How digital technologies support the development of linguistic and cultural identities of Spanish speaking immigrants in Scotland

Previous research in the Scottish context has focused on either the most prevalent or most vulnerable immigrant communities (Hancock & Hancock, 2018; Hopkins, 2018; Sime, 2020), therefore, little is known about the Spanish-speaking community. My research gives voice to these bilingual children and their parents to address this gap through a case study approach that investigated the extent to which fourteen families of Latin American and Spanish heritage were able to nurture their linguistic and cultural identities, to understand why did this, and the role that digital technologies played.

From a bioecological perspective (Bronfenbrenner, 1979; 1995) family, friends and community play a vital role in shaping children’s linguistic and cultural identities, and supporting their socio-emotional wellbeing; yet, little is known about the impact of digital technologies on bilinguals. Empirical data from semi-structured, group interviews highlighted that a lack of opportunity to interact with extended family and a wider Spanish-speaking community had a negative effect on the development of children’s linguistic and cultural identities. This was further magnified for Latin American families compared to their European counterparts due to geographical distance and other constraints. Nevertheless, families used digital technologies heavily to mitigate the absence of a Spanish-speaking community, to interact with extended family and friends, and to support the construction of linguistic and cultural identities.

I will discuss the growing, positive role that digital technologies play in bilingual children’s lives and present an adapted bioecological model incorporating a new ‘digital trans-system’ dimension, which illustrates how digital technology transcends international borders to support the development of linguistic and cultural identities of immigrants.