Bilingualism in the bush: reconceptualising 'speech community' in immigrant family language maintenance in regional Australia

本项目将调查澳大利亚地区中心的移民家庭如何在缺乏大都市地区的临界数量，网络和资源的情况下维持他们孩子的母语。它将确定如何通过社区和教育服务来最好地支持这些家庭，以确保儿童在双语环境中成长，从而提高认知、社会和学术技能。该项目将检查家庭实践和家庭与幼儿服务之间的接口。结果将包括更好地理解偏远地区成功的家庭语言计划实践，以及通过通信技术重新定义“语言社区”。

This project will investigate how immigrant families in regional Australian centres maintain their children's home language(s) in the absence of the critical mass of speakers, networks and resources found in metropolitan areas. It will establish how such families can best be supported through community and educational services to ensure that children grow up bilingual, with the attendant benefits of improved cognitive, social and academic skills. The project will examine home practices and the interface between home and early childhood services. Outcomes will include a better understanding of successful family language planning practices in isolated regions and a reconceptualisation of 'speech community' through communications technologies.