Summary: Language strategies for bilingual families

[Teresa Ukrainetz]

It seems to me the evidence on which OPOL was based was reduced 
confusion between the two in toddlerhood, at language onset in Ronjat 
type studies. But the confusion was temporary and minor anyway -- 
basically kids were fine whichever way it was done as long as both 
languages were used interactively and respected. Somehow, this has been 
overextended to be the recommendation for language learning throughout 
childhood and then people are surprised that it doesn't hold.
Teresa Ukrainetz


On Wednesday, June 16, 2004, at 08:54 AM, Marilyn Vihman wrote:

> I can't resist adding my bit as well! I have to say that, having 
> raised two children speaking Estonian in highly monolingual USA 
> (California - it was pretty monolingual in our neighborhood at 
> least!), the one person/one language strategy seemed unlikely to work, 
> if one of the languages was to be English: English just gets SO much 
> support from the environment that if the minority or 'other' language 
> isn't the ONLY one used in the home, the child will wind up with 
> English only. In fact, my experience was that the majority of the 
> Estonian children we knew soon quit using Estonian, even though both 
> parents WERE Estonians (while I was/am an L2 user of Est.). I think we 
> were successful in raising two children who still use the language as 
> young adults primarily because we were both so focussed on the 
> language (both of us linguists), and because the older child was as 
> well, while the second child just followed the example of the first. 
> So there was no answering back in English etc at any point, and 
> Estonian has remained the primary language used among ourselves as a 
> family. I don't think that my using my native English would have been 
> helpful, although they might have learned and retained Estonian 
> anyway, who can say? But there's no particular magic in OPOL as far as 
> I can see, and in the case of highly monolingual larger contexts, I 
> doubt that it is the best plan.
>
> marilyn vihman
>
>> To add a belated comment:
>>
>> In my experience studying simultaneous bilingual children, the OPOL 
>> strategy is
>> more helpful for parents that for children -- parents who raise their 
>> children
>> biingually need a strategy that is workable and that also, more 
>> importantly in
>> my opinion, ensures that the child gets sufficient input on a 
>> consistent basis
>> that they can acquire the two langauges fully.  The OPOL strategy is 
>> useful in
>> these regards. This is particularly true when one of the langauges is 
>> a
>> minority language in the community at large. It is not sufficient to 
>> use two
>> languages is some systematic way; children need relatively 
>> consistent, rich,
>> and extensive exposure to each language to ensure full competence. 
>> Clearly,
>> monolingula children get more input than they really need. But, not 
>> all
>> children who are raised bilingually get enough input over time to 
>> become fully
>> bilingual.
>>
>> Fred Genesee
>>
>> At 07:04 AM 16/06/2004 -0400, Gordon, Peter wrote:
>>>
>>>  Nitya,
>>>  Thanks for that summary on OPOL strategies.  It seems to me that 
>>> learning to
>>>  be bilingual in the early stages is relatively easy regardless of 
>>> the
>>>  conditions of input.  What is harder is to maintain a language that 
>>> is not
>>>  the dominant one of the culture as the child gets older and goes to 
>>> school
>>>  etc.  I'm wondering if the OPOL strategy helps in the language 
>>> maintenance
>>>  function if the child learns that one of the parents will only 
>>> communicate in
>>>  the non-dominant language.  I think this often works when a child 
>>> has parents
>>>  or grandparents who really don't speak the local language.  I 
>>> wonder if it
>>>  would be too hard to maintain all communication in the non-dominant 
>>> language
>>>  though if the parent really did speak the local language.
>>>  Peter Gordon
>>>>
>>>>  -----Original Message-----
>>>>  From: info-childes at mail.talkbank.org on behalf of Nitya Sethuraman
>>>>  Sent: Tue 6/15/2004 5:17 PM
>>>>  To: info-childes at mail.talkbank.org
>>>>  Cc: 'Nitya Sethuraman'
>>>>  Subject: Summary: Language strategies for bilingual families
>>>>
>>>>  Hello,
>>>>
>>>>  I posted a question last week regarding language strategies used by
>>>>  bilingual families, and in particular, the one-person, 
>>>> one-language strategy
>>>>  (OPOL).
>>>>
>>>>  I would like to thank Barbara Conboy, Jeff Fisher, Gary Morgan, Ana
>>>>  Schwartz, Johanne Paradis, Barbara Pearson, Elena Nicoladis, Hazel 
>>>> See,
>>>>  Kathryn King, Mayr Erbaugh, Marie-Rose Bomgren, and Fred Genesee 
>>>> for their
>>  >> informative responses.
