Views of parents preferring to raise a bilingual child

ABSTRACT

This study aims to compare the views of parents living in their own country or abroad on raising bilingual children. At the end of the study, we found that parents from both groups gave similar answers to the questions regarding the definition of bilingualism and the age for starting bilingual education; however, they gave similar but also different answers to the questions about their reasons for raising their children bilingually, how they raise them bilingually, and the advantages and disadvantages of being bilingual. Furthermore, we found that parents living in their own country attribute more meaning to raising children bilingually. We believe that this finding stems from the fact that parents living abroad mostly raise their children bilingually out of obligation whereas those living in their own country do so voluntarily and deliberately. We discussed all findings in light of the existing literature.

KEYWORDS:

• Early childhood
• bilingualism
• bilingual education
• parents’ views
• qualitative research

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Esra Akgül is a research assistant at Hacettepe University.

Dila Yazici is a research assistant at Hacettepe University.

Berrin Akman is a professor at Hacettepe University.

ORCID

Esra Akgül http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8155-4181

Dila Yazıcı http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7163-5586

Berrin Akman http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5668-4382