LLED Research Seminar: What does equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI)-informed critical family language policy (FLP) research entail, and how does it impact language education in and out of school?

Speakers: Dr. Guofang Li, Ziwen Mei, Senyao Shen
Date: Thursday, February 13
Time: 2:30 – 4:00PM
Location: Multipurpose Room (PCN 2012), Ponderosa Commons North

Theme:
What does equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI)-informed critical family language policy (FLP) research entail, and how does it impact language education in and out of school?

The session will begin with an overview of critical family language policy (FLP), its research landscape, and emerging trends. Following the overview, two ongoing studies adopting a critical lens to FLP research will be showcased: 

1. The social class dynamics in FLP research; and 
2. FLP in relation to non-dominant languages in multilingual families. 

Final discussions will address new trends and innovative data collection methods as well as implications of critical FLP for language education in the home and school contexts and beyond.

Part I: Introduction and overview – Dr. Guofang Li
Critical Family Language Policy Research: Contexts, Approaches, and Trends

This session reviews the developments and emerging trends in family language policy (FLP) research, providing a foundation for exploring the panel guiding question. Initially rooted in studies of immigrant families in predominantly English-speaking countries, FLP research has broadened to explore a wide range of linguistic and cultural ecologies, encompassing various family structures, transnational dynamics, and multilingual environments. Early research often focused on dominant societal languages, but recent work increasingly takes on a critical lens and emphasizes the role of non-dominant, minority, and heritage languages, as well as dialects, within family settings. This shift has illuminated the complex interplay between the three components of FLP, i.e., language beliefs, language management, and language practices. Methodologically, FLP studies have been shaped by ethnographic and case study approaches, alongside quantitative surveys, narrative analyses, and mixed-methods designs. Emerging themes include heritage language maintenance and intergenerational language transmission, the role of globalization and mobility, and the intersections of identity, ideologies, and power in shaping FLPs. By synthesizing key trends and directions, this discussion sets the stage for critical approaches to FLP that centre equity, diversity, and inclusion while reflecting the complexity of family language experiences worldwide.

Guofang Li is a Professor and Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Transnational/Global Perspectives of Language and Literacy Education of Children and Youth in the Department of Language and Literacy Education and Co-director of UBC Language Sciences Global Research Excellence Institute. Her recent research interests are longitudinal studies of immigrant children’s bicultural and bi-literacy development through the educational systems, immigrant children’s new literacies practices in and out of school, technology-infused ESL/EFL instructional approaches, diversity and equity issues, and teacher education and professional development for culturally and linguistically diverse children and youth. 

Part II: Ongoing study 1 – Ziwen Mei
Social Class Dynamics and Family Language Policy: The Case of Rural Migrant Families in Urban China

This ethnographic case study investigates the language policy and planning of Chinese families who migrated from rural to urban areas, often referred to as rural migrant families, in relation to their identity negotiation. Despite rural migrants’ central role in urban growth, they are relegated to urban peripheries. Navigating the urban landscape with constrained resources, rural migrant families’ language policy (FLP) constitutes multifaceted decision making, such as societal integration through the mainstream language, family bonding through their hometown topolects, and future advancement through recognized linguistic skills in the host city. With the framework of FLP (King et al., 2008) and the lens of identity (Darvin & Norton, 2015) and capital (Bourdieu, 1986), I collected data through six-month participant observation with five rural migrant families, semi-structured interviews with each family member, direct observation via audio recordings, and collecting multimodal artifacts. In this session, I will share initial findings regarding families’ different beliefs and attitudes of language prestige and solidarity, the role of capitals in language practices and family dynamics, and child agency in leveraging digital resources. I will also share methodological considerations in doing research with children and in multilingual contexts.

Ziwen Mei is aPh.D. candidate in the Department of Language and Literacy Education. Her research focuses on family language policy, sociocultural capital, and migrant families in urban contexts.

Part III—Ongoing study 2: Senyao Shen
Family Language Policy and Non-Dominant Linguistic Varieties: Perspectives from Chinese as a Heritage Language Families

Previous studies investigating the maintenance of Chinese as a heritage language (CHL) mainly focused on Mandarin as CHL, neglecting the fact that a large population of Chinese dialect speakers exist in major immigrant-receiving countries like the U.S. and Canada. Therefore, little is known about the language beliefs and practices of dialect speakers, particularly in the home domain. The multiple case study by Li and Shen (2023) adopted family language policy (FLP) as the theoretical framework and tracked six CHL families with dialect backgrounds for three consecutive years to examine if and how parents enacted different language policies to help their children become bi-dialectal (Mandarin and dialect). Findings suggested that while parents thought dialects were less important than English and Mandarin, those who promoted bidialectalism tried different methods to help the children maintain dialects, and those holding negative attitudes towards bidialectalism gave up on passing dialects to their children, even though grandparents played active roles in keeping dialects. Building on this study, in Shen’s current Ph.D. dissertation research, she is using more multimodal data-collection methods, including children’s works and family audio/video clips, to analyze data and further the discussion on dialect-speaking CHL families’ language practices.

Senyao Shen is a Ph.D. candidate from Department of Language and Literacy Education, The University of British Columbia. She holds a Master’s degree in Linguistics, and her research interests include bi/multilingualism, heritage language learning and teaching, Chinese dialects, and language ideology and identity.