Perezhivanie and Multilingual Adolescents’ Development of School Belonging in Northern Ireland

Multilingual adolescents face challenges in developing a sense of belonging at school as they experience marginalisation related to factors including their cultural and linguistic backgrounds, migration status, and race. Moreover, it cannot be assumed that multilingual adolescents with apparently similar sociocultural backgrounds will interpret school experiences and develop a sense of belonging in the same way. This qualitative study used a series of group interviews to explore how four multilingual adolescents developed identities as students who belonged in secondary schools in Northern Ireland. Vygotsky’s concept of perezhivanie was used to identify cognitively and emotionally significant experiences, students’ interpretations of these experiences, and the impact on their sense of belonging over time. The findings show that interactions with teachers and peers, which may appear to be premised on cognitive learning activities, are deeply entwined with emotions and can have transformational or traumatic impacts on a multilingual adolescent’s sense of belonging.