The role of the multilingual assistant in the parent-teacher conference in early childhood education and care: opaque agencies

Abstract

ABSTRACT Multilingual assistants may be invited into the parent-teacher conference to interpret in educational settings. The article examines the role of the multilingual assistant in the parent-teacher conference in the Norwegian early childhood education and care. What characterizes the role of the multilingual assistant in parent-teacher conferences, and how does the multilingual assistant exert agency within this role? Goffman’s theory of footing is adopted as an analytic resource to identify various forms of agency (aligning or expanding). The multilingual assistant is seldom addressed as a discussant, (or ”author” in Goffman's terms), in talk, thus most of the time the multilingual assistant functions as a dialogue interpreter (”animator” in Goffman`s terms). However, even within this function, the analysis demonstrates a certain potential for exerting “expanding animator-agency.” Because of opaque footing practices, blurring the animator-author distinction in the talk, the analysis suggests the multilingual assistant to be capable of more expanded agency than what may be expected at first sight.