Quebec-based parents’ concerns regarding their children’s multilingual development

Erin  Quirk; Melanie Brouillard; Alexa Ahooja; Susan Ballinger; Linda Polka; Krista Byers-Heinlein; Ruth Kircher

doi:10.31234/osf.io/583ge

Quebec-based parents’ concerns regarding their children’s multilingual development

Erin Quirk, Melanie Brouillard, Alexa Ahooja, Susan Ballinger, Linda Polka, Krista Byers-Heinlein, Ruth Kircher

Fryske Akademy (FA)

Research output: Contribution to journal/periodical › Article › Scientific › peer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Many parents express concerns for their children’s multilingual development, yet little is known about the nature and strength of these concerns – especially among parents in multilingual societies. This pre-registered, questionnaire-based study addresses this gap by examining the concerns of 821 Quebec-based parents raising infants and toddlers aged 0-4 years with multiple languages in the home. Factor analysis of parents’ Likert-scale responses revealed that parents had (1) concerns regarding the effect of children’s multilingualism on their cognition, and (2) concerns regarding children’s exposure to and attainment of fluency in their languages. Concern strength was moderate to weak, and cognition concerns were stronger than exposure-fluency concerns. Transmission of a heritage language, transmission of three or more languages, presence of developmental issues, and less positive parental attitudes towards childhood multilingualism were associated with stronger concerns. These findings have both theoretical and practical implications: they advance our understanding of parental concerns and facilitate the development of support for multilingual families.

Original language	English
Journal	International Journal of Multilingualism
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/583ge https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2023.2184475
Publication status	Published - 22 Jul 2024

Keywords

multilingualism
multilingual development
intergenerational language transmission
heritage languages
language contact
family language policy

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10.31234/osf.io/583geLicence: CC BY-NC-SA
10.1080/14790718.2023.2184475Licence: CC BY-NC-SA

Cite this

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title = "Quebec-based parents{\textquoteright} concerns regarding their children{\textquoteright}s multilingual development",

abstract = "Many parents express concerns for their children{\textquoteright}s multilingual development, yet little is known about the nature and strength of these concerns – especially among parents in multilingual societies. This pre-registered, questionnaire-based study addresses this gap by examining the concerns of 821 Quebec-based parents raising infants and toddlers aged 0-4 years with multiple languages in the home. Factor analysis of parents{\textquoteright} Likert-scale responses revealed that parents had (1) concerns regarding the effect of children{\textquoteright}s multilingualism on their cognition, and (2) concerns regarding children{\textquoteright}s exposure to and attainment of fluency in their languages. Concern strength was moderate to weak, and cognition concerns were stronger than exposure-fluency concerns. Transmission of a heritage language, transmission of three or more languages, presence of developmental issues, and less positive parental attitudes towards childhood multilingualism were associated with stronger concerns. These findings have both theoretical and practical implications: they advance our understanding of parental concerns and facilitate the development of support for multilingual families.",

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author = "Erin Quirk and Melanie Brouillard and Alexa Ahooja and Susan Ballinger and Linda Polka and Krista Byers-Heinlein and Ruth Kircher",

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AU - Quirk, Erin

AU - Brouillard, Melanie

AU - Ahooja, Alexa

AU - Ballinger, Susan

AU - Polka, Linda

AU - Byers-Heinlein, Krista

AU - Kircher, Ruth

PY - 2024/7/22

Y1 - 2024/7/22

N2 - Many parents express concerns for their children’s multilingual development, yet little is known about the nature and strength of these concerns – especially among parents in multilingual societies. This pre-registered, questionnaire-based study addresses this gap by examining the concerns of 821 Quebec-based parents raising infants and toddlers aged 0-4 years with multiple languages in the home. Factor analysis of parents’ Likert-scale responses revealed that parents had (1) concerns regarding the effect of children’s multilingualism on their cognition, and (2) concerns regarding children’s exposure to and attainment of fluency in their languages. Concern strength was moderate to weak, and cognition concerns were stronger than exposure-fluency concerns. Transmission of a heritage language, transmission of three or more languages, presence of developmental issues, and less positive parental attitudes towards childhood multilingualism were associated with stronger concerns. These findings have both theoretical and practical implications: they advance our understanding of parental concerns and facilitate the development of support for multilingual families.

AB - Many parents express concerns for their children’s multilingual development, yet little is known about the nature and strength of these concerns – especially among parents in multilingual societies. This pre-registered, questionnaire-based study addresses this gap by examining the concerns of 821 Quebec-based parents raising infants and toddlers aged 0-4 years with multiple languages in the home. Factor analysis of parents’ Likert-scale responses revealed that parents had (1) concerns regarding the effect of children’s multilingualism on their cognition, and (2) concerns regarding children’s exposure to and attainment of fluency in their languages. Concern strength was moderate to weak, and cognition concerns were stronger than exposure-fluency concerns. Transmission of a heritage language, transmission of three or more languages, presence of developmental issues, and less positive parental attitudes towards childhood multilingualism were associated with stronger concerns. These findings have both theoretical and practical implications: they advance our understanding of parental concerns and facilitate the development of support for multilingual families.

KW - multilingualism

KW - multilingual development

KW - intergenerational language transmission

KW - heritage languages

KW - language contact

KW - family language policy

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JO - International Journal of Multilingualism

JF - International Journal of Multilingualism

ER -

Quebec-based parents’ concerns regarding their children’s multilingual development

Abstract

Keywords

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