Georgiou, Alexandra and Karatsareas, Petros (2026) Cypriot Greek in UK Greek complementary schools: curriculum policies, classroom practices, and language ideologies. Linguistics and Education, 94. ISSN 0898-5898

Preview

PDF GeorgiouA_Cypriot Greek in UK Greek complementary schools_VoR.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

This article examines how Cypriot Greek is positioned at the interface of curriculum policy, classroom practice, and language ideologies in UK Greek complementary schools (GCSs). Drawing on ethnographic data collected over six months in 2018 in two North London GCSs, we analyse (a) curriculum documents produced for Greek complementary schools, (b) classroom interactions, and (c) pupil perspectives from one case-study school. The curricula formally acknowledge Cypriot Greek but frame it in limited and bounded ways. Standard Greek is constructed as the legitimate target for literacy, while Cypriot Greek is treated as permissible mainly in oral communication and often linked to cultural tradition. Classroom data show how these policy framings are recontextualised in teaching and learning, particularly in moments where exam-related expectations are made salient. The teacher’s practices reproduce a literacy–oracy binary and discourage the use of Cypriot Greek in writing, while pupils display uncertainty about what is allowed and orient to assessment as a key rationale for avoiding Cypriot forms. We argue that, although flexible multilingual practices also occur in everyday interaction, exam-thematised episodes make visible how assessment regimes can intensify standardising pressures that are rooted in broader hellenocentric hierarchies and in limited institutional support for repertoire-based pedagogies. We conclude by calling for more systematic curricular guidance, materials, and teacher education that legitimise pupils’ full repertoires and support metalinguistic work across varieties in home, heritage and community language education.

Item Type:	Article
Identifier:	10.1016/j.linged.2026.101557
Keywords:	Home, heritage, and community languages; Complementary schools; Language policy; Language ideologies; Assessment ; Linguistic repertoires; Sociolinguistic variation ; Cypriot Greek; Standard Greek; UK
Subjects:	Education
Date Deposited:	24 Jun 2026
Dates:	Date Publication status 23 May 2026 Accepted 23 June 2026 Published
School, department or research centre:	School of Human and Social Sciences
Keywords:	Home, heritage, and community languages; Complementary schools; Language policy; Language ideologies; Assessment ; Linguistic repertoires; Sociolinguistic variation ; Cypriot Greek; Standard Greek; UK
URI:	https://repository.uwl.ac.uk/id/eprint/15210

Downloads

Actions (admin access)