ERIC Number: EJ1432269
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 28
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1466-4208
EISSN: EISSN-1747-7506
Available Date: N/A
Understanding Networked Family Language Policy: A Study among Bengali Immigrants in Australia
Priyanka Bose; Xuesong Gao; Sue Starfield; Nirukshi Perera
Current Issues in Language Planning, v25 n4 p416-443 2024
Family language policy (FLP) impacts the maintenance of heritage language(s) in the family domain, where parents play a crucial role in making language-related decisions for their children. Globalisation, immigration, the COVID-19 pandemic, and digital communication have all affected FLP. Studies are now calling for examining how dispersed transnational families incorporate digital practices as a part of their FLP, given the shift from the exclusive use of traditional face-to-face communication to the inclusion of digital communication media such as Skype and WhatsApp. This research examines the viability of utilising Spolsky's tripartite framework to study the new concept of 'networked FLP,' a term coined by Curdt-Christiansen and Huang, which acknowledges dispersed families and digital communication. We examine data from ten Bengali immigrant families in Australia with dispersed senior family members living abroad. Our findings enrich the concept of networked FLP by highlighting the digital affordances that networked FLP provides to dispersed transnational families and the importance of socio-cultural and emotional factors when applying Spolsky's framework to FLP with digital media. We show that family bonding, maintaining heritage culture, and emotional connections are the primary motivations for digital communication, while language learning is secondary. Our study finds that it is essential to incorporate sociocultural and emotional factors when investigating networked FLP.
Descriptors: Family Relationship, Language Usage, Indo European Languages, Linguistic Theory, Computer Mediated Communication, Computer Software, Immigrants, Foreign Countries, Language Maintenance, Native Language, Parent Role, Parent Child Relationship, Sociocultural Patterns, Second Language Learning, English (Second Language), Profiles
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research; Tests/Questionnaires
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia; India; Bangladesh
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A