Early Bidialectal Maintenance among Chinese Heritage Learners in Canada: A Family Language Policy Perspective.

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Title:	Early Bidialectal Maintenance among Chinese Heritage Learners in Canada: A Family Language Policy Perspective.
Authors:	Li, Guofang¹ guofang.li@ubc.ca, Shen, Senyao¹ senyao@mail.ubc.ca
Source:	Researching & Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language. 2024, Issue 1, p49-72. 24p.
Subject Terms:	Dialects, Language maintenance, *Attitudes toward language, Immigrant families, Heritage language speakers, Mandarin dialects
Geographic Terms:	Canada
Abstract:	Research on Chinese heritage-language maintenance has predominantly focused on Mandarin as the default mother tongue and has largely ignored learners’ dialects or language varieties. As a result, we know little about dialect speakers’ beliefs and practices of maintaining their language varieties other than Mandarin, particularly in the home domain. Using family language policy (FLP) as the theoretical framework, this multiple case study examined six Chinese families’ beliefs and practices in early bidialectal (Mandarin and dialect) maintenance over three years when their children moved through kindergarten to Grade 3. Findings indicated that parents subscribed to the dominant language ideologies and placed their dialects at the bottom of the language hierarchy. However, the parents differed in their beliefs in the value of their dialects; and families who celebrated bidialectalism actively maintained their dialects while those who did not gradually gave up on passing their dialects to their children, even when grandparents were involved in the maintenance efforts. The findings have important implications for supporting and achieving bidialectalism in immigrant countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
	Copyright of Researching & Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language is the property of University of Toronto Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database:	Education Research Complete

Description
Abstract:	Research on Chinese heritage-language maintenance has predominantly focused on Mandarin as the default mother tongue and has largely ignored learners’ dialects or language varieties. As a result, we know little about dialect speakers’ beliefs and practices of maintaining their language varieties other than Mandarin, particularly in the home domain. Using family language policy (FLP) as the theoretical framework, this multiple case study examined six Chinese families’ beliefs and practices in early bidialectal (Mandarin and dialect) maintenance over three years when their children moved through kindergarten to Grade 3. Findings indicated that parents subscribed to the dominant language ideologies and placed their dialects at the bottom of the language hierarchy. However, the parents differed in their beliefs in the value of their dialects; and families who celebrated bidialectalism actively maintained their dialects while those who did not gradually gave up on passing their dialects to their children, even when grandparents were involved in the maintenance efforts. The findings have important implications for supporting and achieving bidialectalism in immigrant countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:	20531788
DOI:	10.1558/rtcfl.25190