italian here [in Edmonton] is that you can mix English and Italian in the same conversation. The conversation continues. Just use an English word when you need to .” This was true for all three participants as they navigated through their language experiences within their various language communities.

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Insecurity due to Family is a key lack of component in the formalized development of language plurilingualism instruction

Plurilingualism

Language use Creativity and subject to time, flexibility in place and language use speaker

Figure 7. Common themes—languages .

8.3 Identity

Identity is not something we “possess”: It is shaped and constructed through language. In turn, language is also shaped and constructed by identity (Nortier, 2018, p. 6). A common theme that emerged through the interviews with the three participants was that language and culture were inseparable from how they saw themselves. Each of the participants stated in some form that the language made them who they were:

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I don’t know. It’s like so I can, just means that I can communicate with my family better, I guess, my friends. It’s like from where I am from, so if I didn’t speak it, it would be a little like embarrassing. I would still feel Italian even if I didn’t speak it, well maybe not, I don’t know. I have always been able to speak Italian, it’s a part of who am I.

Maria said that language and her “being Italian” identity were so intertwined that it was part of who she was. The language tied her to the place where she was from and gave her the means to communicate with people who were important to her. She created her identity by being able to participate in interactions with others who spoke this same language. For her, she was neither Italian nor Canadian, but a little bit of both. She had created her own identity based on her needs and based on the context: “I don’t fit in perfectly anywhere, when I am in Italy, I’m a little more Italian and when I’m in Canada, a little more Canadian .” According to Henry (2017):

In addition to identities connected to the different languages they speak, multilinguals can also develop an identity that transcends those that are language- specific. Whether characterized by diversity, hybridity, and integration, or by discomfort, fragmentation, and loss, these multi-lingual identities appear as phenomenologically distinct. (pp. 549–550)

Alex shared a similar feeling about language and identity: “I never really thought about. People know us as being Italian. I guess when we speak the language it reminds us that we are Italian. I don’t think that you can separate one and the other.” Again, Alex spoke about an unbreakable link between language and identity. This was the same sentiment shared by Maria. Additionally, Alex also spoke about identity being placed upon him by others. According to Nortier (2016): “it is important to recognize that identities are not only formed by the self but also assigned by others” (p. 6). Maria and Alia both shared this sentiment of people seeing them as more Italian, because they spoke Italian. Maria shared: “I think people see me as more Italian because I can speak Italian .” Finally, Alex like Maria shared that his identity was flexible and multidimensional. “For me it’s really more about our family. When I am with my family, my dad, that’s when I feel Italian, not really in public. ”

Echoing the feelings of the other two participants, Alia texted me her response to a follow-up question about identity. She eloquently stated: “I think that being able to speak Italian is

152 important to who I am because it connects me to my culture which then connects to me to all of the Italian traditions that I practice which in turn plays a role in defining who I am .” Alia, in this one response connected her language to her culture and in turn both to “who she is”:

I feel like being able to speak Italian brings me closer to my culture and makes me feel like I’m closer to the part of my family that only speaks Italian. I feel that I am lucky than most people that I can speak more than one language. I feel lucky to have been taught two languages because I feel like I can connect with people who are Italian and know how to speak it, so it opens up different social situations. In Italian, I feel like a more interesting person, if that makes sense, more worldly I guess. It makes me feel more connected to my family and my heritage.

Although Alia had the fewest opportunities to partake in social interactions in Italian, she was by far the most confident and consistent in expressing that her language made her Italian. One could not be without the other. Whereas both Maria and Alex had more opportunities to interact with Italian speakers in different social settings and different countries, they were more ambiguous in their answers connecting language and identity. Alia was definite in each and every response. This increased exposure to interaction opportunities did not, for the three participants, equal a stronger association to their HL and HC. The participant with the smallest amount of language exposure, Alia, expressed more clearly the fact that her language and identity were one.

Above, Alia described who she was when she spoke Italian. However, she also went on to say: “I speak English in my daily life. So, like at work, at school, even at home and to both my friends and family. I feel normal, comfortable because it is the language that I study in and speak daily and everyone around me knows how to speak it as well .” Her language repertoire, like her identity, lived within one being. She chose who to be depending on the time, place, and speaker. She was flexible in her language use and therefore was flexible in her identity. The Italian, French, or English Alia was always present, coexisted, mixed when needed, and were part of who she was. Plurilingual identities are not separate. They are whole, and they represent “everything that results from using and learning several languages, both in the present and also potentially in the future” (Aronin, 2016, p. 145). They encompass all the lived experiences of the individual—real, imagined, past, present, and future.

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An additional theme that emerged and that was contrary to what I was expecting to find was that all three participants were comfortable with being Italian. When asked if they had ever been uncomfortable with a person speaking another language to them in public, all three stated that they had never felt embarrassed or awkward about it. Alex stated: “I am definitely proud to be Italian. Canada is multicultural, so it was easy to be something else and Canadian. I guess if we lived in the States it might be different .” He did share as well that although he was proud to be Italian, there were still annoying stereotypes, like Mario, or Luigi, or Mafia movie types:

Today’s teenagers and adolescents are faced with the huge changes that have taken place over the past few decades, and they are confronted with ethnic, linguistic, and cultural varieties and mixes that spread faster than ever before in a globalizing world. They grow up in multicultural and multi-ethnic cities. (Nortier, 2018, p. 4)

This is true for the three participants of this study. They all shared an ease of being something other than mainstream that I, as a young adult, did not. Until my later years in university, I was uncomfortable with speaking or being spoken to in Italian in public in Canada and was uncomfortable with being spoken to in dialect by my mother in Italy. These three young adults gave no indication through our interviews that they were ever in a situation that made them feel uncomfortable or awkward with a language other than English being used in public. Maria shared with me that speaking Italian was her normal: “No not at all, it’s just normal to me. I even make my Canadian friends listen to my Italian music in my car .” When I asked Alia if there was ever a time that she felt that it was not OK to be Italian in Edmonton, she replied: “No, I was always comfortable. When I go to school, everyone is from somewhere else. Like in Canada, everyone speaks their own language .”

