Madalena Cruz-Ferreira Libri

Exploring the dynamics of language acquisition, this book follows three siblings as they navigate their linguistic and cultural identities across Portuguese, Swedish, and English. The author, a multilingual parent and educator, reveals how both monolingual and multilingual strategies influence the children's language management, providing valuable insights into their linguistic competence. Through this unique perspective, readers gain an understanding of the complexities and nuances involved in growing up in a multilingual environment.

Multilinguals are not multiple monolinguals. Yet multilingual assessment proceeds through monolingual norms, as if fair conclusions were possible in the absence of fair comparison. In addition, multilingualism concerns what people do with language, not what languages do to people. Yet research focus remains on multilinguals’ languages, as if languages existed despite their users. This book redresses these paradoxes. Multilingual scholars, teachers and speech-language clinicians from Europe, Asia, Australia and the US contribute the first studies dedicated to multilingual norms, those found in real-life multilingual development, assessment and use. Readership includes educators, clinicians, decision-makers and researchers interested in multilingualism.