CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 39Multilingual Education and PolicyLinguistic and Sociocultural StudiesLanguage Development and Disorders

‘Half of who you are’: Parent and child reflections on the emotional experiences of reversing familial language shift

Open access
Little, Sabine·2023·International Journal of Bilingualism
DOI 10.1177/13670069221125705
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Aims and objectives: The study explores the emotional experiences of a mother and son during the re-introduction of the heritage language at age 6, following a 2-year hiatus. In particular, it seeks to highlight the affordances of a collaborative, emotionally sensitive approach to family language policy, with parent and child jointly incorporating and acknowledging aspects of the child’s identity development. Methodology: Adopting an autoethnographic approach, mother and son kept a joint research diary where critical incidents (as chosen by either one or both) were written down as verbatim as possible, and subsequently reflected on together, with reflections again entered into the diary. Data and analysis: Data were coded according to various emotions (frustration, pride, joy, love, guilt, etc.) as well as a code linked to identity development. These were then thematically analysed. Findings and conclusion: Parent–child collaboration and facilitation of child agency have a positive impact on a child’s attitude towards learning the heritage language. Jointly sharing and reflecting on the emotional journey of growing up bilingual and bringing up a bilingual child affords both parent and child an insight into each other’s concerns, charting a path towards a collaborative approach to family language policy development. Originality: The study is the first officially documented long-term study focusing on the reversal of familial language shift which provides emotional and language-related data from both parent and child, as part of a complex tapestry of emotion, identity, language, and parent–child relationship. Significance and Implications: Recommendations are made for children to be more actively involved in family language policy research, taking into account their emotional links to, and experiences with, various aspects of language use. In addition, a focus on emotions can assist in a better understanding of the links between language and identity, giving children and parents the space to reflect on and articulate their different points of view, shaping family language policy.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1177/13670069221125705

Cites

50 of 50 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

We couldn’t retrieve this paper’s full text, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 3

  1. Gadamer H. G., 1989, Truth and method
  2. Ronjat J., 1913, Le développement du langage observé chez un enfant bilingue
  3. Willis K., 2010, Social research methods, 407

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Little, S.
Affiliations
University of Sheffield (GB)
Corresponding author
Little, Sabine
ORCID
Little, Sabine
Venue
International Journal of Bilingualism
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2022-11-02
Volume
27
Issue
2
Pages
217-231
ISSN
  • 1367-0069 (ISSN-L)
  • 1756-6878
DOI
10.1177/13670069221125705
OpenAlex
W4308135961
Semantic Scholar
02501cb289cd2691c47e47d0350995b5451a1b12
Cited by
34
References
50
Citations by year
2026: 10 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 1
FWCI
15.19
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • International Journal of Bilingualism (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • White Rose Research Online (University of Leeds, The University of Sheffield, University of York) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Linguistics and Language › Multilingual Education and Policy
  • Social Sciences › Linguistics and Language › Linguistic and Sociocultural Studies
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Language Development and Disorders
Keywords
heritage language, family language policy, bilingual identity, emotions, parent-child cooperation, children's agency, bilingual children, mother-son relationship

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review