Language Transmission among Multilingual Chinese Immigrant Families in Groningen, the Netherlands

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Language Transmission among Multilingual Chinese Immigrant

Families in Groningen, the Netherlands

Name: Yeshan Qian

Student Number: S3347036

MA in Multilingualism

Faculty of Arts

University of Groningen

Supervisors:

Dr. Eva Juarros-Daussà

Dr. Tilman Lanz

Date: 24-06-2018

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Abstract

Maintaining the heritage language is of vital significance for immigrant families and it requires transmission strategies (Lanza & Li 2016; King & Fogle 2013). I present a study of language transmission among multilingual Chinese immigrant families in Groningen, the Netherlands. Previous research has shown that families‟ and individuals‟ motivations for maintaining their heritage languages goes beyond

necessity and opportunities, as they are often closely related to integrative values and imagination (Zhu & Li 2016).Relatively little is known about European contexts. Against this backdrop, I set to figure out the factors influencing linguistic attitudes and language choices among Chinese immigrant families in Groningen, the

Netherlands. Data comes from semi-structured interviews with ten Chinese immigrant families recruited from Stichting Chinese School Groningen, combined with a brief questionnaire for quantitative analysis. Results indicate that especially parents who themselves have high proficiency in Mandarin, have the highest success in

transmitting their language to their children. Personal values, integrative values (both regarding the immediate and the extended community), and instrumental values all have a role in determining Chinese immigrant parents‟ choices. Remarkably, with general positive attitudes towards multilingualism in Dutch society, Chinese immigrant families also hold positive attitudes towards their maintenance of the heritage language. Nevertheless, they experience negative feedback from the

immediate community, including not integrative in the immediate community to lack of support for Mandarin learning from specific local schools or institutions. Parents manifest their wish that teachers in Dutch schools would attach importance to heritage languages, since at present they only lay emphasis on children‟s learning of Dutch.

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1. Introduction

When I was in process with the field work of the course of “Language Planning and Policy” of MA Multilingualism program and when I conducted an interview and had interactions with a multilingual Hongkong immigrant family, I found it very interesting and intriguing. I came to realize that maintaining the heritage language is of vital significance for immigrant families and it requires transmission strategies (Lanza & Li 2016; King & Fogle 2013).

Previous research has shown that Chinese families‟ and individuals‟ motivations for maintaining their heritage languages goes beyond necessity and opportunities, as they are often closely related to integrative values and imagination. Based on the data elicited from three multilingual Chinese families in the United Kingdom, Zhu and Li examine how various generations and individuals handle bilingualism and multilingualism, and discuss the role these families and individuals‟ experiences play in constructing and keeping families‟ own identities. Results show that it is of necessity for transnational families to learn language of the country where they reside because it is conducive to education and employment of these families. Nevertheless, their motivations for the maintenance of their heritage languages often go beyond necessity and opportunities but are related to families‟ sense of belonging and imagination (Zhu & Li, 2016). Until recently, little is known about the ways in which migrant families treat and evaluate their heritage languages from social and linguistic aspects in European contexts (Tyrrell, Guijarro-Fuentes & Blandon, 2014).

Another reason why I set to study this topic is related to my research internship which focuses on the use of internet forums by multilingual families around the world. One case that I collected from the Internet forum talked about a multilingual family in which the mother speaks Portuguese and the father speaks Spanish. Their daughter goes to the childcare and speaks English there. In the family, the daughter only replies in English when communicating with her parents, which makes the mother worried as the grandparents cannot speak English at all. This case reminds me of my own family. In my family, my grandparents cannot speak Mandarin but only the local dialect in my hometown, and thus my parents and my uncle attach great importance to the acquisition of the local dialect although we are not often at home with grandparents, because they think this language is the bond among generations and shows affinity among family members. This also signifies it is necessary to maintain the heritage language including its varieties and manage multilingualism in the multilingual families, and sparks my interest to examine the motivations for Chinese immigrant families to maintain their heritage language.

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Against this backdrop, I present a study of language transmission among multilingual Chinese immigrant families in Groningen, the Netherlands, through which I set to figure out the factors influencing linguistic attitudes and language choices among Chinese immigrant families.

