Language strategies of english-spanish bilingual families in madrid (spain)

Resumen

Bilingualism is increasing all around the world, therefore it is important to study it to help people become competent in two languages. Family bilingualism is an area of research that deals with mixed-language parents who raise their children bilingually. Some migrant families do so out of necessity, others do it by choice, and they all establish a bilingual Family Language Policy (FLP) to help their children succeed. Parents plan, explicitly or implicitly, the language patterns to be used within the family by selecting a language strategy, which is key for the achievement, maintenance and balanced development of both the children’s languages. There are a variety of language strategies available for bilingual families, each with its pros and cons, mainly in terms of effectiveness, as proved by research. These strategies are supported by certain discourse strategies and facilitating techniques as well as other factors, such as parents' beliefs, attitudes, and interactions with their children, which are important in helping them become bilingual. The language strategies of English-Spanish bilingual families in Madrid, which had not been the subject of any studies when I started my research in 2013, are the focus of the thesis. There is a large group of English-Spanish bilingual families living in Madrid, where English is regarded as a high-status language. Since there is a large community of native English-speaking people living here, a common consequence is English-Spanish bilingual families, who bring up their children in two languages at home, by choice, from birth. As I belong to this group, I decided to use my insights on raising two children bilingually to research language strategies, a common trait amongst many authors in the field of bilingualism. Consequently, this work was conceived to benefit both the academic and the non-academic worlds, researchers and parents, to contribute to the study of language strategies and help the field of FLP grow. Another aim is to share the conclusions of this thesis with other bilingual families by choice around the world, especially local English-Spanish bilingual families living in Madrid, and in other similar monolingual cities. Thus, this thesis could serve as a link between these two worlds, since parents should have reliable information on the subject, from trustworthy sources, to successfully raise children bilingually, as will be shown throughout this study. It is widely believed that children who are brought up in two languages automatically become bilingual, yet it does not always happen. Parents face many obstacles when raising children bilingually, so I would like to feel my efforts in completing this work can help others. The thesis is divided in 4 chapters. The first one is a general review of the subject, followed by a survey on the language strategies of a large group of English-Spanish bilingual families. This quantitative study is followed by a qualitative study, a case study of a smaller group of families using a language strategy called Mixed System 1. Lastly, the work is completed by the case study of one specific family using ethnographic techniques. It was important to combine different research approaches to offer a complete picture of the topic. Chapter 1, Language Strategies of Bilingual Families: the State of the Field reviews key concepts of the literature on bilingualism, including language acquisition theories, different types of bilingualism, bilingual education and the language strategies used by parents raising their children in two languages by choice, from birth. Five different types of language strategies are considered: One person/parent, one language (OPOL) and Minority language at home (ml@h), regarded as “major”; The Mixed-language policy (MLP), One person/parent, two languages (OP2L) and Mixed System (MS), viewed as “minor”. Language strategies can be complemented by discourse strategies used by parents when reacting to their children’s language mixing or use of each language, to negotiate their context. Facilitating techniques, or the actions parents can carry out to provide exposure to both languages and opportunities to practise them, also contribute to help support the children’s language development, especially the minority language. Many compilations of research on FLP include information on language strategies. There are also studies on many different aspects of parental language strategies, such as the reasons why parent choose certain ones, as well as many surveys which analyse the choices of language strategy that parents make in particular countries or cities. Specifically, OPOL is the focus of many studies which try to prove how effective this language strategy is in the bilingual acquisition process. Some studies defend this strategy as the most convenient one, others support the use of other strategies, such as ml@h or MS. Other research focuses on aspects that complement language strategies: the quantity and quality of input children receive in both languages in order to acquire them, studied widely by authors De Houwer and Döpke, amongst others; the role of gender, to try to determine whether mothers play a significant role in the successful upbringing of bilingual children; the role of children as active agents with a key role in shaping the FLP by deciding the language strategy they wish to follow if they disagree with their parents’ strategy; the flexibility parents need to accept the changes in the FLP, assuming what Shulamit Kopeliovich has called a Happylingual approach and being respectful of the children’s language preferences if they want to succeed; the emotional side of choosing and implementing a language strategy, like the relationship between children and their carers or their siblings; the importance of a Harmonious bilingual development, a term coined by Annick De Houwer to refer to the bilingual family’s well-being, which must be ensured. Parents in bilingual families should have trustworthy information about the implications of choosing and using a language strategy as part of their FLP, yet they are not always