Family Language Policy: A Multi-level Investigation of Multilingual Practices in Transnational Families

这项拟议的研究旨在探索英国在国家层面上存在哪些类型的家庭语言政策(FLP)，FLP是如何在社区层面上形成、建立和实施的，以及哪些做法得到管理，以及它们是如何在家庭层面上进行谈判的。我们将FLP定义为与家庭领域内和家庭成员之间的语言选择和识字实践有关的显性和隐性语言规划。该项目采用了多层次、多社区和多种类型的家庭设计，涉及中国、波兰和索马里三个民族语言社区的非跨国和跨国家庭。多途径研究FLP将使我们的研究具有前沿性、时效性、创新性和跨学科的特点。在语言社会化、识字研究、语言政策和移民研究的基础上，多学科交叉的方法将使我们能够扩展和挑战现有的概念工具，以研究语言维护、多种语言和社会凝聚力。作为英国第一个对FLP的系统研究，它将为我们理解FLP的决策过程提供深度和广度。FLP从语言意识形态、语言实践和语言管理三个相互关联的方面探讨儿童的多语言发展。本项目将通过比较的视角，揭示FLP在三个散居社区的社会文化变化、语言发展和迁移史方面的异同。为了了解FLP如何融入更广泛的社会政治背景，我们的目标是：1)研究流动性和社会文化背景的持续变化如何影响家庭语言政策；2)了解FLP是如何在日常互动和数字实践中形成、建立和实施的；3)确定FLP在三个跨国社区中的异同；4)通过将FLP定位为调查领域来产生新的知识；5)向不同级别的决策者--国家、教育、社区和家庭--提供关于FLP作用的信息。这项研究采用多层次的设计和跨学科的方法，以了解实际的语言实践和代际语言传递的决策过程。在国家层面，将向所有类型的有多种语言经历的家庭发放调查问卷。这些数据将提供有关当前英国多语种视角变化的亟需信息。在社区一级，将通过焦点小组访谈和事件调查建立社区概况。还将进行家庭语言审计调查，以绘制FLP的“谁、什么、为什么和如何”的地图。在家庭层面，将在每个社区的6-8个家庭中进行人种学田野调查，以收集现场活动、访谈和数字交流的录音。这些数据将记录意识形态立场、FLP层面和父母决策的关键时刻。我们之所以选择中国、波兰和索马里社区，是因为他们代表了三个不同的语言和社会政治群体-亚洲、欧洲和非洲，具有不同的移民历史和文化-宗教习俗。有必要让不同类型的家庭参与进来，因为这些族裔语言社区的移徙往往涉及大家庭成员，他们是文化和语言社会化的主要推动者。家庭和社区的概况将使私人领域和公共领域之间的关系变得可见，并揭示家庭在社会压力、教育需求和对文化-语言连续性的渴望之间协商的冲突。我们使用“回顾”和“展望”的方法来确定FLP的关键要素。这些决定性的见解将使不同级别的政策制定者了解FLP在多语言发展、社会凝聚力和儿童福祉方面的作用。

This proposed study aims to explore what types of Family Language Policy (FLP) exist in the UK at the national level, how FLP is shaped, established, and implemented at the community level, and what practices are managed and how they are negotiated at the family level. We define FLP as both explicit and implicit language planning in relation to language choice and literacy practices within home domains and among family members. The project employs a MULTI-LEVEL, MULTI-COMMUNITY, and MULTI-TYPE family design and involves non-transnational and transnational families across three ethnolinguistic communities - Chinese, Polish and Somali. The 'multi'-approaches to studying FLP will make our research cutting edge, timely, innovative and interdisciplinary. Building on studies from language socialisation, literacy studies, language policy and migration, the multi-interdisciplinary approach will enable us to extend and challenge the existing conceptual tools to study language maintenance, multilingualism and social cohesion. As the first systematic study of FLP in the UK, it will provide us with both depth and breadth to understand the decision-making processes of FLP.FLP addresses children's multilingual development in three interrelated aspects: language ideology, language practices and language management.Through a comparative lens, this project will reveal the similarities and differences of FLP in relation to sociocultural changes, linguistic development and migration history in three diasporic communities. To understand how FLP is embedded in the broader sociopolitical context, we aim to:1)Examine how mobility and on-going changes in sociocultural contexts impact on family language policies;2)Understand how FLP is shaped, established and enacted in day-to-day interactional and digital practices;3)Identify similarities and differences in FLP across three transnational communities;4)Generate new knowledge by locating FLP as a field of inquiry;5)Inform policy makers at different levels - national, educational, community and family - about the role of FLP. The study employs a multi-level design and an interdisciplinary approach to understand the actual language practices and the decision-making processes of intergenerational language transmission.At the national level, a survey will be distributed to all types of families with multilingual experiences. The data will yield much needed information on changes of perspective about multilingualism in the current UK. At the community level, community profiles will be constructed through focus group interviews and an event survey. A family language audit survey will also be conducted to map the 'who, what, why and how' of FLP. At the family level, ethnographic fieldwork will be carried out in 6-8 families in each community to collect audio recordings of 'live' events, interviews, and digital communications. The data will capture ideological positions, FLP dimensions and critical moments of parental decisions.We choose Chinese, Polish and Somali communities because they represent three distinguished linguistic and sociopolitical groups - Asian, European and African, with different migration histories and cultural-religious practices. Involving different types of families is necessary because migration in these ethnolinguistic communities often involves members of extended family who are key agents in cultural and linguistic socialization. The profiles of the families and communities will make visible the relationships between private domains and the public sphere and reveal the conflicts that families negotiate between the realities of social pressure, education demands, and the desire for cultural-linguistic continuity. We use 'looking back' and 'looking forward' methods to identify the critical elements of FLP. These decisive insights will inform policy makers at different levels of the role of FLP in multilingual development, social cohesion and children's wellbeing.