Factors explaining informal linguistic usage among Catalan schoolchildren: initial language, social networks, competence and vehicular language for teaching

Abstract

The linguistic model of joint teaching in Catalan generally implemented in the school system since 1993 establishes that Catalan is the vehicular language for teaching in Catalonia and seeks to promote the use of Catalan among pupils. However, in contrast to the hopes of some sectors, the adoption of this model has had much less of an effect than expected on interpersonal use among pupils. This article assesses the impact of the adoption of Catalan as the main teaching language on the informal linguistic usages of Catalan school pupils using materials collected in the School and Usage project, which includes declared and experimental data and observations of the linguistic beliefs and behaviour of pupils in the sixth year at primary school in Catalonia. The importance of different variables - the pupils' initial language, the composition of their social networks, the importance of the linguistic environment, their competence in Catalan and Spanish and the school linguistic model - for the configuration of these practices is then analysed.