This study investigates language transmission in Russian-speaking families in multilingual settings in Finland, Cyprus, Estonia and Sweden. Ethnolinguistic vitality theory (Giles, Bourhis and Taylor, 1977) is used as a... [ view full abstract ]
This study investigates language transmission in Russian-speaking families in multilingual settings in Finland, Cyprus, Estonia and Sweden. Ethnolinguistic vitality theory (Giles, Bourhis and Taylor, 1977) is used as a theoretical framework in order to investigate the complex contexts of the language choices.
Written questionnaires and interviews were used for data collection among Russian-speaking informants, of which 90 reside in Sweden, 15 in Estonia, 90 in Finland and 50 in Cyprus. Our main research question is whether Russian as L1 is transmitted to the second generation. We focus especially on the role of school, preschool and extra-curriculum activities chosen by the parents.
Estonia offers Russian language instruction up to basic school level; secondary education is provided in at least 60% Estonian language. In Finland, there are several bilingual Finnish-Russian schools and many pre-primary educational institutions, as well as non-compulsory organisations offering Russian. In Cyprus, there are several private Russian-speaking schools. Russian is a foreign language in all public schools and tutor centres. Cyprus is a highly touristic destination and even the Cypriots are eager to learn Russian as it is an essential tool for finding a good job in international companies.
Both Finland and Sweden provide students with a legal right to mother tongue instruction (Ganuza and Hedman, 2015; Viimaranta et al. 2017). However, even despite of this fact, the parents mentioned several implementation problems, regarding the quality and quantity of the instruction, the quality of the books and the children’s knowledge of the literature and Russian grammar. The shortages of the educational system mentioned by several parents are further explored in this study and some methodological recommendations based on our findings are suggested.
The choice of school and opportunities for Russian education depends on the socio-economic status, as private schools and tutor centres are quite expensive and not everybody can afford them, and on the type of the immigrant family, mixed-marriage or monolingual, and the desire and willingness of the participants to transmit Russian to their children.