There are five main research goals. Firstly, the current research aims to characterize and examine language use and language transmission strategies in multilingual Chinese immigrant families. In addition, through this study, I want to examine comments or feedback from the environment about the Chinese immigrant communities. Third, the study aims to figure out immigrant parents‟ motivations to maintain the heritage language. Also, this study will shed some light on parents‟ expectations for their children‟s Mandarin learning with regard to their children‟s attitudes towards the maintenance of the heritage language, and children‟s language proficiencies. Eventually, through this research, I am to find out parents‟ motivations to send their children to the heritage language school Stichting Chinese School Groningen and their comments on the heritage language school.

With regard to the methodology, data comes from semi-structured interviews with ten Chinese immigrant families recruited from Stichting Chinese School Groningen, combined with a brief questionnaire for quantitative analysis. Concretely, the interviews were conducted in the classroom of Stichting Chinese School Groningen which is a Saturday school committed to providing Chinese language education and spreading Chinese culture for the descendants of the families with Chinese origin and those who are interested in Chinese language and Chinese culture. The interviews were tape-recorded in the process. Besides, the interviews were conducted in Mandarin as it is the optimal language for the majority of the Chinese parents and I to communicate effectively. As for the questionnaire, it is also in Mandarin and parents filled out the questionnaire under my instruction so as to ensure the quality of the data. The questionnaire mainly focuses on the language use patterns in the multilingual Chinese immigrant families and the linguistic proficiencies of the immigrant children concerning the different languages in the family, especially about the heritage language. The interview recordings were categorized according to various themes including language uses and strategies, parents‟ motivations to transmit the heritage language, parental expectations for their children‟s language proficiencies, etc. for a qualitative analysis. Regarding the data gathered from questionnaires, a simple quantitative analysis was treated combined with some figures and graphs for vivid presentation.

This thesis consists of nine major chapters, namely the abstract part, the introduction part, literature part, methodology part, two result parts, conclusion and discussion part, references part and appendix. The abstract presents a brief and concise summary of the current study with pertinent information related to my

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topic. The introduction part states the topic of my research, the reasons why the study is interesting, clear research questions and methodology, and provides an overview of the paper. The literature part reviews the pertinent literature to my study which is closely correlated with my qualitative analysis in the body part. In the methodology part, I give an introduction to the participants of my study, the background information of the Stichting Chinese School Groningen, the design, conduction and analysis of the interviews, and the questionnaire. The result chapters are made of two main sections based on the questionnaire and the semi-structured interviews respectively, which are analyzed and illustrated in a comprehensive and well-organized manner. The conclusion and discussion part summarizes the main points of the study, particularly points about the surprising results of the research, and provides some further reflection on the current situation of the Chinese immigrant groups in the Netherlands and on future research. The appendix shows the original interview fragments in Mandarin that are used in the text, the original interview questions that are translated in English, and the original questionnaire in Mandarin.

2. Literature

2.1 General introduction to family language policy

It is assumed that all meaningful language policy is eventually operated at home. Upon entering the world, the first words a child exposes are from his or her mother, and father, which are reflected in the term „mother tongue‟ as a child has been exposed to the father‟s language to a lesser degree (Caldas, 2012). Bloomfield (1961) also points out that a first language, native language, or mother tongue or father tongue, is a language which someone has been exposed to since he or she was born (Bloomfield, 1961). This is a classic picture of family- families nowadays are in many different shapes, although the term has remained unchanged.

A language policy is a decision from political aspect and it deliberately attempts to alter or influence the diverse perspectives of language uses and has impact on one or more languages in a certain society. Language policies are either made in an explicit manner or are practiced implicitly in various societal spheres including family spheres. Accordingly, family language policy (FLP) can be defined as “a deliberate attempt at practicing a particular language use pattern and particular literacy practices within home domains and among family members” (Curdt-Christiansen, 2009: 352). Family language policy is made according to a family‟s recognition of social structures and social alterations. Specifically speaking, family language policy is shaped by families‟ concrete beliefs ranging

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from factors that bolster the family‟s social status to the family‟s objectives in daily life (Curdt-Christiansen, 2009).

Furthermore, previous research has pointed out that family language policy is „invisible‟ as for a large number of families, the family language policy has mainly been predetermined by history and conditions out of the family‟s control instead of being planned consciously (Pakir, 1994). The new sphere of family language policy, nevertheless, attaches importance to the visible explicit and overt planning correlated to language use in the home among families as compared to governments‟ explicit language planning (King, Fogle & Terry, 2008).

