“We don’t have it in my mother tongue”

A newly arrived student’s stance towards using his first language in the transition from introduction class to technical VET

Abstract

This study explores the experiences and evolving stance of a newly arrived adolescent student, Hamid, regarding the use of his first language as a tool for learning in the transition from introduction classes to vocational education and training (VET). The article is based on fieldnotes and interviews from a larger linguistic ethnographic fieldwork and draws on a critical sociolinguistic framework. It reveals that while Hamid initially intended to distance himself from his first language upon transitioning to the mainstream school system, it ultimately emerges as an indispensable linguistic capital for navigating the language and literacy practices of VET. Such a finding challenges prevailing educational policy and practice in Norway, which prioritizes linguistic scaffolding based on students’ first language(s) only at the outset of their educational trajectories and assumes its diminishing relevance over time spent in the country. In the analysis, Bourdieu's (1977) concept of capital is employed as a conceptual lens to interpret Hamid’s experiences and reflections. Furthermore, the study considers how scaffolding (Bruner, 1966) and disciplinary literacy interact and influence Hamid’s stance.