Language Beliefs Research Articles

Including children's voice in family language policy: an exploration of the tensions between mothers’ and children's language beliefs

ABSTRACT This article discusses family language policy and the tensions between mothers’ and children's language beliefs in two Vietnamese immigrant families in Melbourne. These tensions have frequently been discussed from the parental perspective, but it is less common to include the children's voice. We draw on a larger in-depth qualitative study of family language policy in Vietnamese families living in Australia to explore the language beliefs of both children and adults. Employing Fitzsimmons-Doolan’s [2018. “Language Ideology Change Over Time: Lessons for Language Policy in the U.S. State of Arizona and Beyond.” TESOL Quarterly 52 (1): 34–61. doi:10.1002/tesq.371] notions of pro-multilingual and pro-monolingual ideologies and Bourdieu’s [1986. “The Forms of Capital.” In Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education, edited by J. G. Richardson, 241–258. Greenwood Press] concept of capital, we explore family language policy from the perspectives of both children and their mothers, and show how these perspectives are associated with each other. Findings reveal the pro-monolingual stance of the children in opposition to the pro-multilingual stance of their mothers where the children and their mothers appeared to attach different degrees of value to English and Vietnamese. The findings reinforce the complexities in realising family language policy across languages.

“I'm embarrassed and scared to speak a different language”: The complex language beliefs and emotions of bi/multilingual children of immigrants in monolingual U.S. schools

ABSTRACT The purpose of this sociolinguistic study is to examine language beliefs, emotions, and practices of twenty bi/multilingual fourth-grade children of immigrants in monolingual U.S. schools in relation to societal language ideologies. This qualitative multiple case study included individual semi-structured interviews with bi/multilingual children focusing on their language beliefs, emotions, practices, and agencies. We utilised qualitative thematic analysis to examine links to societal language ideologies and issues of power. Children generally identified positively with their heritage language(s) and considered bilingualism beneficial, but they also displayed negative emotions towards their heritage language(s), English, and bi/multilingualism depending on the context and the audience. Additionally, children’s evolving language proficiencies and practices at home and school favoured English. We connect the children’s emotions, beliefs, and practices to hegemonic language ideologies in U.S. society and schools and propose a solution towards change.

Contributing Factors to Chinese English Learners’ Perceptions of Different English Accents

This mixed-methods study investigated Chinese tertiary-level students’ perceptions of different English accents existing in mainland China. Also examined were their perception changes and factors that contributed to their perception changes. An electronic questionnaire survey was employed to investigate the general trend and the possible correlations and differences in the participants’ perceptions of different English accents. Follow-up interviews and diary studies were conducted to examine the participants’ perception changes and the contributing factors. The main findings show that the participants were inclined to accord privileged status to Inner Circle English accents, whereas their perceptions of Outer Circle and Expanding Circle English accents tended to remain unfavourable. Their perceptions were found to be under the substantial influence of the ongoing exonormative English education, English language assessment system and employment requirements. We also found that the explicit instruction of the development of English and the frequent cross-cultural communication were likely to engender changes in the participants’ language beliefs and perceptions of different English accent varieties.

Chinese Students’ Beliefs about English Language and Their L2 Motivation

Introduction. This study adopts a Global Englishes perspective to examine dimensions within beliefs about English language held by Mainland Chinese university students. It also assesses whether and how these beliefs impact the students’ motivation to learn English (L2 motivation). Materials and Methods. A questionnaire survey was conducted among 460 students learning English as a Foreign Language at a large public university in Mainland China. The questionnaire contained 28 items to assess the students’ language beliefs and their L2 motivation. One section of the questionnaire gathered demographic information about the respondents. The research instrument was approved by the University’s Research Ethics Committee. Exploratory factor analysis and multiple regression analysis were performed to analyze the data. Results. The Exploratory factor analysis identified four distinct dimensions within the language learners’ beliefs, namely, Beliefs about Standard English, Beliefs about Global Englishes, Beliefs about English language education and Beliefs about China English. Three dimensions were identified within the students’ L2 motivation, namely, International posture, Integrative orientation and Instrumental orientation. The ensuing regression analysis detected positive and statistically significant relationships between some dimensions in the language beliefs and L2 motivation. Particularly, Beliefs about English language education were found to have the strongest impact on L2 motivation. Discussion and Conclusion. The findings from the exploratory factor analysis support the views that languagerelated beliefs have distinct dimensions. They also give empirical evidence to the validity of the Global Englishes notion. From a language teaching perspective, the findings highlight the need to adopt GE-oriented pedagogies.

