PARENTS AND BILINGUAL LEARNERS
The Importance of Fostering First Language Development at Home

By Ludy van Broekhuizen

Many immigrant parents believe that they are doing their children a favor by not speaking their first languages in their new homes. In their eagerness to adjust to a new setting, parents may overlook or avoid this important aspect of their children’s development. Yet knowing their parents’ language is vital to children’s cultural identity and maintaining healthy family relationships.

Parents’ concerns about using their home language with their children include:

  • learning two languages is so difficult that it will delay language development;
  • children will never master either language;
  • they will never be as proficient as those who learn only one language;
  • they will confuse the two languages; and
  • they will speak English with an accent.

In reality, about 50% of children throughout the world learn and become fluent in two or more languages. As Fred Genesee explains, “Within the same time frame as it takes monolingual children to learn one language, bilingual children learn two languages and become adept at using them in socially diverse and appropriate ways.” (See “Bilingual Acquisition” at www.earlychildhood.com/Articles/index.cfm?FuseAction=Article&A=38).

To foster this kind of development in settings where the first language does not have strong community support, parents must offer their children rich language experiences at home and in a variety of settings. If the parents are not proficient in the majority language, they will provide a much more effective learning experience by consistently using the language they know best. Without this kind of support, children may lose their ability to communicate with their parents and become increasingly alienated from them.

Children and especially adolescents feel pressure from their peers to “fit in.” In the U.S., languages other than English, with few exceptions, are perceived as foreign, different, and even undesirable. For this reason, many children refuse to speak or deliberately avoid any associations with their parents’ language. Unfortunately, schools and mainstream society rarely address these issues. In some cases, legislation that perpetuates these negative perceptions has been enacted.

Communication between parents and children is fundamental to maintaining healthy family relationships. Studies show that where there is little communication between parents and children as a result of children’s loss of language skills in their home language, the gap between parents’ values and
traditions and those of their children widens. Parents may lose control over children’s actions, especially as they become teenagers, and the children may seek from gangs the acceptance and the sense of belonging they no longer feel at home.

But with the proper support, bilingual learners can gain proficiency in both languages, maintain family connections, and develop a sense of identity that honors both their adopted and home cultures. For tips on how to help your child develop mastery of your home language, see the list at left.

Ludy van Broekhuizen is the Associate Director of the Regional Educational Laboratory at PREL.
 
To Maintain Your Home Language
DO
  • Engage children in conversations in your home language
  • Use your home language frequently and consistently with children
  • Use a wide vocabulary and complex sentence structure to develop high levels of fluency
  • Model correct language use and expand children’s vocabulary by actively using new words with them
  • Encourage children to ask questions if they don’t understand
  • Read with your children in your home language and discuss the stories with them*
  • Engage your children in purposeful writing and reading activities, including notes, stories, and letters to family “back home”
  • Organize a neighborhood or community group where your children can learn literacy skills in your home language
  • Use storytelling to enrich your children’s vocabulary, oral fluency, and comprehension skills
  • Have children tell or retell stories using new words in meaningful contexts
  • Take your children to religious, sports, cultural, and family gatherings where your home language is spoken
DON’T
  • Avoid speaking your home language to your children
  • Use simplified vocabulary and sentence structure
  • Make fun of your children when they make mistakes in your home language
  • Use your home language only to admonish or discipline your children
  • Use your home language only when you do not want your children to understand you
  • Switch frequently between English and your first language
*For Pacific language resources, see the Pacific Area Language Materials (PALM) CD-ROM. Order information is at www.prel.org/programs/prelstar/languagearts.asp.
 

Pacific Parents on Maintaining Language

Pohnpeian Parent
We have been in Hawaii for a long time, but our everyday home language is still Pohnpeian. I never told the kids directly, “Only speak Pohnpeian at home,” but I use only Pohnpeian when speaking to them, and so does my wife. I notice that [our children’s] ages make a difference in their level of bilingualism. My 3rd grader became very fluent in English and also maintained the Pohnpeian language more than my 2nd grader. My 2nd grader did fine too [in English], but not so well in main-taining Pohnpeian. I do notice that the younger kids speak more English. When they talk to one another, they tend to use English with a few Pohnpeian words mixed in. There are some words in Pohnpeian for which there are no English substitutes so they just use those words. As the children get older, it’s becoming more difficult to use only Pohnpeian because they don’t understand some words. And instead of explaining the word, we sometimes just use the English word. In our household with so many kids and activities, we try to find the fastest way to make things happen. My wife is beginning to use some English with the children because she gets frustrated with their lack of understanding in Pohnpeian.

Marshallese Parent
When we first moved to Hawaii, I didn’t pay much attention to the language issue. I sort of assumed my kids would maintain Marshallese just by my using the language with them. There weren’t very many other Marshallese in Hawaii back then, so we were very isolated and the only place my kids heard our language was at home. My 6th grader had well-developed language skills in Marshallese and English when we moved here, and so had no problem maintaining both. For my daughter, who was elementary school age when we came to Hawaii, it is a problem. Though she understands Marshallese, she is very reluctant to speak it. I think she gets embarrassed and is a little ashamed because she speaks with an American accent. Recently, my niece came to live with us and I have been encouraging her to speak to my daughter in Marshallese. In the past years, I have taken my daughter back home to the Marshalls so that she will have a chance to be immersed in the language. Looking back, I think I would have done more to maintain my daughter’s Marshallese, but we were so preoccupied with getting settled into a new environment and life in Hawaii.

Second Pohnpeian Parent
In our home, we have two languages besides English that we use, Mortlockese (my wife’s language) and Pohnpeian. I am consciously aware of the danger of our kids not speaking our language. In some ways I’m lucky because I have been here for only three years and I have seen what has happened in other Micronesian families. I do have a house rule that we speak only Pohnpeian or Mortlockese. The kids seem to accept the house rule. I do have to remind them of the rule every once in a while. My wife’s niece recently came to live with us, so the kids have a chance to speak with her in Mortlockese. It has been really good for them. One of my younger children is very fluent in Mortlockese, Pohnpeian, and English. I’m sometimes amazed that my kids are so fluent in several languages. I sit there and listen to them speaking to our English speaking friends and think to myself, “Where did they learn to speak so well?”