I believe that this last statement—”like everyone speaks their own language”—is particularly responsible for the ease of the three participants with being something in addition to Canadian. I am hopeful by this statement as well. These three young adults have displayed an openness to diversity. An openness that one would not necessarily think to find in Alberta, Canada. I posit that this change in attitude stems from the diversity presently found in Canadian cities. In 2011, foreign-born residents of Canada represented 20.6 percent of the total Canadian population. This is the highest percentage among the G8 countries. The majority lived in four provinces: Ontario,

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British Columbia, Québec, and Alberta, and again, most lived in large cities (Statistics Canada, 2011).

Additionally, research shows that even second- and third-generation Canadians reported multiple ethnicities. In 2011, 45.4 percent of Canadian born children of immigrants reported multiple ethnic origins. These are Canadians with at least one immigrant parent. This is higher than first- generation Canadians, who reported only 18.5 percent. Even more interesting is the fact that in 2011, 49.6 percent of third-generation Canadians reported having more than one ethnic origin. These are Canadians who do not have a parent who recently immigrated to Canada; both parents would be Canadian born. I believe that this openness to otherness bodes well for our young adults and our country. In a world that is rapidly becoming more global, there is an unfortunate move to nationalism. This is seen presently in our neighbours to the south and in various countries in Europe, one of which is Italy. It is only through acceptance and understanding that we can move forward as a nation in which all people are accepted for who there are and not who others think they should be.

The way we choose to speak is part of who we are; the language choices that are made on a daily basis reflect our values and our identities. These choices are fluid, flexible, and ever changing, just as is our identity (Block, 2007; Bucholtz & Hall, 2004; LePage & Tabouret‐Keller, 1985; Nortier, 2016, 2018; Norton & Toohey, 2011). The three participants chose to speak languages within their repertoire because it made sense for them at the time, in the location, and with the other speaker. They made choices that reflected what was important to them and what they identified with.

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Ease of being both Italian and Canadian in Alberta

Language is an integral part of identity—”Part Linguistic of who I am” capabilities do not equal stronger view of

belonging to a Identity certain group of people or community

Flexible identity— dependent of the who, the where, Family is the why and the influential in when who they are

Figure 8. Common themes—identity .

8.4 Summary

Although generalizing from the stories shared by the three participants is neither possible nor sound, it is still important to have reviewed the key commonalities that emerged in my research journey. The three young adults were of similar age, came from a shared heritage, and were from a similar socioeconomic background, so one would assume to find common themes. However, what made them unique were their lived experiences and the different opportunities each participant had to discursive spaces in their language repertoire. One of the most important commonalities was the fact that all three participants accepted their HL and culture and expressed an openness to the multicultural society in which they lived. Additionally, the

156 participants, some more than others, all expressed a fluidity and flexibility with language, culture, and identity that pointed towards a pluralistic vision of who they were. In the following chapter, I discuss the four initial questions, with a focus on “Is there a way to be both Canadian and Italian in Alberta?”

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Chapter 9 Data Analysis and Future Research Implications 9 Research questions

My initial question was: what are the lived experiences that lend to the development of plurilingual and pluricultural identity? Furthermore, I pondered the four following guiding questions before I began my research: 1. Through the analysis of data collected, which practices used by the family were most significant in fostering and maintenance of the HL and culture in the home? 2. What did the data demonstrate about the feelings of the participants toward their heritage language, minority cultural identity, and home composition? 3. How did the experiences of the participants contribute to the development of plurilingual, pluricultural identity in a minority environment? 4. To what extent was it possible to be both Canadian and Italian in Alberta, Canada?

I believe that as the world continues to move towards an ever-increasing globalization, the importance of plurilingualism and the understanding of what that means by educators, parents, and language users themselves will continue to grow in importance. Although a few still believe speaking more than one language can have detrimental effects, the research on this topic points overwhelmingly to the benefits of being able to us more than one language (Bialystok, 1999; Genesee, 2006). With this in mind, we must move forward in a way that encourages young people to embrace their HL and give the tools needed to our teachers to be able to view language learning as a holistic experience without the focus on replacing one language with the other (Cenoz & Genesee, 1998; Cummins, 1979, 1991, 2000, 2005; Lambert, 1974). The focus of my research was to uncover whether certain experiences lent more to a plurilingual identity than others do.

9.1 Findings

As I completed the interviews and moved towards the data analysis, themes emerged from the conversations that I had not envisioned as part of the research. However, as research and analysis uncover wonderful and unexpected stories, I gave them space and discussed them in the previous

158 section. I will now refocus the analysis and attempt to answer the initial questions with which I began.

9.1.1 Question 1

Through the analysis of data collected, which practices used by the family were most significant in the fostering and maintenance of the heritage language and culture in the home?

Each of the participants grew up and still lived in a multigenerational home. The stories they shared with me all pointed towards a close relationship amongst the family members and a great respect for parents and grandparents. I believe that the most significant practice was exactly this: this respect and admiration of parents and grandparents; who they were, where they came from, and what the grandparents valued inspired the three participants to engage with their HL and culture. I believe that this respect and admiration for family was the common thread tying together the plurilingual identity of each participant.

Cho and Krashen (2000) enumerated four factors that had the most profound impact on the preservation of the home language: the use of the language in the home; travel to the country of origin; engagement of the individual with literature and multimedia in the HL language. I found various levels of input from family members. However, the HL was used in all homes by at least two of the family members. Both Alex and Maria shared that one of their parents immigrated in adulthood to Canada and spoke principally Italian in the home. Maria had access to books, videos, and playmates as a child in her HL. As well, she had the most opportunities for interactions with diverse individuals of differing ages and socioeconomic backgrounds. She has continued to have regular communication, both face to face and online, with speakers of Italian in both Canada and in Italy. These experiences have definitely encouraged and facilitated her language development. Preece (2016, p. 3) speaks of the development of identity in terms of three factors: discursive spaces, ascribed identities, and resources. Maria has had access to a multitude of discursive spaces and the resources, such as a summer home in Italy and her father being employed in the same country for numerous years.

