What is your doctoral thesis about?

-  My doctoral thesis is about multilingual children's opportunities to use all their linguistic resources in preschool.

Ylva Novosel Photo: Niklas Björling

Can you describe in a little more depth?

-  Using constructivist-based theory based on previously collected ethnographic data, I have come up with a temporary model of practices and conditions for the children's translanguage. In practise, this means that I investigated how the children translanguage (i.e. how they use their linguistic resources for communication and meaning-making) and what should be done or restricted in relation to using different verbal and non-verbal languages.

I was interested in understanding what happens when the children come to preschool and do not yet speak Swedish.

What was the reason you chose this topic?

-  I have been interested in children's communication in multilingual contexts for a long time, already since first job at a preschool as a 19-year-old. I was interested in understanding what happens when the children come to preschool and do not yet speak Swedish. How do the children communicate with each other when they do lack knowledge of Swedish language?

Ylva Novosel's doctoral thesis " The conditions of translanguage in a superdiverse preschool - A constructivist grounded theory".

Can you conclude the most important findings in your research?

-  The fack that children are translingual and that, in the case of the translungual children (both the youngest of them, 1-2 years old and older children, 3-5 years old) with an emerging multilingualism and who are new to the preschool and to the Swedish language, it is extra important to look after the children's entire repertoire of verbal and non-verbal languages so that the children can make themselves heard. Otherwise, there is a considerable risk that the children will be misunderstood. I saw that in my material. The misundstandings emergen when the children communicated in different ways and that was not noticed or recognized by the preschool teachers or sometimes even the other preschool children.

Something that surprised you during the study?

-  I expected the children to use their family languages more with the other children. When this was not the case, I shifted the focus from the verbal to a more expanded translanguage concept. This made it possible for me to also see the translanguage of the youngest children (1-2 years old).
-  The youngest children made more use of their bodies and physical things in the environment, such as toys when they communicated with other people. The older children (3-5 years old) used verbal languages such as their family language, Swedish and English to communicate. Like the younger children, they also used body language and physical things, but this was not perceived as often by those around them.

What do you hope to contribute with your thesis?

-  I hope to contribute to an increased awareness of translanguage and how it can be practiced in a super-diverse preschool. I hope to be able to highlight the benefits of a responsive way of working where educators see all different forms of expression as language.
-  I have designed a model of children's translanguage practice and conditions that could be useful in preschools to make children's translanguage visible.

Finally, what do you want to do next?

-  I can imagine several different areas - working in children's groups at preschool, with skill development or pedagogical supervision, but also with research and teaching within the preschool teacher program.

Transspråkandets villkor i en supermångfaldig förskola (5389 Kb)  (in Swedish with an English abstract)

Read more about Ylva Novosel