Bilingualism: Education Practices and Identity Development. A Study with Mixed Couples

AbstractThe’intimate’ and long lasting contact (Allport, 1954; Amir, 1976; Hamberger & Hewstone, 1997; Pettigrew, 1997) that characterizes couples with different socio-cultural backgrounds is an interesting field of research to explore the ways in which educational practices and the use of language are able to promote a bilingual and bicultural education and a fluid identity (Gergen, 1991) based on complex acculturation processes (Liebkind, 2001). The aim was to explore the representational framework that a group of mixed couples have on bilingualism and biculturalism and to better understand the choices that are at the basis of educational and identity processes. Results revealed an interesting orientation in the harmonization of different cultures