Although these experiences confirm previous research stating the importance of exposure to the language and opportunities to interact in a target language, I argue that they have not specifically

159 led to a well developed sense of plurilingualism. Maria has well developed linguistic capability in the HL, skills that at the moment are more than that of Alex and Alia. I do not believe that she has the most developed sense of plurilingualism of the three. Therefore, although these experiences have been advantageous to her Italian and French language competence, they were not instrumental in developing a plurilingual identity.

Although Alia had the least exposure and opportunity to communicate in her HL, and even though her linguistic abilities may not be as developed as Maria, she is the most dynamic and flexible in her language use and beliefs, therefore pointing to a plurilingual, pluricultural identity. Plurilingual identity is self-identification by an individual with more than one cultural and language, the sense of belonging to a community of people. Alia saw herself belonging to a Canadian community, as well as to the community of her extended family (Oliveira & Ançã, 2009). In this regard the study is important. It demonstrates that language competence is not the defining factor for pluricultural and plurilingual identity. Although language is an important part of identity, it is not necessarily the level of competences that defines the person. Alia felt that the Italian language was an important element of her Italian identity even though she did not necessarily speak it often, nor was it her most well-developed language.

The participants did not grow up with a structured and defined use of language within their home by their parents or grandparents. Granted that research points to the importance of using only the HL in the home by both parents (Cho & Krashen, 2000; De Houwer, 2004, 2017; Portes & Hoa, 1998), language use in the three homes was flexible, and the majority language (English) was regularly used by the participants and their families. The language use strategy therefore was not a factor in the development of language for the three participants. However, as discussed above, the increased opportunities for Maria to use the language did allow her to become a competent user of both French and Italian.

What was common amongst the three participants and their families was the positive and supportive environment in which they used their languages. The parental attitude, in allowing their children to use the HL in the home and to encourage them to use the language was a defining factor in their language development and their identity. According to Kemppainen et al. (2004), there are four parental language beliefs: L1-centric; bilingual; multilingual; and L2- centric. These language beliefs would determine the attitude and opportunities for the children to

160 interact with the HL. The language beliefs of the parents in these three homes were clearly plurilingual. I say plurilingual here and not multilingual because of the flexibility that the participants expressed regarding their language use in the home and the value that was placed on all languages—Italian, dialect, English, and French within the homes. These language beliefs were instrumental in the development of not only language competence, but more so in the language and cultural identity of the individuals and the importance they placed on the HL (De Houwer, 1999).

9.1.2 Question 2

What did the data demonstrate about the feelings of the participants towards their heritage language, minority cultural identity, and home composition?

The three participants were willing to share many stories and comments regarding who they believed themselves to be (see Chapter 8). However, to summarize, I found that all three participants had positive views regarding their language repertoire, their cultural identity, and their multigenerational homes. They chose to speak languages within their repertoire because of the value they placed on the language, the individuals they were able to communicate with through the language, and the respect and admiration they had for their parents and grandparents. The feelings they expressed about being both Italian and Canadian were positive and each of the three participants expressed pride in their HL and culture.

Identity, according to Baxter (2014), is constructed through our lived experiences and expressed through the language we use in our daily lives. Like identity, language is fluid, ever changing and flexible (Baxter, 2016; Pavlenko, 2007). Because of their experiences, the three participants were able to navigate different language and cultures, they were able to react appropriately in different social situations, and they understood the world through their plurilingual and pluricultural experiences (Norton, 2000, 2011). Each participant expressed feeling more Italian in certain situations and with certain people. The participants were able to adapt to the environment in which they found themselves, culturally, linguistically, or both; and they accepted the world around them as diverse and in flux. Like the young adults in the Kanno (2003) study, the participants moved through two worlds, some with less struggle and others with a little more.

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Although Kanno (2003) believed that bilinguals could find balance in identity between languages and cultures and saw this in the participants in his study, I believe that where different cultures and languages meet, there will always be tension. The struggle between language and culture is a place where identity is created (Norton, 2011). This struggle is not necessarily negative; in fact, an imbalance in language and cultural affiliation allows for agency, allows flexibility, and allows for values. Within a plurilingual identity, imbalance is normal and very much accepted (Piccardo, 2018).

Poststructuralism views identity as dependent upon context, evolving and both ascribed and negotiated by the individual (Norton & Toohey, 2011). The three participants all demonstrated that at different times in their lives they had struggled with elements of their plurilingual identity. The said that their identities had been at times dependent on time and place and that at other times they found their identities had been placed upon them by the expectations of others. Although this struggle was real for each participant, this study shows that each had found a way to be positive and open towards an imbalanced and at times complicated plurilingual and pluricultural existence.

9.1.3 Question 3

How did the experiences of the participants contribute to the development of plurilingual, pluricultural identity in a minority environment?

The experience with family was the common factor for the three participants. They all had varying degrees of exposure and interactions with language. This exposure came in the form of interactions with close family, online communication with friends, French as a second language learning, or French immersion classes. The three, to some degree, had the opportunity for genuine interaction with other speakers. These opportunities for interactions with other speakers were significant in the development of a plurilingual and cultural identity in varying degrees. They all identified as a plurilingual, pluricultural, English-speaking Canadian-and-Italian. They developed this identity through interactions with the majority language of the community and with the HL in their multigenerational homes, homes that promoted a positive view of both their HL and culture. The positive experiences with language and culture as young children affected their perception of language and culture as young adults (De Houwer, 1999, 2015). “Young children’s bilingual development thus needs to be considered as an integral part of an

162 independent family system. Harmonious bilingual development, then, is to be seen as a feature of families, not individuals” (De Houwer, 2016, p. 19). It is through early positive interactions and modelling by family members that the three participants developed plurilingual and cultural identities.

