ABSTRACT

Schools in the United States have historically conducted language policing in favor of standardized American English. The current study examines links between language policies in eight immigrant families in relation to educational language policies of two public elementary schools operating under an English-only policy in Massachusetts. The study places a focus on the agency of children and parents expressed through interviews, while paying attention to the institutional power of schooling. The participating families spoke Cape Verdean Creole, Mandarin, Portuguese, and Spanish as their heritage languages. Two theoretical frameworks informed our findings. Firstly, we use “family language policy” to define language decisions in families as a multifaceted construct. Secondly, we analyze family language beliefs and practices through a “language ideology” lens to unveil power structures influencing them. Our findings showed that the participants’ spoken beliefs positioned bilingualism and heritage language maintenance as valuable. However, family language decisions showed an increasing preference for English that inherently aligned with the English-only educational policies and practices and alienated heritage languages. Our study contributes to the existing body of literature on family language policy by adding more nuance to the contextual and fluid nature of language decisions in bilingual families.

摘要

历史上，美国的学校一直在进行语言警务，以支持标准化的美国英语。本研究调查了马萨诸塞州仅英语政策下运营的两个公立小学的教育语言政策与八个移民家庭的语言政策之间的联系。该研究着重于通过访谈表达的儿童和父母的代理权，同时关注学校教育的制度性力量。参加活动的家庭以佛得角克里奥尔语，普通话，葡萄牙语和西班牙语作为传承语言。两个理论框架为我们的发现提供了依据。首先，我们使用“家庭语言政策”将家庭中的语言决策定义为一个多层面的结构。第二，我们通过“语言意识形态”的角度分析家庭语言的信仰和习惯，以揭示影响他们的力量结​​构。我们的研究结果表明，参与者的口语信仰将双语和传承语言维护视为有价值。但是，家庭语言的决定显示出人们越来越倾向于英语，而英语固有地与仅英语的教育政策和惯例以及疏远的传统语言保持一致。我们的研究通过为双语家庭的语言决策的上下文和流动性质增加了更多细微差别，从而为有关家庭语言政策的现有文献做出了贡献。家庭语言决定显示出对英语的日益增长的偏好，这种语言本质上与仅英语的教育政策和惯例以及疏远的传统语言保持一致。我们的研究通过为双语家庭的语言决策的上下文和流动性质增加了更多细微差别，从而为有关家庭语言政策的现有文献做出了贡献。家庭语言决定显示出对英语的日益增长的偏好，这种语言本质上与仅英语的教育政策和惯例以及疏远的传统语言保持一致。我们的研究通过为双语家庭的语言决策的上下文和流动性质增加了更多细微差别，从而为有关家庭语言政策的现有文献做出了贡献。