Mediation of Language Attitudes Through Linguistic Landscapes in Minority Language Education

Abstract

The province of Fryslân is home to a complex language ecology. The majority language Dutch and the regional language Frisian are the two only official languages in the region, but there is also a strong presence of English as well as an increasing number of migrant languages. Within this context, the province of Fryslân has the responsibility to maintain the Frisian minority language. Improving Frisian’s societal position through education may be necessary, as students currently have rather negative attitudes towards Frisian, which decreases motivation and performance. It has been suggested that language awareness approaches that connect the language to society can improve language attitudes and influence language behaviour. One way in which language awareness may be raised, is by using the linguistic landscape (LL). In the current mixed-method study, the affordances of the LL in the Frisian context of minority language education identified by three different stakeholder groups will be explored. Survey data showed that secondary school students indeed held negative attitudes towards Frisian, but that they were also most positive about seeing the language in the LL. Incorporating an experts’ viewpoint, interviews showed that both teachers and provincial policymakers identified the potential of LL for the mediation of pupils’ language attitudes. All stakeholders therefore believed that while there are some obstacles to overcome, LL-interventions can be a useful way to improve minority language education and the position of the minority language itself. In combining data from all three perspectives, this study offers an in-depth understanding of the interrelation between various stakeholders, their beliefs and how the LL may be useful in a minority language context.