The choices that all three families made in regard to language use, taking into account multigenerational considerations, played a role in the development of the plurilingual and pluricultural identity. As all three participants lived with predominantly Italian-speaking grandparents, so the Italian language was a part of their everyday reality. The value of speaking an HL so that children can communicate with extended family is not one that has been extensively studied; however, it is one of great importance, as is the knowledge that is shared between grandparents and grandchildren (Baumgartner, 2012; Braun, 2012; Kouritzin, 1997; H. Lee, 2004). Grandparents pass on important family history and cultural values to the grandchildren and the participants’ experiences with grandparents led to a value in their HL and culture. This value is reflected in how the three participants all viewed themselves as both Canadian and Italian. If children are not able to communicate with their grandparents due to a loss of HL, or to the lack of exposure to a language or culture, the more than just the language is lost. A plurilingual and pluricultural identity is also lost (Oxelson, 2006; Preece, 2016b). The loss of identity is confirmed in this study through the story of Alia, who shared that she did not feel either her maternal grandmother’s or her grandfather’s culture. She did not speak the language, eat the food, and had never participated in any cultural events. This loss was more than just not being able to speak a language. It was a loss of a history, a loss of values.

This research adds to the literature regarding plurilingualism and pluriculturalism as it demonstrates that the possibility exists to hold onto and value languages in cultures in a minority environment. Since there were very few or no opportunities for the three participants to engage with Italian language or culture in the community, the interactions in the home were of the upmost importance. They were in fact the building block upon which the development of a plurilingual and pluricultural identity was possible. Although this is one study, of only three participants, it demonstrates the importance of HL use in the home. Furthermore, it speaks to the importance that we must place on all languages, whether they are used in the home, in the school, or in the community in general.

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The question of language and cultural identity in school aged children is a topic seen in numerous studies (Block, 2007; Bucholtz & Hall, 2005; Day, 2002; Rich & Davis, 2007; Toohey, 2000). Fielding and Harbon (2013) spoke specifically to the development of identity, both linguistic and cultural, within a school setting in a French immersion program. However, this was not what the current study showed. The attendance in a French immersion program or French as a second language program did not provide the impetus for the development of cultural identity. It is essential to note that formalized school in a second language was not a factor for any of the participants when discussing their identity. Although all three had access to English and French programming in school, not one of the candidates identified culturally as a francophone.

9.1.4 Question 4

To what extent was it possible to be both Canadian and Italian in Alberta, Canada?

The interviews with the participants showed me that there is a way to be both Canadian and Italian. At times they struggled with their identity and had to adapt and change with their environment; but, according to a poststructural framework, these spaces of tension are where identity develops. Block (2007) defined poststructuralism broadly as going “beyond the search associated with structuralism, for changing, universal laws of human behaviour and social phenomena to more nuanced, multileveled, and ultimately complicated framings of the world around us” (p. 865). This is true of the ways in which the three individuals needed to navigate their interactions; place value on learning a language and retaining cultural attachments; and negotiate the pull from the majority language in their communities.

A poststructuralist perspective to identity defines language and identity in terms of “a balance between the ways in which discourses position participants as ‘subjects’. . . . And the ways in which participants make their own and other people’s actions socially determinant” (Baxter, 2016, p. 41). The three participants, although at times guided by external factors such as opportunity for discourse, availability of resources and attitude of others, had agency; that is, they had the power to choose what was important to them in terms of language and culture and what was not. Although Maria had equal opportunities in both French and English, both in discursive spaces as well as resources, she did not focus on or identify culturally as a francophone, even though she partook in cultural events. However, she did identify as a

164 francophile. This decision, on her part, was different from the one she made regarding her Italian identity. She identified both with the Italian language and culture. All three participants made choices regarding what was of value and who they were. They all chose to be both Canadian and Italian.

Maria’s identity was a result of her experiences in both Canada and Italy. She was able to successfully navigate between the two and find a happy medium that fit for both her winter and summer self. She was also able to observe and reflect on her linguistic identity as a child through SR, and comment that her language skills in Italian at the time were superior to her language skills of the present day. She commented on how she knew everything about Italian toys and television shows during this time and she remembered vividly being an Italian child going to an Italian school.

Alia understood herself to be both Italian and Canadian through her experiences in a multigenerational home. She spoke vividly of experiences with her grandparents, making sausages, playing cards, and listening to Italian music. She explained that she felt an attachment to Italy because it was the homeland of her grandparents. She believed that she would view herself as more Italian if she had the opportunity to visit more often. Alia’s experiences with her paternal grandparents—their culture and their language—were very different from those with her maternal grandparents. She did not consider herself “her mother’s culture” because she did not speak the languages of her maternal grandparents, nor did she have the opportunity to participate in any of their cultural events. At this point in her life she considered herself culturally and linguistically as an Italo-Canadian. However, as life progresses, she may at some point have a renewed interest in her Polish-Hungarian roots and rediscover another aspect of her identity, which at this point was not present.

Finally, Alex was specific in that he felt Italian at certain times and not others. He attributed his language and culture specifically to his family. He stated on several occasions that being Italian and speaking Italian was important for him because of his dad and his relatives in Italy. He felt Italian when he was with family; however, when he was in public he did not. He stated that speaking Italian allowed others to see he was Italian and that perhaps others saw him as more Italian because he could speak the language. He had found a way that worked for him to be both Italian and Canadian. Alex, as well, had creative and flexible ways in which he used his

165 plurilingual ability. These skills, I believe added to his sense of self. An Italian word was used here or there for humour (Baxter, 2016) and Italian sentences were used in public as a secret code between family members. The three participants made choices that fit into their identity and allowed them to successfully be Italian and Canadian in Alberta.

Norton (2000, p. 5) stated identity was “how a person understands his or her relationship in the world, how that relationship is constructed across time and space and how the person understands possibilities for the future.” The participants constructed their identity in relation to the time, place and with the individuals that were present at that moment in their lives when the interviews were taking place. This identity was neither constant nor stable, and it was not singular. Instead it was the identity of this time and this place for these three individuals. It was ever changing, multidimensional, and a place of struggle (Norton, 2011). However, they were able to navigate and find a place that was in between languages and culture, neither specifically one nor the other, nor a combination of both, but a unique creation (Grosjean, 2015) that differed for each of them.

