Page 228 - Ana Kozina and Nora Wiium, eds. ▪︎ Positive Youth Development in Contexts. Ljubljana: Educational Research Institute, 2021. Digital Library, Dissertationes (Scientific Monographs), 42.
P. 228
positive youth development in contexts
studies that focus on the thriving of immigrant youth and stress the im-
portance of immigrants’ multilingual and multicultural skills as a resource
for their new communities (Lerner et al., 2012), combined with studies that
consider multilingualism in the context of immigrants (e.g. Cenoz 2013a;
Dewaele & Stavans, 2014; Panicacci 2019; Sevinç & Backus, 2017; Sevinç &
Dewaele, 2016) might open up prospects for the study of language context
with the positive youth development. Particularly when connecting the ex-
perience of developmental assets or positive outcomes with the findings of
interdisciplinary research on immigrant adolescents, which show the pos-
itive effects of multilingualism/multiculturalism on personal development
(e.g., Dewaele & Oudenhoven, 2009), we might see the intersection of find-
ings that point in the same direction: ones that confirm the presence of
strengths in immigrant youth arising from the specificity of their individ-
ual and social context, as determined by their multilingual/multicultural
identity and formed in the acculturation process.
Below, we present two tables that provide an overview of the main ar-
eas of intersection between the two PYD perspectives (developmental as-
sets and the 5Cs) and the main findings from the study of multilingualism.
The label Dimensions of multilingualism represents its holistic conception
from sociolinguistic research that moves beyond the sole linguistic realm
and sees language multi-competence as the result of the dynamic growth of
individual multilingualism, which “affects not just an individual’s cogni-
tion but also that individual’s personality” (Dewaele, 2016, p. 2). From this
perspective, we indicate points of intersection where we believe the ‘speak-
ing/using’ of multiple languages (i.e., language knowledge, language use,
self-perceived language proficiency) as a variable might become relevant
for the study of the strengths of all youth and the fostering of their positive
development.
228
studies that focus on the thriving of immigrant youth and stress the im-
portance of immigrants’ multilingual and multicultural skills as a resource
for their new communities (Lerner et al., 2012), combined with studies that
consider multilingualism in the context of immigrants (e.g. Cenoz 2013a;
Dewaele & Stavans, 2014; Panicacci 2019; Sevinç & Backus, 2017; Sevinç &
Dewaele, 2016) might open up prospects for the study of language context
with the positive youth development. Particularly when connecting the ex-
perience of developmental assets or positive outcomes with the findings of
interdisciplinary research on immigrant adolescents, which show the pos-
itive effects of multilingualism/multiculturalism on personal development
(e.g., Dewaele & Oudenhoven, 2009), we might see the intersection of find-
ings that point in the same direction: ones that confirm the presence of
strengths in immigrant youth arising from the specificity of their individ-
ual and social context, as determined by their multilingual/multicultural
identity and formed in the acculturation process.
Below, we present two tables that provide an overview of the main ar-
eas of intersection between the two PYD perspectives (developmental as-
sets and the 5Cs) and the main findings from the study of multilingualism.
The label Dimensions of multilingualism represents its holistic conception
from sociolinguistic research that moves beyond the sole linguistic realm
and sees language multi-competence as the result of the dynamic growth of
individual multilingualism, which “affects not just an individual’s cogni-
tion but also that individual’s personality” (Dewaele, 2016, p. 2). From this
perspective, we indicate points of intersection where we believe the ‘speak-
ing/using’ of multiple languages (i.e., language knowledge, language use,
self-perceived language proficiency) as a variable might become relevant
for the study of the strengths of all youth and the fostering of their positive
development.
228
