Participants: Clara Sansó¹; Cristina Petreñas¹; Adelina Ianos¹; Ursula Hinostroza¹

¹University of Lleida

Symposium Summary

As a result of the migratory cycle initiated at the end of the past century, the Autonomous Community of Catalonia (Spain) has undergone a major sociodemographic and sociolinguistic transformation. The resulting scenario, characterized by linguistic and cultural super-diversity, has been creating new challenges for the Catalan educational system – a system committed to educational inclusion (Decree 150/2017 of the Department of Education of the Generalitat de Catalunya).

Faced with this situation, it is critically important to understand the acculturation processes developed by descendants of immigrants, as they have vital implications in numerous social and educational aspects. In this regard, it has been found in different contexts that acculturation strategies are highly associated with school adjustment. However, these processes are contextual, being determined by the host society’s expectations, educational practices, and policies.

Thus, the aim of this symposium is to analyse the patterns of acculturation strategies adopted by descendants of immigrants in Catalonia and their school adjustment, focusing on three key agents: students of migrant origin, their autochthonous peers, and their teachers.

For this purpose, we present five communications that result from an ongoing research project. The following communications examine students of migrant origin’s acculturation profiles, their relationship with school adjustment, the acculturation attitudes endorsed by students belonging to the majority group and their predictors, and the educational measures implemented by teachers in Compulsory Secondary Education.

Short CV

She is Lecturer since 2010 and Director of the Department of Psychology at the University of Lleida (newly created department - February 2019). In 2000, she obtained a predoctoral scholarship granted by the Government of Catalonia. Bilingual and multilingual education, immigration and the particularities of the Catalan context are her research topics, she focused on the analysis of the linguistic attitudes of immigrated students. As a result of this research, she defended her Doctoral Thesis with European Doctorate mention in 2006.

Throughout her career, she has participated in numerous research projects, most of the competitive concurrence. She has been an uninterrupted member of numerous Consolidated Research Groups by the Government of Catalonia since she began her research career. She is currently a member of the Language and Education Group - 2017 SGR 322. As for the productivity achieved and the transfer of results, she has prestigious publications both nationally and internationally and has participated in many national and international conferences, being in some of them a member of the organizing committee.