9.2 Methodology

The data collected for this dissertation were prepared in three separate sets. The first set was collected by the researcher from 2000 to 2003 and focused on the early bilingual development of the primary participant. The second set was collected during the period 2017 to 2018 and consisted of eight sessions of semistructured interviews with both the primary and secondary participant and focused on the plurilingual and pluricultural identities of the participants. The data from these interviews was analyzed thematically focusing on the four research questions regarding the views of each participant on their plurilingualism and pluricultural identity:

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The third data set were two SR sessions with the primary participant. All semistructured interviews, as well as the videos used for SR and the SR sessions, were transcribed and analyzed. The information collected was viewed under the umbrella of a poststructuralist framework of identity. Within a poststructural framework interviews are not about revealing the innermost secrets of the participants, but more as a conversation between two people who are “situated in particular linguistic, socioeconomic, historical and political regimes” (Eppler & Codò, 2016, p. 307).

I purposefully left my questions open ended, as I wanted to give the participants the opportunity to share with me through the semistructured interviews what was important to them. In doing so, topics that I did not intend to include became important. I was flexible, as well, in the manner in which our communication took place. Because of the change in the manner that we communicate in today, I did not insist on face-to-face meetings. There were times when I needed clarification on a statement of question and would send a message through a social media platform or texting app to the participant. I believe that this was important going forward. We can no longer rely on outdated communication means as we move forward in our research and must work within methods of communication that are comfortable for our participants.

As Norton and Toohey (2011) stated, “Poststructuralist theorists have reminded us that identities are contingent, shifting, context dependent, and that while identities or positions are often given by social structures or ascribed by others, they can be negotiated by agents who wish to position themselves” (p. 418). Although the three participants were given their identities in part by the people around them, I believe they had the free will to decide what was important to them and therefore these choices, whether linguistic or cultural, became part of whom they were: plurilingual and cultural individuals, who moved in social circles that allowed them to participate in both English, Italian, and dialect discourses. Through this research process and my questions, the participants were able to share their lived language and cultural experiences and reflect on their plurilingual identities. This process allowed me to reflect on my own identity as a plurilingual adult. It is my hope that the participants have grown in their own awareness of language, culture, and identity.

I began the exploration of plurilingual identity through a postmodern framework. I was able to incorporate the guideline set out by Pavlenko (2011) to provide a solid foundation to this

167 research. Through a poststructuralist approach, I was cognizant of the fact that I was viewing the participants as plurilinguals. I was able to accomplish this simply because I am a plurilingual and do not see the world through the eyes of a monolingual. Additionally, I did not judge the participants on their language use and I was not particularly interested in their actual level of competence linguistically. I was more interested in their perceived notions of themselves as language learners and users. Furthermore, I allowed the participants, through their stories, to share with me their lived experiences of language and culture and the value that they had placed on language and culture. These “constructed identities” (Pavlenko, 2011, p. 295) were seen by the values that the participants held and the individuals they chose to associated with.

Language, culture, and identity through a poststructural lens are seen as places of struggle, where choices are made both by the individual and for the individual. I was aware of this as I spent time speaking with the participants and was curious to learn about where their investment in languages and cultures lay. I ensured that this was part of our discussion, and in turn kept in mind that I was seeing a snapshot of who they were. Their identity was limited to a certain time, context, and environment and as identity is fluid and flexible, I knew that their choices and opportunities in the future would shape and mould their identities to come.

The combination of language development data I initially gathered; the semistructured interviews, where the participants were able to share their lived experiences; and finally, the SR by Maria allowed for a unique research experience. I was able to use stories shared by Maria, the data gathered earlier in her life and her reflections on herself as a young plurilingual to develop a clear and detailed picture of her plurilingual and pluricultural identity. Although this is not always possible, the data gathered through the different means of collection allowed for a deeper understanding of her identity. Additionally, through the semistructured interviews the three participants were able to share stories that demonstrated who they believed themselves to be.

Like many other case studies, the stories shared by the participants were analyzed through TA. This analysis allowed for confirmation of certain suppositions, such as Maria having the most well-developed language competency in Italian and French, as well as the importance influence of grandparents. However, the use of TA also allowed for the discovery of themes that I did not predict. One such theme was the strong self-identification of Alia to her HL and culture. Additionally, I was surprised to find that all three spoke of language use when speaking of

168 memories and showed strong metalinguistic awareness. Finally, the lack of formalized schooling in their HL played an important role in their lack of confidence with the HL.

The case study is not a new research method in the field of language studies. It has long been used as the method of choice in language development studies (De Houwer, 1990; Deuchar & Quay, 2000; Fantini, 1985; Leopold, 1970; Taura & Taura, 2012). However, there are very few studies like this one, that began 18 years ago, were suspended, and then resumed later in the participant’s life. Furthermore, until recently many of the language studies focused on language development or certain linguistic elements in bilingual language acquisition. This study belongs to a more recent group that examines the language user as a whole (Hall et al., 2006; Kondo- Brown, 2005; Kuboto & Lin, 2009; Oliveira & Ançã, 2009; Potowski, 2007; Rich & Davis, 2007; Teutsch-Dwyer, 2001; Toohey, 1996, 1998, 2000; Tsui & Tollefson, 2007). The research does not focus on the competency of the language user, but on how the language is used and how individuals view themselves as language users. Plurilingualism, which is a relatively new area in North American research, allows for the language user to have an imbalance within their language repertoire. In fact, this is one of the defining elements of plurilingualism (Piccardo, 2018). This study did not set out to judge the competency of the language user, but to delve into the complex identity of users of more than two languages.

