Crossing the Language Barriers: Making Home School Connections with Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Families

Abstract
The aim of this study was to determine how schools connect with culturally and linguistically diverse families in increasingly complex multilingual super diverse contexts which are becoming the norm in the 21st century. The research examined how schools mediated for language differences and the role language can play in the development of connections between schools and culturally and linguistically diverse newcomer families whose home languages differ from the main language used for instruction. The linguistic aspect of diversity is the key focus of this research, in part, because it is an increasingly significant issue throughout the world, as linguistic and cultural diversity has become far more complex. The emic and etic paradigm served as a means to posit the differing worldviews held by linguistically diverse newcomers whose backgrounds and experiences are framed in their different home languages. Face to face semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 newcomer parents and 58 school staff. Findings revealed that engagement took place in schools when school staff employed a multilayered approach to language accommodation supported by positive attitudes towards linguistic diversity.