Linköping University | Master’s thesis, 15 credits|

Master’s program in Child Studies, Year 2|

Fall, 2020|

CHILDREN’S PERSPECTIVES ON BILINGUALISM: A qualitative

study on how Somali children talk about being bilingual in a
Swedish context

Hinda Mohammud (Mohamud) Hussen (Hussein)

Supervisor: Asta Cekaite

Examiner: Anette Wickström

Linköping University

SE-581 83 Linköping, Sweden

+46 013 28 10 00, www.liu.se

Abstract

This is a qualitative study on bilingualism from Somali children’s perspectives. It aims to

examine how Somali-Swedish bilinguals understand their bilingual experiences in a Swedish
context. It looks at questions that relate to their views on language use in family and peer
group interactions, their attitude towards heritage language maintenance, and challenges they
may face in their everyday bilingual experiences. Three interviews were carried out with six
children of Somali background between the age of 12-15 years, interviewed in pairs, and the
empirical data were subsequently analyzed thematically. The findings of the case study show
that children have a high-level of awareness about achieving monolingual-like bilingualism.
This is linked to their language investment in Somali and Swedish languages in order to be
better members of both the Somali community and the Swedish society. From the interviews,
it became clear that Somali and Swedish are equally important for their everyday life for a
variety of reasons, including: maintaining healthy family relationships and bonds, continuing
contact and ties with extended-family, developing ethnic and societal identities, and
understanding and fostering friendship. However, many experienced challenges such as
bullying and embarrassment as a result of, for instance, insufficient knowledge of their
language or avoidance of using multiple languages in public for fear of being mocked.
Furthermore, children are active agents in their learning and in acquiring proficiency in
Somali and Swedish as they explain their choice of preserving their heritage while they
negotiate with teachers to find a balance between language demands in the parental
interactions and those with others in their ethnic group, and achieving native-like mastery of
spoken Swedish.

Keywords: children’s perspectives, bilingualism, heritage language maintenance, identity,

Somali-Swedish bilinguals

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PREFACE

I would like to thank all the staff of Linköping University, the Department of Thematic
Studies/Child Studies, for their professionalism and support they have provided in order to
successfully complete my two years master's program in Child Studies. Special thanks to my
current supervisor, Asta Cekaite, who has provided professional help and supported and
guided me throughout this study process.

In truth, I could not have achieved this without a strong support group. First, my mother, who
has supported me with her prayers and love. Secondly, my husband and daughter, for their
love and understanding, especially my daughter, for giving me the honor to include me in her
bilingual upbringing. Thirdly, the two friends who introduced me to the research participants.
Finally, the children and their families who agreed to participate gave me valuable time to talk
to me and made this qualitative study possible. Thank you all.

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List of tables

Table 1 Demographic information of the children and their spoken languages ........... 13
Table 2 Children’s different ways of using languages .............................................................. 19

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 Table of contents
Abstract................................................................................................................................................................... i

Preface .................................................................................................................................................................... ii

List of tables .......................................................................................................................................................... iii

Table of contents .................................................................................................................................................. iv

Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 1

Research motivation and objectives and questions .................................................................................... 2

2.1 Research motivation and objectives ................................................................................................... 2

2.2 Research questions .............................................................................................................................. 3

Previous research .......................................................................................................................................... 4

3.1 Main research concepts ....................................................................................................................... 4

3.1.1 Language, heritage language, and bilingualism ........................................................................... 4

3.1.2 Language, culture, and ethnicity.................................................................................................... 5

3.1.3 Agency and structure ...................................................................................................................... 5

3.1.4 Language policy at a family and a national level .......................................................................... 6

3.2 Reviews of studies on bi/multilingualism ........................................................................................... 8

3.2.1 Research on children’s bilingual acquisition and development .................................................. 8

3.2.2 Research on the advantages of bilingualism and heritage language ......................................... 10

3.2.3 Children’s role in bi/multilingualism ........................................................................................... 11

Method ......................................................................................................................................................... 12

4.1 Participants recruitment ................................................................................................................... 12

4.2 Interviews and interview setting ....................................................................................................... 14

4.3 Ethical considerations ....................................................................................................................... 16

4.4 Data analysis ...................................................................................................................................... 18

Findings ........................................................................................................................................................ 19

5.1 Choice of using languages for different purposes ........................................................................... 19

5.2 Importance, views, and values related to bilingualism and heritage language ............................ 21

5.2.1 Feeling of belonging ...................................................................................................................... 22

5.2.2 Child-parents and child-siblings relationships ........................................................................... 23

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 5.2.3 Bi/multilingualism for creating friendship .................................................................................. 24

5.2.4 Mastering heritage language ........................................................................................................ 25

5.2.5 Family ties and interactions with the ethnic community ........................................................... 26

5.3 Challenges associated with bi/multilingualism ................................................................................ 27

5.3.1 Embarrassment ............................................................................................................................. 27

5.3.2 Different dialect confusion ............................................................................................................ 28

5.3.3 Difficult knowing or alternating languages ................................................................................. 29

5.3.4 Disbelief in multiple language skills due to outer appearances ................................................. 31

Discussion ..................................................................................................................................................... 33

6.1 Summary of the study ....................................................................................................................... 34

6.2 Similarities and differences between Somali parents’ perspectives and children’s perspectives 35

Conclusions, implications, and future research ........................................................................................ 36

Reference list ............................................................................................................................................... 38

Appendices ................................................................................................................................................... 41

9.1 Appendix 1. Interview guide English and Swedish versions .............................................................. 41

9.2 Appendix 2. Consent form in English, Swedish and Somali .......................................................... 44

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 Introduction
Many children in Sweden and around the world are bi/multilingual. Among the reasons for
early bilingualism is migration; children either migrate by themselves or reunite with their
parents or may even be born in the new country to immigrant parents. Sweden has a high
record of welcoming refugees from all over the world. People of Somali background are
among the people who came to Sweden, mainly for refugee and family reunification reasons.
According to recent statistics, the number of Somali people in Sweden who were born in
Somalia is over 105,000 (Statiska Centralbyrån, 2019). However, many other Somali people
speak Somali as their mother-tongue, like those from Ethiopia, Kenya, and Djibouti, of which
their statistics are not included in the recent statistics. It is because these statistics' nature
differs from what I was looking for, i.e., these people’s spoken language or mother-tongue.
When looking at the number of Somali children in Sweden, 21,100 primary-school children
were eligible for Somali mother-tongue teaching classes in the school year 2018/2019
(Skolverket, 2019: 10). Nevertheless, these statistics could give us an estimation of children
of Somali backgrounds in Sweden.

This qualitative study focuses on children’s perspectives on their bilingual experiences, the
meanings they attribute to bilingualism in a Swedish context. The present study takes an
interpretivist epistemological approach to understand children’s meaning-making on
bilingualism. Children are also regarded as competent and capable social actors who can
express their feelings and views; hence can contribute knowledge to the social world they are
part of; therefore, their perspectives worth study on their own rights (James and Prout, 1997:
4). For that reason, the current study investigates how children as social agents interpret their
bilingual experiences and skills. It specifically seeks understandings and insights into how 12-
15-year-old children describe their skills and experiences while using language (s) in relation
to family and peer group interactions; their attitudes towards Somali; and how these relate to
ethnicity and social identity.

Language and identity are often linked; by exploring children’s perception of language
practices and maintenance, I hope to provide more insight into children’s meaning-making
about bilingualism in relation to their everyday life experiences. To reach the present study’s
aim, I conducted three group interviews with six children from Somalia and Djibouti who are
living and growing up in Sweden. I analyzed the collected data through thematic analysis and
provided a concluding discussion.

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 Research motivation and objectives and questions
2.1 Research motivation and objectives
This qualitative study investigates children’s perspectives on bilingualism since many studies
account for parents’ perspectives, few rely on children’s own meaning-making on this
phenomenon. My previous study with Somali parents on their views regarding raising
bilingual and bicultural children serves as a point of departure for the current study (Hussen,
2019). In the previous research, I discovered that children’s agency was crucial in family
language policy and heritage language maintenance. Several other factors were influential in
forming family language policy, such as: parenting style regarding sustaining heritage
language and culture; division of linguistic ideologies between fathers and mothers; and
challenges children encounter within their ethnic group. However, in this study, I am
interested in exploring children’s own viewpoints on heritage language and bilingualism,
especially aspects that relate to language use in family interactions and peer group
interactions, ethnic/social identities, and challenges they may face due to their bilingual
realities.

Apart from giving children voices, two other things that motivated me to carry out the current
study with children were my curiosity as a mother-tongue teacher and recent statistics on
Somali children’s enrolment and attendance rates in mother-tongue teaching classes. First, my
curiosity as a Somali mother-tongue teacher inspired me to conduct this study with Somali
children in order to look for deeper understanding and insight into what motivates children to
learn their language. During my several years’ career as a mother-tongue teacher and working
in a school environment, I have seen many Somali children who have been active and
attentive in the late afternoon mother-tongue teaching instruction (MTI)1 classes. Therefore, I
always wanted to hear from children on how they feel about their language. Second, Somali
children regularly attend mother-tongue teaching classes that are taught outside the school
timetable, mostly in the late afternoons. As a report by Statens Offentliga Utredning (SOU,
2019:18) shows, the ten largest mother-tongue teaching classes in primary schools in the
school year 2017/18 were Arabic, Somali, English, Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, Persian,
Kurdish, Spanish, Finish, Albanian, and Polish respectively. The report revealed that Somali

1
Modersmålsundervisning or mother-tongue instruction (MTI) in English is a language subject that is offered to
students who do not have Swedish as their native language to take in public school (Skolverket, 2020).

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has the highest attendance rates among these languages, whereby 4 out of 5 eligible Somali
pupils regularly attended the MTI teaching classes (SOU, 2019:18: 18). Therefore, I want to
explore further children’s own meaning-making of learning and keeping their language hence
being Somali-Swedish bilinguals.

The concept of children's perspectives is a vital aspect in the field of Child Studies. James and
James (2012: 12) claimed that child-focused research, which is the center of childhood
studies, respects children's individuality, perspectives, and standpoint, given that children do
have something to contribute on matters that affect their lives. This thesis research is situated
within the field of child-focused research because it sees children as competent social actors
who can “negotiate, share, and create culture with adults and each other” (Corsaro, 2012:
488). Therefore, the purpose of my research is to contribute to the field of childhood studies
that regards children as individuals and active participants in their societies who have
something to say about their everyday experiences; hence they are worth study in their own
rights (James, 2009: 34).

2.2 Research questions

To achieve the current study’s aim, I formulated an overarching research question: What are
Somali children’s notions about being bilingual in a Swedish context? Mainly, the present
study investigates children’s perspectives on being bilingual in relation to three aspects:

- How do children interpret their experiences using Somali or/and Swedish in their
everyday interactions with peer groups in school and leisure time?
- How do children perceive their everyday communication with parents and siblings?
And so, how do children talk about the significance of heritage language skills and
maintenance?
- What challenges do children associate with their everyday bilingual experiences?

I have conducted qualitative semi-structured interviews to get more insight into children’s
viewpoints on bilingualism.