aware of needing this information. The knowledge on language strategies that parents have access to, mostly from online sources, is rather limited. Research shows only two possible strategies are usually recommended (OPOL and ml@h), both by reliable, academic sources as well as by practical, non-academic sources. Parents can also obtain theoretical and practical information about bringing up children bilingually from the many books written for bilingual families. Similarly, some blogs and webs on bilingualism written by researchers explain the literature on the subject to the general public. Online parent support resources, often run by parents, provide practical, yet not always accurate information. In conclusion, after reviewing the scientific literature on the subject, studies on the choice of language strategies in different countries were found to be a necessary contribution. Therefore, it was decided to carry out a study on the language strategies of English-Spanish bilingual families in Madrid. Chapter 2, A Survey of Language Strategies of English-Spanish Bilingual Families in Madrid (Spain) completed by 110 families gives answers to 3 research questions: • Which language strategies are used by families made up of a native English speaker (a minority language parent) and a native Spanish speaker (a majority language parent) raising children aged zero-eighteen bilingually in the officially monolingual city of Madrid (Spain- the majority language country)? • Is there a correlation between the different types of families according to two possible combinations of gender and mother tongue, and their choice of language strategy? • Have parents researched language strategies and, if they have, which sources have they used? Do parents with language-related jobs have more information? Are they aware of a wider choice of language strategies? In the survey, parents had to choose from 6 main possible language strategies to raise bilingual children by choice: OPOL, ml@h, MLP, OP2L and MS, divided into MS1 (one parent speaks only the minority language and the other parent speaks both the majority and the minority language to their children) and MS2 (one parent speaks only the majority language and the other parent speaks both the minority and the majority language). The OPOL strategy, which is often the most popular policy amongst bilingual families, was the most popular strategy amongst these families (54%) as in a study by Jorge Sánchez Torres in 2010 in Seville (Spain). However, it was not followed by ml@h (13%), but by MS1 (21%), emerging as a new possibility, mixed systems having been reported in other studies as the preferred method. Regarding the role of gender in the choice of language strategy, OPOL was preferred by more Type 2 families -native Spanish-speaking father and English-speaking mother- (59% to 48%) while MS1 was favoured by Type 1 families -native English-speaking father and Spanish-speaking mother- (27% to 16%). Ml@h had similar percentages (12% for Type 1, 14% for Type 2), MS2 was chosen by more Type 2 families (10% to 6%) and, interestingly, no Type 2 families choose OP2L while 6% of Type 1 families did. Thus, it could be inferred that gender influences the choice of language strategy. It has been shown that OPOL is usually chosen by parents, especially over ml@h, due to their different levels of proficiency in the minority language. In this case, the Spanish-speaking mothers, who must feel proficient enough in English, seem to opt for supporting the minority language, using it with their children along with their mother tongue, the majority language. This decision is shown in the higher results achieved both in MS1 and OP2L. Type 2 families, on the other hand, seem to favour language strategies where the Spanish-speaking fathers use only their mother tongue, such as OPOL. Lastly, not all parents seem to be aware of the information from the available literature on childhood bilingualism. The Seville study reports 63% of the families made an informed decision and 40% of those families found information on the internet, books and articles. Similar results were expected in this survey: in Madrid, 61% of the families had looked for information, mainly on the internet (43%), by asking other families (32%), which seem to be a significant source of information, and in books for bilingual families (22%). Parents with language-related jobs looked for more information at different stages of the process, compared with parents without language-related jobs, who only looked for information before their children were born. No differences were observed regarding the variety of language strategies chosen by all the families. The main finding of the study was that a language strategy usually considered as “minor”, MS1, was, in fact, more popular than one of the “main” strategies recognized by the literature on family bilingualism, ml@h. Therefore, further research on MS1 was needed to widen the classification of language strategies, which seems to focus solely on OPOL and ml@h, thus making the information parents obtain quite limited. Chapter 3, Mixed System 1: a Language Strategy for Bilingual Families is a case study of 40 English-Spanish bilingual families living in Madrid using MS1, carried out to show that this strategy can also be valid. MS1, described as a mixture of OPOL and ml@h, can be chosen by families in which the majority-language parent has a good command of the minority language. The minority language should be used between the parents too. Since it is regarded as a more flexible and relaxed strategy, MS1 can be followed from the beginning or as an alternative to a more “rigid” strategy such as OPOL or ml@h. Both parents can use their mother tongues with their children, yet the minority language is given some extra support. Children can also use both languages with their parents. Although MS1 has proved to be successful, it is still in need of a term to be recognisable so that more families can use it. A questionnaire was designed, the results of which were used to describe MS1 in detail: its characteristics, origins, reasons and time of choice, requisites, consequences, implications, possible