Needs and demands for heritage language support in Australia: results from a nationwide survey

Figures & data

Table 1. First/home languages as reported by survey respondents.

Which are your first/home languages (i.e. the ones you have spoken from birth)?
	n	%			n	%
Arabic	7	2.38		Other	35	11.90
Armenian	4	1.36		Other (not specified)	38	12.93
Bengali/Bangla	2	0.68		Persian	1	0.34
Bosnian	1	0.34		Polish	2	0.68
Chinese – Cantonese	8	2.72		Portuguese	5	1.70
Chinese – Mandarin	12	4.08		Punjabi/Lahnda	2	0.68
Chinese-Other	5	1.70		Russian	7	2.38
Croatian	3	1.02		Serbian	4	1.36
Dutch	4	1.36		Sinhala	2	0.68
English	28	9.52		Spanish	54	18.37
French	14	4.76		Tamil	4	1.36
German	9	3.06		Telugu	2	0.68
Greek	5	1.70		Turkish	1	0.34
Hindi	3	1.02		Urdu	2	0.68
Italian	7	2.38		Vietnamese	15	5.10
Japanese	8	2.72		Total	294	100.00^3

Table 2. Responses to Q1.

Q1. How important is it for you to speak your home languages to your children?	n	%
Very important	247	84
Somewhat important	32	11
Neutral	12	4
Not very important	3	1
Total	294	100

Table 3. Did your children attend initiatives promoting heritage language maintenance during pre-school (Q2) or school years (Q3)?

	Q2. Pre-school years		Q3. School years
	n	%	n	%
Yes	100	37	67	44
No	170	63	84	56
Total	270	100	151	100

Table 4. Frequency of attendance for HL community initiatives during pre-school and school years. (Responses are displayed in percentages, with counts between parentheses).

	Daily	Weekly	Monthly	Less than monthly	Never	Total
Q2a. Pre-school years
1. Language playgroups	5.1% (5)	42.9% (42)	12.2% (12)	8.2% (8)	31.6% (31)	100% (98)
2. Language social groups	3.1% (3)	23.7% (23)	22.7% (22)	23.7% (23)	26.8% (26)	100% (97)
3. Community language schools	4.2% (4)	33.3% (32)	4.2% (4)	3.1% (3)	55.2% (53)	100% (96)
4. Bilingual day care or pre-schools	9.4% (9)	17.7% (17)	2.1% (2)	4.2% (4)	66.7% (64)	100% (96)
5. Other	3.7% (2)	18.5% (10)	3.7% (2)	3.7% (2)	70.4% (38)	100% (54)
Q3a. School years
1. Community language schools (primary)	9.1% (6)	54.5% (36)	1.5% (1)	6.1% (4)	28.8% (19)	100% (66)
2. Language social groups	3.2% (2)	22.6% (14)	14.5% (9)	25.8% (16)	33.9% (21)	100% (62)
3. Community language schools (secondary)	7.9% (5)	25.4% (16)	3.2% (2)	1.6% (1)	61.9% (39)	100% (63)
4. Bilingual schools	14.5% (9)	4.8% (3)	0.0% (0)	3.2% (2)	77.4% (48)	100% (62)
5. After-school activities	0.0% (0)	10.0% (6)	1.7% (1)	6.7% (4)	81.7% (49)	100% (60)
6. Other	0.0% (0)	3.8% (1)	3.8% (1)	7.7% (2)	84.6% (22)	100% (26)

Table 5. Statements explaining reasons why pre-school- and school-aged children did not attend language activities or programmes. Counts are shown in brackets.

Statement	Group	Strongly disagree	Somew. disagree	Neither agree/disagree	Somew. agree	Strongly agree
1. I did not know of the existence of these programmes	Pre-school (n = 165)	10.9% (18)	11.5% (19)	20% (33)	27.9% (46)	29.7% (49)
	School (n = 78)	16.7% (13)	11.5% (9)	21.8% (17)	19.2% (15)	30.8% (24)
2. I knew of some of the activities or programmes, but they were located far away from me	Pre-school (n = 164)	28.7% (47)	13.4% (22)	26.2% (43)	18.9% (31)	12.8% (21)
	School (n = 79)	29.1% (23)	12.7% (10)	29.1% (23)	17.7% (14)	11.4% (9)
3. I did not have time to take my children	Pre-school (n = 162)	33.0% (55)	8.0% (13)	27.8% (45)	21.6% (35)	8.6% (14)
	School (n = 77)	29.9% (23)	9.1% (7)	36.4% (28)	15.6% (12)	9.1% (7)
4. I am not interested in these activities or programmes	Pre-school (n = 161)	51.6% (83)	19.3% (31)	18.6% (30)	8.7% (14)	1.9% (3)
	School (n = 77)	55.8% (43)	14.3% (11)	18.2% (14)	7.8% (6)	3.9% (3)

