Chinese Communities: Family Ethnography Data, 2017-2020

10 families of different types (SES) and structures (e.g. nuclear, extended, single-parent) were observed. The data provide insight into family members’ ideological positions that can be congruent or conflictual and which may cause conflicting views about how to raise bilingual children. Interactional data capture the actual language practices in families across the communities. The data also allow us to observe the silent cultural conversations among family members, and to identify the critical moments of policy enactment.<p>The project locates Family Language Policy (FLP) as a field of inquiry to generate new knowledge on one of the fundamental dimensions of society: the family. FLP addresses three interrelated aspects of children’s multilingual development: language ideology (what family members believe about language), language practices (what they do with language), and language management (what efforts they make to maintain language). 1. Research questions: Employing a multi-level, multi-community and multi-type of family design, the project looks into: 1) How do mobility and on-going changes in sociocultural contexts impact on FLP and linguistic configurations of transnational and non-transnational families in the current UK society? 2) What are the ideological factors that shape the formation of FLPs and to what extent does the dynamic interrelationship between FLP and other social forces, including macro-national/political and meso-educational language policies, influence the decision making processes of FLP? 3) What are the implicit and explicit management measures and interventions employed by caregivers to enrich their children’s multi-language development or to deal with potential incomplete acquisition or loss of the heritage languages? 4) How do similarities and differences between communities with regard to migration histories, linguistic environments, cultural conditions, and socio-political system affect the decision making processes in families? 5) How do families of different types in different communities with (dis)similar access to knowledge and resources deal with the rhythms and realities of everyday life in their different languages and through multiliteracy practices, including social media and computer-mediated communications?</p>本研究共观测10类兼具不同社会经济地位（Socioeconomic Status, SES）与家庭结构（如核心家庭、扩大家庭、单亲家庭）的样本家庭。数据集可揭示家庭成员的意识形态立场——此类立场既可能契合一致，亦可能彼此冲突，并可能引发双语养育观念层面的分歧。互动类数据可记录跨社区家庭中的实际语言使用行为，同时支持研究者观察家庭成员间的隐性文化对话，以及识别家庭语言政策（Family Language Policy, FLP）的制定关键节点。 本研究将家庭语言政策（Family Language Policy, FLP）确立为研究领域，旨在从社会的核心维度之一——家庭——中生成新知。家庭语言政策聚焦儿童多语言发展的三个相互关联的维度：语言意识形态（家庭成员对语言的认知与信念）、语言实践（家庭成员的实际语言使用行为）以及语言管理（家庭成员为维系语言所付出的各类努力）。 研究问题： 本研究采用多层面、多社区、多家庭类型的研究设计，围绕以下问题展开探究： 1） 在当前英国社会语境中，社会文化环境的流动性与持续变革，会对跨国与非跨国家庭的家庭语言政策及语言格局产生何种影响？ 2） 塑造家庭语言政策形成的意识形态因素有哪些？家庭语言政策与其他社会力量（包括宏观国家/政治语言政策、中观教育语言政策）之间的动态互动关系，会在多大程度上影响家庭语言政策的决策流程？ 3） 为促进儿童多语言能力发展，或是应对潜在的传承语言（heritage language）习得不全或流失问题，照料者所采用的显性与隐性管理措施及干预手段分别有哪些？ 4） 不同社区在移民历史、语言环境、文化条件以及社会政治制度方面的异同，会如何影响家庭的决策流程？ 5） 在不同社区中，各类家庭在获取知识与资源方面存在（非）均等的机会，它们会如何借助不同语言及包括社交媒体、计算机媒介通信在内的多元读写实践，来应对日常生活的节奏与现实情境？