Family language policy among second- and third-generation Turkish parents in Melbourne, Australia

ABSTRACT This study investigated the Family Language Policy of second- and third-generation Turkish parents in Melbourne, Australia. Earlier research has shown that the family home is a crucial site for language maintenance [Fishman 1991. Reversing Language Shift: Theoretical and Empirical Foundations of Assistance to Threatened Languages. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters]. The family, and the family home, remains for most migrant groups and their younger generations the main domain for heritage language use. The presence of heritage language speakers, especially those with lower majority language (English) proficiency levels in the family, is conducive to language maintenance. However, in the case of second and third-generation, particularly Australian-born parents, communication in English with their children becomes more dominant. As there has been no earlier study on Family Language Policy of Turkish-speaking parents in Australia, data were collected on the language beliefs and practices of 45 bilingual families. The findings show that Turkish maintenance is a symbolic part of cultural identity of the families studied. Findings reveal the challenges faced by families concerning heritage language maintenance within the family home, particularly as children become more fluent in English and as further generations become more intertwined within other cultures and an expectation to assimilate towards Australian culture and the English-speaking mainstream.

Turkish heritage families in Sweden: language practices and family language policy

ABSTRACT This paper explores family language policy in Turkish-speaking families in Sweden. Questionnaires were administered to the parents of 105 Turkish/Swedish children (age 4 − 7), targeting family language practices (including parent–parent, parent–child, child–parent, child-and-sibling conversation and language-fostering activities such as joint book reading, storytelling and mother tongue tuition), and parental language beliefs and attitudes. Despite much diversity in family types concerning parents’ education, country of birth, native language and ethnic affiliation (e.g. Kurdish), common traits emerge: There is a strong focus on the transmission of Turkish in the home, in the face of early and extensive Swedish pre-school attendance. Parents mostly speak Turkish with the child. However, Sweden-born parents report higher uses of Swedish in the home, and sibling interaction also drives a shift towards Swedish. Parental education appears to affect Turkish joint reading activities. Most parents consider proficiency in Turkish and Swedish as equally important for their children. Parents who rank Turkish higher do not necessarily show more maintenance efforts, pointing to some inconsistency between attitudes and practices. Overall, the family language practices observed indicate strong bilingual ideologies and strong language maintenance ideologies, in line with Swedish official state-level language policy, which supports bilingualism and minority language maintenance.

Russian language maintenance among multilingual teachers in Israeli educational settings

The present paper focuses on language maintenance among multilingual teachers and presents a research project with Russian-Hebrew speakers on their ideas of language-related normality in educational settings. The main objective is to investigate the role of migration-related multilingual teachers within the multilingual turn. The project approached the topic from three perspectives: the macro level of educational policies, the meso level of educational institutions, and the micro level of linguistic development. Data were collected through biographical interviews with 17 teachers and interpreted within the theoretical framework of language beliefs using the concepts of linguistic market, language awareness and language education policy as well as pedagogical competence. The results show the close interconnectedness of language beliefs on all the three levels. They also show that beliefs can experience a reconstruction. In order to challenge the monolingual idea of normality among teachers, an interwoven intervention on all the three levels is necessary: there is a need for education policy measures (macro level) that would anchor training on dealing with multilingualism (meso level) in regular teacher training and, in doing so, would draw on the existing migration-related multilingual practices of prospective teachers (micro level). This interaction between top-down (professionalization in dealing with multilingualism anchored in educational policy) and bottom-up (migration-related multilingual practices among prospective teachers) measures can enable a shift toward multilingualism as an idea of normality in educational contexts. This paper contributes to a better understanding of the formation, development and reconstruction of language-related idea of normality among teachers and discusses its methodological and theoretical implications.

EMI, international visibility and competitiveness

One of the main goals of Spanish higher education is the consolidation of an internationalised university system through international visibility, attractiveness, competitiveness and collaboration. As the literature reports, English plays a relevant role in internationalisation strategies, so this paper examines the relationship between internationalisation and English in institutional documents. Corpus linguistics and critical discourse analysis were used to identify language-related strategies and interpret the language beliefs underlying the promotion of English in the Spanish university context. Results showed that the main language-related strategy was English-medium instruction (EMI) because it promotes the international visibility of universities and helps local students improve their foreign language competence. Measures to support bilingual education were found regarding language training and accreditation. Furthermore, the discourses of globalisation, excellence and employability support the position of English as the international language. Therefore, the introduction of English as another working language in the universities’ linguistic repertoire is widely accepted, although institutional support and constant language training measures are considered essential for the success of internationalisation goals.

