Shaping Futuros Bilingües: The Psychological Impact of Parental Attitudes and Identities on Spanish-English Bilingualism in Children

Abstract

As language policies and ideologies change within the United States, researchers have sought out to investigate deeper relationships between the general U.S. population and their perspectives on bilingualism. Previous research has suggested that bilingualism can provide the individual with various cognitive and social benefits, but this insight does not always align with what the average American parent believes about the use of more than one language in the home or schooling. Therefore, this study seeks to investigate the relationships between parental attitudes and identities in relation to bilingualism and their children’s own language uses and experiences–particularly the enrollment of children in bilingual education and their children’s bilingual ability. Through a survey asking about parent demographics, child demographics, and parental attitudes, the data supported the hypotheses that parents who did not identify with or expressed negative attitudes about speaking more than one language were associated with lower enrollment of their children in bilingual education programs and lower bilingual fluency levels than children of parents who identified with multiple language identities or felt that bilingualism was more valuable for their children. The results of this study suggest that parental perspectives of the value of bilingualism can drive particular decision-making and behaviors that can influence how their children acquire language and interact with the use of more than one language in their daily life.