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Korean-Immigrant Parents’ Support of Their American-Born Children’s Development and Maintenance of the Home Language

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Abstract

This study explores Korean-immigrant parents’ language ideologies and practices with respect to their American-born children’s language development. Participants were seven ethnic Korean families composed of immigrant parents and their American-born children, aged between five and seven, in Midwestern America. Interviews in the medium of Korean with the parents, and naturally-occurring family conversations during a meal time, reading time, and play time were audio-recorded and analyzed. The findings suggest that Korean-immigrant parents have a strong desire to pass on their mother tongue to their American-born children, largely derived from their language barrier, and perception of language as an identity marker and socio-economic capital in case they return to Korea for familial obligations and economic opportunities, which represent the context-specific nature of family language policy. Language strategies, such as parental feedback and language-mixing, serve as a catalyst for the implementation of family language policy on the levels of functions, forms, and teaching of the Korean language for Korean-American children’s bilingual development.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of English, Illinois State University, Campus Box 4240, Normal, IL, 61790-4240, USA

    Hyun-Sook Kang

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  1. Hyun-Sook Kang
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Correspondence to Hyun-Sook Kang.

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Kang, HS. Korean-Immigrant Parents’ Support of Their American-Born Children’s Development and Maintenance of the Home Language. Early Childhood Educ J 41, 431–438 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-012-0566-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-012-0566-1

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