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 Previous research
3.1 Main research concepts
3.1.1 Language, heritage language, and bilingualism
Language, whether written or spoken or sign/language that is conveyed through gestures, is a
medium of communication between humans. Language is not static but “open, dynamic,
energetic, constantly evolving and personal” (Shohamy, 2006: 5). Individuals use language to
express their views and thoughts; therefore, spoken languages and their varieties are likely to
change and evolve fast since individuals in various communities speak different dialects and
varieties (Shohamy, 2006: 8). In the context of immigration, a variety of terms are used to
refer to what is called “first language” (L1), which is a language learned and spoken by a
person: mother-tongue, heritage language (HL), family language, and a minority language. On
the other hand, a second language (L2) refers to a majority language or a dominant language
in a particular society. Usually, it is the national language and/or the language of instruction at
the school.

In the present study, I will be using the term “heritage language” when referring to the
children’s spoken language linked to their heritage or country of origin. First, the term
“heritage language” is a new way to refer to what is used to be called a “minority language”
within a dominant language context. It is originated in the USA and usually is used in the
context of second-generation immigrants– children whose parents immigrated at a younger
age– are referred to as heritage-speakers (Benmamoun et al., 2013: 133). I would argue that
this term can also be extended to children of Somali immigrants since their language is a
minority in the Swedish context. It means that Somali children who were born in Sweden or
came at a younger age are Somali heritage-speakers since, even if they were born to
immigrant parents, they might have Swedish as their primary language, given that Swedish is
the national language and the language of instruction at school. The other term that I will use
in this study is bilingual or bilingualism, although children can be multilingual. But then what
is bilingualism? Bilingualism is “the ability to speak two languages” (Merriam-Webster,
2020). It entails that a bilingual person can express their views in two languages in their daily
lives. It also means that bilinguals have native-like abilities to control two languages
(Macrory, 2006: 160). I argue that Somali children born in Sweden or came at a younger age
are Somali-Swedish bilinguals since they learned both languages from infancy.

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3.1.2 Language, culture, and ethnicity
It can be said that culture is a way of life of a particular group of people who have their own
system of beliefs, norms, and values. Culture and language are linked in that one of the
primary modes of transmission is through language (Reaume and Pinto, 2012: 40). Culture
also relates to language in terms of symbolic and communication relationships; when people
speak, they tend to translate and interpret but what helps them comprehend depends on the
unique culture of that language (Edward, 2009: 55). It is because, during a speech, a speaker
uses non-verbal signs and gesture that is unique for that particular language and its native
speakers (ibid. 2009). The other concept that is related to language and culture is ethnicity.
Ethnicity, according to James and James (2012: 49), is “the combination of characteristics
derived from a person’s geographic and hence national origins and heritage, which are
acquired by birth and used to demarcate and maintain different in background and identity.”
Ethnicity revolves around race and culture because people with the same ethnic group often
have the same physical outer appearance and “cultural heritage in terms of their traditions,
behaviours and attitudes” (ibid. 49). In other words, people with the same ethnic backgrounds
often dress the same way, eat the same food, have the same dressing styles, etc., and “this
heritage is often reflected in similarities between their languages, religious beliefs and shared
history” (ibid. 49). I argue that this can be applied to the children of Somali backgrounds in
Sweden because, even though they may have different nationalities, they share the same
cultural and language heritage, religious beliefs, and origins.

Moreover, ethnicity is crucial in understanding the way we define and understand ourselves as
persons and understand social identity “in terms of creation and recognition of difference”
(ibid. 49). Additionally, understanding ethnicity is essential since it is connected to structure
and agency (James and James, 2012: 50), which is very important in understanding childhood
bilingualism and heritage language management. I will discuss these connections in the next
sections.

3.1.3 Agency and structure

Children in the present study are understood as human agents. Agency is a complex and
multidimensional concept. To be an agentic being in relation to human persons means to have
a conscious mind, have free will to do things, and reflect upon actions (Fuchs, 2001: 26). The
agentic individuals are aware of themselves, the world around them, and their relationship
with other humans; hence their intrapersonal and interpersonal interactions are “symbolic and
meaningful” (Fuchs, 2001: 26). Micro/macro theorists discussed agency in relation to

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structure. Habermas (in Fuchs, 2001: 24) argues that individuals with the agency can make
changes through their actions and intentions by reconceptualizing and renegotiating the
situation they find themselves in; however, the structure or macrosystem sets the limit on
what the agency can achieve. According to sociocultural theorists (Wertsch et al., 1993), the
agency is not just an individual who initiates and takes actions in isolation; instead, the
agency is an individual who operates within a group or a larger society. Thus, an agent’s
thoughts and actions are heavily influenced by “mediational means” such as the social
language of a particular historical, cultural, and institutional context (Ibid., 1993: 342, 352). In
other words, the agency is socially and culturally mediated; although individual actions are
initiated inward, understanding the agent's actions means understanding the group to which
the agent belongs (Ibid., 1993). The issue of children’s agency is a crucial factor in
understanding HL maintenance and bilingualism. I will discuss this further in the next section.

3.1.4 Language policy at a family and a national level

The present study examines how Somali children perceive their HL's maintenance in the
majority context based on their everyday life experiences. However, children’s experiences
cannot be understood in isolation from their parents who raise and foster them. Therefore, to
understand children’s attitudes towards HL preservation in a dominant language context, it is
very relevant to understand factors that may influence their bilingual experiences, such as
family language policy (FLP). Family language policy refers to “explicit and overt planning
in relation to language use within the home among family members and provides an
integrated overview of research on how languages are managed, learned, and negotiated
within families” (King, Fogle, and Logan-Terry, 2008: 907). FLP can be understood in
relation to language policy, which is closely linked to ideology and practices (Shohamy,
2006). Language policy has three characteristics, i.e., language beliefs or ideologies, language
practices, and “efforts to modify or influence that practice by any kind of intervention,
planning or management” (Spolsky, 2004: 5). In other words, within a speech community,
there are language varieties and dialects, and people may prefer to use one variety over the
others (ibid., 2004). Therefore, individuals with authority make efforts to change language
ideologies and practices of their community in order to keep the original texts such as “sacred
texts” or to maintain “the purity of standard varieties,” for the latter to safeguard “national
identity” (Spolsky and Hult, 2008: 2-3). Consequently, language ideologies play a very
significant role in child bilingualism and heritage language maintenance.

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Language policy is used within social organizations such as a state and a family. On the one
hand, at the state level, it focuses on language use in the public sphere and how different
policies affect language shift or loss (Spolsky, 2004). On the other hand, it focuses on
language beliefs and practices at the family level and how these influence children’s language
use and acquisition (Spolsky, 2004). Therefore, the field of FLP combines research on
language policy and child language acquisition to understand how family language policy
works (King, Fogle, and Logan-Terry, 2008). Bridging the gap between the two fields, FLP
investigates how language is used in parent-child interactions; parental linguistic ideologies,
beliefs, and language use; their expectations about language and efforts they do to shape
language use in the family and learning achievements (King, Fogle, and Logan-Terry, 2008:
909). King and colleagues (2008: 907) assert that family language policies are very crucial for
“children’s developmental trajectories, connect in significant ways with children’s formal
school success, and collectively determine the maintenance and future status of minority
languages.”

The resent research in the field of family language policy investigates three areas: namely,
how children’s agency influences parental language policy and decisions; what kind of link
exists between family’s internal and external ideologies and language use; and how all these
interconnects with raising children in a transnational family context (Fogle and King, 2013:
5). To implement FLP, parents keep speaking the preferred language in conversations;
however, children often use the majority language (King and Logan-Terry, 2008). As a result,
in some cases, parents introduce explicit rules such as punishment if a child does not comply
with the parent’s language choice in parent-child interactions in order to reinforce FLP at
home (Fogle and King, 2013: 8). However, children negotiate and challenge parental
language choices, which affect family language policies over time (ibid., 2013).

3.1.4.1 Identity, language ideologies, and practice

In the multilingual and indigenous contexts, attitudes towards languages change and evolve
over time; these depend on various factors such as different contexts, ages, time, aims, and
socio-political structures (Shohamy, 2006: 9). Language is dynamic, and the dynamic nature
of language results from the construction and reconstruction of language by individuals or
groups in relation to social, political, cultural, and economic grounds (Shohamy, 2006;
Kroskrity, 2004). One of the constructions of a language is that language is a marker of ethnic
identity; this means that when you speak and use a language you belong to a specific ethnic
group. Thus, ethnic or ethnicity is not stable; instead, it is “self-perceived or external

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attributed, complex and constantly modified by changing social, political and demographic
conditions” (Spolsky, 2012: 7). Ethnic identity and language policy are also linked, and these
are influenced by socio-political and socio-economic contexts in which we find ourselves
(Garcia, 2012: 86).

Individuals identify themselves with a group by using language, and this act is called
ethnifying and languaging (Garcia, 2012). However, the action of “ethnifying and languaging
change internally and externally” (i.e., at family and state level) depending on the political
economy and language ideologies of a situated social context, which then affects language
policy (Garcia, 2012: 88). It means that the language policy of a particular social context
either enables or constrains the opportunity to practice the minority language; therefore,
specific ethnic identities and language identities constitute a continuum (ibid.). It is the
external power and ideologies that facilitate and make it possible for minority language to
prosper in the dominant context. It is achieved through language policy that supports
multilanguaging; through political and economic support of language management; and the
promotion of diverse languages within its education system (ibid.). In the Swedish context,
bilingualism and multilingualism are highly supported and encouraged. According to the
National Agency for Education (Skolverket), children who do not speak Swedish as their
mother-tongue are offered opportunities to learn their native language (HL) at school; and this
gives children the chances to develop knowledge in and about their language by way of
supporting the development of children’s language, identity, personality, and creative
thinking, which in turn are prerequisites to learn Swedish, other languages, and school
subjects (Skolverket, 2020, my own translation). The statement of the Skolverket shows that
language equals identity, which Sweden strives to uphold for children of diverse ethnicities.

3.2 Reviews of studies on bi/multilingualism

3.2.1 Research on children’s bilingual acquisition and development
Acquisition of both HL and societal language and achievement of native-like bilingualism are
complicated issues. It is because many factors may contribute to the realization of successful
bilingualism. Early language acquisition often occurs in child-parent interactions. Studies
have shown that language input quality correlates with children’s competency in language/s
(De Houwer, 2011; Zauche et al., 2016). It is also possible for children, who are learning two
languages at birth or L2 before six years, to achieve equal proficiency in two languages if
their parents invest more in both languages (De Houwer, 2011). In the case of immigration,
many parents try very hard to teach and maintain HL to socialize their cultural heritage and

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good parenting. HL maintenance is linked to the children’s well-being because parents make
effective communication with their children if they use HL than the societal language, which
is significant for good parenting since parents feel more respected and competent
(Leyendecker et al., 2018: 62). Apart from instilling and socializing their culture, it may also
be possible that many parents communicate emotions and describe feelings better in their
language (Leyendecker et al., 2018: 65; Hussen, 2019: 18). However, today’s busy world may
prevent many parents from having a good time with their children since many children spend
longer hours at day-cares. The limited exposure to parent-child interaction due to work (or
even study) may affect children’s acquisition of HL in their early years of life, although they
may catch-up over time if given opportunities to learn their HL (Macrory, 2006: 162, 167).