Previous studies have indicated that there are mainly four phases in the field of family language policy (King, 2016). The first stage of research, which is the historical origins of this field, consisted of classic diary studies dating back to over a century ago (Ronjat, 1913; Leopold, 1939-1949). In this phase, researchers of this field not only present innovative and comprehensive explanations of early child language learning, but also they initiated the idea of studying the connectedness between bilingualism and certain cognitive characteristics like “cognitive flexibility and metalinguistic awareness” (King, 2016:726).

During the second phase, researchers who delved into family language policy and children‟s bilingual development employed lots of similar themes of the first phase but took up them from a positive perspective combined with the methodological tools of applied linguistics and psycholinguistics (King, 2016; Swain, 1972). For instance, Lanza‟s groundbreaking research (1997) employed a sociolinguistic and discourse analytic method so as to study a classic psycholinguistic question, namely „does language differentiation occur before the age of three?‟ (King, 2016, p.727). By analyzing the interactions between parent and child in detail, Lanza noted that parents‟ strategies of language use can shape even very young children‟s bilingual abilities as language mixing is contextually malleable before the age of three (King, 2016).

The third phase added a great deal to our comprehension of family language policymaking and outcomes of children language abilities. Nonetheless, a number of shortcomings have occurred over the last decade or so (King, 2016). The first shortcoming is the necessity for research concerning family language policy to concentrate on and specially include a broader and more various ranges of family sorts, languages and contexts (King, 2016). The second shortcoming is that the family is increasingly recognized as a dynamic system in order to keep abreast of wider range of improvements in applied linguistics. Recognizing family as a dynamic system includes the significance of child agency, choices of identity and reformation of family and all of these take place through language (King, 2016; see also Gafarnga, 2010; King, 2013). Thirdly, studies in this stage tended to overlook trilingualism and multilingualism, provided that a lot of families

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worldwide use more than two languages (King, 2016; Curdt-Christiansen, 2009). The field of family language policy in the fourth and current phase squarely deals with the gaps in the third phase mentioned above, which considers language proficiency not merely as an outcome, but as an approach that both children and adults define themselves, their roles in the family and their family lives. Additionally, research in this phase focuses on transnational, multilingual and globally distributed populations and families beyond traditional families with increasingly great diversity and adaptability in terms of research approaches to deal with the shifting necessities in this field (King, 2016).

2.2 Transmission strategies in multilingual families

One of the most commonly employed language policies among parents who want to raise bilingual children is „One-parent-one-language‟ (OPOL) strategy (Barron-Hauwaert, 2004; Döpke, 1992). Initiated by French linguist Maurice Grammont in a book published in 1902, this approach is regarded as the optimal method to raise bilinguals who would avoid mixing up their two languages (Caldas, 2012). One reason that can account for the continuous prevalence of this approach is that OPOL makes contributions to keeping children from being linguistically puzzled (Eisenberg, Murkoff & Hathoway 1989) and language delay results from this puzzlement (King & Fogle 2006b). However, no cogent evidence has been found to justify that language confusion or language delay is the result of rearing children bilingually, though the family strategy is employed (Lanza 1992; King & Fogle 2006b). But there is indeed research evidence showing that one-parent-one-language policy is conducive to rearing bilingual children, provided that parents are consistent in their employment of this policy and communicate with their children in the designed language in a frequent and constant manner (Bain & Yu, 1980).

Romaine (1995) pointed out that by employing one-parent-one-language approach in the family, children can comprehend both languages but only chose to use the dominant language in the immediate community, which is characterized as some kind of passive bilingualism (Döpke, 1992; Yamamoto, 1995).

Accordingly, another family language strategy followed by some parents, be it intentional or necessary, is to speak solely the minority language in the home. This strategy worked very well in some families when the parents abandoned the one-parent-one-language strategy (Caldas, 2012). Another language strategy is one parent monolingual, one parent bilingual with children. Besides, there are some parents strategies including parents‟ pretending not to understand, parents‟ pretending to guess the utterance, parents‟ answering in appropriate language and so on (Juarros-Daussà, 2017).

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2.3 Parents’ motivations and attitudes regarding heritage language

transmission

When it comes to the motivations for parents to make explicit language choices in the home, a study by King and Fogel in 2006 has shown that parents in many cases make obscure references in terms of whether bilingual children have cognitive advantages. Some parents have a desire to exert positive economic impact on their children, such as the Chinese immigrant parents in Montreal, Canada. In Curdt-Christiansen‟s research, she regards language as a typical kind of economic capital for Chinese parents that can bring about economic benefits and opportunities, and thus lay emphasis on the advantages resulted from multilingualism (Curdt-Christiansen, 2009).

