Reasons, Views and Practices of Nonnative Parents towards Raising Bilingual Children

Öz

With the rise of English as a global language, bilingualism has drawn considerable interest among non-native English speakers. For this reason, this study aims to investigate the reasons, views, and practices of English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers as parents about their raising a bilingual child. The study adopted an interview technique among qualitative research designs. The data of the pilot and main studies were collected through purposive sampling according to predetermined criteria from nine parents who are nonnative English speakers, raise a bilingual child, and work as EFL teachers at state schools in Turkey. Participants were interviewed with semi-structured interview questions. All responses were analyzed by content analysis in NVivo 12, and interrater reliability was calculated. The findings showed that parents had a higher number of academic- and life-related reasons for raising bilingual children such as living abroad, traveling in the world, studying at bilingual schools, and having developed cognitive skills. Their views towards advantages were similarly rooted in academic and life themes. However, the disadvantages were rather related to child-, society- and family themes and mainly included having language delays, being prejudiced by the society, and being discouraged by family members. Regarding the bilingual practices of parents, the study highlighted that parents were mostly unaware of scholarly approaches to bilingual parenting methods and intuitively acted in their own manner. Therefore, families are suggested to initiate bilingual upbringing after having sufficient knowledge of academic methods and practices in order to consider the factors affecting a child’s emotional and social development as well as cognitive, and also they might inform their acquaintances about possible delays and confusion in advance in order to lessen anxiety and their fear of communication with the child.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Bilingualism
• Nonnative parents
• EFL teachers
• Qualitative research

Reasons, Views and Practices of Parents as EFL Teachers Raising Bilingual Children in Turkey

Öz

İngilizcenin dünya dili olmasıyla birlikte iki dillilik anadili İngilizce olmayan birçok insan tarafından ilgi çekmektedir. Bu sebeple, bu çalışma Türkiye’de İngilizce öğretmeni olarak çalışan ebeveynlerin iki dilli çocuk yetiştirmeye yönelik sebep, görüş ve uygulamalarını araştırmayı amaçlamaktadır. Bu çalışma nitel araştırma desenini benimsemiş ve görüşme tekniğini kullanmıştır. Üniversiteden 15 Nisan 2021 tarihli ve 2021/21 sayılı etik kurul izni alındıktan sonra pilot ve ana çalışmaların verileri amaçlı örnekleme tekniğine dayanarak önceden belirlenen kriterlere göre anadili İngilizce olmayan, iki dilli çocuk yetiştiren ve Türkiye’de devlet okulunda İngilizce öğretmeni olarak çalışan dokuz ebeveynden toplanmıştır. Yarı yapılandırılmış sorularla görüşmelerin cevaplar NVivo12’de içerik analiziyle analiz edilmiş ve kodlayıcılar arası güvenirlik hesaplanmıştır. Bulgular ebeveynlerin iki dilli çocuk yetiştirmeye yönelik sebeplerin yurtdışında yaşama, seyahat etme kolaylığı, iki dilli okulda öğrenim görme ve gelişmiş bilişsel becerilere sahip olma gibi yüksek oranda akademi ve hayat ile ilgili olduğunu göstermiştir. Avantajlarına yönelik görüşler benzer şekilde akademi ve hayat temalarını içermekteyken dezavantajları daha çok çocuk, toplum ve aile temalarıyla ile ilgilidir ve dil gelişiminde gecikme, toplum tarafından yadırganma ve aile üyeleri tarafından cesaretin kırılmasını içermektedir. İki dilli çocuk yetiştirme ile ilgili yapılan uygulamalar hakkında ise ebeveynlerin bilimsel araştırmalardan haberdar olmadıkları, bu nedenle sistematik hareket etmeden kendi sezgi ve yöntemleriyle çocuklarını yetiştirmeye çalıştıkları tespit edilmiştir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Bilingualism
• Nonnative parents
• EFL teachers
• Qualitative research

Kaynakça

1. Akgül, E., Yazıcı, D., & Akman, B. (2019). Views of parents preferring to raise a bilingual child. Early Child Development and Care, 189(10), 1588-1601.
2. Ascough, T. (2010). Raising children as bilinguals: A longitudinal study of eight international families in Japan [Doctoral dissertation]. Temple University Libraries.
3. Baker, C. (2011). Foundations of bilingual education and bilingualism. Multilingual matters.Bal, Ç. B., Tona, F., & Akman, B. (2020). The views of parents and teachers of bilingual children about bilingualism. Journal of Kirsehir Education Faculty, 21(3), 1695-1725.
4. Barret, M. (1999). The development of language. Psychology Press.
5. Baxter, P., & Jack, S. (2008). Qualitative case study methodology: Study design and implementation for novice researchers. The Qualitative Report, 13(4), 544-559. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2008.1573
6. Bialystok, E. (2001). Bilingualism in development: Language, literacy, and cognition. Cambridge University Press.
7. Bialystok, E. (2017). The bilingual adaptation: How minds accommodate experience. Psychological bulletin, 143(3), 233.
8. Bloomfield, L. (1993). Language and linguistics. George Allen & Unwin LTD.

