Bilingual children’s perceived family language policy and its contribution to leisure reading

Abstract

This study investigated and compared family language policies (FLPs) from the perspectives of two groups of Singaporean bilingual children: 2,971 English-Chinese and 780 English-Malay children (aged 9–11 years). It also examined how different FLP components – namely, language beliefs, practices, and management – influenced their leisure reading enjoyment and reading amount. We found that although both groups of children attached equal importance to their two languages, their language practices tilted towards their stronger language, English. Both groups of children also reported different patterns of language management efforts at home. Regression analyses revealed differential effects of language beliefs, practices, and management on reading enjoyment and amount in the children’s two languages. For both groups and all languages, language beliefs explained the least amount of variance in reading enjoyment and amount compared to language practices and management. For English, language management accounted for more variance than language practices, whereas for the children’s weaker language (i.e., their ethnic language), both language management and language practices were significant predictors. Results emphasize the critical role of FLP in maintaining children’s ethnic languages. Therefore, it is imperative for parents, educators, and policymakers to identify and implement strategies to bolster language management and practices within the home and school environments.