Linguistic landscape and multilingualism

Director: Durk Gorter

The aim in this field is to assess the linguistic landscape (i.e. the presence of texts and images in walls, notice boards etc.) in schools, both within the classroom and outside (offices, corridors…). The main purpose is to analyze the use of languages in the landscape as well as the relationship between written texts and other semiotic elements which contribute to multimodality in communication. The focus is on the relationship between the languages being used and a number of variables: authorship (headship, teachers, students, non school-related agents…), relationship between languages (translation, dominance of some languages over others), symbolic and informative value of languages, and language interaction.

In the past years, there is a growing body of research on the linguistic landscape (i.e. the use of the written language in public spaces). Most of the studies have dealt with public spaces in the city, but the methodology being used in them can be applied to other contexts, such as the school environment. In this sense, the study of the linguistic landscape in the school is interesting not only by itself, but also in relation to aforementioned two fields, inasmuch as it can provide further evidence on school multilingualism in general and with respect to immigrant students in particular.