Family Language Policy / Progress in Mathematics (PDF)

This excellent book delves into what school-age bilingual children themselves think about language practices in their familiy. The author interviewed them and had them draw language portraits of themselves. This book is a rich addition to research on Family Language Policy. - Jean-Marc Dewaele, Birkbeck, University of London, UK

This book explores the question of family language policy in multilingual households. Presenting six case studies which focus on the experiences of parents and children in French-English bilingual contexts, the author draws conclusions about the impact of parental language management on the family as a whole which can be applied to transnational families from other linguistic backgrounds. While many parental guides on bilingual childrearing have been published in recent years, little attention has been paid to the possible impact of such language strategies on the experiences and interrelationships of bilingual family members. This book is unique in focusing in depth on the psychology and experiences of the child, and it will be of interest to readers in fields as diverse as sociolinguistics, language policy and planning, sociology of youth and family, and child psychology.

Sonia Wilson holds a PhD in sociolinguistics. She has conducted a three-year study on children's and parents' perspectives on bilingualism and the effect of certain language strategies on the well-being of multilingual families.