This study explores how Korean community organisations function to facilitate interactions amongst Korean migrant families, and so encourage intergenerational language transmission and maintenance of Korean in Christchurch,... [ view full abstract ]
This study explores how Korean community organisations function to facilitate interactions amongst Korean migrant families, and so encourage intergenerational language transmission and maintenance of Korean in Christchurch, New Zealand. Previous studies show that language shift in migrant families is most pronounced at adolescence (Fillmore, 1991; Fishman, 1991), but a recent New Zealand study revealed that 85% of Korean teenagers reported the ability to speak both Korean and English (King & Cunningham, 2016). This is the highest rate of intergenerational transmission of any minority language community in New Zealand. One of the factors that may be contributing to this high rate is the influence of Korean community organisations.
Korean migrant families in Christchurch were recruited and interviewed about their home language policies and practices. Interviews were carried out with eleven Korean mothers and their New Zealand-born adolescents. Findings identify four important factors within the Korean community that contribute to the transmission and maintenance of Korean language for adolescents. These are: having Korean-speaking peers, attendance at a Korean school, participation in a Korean church and exposure to The Korean Society ‒ a group set up to represent Korean migrants in Christchurch. The wider Korean community allows Korean migrants to create a Korean-speaking environment and supports families to develop a family language policy that focuses on Korean language transmission and maintenance. The results of this study may support heritage language transmission and maintenance within minority language communities to encourage people to become fluent in both their heritage language and the majority language.
Fillmore, L. W. (1991). When learning a second language means losing the first. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 6(3), 323-346.
Fishman, J. A. (1991). Reversing language shift: Theoretical and empirical foundations of assistance to threatened languages (Vol. 76). Clevedon, Philadelphia: Multilingual Matters.
King, J., & Cunningham, U. (2016). Intergenerational transmission of minority languages in New Zealand: Methodological issues. In S. Grucza, M. Olpińska-Szkielko & P. Romanowski (Eds.), Advances in understanding multilingualism: A global perspective (pp. 61-77). Frankfurt, Germany: Peter Lang Verlag.
