Examining Indian students’ bilingual profiles in Greece

Abstract

This study investigates the bilingual profiles of Indian students in the Greek context. Indian students comprise a minority group that is highly underexamined in the Greek literature, in contrast to other minority groups in Greece (e.g., Albanians, see Chatzidaki Maligkoudi, 2013; Mattheoudakis et al., 2020). In particular, this article examines the bilingual profiles and the language behavior of sixteen (16) Indian students in the Greek educational context, namely in two schools in Attica. Content analysis of their interviews was applied, with the aim of exploring their bilingual profiles, their patterns of language choice and use as well as their attitude towards their home languages. Our findings reveal that the main language of communication adopted in the school environment (outside and inside the classroom) is Greek. On the other hand, Hindi or Punjabi are mostly used in the home environment, mainly due to the fact that mothers have a low proficiency in Greek. The results of our study also highlight how our participants perceive the role of host classes in their integration into the educational process

    Similar works