Maintaining a minor language or a heritage language? A case study of maintaining Chinese with preteenagers in Australian interlingual families

Bibliographic Data

ID20506205
AuthorsH Huang (0000-0001-9159-8455, Monash University, corresponding author), Wanyu Liao (Monash University)
Year2024
Volume27
Issue3
Pages360-373
Publication date2024-03-15
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1367-0050 • E-ISSN: 1747-7522
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13670050.2023.2173519
OpenAlexW4319787884
LanguageEN
Citations received19
References cited25

Drawing on the concept of family language policy (FLP), this paper reports on how four Chinese–English interlingual families maintain the minority language of Chinese with their preteenager children in Australia. The study takes an integrative approach to explore both parents’ and children’s perspectives on language development. While highlighting the increasing role that preteenagers play in the maintenance of a minor heritage language, the findings reveal that successful language maintenance in interlingual families is influenced by many other interacting factors, like language practice, attitude and support from each parent, language status, and the role of community schools. The study has clear implications for bilingual parenting and heritage language education in terms of the importance of a consistent FLP, preteenagers’ self-efficacy, and actual language use in language maintenance

First language · Heritage language · Language policy · Linguistics · Minority language · Pedagogy · Political science · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Multilingual Education and Policy · Psychology · Second Language Learning and Teaching

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