HOW BI-LINGUAL FATHERS SUPPORT THEIR CHILDREN TO LEARN LANGUAGES AT HOME

Abstract

This research examines how bilingual fathers help their children to acquire languages. The article applied in-depth semi-structured interviews with six multilingual dads from the University of Manchester, who explains the factors that hinder the father’s language teaching and the benefits of the father’s language teaching to the children. It is also worth noting that this article has four intriguing discoveries. Initially, not all fathers are absent from their children's schooling. In other homes, the father who is a university professor highly worried about the child's family studies and has also become an excellent language instructor for children. Second, the advancement of the Internet and contemporary technology has given dads new language instruction tools for home education, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the two most significant challenges in language instruction are a lack of social support resources and multilingual language schools. Finally, Parents’ language types and children’s age are important factors influencing family language strategy choices and the design of acquisition-learning activities. This study suggests that the application of the Internet in home language teaching and language education in different family types are topics worthy of future research.