Multilingual Classrooms for Young Children in the UK: Advancing Diversity Through Technology and Research

This book demonstrates the importance of raising multilingual children in the UK, both for the children’s own benefit and for the benefit of society as a whole. Against the backdrop of both the rich linguistic diversity already present in the UK and the challenges faced by any languages other than a few major European languages to find any space in educational contexts, the author challenges the myth that multilingualism hinders English language acquisition and use, instead emphasising the cultural and cognitive advantages of multilingual education and support for home and community languages. The book is a call to action for educators, policymakers and parents, combining practical strategies with research-based insights to support its readers in advocating for multilingual education. It presents a hopeful vision for education in the UK, where teachers can combine technological innovations and the linguistic resources of their classrooms and communities to support and promote multilingualism.

Jieun Kiaer is Professor of Korean Linguistics at the University of Oxford, UK. Her recent publications include Young Children’s Foreign Language Anxiety: The Case of South Korea (with Jessica M. Morgan-Brown and Naya Choi, Multilingual Matters, 2021) and Multimodal Communication in Young Multilingual Children: Learning Beyond Words (Multilingual Matters, 2023).