To compensate for the missed time with parents, early childhood educators could contribute
to HL development. For instance, allowing the children who speak the same language to
interact with one another, provide books and other learning material, and follow up children’s
bilingual development by engaging with parents for their children’s learning HL (Macrory,
2006: 162, 167). In that way, children may have a positive mindset to accept HL's importance
not only for the home but also outside the home (ibid., 2006). Interactions between siblings
may also shape children’s language acquisition. Older siblings act as the more knowledgeable
and become the role-models of their younger siblings as they take the role of a mother or a
father, promoting the child’s successful bilingual competence (Barron-Hauwaert, 2011: 3-4).
However, some children speak only one language in the bilingual family context if the parents
support both languages' coexistence in child-parent interactions; that is, the parent says in L1
and the child responds in L2 (De Houwer, 2011).

How fast one learns and becomes competent in two languages could be a genetic factor.
Scholars have shown that language aptitude2 equally affects knowledge of L1 and L2 (Bylund
et al., 2012). Bylund and colleagues found in their study with adult Spanish/Swedish
bilinguals whose age of acquisition of L1 and L2 were within the optimum period of
acquisition of language, i.e., 1-12 years achieved native-like bilingualism (Bylund et al.,
2012). The authors compared the control group with Swedish monolingual and Spanish
monolingual speakers. Most of the bilinguals did not achieve a monolingual level of

2
Language aptitude is an innate, relatively fixed skill for acquiring and processing language structure
(DeKeyser, 2000, in Bylund, et al., 2012: 222).

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proficiency either in Spanish or Swedish; however, a few bilinguals reached a monolingual-
like level in L1 and L2 (Bylund et al., 2012).

3.2.2 Research on the advantages of bilingualism and heritage language

Previous studies have discovered several advantages associated with bilingualism that are not
possible in monolingualism. For instance, bilingual children could develop bi-lexical skills in
two languages when formal mother-tongue teachings are offered in school settings (Ganuza
and Hedman, 2017). According to Polinsky (2015), the acquisition of two languages before
the age of five has some cognitive advantages, such as the human brain becomes more
flexible to alternate between different tasks. Bilingualism has social benefits as Ikizer and
Ramírez-Esparza (2018) note, bilinguals alternate two languages they speak and possibly
alternate between these languages' cultures. Bilinguals could use this tool to fit in different
social situations since they have the skills to smoothly socialize with people who have
different cultural and linguistic backgrounds (Ikizer and Ramírez-Esparza, 2018; Hussen,
2019). In a Somali context, HL facilitates children to mingle with other children and adults of
the same heritage (Hussen, 2019). However, children who cannot speak proper Somali face
bullying and even isolation from the rest of their ethnic group since HL is both a medium of
appropriate communication and understanding among these people and a marker of
Somaliness and belonging (Hussen, 2019).

On the one hand, knowledge of HL helps children to keep ties with families and ethnic
groups; on the other hand, mastering the societal language also helps children connect with
the outside world, such as: making friends outside their ethnic group, having good grades in
school, and career goals (Leyendecker et al., 2018: 62). Indeed, play, friendship, and peer
group interactions are paramount for children’s wellbeing and learning. Bilingualism help
children find friends from various ethnic backgrounds and consequently learn languages
(Hussen, 2019). Playing with children of the same heritage helps children get friends of the
same origin; hence they could master languages. For instance, children born to Somali
immigrant parents who could not speak HL and those who are newly-arrived in Sweden who
could not communicate in Swedish could learn Somali and Swedish from one another
(Hussen, 2019). Speaking Swedish and sometimes English at school and leisure time further
help children get more playmates and friends and learn more language/s (Hussen, 2019).
Other advantages related to knowing heritage language include, but are not limited to, keeping
family ties and connections to their origin, and it is linked to keeping cultural identity (Park

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and Sarkar, 2007; Hussen, 2019). In their interviews and questionnaires-based study with
Korean immigrant parents in Montreal in Canada, Park and Sarkar (2007: 232) found that
parents believe if their children maintain their language, their children would also preserve
their cultural identity.
3.2.3 Children’s role in bi/multilingualism
Views and experiences of Somali children in Sweden have not been studied much before.
However, a significant number of studies on bi/multilingualism explore how children view
their HL and become bilingual. For instance, Gyogi (2015) investigated how two Japanese-
English bilingual children with varying backgrounds use their agency in choosing specific
languages in the family and other places. The author found that children negotiate and create
space to practice both languages in the family despite differing situations. The author also
found two types of agency, i.e., a positive agency whereby a child reacts to a parent’s attitude
towards bilingualism and shows competence in two languages. In contrast, in the negative
agency, a child shows agency through negotiation and resistance to a parent’s monolingual
policy by speaking both Japanese and English in family interactions and not just Japanese.

Gyogi’s (2015) data comprised semi-structured interviews, participant observations, and

audio-recordings of family conversations and were analyzed through interaction analysis and
thematic analysis. Gyoji (2015) conceptualized children’s perspectives in the form of action
and examined them through observations. Gyoji (2015) also interpreted children’s own
interpretation of languages and showed children’s awareness of their family language policy
and the need to learn English since they live in the UK. Although children felt speaking
exclusive Japanese as “strange and unnatural,” they managed to use only their language,
especially when they have no choice but to speak only Japanese; for instance, when one of the
two children were talking to the researcher (Gyoji, 2015: 761-762).

In her conversational analysis of data from two fieldwork studies, Kheirkhah (2016)
investigated language policy and practices within a family environment, focusing on
children’s contribution to language maintenance. The research questions deal with how family
language policy, practice, and management are possible when children oppose parents’
aspirations. Kheirkhah (2016) found that parents’ strategies to heritage language maintenance
interrupt parent-child social relations. She also discovered that family language policy
changes over time since children resist language management strategies, and parents adjust
accordingly. Kheirkhah (2016) also noticed siblings' role in language management, whereby
older siblings correct younger siblings’ words and language use in their parents' presence.

11
Kheirkhah (2016) claims that age is an essential factor in understanding how family language
policy and practices work. In summary, the findings of the study of Kheirkhah (2016) confirm
that family language policy is a collaborative task between all family members.

In a study of a multilingual school setting, Cekaite and Björk-Willén (2012) investigated how
peer group interactions promote children’s understanding of school norms for appropriate
language use. Cekaite and Björk-Willen (2012: 185) found that children correct each other’s
language and propose appropriate words; in this way, children present signs of “competences,
conduct and identities” that are associated with language skills. Cekaite and Björk-Willén
(2012) also discovered that language corrections were a positive way of showing agency
among the peer group. Similarly, Cekaite and Björk-Willén (2012) also noticed that children’s
language acquisition occurs both through teacher-pupil and among peer group interactions.

The reviewed studies support the ontological perspective on bilingualism as a social

phenomenon and used various types of data to understand this phenomenon.

Method
4.1 Participants recruitment
The present study consisted of six Somali adolescents who are living and growing up in
Sweden. I have selected participants from three different places: two large-sized towns and
one small-sized town in Sweden. I consciously decided on this type of selection to get
different viewpoints, and I used snowball sampling3 (Bryman, 2016: 415). It was not
appropriate to conduct at a center where I work because I avoided putting pressure on
participants to consent. It was also not reasonable to carry out at school; instead, it was more
logical to approach parents since access to parents would enable me to ask children if they
want to partake in my study. However, this choice has two consequences. a) parents would
function as gatekeepers for individual children, whereas school principals and teachers serve
as gatekeepers for an entire group of children. In the end, this may not make a difference for
which children participate in the study as the parents who would not allow me to ask their

3
Snowball sample is “a technique in which the researcher initially samples a small group of people
relevant to the research question, and these sampled participants propose other participants who have
had the experience or characteristics relevant to the research” (Bryman, 2016: 415).

12
child to participate would probably not have consented even if I would have asked the
children first in school. b) With data collection at a particular school, all participants would
have common denominators— they would probably live in the same area, and their families
would perhaps know each other— and possibly influence each other’s views on bilingualism.
It is not necessarily negative, but it differs from approaching informants through friends and
networks, in which case the children and their families may reside in different parts of
Sweden.

My positionality as a Somali helped me find potential participants of the same descent. First, I
called two of my six previous participants. I informed my interest in interviewing their
children on their bilingual experiences, one child from each family since their children know
each other. Only one child agreed to partake in the current study after parents discussed it
with their children. The child who accepted to participate in the interview facilitated to find
another child among his friends. I communicated with the child’s friend and her family, and
the child and her parents agreed on her participation in the study. Second, I also spoke with an
old friend and asked her if she knows families with children of that age, and she connected me
to two families who are living in two different towns in Sweden. Each family introduced me
to another family so that I can interview children who are best friends in pairs. Friendship
pairs are often children who are close friends or know one another very well (Tinson, 2009:
50). In this way, I have got the remaining four children, and snowball sampling helped me
find children who are friends so that the discussion can go smoothly.

I collected both the children’s and their parents’ consent. Three out of the six children were
born in Sweden to two immigrant parents, while the other half of the children were born
outside Sweden and came at a very young age. Five of the six participants were from Somalia
(or their parents came from it), while one child came from Djibouti. Most of the children
speak Somali, Swedish, and English fluently, while some speak other languages such as
Japanese, French, and Spanish. Please see more detailed demographic information of the
children and their spoken languages in table 1.

Table 1 Demographic information of the children and their spoken languages

No. Age sex Years in Is living No. of Country Spoken Friendship

Sweden with siblings of origin languages pair

13
 Child 1 15 Female 10 years The 4 Somalia so, sv, In Interview
years mother en,ar and 1
ja

Child 2 14 Female 11 years The - Djibouti so, sv, en, In interview

years mother ar, and es) 1

Child 3 14 Male 4 years Both 3 Somalia (so, sv, In interview

years parents and en) 2

Child 4 12 Male 12* Both 1 Somalia (So, sv, In interview

years parents and en) 2

Child 5 13 Female 13* Both 3 Somalia (so, sv, en In interview

years parents and fr) 3

Child 6 14 Male 15* Both 3 Somalia (so, sv, en In interview

years parents and fr) 3

Note: * means the child was born in Sweden. - also indicates the child has no siblings.
Language codes also mean So=Somali, sv= Swedish, en=English, ar=Arabic, ja=Japanese,
es=Spanish and fr=French. The bold text shows children’s reported fluency in language while
no bold means little knowledge of that language.

I have carried out three interviews in total. Children in interview one I paired child one and
child two; the same applies to interview two and three. In the analysis, I will be using CH plus
number (CH1, CH2, and so on).

4.2 Interviews and interview setting

I collected the empirical data of the current study through semi-structured group interviews
with six Somali children. In semi-structured interviews, one can formulate open-ended
questions with specific issues of interest to address (Bryman, 2016: 468-469). To carry out the
planned interviews with Somali children, I prepared an interview guide4 that helped me
organize questions and allowed me to capture participants’ perspectives on their everyday life
experiences regarding HL and bilingualism (Bryman, 2016: 469). I conducted three
interviews— children were grouped in pairs, either two girls or two boys were paired, or a
boy and a girl were paired. Children were free to choose which language to be interviewed;

4
The interview guide is attack as appendix 1

14
therefore, two pairs have chosen Swedish, while one pair preferred English. In the present
study, I used semi-structured group interviewing to capture children’s shared meanings and
experiences on bilingualism (Tinson, 2009: 43). In the research, I paired children as
friendship pairs. According to Tinson (2009: 50), friendship pair is useful in research with
children because in order to “prevent socially desirable responses (e.g., it will be more
difficult for the children in a friendship pair to say what they think the researcher wants to
hear as typically the other child will ‘correct’ them).”