Based on Juarros-Daussà‟s research in 2013, there are three major factors influencing immigrants‟ attitudes towards the maintenance of the heritage language, and determining the choices of languages being transmitted. The three motivations are: integrative values, which include integrative values in extended community and integrative values in immediate community, instrumental values, and personal values. Among them, Juarros-Daussà pointed out that personal values are in some cases at least the most determinant factor in that they contribute to the construction of identity and the personal satisfaction obtained by speaking the minority language (Juarros-Daussà, 2013; see also Wölck, 2004). Moreover, Juarros-Daussà notes that economic and professional factors which include better job opportunity and some other practical benefits play an important role in determining parents‟ choices of languages to be transmitted in the family. Her research has shown that economic and professional factors are the main elements determining parents‟ choice of including Spanish in the family, “either by adopting it for daily communication, or by signing their children up for Spanish classes, or using a third person as a more or less regular babysitter or nanny” (Juarros-Daussà, 2013, pp.152). More importantly, Juarros-Daussà also illustrates that speaking the heritage language with the children provides the immigrants with a means to address the feeling of being between two worlds that comes with their immigrant experience. Specifically, it offers them a sense of going back to home while actually not, thereby maintaining the hope of returning to the less complicated past when they did not possess dual identity characterizing the immigrant experience (Juarros-Daussà and Lanz, 2009).

Previous research by Lao has also shown that most parents firmly supported their children‟s developing bilingualism on account of the practical advantages being bilingual brings about, including better employment opportunities and effective interactions in the immediate community. Lao also lays emphasis on the significance of parents‟ dedication to the maintenance and development of their

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children‟s heritage language (Lao, 2004).

2.4 Introduction to language schools for heritage language

maintenance

The heritage language can be acquired under diverse circumstances, ranging from public school instruction to language courses managed by a community where speakers use the particular language after school or at weekends (Hummel, 2014). Formal instruction of the heritage language takes place in a classroom in which learners are taught a language being employed in the home or among their own ethnic groups. Language learning programs including Saturday schools and language courses that occur outside of the school hours are language learning programs where children are able to further enhance their proficiency of their heritage language. Research evidence has indicated that such language learning schools and programs play a crucial part in the maintenance of the particular language (Hummel, 2014). Lao in the study in 2004 illustrated a Chinese-English bilingual preschool in San Francisco, the United States. The school made great contributions to the promotion of bilingualism and multiculturalism since it was founded in 1974 (Lao, 2004). The school provides both half-day and full-day learning programs ranging from state-funded to nonprofit programs so as to better serve the communities. Funding of this bilingual preschool is from “the California State Department of Education, the city and county of San Francisco, grants from private foundations, and tuition fees” (Lao, 2004: 101). The school defies itself as: “The school‟s child-centered curriculum is developmentally, culturally, and linguistically appropriate, designed to encourage exploration, hands-on experience, creativity, imagination, and social interaction. In addition to regular field trips and library experiences, the program also provides a creative curriculum based on monthly themes of different cultures” (Lao, 2004: 101).

Despite the merits of the school programs regarding the maintenance of the heritage and native languages, previous study has shown that school-based programs for language learning alone are not sufficient enough to maintain and improve the native language. Instead, it is language use and practice in the home that plays the most significant role in maintaining a language across generations (Lao, 2004). Research on language proficiencies further justifies that language practice in the home is of vital significance in the maintenance of the native language (Hakuta & d‟Andrea, 1992; Hakuta & PeaseAlvarez, 1994).

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2.5 Introduction to linguistic proficiency of the heritage language

With regard to the linguistic proficiency of the heritage language, previous research has presented that social networking is a crucial factor that exerts a positive impact on children‟s language proficiency of their heritage language. Raschka, Li and Lee in their study, for instance, note that children who had the opportunity to employ Chinese with no code-switching with their close family members or close friends of the elder generations usually tended to have higher proficiency in their Cantonese than children who lacked such opportunity (Raschka, Li, & Lee, 2002). This finding indicates that the maintenance of the family language can optimally be bolstered via the adoption of “what has been called a domestic pattern of family interaction with regular and extended L1 intergenerational interaction” (Raschka, Li, & Lee, 2002: 9).

