Intergenerational Literacy Learning with Bilingual Families: A Context for the Analysis of Social Mediation of Thought (original) (raw)

Parents' Discourses About Language Strategies for Their Children's Preschool Bilingual Development

Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, 2011

The study focused on immigrant parents' discourses about strategies for their children's preschool bilingual development and education. The article investigated how immigrant parents described and explained these strategies. The study was based on semi-structured interviews with 4 families. The 8 parents were Russian-speaking immigrants to Israel from the former Soviet Union. Analysis of the data showed that all the parents desired their children to maintain the heritage language and to acquire the host language. At the same time, they were realistically skeptical of achieving balanced bilingualism in their children's language development. Nevertheless, most reported clearly elaborated intervention plans to support the children's balanced bilingualism. The regulation of language interaction with the child at home occupied a central place in parents' strategies for their children's bilingual development; however, some chose bilingual kindergarten for their children, whereas others chose monolingual programs. To explain and justify this choice, parents adduced different motives and representations about trajectories of children's bilingual development.

Discourse skills of bilingual children: precursors of literacy

International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 1985

The ability of non-English-background children to acquire an education in English is not amenable to simple analysis. On commonsense grounds, no one expects children to learn in a classroom if they cannot understand language as it is used in the classroom. The general public and even many educators are under the impression that the educational problems of non-English-background children can be adequately understood in terms of chüdrens' lack of proficiency in English. In the past it has been contended that the solution to children's educational problems involves teaching children standard English and that this problem reduces to teaching children English grammar, punctuation, pronunciation, vocabulary, and other basic English skills. In recent years, such a perspective has begun to be rejected as adequate in and of itself. Research in the areas of sociolinguistics, ethnography of communication, cross-cultural psychology, psycholinguistics, and most recently, cognitive schema theory suggests that we cannot understand children's acquisition of a second language in simple terms related only to the grammar and structure of a second language. Children's ability to acquire a language is not a simple function of their learning structural rules of a language. Acquisition and learning of a new language system takes place in a broader context defined by society and by the realization of sociocultural factors in a community. Norms for social uses of a language are integral with the development of competency in a language. Competency in a language is tied intimately to social interaction and to ways of acting in interaction. Hymes (1972) and Ervin-Tripp (1964), among many others, have pointed out that communicative events can be described in terms of a set of specific factors that influence how language is used in everyday settings. When children learn to become competent speakers of a new language, they are able to accomplish purposes of communication that fulfill the social roles within communicative situations. All elements of language use are possibly affected by the social characteristics of a situation.

The parental language policy on children's language acquisition: a case of international family

Journal on English as a Foreign Language

Discussing second language acquisition (SLA) from the perspective of one same-nationality family has been massively conducted. However, the recent study regarding SLA in toddlers in mixed-marriage families, especially with Indonesian mothers, has not been previously observed. Directed to the study demonstrated by Li (2007), this present study aimed to examine the three essential marks of family roles on their children's acquisition, such as the parent's literacy accomplishment, the daily occupation choice and opportunity, and adaptation as well as integration into the local country. Two families with Sudan-Indonesia and America-Indonesia backgrounds participated as research subjects. The narrative inquiry method through interviews (see Duff, 2019) was employed to gain the data. Then, the data were analyzed by using Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six thematic analysis stages. The results revealed that the parental academic records of accomplishment, the family's occupation, an...

Myths and Challenges on Raising Bilingual Children in English by Non-Native Parents

Lozano-Martínez, L., 2019

English has become a lingua franca in most international settings. Citizens in a globalized world need multilingual profiles in order to enhance their employability (Baker, 2011). Consequently, Spanish-English bilingual programmes have proliferated in Spain to meet such requirements (LozanoMartínez, 2017). In order to foster their children’s learning experience, some Spanish non-native English-speaking parents have decided to speak to their children in English. Thus, family language planning is crucial to children’s linguistic development. When the socialization scope of the baby goes beyond the family, children’s language awareness is progressively weakened (Zhao, 2018). In this way, what are the challenges? Which preconceived ideas prevent some parents from trying or reinforcing their language planning endeavour? What kind of support is needed, or available, in order to complete an input based on the ‘one person-one language’ strategy (OPOL) which, according to De Houwer (2007) is not enough on its own? In this sense, there are only a few references like those of Saunders (1988) and Jernigan (2015) about non-native speakers who raise their children bilingually. We come across even less references about studies contextualized in Spain as that by Sánchez Torres (2010). Further studies are needed. This paper aims to identify the aforementioned challenges and myths, by means of the quantitative analysis of the data obtained from a questionnaire fulfilled by 735 families that allows us to describe the present scenario.

What Languages Do Bilingual Children Use with Whom? Research Evidence and Implications for Education

1975

There is wide variability in the type and degree of bilingualism exhibited by persons from the various Spanish-speaking groups in the USA. Within particular .subcultural groups, there is significant variability algorig individuals in the use of language patterns. An empirical)s-eudy inystiga';ed the use of language pattern in specified social contextsiamong,two generations in three distinct Spanish-speaking groups: Ne4York 1?uerto Ricans, Central Texas Mexican-Americans, and Miami CubNI-Americans. A total of 295 families participated in the study. The Central Texas Mexican-Americans showed the greatest degree of displacement of Spanish by English as well as by "Spanglish," and the New York Puerto Ricans the greatest degree of "mother tongue" maintenance. Previous research suggests that language use are positively related. Contextual language use is an important factor which interacts with language learning and with academic achievement. It behooves teachers of persons from Spanish-speaking backgrounds to assess the language proficiency and the contextual use of language patterns of their students and to gear their curriculum accordingly. Contextual language use may be assessed by teachers through interviews and by behavioral observations, and the resulting data may be used to individualize instruction. (Author/CLK)