In the present study, I adopted an interpretivist epistemological stance to understand heritage

language maintenance and child bilingualism. The interpretivist epistemology is an
intellectual tradition adopted within social science in order to capture the “subjective meaning
of social action” as opposed to objective views of natural science (Bryman, 2016: 26). Social
science differs mainly from natural science because of its emphasis on understanding the
meanings of social reality for the people; thus, “human action is meaningful— that is, it has a
meaning for them, and they act on the basis of meanings that they attribute to their acts and
the act of others” (ibid: 27). In relation to heritage language, bilingualism, and indeed
multilingualism, social reality is created by experiences, actions, and meanings attached to
them. Therefore, I talked to children and asked about their experiences, meanings, and actions
of their bilingual realities in order to get an in-depth understanding of their feelings on
bilingualism, in some cases, even multilingualism.

Language is a vital tool for social research because it facilitates us to ask questions with
interviewees and get answers, and from there, we can find how people use words, language,
and meanings (Bryman, 2016: 525-526). I revealed a specific version of children's meaning-
making of their bilingual experiences and realities to the scientific world (Bryman, 2016: 28),
but it cannot be applied to other contexts. Moreover, children as social actors interpreted their
bilingual or multilingual realities; however, these views are prone to change over time. In that
case, this phenomenon could be understood here and now. I also acknowledge the “double
interpretations of social realities”; in that children interpreted their social world, I then
interpreted children’s interpretations, and even related to the existing literature on the field of
bi/multilingualism (ibid. 28).

Initially, I intended to carry out face-to-face interviews with the children, but this was not
possible because of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic and its risk of transmitting through
human contact. For that reason, the program director recommended switching to Skype

15
interviewing. I have consulted with parents and the children since it was crucial to inform
them about this change, notably to update them about privacy-related issues and check if they
have good Wi-Fi connections. Both the parents and their children were still interested in the
study. Parents assured me about children’s participation in the interviews; therefore, I revised
the consent form and sent it to the families. After school hours on three separate days, I
conducted the three interviews while I was at my home. I called the parents and asked if the
children returned from school and were at home. The paired children go to the same school.
All the children were consistent with the agreed time and came online on Skype. For instance,
one friend went to the other paired friend's home, and for that reason, both children sat in
front of one computer. Considering Covid-19 and its risk in human contact, I asked if it was
safe to be in one place, and both parents and the children assured me that the paired children
would keep their distance from the rest of the people at home.

Using Skype was convenient and the second-best option when face-to-face interactions were
not possible because I could still maintain eye-contact and see children’s relationships during
discussions. Friendship pairs worked well since each child had chosen his/her friend, of
course, with their parents' help, and the children helped one another during discussions. For
instance, when I asked questions, I addressed the child with his/her name; if both the children
answered the question, I will either ask a follow-up question/s or to the next interview
question. However, if in case the child did not answer the question or he or she provided an
answer that disagreed with the understanding of the other child, the second child was making
corrections, explaining more to find answers from their own knowledge and experiences on
bilingualism (Tinson, 2009: 50). Other times I just asked questions without addressing a
specific child, and the paired children took turns and agreed on one or many answers. Several
times, in the interviews, a child had started saying something, and the other child was
finishing the sentence for him/her, while the first child was nodding the head in agreement.
Most importantly, I gave children time to discuss questions and seek clarifications if they
needed them.

4.3 Ethical considerations

My study's basic assumption was that children are competent and knowledgeable; therefore,
they were actively involved with the research process from planning to executing the semi-
structured group interviews (Alderson, 2005: 29-30). However, they were not engaged during
the analysis and reporting phases (Powell et al., 2016: 12) because it was impossible to do so.

16
To safeguard the ethical integrity of the study, I have taken several considerations. First, I did
not disclose the exact places of the participants, and I used pseudonyms in order to prevent
harm to participants (Bryman, 2016: 125-126). Second, I provided an information letter about
the study's purpose during my search of prospective participants; and I sent a consent form in
Somali, Swedish, and English to prevent lack of informed consent5 (Bryman, 2016: 129). I
assumed that children were capable of withdrawing their consent at any time (Farrell, 2005:
1). Third, I was able to minimize the invasion of privacy of interviewees since I informed
participants that the research would not intervene in their privacy by asking very personal
questions because it was not necessary for this study (Bryman, 2016: 131-132; Tinson, 2009:
45). To ensure that, I avoided questions that were too personal, such as why they have chosen
English or Swedish because they are Somali children. Such a question could humiliate some
children since I revealed this in my previous study with parents (Hussen, 2019). Those
children face bullying because of their insufficient knowledge of the Somali language.

Forth, I minimized the deception of participants because it was irrelevant considering the
current study's aim (Bryman, 2016: 133). For instance, to prevent deception, I presented
myself as a parent, a teacher, and a student. I decided to include my career because I could
deceive the participants if I hide that I work as a mother-tongue teacher. Even though I was
not their teacher, I knew a teacher has an influential position; however, being a parent and a
student could reduce the possible tension or anxiety. Furthermore, interviewing children in
friendship pairs helped me reduce the power imbalance between me (the researcher) and the
children, as well as to reduce informants’ anxiety (Tinson, 2009: 50). I minimized asking
questions that may be causing distress, and I was also attentive during discussions; in case
some questions were likely to cause distress.

Additionally, I gave children age-appropriate oral information on what entails participation,

confidentiality, and anonymity before the interviews commenced (The Swedish Research
Council, 2020). I relied on children’s and parents’ consent (Alderson, 2005: 34). Before I
started to interview the children, I briefly talked about my research and its aim. I asked again
if they allowed me to record the interviews and reminded them that they are free to accept or
refuse the interview and even withdraw their consent to participate if they wish to do so at any
time. Moreover, I carefully processed all personal data during data collection, data analysis,

5
Please see a copy of the consent form that was sent out to children and their parents as appendix 2

17
and dissemination (Linköping University, 2019: 1-4). I have also informed participants that I
will voice record the interviews, but I will work offline during transcriptions.

Ethically, the present study is significant because it encourages children’s participation in

matters that affect their lives, such as bilingualism (Alderson, 2005: 28, 30). I hope my study's
findings will contribute to the knowledge of children’s perspectives and understanding of
bilingualism.

4.4 Data analysis

Once I collected the empirical data, I relied on what Braun and Clarke (2006) call thematic
analysis to analyze the collected material. Thematic analysis is a method of “identifying,
analyzing, and reporting patterns (themes) within data” (Braun and Clarke, 2006: 79). When I
was identifying the themes, I also employed recommendations provided by Ryan and Bernard
(in Bryman, 2016: 586) to look for themes, I searched for topics that appear many times,
“indigenous typologies” such as informants’ own meaning-making on bilingualism, the
language children used to describe events, the transition from one topic to another, and
“similarities and differences.” I was also looking for “Linguistic connectors, missing data, and
theory-related material” (Ryan and Bernard in Bryman, 2016: 586).

I used six phases of thematic analysis by Braun and Clarke (2006). Step1) I transcribed the
data in Swedish and English in a Word document, and I thoroughly read and re-read several
times to become familiar with the whole range of the data (Braun and Clarke, 2006: 87).
Step2) I started coding the data and arranged them into groups that relate to one another.
Step3) I then gathered the coded data into potential themes. During the planning of my study,
I assumed that the themes such as: cultural identity; children’s agency within the family
language maintenance (FLM); language practice and strategies; and challenges related to
bilingualism could appear in children’s talks since these emerged both in my previous study
with Somali parents and the reviewed studies. However, not all the emerged themes matched
the assumed themes (I will discuss this in section 6.2). Step4) I evaluated if the themes match
with the coded excepts and the whole data and can make a “thematic map of analysis” (Braun
and Clarke, 2006: 87). Step5) I described the themes and named them. Step6) I prepared the
report by going back and forth to the whole data and checked if there is a relationship between
the emerged themes and the research questions, and the reviewed literature. I carefully
assessed and re-assessed all phases (Braun and Clark, 2006: 86). Three themes emerged, and
they are as follows:

18
 ➢ Choice of using languages for different purposes
➢ Importance, views, and values related to bilingualism and heritage language
➢ Challenges associated with bi/multilingualism

Findings
5.1 Choice of using languages for different purposes
The interviewed children talked about different ways of using language that may help them
learn languages. According to children’s views, the multicompetence of languages is
beneficial for their daily lives, be it communicating with different people within Sweden and
overseas, education, career opportunities, and entertainment.

It is obvious that learning, developing, and sustaining language/s need continuous efforts.
Therefore, when children were asked to tell their preferred language to read, communicate in
social media, and listen to music, etcetera, they provided very diverse answers that will be
illustrated in table 2.

Table 2 Children’s different ways of using languages

Preferred Preferred Preferred Preferred

language to language to language when language to
No.
read books communicate listening to watch television
in social music or play games
media

Child 1 English Swedish and English Arabic

English

Child 2 English Swedish and English English

English

Child 3 Swedish and Swedish and English Swedish

French English

Child 4 Swedish Swedish and English English

English

Child 5 Swedish - - Swedish/English

19
 Child 6 Swedish - - Swedish/English

Note: - Indicates no use of social media or listening to music

Four out of the six children said they prefer to read books in Swedish, while the remaining
two said they like to read in English. They read books either in Swedish and/or in English to
be fluent in those languages. They said Swedish is significant since education is taught in
Swedish, and people communicate mainly in Swedish; therefore, one must acquire fluency in
Swedish. All of the children think knowledge of English is crucial since it is an international
language that facilitates them to have many opportunities, such as communicating with
different people of different backgrounds in the world and studying at university since some
higher education (mainly the second cycle) is taught in English. The children remarked that,
even though the primary teaching is Swedish in the first cycle, some reading materials are
written in English as they observed from siblings of their friends who study at university.
Some even mentioned that knowledge of English is a must, especially when traveling
overseas and future career opportunities.

As multimedia becomes common and available to children, children choose which language
to communicate on social media. Four out of the six children use social media such as:
WhatsApp, Instagram, Viber, Snapchat, etc. These participants remarked that they prefer to
communicate in Swedish or English, depends on who they are communicating with, for
instance, friends or classmates. Children also stated that they use these languages in different
situations, as CH2 specifically told:

“[...] when it comes to my friends, I communicate in Swedish, like the chat is Swedish.
But when it comes to posting on a chatroom, I write in English. Because it is like a
more common language [...].”

The girl in the statement above said she uses Swedish when communicating with close
friends. It may be that her friends live in Sweden, and they all understand Swedish. However,
when it comes to writing in public places on social media, she uses English since, as she said,
“English is more common.” It may be that the chat is open to all people in all corners of the
world.

Four out of the six children said they listen to music in English, while two others maintained
to not listen to music at all. The majority of the children said they watch television; one said

20
she used to watch in Arabic when she was young. The rest of the children said they watch in
their free time either in Swedish or English, depending on what they are watching— the news,
films, comedy, etc. Some of the children also mentioned they play games connected to the
screen of the TV and play either in Swedish or English, depending on where the game was
produced.