problems and effects on bilingualism. In general, the answers seem to corroborate the hypotheses outlined in the study and they also extend the information on several aspects of MS1. Regardless of the different language patterns, most parents consider their children to be bilingual. However, families who give the minority language more support get better results. Some parents understand their children’s choices as influenced by the majority language environment, whereas children are aware of their parents’ strategies, but tend to make their own decisions. Most families chose this strategy, and are quite consistent in its use, because it seemed logical, natural and positive to reinforce the minority language. The majority chose it from birth and the rest had tried other strategies before changing to MS1, for different reasons. All parents feel happy using this strategy as they can speak their mother tongues while reinforcing the minority language. Only some parents expressed certain disadvantages. Their children seem to accept MS1 too. Although some difficulties in carrying on the MS1 strategy were experienced by most families at some point, only one family stated they would like to change strategy. Lastly, the majority think MS1 is having a positive effect on their children’s degree of bilingualism so far. Regarding the connection between school and language strategies, only some families took their strategy into account when they chose their children’s type of school. However, the type of school did not seem to influence the parents’ choice of language strategy. English-Spanish bilingual schools did not seem to help these bilingual children’s English as much as could be expected, which might mean the home environment and the family’s actions have a greater influence. In summary, the results of the questionnaire showed that Mixed System 1 is a valid and effective strategy for the upbringing of bilingual children. Since previous studies showed similar results, validating MS1 and assigning it a recognisable term is an important step towards widening the list of possible language strategies parents can choose from to bring up their children bilingually. Chapter 4, Family Bilingualism: an English- Spanish Case Study in Madrid (Spain) offers a detailed analysis of my own family: a mixed-language couple raising our two children bilingually in English and Spanish in Madrid, by choice. The aim was to describe the process and consequences of the process to date by combining theoretical and empirical knowledge, using my notes on my children’s bilingual development. Ethnographic techniques have been pointed out as necessary to study the language strategies used within bilingual homes. This case study was carried out to provide practical data for both bilingual families and researchers on the subject. Being a parent, a linguist and a researcher allowed me to present an honest account of the process, including both its upsides and downsides. Indeed, it has been remarked that it is important to learn about successful and unsuccessful stories. A further aim was to show the advantages of drawing on knowledge from both the academic and the non-academic world, how both sides complement each other and should therefore share information for the benefit of all so that it proves useful for real life. The importance of how learning about the subject can be beneficial to success in the process of bringing up children bilingually is also highlighted. As experienced by my own family, misconceptions about bilingualism and a lack of reliable information can influence the development of the children’s bilingualism as parents might not be able to make informed decisions during the process. The analysis of my family’s process includes our initial misconceptions, preliminary research on bilingualism, family language policy with a special focus on the change of language strategies and its consequences, and a description of our children’s bilingual development based on my notes. So far, our daughters’ bilingualism is not as balanced as it could be, which is within the norm. Although they are both active bilinguals, Spanish is their dominant language and English is their weaker language. However, bilinguals’ exposure to the two languages happens throughout their lifespan, therefore, their abilities in each language might change. At the moment, both our children have a bilingual identity as they feel equally part of both countries and cultures and proud of their bilingualism. We, in turn, feel we are good examples of bilingual people for them and I, personally, believe my research has also allowed me to help my own family. The knowledge I obtained on parental language strategies led me to reflect on the process of bringing up our bilingual children, finding the answer to many questions that had arisen since the beginning of the journey. I was reassured that both our decision to change language strategies and our use of facilitating techniques have been valid, whereas our choice of discourse strategies could have been better. Overall, becoming aware of what designing a suitable FLP entitles made me realise the fundamental role parents play and the importance of communicating this to both researchers and parents. In conclusion, this thesis shows that the language strategies used by parents are relevant in the FLP they design to help their children’s bilingual development. English-Spanish bilingual families in Madrid favour mostly OPOL, yet a significant percentage use MS1, which has also proven to be a valid and effective strategy. Thus, if gradually included in the literature, the variety of language strategies can be extended for parents to choose from. As highlighted in this thesis, having reliable and comprehensible information on language strategies in time is key to making the right decisions and raising bilingual children successfully. More sources of information which combine both the academic and the non-academic side of the process are needed to benefit researchers and parents alike. I hope these findings will be a helpful contribution to the research on language strategies and useful guidance for parents bringing up children in two languages.