In terms of the correlation between the maintenance of first language and family, Tannenbaum and Howie (2002) studied the correlation between language maintenance and family elements by examining Chinese immigrant children in Australia. The results of the study indicated that children tend to maintain their first language if they consider their family more integrated (Tannenbaum & Howie, 2002). Additionally, another study also showed that the maintenance of the first language is not a barrier when it comes to the acquisition of the new language if the relations between the parents and the children are cohesive and secure (Park & Sarkar, 2007).

3. Methodology

3.1 Participants

The participants of this research are the parents in ten Chinese immigrant families in Groningen, the Netherlands. All of them sent their children to learn Mandarin in a Chinese heritage language school named Stichting Chinese School Groningen. Two tables containing detailed demographic information and background information about the participants are presented as follows so as to ensure a clear and organized manner.

Table 1: Participants Time residing in the Number of children Age of children L1 of the parents Number of languages Languages in the family

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9 Netherlands (father) in family in family 1 Mr. xx About 15 years 2 8 years old; 3 years old Mandarin 4 Mandarin, Dutch, English, Chinese dialect 2Mrs.Li-Kelly . . . About 15 years 3 Almost 18 years old; almost 16 years old; 11 years old Cantonese 5 Mandarin, Dutch, English, Cantonese, Hakka 3 Mrs. Xue About 23 years 3 12 years old; 9 years old; 7 years old Mandarin 7 Mandarin, Dutch, English, Cantonese, Chinese dialect, France, German 4 Mrs. Wang About 21 years 2 10 years old; 6 years old Mandarin 3 Mandarin, English, Dutch 5 Mrs. Shen About 10 years 2 7 years old; 4 years old Mandarin 5 Mandarin, Dutch, English, Spanish, Chinese dialect 6 Mrs. Huang 10 years 2 7 years

old; almost 3 years old Mandarin 4 Mandarin, English, Dutch, Chinese dialect 7 Mrs. Li About 3 years 1 10 years old Mandarin 3 Mandarin, English, Dutch 8 Mrs. Zhou About 28 years old 2 6 years old; 4.5 years Mandarin 3 Mandarin, English, Dutch

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old 9 Mrs. Lin 15 years 1 10 years

old Mandarin 4 Mandarin, English, Dutch, Chinese dialect 10 Mrs. Chen Almost 10 years 2 7 years old; 4 years old Mandarin 2 Mandarin, Dutch Table 2:

Participants Place where the parents come from(father) Place where the parents come from(mother) Birthplace of the children Children‟s living experience in China 1 Mr. xx Henan province, China Henan province, China The Netherlands Come back to China every two years and stay about one month 2Mrs.Li-Kelly Born and grew up in

the Netherlands Born in the Netherlands; come back to Hongkong at the age of 4; come back to the Netherlands at the age of 12 Groningen, the Netherlands Come back to China every two years and stay about one month

3 Mrs. Xue Fujian province, China Fujian province, China Groningen, the Netherlands

Have gone back to China once and stayed about three to four weeks 4 Mrs. Wang Zhejiang province,

China Zhejiang province, China Rotterdam, the Netherlands

Have not gone back to China yet

5 Mrs. Shen Born in China; came to the Netherlands at the age of 5 and have lived in the Netherlands until Born in China; want to Spain at the age of 14 and had lived in Spain for

Groningen, the

Netherlands

Have gone back to China three times since the children were born, and stayed about three weeks each time

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11 now 12 years; came to the Netherlands at the age of 26

6 Mrs. Huang Zhejiang province, China Zhejiang province, China Groningen, the Netherlands

Have gone back to China once and stayed three weeks 7 Mrs. Li Born in the

Netherlands(Dutch); had lived in Fujian province, China for about 10 years; came back to the Netherlands with family again Born in Hunan province, China; lived in Xiamen city, Fujian province, China for about 10 years Fujian province, China

Born in China and lived in China until the child was 7 years old

8 Mrs. Zhou Zhejiang province, China Wenzhou city, Zhejiang province, China Groningen, the Netherlands

The elder child has gone back to China twice, and the second child went to China three times and stayed one month each time

9 Mrs. Lin Fuzhou city, Fujian province, China Fuzhou city, Fujian province, China The Netherlands

Have gone back to China once and stayed one month; plan to go to China this year

10 Mrs. Chen Born in the Netherlands(Dutch); have gone to China for travelling Fuzhou city, Fujian province, China The Netherlands

Have gone back to China once and stayed one month

As shown in the two tables, most of the Chinese immigrant parents indicate Mandarin as their first language and have been living in the Netherlands for more than fifteen years. Besides, although the living experiences of the immigrant parents are different, almost all of the immigrant children were born in the Netherlands. Regarding children‟s living experience in China, almost all of the children of the Chinese immigrant families have gone back to China and the majority of them stayed one month each time except in one family, the child was born in China and lived in China until the age of seven.

