Immigrant students’ minority language learning: an analysis of language ideologies

ABSTRACT This paper focuses on language ideologies in relation to identity in Basque secondary education, in a context where the teaching of a minority language is part of the curriculum. More precisely, it addresses the views held by teachers and immigrant students in relation to Basque, which is a minority language in the Basque Country. The aim is to analyse these views in their discourses both separately and in interaction. Methods include documentary analysis, participant observation, individual interviews and focus groups. Results indicate that there are engrained ideologies indexing identity in tension: those of teachers as Basque supporters and those adopted by students as Basque detractors, which come into conflict during classroom interaction when it involves learning Basque. The article concludes that these two ideologies constitute opposing identities and provides educational guidelines to improve classroom dynamics when acrimonious interactions such as these occur.