Korean Families in America: Their Family Language Policies and Home-Language Maintenance

Abstract

This study examined the family language policies (FLP) of Korean American parents and how the language practice, management, and ideology components of their FLP and demographic variables predict maintenance of the home language. Results of a large-scale (N = 480) survey show that different sets of FLP and demographic variables contributed to a model that predicted retention of oral versus literacy skills. Child gender, age of English exposure, and parental attitudes toward bilingualism were strong predictors of oral and literacy skills in the home language. Whereas length of settlement and language-practice patterns predicted maintenance of oral skills, language-management strategies were required for retention of literacy skills.

Notes

¹ The term immigrant children is used to refer to children in immigrant families who include first-generation (i.e., foreign-born) and second-generation (U.S.-born) children.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the Academy of Korean Studies Grant funded by the Korean Government (MEST) (AKS-2013-R).