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3.2 Background of Stichting Chinese School Groningen

Stichting Chinese School Groningen, which has been founded over 30 years, is a private school committed to providing Chinese education and spreading Chinese culture for the descendants of the families with Chinese origin and those who are interested in Chinese language and traditional Chinese culture. The school offers classes with different levels ranging from class with beginner‟s level to particularly advanced level class. Besides, to better serve the communities and ensure high-quality education, the school opens Chinese oral classes and faculty training program. In addition, Stichting Chinese School Groningen plays an active role in encouraging students to participant in diverse meaningful activities such as Global Chinese composition contest, Spring Festival Gala and so on, and students in this school have reaped numerous prizes in various kinds of contests. With its uniqueness and charm, its high-quality educational standard, and its dedication to maintaining Chinese language and traditional Chinese culture, this heritage language school situated in the city center of Groningen, has not only attracted an increasing number of Chinese young people, but also appealed to a large number of Dutch people.

3.3 Semi-structured interviews

3.3.1 Design and procedure

Stichting Chinese School Groningen opens only on Saturdays as on weekdays children have to attend class in Dutch schools. So I arranged my interviews on Saturdays in the Chinese school. I visited it several times before I conducted the formal interviews. During the time spent in Chinese school, I communicated with the teachers and parents there. Based on the informal conversations and my research purpose, I formulated my interview questions and prepared a brief questionnaire used to assess the language use among immigrant Chinese families. Before conducting the interviews and questionnaire, I had translated the interview questions and questionnaires in Mandarin because the interviews and questionnaires would be conducted in Mandarin. The day before I would conduct the formal interviews and questionnaires, I had contacted the chairman of the parents' association of Stichting Chinese School Groningen, and the lady helped me inform the parents in their social networking groups.

Regarding my interviews and questionnaires, I had informal conversations with the participants and expressed my sincere thanks to their participation before the interview. During the conversations, I also had a brief introduction to my background information and my research. Then I asked for their permission to let me tape-record the whole process of the interview. After that, I asked them to have

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a short pilot of tape-recording by saying some words, so as to make sure I could record their sound well. During the interview, I would supplement and add new questions so as to have better interactions with the interviewees and obtain information of what I am interested in and related to my study. The interviews last approximately 20 minutes each. After the interviews, I asked the parents to fill out a questionnaire which I had prepared in advance and printed out. The questionnaires were completed under my instructions and introduction in order to avoid misunderstanding and filling out wrongly.

The interviews and questionnaires were conducted in the classroom thanks to the help of the teacher in the Chinese school. Because most of the families live far from the central part of Groningen, it would be demanding to do the interviews in their houses or elsewhere. During my visit and interactions with the teachers in Chinese school, the teacher advised me to do the interviews in the school on Saturdays when the parents send their children to school and when they come to pick up their children. So the surroundings and atmosphere were ideal when we were doing interviews and questionnaires because it was relatively quiet and without disruption.

3.3.2 Interview analysis

According to grounded theory (Glaser, 1998), I reviewed, coded and thematically made an analysis of the interview transcripts. A table was formulated with categorization of different themes based on the interviews and relevant quotations of the participants. Six themes were identified: language strategy/practices/uses, comments or feedback from the environment, parents‟ motivation to maintain the heritage language, parents‟ expectations for their children‟s Mandarin learning with regard to children‟s attitudes towards learning Mandarin, children‟s linguistic proficiencies, and motivations for parents to send their children to the Chinese school and their comments on Stichting Chinese School Groningen.

Based on the participants‟ responses and the six categorized themes, I made a comprehensive analysis of the interview fragments combined with the pertinent research of previous studies conducted in this field.

3.4 A brief questionnaire

A brief questionnaire was designed so as to study and gain a better understanding of the language use in the ten multilingual Chinese immigrant families in Groningen. The questionnaire was designed according to the protocols provided by Eva Juarros-Daussà. The questionnaire was translated into Mandarin and filled out under the instruction in Mandarin. The original questionnaire used in this study is presented in the appendix.

