For many children in Flanders, Belgium, the language of instruction is not their first language. Allowing children to use their heritage languages in the classroom has been argued to have functional and socioemotional benefits. In two exploratory studies, we introduced a multilingual task in four classrooms across three linguistically and socially diverse primary schools, where Dutch was the language of instruction, to determine how students experience the opportunity to use their linguistic repertoire in class. The multilingual task was preceded by an assessment of students’ emotional reactions to the languages they speak through the Self-Assessment Manikin gauging students’ emotional responses (pleasure, arousal, and dominance), and followed by a semistructured interview on students’ language choices. Both studies yielded similar results. Students generally indicated that they felt happy, calm, and in control when speaking their heritage language. Despite these positive assessments, many students refrained from using their heritage language in the multilingual tasks. A qualitative analysis revealed a variety of language-related reasons leading to linguistic insecurity, language anxiety, and not using the heritage language: perceived language proficiency, language norms, language status, and appropriate contexts for language use. Conversely, we also identified several students who felt proud to showcase their heritage language. While multilingual tasks have the potential to induce positive emotions in students, teachers need to be aware of potential backlash and prepared to navigate the negative emotions surrounding contested language choices.

中文翻译：

---

小学生对于在多语言课堂任务中使用其传统语言的矛盾情绪

对于比利时佛兰德斯的许多儿童来说，教学语言不是他们的母语。人们认为，允许孩子们在课堂上使用他们的传统语言具有功能和社会情感方面的好处。在两项探索性研究中，我们在三所语言和社会多元化小学的四间教室中引入了多语言任务，其中荷兰语是教学语言，以确定学生如何体验在课堂上使用其语言技能的机会。在多语言任务之前，通过自我评估模型评估学生对其所讲语言的情绪反应，衡量学生的情绪反应（愉悦、兴奋和支配性），然后对学生的语言选择进行半结构化访谈。两项研究都得出了相似的结果。学生们普遍表示，在讲自己的传统语言时，他们感到快乐、平静和掌控。尽管有这些积极的评价，但许多学生在多语言任务中避免使用他们的传统语言。定性分析揭示了导致语言不安全感、语言焦虑和不使用传统语言的各种与语言相关的原因：感知的语言熟练程度、语言规范、语言状态和语言使用的适当环境。相反，我们还发现了一些为展示自己的传统语言而感到自豪的学生。虽然多语言任务有可能激发学生的积极情绪，但教师需要意识到潜在的强烈反对，并准备好应对围绕有争议的语言选择的负面情绪。