Using a ‘Family Language Policy’ lens to explore the dynamic and relational nature of child agency

Smith‐Christmas, Cassie

doi:10.1111/chso.12461

Cited by 28 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Immigrant parents tend to have the intention to transmit their HL and use explicit language practice and management strategies to influence their children's language development (Park and Sarkar, 2007;Szecsi and Szilagyi, 2012, etc.). However, children may contest or resist their parents' efforts and undermine their parents' FLP (Mu and Dooley, 2015;Smith-Christmas, 2022), which was exemplified by Tracy's and Anne's cases in this study. Both Tracy and Anne demonstrated resistance strategies toward HL, such as using their preferred language, English, in response to their parents, trying to escape from Chinese homework or even quitting weekend Chinese classes, which was a clear indication of language shift.…”

Section: Child Agency In Heritage Language Maintenancementioning

confidence: 83%

Parents’ planning, children’s agency and heritage language education: Re-storying the language experiences of three Chinese immigrant families in Australia

Shen

Jiang

2023

Front. Psychol.

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This study delves into the heritage language experiences of Australian-born Chinese immigrant children under the framework of family language policy. Storytelling as a narrative inquiry method is used to reveal the lived experiences of the protagonists in relation to heritage language and culture. The three family stories involved for case studies reveal different levels of parent agency in Chinese immigrant families regarding their children’s home language use and heritage language education. It is noted that the level of child agency corresponds with the level of their parent agency. Where parents strongly advocate and practice heritage language maintenance, stronger agency is observed in their children to continue the use and learning of their heritage language. In addition, maintaining harmony while parents are implementing family language policies and providing children with formal instruction in heritage language are conducive to heritage language development, particularly in terms of its literacy.

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Section: Child Agency In Heritage Language Maintenancementioning

confidence: 83%

Parents’ planning, children’s agency and heritage language education: Re-storying the language experiences of three Chinese immigrant families in Australia

Shen

Jiang

2023

Front. Psychol.

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“…As Okita (2002) points out, being a heritage language parent can be emotionally draining work, and it can also be lonely, particularly when the heritage language maintenance falls on the shoulders of just one parent. This paper argues that children, instead of being solely at the receiving end of a parent’s heritage language efforts, have a substantial role as collaborators, partners, and instigators, siding with King’s (2016) call for more studies which explore child agency and identity formation, and Smith-Christmas’ (2022) call for a closer link between childhood studies and family language policy. It is important to recognise that the responsibility and agency related to heritage language maintenance do not just lie with the parent – instead, children have both the right and the ability to share and reflect on their attitudes, and to guide family language policy.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Half of who you are’: Parent and child reflections on the emotional experiences of reversing familial language shift

Little

2022

International Journal of Bilingualism

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Aims and objectives: The study explores the emotional experiences of a mother and son during the re-introduction of the heritage language at age 6, following a 2-year hiatus. In particular, it seeks to highlight the affordances of a collaborative, emotionally sensitive approach to family language policy, with parent and child jointly incorporating and acknowledging aspects of the child’s identity development. Methodology: Adopting an autoethnographic approach, mother and son kept a joint research diary where critical incidents (as chosen by either one or both) were written down as verbatim as possible, and subsequently reflected on together, with reflections again entered into the diary. Data and analysis: Data were coded according to various emotions (frustration, pride, joy, love, guilt, etc.) as well as a code linked to identity development. These were then thematically analysed. Findings and conclusion: Parent–child collaboration and facilitation of child agency have a positive impact on a child’s attitude towards learning the heritage language. Jointly sharing and reflecting on the emotional journey of growing up bilingual and bringing up a bilingual child affords both parent and child an insight into each other’s concerns, charting a path towards a collaborative approach to family language policy development. Originality: The study is the first officially documented long-term study focusing on the reversal of familial language shift which provides emotional and language-related data from both parent and child, as part of a complex tapestry of emotion, identity, language, and parent–child relationship. Significance and Implications: Recommendations are made for children to be more actively involved in family language policy research, taking into account their emotional links to, and experiences with, various aspects of language use. In addition, a focus on emotions can assist in a better understanding of the links between language and identity, giving children and parents the space to reflect on and articulate their different points of view, shaping family language policy.

