| 1. |
- Bohnacker, Ute, 1969-, et al.
(författare)
-
Arabic-Swedish-Speaking Children Living in Sweden : Vocabulary Skills in Relation to Age, SES and Language Exposure
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Journal of Home Language Research. - : Stockholm University Press. - 2537-7043. ; 4:1, s. 1-18
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper investigates the receptive and expressive vocabulary skills of 100 Arabic-Swedish-speaking children ages 4;0–7;11 growing up in Sweden. We explore how vocabulary in this under-researched population is affected by age, socio-economic status (SES), age of onset, daily exposure and home language use in the family (parents, siblings, extended family and friends) and via mother tongue instruction. Comprehension and production of nouns and verbs were assessed with the Arabic and Swedish versions of the Cross-linguistic Lexical Tasks (CLTs; Haman et al., 2015). Background information was collected via a parental questionnaire. In our cross-sectional study, comprehension was better in the minority home language (Arabic) than in the majority language (Swedish) for the youngest (4-year-old children), but this difference levelled out at ages 5, 6 and 7. There was a clear and positive effect of age on receptive and expressive vocabulary scores in both languages. For neither language was there any effect of SES (parental education). Age of onset and daily exposure had a measurable effect on Swedish vocabulary scores, whilst for Arabic, daily exposure and input in the home played an important role: Children whose parents mostly spoke Arabic to them had significantly higher Arabic vocabulary scores than other children. The complex interplay of environmental and individual-level factors on vocabulary skills is also illustrated by four case studies. These results from a Swedish context complement vocabulary studies of other language combinations and reveal the importance of input for the development of vocabulary in bilingual children.
|
|
| 2. |
- Bohnacker, Ute, et al.
(författare)
-
Turkish- and German-speaking bilingual 4-to-6-year-olds living in Sweden : Effects of age, SES and home language input on vocabulary production
- 2016
-
Ingår i: Journal of Home Language Research. - Canterbury, NZ. - 2537-7043. ; 1, s. 17-41
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper investigates vocabulary production in the minority home languages of 40 Turkish-Swedish and 38 German-Swedish bilingual preschoolers aged 4;0–6;11, growing up in Sweden. We explore how age, SES, and exposure via mother-tongue instruction and home language use in the family affect child vocabulary skills. This has not previously been investigated in Sweden. Cross-linguistic Lexical Tasks (CLTs; Haman, Łuniewska & Pomiechowska, 2015) were used to test noun and verb production in Turkish and German. Background information was collected using a parental questionnaire. The two bilingual groups performed equally well in their respective home languages, Turkish and German. There were no effects of age, socio-economic status (SES) or mother-tongue instruction on vocabulary. However, input in the home setting had a clear effect. Children whose parents used the home language to the child and to each other had significantly higher vocabulary production scores. Having additional home-language input providers such as friends also affected the scores. These results from a Swedish context echo findings from studies of other language combinations and reveal the importance of input for the development of expressive vocabulary.
|
|
| 3. |
- Cunningham, Una, et al.
(författare)
-
Editorial
- 2016
-
Ingår i: Journal of Home Language Research. - Christchurch : University of Canterbury. - 2537-7043. ; 1
-
Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
|
|
| 4. |
- Ellis, Elizabeth M., et al.
