Do birds singing the same song flock together? A mixed-method study on language as a tool for changing social homophily in primary schools in Flanders (Belgium)

Abstract

The characteristics of a school’s pupil population determine the boundaries within which friendships can grow at school, as pupils tend to develop friendships with others that are similar to them. This is an example of social homophily. Since language is an indicator of social status and identity, we aim at finding out whether it is a basis for social homophily. This study investigates what the effects of linguistic diversity on same-language friendships are for both multilingual pupils and pupils from Dutch-only homes and whether tolerant practices towards multilingualism impact friendship patterns. To get a deeper understanding of the context in which friendships develop, we examine pupils’ perception of the language hierarchies in their school as well. We use a mixed-method design. The quantitative data analyzed in this article originate from a teacher and pupil survey in 67 primary schools in three highly diverse regions in Flanders during the 2012–2013 school year. The qualitative data have been gathered in two focus groups in which 24 pupils of the same school participated. Stepwise multilevel modeling showed that for multilingual pupils, a negative effect of tolerant practices towards multilingualism on same-language friendships existed, while linguistic diversity was of lesser importance. For pupils from Dutch-only homes, linguistic diversity had a negative effect on the number of same-language friendships and tolerance did not matter for friendship patterns. The insignificant effect of tolerance in pupils from Dutch-only homes can be explained by the strong dominance of Dutch, which the qualitative analysis also revealed.