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Raising Children Bi- and Plurilingually a Study of Parents´ Reasoning, Strategies and Attitudes

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Raising Children Bi- and Plurilingually a Study of Parents´ Reasoning, Strategies and Attitudes Raising children bi- and plurilingually A study of parents´ reasoning, strategies and attitudes Master Thesis Student: Kim Amberg Wildbachstrasse 8 8400 Winterthur Submitted on September 5th, 2016 Mentor: Co-Mentor: Prof. Dr. Lukas Bleichenbacher Michael Wirrer English English didactics 0 Abstract Nowadays more and more children in Switzerland are raised bi- or even plurilingually. While many studies have had a closer look at the bilingual child itself, this study focuses more on the parents. The choices, strategies and ideas of parents who raise their children bi- or plurilingually are explored with a Qualitative, discourse-analytical approach. For this, I conducted eight interviews with parents living in the Winterthur area (whenever possible, both mother and father). To assess whether different languages had any impact on the parents’ attitude towards bilingualism, families with different backgrounds were chosen. The following languages are represented by the families: Swiss German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Arabic, Polish, Italian, English. The analysis showed that most families follow a strategy that is a mix of different strategies much rather than one which fits the textbook. Much more important for their reasoning is the parents´ comfortability with the language and their abilities in both languages. There was no strong connection between the languages spoken and their reasoning. Further it can be shown that the perceived advantages and disadvantages of bilingualism are very similar to those described by Baker (2000). Even the amount of positive and negative aspects mentioned were similar. Overall, the parents showed a very positive attitude towards bilingualism. When talking about potential negative aspects their opinions were stated with less conviction. 1 Note of thanks I would like to say thank you to both my mentor Lukas Bleichenbacher and my Co- Mentor for helping me work on this study. They supported me throughout the last one and a half years and helped me to structure my ideas. Further I would like to thank all of the eight families who took part in this study and made it possible. They opened up their homes to give me a glimpse into their lives and answered my Questions very openly. In addition, I would like to thank Chris Donlon who was there to give me feedback and helped me to get the language right. At last, I would like to thank my family and friends who were there to support me throughout this process. 2 Table of Contents 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................ 6 Introduction to the subject matter ................................................................. 6 Relevance .................................................................................................... 7 Research Questions ..................................................................................... 9 2. Theory .............................................................................................................. 10 2.1. Bilingualism ................................................................................................ 10 2.1.1. Societal bilingualism ............................................................................ 11 2.1.1. Individual bilingualism .......................................................................... 12 2.1.2. Multilingualism in Switzerland .............................................................. 16 Language strategies ................................................................................... 19 2.1.1. One Person – One Language (OPOL) ................................................ 19 2.1.2. Home language – outside language .................................................... 20 2.1.3. Gradual introduction ............................................................................ 20 2.1.4. Interchangeable use ............................................................................ 20 2.1.5. Language time ..................................................................................... 20 2.1.6. Code-switching .................................................................................... 20 2.2. Code-switching ........................................................................................... 21 2.3. Code-mixing ............................................................................................... 22 2.4. Culture ........................................................................................................ 23 3. Method ............................................................................................................. 24 3.1. OPOL Questionnaire .................................................................................. 24 3.1.1. Language biographies ......................................................................... 25 3.2. Sampling .................................................................................................... 27 3.2.1. Sampling strategy ................................................................................ 27 3.2.2. Sampling Unit ...................................................................................... 28 3.2.3. Family A ............................................................................................... 30 3.2.4. Family B ............................................................................................... 31 3 3.2.5. Family C ............................................................................................... 31 3.2.6. Family D ............................................................................................... 32 3.2.7. Family E ............................................................................................... 32 3.2.8. Family F ............................................................................................... 33 3.2.9. Family G .............................................................................................. 33 3.2.10. Family H ........................................................................................... 34 3.3. Qualitative content analysis ....................................................................... 35 3.3.1. Category .............................................................................................. 35 3.3.2. Coding ................................................................................................. 36 3.3.3. SeQuence of coding ............................................................................. 36 3.3.4. SeQuence of analysis .......................................................................... 38 3.3.5. Topics .................................................................................................. 39 3.4. CritiQue of methodology ............................................................................. 41 3.4.1. Interviews as a scientific method ......................................................... 41 3.4.2. Sampling .............................................................................................. 41 3.4.3. Extent of a master thesis ..................................................................... 41 4. Analysis ............................................................................................................ 42 5.1. Parents´ attitude towards bi- and multilingualism ....................................... 42 5.1.1. Positive attitudes or experiences ......................................................... 42 5.1.2. Sceptical attitudes or experiences ....................................................... 47 5.1.3. Own experiences with bi- and multilingualism ..................................... 50 5.1.4. Reasoning for raising children bi- and multilingually ........................... 53 5.2. Language strategy ..................................................................................... 56 5.2.1. Reasoning for strategy/Reasoning for language choice ...................... 56 5.2.2. Language of the parents ...................................................................... 66 5.2.3. Family language .................................................................................. 69 5.2.4. Maintenance of minority language ....................................................... 71 5.3. Changes in language behaviour ................................................................ 74 4 5.4. Code-switching ........................................................................................... 76 5.4.1. Parents code-switching themselves .................................................... 77 5.4.2. Parents reaction to code-switching/code-mixing ................................. 79 5.5. Negotiating languages ............................................................................... 81 5.5.1. Competence in and attitudes towards partner´s language .................. 82 5.5.2. Positive feelings towards language ..................................................... 85 5.5.3. Negative feelings towards language .................................................... 86 5.6. Culture ........................................................................................................ 87 5.6.1. Multiculturalism .................................................................................... 87 5.6.2. Importance of passing on one´s culture .............................................. 88 5.6.3. Cultural influences ..............................................................................
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