“She is a very good child but she doesn’t speak”: The invisibility of children's bilingualism and teacher ideology

This paper discusses the micro-level ideologies of four teachers in mainstream Greek schools concerning linguistic diversity, bilingualism, second language learning and minority language maintenance. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews with the teachers and observations in the school context which focused on their views and attitudes concerning the presence of Albanian background children in their classrooms and the way the Greek school responds to the children's bilingualism and to linguistic diversity. Thus, we attempt to bring to the surface aspects of the broader language ideologies which underlie their school practices. Teachers’ responses could be placed on a continuum ranging from awareness of the importance of bilingualism and minority language maintenance to the absolute rejection of the minority language and the subtraction of bilingualism.