Employing a mixed-methods approach (questionnaire, language diaries and interviews) the paper explores the out-of-school language use of 6th graders in Swedish multilingual urban areas. The role of out-of-school language use in shaping ideologies, investment and identities is investigated. Preliminary findings shed light on methodological issues involved in exploring dynamic trajectories.
Globalization processes, patterns of migration and new technologies have led to an increased linguistic diversity and raised awareness of multilingual realities in socially, culturally and linguistically diverse communities (The Douglas Fir Group, 2016), stressing the importance of investigating the lifeworlds of multiple language users in greater detail. The role of out-of-school language use in language learning is a growing area of research (e.g., Sundqvist & Sylvén, 2016), yet, few studies have investigated this field from a multilingual perspective. Thus, little is known about the out-of-school language use of young learners in linguistically diverse urban areas. Taking a multilingual perspective, in which the whole linguistic repertoire is taken into account, and drawing on the concept of investment (Norton, 2000), this study, set in urban contexts in Sweden, explores the role of out-of-school language use and exposure in shaping 6thgrade learners': a) language ideologies, b) investment in language learning, and c) emergent identities. Hence, this study seeks to add to the existing research on out-of-school language use in language learning success by investigating how young learners perceive of and navigate in increasingly diverse and linguistically complex urban spaces. The study also aims at highlighting the interrelationship between languages in contemporary Sweden, consequently, addressing the use of English as a lingua franca. Employing an explanatory sequential mixed methods design, three different instruments have been used in the data collection (questionnaire, language diaries and interviews). Preliminary findings shed light on the complexity involved in exploring dynamic multilingual trajectories, ideologies and identities, thus, emphasizing the role of bottom-up approaches and qualitative studies of multilingual language use when analyzing emergent patterns. Additionally, the presentation will discuss methodological issues and implications of the findings. Keywords: Globalization, Out-of-school language, multilingualism, young learners, diversity, ideologies, identity
