Distinct pathways from parental cultural orientation to young children's bilingual development

Abstract

Among immigrant families, parents are important socialization agents in transmitting cultural practices to their children, including the use of the heritage language (HL). In the current study, we examined whether parents' cultural orientation facilitates children's (N=79; Mage=5.11years; 57% boys; 50% enrolled in HL schools) HL and English proficiency through either parents' cultural maintenance values or HL use. Whereas parents' general commitment to promoting cultural maintenance was not predictive of children's HL proficiency, the specific practice of HL use with their children supported children's HL development without adversely affecting their English proficiency. Parents' American cultural orientation was not related to children's HL development. Findings suggest that the specific practice of HL use, rather than general cultural maintenance values, represents the link by which parents' ethnic cultural orientation might support children's HL development.