Immigrant Parents’ Ideological Positioning on Bilingualism

Abstract

It is critical for educators to understand how the official educational policy of the United States, which reflects dominant language ideologies, renders a particular view of immigrant families and students. Educational policy explicitly emphasizes the need for linguistically diverse students to acquire standard English, implicitly problematizing and devaluing linguistic diversity. Immigrant parents are aware of the importance of learning the socially dominant language, but they also wish their children to maintain their heritage languages for familial unity and intergenerational communication. Despite their positive stance toward bilingualism, immigrant parents struggle with encouraging their children to continue developing skills in their heritage languages. Immigrant parents’ challenges in supporting their children’s bilingualism are deeply related to the deficit views implicitly generated by the educational policy. This article concludes with pedagogical implications for educators to honor linguistic and cultural resources that linguistically diverse immigrants and families can offer.