9. Burling, R. (1959). Language development of a Garo and English speaking child. Word, 15(1), 45-68.
10. Barron-Hauwaert, S. (2004). Language strategies for bilingual families: The one-parent-one-language approach (7th Ed.). Multilingual Matters.
11. Bhatia, T. K., & Ritchie, W.C. (Eds.). (2004). Handbook of bilingualism and multilingualism, 2(7) 168-185. Blackwell Publishing.
12. Bishop, M. J., & Cates, W. M. (2001). Theoretical foundations for sound’s use in multimedia instruction to enhance learning. Educational Technology Research and Development, 49(3), 5–22.
13. Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry and research design. Choosing among five approaches (2nd ed.). Sage publications.
14. Creswell, J. W. (2013). Steps in conducting a scholarly mixed methods study. DBER Speaker Series, 48. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dberspeakers/48/
15. Crystal, D.(1997). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language (2nd Ed.) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
16. Dewaele, J. (2015). Why do so many bi- and multilinguals feel different when switching Languages? International Journal of Multilingualism, 13(1), 92-105.
17. Döpke, S. (1992). One parent–one language: an interactional approach. Benjamins.
18. Fantini, A. E. (1985). Language acquisition of a bilingual child: A sociolinguistic perspective (To age ten). Multilingual Matters, 17.
19. Grosjean, F. (2009). What parents want to know about bilingualism. The Bilingual Family Newsletter, 26(4), 1-6.
20. Gursoy, E., & Ozcan, E. (2018) . Perceptions and linguistic actions of bilingual speakers of Turkish and English: An explanatory study. Advances in Language and Literary Studies. 9(6), 212-222.
21. Hoff, E., & Ribot, K. M. (2017). Language growth in English monolingual and Spanish-English bilingual children from 2.5 to 5 years. The Journal of Pediatrics, 190, 241-245.
22. Ignatkına, A.L.,& Tosuncuoğlu, I.(2020). The reality of bilingualism. Language of Science and Professional Communication. 1(2), 108-114. Retrieved from: http://xn--80af5bzc.xn-- p1ai/documents/izdanie/yziknayki1(2).pdf#page=108
23. King, K., & Fogle, L. (2006). Raising bilingual children: Common parental concerns and current research. Retrieved from http://www.cal.org/resource-center/briefsdigests/digests
24. Koven, M. (2007). Selves in two languages: Bilinguals’ ver¬bal enactments of identity in French and Portuguese. John Benjamins Publishing Company. https://doi.org/10.1525/eth.1998.26.4.410
25. Lee, M., Shetgiri,R., Barina,A., Tillitski, J., & Glores, F. (2015). Raising bilingual children: A qualitative study of parental attitudes, beliefs, and intended behaviors. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 37(4), 503–521. Leong, P., Joseph, S. R., & Boulay, R. (2010). Applying constant comparative and discourse analyses to virtual worlds research. Journal For Virtual Worlds Research, 3(1), 3-26.
26. Montrul, S. (2013). Bilingualism and the heritage language speaker. The Handbook of Bilingualism and Multilingualism, 2, 168-189.
27. Oksaar, E. (1977). Zum prozeß des sprachwandels: Dimensionen sozialer und linguistischer Variation. Sprache der Gegenwart, 41, 98-117.
28. Özşen, A., Çalışkan, T., Önal, A., Baykal, N., & Tunaboylu, O. (2020). An Overview of Bilingualism and Bilingual Education. Journal of Language Research (JLR) 4(1), 41-57.
29. Patton, M. Q. (2002). Two decades of developments in qualitative inquiry: A personal, experiential perspective. Qualitative Social Work, 1(3), 261-283.
30. Pearson, B. Z., Fernández, S. C., & Oller, D. K. (1993). Lexical development in bilingual infants and toddlers: Comparison to monolingual norms. Language Learning, 43(1), 93-120.
31. Pieretti,R.A., &Roseberry-McKibbin, C.(2016). Assessment and intervention for English language learners with primary language impairment: Research-based best practices. Communication Disorders Quarterly, 37(2), 117-128.
32. Polit, D. F., & Beck, C. T. (2006). The content validity index: Are you sure you know what's being reported? Critique and recommendations. Research in Nursing & Health, 29(5), 489-497.
33. Ratminingsih, N. M., & Budasi, I. G. (2018). Local culture-based picture storybooks for teaching English for young learners. SHS Web of Conferences, 42. EDP Sciences.
34. Romanowski, P. (2018). Early bilingual education in a monolingual environment. showcasing Polish families. Complutense Journal of English Studies, 26, 143-164.
35. Seo, Y. (2021). An emerging trend in English education in Korea:‘Maternal English education’(eommapyo yeongeo): Challenges and strategies in raising a bilingual child as a nonnative speaker. English Today, 37(3), 163-168.
36. Surrain, S. (2018). ‘Spanish at home, English at school’: how perceptions of bilingualism shape family language policies among Spanish-speaking parents of preschoolers. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 1-15.
37. Valdés, G., & Figueroa, R. A. (1994). Bilingualism and testing: A special case of bias. Ablex Publishing.
38. Wei, L. (2000). The bilingualism reader. Cambridge University Press.
39. Wilson, R.J. (2013). Another language is another soul. Lan¬guage and Intercultural Communication, 13(3), 298-309.
40. Wu, C. H. (2005). Attitude and behavior toward bilingualism for Chinese parents and children. Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Bilingualism. Cascadilla Press.