9.3 Implications for further research

It is my hope that through the exploration of lived language and culture experiences, I have demonstrated that each of the participants had found a way they could live as plurilingual and pluricultural individuals in Alberta. This is particularly important in the Alberta context, as we see an ever-decreasing number of individuals identifying as Italian or as using the Italian language. The focus must shift from the competency of the language user to the identity of the language user. We can no longer insist that there be one correct way to speak a language and embrace the fact that all languages, used at all levels, are important and valuable. As the participants have shown, there are many ways to creatively and flexibly use language in order to communicate.

As we move more increasingly into a globalized world, where the ease of communication over long distances becomes the norm and human movement and relocation increases, as scholars, teachers, and parents, we must understand the importance of language. Further research into

169 plurilingualism and identity will benefit all of us, especially the children who are just beginning their language journeys. We must move away from the classroom and home as a place of one language learning and instead learn to honour all the languages that children bring with them. Through a poststructural framework we are able to see identity and in turn language and culture as multidimensional, fluid, and creative. In doing this we will foster plurilingual identities, open to flexible and creative ways of communicating and thinking, and foster an openness to change and seeing the value in others, whether they are similar or different.

9.4 Conclusion

I have learned an immense amount from my participants and through self-reflection throughout this process. It is my hope that this thesis is just the first step in my research into language and identity. I would like to further develop and document the changes in identity of one of the participants in relation to the generations before her. I look forward to continuing in my professional life to bring forward curriculum change so that all teachers are equipped to successfully foster and encourage language learners, in classrooms where teachers and students learn from one another and in which one language does not replace another, but where all languages are valued and nurtured equally. As language attrition continues to grow, the research into successful language maintenance across generations is vital for the survival of minority languages within communities across Alberta, Canada and internationally.

170

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Appendices

Appendix A Information Letter and Consent Form

Elissa Corsi

Department of Italian Studies

University of Toronto 100 St. Joseph Street 2nd Floor Toronto,

ON M5S 1J4 Canada

May 5, 2018

My name is Elissa Corsi and I am a PhD candidate in the Department of Italian Studies at the University of Toronto. I am working on a research study that explores the experiences with bilingualism and/or plurilingualism and cultural identity.

Research Project Title: The Identity of a Plurilingual Child in a Multigenerational Home

Researcher: Elissa Daniela Corsi

Advisor: Enrica Piccardo, OISE, University of Toronto

Sponsor: University of Toronto

This letter will provide you the basic idea for the research project.

The purpose of this study is to examine the strategies that were used to foster and maintain plurilingualism and pluricultural identity in the participants. Participants will be interviewed regarding their dual language use and cultural identity, for comparative purpose and theme analysis. All participants will be asked to reflect on their feelings regarding HL, multigenerational home, and pluricultural cultural experiences.

The specific research questions were: 1. Through the analysis of data collected which practices used by the family were most significant in the fostering and maintenance of the HL and culture in the home?

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2. What did the data demonstrate concerning the feelings of the participants towards their heritage language, minority cultural identity, and home composition? 3. Which experiences were the most significant for the participant in the development of a plurilingual bicultural identity in a minority environment? 4. Was there a way to be both Canadian and Italian in Alberta?

The maintenance of a HL is complicated and takes a specific and focused effort on the part of families. Research has shown that a family’s HL is lost by the third generation, yet the cognitive benefits of bilingualism throughout one’s life have been discussed in a plethora of research. Numerous studies that have been carried out over the years that speak to the benefits of being bilingual. In this study, I will explore the attitudes and feelings of the participants in regard to their home languages, family composition, and cultural identities.

To assist me in this research, I would like to ask for your voluntary participation in my PhD research. The interview process that will allow me to gather data which will include structured and semistructured questions. Some of the questions I will ask will relate to (a) getting to know you better; (b) getting to know your family; (c) your thoughts about language; (d) your thoughts about culture.

If you agree to take part in this study the interviews will take place in a location of your choice and will be about an hour each. There will be approximately 6-8 interview sessions. You will receive copies of the questions by email before our interviews. All your responses will be strictly confidential. A pseudonym will be used, and your true identity will be known only to me. However, due to the small participant group size, it is possible that a family member reading the dissertation is able to identify you through the answers you provide during the interview process. You will have the opportunity to review all interview data gathered, retract any or all information given until the time that the study is published.

The transcripts of our audio taped interviews will be typed by me for purposes of data analysis. A copy of the transcription will be emailed to you so that you can add, modify, and/or delete any parts of the interview. I will not commence any data analysis until you have had the opportunity to review the transcription. The interview may be followed by emails, telephone conversation, or an additional interview if further information or clarification is required and if you agree.

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All data will be kept in a locked file cabinet at my home, on a password protected personal electronic device or an encrypted flash drive. The electronic data will be erased, and files shredded after five years. In addition, you have the right to withdraw from the study at any time without having to give a reason for your withdrawal, however once the study is published, it will no longer be possible to retract your consent and ask for the deletion of the information collected through the interview process. If you choose to participate in this research, please fill out the attached consent form and return it to me either by mail, email, or in person. At the end of the research project, I will share with you a summary report or if you wish, the report in full.

If you would like further or more detailed information, please do not hesitate to ask me (see contact information below) or my dissertation supervisor, Dr. Enrica Piccardo (please find contact information below). If you have any questions regarding your rights as a participant, please feel free to contact the Office of Research Ethics at [email protected] or 416- 946-3273.

Sincerely,

Elissa Corsi

PhD candidate, Department of Italian Studies

University of Toronto 100 St. Joseph Street 2nd Floor Toronto,

ON M5S 1J4 Canada

Phone 780 690 3684

Email: [email protected]

Dissertation Supervisor

Dr. Enrica Piccardo

Department of Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto

205

252 Bloor Street West, Toronto, ON. M5S 1V6

10 th Floor, Office 10-240

Phone: 1-416-978-0274

Email: [email protected]

Consent Form

I, (name of participant) ______have read and understood the information letter for the study entitled The Identity of a Plurilingual Child in a Multigenerational Home and consent to participate in the research being conducted by Elissa Daniela Corsi, University of Toronto.

