To Praise and/or to Reprimand? A Case Study of the Host School's Migrant Inclusion Strategies

Abstract

This paper investigates the question of how schools cope with the cultural change in the form of the increasingly common migration experience of a student and which of the strategies used determine the educational success of a migrant student. The focus is on school intercultural practices. The paper presents the result of qualitative research conducted in 2013-2019, which aimed to show the perspective of a Polish middle school student and her parent who, emigrating to the USA and re-emigrating to Poland, gained a comparative scale of inclusion practices applied in relation to a migrant student as well as awareness of the strategies which contributed to her mastery of the second language and a lasting attitude of favorableness towards the language and its culture. In order to include the sociolinguistic context, which is of particular significance for the problem investigated, the case study was expanded by an observation and partially structured interviews. The case report cited emphasizes the impact of specific inclusion practices which are worth attention (and possibly dissemination) as those that evoke positive emotions in the student, reduce the level of anxiety and stress, and focus on boosting the student’s self-confidence - as a result, they support educational success in achieving (acquired) bilingualism - and a lasting attitude towards the second language and the culture to which it gives access.