Family Language Policies in a Multilingual World: Opportunities, Challenges, and Consequences

ESL & Applied Linguistics Professional

by John Macalister (Editor), Seyed Hadi Mirvahedi (Editor)

Through case studies from around the world, this book illustrates the opportunities and challenges facing families negotiating the issues of language maintenance and language learning in the home. Every family living in a bi/multilingual environment faces the question of what language(s) to speak with their children and must make a decision, consciously or otherwise, about these issues. Exploring links between language policy in the home and wider society in a range of diverse settings, the contributors utilize various research tools, including interviews, questionnaires, observations, and archival document analysis, to explore linguistic ideologies and practices of family members in the home, illuminating how these are shaped by macro-level societal processes.

244 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 19, 2016

About the author

John Macalister is Associate Professor in the School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

Reviews

[Selim Ben Said · Rating 3 out of 5]

Offering a broad range of contexts and methodological approaches to the study of Family Language Policy (FLP), this book is a great addition to the growing literature in this field. The reader is invited into the (micro) home domain/space of different families where language choices, ideologies, and practices are negotiated and where institutions and societal ideologies (i.e., the macro domains) are a driving force influencing the language choices made at home. The book offers a window into several polities whether the languages are spoken or signed (i.e., New Zealand Sign Language). One also gains a deeper understanding of how parents ‘invest’ in their children’s existing and potential linguistic repertoires. In addition, we learn how children navigate FLPs and sometimes resist to language policies at home. If you are new to this field and curious about it, this book will certainly whet your appetite.