Research on family language policy (FLP) has established that parental beliefs and attitudes influence parents’ language choices in the home, and that these practices shape children’s language development (De Houwer, 1999). However, as demonstrated in recent studies on child agency in shaping parents’ language practices (e.g. Gyogi, 2015), children also play a significant role in shaping FLP. Little is known, however, about the roles of parents and children in the negotiation of FLP in multilingual societies, and how these factors interact with national language policy.
The present study focuses on FLP among ethnically Chinese families in Singapore. Singapore has undergone considerable language shift over the past several decades; recent surveys indicate that English now the most common home language (Department of Statistics Singapore 2015). Chinese parents in Singapore, faced with the pressures of compulsory bilingual English and Mandarin education in the competitive local school system, turn to strategic management of linguistic resources in their daily family communications.
This analysis draws on data from participation observation and parental interviews of 13 Chinese Singaporean families to investigate how national language policy, parental attitudes, and children’s linguistic practices influence the construction of FLP. Singapore’s bilingual education policy is found to have pervasive effects on FLP, particularly once the eldest child has entered school. Parents’ own early language experiences and parenting style also have a crucial impact. Regarding the role of children, most parents point to the linguistic competencies and experiences of the firstborn child as a crucial factor in shaping FLP. These findings help elucidate how the Singapore government’s efforts to shape community language use and foster bilingualism are translated into practices in the home.
De Houwer, A. (1999). Environmental factors in early bilingual development: The role of parental beliefs and attitudes. In Extra, G & Verhoeven, L (eds.), Bilingualism and migration, 75-96. New York, NY: Mouton de Gruyter
Department of Statistics Singapore. (2015). General Household Survey 2015. URL: http://www.singstat.gov.sg/publications/publications-and-papers/GHS/ghs2015
Gyogi, E. (2015). Children’s agency in language choice: a case study of two Japanese-English bilingual children in London. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 18(6), 749-764.