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“…The theme is foregrounded in the discussion of children as language brokers and translators for parents/carers (Crafter & Iqbal, 2021; Phoenix & Faulstich Orellana, 2021; Romero‐Moreno & Vargas‐Urpí, 2021) but also arises in education debates around minority community languages (Cohen & Rønning, 2021; Horgan et al, 2021; Peace‐Hughes, 2021). Understandings of childhood and child agency are developed for bilingualism research by Smith‐Christmas (2021) on Family Language Policy and in the articles on Child Language Brokering (CLB). These articles explore how children's agency can be understood and expressed relationally, in differing contexts across time and domains.…”

Section: Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…community languages (Cohen & Rønning, 2021;Horgan et al, 2021;Peace-Hughes, 2021). Understandings of childhood and child agency are developed for bilingualism research by Smith-Christmas (2021) on Family Language Policy and in the articles on Child Language Brokering (CLB). These articles explore how children's agency can be understood and expressed relationally, in differing contexts across time and domains.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Children, childhoods and bilingualism: Exploring experiences, perspectives and policies

Peace-Hughes¹,

Cohen²,

Jamieson³

et al. 2022

Children & Society

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This special issue brings together scholars from a range of disciplines and contexts concerned with children, 1 childhood and bilingualism; that is the ability to communicate in two or more languages with any degree of proficiency, from minimal to advanced (Grosjean, 2010). Language is fundamental to human culture and personhood and a key part of identity at an individual, family and community level. However, language may also be used at a national level as a tool for building nationhood and empire in ways that create power hierarchies. State-sponsored language polices have often marginalised minority languages, whether these are long-established and termed indigenous to the area 2 or associated with more recent migration. Equally, bilingualism may be undermined in settings built on monolingualism. As seen in this special issue, national education policies in some countries now offer more support to minoritised indigenous languages but have been slower to recognise the linguistic resource offered by more recent migrant or ethnic language communities, whose languages are still too often treated as an impediment to educational achievement and social integration (Pavlenko & Blackledge, 2004).Research points to important advantages of bilingualism in child development and education. Cognitive science research shows the benefits of early bilingualism on language and cognition, including children's better understanding of language structure, an earlier appreciation of others' perspectives and enhanced attentional control and mental adaptability (Bialystok et al., 2009;Costa & Sebastian-Galles, 2014;Kroll & Bialystok, 2013). Language-awareness approaches in education highlight the value of linguistic diversity in developing metalinguistic skills and in preparing children for a globalised, multilingual and multicultural world (Hawkins, 1984;Hélot et al., 2018). Therefore, bilingualism, can be both individually and collectively advantageous.However, research to date has insufficiently attended to the experiences and perspectives of children themselves, which limits, in turn, the understanding of bilingualism (Peace-Hughes et al., 2021;Wilson, 2020). The perspective of childhood studies that highlights children's participation in the construction of their day-to-day lives and the world around them (James & Prout, 1997;Spyrou, 2018), offers one route to insightful and nuanced understandings. In this special issue, authors use different lenses and framings to examine the ways in which languages and childhoods articulate and are implicated in children's senses of self, ways of seeing and feeling, imagined solidarity, local-national-and-transnational belonging, agency and aspirations.The collection contributes to theorising intersectional power dynamics between children, young people and adults. The theme is foregrounded in the discussion of children as language brokers and translators for parents/carers

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Using a ‘Family Language Policy’ lens to explore the dynamic and relational nature of child agency

Cited by 28 publications

References 41 publications

Parents’ planning, children’s agency and heritage language education: Re-storying the language experiences of three Chinese immigrant families in Australia

Parents’ planning, children’s agency and heritage language education: Re-storying the language experiences of three Chinese immigrant families in Australia

‘Half of who you are’: Parent and child reflections on the emotional experiences of reversing familial language shift

Children, childhoods and bilingualism: Exploring experiences, perspectives and policies

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