Language as a Proxy in Inclusion and Exclusion: A focus on children

Language thus acts as a gatekeeper for in/exclusion in society, and speaking an official, national language is portrayed as a sign of loyalty towards the state and a proof of ‘integration’ and trustworthiness. In this, language practices become a site in which assumptions about belonging, competence and cultural alignment are imposed. This is also relevant in institutional encounters, where assessment, documentation and language requirements may shape access, participation and belonging. 

Research in language studies has, however, for several decades shown how language ideologies are always about more than language. In many state policies, language is used as a proxy for race, ethnicity, religion or other categories that cannot legally act as basis for differentiation. In this, certain populations and speakers are surveilled and marked more than others, maintaining colonial power asymmetries. ‘Language barriers’ thereby also reflect embedded power hierarchies and structures to in/exclude. 

Monolingual language ideologies are deeply embedded in conceptions of identity and belonging, as well as in how the host society interprets its existing linguistic diversity in relation to the linguistic integration of newcomers. At the same time, research shows that an individual’s language use reflects their linguistic citizenship: their agency, participation, and opportunities to exercise control over their linguistic resources and to construct new identities and communities.

This panel aims to bring together scholars working at the intersection of language and migration studies to explore different ways in which language acts as a means for social inclusion/exclusion, through topics concerning for example:

• Language learning and teaching
• Language requirements and testing
• Language in institutional encounters
• Language ideologies
• Linguistic citizenship and activism

The language of the session is English, and we invite presentations from a range of contexts and angles.

Scholarship on Finland’s bilingual framework has often described it as a form of parallel monolingualism, where Finnish- and Swedish-language institutions operate as largely separate cultural spaces. While this spatial separation has been regarded as essential for safeguarding minority languages, it also reflects broader language ideologies that assume languages and communities exist as distinct and bounded entities. However, as children in Finland increasingly grow up navigating multiple linguistic landscapes in which Finnish and Swedish coexist alongside a wide range of heritage languages, it is worth reconsidering whether this model adequately captures their everyday linguistic realities.

Drawing on one year of multi-sited ethnography and 21 drawing-elicitation interviews with cross cultural children and young people of Latin American backgrounds living in the Helsinki Metropolitan Region, this presentation examines how they move across multiple linguistic environments and the meanings they attach to these experiences. The findings show that participants mobilise fluid linguistic and cultural repertoires closely intertwined with emotions, relationships, and everyday practices of belonging. At the same time, these repertoires are experienced differently across the city. While some institutional settings continue to privilege monolingual language practices, superdiverse container spaces—multilingual settings where different languages coexist and are enacted in everyday life—create opportunities for translanguaging and transknowledging that challenge rigid linguistic boundaries. As a result, the same linguistic practices may be welcomed in some settings while questioned or othered in others.

By foregrounding children’s own experiences, the paper argues that language does not function as a universal mechanism of inclusion or exclusion. Instead, the contrasting experiences of the same children across different urban settings demonstrates that processes of in/exclusion emerge through the interaction between children’s linguistic repertoires and the language ideologies embedded in particular urban spaces. In doing so, the paper shows that the relationship between language and belonging is spatially situated.

Language is often treated as a condition for, and an important part of, participation in educational institutions (Ministry of Education and Research, 2017). In this paper, we want to reverse the question and ask how participation itself enables or hinders opportunities for language use, language acquisition, and belonging among multilingual children in Norwegian Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC).

The study draws on a qualitative case study of a single culturally and linguistically diverse ECEC institution selected as a “good practice” case. The empirical material comprises participant observation in two departments, staff interviews, and six group conversations with 14 children aged four to five. The analysis focuses on two patterns in the data: organised participation and linguistic belonging. We analyse how organised participation functioned as supportive scaffolding to enable language use (Wood et.al., 1976) and draw on usage-based approaches to language acquisition through input, exposure, and meaningful social interaction (Bybee, 2010; Tomasello, 2003). We use Yuval-Davis’s (2011) politics of belonging to analyse how these participation structures simultaneously shape the boundaries and conditions of linguistic belonging.