I understand that:

• I will participate in a series of semistructured interviews, conversations, and SR using video taken during my childhood of conversations in both Italian and English. The interviews will be based on mutual understanding between the researcher and myself, and comfort of myself, the participant. • The information I share may be presented at local, national, and international conferences, and may be shared in professional and scholarly articles. • I will be given a copy of the transcribed interview and I will have the right to modify, add, and/or delete any parts that represent my personal viewpoint in the interview. • I have the right to withdraw at any time during the study, up to publication and chose not to answer any or all questions. • I have the right to withdraw my data up to the publication of the study . • I have the right to privacy and my personal information will be kept confidential and every effort will be made to remove identifying information about me or my context in the research reports, presentations and/or publications based on the research.

206

• I understand that the possibility of my identity being discovered exists due to the small sample size and the nature of the questions and answers. • I have a right to a copy of the final document.

I agree to participate in the research as explained in this letter and consent form. I will sign and return one copy of this consent form to the researcher and retain a copy for my files

Name: ______

Signature: ______

Email: ______

Date: ______

The plan for this study has been reviewed for its adherence to ethical guidelines and approved by the Office of Research and Ethics at the University of Toronto.

207

Appendix B Information Letter and Consent Form

Elissa Corsi

Department of Italian Studies

University of Toronto 100 St. Joseph Street 2nd Floor Toronto,

ON M5S 1J4 Canada

May5, p. 2018

Research Project Title: The Identity of a Plurilingual Child in a Multigenerational Home

Researcher: Elissa Daniela Corsi

Advisor: Enrica Piccardo, OISE, University of Toronto

Sponsor: University of Toronto

This letter will provide you the basic idea for the research project.

The specific research questions were: 1. Through the analysis of data collected, which practices used by the family were most significant in the fostering and maintenance of the heritage language and culture in the home?

208

The maintenance of an HL is complicated and takes a specific and focused effort on the part of families. Research has shown that a family’s HL is lost by the third generation, yet the cognitive benefits of bilingualism throughout one’s life have been discussed in a plethora of research. Numerous studies that have been carried out over the years that speak to the benefits of being bilingual. In this study, I will explore the attitudes and feelings of the participants in regard to their home languages, family composition, and cultural identities.

209

Sincerely,

Elissa Corsi

PhD candidate, Department of Italian Studies

University of Toronto 100 St. Joseph Street 2nd Floor Toronto,

ON M5S 1J4 Canada

Phone 780 690 3684

Email: [email protected]

Dissertation Supervisor

Dr. Enrica Piccardo

Department of Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto

210

252 Bloor Street West, Toronto, ON. M5S 1V6

10 th Floor, Office 10-240

Phone: 1-416-978-0274

Email: [email protected]

Consent Form

I understand that:

• I will participate in a series of semistructured interviews and conversations based on mutual understanding between the researcher and myself, and comfort of myself, the participant. • The information I share may be presented at local, national, and international conferences, and may be shared in professional and scholarly articles. • I will be given a copy of the transcribed interview and I will have the right to modify, add, and/or delete any parts that represent my personal viewpoint in the interview. • I have the right to withdraw at any time during the study, up to publication, and chose not to answer any or all questions. • I have the right to withdraw my data up to the publication of the study . • I have the right to privacy and my personal information will be kept confidential and every effort will be made to remove identifying information about me or my context in the research reports, presentations and/or publications based on the research. • I understand that the possibility of my identity being discovered exists due to the small sample size and the nature of the questions and answers.

211

• I have a right to a copy of the final document.

I agree to participate in the research as explained in this letter and consent form. I will sign and return one copy of this consent form to the researcher and retain a copy for my files

Name: ______

Signature: ______

Email: ______

Date: ______

The plan for this study has been reviewed for its adherence to ethical guidelines and approved by the Office of Research and Ethics at the University of Toronto.

212

Appendix C Primary Questionnaire

Session 1

Getting to know you better

1 Is there anyone (either a real person or a fictional one) you admire and would like to be like? 2 What would you like to be really good at doing? 3 How old are you? 4 What’s the best part of being your age? 5 What’s the hardest part of being your age? 6 When you have free time, what activities do you enjoy? 7 What is the best thing about school? 8 What is the thing you like the least about school? 9 Do you have a job? 10 Give me three adjectives that describe yourself. 11 What is your favourite memory growing up? 12 Can you tell me about a time when you spoke Italian with your friends?

Session 2

Getting to know your family—Perceptions about a multigenerational home

1 Who lives in your home presently? 2 In the past 5 years how has your family make up changed? 3 In the past 10 years how has you family make up changed? 4 What languages are spoken at home? 5 Can you tell me about how you use each of the languages at home? Has this changed as you grew up? 6 Tell me about your grandparents. 7 Tell me about your mother. 8 Tell me about your father. 9 Can you tell me about where your parents work?

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10 Give me three adjectives that describe your family?

Session 3

Getting to know your family—Perceptions about a multigenerational home, Part 2

11 What was it like growing up with your grandparents in the home? 12 When someone asks you how many people are in your family, what do you say? 13 Tell me about your favourite memory growing up with your grandparents in the house? 14 Tell me about something your grandparents that makes you laugh. 15 What are the advantages of having your grandparents live with you? 16 What are the disadvantages of having your grandparents live with you? 17 Tell me about something your grandparents that makes you laugh. 18 Can you tell me a time your grandparents spoke with you about Italy. 19 Do your grandparents speak to you in Italian? Has this changed over time?

Session 4

Language perceptions

1. When do you speak English? 2. When do you speak Italian? (only if applicable) 3. Tell me about how you feel when you use English? 4. Tell me about how you feel when you speak Italian? 5. Can you tell me about how you feel about being able to speak two (three) languages? 6. Is it easy for you to express yourself in Italian? 7. What does it mean to you to be able to speak Italian? 8. Do you read in Italian? French? 9. Do you write in Italian? French?