>>>>
>>>>  Below is a summary, divided into general comments (anonymous, 
>>>> since it
>>>>  wasn't always clear to me who wanted to be cited) and a list of 
>>>> suggested
>>>>  references:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>  General Comments:
>>>>
>>>>  "There is no empirical evidence showing that this [OPOL] is the 
>>>> best way to
>>>>  raise a child bilingually. There might be evidence (i.e. case 
>>>> studies)
>>>>  showing that it works well, but not to the exclusion of other 
>>>> approaches, at
>>>>  least none that I'm aware of. In fact, Naomi Goodz did a study 
>>>> quite some
>>>>  time ago (in the early 90's maybe) in which she found that parents 
>>>> who swore
>>>>  that they used the one-person, one-language strategy actually 
>>>> didn't."
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>  "There are lots of studies about this saying that adults give more
>>>>  complexity and richness in the input if they use an L1 with their 
>>>> child but
>>>>  I wanted to just say that I raised by daughter bilingually by both 
>>>> parents
>>  >> speaking their own L1 as it was just a lot easier for us. And one 
>> parent one
>>>>  language isn't 100% of the time just most of the time I think"
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>  "I do not know of any evidence suggesting that the one parent one
>>>>  language is better. Rather, it is a common practice. Indeed work 
>>>> by Ana
>>>>  Celia Zentella (check out her book "Growing up bilingual") 
>>>> provides case
>>>>  study evidence of how good children are at code switching and 
>>>> responding to
>>>>  appropriate register, in families in which multiple languages are 
>>>> spoken by
>>>>  both parents."
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>  "I know that in Miami, where I did a lot of research, one-parent
>>>>  one-language is NOT the norm (but the Latin community there is 
>>>> also not
>>>>  particularly successful at helping the next generation be truly 
>>>> bilingual)."
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>  "Ronjat followed that rule (citing a guy named Grammont-- I think 
>>>> that's the
>>>>  spelling) on the grounds that one person-one language would be less
>>>>  confusing for children. He then goes through his book soundly 
>>>> congratulating
>>>>  himself on his success in not confusing his child.  The research 
>>>> since then
>>>>  I think has been fairly convincing in showing that it is actually 
>>>> quite hard
>>>>  to confuse children with two languages in the input so I doubt 
>>>> there is
>>>>  anything to the rule of Grammont. But I don't know of anyone who 
>>>> has
>>>>  addressed that empirically.
>>>>  The use of one parent-one language in research comes up when 
>>>> research
>>>>  questions are about bilingual children's language choice. It's 
>>>> easier to go
>>>>  to one place (i.e., the home) and find the two languages used than 
>>>> it is to
>>>>  visit the school once and the home another time. I've had to do 
>>>> the latter
>>>>  on one occasion when the child heard one language at home and one 
>>>> language
>>>>  at daycare. It was a pain."
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>  References:
>>>>
>>>>  Baker, Colin (1995/2000).  "A Parents' & Teachers guide to 
>>>> bilingualism".
>>>>  Clevedon:  Multilingual Matters.
>>>>
>>>>  Includes a discussion of other strategies besides OPOL.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>  Barron-Hauwaert, Suzanne (2004).  Language Strategies for Bilingual
>>>>  Families:  The one-parent - one-language Approach.  Multilingual 
>>>> Matters.
>>>>
>>>>  2 chapters on other strategies for language use within the family 
>>>> and
>>>>  concludes with suggestions of how the OPOL can be adapted for use 
>>>> in the
>>>>  21st century.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>  De Houwer, A. 1999. Environmental factors in early bilingual 
>>>> development:
>>>>  the role of parental beliefs and attitudes.  Bilingualism and 
>>>> migration, ed.
>>>>  by G. Extra and L.Verhoeven, 75-95.  New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>  Deuchar, Margaret and Suzanne Quay (2000).  Bilingual Acquisition:
>>>>  Theoretical Implications of a Case Study. Oxford; New York:  Oxford
>>>>  University Press.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>  Döpke, Susanne (1998).  Can the principle of 'one person-one 
>>>> language' be
>>>>  disregarded as unrealistically elitist?. Australian Review of 
>>>> Applied
>>>>  Linguistics, 21, 1, 41-56.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>  Döpke, Susanne (1992).  One Parent, One Language: An Interactional
>>>>  Approach.
>>>>  Amsterdam ; Philadelphia : J. Benjamins Pub. Co.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>  Fisher, Jeff (JFisher777 at aol.com) is currently doing a qualitative 
>>>> research
>>>>  project on a 2 year old that is in a foreign environment and 
>>>> exposed to
>>  >> multiple languages.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>  Genesee, Fred, Johanne Paradis, and Martha B. Crago (2004).  Dual 
>>>> Language
>>>>  Development & Disorders:  A Handbook on Bilingualism and Second 
>>>> Language
>>>>  Learners.  Brooks Publishing Company.