(författare)
-
The challenge of isolation in immigrant family language maintenance in regional Australia
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Journal of Home Language Research. - Uppsala : Uppsala University. - 2537-7043. ; 3, s. 17-35
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The critical factor determining whether children of immigrants become bilingual is strong family and community support for, and use of, the home language(s) alongside English (Pauwels, 2005). It is well accepted that children of immigrant parents often undergo language shift to English (Clyne & Kipp, 1996), that bilingualism is a cognitive and social asset to children (Wong Fillmore, 2000) and that maintaining “potential for belonging” (Bilbatua & Ellis, 2011) is a powerful motivator for families to maintain the home language. As yet, however, we know little about how bilingual families in isolated circumstances in regional Australia manage the task of passing on their home language in the absence of a co-located speech community. This paper focuses on the challenges and impacts associated with isolation for plurilingual families in small towns in regional Australia. In this paper, selected findings are presented from a larger research project (the base study, titled ‘Bilingualism in the Bush) tracking the experiences of plurilingual families with pre-school-aged children in three regional towns over a three-year period. This paper explores each family’s language goals, aspirations, beliefs and practices. Findings reported here are that families struggle, facing extra pressures brought on by isolation from other speakers of the home language, that extended family relationships, often crucial to bilingual acquisition, can be problematic and not necessarily available for language support, and that the demands of work and study exacerbate the problems of isolation.
|
|
| 5. |
|
|
| 6. |
- Schalley, Andrea C., et al.
(författare)
-
HOLM 2016 – The International Conference on Social and Affective Factors in Home Language Maintenance and Development
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Journal of Home Language Research. - Christchurch : University of Canterbury. - 2537-7043. ; 2, s. 1-5
-
Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- A report on a conference initiated by the International Association for Applied Linguistics (AILA) Research Network (ReN) on Social and Affective Factors in Home Language Maintenance and Development. The HOLM 2016 conference, held in Berlin in February 2016, attracted close to 70 scholars and practitioners from over 20 countries interested in home language maintenance and development who met over a period of two days to exchange ideas and discuss projects.
|
|
| 7. |
- Yeshalem, Abraham, 1981, et al.
(författare)
-
Family language policy in the public eye: raciolinguistic ideologies at play
- 2023
-
Ingår i: Journal of Home Language Research. - 2537-7043. ; 8:1, s. 1-15
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study draws on a rare media incident in which an individual family language policy (FLP) became the subject of public discussion and debate. In an interview on Swedish national television (SVT2), Nadim Ghazale, a high-profile police officer of Lebanese background, was asked why he had decided not to speak in his “mother tongue”, Arabic, with his children. His answer sparked considerable media reaction. The aim of this article is to take the public debate sparked by Ghazale’s FLP decision as an empirical entry point into understanding how debates about multilingualism are the discursive battleground on which other identity issues are negotiated and contested. To this end, the study draws on critical discourse analysis and the notion of raciolinguistic ideology to demonstrate how the arguments advanced by Ghazale and those who reacted against his decision are informed by a raciolinguistic logic that mutually constitutes language, race and social class. A detailed analysis of relevant media data illustrates that language, appearance and naming serve as signs of differentiation contributing to the social positioning of Otherness. The analysis also offers an interesting counterpoint to discourses that view bilingualism as intrinsically advantageous to speakers. This is not to say that bi/multingualism necessarily has drawbacks; rather, we should be careful about issuing too-quick verdicts of guilt to parents like Ghazale without fully appreciating the raciolinguistic ideologies at play in relation to a language like Arabic in Sweden.
|
|
| 8. |
- Yousef, Areej, et al.
(författare)
-
“It would be nice if someone took the load off you” : Arabic-speaking new-Australian mothers and the challenges of heritage language maintenance
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Journal of Home Language Research. - Uppsala. - 2537-7043. ; 3, s. 1-16
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Despite a general expectation for immigrants to Australia to shift quickly to the use of English, many new-Australian families maintain strong attachments to their heritage languages. Little research has explored how recently arrived families of Arabic-speaking background in Australia preserve their heritage language while acquiring proficiency in English. In this paper, we report on part of a study that explored the family language policies of four Arab-Australian mothers as they negotiated their new language reality. Focus groups and semi-structured interviews revealed that the participating mothers considered it vitally important for their children to be proficient in both English and Arabic and they employed a range of strategies for developing their children’s bilingualism. However, they also acknowledged that maintaining their children’s heritage language could be difficult and stressful. Our paper offers insights into family language policy and the challenges of heritage language maintenance for bilingual immigrant mothers in assimilationist contexts.
|
|
