Summary written by MLRC School Network member, Jessica Jones (Concordia International School Shanghai)
This article presents a qualitative case study of language practices within a progressive trilingual early childhood program at the International School Hong Kong (ISHK). Learning is guided by an emergent curriculum and inquiry-based pedagogy. The study examines how an open language policy supports children’s multilingual identities and development, focusing on how teachers co-construct language growth and how classroom relationships promote trilingual interactions. Over 2 weeks, researchers collected 35 hours of classroom video, interviews, and artifacts, and analysed more than 10,000 child utterances across English, Cantonese, and Mandarin. The study involved 22 children and 2 teachers – one monolingual in Cantonese and the other in English. Findings show that open language practices and strong teacher-student relationships create inclusive multilingual learning environments. In the classroom studied, children flexibly chose languages based on peer interactions and communication needs, using translanguaging to collaborate, solve problems, and support one another socially and academically. Relationships played a key role as students adapted language use with peers and teachers who may not share the same home language. While creative, play-based and child-led approaches are becoming more common in Hong Kong and mainland China, teachers reported feeling limited when school policies do not fully support practices which support multilingualism. School leaders and teachers “must consider local cultural norms and policies when introducing Western philosophies of language learning and pedagogy.” (Sanders-Smith and Davila, 2019, p.277)