In the children’s talks, knowledge of Swedish is a must since they live in Sweden; therefore, it
is crucial to invest in Swedish. It may reveal their eagerness for inclusion and be members of
the Swedish society. Knowledge of English is an added advantage when it comes to
communication with people living in many places in the world, education, and carrier
prospects.

5.2 Importance, views, and values related to bilingualism and heritage language
The analysis of the interviews with six Somali children reveals that heritage language and
being bi/multilingual are vital in many aspects of their lives, such as: making friends with
different people globally, creating healthy family and community ties, and being good at
school, and career prospects.

The interviewed Somali children have expressed their views on being bilingual in Sweden by
presenting the significance of bi/multilingualism. All of the participants agreed that
bilingualism or even multilingualism has various advantages. Children expressed their
feelings about languages as follows:

Interviewer: can you tell me what you think and feel when you hear about
bilingualism?

Ch3: Someone who can interpret in two languages. It is good, for example, if you
know two languages [Somali and Swedish], then you can speak Somali with those
who speak Somali and Swedish with those who speak Swedish.

Here, we can see the child understand bilingualism as the ability to use two languages with
different people of different contexts. Similarly, when children were asked the same question
in the interview1, they replied:

Interviewer: can you tell me what you think and feel when you hear about
bilingualism?

21
 Ch2: I think it is really cool to speak many languages. It is like having many
opportunities to speak with different kinds of people from different places on earth.

Ch1: [...] if you go to a country, and you speak mainly one language, it is gonna really
be hard. If you speak multiple languages [...], that is pretty awesome! So,
multilingualism is a pretty useful tool. It mainly means multiple languages, talking
different languages at the same time.

The above statements of the children uncovered their feelings about bi/multilingualism, such
as: feeling great, having the ability to interact with different people in the world, or using
Somali and Swedish with different people, depending on who the child is speaking. It
indicates children’s eagerness to master Somali to speak with their heritage people, Swedish
with the larger society, and other languages with the world.

5.2.1 Feeling of belonging

Language is a means of communication, but interlocutors’ in-depth understanding depends
not just on the speakers' uttered words, and it is a lot more complicated. When I asked
children: how do you feel when you hear someone speaking Somali? CH6 replied:

I feel at home. That is my language. That is where I come from and stuff, so it feels
good to have people from the same country.

The above quote demonstrated that keeping the company of someone speaking HL creates
feelings of ethnic belonging. It seems that the child linked language and the origin country;
therefore, speaking the shared language, that is, Somali, is a marker of ethnic identity.

Language and cultural identity are linked since shared culture facilitates understandings
among native speakers (Edward, 2009). Two other children connected a sense of belonging
and understanding by speaking HL with ethnic HL speakers. Especially, CH3 and CH5 said
that shared ethnic identity creates a sense of belonging, facilitating a better understanding
between them and their heritage encounters.

Interviewer: how do you feel when you hear someone speaking Somali?

Ch3: I feel he can speak Somali and I talk to him very much in Somali. And he
understands what I mean.

22
Here, the child’s statement explains that the conversation goes more smoothly when speaking
with HL speakers since they, the child and the interlocutor, understand each other more
efficiently. In another interview, I asked the following question.

Interviewer: How do you feel when you speak Somali with Somali people in Sweden?

CH5: I feel very happy! So, here in Sweden, it is not good to know only Swedish, but
it is also good to speak Somali [...].

Interviewer: Can you tell me a little more?

Ch5: So, it will be easier to fit in and feel at home with other friends, maybe Somalis.
It will also be easy to understand each other.

From the above statement, the child revealed that shared language creates a sense of
belonging and positive feelings.

The above statements of the children of two interviews illustrated that HL enables better
understanding and that children feel belonging when they interact with people of the same
heritage. It seems that children have these feelings since they and their heritage encounters
have a common culture. It also tells the role of culture in facilitating understanding among
heritage speakers.

5.2.2 Child-parents and child-siblings relationships

Family language policy may influence how children perceive their language, and some
children may normalize the daily routine of speaking Somali at home. When this question was
asked: How do you feel when you speak Somali with your parents, two participants replied:

CH1: Natural.
Interviewer: What do you mean natural?
CH1: Normal, in everyday life you use [Somali]. In your home, your parents speak
one language not multiple.
CH2: hahaha I guess, I can say natural too. And I use it every day, pretty much, yeah!

The statement above showed that, for some children, it is the norm to speak only the HL at
home and not too many languages. The children normalized FLP as they may have passed the

23
time of negotiating and resisting language use at home as they, together with their parents,
may have established consensus on which language to use within family settings.

Other interviewees reasoned that speaking Somali at home eases understanding and improves
the child-parent relationship. They also think it is a win-win situation since they can develop
language skills in HL; more precisely, two participants responded:

CH6: it feels normal. I speak Somali with my parents so that they understand me
more.

CH5: For me, it is not that special, but it feels good to speak in Somali with parents
because it is the language they know most, and it feels better, and I learn more.

The first child was aware of the importance of speaking HL at home since the child and his
parents understand better if they talk their HL in their interaction, which creates a strong
child-parent relationship. The second statement added that the child develops more Somali
skills, on top of improved understanding between her and her parents, when she speaks
Somali at home with her parents. The children's statements disclosed that speaking HL at
home plays a significant role in a strong parent-child relationship and bond.

Five out of the six children have mentioned that they speak HL with their siblings. They said
it is the same as speaking with parents and sometimes learn from one another. Especially CH5
noted the following:

Ch5: I Speak Somali with my siblings, maybe to help them

Interviewer: Does that mean you teach them?

CH5: I teach the younger ones and the older ones teach me?

The above statement demonstrated that since she has both older and younger siblings, they
teach HL one another; in that, while she teaches younger children, the older children teach
her. It shows the siblings' role in family language management and confirms previous studies
(Kheirkhah, 2016; Hussen, 2019). However, Kheirkhah (2016) adopted a different
methodology to understand the role of siblings in FLM.

5.2.3 Bi/multilingualism for creating friendship

Children who are bi/multilingual can make more linguistic friends at school and in their free
time. The different languages facilitate them to interact with both friends from their ethnic
group and friends from broader society, both ethnic Swedish and immigrant children. When I
asked: How does bilingualism relate to your everyday life? CH5 responded:

24
Bilingualism relates to my daily life because I frequently change [between Somali and
Swedish]. For example, when I am at school or when I am at home. It also varies with who I
talk to. It can be when I am out, so maybe, when I speak with Somali friends, then I mix the
languages a little, both Somali and Swedish.

The above statement illustrated that the child frequently changes between HL and the societal
language, which depends on the situation she finds herself in, such as: at home, at school, or
the playground. It shows how FLP regulates which language to speak at which place. In other
words, the strict use of HL at home. Interestingly, the child has more freedom regarding
which languages to use at the playground when interacting with children of the same heritage.

5.2.4 Mastering heritage language

Some children are aware of the benefits of learning heritage language at home and in school
in terms of bi-literacy skills. When I asked these questions: do you attend mother-tongue
teaching classes, and if so, do you find it easy to learn Somali? Two children replied:

CH6: Yes, it is easy because I always speak Somali at home, and I attend mother-
tongue teaching classes.

CH5: Yes, for the most part, it is easy, but some words are more difficult. I sometimes
learn new words.
CH6: I think it is good to write a little bit in Somali and learn how to write and speak
at home. So, the mother-tongue class teaches me grammar and writing in Somali
which is advantageous in other parts.

The above statements illustrate that children combine speaking Somali at home and partaking
in MTI at school and that this enables children to master their HL. MTI, in particular, helps,
as the children said, to acquire grammar and formal language to develop better writing and
vocabulary skills, which then affects their biliteracy competence and abilities. The children's
claim concurs with findings of a longitudinal study on the effects of MTI on Somali-Swedish
bilinguals’ literacy and vocabulary by Ganuza and Hedman (2017). They found that Somali
children who participate in MTI for a year or more advanced their vocabulary and reading
skills in Somali, which significantly affected school language proficiency (Ganuza and
Hedman, 2017: 126). It is relevant to mention that the two studies differ in terms of
methodology.

25
5.2.5 Family ties and interactions with the ethnic community
All the children agreed that learning Somali is vital for their life because they use their
language to communicate with their overseas extended- families and relatives. They said it is
the only language that their aunts, uncles, and grandparents usually speak. Some children
even stated that their people speak other languages, but it is easier to understand one another
when the HL is used. Remarkably, CH2 mentioned that her father lives in the USA, so it is
normal for her to speak with him in English and Somali equally. As she said, she sometimes
needs each language, even though she considers English as her primary language in terms of
the degree of proficiency.

Another child said it is significant to learn Somali to see how Somalia looks like or the
people's daily lives in Somalia and to know a language that all people there can understand.

Interviewer: How often do you travel to your home country?

Ch4: I have never seen my homeland.

Interviewer: Do you think it is cool to travel to Somalia?

CH4: yes, you can see how it looks like. What they usually do.

Interviewer: Do you think it is good to learn Somali?

CH4: yes, so as to talk to those who cannot speak Swedish or English, and so [...]

The above viewpoint demonstrated that learning HL would help the child understand the
origin country and its people’s everyday life. The desire to visit the origin country and the
curiosity to understanding how the daily life of people of the same heritage back home
reinforces him to learn HL.

In this section, the interviewed children talked about the significance of bilingualism or
multilingualism in their everyday lives. They mentioned HL’s importance for strong family
bonds and relationships and the importance of Swedish and English to connect to different
people here in Sweden and other places in the world. They also describe how HL helps them
connect with children of the same ethnic background in Sweden since HL carries a culture
that would facilitate better understanding. Children also talked about family language
management by speaking and teaching HL within the family environment. They even spoke

26
about speaking HL and participating in MTI further support their language skills and writing
development. Finally, children remarked the HL helps create better family and close relatives
ties and connect with people in their origin countries since Somali is the common language
that all their people speak and understand.

5.3 Challenges associated with bi/multilingualism

Children talked about many benefits of being bilingual or multilingual in the previous themes;
however, according to children, bilingualism comes with their challenges and difficulties.

5.3.1 Embarrassment
Some children may feel embarrassed when they could not master their HL. The feeling of
discomfort to speak correctly in terms of word choice, intonation, pronunciation, etc., may
hinder children from acquiring their HL during parent-child interaction. More specifically,
CH4 remarked that he feels shy and embarrassed when interacting with his parents while
speaking Somali since he cannot pronounce words correctly. Thus, he does not often talk
Somali with his parents because of the fear of making language mistakes.

Interviews showed that parents would not ridicule their children when their children speak
broken because of a lack of knowledge of their HL; nevertheless, some children experienced
this when interacting with their ethnic group. For instance, during the last part of the
interview2, when I asked the children in pairs: What difficulties do you encounter because of
being bilingual/multilingual? They said:

CH4: Yes, Somali, to pronounce. I feel shy.

Interviewer: what do people do when you make the wrong pronunciation?

CH4: as in, they laugh.

Interviewer: how do you feel then?

CH4: [silent]

Ch3: but have you asked why they are laughing at you?

Ch4: No.

Interviewer: But you become silent and go, or?

Ch4: No, I stand still and look at them.

