‘Inert benevolence’ towards languages beyond English in the discourses of English primary school teachers

Abstract

The UK, and perhaps particularly England, is often seen as a nation subscribing wholeheartedly to a monolingual mindset. The national curriculum remains resolutely monolingual, despite linguistic diversity in primary classrooms having increased rapidly. Current research and anecdotal evidence suggest that translanguaging in English schools is rare, despite the documented ‘multilingual turn’ in applied linguistics, and transnational practices are seen as being facilitated only within families. This study explores attitudes and practices towards supporting multilingualism and encouraging children's sense of transnationalism, rather than solely English language acquisition and assimilation into British culture. Forty semi-structured interviews were conducted with teachers across England, and the resultant transcriptions were analysed thematically to explore the experiences and attitudes of participants. The data presented in this paper focuses on instances of what we have termed ‘inert benevolence’ and we identify a number of conscious and subconscious barriers to truly incorporating languages beyond English in classroom practices.