How Educational, Cultural, and Social Factors Shape Roma’s Improvement of Language Competence in the Greek Case
Author(s): Foteini Kalogerogianni
Abstract:
In this article, we provide an example of a quasi-experimental intervention that investigates the impact of educational, cultural, and social factors on improving language competence in a specific group of linguistically and culturally diverse pupils. In particular, based on empirical-qualitative and quantitative-data obtained from a specific type of teaching intervention for Roma pupils in the area of Zefiri (Attica), it is examined whether factors related to educational policy, the academic trajectory of each pupil, the cultural code of the child and their family and family practices regarding education contribute positively or negatively on the acquisition and improvement of the pupils' language competence. In this article, we argue that the issue of Roma pupils' language learning is multifactorial. Therefore, the quasi-experimental intervention contributes to exploring in depth the impact of each factor separately on the process of improvement of language competence.