Comparing Home Language Policies and Practices of Korean-American Families

• In Event: Roundtable Group 15
  In Refereed Roundtable Session: Language, Interaction, and Agency in Educational Settings

Proposal

Purpose-This study investigates the home language policies of first-generation immigrant Korean parents regarding bilingualism, and their practice of heritage language instruction in raising children able to speak their HL. We examine home language policies, if any, are employed to assist their children learning Korean and maintaining their cultural heritage (HL).
It is difficult for children of immigrant families to maintain and exhibit native-like mastery levels of their HL unless their parents hold clear language policies that work for the individual family while the children grow and learn English in an English-speaking school. HL education is closely connected with the multitude of cultural and social interactions that contribute to the development of human cognitive activity. Perspectives and intentionality to support their children’s fluency in their HL vary among immigrant families. From the perspective of Socio-Cultural Theory (Lantolf, 2000; Vygotsky, 1978), children’s home language learning arises from processes of meaning-making in collaborative activity with other members of their family.

Research Design-This case study is a qualitative investigation of language policies of two sets of Korean-American parents whose first language is Korean, who have a command of both Korean and English. Each family has two school-age children. Both sets of parents arrived in the US in their early or mid-20s. The parents’ ages range from 46 to 52, and the children’s ages range from 13 to 18. The audio-recorded interview data, observations, and field notes are coded and analyzed qualitatively using content analysis methods. Our data are compared and cross-referenced to examine and discover the differences and similarities of the families’ home language policies.


Findings-We found a distinctive difference in the language policies and medium of language for family communication. The first family consistently believed in the importance of maintaining HL, and engaged in continuous language interaction in Korean. Although two children who were born in the United States found English to be an easier language to use between themselves, they became used to communicating with each other in Korean at home. On the other hand, for the second family, the father prioritized teaching the English language only, and as a result, this family did not see place any importance on teaching their HL. There has been a lack of consistent and clear language policies about HL use and ongoing language support for learning and practicing Korean for the children in the second family that is a very patriarchal family, with the father having full authority and deciding the rules of the family without his spouse’s consent.

Discussion-Although both parents want their children to learn the HL, the children’s proficiency level can be vastly different depending on the parents’ involvement in consistency of language policies, and exposure to HL books and media. The home environment such as rich literacy, frequency of traveling to their parents’ country, sequential versus simultaneous language acquisition, the presence of siblings, and parents’ home language policies and use of HL play an important role in HL acquisition processes and outcomes.

Author

• Guang-Lea Lee, Old Dominion Univsersity