The above statement revealed the child's negative experience when speaking in HL; for
instance, Somali children and adults made fun of him by highlighting the wrong
27
pronunciation. As a result, the child feels shy or loses confidence in speaking HL. This
finding goes in line with my previous study with parents who reported that Somali children
who do not speak native-like through correct pronunciation and articulation in Somali are
equally bullied by Somali children and adults (Hussen, 2019: 26).

Some children also illustrate how they use “SweSom” when they cannot find the word in
Somali during the speech; for instance, CH2 said when she cannot find the word in Somali,
she adds ending (suffix) with the Swedish word. The language mix perfectly works when
speaking with parents and Somali friends, although this created confusion when
communicating with her relatives outside Sweden, and that is when she feels embarrassed. In
her own words, CH2 held:

It is like this morning; I want to say to my mum that her friend was greeting her in
Somali-iyadu way ku soo hälsar-gareynaysay [hälsar means greeting in Swedish and
gareynaysay is a suffix in Somali]. I couldn’t find the word, but blending Swedish
with Somali worked, and my mom understood it. But it is difficult when I am
speaking with my relatives outside Sweden, and I feel embarrassed.

The examples above showed that children are conscious of their proficiency in their HL.
Unlike the previous example, the girl (CH2) tried to keep speaking in Somali with her mother,
and when she could not find the word in Somali at that moment, she borrowed a Swedish
word and added a Somali suffix at the end. However, as the girl mentioned, the language mix
creates confusion when communicating with relates outside Sweden. It also indicated
awareness based on her experience of being bilingual.

5.3.2 Different dialect confusion

Bilingual children sometimes have a preference to speak one language over another (De
Houwer, 2011). The preferred language can be a societal language or a common language. If
children avoid speaking HL outside the home, it may hinder children from interacting with
other Somali-speakers. Two children noted that they avoid talking to other heritage speakers,
and they said:

CH1: it is weird. It is really really weird! … yeah, they have an accent! It is really
different the way I speak, that is why I said, in my brain, is sounds weird!
Interviewer: Is that mean you do not understand them?
CH1: No, I can understand but it sounds weird.

28
 CH2: It is like you live in Stockholm and you go to Skåne, they speak a different
dialect. You gonna understand them but you will not fully understand them fluently
until you learn their language which is hard to understand [...].
Interviewer: Do you identify yourself with them or related to them?
CH1: No-no,
CH2: No-no. I do not think I speak Somali outside the house. We speak Swedish or
English.

The above statements reveal that children avoid interacting with other children of Somali
backgrounds and people by speaking HL. The preference to not speak HL is linked to
children’s lack of understanding of different Somali dialects and language varieties.

The negative attitude towards speaking Somali outside the home environment could be linked
to a lack of understanding of different Somali dialects and varieties that may differ from those
socialized into those children.

5.3.3 Difficult knowing or alternating languages

Becoming successful bilingual or having equal knowledge of two languages may be hard for
many bilinguals. Difficulties in vocabulary and grammar are the most reported challenges
associated with being young bilingual. The following excerpt from interview3 tells more:

CH6: I have difficulties because it is difficult for me to adapt to the Swedish language
because I do not speak Swedish at home. So, I am a little bit behind compared to the
students who were born in Sweden, for those who speak Swedish at home and in
school. So, it is easy for them when it comes to spoken language with theirs [Swedish,
the child means native Swedish children], so I exercise a bit so that I can catch up with
them, and so on.
Interviewer: Is it speaking or writing that you have a little trouble?
CH6: Speaking
Interviewer: How do you handle these challenges?
CH6: To speak more Swedish, try to learn difficult words.
Interviewer: Which language is your first language, or which language is stronger for
you?
CH6: Swedish and Somali is the second.
Interviewer: Which language is your mother-tongue?
CH6: Somali
Interviewer: Do you have any difficulties in Somali.
29
 CH6: Yes, I want to speak equally Swedish. For Somali, I want to learn Somali
grammar, and I mix Swedish grammar with Somali.
Interviewer: Do you have any problems with the people who speak Somali such as
misunderstanding and stuff?
CH6: In Somali, some guys speak really hard dialects and stuff, but I pretend I
understood.
Interviewer: So, is it your own way of dealing with these challenges?
CH6: I go from there and later ask my parents the meanings of these words, and so on.
The difficulty is knowing both languages equally well. I mix Swedish grammar with
Somali, so when I speak [in Somali], it sounds a bit weird!
Interviewer: Do you think people understand you?
CH6: Ooh! They understand me and then they correct me?

The above excerpt illustrated that when a child is born in Sweden, he may not be fluent in
spoken Swedish as native Swedes because he does not speak Swedish at home, neither can he
speak native-like Somali. However, the child emphasized that he makes efforts to reach the
required level to be a native-like Swedish speaker and learn complicated words in Swedish.
The child also considers himself that his dominant language or L1 is Swedish, and Somali
comes second. Similarly, the child tries to learn Somali and its varieties by speaking more
with the ethnic children; if unknown words emerge during interactions with peers, he tries to
pretend to have understood them and later seeks clarifications from his parents. It shows how
the child attempts to reach balanced monolingual-like bilingualism, where an individual has
equally developed knowledge of two languages.

Some bilingual children have challenges related to spoken Swedish as Ch6 said:

I have two friends who are born in Sweden and have the same challenges with spoken
Swedish at school. One friend got a low-grade in the spoken language from the teacher
and refused to attend Swedish as a second language class with the new students in the
country. After involving his/her parents and the school principal, the friend sat for
another examination and continued with the regular Swedish class with some pre-
school friends of native Swedes. The other friend accepted the teacher's decision and
told his/her parents that if he/she takes Swedish as a second language with children
who are new in Sweden, he/she will get a straight-A.

30
The above scenarios illustrate two different options taken by the two students. One child did
not accept the assessment of the child’s competency of spoken Swedish, but the other child
accepted the assessment.

I interpreted children’s reasoning as follows: the first child may think he/she masters Swedish
as a native-like level since he/she has been schooled in Swedish from kindergarten like native
Swedes. In contrast, the other child may think that he/she has the chance to get a good grade if
he/she sits in a class with children who have not been schooled in the Swedish school system
before. After all, these stories demonstrated that children are not passive in their learning of
the Swedish language since they negotiate with teachers, school principals, and parents as
active social agents who can do something about their learning Swedish and school results.

Another child commented on her daily challenges associated with bilingualism and said:

CH5: In Somali, I have some difficulties in writing and my vocabulary. Difficulties

are sometimes I speak Swedish instead of Somali. Sometimes it is difficult to change
[alternate] languages when you come home or at school. I speak Swedish in some
cases, and I remember the need to speak in Somali [at home or MTI teaching]. I am
just training to speak Somali; it is something you have to work on continuously. I have
no problem with Swedish because I have speaking it for a long time. The Somali
people can misunderstand one another because, like when I talk to the people from
home [Somalia], they speak much better Somali, so it is difficult to understand their
dialect or what words they use.
Interviewer: Do they correct you to speak the correct language?
CH5: Yes, they sometimes help, words, and so on.

The above comments explained that the girl has no problem speaking Swedish, but she does
have in Somali. Her explanation shows that alternating Swedish and Somali at school and
home is the most challenging experience as a young bilingual because of the language she
expected to speak in different places. Another challenge she also mentioned was that
misunderstanding with ethnic Somalis because of language varieties and dialects of the
Somali language. But after all, she said, she gets the help she needs to perfect her Somali
proficiency from her ethnic encounters.

5.3.4 Disbelief in multiple language skills due to outer appearances

In a multilingual context, speaking many languages is not also a challenge-free as some
children mentioned. For instance, some children believe they keep randomly answering in

31
another language than the interlocutor has spoken with them without realizing it, and this
situation may create misunderstanding. They may also feel irritated when other people get
surprised with their multilingual skills, as CH2 specifically mentioned:

CH2: My problem with speaking many languages is like sometimes you say
something in the wrong language, you know, but people take it as if you are not
listening. It is like you talk to someone in one language, but you start answering in
another language.
Interviewer: Can you explain more?
CH2: Let us say I am speaking to an English-speaking person, and in my brain, I
translate everything I am saying, and the person is saying in another language, for
example, they say hi and I respond in Spanish. And they think I am not listening. You
know.
Interviewer: So that is the only problem you encounter?
CH2: No, I have another, people get surprised when they see you speaking another
language?
Interviewer: Surprised?
CH2: Yes, let us say, you are fluent in another language [...] Me I am an African, if I
say I speak Spanish in public, they seem surprised, or if you speak Arabic, they get
surprised! The looks they are giving is like, you speak it!
Interviewer: how do you handle these problems?
CH2: I tell them that I have a problem with mixing languages. Like, I speak many
languages, and it is hard for me to separate them, that is why I responded in the wrong
language, then I go back to the conversation. Just like nothing has happened. I just
leave the place when some people stare at me in disbelief for my multiple language
skills due to how I look.

The above excerpt indicated everyday challenges associated with the child’s multilingual
interactions. For instance, when someone addresses her in English, she accidentally responds
in Spanish because, as she said, it is something happening in her multilingual mind that
translates “hi” into Spanish. Although this creates misunderstanding and makes the encounter
think she is not giving attention, the child corrects the mistake and acknowledges her problem
of responding to what she calls “the wrong language.” Afterward, the conversation goes back
to normal. Another challenge of speaking many languages, as the girl said, is mockery due to
her physical appearance as an African and the languages she speaks. She said some people do

32
not accept her as being African (Somali) and her competence in speaking Spanish or Arabic.
The girl does not confront those who ridicule her but chooses to leave the place immediately.

In summary, children mention various challenges they face due to their bi/multilingualism in
their daily lives at home, school, leisure time, and public places. Children have different
experiences in speaking HL with parents. For example, some children lose confidence in
speaking HL with parents because of being bullies or ashamed by children or adults of the
same heritage for their poor pronunciation of HL. Some others become creative when they
cannot find the right word in Somali by borrowing a Swedish word and then adding a Somali
suffix to continue the conversation with parents in HL. Some children also avoid speaking HL
outside the home due to a lack of understanding of different dialects and language varieties of
the Somali language. Children also mentioned their daily struggles to achieve a monolingual-
like knowledge of both Somali and Swedish. For instance, during interactions with children of
the same heritage, children pretend to have understood HL words and later seek explanations
of these words from their parents. Children also memorize words in Swedish in order to catch
up with regular Swedish classes with monolingual Swedish speakers. Children also have
ongoing negotiation of their perfection in spoken Swedish with Swedish subject teachers.
Lastly, some children may feel it challenging to speak many languages that they sometimes
perceive may create misunderstanding between them and their interlocutors due to responding
to “the wrong language”. Children also fear to speak other languages such as Arabic or
Spanish in public since they are teased and ridiculed by some people for their multilingual
competencies because of their skin color and race.

Discussion
The present study examined how children of Somali backgrounds between 12-15 years of age
talk about being bilingual in a Swedish context. It mainly aimed to investigate questions
related to children’s meaning-making on language use in family and peer-group interactions,
their attitudes towards heritage language skills and maintenance, and the challenges they may
encounter, due to their bi/multilingual realities. To explore children’s perspectives on
bilingualism, I conducted three interviews with six children, interviewed in friendship pairs.
The empirical data were analyzed using thematic analysis by Braun and Clarke (2006). The
present study adopted the interpretivist epistemology approach in order to understand

33
children’s meaning-making on HL and bi/multilingualism. Three themes emerged from the
interviews. These themes deal with: the different choices of using languages for various
motives; the significance and values of heritage language and bi/multilingualism; and some
challenges associated with bi/multilingualism.

