ERIC Number: EJ932523
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2011
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1559-5692
EISSN: N/A
Parents' Discourses about Language Strategies for Their Children's Preschool Bilingual Development
Schwartz, Mila; Moin, Victor; Leikin, Mark
Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, v5 n3 p149-166 2011
The study focused on immigrant parents' discourses about strategies for their children's preschool bilingual development and education. The article investigated how immigrant parents described and explained these strategies. The study was based on semi-structured interviews with 4 families. The 8 parents were Russian-speaking immigrants to Israel from the former Soviet Union. Analysis of the data showed that all the parents desired their children to maintain the heritage language and to acquire the host language. At the same time, they were realistically skeptical of achieving balanced bilingualism in their children's language development. Nevertheless, most reported clearly elaborated intervention plans to support the children's balanced bilingualism. The regulation of language interaction with the child at home occupied a central place in parents' strategies for their children's bilingual development; however, some chose bilingual kindergarten for their children, whereas others chose monolingual programs. To explain and justify this choice, parents adduced different motives and representations about trajectories of children's bilingual development.
Descriptors: Interviews, Monolingualism, Foreign Countries, Immigrants, Second Language Learning, Bilingualism, Discourse Analysis, Bilingual Education, Russian, Language Maintenance, Intervention, Parent Attitudes, Language Acquisition, Preschool Education, Preschool Children, Semitic Languages
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Kindergarten; Preschool Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Israel; USSR
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A