ABSTRACT

The present study investigates immigrant parents’ family language policies in regards to their children’s heritage language development and maintenance by utilizing Spolsky’s theoretical model on which research on family language policy (FLP) considerably draw. Following the three core components of the FLP model, Iranian parents’ beliefs, practices and efforts in relation to their children’s home language (i.e. Persian/Farsi) acquisition and maintenance are investigated. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews with twenty-five parents of Persian-English bilinguals (6–18 year old) in New Zealand. The findings reveal that although the parents hold positive beliefs towards the family language acquisition and maintenance, there are discrepancies between their language ideologies and family language practices. In light of these inconsistencies between parents’ beliefs and their actual family language practices and efforts to preserve the heritage language, we argue that to raise their children bilingually, immigrant parents should not only have strong beliefs towards family language acquisition and maintenance, but also their everyday practices and efforts should be in line with their beliefs.

摘要

本研究利用Spolsky的理论模型研究了移民父母在子女遗传语言发展和维护方面的家庭语言政策，该理论模型大量借鉴了家庭语言政策（FLP）的研究。遵循FLP模型的三个核心组成部分，调查了伊朗父母与子女母语（即波斯语/波斯语）习得和维持有关的信念，做法和努力。数据是通过对25位在新西兰的波斯英语-英语双语父母（6-18岁）进行的半结构化访谈而收集的。调查结果表明，尽管父母对家庭语言习得和维持抱有积极信念，但他们的语言意识形态与家庭语言习惯之间存在差异。