Family language policy in mixed-language families: an exploratory study of online parental discourses

Abstract

This paper reports on an exploratory qualitative investigation of the discourses of plurilingual children’s parents, with a view to developing an understanding of their family language policy. Drawing loosely on Spolsky [2004. Language Policy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press], family language policy was conceptualised as having two components: (a) linguistic ideology, i.e. beliefs and attitudes towards language, linguistic development and plurilingualism, and (b) language transmission and management practices. A data corpus (242,178 words) was generated by drawing data from two online parent communities, focusing on families where Modern Greek was one of the family languages. Thematic analysis was used to explore the parents’ stated attitudes, beliefs and practices about language, family and education as they related to plurilingualism and linguistic development. We documented strong positive views about fostering plurilingualism, as well as a range of concerns about balancing different aspects of the children’s developing linguistic repertoire. We also noted that established language development and management practices (e.g. ‘OPOL’, ‘Minority Language at Home’) were supplemented with more flexible ones, suggesting adjustment to emerging multilingual norms. The findings suggest that there is scope for developing conceptual models of family language policy that are more responsive to emerging patterns of language contact and plurilingualism. © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.