Page 226 - Ana Kozina and Nora Wiium, eds. ▪︎ Positive Youth Development in Contexts. Ljubljana: Educational Research Institute, 2021. Digital Library, Dissertationes (Scientific Monographs), 42.
P. 226
positive youth development in contexts
standards for correct behaviours, a sense of right and wrong (morality),
and integrity. Caring indicates a sense of sympathy and empathy for others.
In addition, it has been shown that when adolescents manifest these 5Cs
over time, they also contribute to self, family, community, and civil society
(i.e., Contribution as the sixth C; see Lerner et al., 2005). The link between
the two constructs of PYD and specific areas of multilingualism can be
specified as a study of the relevance of linguistic factors in the understand-
ing of the strengths and productivity of adolescents. Since language diver-
sity nowadays represents an omnipresent and particularly visible social
phenomenon (Aronin & Singleton, 2008) and is also an inevitable part of
the educational process (i.e., as a communication practice and learning
topic of non-formal and formal educational settings), the use of at least two
or multiple languages represents a large part of the socio-cultural environ-
ment and different kinds of the interaction of youth. Adolescents in their
life span can at the same time communicate with parents, family, teachers,
peers, friends, advisers, trainers etc. in their first languages, languages of
schooling, languages of environment. In school or as part of informal ac-
tivities, they also learn more than one language, ranging from their first
languages, languages of schooling, languages of the environment, to for-
eign languages. Further, the languages adolescents use or learn at a very
different level of proficiency and regarding which they have different per-
ceptions and emotional attitudes to establish part of a wider dynamic so-
cio-cultural hierarchy. They are thus constantly subjected to social fore-
grounding and backgrounding as elite, nationally, culturally desired, and
expected languages or, in contrast, by being marginalised and, due to so-
cio-political reasons suppressed, they are socially or culturally (e.g., as an
implicit part of educational policies) seen as less important languages.
These individual and social contexts of language use reshape youth’s cul-
tural identity and affect their personality and cognitive abilities. They also
enable the development of a variety of individuals’ linguistic repertoires, as
demonstrated through their dynamic multilanguage competence as a
means of interaction in diverse communicative situations. From this per-
spective, the research into plurilingual repertoires, language multi-compe-
tence, translanguaging as an inclusive educational practice, different as-
pects of language anxiety as well as studies that investigate the role of
emotions and feelings in (foreign) language could be linked to the study of
PYD’s developmental assets and 5Cs within constructs that relate to social
relationships, interactions, experiences, and developmental processes.
226
standards for correct behaviours, a sense of right and wrong (morality),
and integrity. Caring indicates a sense of sympathy and empathy for others.
In addition, it has been shown that when adolescents manifest these 5Cs
over time, they also contribute to self, family, community, and civil society
(i.e., Contribution as the sixth C; see Lerner et al., 2005). The link between
the two constructs of PYD and specific areas of multilingualism can be
specified as a study of the relevance of linguistic factors in the understand-
ing of the strengths and productivity of adolescents. Since language diver-
sity nowadays represents an omnipresent and particularly visible social
phenomenon (Aronin & Singleton, 2008) and is also an inevitable part of
the educational process (i.e., as a communication practice and learning
topic of non-formal and formal educational settings), the use of at least two
or multiple languages represents a large part of the socio-cultural environ-
ment and different kinds of the interaction of youth. Adolescents in their
life span can at the same time communicate with parents, family, teachers,
peers, friends, advisers, trainers etc. in their first languages, languages of
schooling, languages of environment. In school or as part of informal ac-
tivities, they also learn more than one language, ranging from their first
languages, languages of schooling, languages of the environment, to for-
eign languages. Further, the languages adolescents use or learn at a very
different level of proficiency and regarding which they have different per-
ceptions and emotional attitudes to establish part of a wider dynamic so-
cio-cultural hierarchy. They are thus constantly subjected to social fore-
grounding and backgrounding as elite, nationally, culturally desired, and
expected languages or, in contrast, by being marginalised and, due to so-
cio-political reasons suppressed, they are socially or culturally (e.g., as an
implicit part of educational policies) seen as less important languages.
These individual and social contexts of language use reshape youth’s cul-
tural identity and affect their personality and cognitive abilities. They also
enable the development of a variety of individuals’ linguistic repertoires, as
demonstrated through their dynamic multilanguage competence as a
means of interaction in diverse communicative situations. From this per-
spective, the research into plurilingual repertoires, language multi-compe-
tence, translanguaging as an inclusive educational practice, different as-
pects of language anxiety as well as studies that investigate the role of
emotions and feelings in (foreign) language could be linked to the study of
PYD’s developmental assets and 5Cs within constructs that relate to social
relationships, interactions, experiences, and developmental processes.
226
