School and immigration. A presentation of studies about linguistic development and linguistic interdependence processes

Abstract

The present work offers some data gathered from the few studies carried out in Spain on the relationship between immigration, language and school. Bearing in mind the demographic relevance of immigration in the country, we present results from different research projects, with special emphasis on the Catalan case.

The studies reported here focus on: i) the development of linguistic abilities in the language of instruction in schools, and ii) the analysis of linguistic interdependence processes. Finally, we put forward some suggestions with the aim of making some contribution to an in-depth debate on the issue. These proposals seek to improve and reconceptualise educational practice in multilingual classrooms.