>>>>
>>>>  In chapters 1 and 8 in particular we discuss different choices 
>>>> families make
>>>>  in how to make their children bilingual, and how to deal with 
>>>> these choices
>>>>  if their child presents with a language learning disorder.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>  Goodz, Naomi S. (1994). Interactions between parents and children 
>>>> in
>>>>  bilingual families. Educating second language children: the whole 
>>>> child, the
>>>>  whole curriculum, the whole community, ed. by F. Genesee, 62-81. 
>>>> Cambridge:
>>>>  CUP.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>  Grammont ???
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>  Harding-Esch, E. and P. Riley. 2003. The bilingual family: a 
>>>> handbook for
>>>>  parents. Cambridge: CUP.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>  LÃπdi, Georges & Bernard Py, Ã…TRE BILINGUE, 2e.  édition revue, 
>>>> Peter
>>  >> Lang,
>>>>  Ã≈ditions scientifiques européennes, Bern 2002
>>>>
>>>>  Not really about parents strategies, but a VERY good book about 
>>>> Bilingualism
>>>>  (in French).
>>>>
>>>>  Myles, Carey (2003).  Raising Bilingual Children:  A Parent's 
>>>> Guide.   Los
>>>>  Angeles:  Parent's Guide Press. (www.pgpress.com)
>>>>
>>>>  An additional parents' guide which is good, especially strong on 
>>>> considering
>>>>  the viewpoints of the children, as heritage learners.   It helps 
>>>> especially
>>>>  in setting goals that are satisfying rather than frustrating.   
>>>> Author's
>>>>  Iranian emigree background is illuminating, and just a little 
>>>> different.
>>>>  Good on issues of learning to read different scripts.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>  Noguchi, M. (1996): â*˛The bilingual parent as model for the 
>>>> bilingual
>>>>  childâ*ˇ.
>>>>  Policy Science (this is a Japanese journal). Mar 1996. 245-61.
>>>>
>>>>  Studies Japanese-English families living in Japan (mostly the 
>>>> families of
>>>>  linguists and language teachers).  Noguchi suggests that the rigid
>>>>  consistency that caregivers are striving for in the one person-one 
>>>> language
>>>>  strategy may lead to "emotional strain or communication problems 
>>>> in the
>>>>  family".  From her survey of Japanese-English bilingual 
>>>> caregivers, 79% (or
>>>>  42 out of 53) of caregivers using the one person-one language 
>>>> policy listed
>>>>  problems with its use.  These include the perception that the 
>>>> policy is
>>>>  "impolite or alienating" when used in the presence of non-speakers 
>>>> of the
>>>>  language, difficulties with adherence when living with extended 
>>>> families who
>>>>  are Japanese monolinguals, and increasing difficulties with 
>>>> insistence on
>>>>  the use of English to communicate with the English-speaking 
>>>> caregiver after
>>>>  these children attend Japanese-medium schools. In order to 
>>>> overcome some of
>>>>  these problems, she advocates that the bilingual caregiversâ*˙ 
>>>> roles would
>>>>  be
>>>>  better served if they can see themselves as "models of 
>>>> bilingualism and
>>>>  biculturalism" rather than "models of single languages".  This can 
>>>> be
>>>>  achieved by a more flexible use of language where languages are 
>>>> alternated
>>>>  according to needs and circumstances.  E.g., parents can teach 
>>>> children new
>>>>  vocabulary in two languages at the same time to support the child's
>>>>  bilingual development.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>  Romaine, Suzanne (1995). Bilingualism.  Oxford, UK ; Cambridge, 
>>>> Mass., USA :
>>>>  Blackwell.
>>>>
>>>>  This was the book most people referred me to in their responses. 
>>>> One person
>>>>  describes this as "Gives a general overview of language strategies 
>>>> used to
>>>>  raise bilingual children.  She grouped the various strategies used 
>>>> under six
>>>>  broad types, of which the one person-one language policy is the 
>>>> first."
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>  Ronjat, Jules (1913). Le développement du langage observé chez 
>>>> un enfant
>>>>  bilingue.  Paris : H. Champion.  (not sure if this is the reference
>>>>  mentioned above???)
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>  See, Hazel (g0300901 at nus.edu.sg):  I recently presented a paper at 
>>>> the Sixth
>>>>  General Linguistics Conference held in Santiago de Compostela 
>>>> titled "The
>>>>  mixed languages policy as a viable alternative to the one 
>>>> person-one
>>>>  language policy: a case study". If you're interested, I can send 
>>>> you a copy
>>>>  of my paper.
>>>>
>>  >>
>>>>
>>>>  Zentella, Ana Celia (1997).  Growing Up Bilingual: Puerto Rican 
>>>> Children In
>>>>  New York. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>
>
> -- 
>
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