Students' Perceptions on Language Use and Learning Opportunities in a Multilingual Rural Municipality in Finland: A Longitudinal Perspective on Establishing Multilingualism in School

Monolingual and cultural bias still seem to be a challenge in educational environments. In 2012–2013, a case study was made with focus on language use and attitudes toward languages and language learning among 10-year-olds (Grade 4) of schools in a multilingual rural municipality with Swedish as a local majority language in Finland. The results showed a variation in awareness of and presence of different languages. The aim of this study is to compare the 2012–2013 results with results collected with a similar questionnaire in the same environment in 2022–2023 in order to explore potential changes among same-aged pupils a decade later. In particular, the analysis focuses on pupils’ perceptions of language use, status, visibility, and constellations in relation to national languages, local varieties, lingua franca, and migrant languages. The diachronic data has undergone both statistical and qualitative analyses. The results contribute to the understanding of how patterns of language use and inclusion develop over time. Even though the context studied is unique in terms of language combinations, the results shed light on the processes involved in other contexts as well.