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4. Questionnaire Results

This chapter presents the findings based on the questionnaire designed to study the language use and immigrant children‟s language proficiencies in the ten Chinese immigrant families. I am to present the questionnaire results in sections, namely language use patterns in the families, languages used among parents themselves, language use between parents and children, languages used among siblings and language use between immigrant children and their friends. Each section is vividly illustrated with relevant figures and graphs.

4.1 Language use patterns in the families

Among the ten Chinese immigrant families involved, most of the families manage more than two languages, even with one family having seven languages though some of the languages are not frequently used in the home. The pie chart below shows the language use of the ten Chinese immigrant families.

Figure 1: The number of languages in the families.

As vividly presented in the figure 1, only 10% of the families are bilingual family, and families with three or four languages account for the most proportion, both of which are 30%.

2 languages 10% 3 languages 30% 4 languages 30% 5 languages 20% 7 languages 10%

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4.2 Languages used among parents themselves

According to the data obtained from the questionnaire, the three main languages in the Chinese immigrant families are Mandarin, Dutch and English. As can be seen in Figure 2, the majority of the multilingual Chinese immigrant families always use or almost always use Mandarin in the home. Some of the families that never use Mandarin when interacting with their partners either speak Cantonese with their partners or speak Dutch because their partners are Dutch people, which can be known from the individual interviews with the participants. Regarding Dutch, most of the families sometimes speak Dutch with their partners. And almost all of the immigrant parents never use English when they communicate with their partners.

Figure 2: Languages used between parents in the home.

4.3 Languages used between parents and the children

According to the questionnaire, all the immigrant parents reported that the language use patterns are the same among the children in the family, which means that the languages used between parents and the elder child and the language use pattern between parents and the second child are the same. Consequently, I only counted the language use pattern between the parents and the eldest child.

Results indicate that most Chinese immigrant parents choose to use Mandarin when communicating with their children, while the least number of parents use English when they communicate with the children. As for Dutch, the majority of the parents sometimes speak Dutch with their children. And most of the

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 Number of families Number of families Number of families

Mandarin Dutch English

Always use Almost always use Sometimes use Almost never use Never use

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parents almost never use English when interacting with the children, as can be shown from Figure 2 below.

Figure 2: Languages used between parents and children in the home.

4.4 Languages used among siblings

Because some families only have one child, we only analyze the language use pattern in the families with more than one child. Among the ten Chinese immigrant families in the current study, eight families are reported to have more than one child in the home.

Figure 3: Language use among siblings in multilingual Chinese immigrant families-Mandarin. 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 Number of families Number of families Number of families

Always use Almost always use Sometimes use Almost never use Never use 0% 12% 38% 25% 25%

Language Use among Siblings-Mandarin

Never use Almost never use Sometimes use Almost always use Always use

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Figure 4: Language use among siblings in multilingual Chinese immigrant families –Dutch.

Figure 5: Language use among siblings in multilingual Chinese immigrant families-English.

Among the ten Chinese immigrant families, in 38% of the families, children sometimes use Mandarin to talk with their sisters or brothers, followed by children always using and almost always using Mandarin, with 25% of both. With regard to Dutch, in the majority of the families, children always use or sometimes use Dutch to communicate with their siblings, accounting for 38% and 37% respectively. The use of English among children themselves presents a distinctive pattern: children that sometimes use English and never use English to communicate with their siblings make up the most proportions, with 38% and 37% respectively.

To sum up, Mandarin was mostly used between immigrant parents and their partners, and those who never use Mandarin with their partners either speak

0% 12%

37% 13% 38%

Language Use among Siblings-Dutch

37%

25% 38%

0% 0%

Language Use among Siblings-English

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Cantonese because it is their native language or speak Dutch as their partners are Dutch people. In addition, most parents also choose to use Mandarin when communicating with their children, while the least number of parents use English in this case. When it comes to the language use between children and their siblings and the language use between children and their friends, results are different as Dutch is now the most frequently used language.

4.5 Languages used between immigrant children and their friends

When it comes to the languages used between immigrant children and their

friends, as figure 6 shows, it is noticeable that about 80% of the children are reported to use Dutch with their friends for communication. Besides, Chinese immigrant children in Groningen rarely always use Mandarin to communicate with their friends and most of them never use Mandarin and English when communicating with their friends.

Figure 6: Language use between children and their friends in Chinese immigrant families in the home.