Has the pandemic been a blessing or a curse for linguistic education?

The pandemic has undoubtedly reshaped the way we now perceive education. It has imposed a need to pursue new ways of learning and teaching, novel (online) educational trajectories, and – maybe most significantly – radically different forms of how we now communicate “at schools” and use our language(s). What is particularly crucial to ERL Journal, though, it can be argued to have had its silver lining in that it has brought closer the two “worlds” of linguistic and educational specialists. The former have come to view their reality in pedagogical terms as they were forced to struggle for contact with their students online and to think of ways in which their interlocutors can best be prompted and turn on their cameras and actively participate in lessons kept remotely. The latter, on the other hand have been – consciously or not – caused to reflect on issues to do with language, be it the gap between language reception and production, elicitation techniques, intralanguage, etc. Hence, the educational world of the two groups in question has substantially changed and been enriched with conceptual and didactic categories which are bound to be of use following the pandemic. Thinking of the impact of the pandemic even more specifically, we observe that it has generated a wide range of questions intersecting pedagogy and linguistics. Many of these questions which have been posed by students themselves and they prove to encompass all the educational (ERL) domains – be it their reflection along the lines What’s the point of speaking (if I can just be quiet) (language(-)beliefs), How to present in words what my school friends cannot see offline? (language(-)activity), How do the others think about the way I say things online? (language(-)affect), or Can be learn all the subjects just by discussing them through the net? (language(-)thinking). Reflection on these issues has possibly raised the students’ language awareness, especially if their teachers have happened to render such questions and the issues they address explicit in particular classroom contexts. This being the case, we can observe here room for inevitable emergence and amplification of interdisciplinary linguistic identity across and within all school subjects and disciplines. What follows is that the remote education triggered by COVID-19 can be viewed as an opportunity to develop and extend students’ awareness of their linguistic identity on the axiological, psychomotor, affective, and cognitive strata.

A Brief Review on Beliefs About Language Learning Inventory

Second language learners have various learning attitudes in different settings. Beliefs are essential elements in any field that deals with human performance and learning. Beliefs assist individuals in defining and understanding the world and themselves; they help define tasks and play an essential role in determining action (White, 1999). Recently, researchers have recognized the significance of language beliefs in the second language learning process; they have also been demonstrated interest in students' perspectives on language learning and their effects on learners' motivation, foreign language anxiety, and efficacy. This review summarized students' beliefs on learning a second language by combining key elements from previous research on this topic. This paper has analyzed five previous published articles (Mori,1999; Ellis, 2008; Tanaka & Ellis, 2008; Horwitz1987) and discussed findings on learner beliefs, potential changes in learner beliefs, and factors influencing learner beliefs changes.

‘Ba-SKY-aP with her each day at dinner’: technology as supporter in the learning and management of home languages

ABSTRACT The paper describes the transformational role technology plays in the management and transmission of heritage (minority) languages (HL) in two UK-based multilingual families. Data were collected in the form of a language background survey, parental interviews, and recordings of interactional events within the home. Findings suggest that parents use technology as a language management tool within the home domain to transmit their HL through enhancing HL language practices and creating rich HL linguistic environments, which both support and seem to contradict parents’ declared language beliefs. Technology allows Family members from across the world to frequently partake in everyday multilingual talk thereby strengthening HL learning and use. Interestingly, the support parents feel technology offers them in transmitting the HL reduces their own anxiety over their children’s HL development whilst also unexpectedly relaxing their attitudes towards fears of (over)consumption of technology. Equally, technology appears to support children to consciously develop overt bilingual identities that they previously did not (openly) profess. The data supports the notion of technology as semiotic practice emphasising that with strategic parental support and agency from children, technology can transform the home into a hub where the learning and maintenance of the HL is advocated in multiple unprecedented ways.