6.1 Summary of the study

The presented data show that Somali children indeed engage in efforts to keep their bilingual
identities in their everyday lives. In doing so, they actively speak Somali with their parents,
siblings, extended families, and children of the same ethnic groups at school and leisure time.
Somali children also enroll in heritage language teaching classes at school to develop their
language skills, especially in writing and vocabulary skills. Apart from taking part in Swedish
instruction school, and in some cases English instruction school, all children described that
they connect and socialize in Swedish with children of diverse ethnicities. In doing so, they
may be able to acquire multiple identities.

Children described Somali as their mother-tongue and valued to keep for various reasons, for
instance, for good parent-child interactions, which may strengthen the understanding between
children and their parents, thereby creating healthy family relationships and bonds. Speaking
HL also helps them find heritage language speaking children, which in turn helps master
Somali— allowing them to develop both understanding and sense of belonging with the
people they share cultural heritage. Children believe that Swedish is their primary language
since they have been using it from infancy and most of their everyday life and interactions.
They think knowledge of Swedish is crucial for succeeding in school and finding friends of
diverse ethnic backgrounds. Children also have positive attitudes towards English as they
believe it would help them succeed in higher education. They said some kinds of literature in
the first cycle of the university in Sweden are in English, while some second-cycle programs
are taught in English. They also think knowledge of multiple languages would facilitate their
daily lives, such as: to watch films, play games, career prospects, and interact with diverse
people within and across countries.

The strong driving force to learn native-like HL can be linked to the desire to keep their
Somaliness and access to their heritage people and culture. Children who cannot master their
language encounter several challenges, including bullying and embarrassment; consequently,
they avoid speaking in HL with parents. For instance, when they cannot master their HL in
terms of correct pronunciations and intonation, they are bullied by other children and adults in

34
their ethnic community, which affects their confidence in speaking HL with their family.
Children also avoid talking in HL with people of the same heritage when they cannot
understand different Somali dialects and varieties. It seems children who were born and
growing up in a country that is not spoken to their indigenous language (HL) may think that
their own language is only a one since they have been socialized into just one dialect. Still, if
these kids have been growing up in their home country, they would have realized that there
are different dialects and language varieties within their HL. Furthermore, on top of
previously mentioned challenges, children think that speaking multiple languages in public is
problematic since they face mocking due to their outer appearances, such as their skin color.

6.2 Similarities and differences between Somali parents’ perspectives and children’s
perspectives
Since I have talked to Somali parents in my previous study (Hussen, 2019), I interviewed
Somali children in the current study. I was interested in examining if parents and children
hold the same language perspectives in relation to HL and bilingualism. To explore
similarities and differences between parents' and children’s perspectives, I compared the
themes from children’s talk with the themes found in my previous study. In theme1,
Importance, views, and values related to bilingualism and heritage language, I discovered
children’s notions about ethnic identity were important. In contrast, in my previous study, I
found that participants highlighted the importance of their cultural identity. On the one hand,
ethnic identity is associated with having a positive attitude towards learning and using HL
based on ethnifying as Garcia (2012) stipulated. The Somaliness which children want to
preserve implies learning both Somali language and culture. On the other hand, cultural
identity is associated with learning the cultural part of their origin, of course, using language
(Reaume and Pinto, 2012). It is relevant to mention that my current study differs from my
previous study with Somali parents. The present study examines bilingualism, whereas the
earlier study explored bilingualism and biculturalism. It may explain why there is a difference
between parents’ and children’s views on how they talk about language, identity, and culture.

The interviewed children expressed agentic views on language learning, as these were visible
in all interview themes. For instance, I found children’s agentic views within the family
regarding their active engagement in language learning and teaching siblings. These kinds of
expressions also appeared in the parents' study when they reported their children’s language
use in child-parent interactions (Hussen, 2019). However, what the two studies differ is that,
in the present study, children also expressed agentic views within the school context, as they

35
negotiate their language skills with schoolteachers, parents, and principals. I also noticed
similarities and differences in what parents perceived as challenges and what children
expressed as challenges in theme3. Challenges associated with bi/multilingualism. In both the
children and the parents’ interviews, there are negative feelings associated with using heritage
language within the ethnic community, such as fear of being bullied and isolation due to
children’s poor pronunciation or HL use. However, in the current study, children also reported
that they are ridiculed if they speak Spanish or Arabic with strangers.

Conclusions, implications, and future research

The present study's findings show that Somali children adopted language ideology linked to
keeping their ethnic identity, which goes in line with other studies on HL and cultural/ethnic
identity (Park and Sarkar, 2008; Hussen, 2019). Park and Sarkar’s study differs from both my
current and previous studies in terms of the methodology used, in that they combined
questionnaires and interviews (Park and Sarkar, 2008). In contrast, both my studies are based
on qualitative interviews. In any case, from children’s beliefs and attitudes, I discovered
Somali children indeed want to keep their Somaliness by learning and maintaining their HL.
Children also believe if they preserve their HL, they would learn Swedish and other
languages. Children also think they could acquire native-like bilingualism by investing in both
HL and Swedish. This would help them interact with different people in Sweden, and in doing
so, they could maintain their multiple identities.

The current findings support previous studies on family language maintenance and confirm
that HL maintenance is a collaborative task between all family members (Kheirkhah, 2016;
Hussen, 2019). Children described that they use heritage language in parent-child. Children
also speak Somali at home with siblings; older siblings take the roles of parents and teach HL
as a part of family language policy and practices (Barron-Hauwaert, 2011). It makes family
language learning and maintenance a collective between all its members. However,
Kheirkhah’s study is dissimilar from my studies; in that, she adopted various types of data to
understand this phenomenon, while both my current and previous studies used a particular
type of data, that is, qualitative interviews with different people, that is Somali parents or
children.

Somali children’s beliefs about bilingualism and heritage language indicate agentic
expression, which concurs with what was found in other studies in children’s agency in
language use in the family and school settings (Gjoji, 2015; Cekaite and Björk-Willén, 2012).

36
However, the kind of agency found differs. For instance, in Gyoji's study, children use HL
and English in the family, whereas in my research, children use HL because it is the best way
to strengthen their family relationships and bonds. Children in Cekaite and Björk-Willén
study (2012) study show agency by correcting other children’s language use. In contrast, in
my research, children pretend to have understood language contents during the interactions,
and this is expressions of agency. Gyoji (2015) and Cekaite and Björk-Willén (2012)
observed what children do with language/s, and this differs from my current study because it
was based on children’s perception of language use. Gjoji (2015) also interpreted children’s
own interpretation of languages. Gjoji’s study (2015) is similar to my research in terms of
capturing children’s voices about bilingualism through interviews. Still, the context is
different, i.e., while Gjogi studied Japanese-English bilinguals, I studied Somali-Swedish
bilinguals.

The present study's findings may not be generalizable to other contexts due to its sample size,
i.e., three boys and three girls. However, considering the interviewed Somali children’s
beliefs and attitudes, knowledge of their language is good for their ethnic identity and
belonging, which may correlate with positive feelings and well-being (see in theme 5.2.1).
More research is needed to in-depth examine how HL and ethnic identity affects children’s
personhood and wellbeing. Children also show concern about their competence in spoken
Swedish and how teachers assess it. From children’s views and expressions, two questions
emerged from the findings of this study. a) Does speaking HL and having immigrant parents
hamper the acquisition of native-like societal language? b) Do school pedagogies consider
assessing individual bilingual experience by looking at the role of “language aptitude” in the
acquisition of native-like bilingualism (Bylund et al., 2012). Especially when teaching and
examining the spoken language?

Furthermore, this thesis calls for action directed to the MTI teachers regarding teaching
children the difference within their HL in terms of language varieties and dialects in the
classroom; this may complement children’s own knowledge of HL. Giving children
awareness of their language’s dialects and varieties may also help children better understand
their ethnic and cultural heritage, enabling children to interact with their heritage community
and even understand Swedish, other languages, and cultures.

37
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Appendices
9.1 Appendix 1. Interview guide English and Swedish versions

Interview guide- English version

Thank you for meeting me and giving me this chance to interview you. Let me first tell you
about myself. I am Hinda Hussen, and I am from Ethiopia, the Somali region. I live here in
Sweden for about six years, and I have a two-year-old daughter. I Speak four languages,

41
namely Somali, English, Swedish, and some Arabic basics. I work as a Somali language
teacher, and I am a student too.

- Tell me a little bit about yourself? Who do you live with? When were you born and
where? How long have you been living in Sweden?
- What language/s do you speak?
- Do you have siblings? How many are they?
- Can you tell me what do you think and feel when you hear about bilingualism? How do
you understand this term? Do you feel it relate to your everyday life or personal
experience?
- What do you feel about when you hear mother-tongue? Do you have a mother tongue?
How do you feel about the Somali language?

- How do you feel when you hear someone who is speaking Somali?

- Which books do you read? And which language do you prefer to read?

- Do you find it easy to learn Somali? Do you take a language teaching class in the
school? Which language do you speak with your language classmates? Do you find it
easy to communicate in Somali? Which one is easier for you to speak or to write? And
why?

- Do you have a mobile, iPad, and/or computer? Do you use social media such as
Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, and so on? Which language/s do you communicate in
writing or speaking?

- How often do you travel to your home country?

- How do you feel when you speak Somali with your parents and siblings?

- What language do your parents use when they are speaking with you? Which language
do your siblings speak with you?

- When do you watch TV together with your family? Which channels do you like to
watch?

- How often do you communicate with your grandparents and other relatives?

- What language do you speak in the classroom and the school playground?

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- What language do you speak to your friends? Do you have Somali speaking friends?
How often do you speak Somali to them? Do you speak Somali in the classroom with
your classmates?

- What difficulties do you encounter because of being a bilingual/multilingual? And how

do you deal with these challenges?

Intervjuguide-Swedish version

Tack för att du vara med med den här mig och gav mig den här chansen att intervjua
dig. Låt mig först berätta om mig själv. Jag är Hinda Hussen och kommer från
Etiopien, den somaliska regionen. Jag bor här i Sverige i cirka 6 år och jag har en
tvåårig dotter. Jag talar fyra språk nämligen somaliska, engelska, svenska och några
arabiska grunder. Jag arbetar som modersmålslärare i somaliska och jag är också
student.
• Berätta lite om dig själv? Vem bor du med? När föddes du och var? Hur länge
har du bott i Sverige?
• Vilka språk talar du?
• Har du syskon? Hur många är dem?
• Kan du berätta vad du tycker och känner när du hör om tvåspråkighet? Hur
förstår du den här termen? Känner du att det relaterar till din vardagsliv eller
dina personliga upplevelser?
• Vad tycker du om när du hör modersmål? Har du ett modersmål? Hur tycker
du om det somaliska språket?
• Hur känner du när du hör någon som pratar somaliska?
• Tycker du att det är lätt att lära sig somaliska? Tar du modersmålsundervisning
i skolan? Vilket språk pratar du med dina klasskamrater? Tycker du att det är
enkelt att kommunicera på somaliska? Vilken är lättare för dig att prata eller
skriva? Och varför?
• Vilka böcker läser du? Och vilket språk föredrar du att läsa på?
• Har du mobil, Ipad och / eller en dator? Använder du sociala medier t.ex.
Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter och så vidare? Vilket/Vilka språk
kommunicerar du med människor på sociala medier- skriftligt eller talande?
• Hur ofta reser du till ditt hemland?