The findings show that participation was partly organised to reduce the dependence on Norwegian verbal skills. Visual dayboards, activity boards, and picture supports helped children understand routines and negotiate access to daily activities through play. Children use language to define their relationship with home, ECEC, family, and peers. Home languages were visible and valued in ECEC, but Norwegian was most linked to full participation.

We argue that language can act as a gatekeeper to inclusion, but the relationship is recursive rather than one-dimensional: limited access to participation can also constrain opportunities to develop the language competence ECEC institutions expect. Inclusion and belonging therefore depend not only on children’s linguistic competence but also on how institutions construct communicative participation.

When doing research on languages in communities with a long history of exploitation and discrimination, scholars bear an ethical responsibility to address unequal power relations. Following centuries of Norwegianization and forced assimilation within the educational system, Sámi languages are categorized as severely endangered (UNESCO, 2010). Language revitalization, understood as an ongoing process to strengthen Sámi culture and identity, is thus an increasingly important topic within Sámi education (The Truth and Reconciliation Commision, 2023). However, there is limited research on Sámi-speaking children’s language development, and the role language plays in inclusive special needs education.

This paper will draw on a mixed method study; Váibmogiella / Language of the Heart. The study consists of an ongoing quantitative longitudinal project aiming to explore how to support Sámi-speaking children in their social and academic development in Norway, and a qualitative ethnographic project further investigating inclusion of Sámi pupils with special needs, foregrounding the perspectives of Sámi children and their parents.

As research on the Sámi communities has historically reinforced discriminatory practices, it is important to establish trust between researchers and communities. This is especially important when issues connected to language are focused, as language is deeply intwined with feelings of inclusion and/or exclusion. While indigenous research has mainly focused of small-scale qualitative research, there has been limited attention on how large-scale quantitative projects can be conducted while maintaining core values in indigenous ethical frameworks.

This paper argues more focus within minority and migration research on (1) the interplay between minority language and inclusion of children with special needs, and (2) the need for centering local relational practices and minority languages in the research process.

Immigration plays a growing role in Finland’s demographic development. Under Finland’s bilingual language policy, migrants have a statutory right to choose either Finnish or Swedish as their integration language (Act on the Promotion of Integration 681/2023). In practice, however, educational pathways from early childhood to adult education are overwhelmingly organised in Finnish, including in some Swedish-majority municipalities (Bäckman & Haapamäki 2024; Pöyhönen & Simpson 2021; Sundbäck 2017).

In 2023, 84% of pupils in Swedish-medium comprehensive schools had Swedish registered as their first language, 11% Finnish, and 5% another language. Most pupils with migrant backgrounds attending Swedish-medium schools are concentrated in the Helsinki metropolitan area and Ostrobothnia.

There are two legally equal education paths in Finland in both national languages, Swedish and Finnish. Despite this formal equality, disparities in resources between Swedish- and Finnish-medium education have been identified. As a result, the challenges and development needs of Swedish-medium education have been the subject of growing concern. From the perspective of linguistic justice, limited access to Swedish-language integration pathways restricts opportunities for migrant children and young people to participate in Swedish-speaking communities. At the same time, Swedish-medium schools have fewer opportunities than Finnish-medium schools to engage with linguistic and cultural diversity.

This presentation draws on a three-year multidisciplinary project (2025–2028) examining educational pathways for integration through Swedish in Finland. Focusing on municipal policies and practices, we analyse how opportunities to access Swedish-medium comprehensive education are shaped locally. The study is based on interviews with municipal officials, school principals, decision-makers, and integration experts, complemented by policy and document analysis. As data collection is ongoing, the presentation reports initial findings and discusses their implications for linguistic justice, educational equity, and social inclusion.