From integration to segregation: school principals’ preferences for language support and the enactment of language policy
Year: 2026
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: This study examines how school principals in Austria choose between different models of language support for students facing barriers in the language of instruction, conceptualizing these choices as a form of school-level language planning. Using data from 413 principals and drawing on the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR), we analyze principals’ preferences for more segregated versus more integrated approaches and the predictors of these preferences. Across the sample, principals express criticism of current language support policies. Quantitative analyses indicate a clear preference for integrative approaches embedded within mainstream classroom instruction over segregated language support classes. However, principals’ responses also reflect a strong adherence to beliefs that are historically organized around monoglossic and monolingual norms. Thematic analysis of open-ended responses further emphasizes the need to balance targeted language instruction with meaningful integration in mainstream classrooms. Principals highlight the importance of stable and adequate resources, qualified and specialized staff, flexible organizational arrangements, and appropriate diagnostic tools to tailor support. By identifying both support for integrative provision and the institutional and ideological conditions that constrain it, the study contributes to knowledge about how language policy is enacted and language support is planned at school level in multilingual education systems.
Institution: University of Vienna
Language: English
Subfield: Linguistics and Language
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Funder: Austrian Science Fund
OpenAlex ID: W7223086744