Linguistic acculturation preferences of Catalan local students toward their peers of Moroccan descent. The determining factors of linguistic assimilationism

Abstract

ABSTRACT As a response to the migratory movements initiated at the end of the past century in Catalonia (Spain), its educational system aims to promote interculturality and multilingualism as a way to achieve social cohesion. For this purpose, it is important to improve our understanding of the linguistic acculturation preferences endorsed by local students toward students of immigrant origin – a scarcely studied factor. One of the main factors for achieving these objectives, that has been scarcely studied, is the linguistic acculturation preferences endorsed by local students toward students of immigrant origin. The present study applied 349 questionnaires to analyze the determining factors and linguistic acculturation preferences of local high-school students regarding the linguistic acculturation profiles of their peers of Moroccan descent in Lleida (Catalonia, Spain). The main results showed that, in order of frequency, assimilation to Catalan, assimilation to Spanish-Catalan and multilingualism were the three linguistic preferences endorsed by local students. The multinomial logistic regression model found the following determining factors: attitudes toward minority languages, attitudes toward multilingualism, Spanish self-identification, Spanish use with teachers and Catalan use with classmates. These results highlight the importance and need to further promote the use and embracement of minority languages in school settings as a possible way to increase the construction of multilingual preferences, and deconstruct prejudices and stereotypes to ultimately achieve social cohesion.