Pockets of Possibility: Students of English in Diverse, Multilingual Secondary Schools in Austria

Abstract This study provides a counter-narrative to commonly found deficit discourses about LX English learners from migration backgrounds in Europe. A questionnaire was conducted with 108 middle school students and 100 high school students in Austria in a context which has been relatively unexplored: non-elite, linguistically diverse small-town schools. Here, students are meeting their learning outcomes for English at a higher success rate than the national average, and this success in LX learning aligns with high reported levels of home language proficiency. Responses indicate that linguistically diverse students are more likely to succeed when they feel comfortable in the English classroom and actively participate in lessons. Students’ success is also related to their teachers showing an interest in their linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Findings thus suggest that this context is allowing for the creation of ‘pockets of possibility’ where teachers take on the rudiments of a translanguaging stance and create safe spaces in which students perform their multilingual identities as valued and welcome members of the classroom community.