Home Language-Learning Strategies Chosen by Chinese Immigrant Families

Abstract

The home context is ranked as one of most essential factors in heritage-language maintenance. Compared to many other ethnic minority groups, the Chinese community is always underrepresented in bilingual-education research. This case study explores language learning in the home context in two Chinese immigrant families. Both sets of parents share a similar cultural background and socioeconomic status in the U.S. However, one family relies heavily on technology to promote their child’s literacy development at home, while the other family prefers to increase cultural-immersion opportunities for their child. In addition to presenting different home-learning strategies used by Chinese parents, the present study explores factors that affect strategy selection. The results suggested that three factors impact Chinese parents’ selection of language-learning strategies: 1) the influence of individual ethnic communities; 2) parents’ perceptions of their heritage languages; and 3) social validation from people outside the home community. This paper will discuss the distinctive home context and its implications for heritage-language maintenance.