Intersections of official and family language policy in Quebec

Abstract

The current paper describes a study that sought to determine the beliefs, practices, and needs of parents living in Montreal, Quebec, who were raising their children bi/multilingually. The parents (N = 27) participated in a total of nine focus group and individual interviews in which they discussed their family language policies (language ideologies, practices, and actions taken to maintain a language). Through rounds of deductive and inductive coding and analysis, family language policies regarding English and/or French were compared with policies regarding heritage languages. The participants’ family language policies were further examined in light of Quebec’s official language policy of interculturalism. Findings indicate a complex co-existence of family and official language policy in which parents both support Quebec’s official language policy by converging towards French as a common public language and questioning the policy’s stance on official institutional support for heritage languages.

Effects of language dominance on home reading practices of bilingual families

“…Although these factors were not measured directly in our study, families’ language policies might have impacted their home literacy practices. Parents of bilingual French–English children in Montréal have positive views about bilingualism and value both languages, given their importance in Québec society (Ballinger et al, 2020). Consequently, these families likely have language policies intended to support their children’s bilingualism.…”

“…Many bilingual families have positive views of bilingualism and aim to support language and literacy development in both of the families’ languages, not just the majority language (Genesee, 2004; King & Fogle, 2006). Positive views of bilingualism have been reported by parents of Cantonese–English children in the United States (Leung & Uchikoshi, 2012), Turkish–Dutch children in the Netherlands (Backus et al, 2010; Bezcioglu-Goktolga & Yagmur, 2018), bilingual families in Australia (Piller & Gerber, 2018), and of particular interest to this paper, French–English families in Montréal (Ballinger et al, 2020). More specifically, parents of French–English bilingual children reported that they valued bilingualism both for their children to be able to communicate with family and friends, and for the potential advantages it might offer for education and future employment opportunities (Ballinger et al, 2020).…”

“…Positive views of bilingualism have been reported by parents of Cantonese–English children in the United States (Leung & Uchikoshi, 2012), Turkish–Dutch children in the Netherlands (Backus et al, 2010; Bezcioglu-Goktolga & Yagmur, 2018), bilingual families in Australia (Piller & Gerber, 2018), and of particular interest to this paper, French–English families in Montréal (Ballinger et al, 2020). More specifically, parents of French–English bilingual children reported that they valued bilingualism both for their children to be able to communicate with family and friends, and for the potential advantages it might offer for education and future employment opportunities (Ballinger et al, 2020). These views are likely to shape family language policy, which refers to the plans families make concerning their language use and choices within their household (King et al, 2008).…”

“…In contrast, in bilingual communities where the two languages have similar status and play more similar sociolinguistic roles, other factors will determine which language families choose for home literacy activities. This is likely the case for French–English bilingual families in Montréal, who report that they were satisfied with the community resources available to support both French and English, such as the availability of books at public libraries (Ballinger et al, 2020).…”

Quebec-based Parents’ Attitudes towards Childhood Multilingualism: Evaluative Dimensions and Potential Predictors

“…In the first phase of our research project about Quebec-based parents raising children multilingually, we conducted exploratory interviews and focus groups with 27 Montreal-based parents who were raising infants/toddlers aged 0-3 years with multiple languages in the home (Ballinger et al, 2020). The resulting qualitative data indicate that children's cognitive development was an important issue on parents' minds.…”