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 • Lyssnar du musik, om ja, vilket/vilka språk?
• Hur känner du när du talar somaliska med dina föräldrar och syskon?
• Vilket språk talar dina föräldrar när de pratar med dig? Vilket språk pratar dina
syskon med dig?
• När brukar du titta på TV tillsammans med din familj? Vilka TV kanaler
föredrar du att titta på? Finns det något annat du tittar på med dina föräldrar
eller syskon?
• Hur ofta kommunicerar du med dina mor-och farföräldrar och andra
släktingar?
• Vilket språk talar du under lektionen i klassrummet och på skolgården?
• Vilket språk pratar du med dina vänner? Har du somalisktalande vänner? Hur
ofta pratar du somaliska med dem? Pratar du somaliska i klassrummet med
dina klasskamrater?
• Vilka svårigheter möter du på grund av att du är ett tvåspråkigt / flerspråkigt
barn? Och hur hanterar du dessa utmaningar?

9.2 Appendix 2. Consent form in English, Swedish and Somali

Consent to participate in research

To the child participant:

My name is Hinda Hussen, and I am a student at the Department of Thematic Studies/Child

Studies at Linköping University. I am interested in learning more from you to explore what
you think about bilingualism. I believe that you alone, children, can answer my questions
since you are experts in being bilingual children. Together, I hope we can discover how you
feel about being bilingual in Sweden.

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I will interview you in pairs either by Skype or telephone, and I will use a voice recorder to
record your answers to my questions, and you can ask me some questions. It is only me who
will listen to the recorded voice that I will be using when I am writing the findings on
bilingualism and being a bilingual child based on your views.

I am very pleased for your willingness to share your thoughts and feelings with me and I am
looking forward to having some time with you online. However, if for any reason you feel
that you do not wish to participate during and after the interview, you can cancel at any time.
Please let me know, you can tell me in person, or your parents can contact me either by email
or telephone.

Thank you, and I hope to hear from you soon!

Till barndeltagaren:

Jag heter Hinda Hussein och är student vid Linköpings universitet. Jag är intresserad av att
lära mig mer från barn för att utforska vad ni tycker om tvåspråkighet. Jag tror att ni bara,
barn, kan svara på mina frågor eftersom ni är experter på att vara tvåspråkiga barn.
Tillsammans hoppas jag att vi kan upptäcka hur ni känner att vara tvåspråkiga i Sverige.

Jag kommer att intervjua er i par antingen via Skype eller telefon och jag kommer att använda
en röstinspelare för att spela in ert svar på mina frågor, och du kan ställa mig några frågor.
Det är bara jag som ska lyssna på den inspelade rösten som jag kommer att använda när jag
skriver resultaten om tvåspråkighet och att vara tvåspråkiga barn som baserat på dina åsikter.

Jag är mycket nöjd med din vilja att dela dina tankar och känslor med mig och jag ser fram
emot att ha lite tid med dig online. Men om du av någon anledning känner att du inte vill
delta, under och efter intervjun, kan du avbryta när som helst. Låt mig veta, du kan berätta för
mig personligen, eller dina föräldrar kan kontakta mig antingen via e-post eller telefon.

Tack så mycket och jag hoppas höra från dig snart!

To the parent of child participant:

My name is Hinda Hussen and I am a master’s program student in Child Studies at Linköping
University. As a part of my study, I am currently researching bilingualism, and I aim to
interview Somali bilingual children. I think their own voices on bilingualism are missing part
of the research that is already carried out in the past. The study aims to capture children’s

45
voices on their daily interaction in school, family using different languages, and how they
perceive being bilingual in a Swedish context.

The interview takes about 45 minutes and is conducted in English, Swedish, or Somali,
depending on your child’s choice. The choice of an online interview mobile or Skype is
agreed upon by the participants based on which they feel convenient and comfortable.

I hereby consent that Linköping University processes my personal data in the form of audio
recording for the purpose of data collection that will be used for my research.

Information

If you choose to participate, your personal data such as name, address, Email address, audio
recording, information about personal interests, etc., will not be stored on devices connected
to the internet, and no other persons than me (and my academic supervisor if needed) will
access the data. The personal data will be kept until the thesis has received a grade, but never
longer than until December 31, 2022.

The personal data controller is Linköping University, 581 83 Linköping, corporate

identification number 202100-3096.

The researcher: Hinda Hussen, 0764215119 or hinhu760@student.liu.se

Academic supervisor: Asta Cakaite asta.cakaite@liu.se

Legal basis for the data processing: Consent

Your consent will be valid without limitation in time until December 31, 2022. You may
withdraw your consent at any time without giving a reason. We will in that case stop using
your personal data that we have collected based on your consent. You may request to have
your personal data erased, and if you do so, we will erase information about you wherever
possible. You have the right to obtain information about your personal data that are processed
by Linköping University. You may request this in writing by contacting the registrar’s office
at Linköping University, either by email or letter. You also have the right to request that the
use of a particular type of your personal data be limited.

If you want to know how your personal data are used, or you believe that we have used your
personal data in a way that violates the agreement or current legislation, please contact
Linköping University’s data protection officer at dataskyddsombud@liu.se

46
If you have complaints regarding how Linköping University processes your personal data,
you are always entitled to contact the relevant inspection authority, which in this case, is the
Swedish Data Protection Authority.

If you want to withdraw your consent during the study, please contact me (Hinda Hussen) or
the registrar’s office at registrator@liu.se or 581 83 Linköping.

Warqadda Oggolaanshaha Wareysiga- Somali

Ku socota waalidka ilmaha

Magacaygu waa Hinda Hussen waxaan ahay ardayad dhigata Jaamacadda Linköping aniga oo
barta heerka 2aad ee jaamacada, mastarka, ah oo ku saabsan Daraasaaddaha Carruurta. Waxaa
ka mid ah waxbarashadayda inaan daraasad sameeyo, Waxaa jeclahay in aan daraasad ku
sameeyo aqoonta laba-luuqadood, waxaan doonayaa inaan waraysto carruurta Soomaalida ee
labada luuqadood ku hadla. Waxaan u maleynayaa in codkooda gaarka ah ee ku saabsan
labada luuqadood ay ka maqan yihiin oo aanay qeyb ka aheyn cilmi baaristii horey loo
sameeyey cilmiga labada-luuqaddood. Daraasadu waxay ujeedadeedu tahay in la la siiyo
carruurta codkooda ku aadan sida ay u arkaan isdhexgalka qoyska iyo iskuulka iyada oo
isticmaalaya aqoontooda luuqadaha kala duwan, iyo sida ay u arkaan inay ku hadlayaan laba-
luqadood marka loo eego wadanka iswidhishka.

Wareysiga wuxuu qaadanayaa qiyaastii 45 daqiiqo waxaana lagu qaadayaa Ingiriis, Iswidish
ama Soomaali iyadoo kuxiran doorashada ilmahaaga. Xulashada wareysiga khadka tooska ah
ee mobilada ama Skype ayaa ay ku heshiiyeen kaqeybgalayaashu iyagoo ku saleynaya waxa
ay dareemayaan inay ku habboon yihiin oo ay ku kalsoon yihiin.

Waxaan halkan ku ogolaanayaa in ay Jaamacada Linköping qabato ama aruuriso duubiska

codka kaas oo loo isticmaali doono arruurinta xogta ee daraasaddayda.

Warbixin

Haddii aad go’aansatid in aad ka qaybgashid, xogtaada shakhsiyeed sida magaca, Email ka,
duubista codka, waxyaabaha aad xiisayso iwm, laguma keydin doono qalab ku xiran
internetka, loomana ogolaan doono qof aan aniga ahayn (iyo kormeeraha daraasadda, haddii
loo baahdo). Xogta shakhsiyeed waxaa la hayn doonaa illaa iyo inta laga saxayo daraasadan
oo aan ka helayo natiijada, laakiin marnaba wakhtigaasi ma dhaafayo Disembar 31, 2022.

47
Xakameeyaha ama ilaaliyaha xogta shakhsiga waa Jaamacadda Linköping, 581 83 Linköping,
lambarka aqoonsiga shirkadda 202100-3096.

Cilmi baaraha: Hinda Hussen, 0764215119 ama hinhu760@student.liu.se

Kormeeraha daraasada: Professor Asta cakeite, +46 13282674 ama asta.cekaite@liu.se

Nidaam sharciyeedka qabashada macluumaadka xogtu waa: Oggolaanshaha

Ogolaanshahaagu wuxuu noqon doonaa mid ansax ah oo aan xadidnayn illaa Diisembar 31,
2022. Waxaad ka noqon kartaa ogolaanshahaaga wakhti kasta adiga oo aan wax sabab ah
bixin. Haddii ay taasi dhacdo, waxaan joojin doonnaa isticmaalka xogtada shakhsiyeed ee aan
ku soo qabaney ama arruurinay oggolaanshahaaga. Waxaad codsan kartaa in xogtaada
shakhsiyeed la tirtiro, haddii aad sidaas sameysana, waxaan tirtiri doonaa xogta adiga kugu
saabsan xili kasta oo ay suurtogal noqoto. Waxaad xaq u leedahay inaad hesho macluumaad
ku saabsan xogtaada shaqsiyadeed oo ay soo qabatay ama aruusisay jaamacada Linköping.
Waxaad codsan kartaa qoraal ahaan, ama Email ama warqad, adiga oo la xiriiraya xafiiska
diiwaangelinta ee jaamacada Linköping. Waxaad sidoo kale xaq u leedahay inaad codsato in
la xadido isticmaalka qaar ka mid ah xogtaada shakhsiyeed.

Haddii aad rabto in aad ogaato sida xogtaada shakhsiyeed loo isticmaaley, ama aad
aaminsantahay in aan u isticmaalnay xogtaada shakhsiyeed si xadgudub ku ah heshiiska ama
sharciga hadda, fadlan la xiriir sarkaalka ilaallinta xogta jaamacada Linköping ee
dataskyddsombud@liu.se

Haddii aad qabto cabasho ku saabsan habka jaamacada Linköping u qabato ama uruuriso
xogtaada shakhsiyeed, waxaad had iyo jeer xaq u leedahay inaad la xiriirto hey'adda
kormeerka ee ay khuseyso, marka loo eego kiiskanna waa Hay'adda Ilaalinta Xogta ee
Sweden.

Haddii aad rabtid in aad ka noqotid ogolaanshahaaga, fadlan ila soo xiriir aniga (Hinda
Hussen) ama la xiriir Xafiiska diiwaangelinta ee jaamacada Linköping Email:
registrator@liu.se ama Cinwaanka: 581 83 Linköping.

Signature/saxiixa
I hereby consent that Linköping University processes my personal data according to the
information above.

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Waxaan halkan ku ogolaanayaa in ay Jaamacada Linköping ay keydin karto xogtayda
shaqsiyadeed sida ku qeexan qoraalka kore.

Place/Meesha Signature/Saxiixa

__________________ ________________________

Date/taariikh Name of the parent/magaca waalidka

___________________ ___________________

49