Table 6. Mean (M) and Standard Deviation (SD) for Q2b & Q3b statements and follow-up pairwise comparisons. Alfa values adjusted with BH (Benjamini-Hochberg) correction.

Wilcoxon pair-wise comparisons with BH correction for Preschool Statements (Q2b)
Statements	2.	3.	4.
1. No awareness (M = 2.35, SD = 0.83)	p < 0.001	p < 0.001	p < 0.001
2. Too far away (M = 1.89, SD = 0.85)	–	p = 0.9	p < 0.001
3. No time (M = 1.88, SD = 0.84)	p = 0.9	–	p < 0.001
4. Not interested (M = 1.39, SD = 0.67)	p < 0.001	p < 0.001	–
Wilcoxon pair-wise comparisons with BH correction for School Statements (Q3b)
1. No awareness (M = 2.22, SD = 0.86)	p = 0.01	p = 0.01	p < 0.001
2. Too far away (M = 1.87, SD = 0.84)	–	p = 0.94	p < 0.001
3. No time (M = 1.86, SD = 0.79)	p = 0.94	–	p < 0.001
4. Not interested (M = 1.42, SD = 0.69)	p < 0.001	p < 0.001	–

Table 7. Current support for HL maintenance in pre-school versus school years in percentages, with counts in brackets.

Q4. In your opinion, is there enough support available from your local community to maintain and develop your home language/s?	Pre-school years	School years
No	52.3% (135)	34.9% (90)
Somewhat	24.0% (62)	25.6% (66)
Yes	15.1% (39)	18.6% (48)
N/A	8.5% (22)	20.9% (54)
Total	100% (258)	100% (258)

Table 8. Commitment to potential HL community initiatives in percentages, with counts in brackets.

Q5. If you could get access to new initiatives that support your HL, would you commit to them on a regular basis?	Pre-school years	School years
Yes	62.1% (157)	61.7% (156)
Maybe	18.2% (46)	23.7% (60)
N/A	15.8% (40)	13.0% (33)
No	4.0% (10)	1.6% (4)
Total	100% (253)	100% (253)

Table

Model Summary – rate_success
Model	R	R²	Adjusted R²	RMSE
H₀	0.269	0.072	0.060	1.005

Table

ANOVA	Sum of Squares		df		Mean Square		F		p
Regression	11.674		2		5.837		5.783		0.004
Residual	149.373		148		1.009
Total	161.046		150

Table

Coefficients
						95% CI
Model		Unstandardized	Standard Error	t	p	Lower	Upper
H₀	(Intercept)	2.627	0.119	22.044	< .001	2.392	2.863
	Attended_pre-school (2)	0.378	0.179	2.117	0.036	0.025	0.731
	Attended_school (2)	0.294	0.178	1.654	0.100	−0.057	0.646

Table

Statement	Measure 1 Pre-school M (SD)	Measure 2 School M (SD)	W	p
1. No awareness	2.35 (0.82)	2.22 (0.86)	6971	0.24
2. Too far away	1.89 (0.85)	1.87 (0.84)	6562	0.86
3. No time	1.88 (0.84)	1.86 (0.79)	6307	0.88
4. Not interested	1.39 (0.67)	1.42 (0.69)	6140	0.89

Table

Q5a. If any new initiatives were made available, what would be a manageable commitment? Select all that apply.
On weekends	33.2% (129)
One day per week (2 h at a time)	31.1% (121)
Two days per week (2 h at a time)	17.2% (67)
Five days per week (e.g. long day care/ pre-school/ school)	13.1% (51)
Other	5.4% (21)
Total responses (out of 242 unique respondents)	100% (389)