Tran, V. H., McLeod, S., Wang, C., & Verdon, S. (2019, June) Factors affecting home language proficiency and use among Vietnamese-Australian children. International Conference on Multilingual Acquisition and Multilingual Education, Hong Kong, SAR China.
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| Dr Van Tran |
Here is her abstract
Factors affecting home language proficiency and use among Vietnamese-Australian children
Objective: To identify factors associated with home language proficiency and use among Vietnamese-Australian children Background: With 300,000 speakers of Vietnamese in Australia, accounting for 1.2% of Australian population, Vietnamese is in the top four most common languages other than English spoken in the country. Studies in home language maintenance show a tendency of language loss from the second generation onwards. With the first wave of Vietnamese immigrants coming to Australia in the 1970-80s, the Vietnamese community in Australia is experiencing a critical time in terms of maintaining their home language. Home language maintenance can be observed through indicators including language use and language proficiency (with speaking and understanding as oral proficiency and writing and reading as written proficiency).
Method: A total of 271 Vietnamese-Australian families answered a survey regarding their children’s language proficiency and use and associated factors. Factors under examination belonged to four groups: child, parent, family, and community factors. Bivariate analyses including Chi-square and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were conducted to explore the associations between profiles and the range of factors. Multinomial logistic regression was later conducted to further explore the relative associations between significant factors and language proficiency and use profiles.
Outcomes: Factors found significantly affecting child language proficiency and use were more related to parents than to children, family, or community. Child-related factors that significantly impacted child language use were children’s Vietnamese and English proficiency. The child-related factor affecting their Vietnamese language proficiency was the children’s age. Parent-related factors significantly associated with child language use and child language proficiency (oral or written) included parent’s income, partner’s income, and partner’s age. Parent-related factors significantly associated with child language use and child language proficiency (oral and written) included parent’s Vietnamese language proficiency, partner’s Vietnamese and English proficiency, generation of immigration, number of years living in English-speaking countries, language use, attitudes towards home language maintenance, perceptions of cultural identity, intention of future residence in Vietnam, and the presence of language policies and rules as well as discussion of courtesy rules with children. There were no family or community factors that consistently affected children’s language use and proficiency in this study. A comprehensive understanding of factors associated with home language proficiency and the extent to which the Vietnamese language is used in Vietnamese-Australian families helps promote and exercise multilingual language policies and multilingual education.
Acknowledgment: Australian Research Council Discovery Grant (VietSpeech: DP180102848)
