Promoting Home Languages to Foster Preschoolers’ Sense of Identity and Wellbeing
Researchers: Andrea MacLeod1, Catrine Demers1, Diane Pesco2, Rabia Sabah Meziane3, Yvonne Chiu4, Naheed Mukhi4, Negin Yousefi1
Affiliations: University of Alberta1, Multicultural Health Brokers4
Research Partner: Multicultural Health Brokers
Keywords: Multilingual, refugee, children, parent, minoritized language, well-being, identity, preschool, language intervention, mixed methods
Jump to: Methodology, Findings
Summary
Overview: This study implemented a dual-language stimulation program, StimuLER, with preschool-aged newcomer children and their parents to promote home language development. The study also explored the impact of the home language on children’s sense of identity and well-being.
Objective: to implement language maintenance strategies through collaborative language stimulation sessions with newcomer preschool children and their parents and to answer the following questions:
Research Justification: Studies have shown that supporting children’s home language can improve their wellbeing, help them access their religion and participate in their community, strengthen self-esteem and sense of identity, and overall lead to greater resilience. However, available resources to support early language learning focus solely on the language of schooling and the responsibility for home language maintenance is placed on families, many of whom experience marginalization, racism, and acculturation stress. Preschool programs and schools share a responsibility to support children’s bilingual language development.
Methodology
The research team used a mixed-methods approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with parents before and after the language stimulation sessions to capture their perspectives on various language maintenance strategies and their perception of their child’s well-being using the Person Most Knowledgeable Child and Youth Resilience Measure – Revised (PMK-CYRM-R). Semi-structured interviews with children were conducted before and after the sessions to explore their attitudes toward bilingualism, language learning, and their well-being using the Child and Youth Resilience Measure – Revised (CYRM-R). The research team also observed parent-child interactions during the sessions to observe the languages they used and the child’s uptake of strategies to support dual language development.
Eight families from Syria and five families from Ethiopia and Eritrea took part in the research. Through partnership with Multicultural Health Brokers, the study materials were adapted to ensure that parents and children could communicate in the language they were most comfortable in throughout the research.
The language stimulation sessions come from the innovation, StimuLER, which was initially developed and evaluated by the research team with refugee children in a previous CYRRC-funded project. StimuLER builds around a theme using storytelling and group activities to provide rich opportunities for interaction amongst parents, group facilitators, and children.
Findings
A key issue that has emerged from this research is the value of the minoritized language within families to maintain relationships, enhance resilience, and support children’s development. Families experience a range of pressures on their capacity to transmit and maintain their minoritized language and very few supports exist outside their home. They experience racism and discrimination related to their cultural and linguistic identity and little active support or encouragement to sustain their cultural and linguistic practices.
An important site for change and action is in the early years. Creating learning spaces outside the home, embedded in communities and mainstream structures, that explicitly aim to enhance and support culturally and linguistically sustaining practices are necessary. Families who have experienced these early year settings speak to the long-term positive impact on their child and family as a whole.
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