The relationship between parents' and children's language attitudes wihin a multilingual context

Abstract

Multilingualism, as the term indicates, is the ability to communicate in more than one language however, when we use this term we are not only referring to one’s linguistic capacity but other enshrouded social, political and institutional aspects also. It is only over the past two decades that a significant interest has been taken in the study of multilingualism (Portolés, 2015) in the attempt to comprehend the multilingual mind; and as a consequence numerous premises and theories have emerged (Hoffmann, 2000, Herdina & Jesner, 2002, Cenoz, 2009). At present, a focal point within this field of research is language acquisition. Up until recently, multilingualism was looked at from monolingual perspective i.e. multiple monolinguals in one (Jessner, 2008b) instead of from a multilingual perspective whereby languages are thought to be in continuous interaction with one another on both a cognitive and social level Jessner (2013). Language acquisition is a complex and demanding process that is unique to each and every human being. Extensive research has been carried out in order to inquire into how a language is learned and aspects such as cognitive factors, affective factors, metacognitive factors, and demographic factors are all thought to play a paramount role (Henter, 2014). Here, the main focus will be on affective factors and in particular language attitudes. A large body of research has shown that language attitudes play a pivotal role in language acquisition and achievement (Gardner, 1968, 1991, Stern, 1985). A 5 fundamental feature of language attitudes is upbringing; hence making parental influences an essential characteristic of their formation and evolution in children (Gardner and Smythe, 1975a). Due to the scarcity of studies on this subject matter within a multilingual context, the main purpose of the present study is two-fold. First of all, parents’ and children’s attitudes towards the majority language (Spanish), the minority language (Catalan) and the foreign language (English) will be taken into account. Secondly, both the qualitative and quantitative data obtained will be analysed so as to determine whether or not there is a relationship between parents’ and children’s language attitudes towards the aforementioned languages. In doing so, and because language attitudes are learned Garrett (2010), and therefore may be modified, this study may serve as an incentive to work with any negative attitudes towards not only the languages in question but towards any language with the overall objective of bettering the language acquisition process.