Immigrant Pupils’ Writing in the Bidialectal Community of Cyprus: Exposing the Challenges

• In Event: Roundtable Session 78
  In Roundtable Session: Transnational and Immigrant Experiences in Education

Abstract

Developing competence in the school-based written register, a register which differs from the conversational language in various respects, constitutes a challenge for all children. Those, however, likely to experience this challenge more intensely are the second-language and nonstandard-speaking pupils who have to familiarise themselves with this register while learning a second language and a second dialect respectively. The situation becomes even more complex for those second-language learners who are concurrently exposed to a non-standard variety. This paper will specifically focus on the writing challenges which this group faces. The challenges which will be discussed derive from a study on the writing performance of 11-year-old immigrant pupils enrolled in elementary schools in the bidialectal community of Cyprus.

Author

• Filio Constantinou, University of Cambridge