‘Home away from home’: understanding Chinese parents’ ideological beliefs and involvement in international school students’ language learning

ABSTRACT

This longitudinal study draws on family language policy (FLP) research to examine a group of Chinese parents’ ideological beliefs, practices, and management efforts related to their children’s learning of multiple languages, including Chinese, English, and Spanish in an international boarding school in China. Based on data analysis, including interviews, parents’ recorded learning journals, and follow-up observations and discussions, the study revealed that the participants value multilingual competence as a critical resource for access to international education, to maintain alternative identities, and to enable their children to pursue aspirational futures globally. These ideological beliefs underpin their varying practices and management efforts associated with different languages. The data suggest that these parents’ FLP is largely influenced by the school curriculum and different layers of contradictions associated with their social, educational, and linguistic realities. The study not only generates insights about the intersections of family and broader contexts (e.g. the international school) in terms of FLP research, it also adds a cultural aspect to understanding FLP processes in the Chinese context.

KEYWORDS:

• Family language policy
• multilingualism
• ideological beliefs
• management efforts
• international school

Acknowledgement

The author would like to express her gratitude for the research funding of the Project of Philosophy and Social Science Research in Higher Education Department of Jiangsu Province, China (2017SJB0048).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 CET 4 is the most popular English test for university students in China, usually deemed equal to IELTS Band 5–5.5. It is a long-standing language policy in Chinese higher education that all Chinese university graduates must pass CET 4 before they can graduate with a bachelor’s degree.

2 It should be noted that the later follow-up conversations were usually carried out at the convenience of the participants, sometimes with either fathers or mothers.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Zhongyan Wan

Zhongyan Wan is a Lecturer in the School of Foreign Languages, China Pharmaceutical University. Her research interests include language teacher development with technology, family language policy, and language policy in the internationalisation of higher education.

Xuesong (Andy) Gao

Xuesong (Andy) Gao is an Associate Professor in Language and Literacy Education at the School of Education, University of New South Wales. He has published extensively on topics including language learning strategy, language teacher education and language education policy.