Bilingual children acting as language brokers in Italy: Their affective and cognitive attitudes about the practice

Abstract

Aims and objectives: This paper sets out to examine Italian bilingual children’ attitudes about Child Language Brokering (CLB), with a focus on the perceived feelings (affective component of attitudes) and benefits (cognitive component of attitudes) related to CLB. The aim is to study the presence of any relationship between the affective and cognitive components of child language brokers’ attitudes, since they can affect the outcomes of CLB and their analysis can provide tools to reduce the stressors related to it. Methodology: A survey was carried out among 150 immigrant students attending vocational high schools in the Northern and Central regions of Italy. Demographic and linguistic data were processed by means of a descriptive analysis, while attitudinal scales were processed by means of both descriptive and inferential analysis. Findings: The results will show that the child language brokers who perceive stronger positive feelings about CLB also report stronger attitudes towards the benefits of the practice. Originality: Considering the lack of research examining child language brokers’ attitudes in Italy by means of attitude scales, and the lack of attention to the affective and cognitive dimensions of such attitudes, this study addresses this gap by investigating these two dimensions of CLB.