Plurilinguismo endogeno o monolinguismo imperialista? uno studio di caso in una scuola primaria nella provincia di banten (Indonesia)

Abstract

The present chapter focuses on teachers’ attitudes towards multilingualism in a primary school in the province of Banten, Indonesia. It  represents only a small piece of the complex sociolinguistic and educational patchwork concerning multilingualism in this ‘superdiverse’  country. The aim is to provide an overview of the attitudes of primary school teachers and their implicit role in spreading a culture of  multilingualism, focusing on their view on indigenous languages and Indonesian, the national and official language of the country,  analysing both their understanding of multilingualism and the pedagogical aspect towards multilingualism. Data has been collected  through the usage of a questionnaire with various statements concerning multilingualism, as well as its perception and teaching, which  the informants had to agree or disagree with. The results of the survey have been looked at from a double perspective: the perception of endogenous multilingualism, and the established and/or desired pedagogic practices. I argue that even though there is an apparent  widespread positive opinion of multilingualism and indigenous language maintenance, the teachers’ actual attitudes highlight that the  importance and hegemony of Indonesian outweigh the willingness to maintain the indigenous languages, and it leads to an ‘imperialist- oriented’ view in favour of the sole language representing unity and identity.