The Process of Reframing a Linguistic Mindset (RLM) and Its Implications for Professional Development in Education

This paper discusses the results of a study that yield information on the process of teachers reframing a linguistic mindset from standard language beliefs to linguistically informed, and proposes the Reframing of a Linguistic Mindset (RLM) model as a means of analysis for more impactful professional development. The participants were fourteen teachers who attended language variation workshops, then integrated linguistically informed content into their curricula throughout the year. The study employed mixed methods data analysis principally from transcribed individual and focus-group interviews. Analysis of the data resulted in a theoretical conceptualization of the reframing of a linguistic mindset as a circular process consisting of five phases: confronting new linguistic information; questioning linguistic information and previously held language beliefs; integrating new linguistic information within social contexts; evaluating relational, emotional and cognitive responses to integrating; and reframed views of language. The RLM model addresses a phenomenon in the reframing process where, not only do the phases repeat and inform each other, but the process can also include juxtaposed contrary views where previously held standard language beliefs are reinscribed, and at the same time a linguistically informed awareness is gained from the experience. Link to paper: https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:f9431a26-b0c9-4b16-b4ca-ca14e76b4c68

Parent’s Language Policies and Language Attitudes in The Family

As citizens of Indonesian society, we should maintain the nation's culture, one of which is cultural heritage, namely the local language or language of each family in Indonesia. So that we as the nation's successors continue to take part in the maintenance and preservation of cultural heritage as a reflection of our identity as children of the nation. The relationship in which education in the family is the goal of national education so that the role of various parties is needed, such as; Teachers, government, facilities and infrastructure, and parents. The aims to be reached in writing this research are; the family language policy adopted by parents at home; Languages coexist (or lose, or gain) in their family environment; the efforts do parents make in learning and maintaining language in their homes. This study uses direct observation methods on the research subject, namely parents. The observations were made in the realm of the family (at home). The data obtained is in the form of a list of statements in the form of the respondent's characteristics, the respondent's response. Interviews in the form of questions and answers about language attitudes and assessment of language and language maintenance. The family language policy implemented by parents at home is frequent, meaning that based on the above percentage results, the policy regarding the language used by parents at home shows "Often" with an overall average percentage value of 50% or half of the expected 100% reviewed from the aspect of the language policy adopted; Language beliefs or ideologies, language practice, and language management. This indicates that the language policy adopted at home with the "Frequently" family is used. Meanwhile, based on the above percentage results, the attitude of the language used by the parents at home shows "disagree" with the overall average percentage value of 40% or 100% of the expected. Their efforts are to use the local language at home, equip their children with various sources both print and non-print, and stay in touch with local ethnic groups. To maintain the local language properly, there must be good cooperation between parents, schools, local government, and the community

Parental Beliefs and Knowledge, Children's Home Language Experiences, and School Readiness: The Dual Language Perspective.

Parental beliefs and knowledge about child development affect how they construct children’s home learning experiences, which in turn impact children’s developmental outcomes. A rapidly growing population of dual language learners (DLLs) highlights the need for a better understanding of parents’ beliefs and knowledge about dual language development and practices to support DLLs. The current study examined the dual language beliefs and knowledge of parents of Spanish-English preschool DLLs (n = 32). We further asked how socioeconomic and sociocultural factors were associated with parental beliefs and knowledge, and how parental beliefs and knowledge related to DLLs’ home dual language experiences and school readiness skills as rated by their teachers. Results suggested both strengths and opportunities for growth in parental beliefs and knowledge. Moreover, parents from higher-SES backgrounds reported beliefs and knowledge that were more consistent with scientific evidence. Furthermore, parental beliefs and knowledge was positively related to relative Spanish input at home and negatively related to the frequency of English language and literacy activities. However, parental beliefs and knowledge were not associated with children’s dual language output at home or the frequency of Spanish language and literacy activities. Finally, parental beliefs and knowledge were associated with children’s school readiness skills in Spanish but not in English. Together, these findings highlight the need for culturally responsive interventions and parent education programs, which must recognize both the strengths and areas of improvement in parents of DLLs and support parents to transform knowledge into high-quality language and literacy experiences that benefit DLLs.

Changing teacher learners’ language ideologies and pedagogical practices: an action research intervention in World Englishes

ABSTRACT The growing recognition of the varieties of Englishes constituting the world Englishes (WE) and related paradigms calls for replacing teachers’ existing language ideologies with WE-oriented beliefs and preparing them to teach with WE awareness. Since WE has yet to be part of mainstream education and teacher education, formal and informal interventions are used by educators and researchers for teacher learning and professional development. How effective are such interventions in changing student-teachers’ language beliefs and practices? The action research reported in this article was conducted in a postgraduate Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) course at an Australian university involving in-service and pre-service teachers mainly from Asia. We report some changes in the participants’ beliefs of English and their views of pedagogical practices. However, the major contribution of the research is noted in its reporting of pedagogical and methodological challenges for such interventions and drawing lessons for future research.