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Session 5

Language perceptions, Part 2

10. Do you believe it is important that you are able to speak in Italian? 11. Why or why not? (refers to question 10) 12. Have you ever been uncomfortable with someone speaking a language other than English with you? 13. Do you feel you have an advantage over people that speak one language? 14. Are there times you feel more comfortable speaking in a certain language? 15. Can you tell me about one of those time? (refers to question above) 16. Are there places you feel more comfortable using one language over the other? 17. Tell me a little more about this. (if needed for clarification to the above question) 18. What do you think your strongest language is and why? 19. If you could learn any language what would it be? Why?

Session 6

Cultural perceptions

1. If someone asks you what culture you come from (identify with), what is your answer? 2. If someone asks you what nationality is, what is your answer? 3. What do you like about Canada? 4. What do you like the least? 5. What do you like about Italy? 6. What do you like the least? 7. Do you ever talk about Italy with your Canadian friends? 8. Do you ever talk about Canada with your Italian friends? 9. Would you like to continue visiting Italy? Why or why not? 10. Tell me about one of your favourite family traditions. 11. Where do you see yourself living in the future? Why? 12. Has there been a time when your Italian culture caused you to be embarrassed or feel uncomfortable? Can you tell me about that?

215

216

Appendix D Stimulated Recall

Video 1

1. Where were you while the video was being filmed? 2. Who was the other person speaking in the video? 3. Who were the people living in your home at this time? 4. What do you remember most about them? (ask one at a time) 5. What were your thoughts about the language you were speaking in the video? 6. What memories did the video bring to mind of this time? Can you tell me about them.

Video 2 1. Where were you while the video was being filmed? 2. Who was the other person speaking in the video? 3. Who were the people living in your home at this time? 4. What do you remember most about them? (ask one at a time) 5. What were your thoughts about the language you were speaking in the video? 6. Did the video trigger any other memories of this time? If yes can you tell me about them. 7. What do you remember most about this vacation? 8. Who was with you during the vacation? 9. Can you tell me about your memories with l’asilo when you lived in Italy? 10. How do you feel speaking Italian with you friends in Italy?

217

Appendix E French Immersion

1. What are your thoughts about French immersion? 2. Do you think it helps prepare you for the future? 3. When you think about your years in French immersion, what part of the experience has been the best? 2. What part of French immersion did you enjoy the least? 3. Can you tell me a little about how you feel speaking French when you return to school in September? 4. Can you tell me about your experiences using French outside the classroom? 5. Do you always speak French in class? To your teachers? Your friends?

218

Appendix F Maria’s Plurilingual Journey

1. English Input

1.1. Community (except ages 4-6)

1.1.1. Mother and other extended family

1.2. School, peers, and social media

2. English Output

2.1. Dominant Language (except ages 4-6)

2.1.1. Most confidence with the language

2.2. Use with mother and brother

2.2.1. Use in everyday life / peers

3. Italian Input

3.1. Community (ages 4-6)

3.1.1. Father

3.2. Friends in Italy

3.2.1. Social Media

4. Italian Output

4.1. Dominant language of the community (age 4-6)

4.1.1. With friends in Italy (at times mixed with Rocchighiano)

4.2. With father, mixed with English and Rocchighiano dialect

5. French Input

5.1. Teachers (ages 6-18)

219

5.1.1. School friends

6. French Output

6.1. Use in school

6.1.1. Use with school peers

6.1.1.1. Does not identify culturally

7. Rocchighiano Input

7.1. Grandparents

7.1.1. Older relatives in Italy and in Canada

8. Rocchighiano Output

8.1. With grandparents

8.1.1. With Italian friends (usually by error)

8.2. Occasionally with mother and father

9. Pantesco Input

9.1. Father, infrequently

9.1.1. Relatives in Pantelleria (limited exposure)

10. Pantesco Output

10.1. No regular use

10.1.1. Words and expressions used for humour with father

10.2. Example - using an expression heard from an older relatives

10.3. “Nzo se so duci o amari”

220

Appendix G Alia’s Plurilingual Journey

1. English Input

1.1. Dominant Language of the Community

1.2. Mother and older sister

1.3. Language used at school

1.4. At times father

1.5. Extended family on mother’s side

2. English Output

2.1. Friends

2.2. Use with mother and sister

2.3. Everyday Life

3. French Input

3.1. Teacher - 30 minute language class, three times a week, beginning in Grade 4 – 12

4. French Output

4.1. Limited to simple conversations in French as a Second Language

Class

5. Rocchighiano Dialect Input

5.1. Paternal grandparents

5.3. Father - at times

5.4. Infrequent visits from Italian relatives

6. Rocchighiano Dialect Output

6.1. Some interactions with grandparents, conversations in Italian mostly about food, gardening, and outings shopping with grandparents

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6.2. At family functions with older aunts (Alia specifically states this family grouping)

6.3. With father, however the majority of their conversations are in

English

7. Hungarian

7.1. No input nor output. Does not fit into Alia’s idea of her plurilingual

Identity

8. Polish

8.1. No input nor output. Does not fit into Alia’s idea of her plurilingual identity.

222

Appendix H Alex’s Plurilingual Journey

1. English Input

1.1. Dominant language in the community

1.2. Mother and brother

1.3. School

2. English Output

2.1. Everyday use

2.2. With mother and often with brother

2.3. Friends

2.4. Everyday activities

3. Supinese Dialect Input

3.1. Grandmother

3.2. Mother

4. Supinese Dialect Output

4.1. With grandmother and father

4.2. With mother and brother at times

4.3. With extended family in Canada

5. Rocchighiano Dialect Input

5.1. Father

5.2. Italian grandparents

5.3. Extended family in Italy

223

6. Rocchighiano Dialect Output

6.1. Father (The two dialects in the home are very similar as they originate from the same central region in Italy. Alex states that at times the words are slightly different, but more often than not they are the same.)

6.2. With Italian grandparents and relatives in Italy

6.3. With brother for humour or as a secret code between the two in public

7. French Input

7.1. Teacher in a French as a Second Language class, beginning in grade

4 - 12 for 30 minutes, three times a week.

8. French Output

8.1. Limited to simple conversation in his French class