Pre-school teachers’ professional identity and multilingual children: An interactionist analysis of pre-school teachers’ practical work with multilingual children’s language development

Abstract

The purpose of this article was to re-examine the empirical research focused on the creation and recreation of pre-school teachers’ identity and their practices with multilingual children and language development. The analysis was based on empirical sequences from previously published qualitative analyses with the assistance of an interactionist perspective and earlier research revolving around the phenomenon of “social interaction and learning”. Pre-school teachers emphasised the significance of everyday practical interactions for language development and presented themselves as competent parties who build upon their knowledge via interaction with multilingual children. Thus, the interaction with multilingual children becomes a fundamental dimension of the pre-school teachers’ professional identity. The interactive dimension is important to the successful involvement and integration of multilingual children in the pre-school context and social pedagogical recognition of the identity of pre-school teachers who engage in practical work among these children.