Social and other nonlinguistic dimensions of grassroots heritage language community groups

In this article, I focus on the different roles that self-formed ethnic community groups play in the heritage language socialisation of Hispanic families. The article is based on an ethnographic study conducted in La Casa Amistad, a small group of middle-class Hispanic families living in Vancouver, Canada. The analysis focuses on the different ways in which membership in the group supported the families in their goals to raise multilingual children, and on how the group became a bridge that connected likeminded parents who shared a similar culture as well as language beliefs, values and practices. Group participation also provided a safe environment where members reported feeling a sense of belonging. In this manner, such supportive and non-threatening environment functioned like a surrogate extended family

LOTE learning motivation in multilingual workplace

This study aims to investigate the LOTE learning motivation profiles of adult learners at a multilingual workplace and the interplay of multilevel factors affecting LOTE learning motivation. To address the research objectives, we undertook this case study on a Spanish bank subsidiary in China by conducting semi-structured interviews with three senior managers at varying LOTE language proficiency levels. Premised on a person-in-context relational perspective, interview data analysis revealed the participants LOTE motivation change trajectories resulting from the dynamic interplay of related factors. Further analysis of the narratives identified the interplay between key contextual and individual factors affecting the participants’ LOTE learning motivation at different levels, namely social cultural and institutional. The results emphasise the person-in-institutional context relation and the significance of team climate, language beliefs and identity in influencing LOTE learning motivation

Translanguaging Practices in Local Employees’ Negotiation to create Linguistic Space in a Multilingual Workplace

This study explores the language practices and beliefs of local employees at a Shanghai-based subsidiary of a German multinational company. We conducted a seven-month ethnographic study and collected data from the company’s publicly accessible documents, meeting transcripts, semi-structured interviews with five employees, and ethnographic notes. Qualitative data analysis revealed that local employees frequently utilized translanguaging practices despite the company’s implicit assumption that English would be used as the common corporate language. Four major translanguaging practices were identified: key terms in English, bilingual label quest, cross-language recapping, and cross-language alternation. In addition, local employees perceived language as both a resource and an obstacle, often engaging in translanguaging practices to establish their own linguistic and communicative spaces, indicating that translanguaging is a complex multilingual practice influenced by internal and external factors, subject to social milieu, personal language competence, and beliefs. Ultimately, this study extends the notion of translanguaging and probes its analytical benefits for understanding fluid and discursive activities in multilingual workplaces and the sustainability of linguistic ecology and knowledge dissemination.

An empirical validation study of Spolsky's language policy model

ABSTRACT This study investigates Spolsky's conception of language policy as the amalgam of language beliefs, language practices and language management. To the best of our knowledge, no quantitative evidence has ever been produced for his theoretical model. The current paper addressed this void, albeit specifically in the domain of Early Childhood Care and Education – scarce in terms of language policy research, but vital for children's (multilingual) language development. An Exploratory Factor Analysis yielded three valid and reliable scales that capture language policy from the perspective of early childhood professionals (N = 305) associated with infant welfare clinics in the Flemish Community of Belgium. Furthermore, a Confirmatory Factor Analysis indicated that the three components are ‘independent’ as well as ‘interconnected,’ thereby quantitatively corroborating Spolsky's theory. We conclude that language policy is no unitary concept; therefore, if one intends to study language policy holistically, the three indispensable components are to be identified. As a corollary, one simply cannot investigate management without considering beliefs and practices, and vice versa.

Language use in English-medium instruction programs in Vietnamese higher education: From policy to practice

ABSTRACT Premised on the theoretical approaches of language planning and policy (Spolsky, 2004, 2009; Ricento & Hornberger, 1996), this study provides a holistic examination of language use from policy to practice in Vietnamese higher education English-medium instruction (EMI) programs from multiple stakeholders’ perspectives. Specifically, this study examines how the use of languages is enacted (language management), perceived (language beliefs), and implemented (language practices) at three layers/levels involving 30 university administrators, 96 content lecturers, and 286 students (N=412). Research data were drawn from multiple sources, including policy documents, questionnaires, interviews, and classroom observations. An overarching ideology of English only as the medium of instruction was manifest in the data at all levels. However, the findings revealed a stark misalignment between the language management policies explicitly articulated at the national and institutional levels and actual language practices taking place at the interpersonal/classroom level. These findings suggest that ideology/beliefs are not the sole determinant of language practices and that the latter can sometimes be driven by contextual factors. The paper discusses the findings’ implications for EMI policies and practices and offers suggestions for future EMI-related research.