5. Results from semi-structured interviews

This chapter discusses the results from semi-structured interviews with ten Chinese immigrant families. The chapter is divided into several parts according to different themes of the results, namely language strategy/practices/uses, language transmission strategies, comments or feedback from the environment of the Chinese communities in Groningen, parents‟ motivations to maintain the heritage

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 Number of families Number of families Number of families

Always use Almost always use Sometimes use Almost never use Never use

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language, parents‟ expectations for their children‟s Mandarin learning with regard to children‟s language proficiencies, motivations for parents to send their children to Stichting Chinese School Groningen and their comments on it.

5.1 Language strategy/ practices/ uses

First of all, I will present the results concerning the language uses in the ten Chinese immigrant families in a comprehensive manner.

Regarding the language uses, most of the parents pointed out that Mandarin and Dutch are the main languages in the family, with some English and other Chinese dialects like Cantonese and Hokkien, which can be illustrated in Figure 1 below.

Figure 1: Language use in multilingual Chinese immigrant families in Groningen, the Netherlands.

As shown in Figure 1, 26% of the families use Mandarin and 26% of the them use Dutch in the home, which account for the higher two percentages. English is second dominant language in the multilingual immigrant families and some other Chinese dialects like Hokkien and Wenzhou dialects make up very small proportion.

Nevertheless, the concrete language uses differ in different families. One participant, for example, says,

At home, Mandarin is the major one, there is a little bit of English, very little. There is almost no Dutch. Only when there are affairs related to school or when we deal with other affairs and there is no choice but to use Dutch. So sometimes a little Dutch is involved. [Mr. xx]

One mother, nonetheless, described different use pattern. She says,

26% 26% 23% 5% 5% 2% 5% 8%

Language Use in Chinese Immigrant Families

Hokkien Wenzhou dialect Henan dialect Cantonese Other languages

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Generally they [the children] often…at home, they themselves will use Dutch, or sometimes with me, I ask, that is I ask, er…in Mandarin, most of their responses are in Dutch. [Mrs. Xue]

The same mother also mentioned the use of English at home. She says,

English…they, because I myself cannot speak English, so they play games by themselves. They play computer games at home for example, and they learn by themselves. Because our eldest child is studying in junior high school, and he himself learns English at school. [Mrs. Xue]

The parents‟ responses above again indicate that Mandarin to some extent lacks support from specific schools or institutions in Groningen, as children can undoubtedly learn Dutch in the Dutch schools and will learn English since junior high school. However, the only way for parents to transmit Mandarin is by themselves or by sending their children to the Chinese schools like Stichting Chinese School Groningen which are not widely available. The following fragment can also reflect this situation:

Mrs. Shen: For English, children who grow up in the Netherlands all can speak it. Why do we need to teach it? Isn’t there any Dutch people who cannot not speak English? Nobody.

Miss Qian: Then how do they learn English?

Mrs. Shen: At school (…) Above junior high school. When children are in the eighth… seventh grade, they begin to teach English. And then it is okay (…) This is never what we have to worry about, I mean English.

One mother sincerely wishes that schools would also teach Mandarin and Mandarin could be popularized by concluding:

It is optimal to let them learn…because I think, I mostly hope that junior high schools…at junior high schools, they can also teach Mandarin as it has not been popularized now. At present, Dutch schools…that is, there are many English, German, French, that is that is very common. But if Mandarin could also be popularized (…) that would be great (…) It would be convenient for children and also would offer another choice. [Mrs. Li-Kelly]

The findings regarding institutional support of minority language learning are consistent with the results from the previous research. Hinton in 1999 pointed out that because of lacking support from schools, immigrant parents and families tend to shoulder the total obligation to maintain their children‟s heritage language (Hinton, 1999). Kondo also attached great importance to the support and promotion from schools, ethnic communities and peer groups together with families in the maintenance of the heritage language of immigrant children

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(Kondo, 1998). When it comes to the role formal institutions play in the promotion of the heritage language, previous research has shown that schools are supposed to build up a positive environment where linguistic minority students‟ heritage language can develop (Cummins, 2001b). Besides, previous study also lays emphasis on schools‟ role in maintaining children‟s heritage language by acknowledging the values of the proficiencies of the heritage language and by attaching implicit significance to the heritage language whenever it is used in public and in official manner (Tse, 2001).

Regarding family language transmission strategies, parents also adopt diverse language plans regarding their children‟s language learning.

One father, for instance, lays emphasis on children‟s Mandarin learning and applies it with the help of some resources in Mandarin. He says,

So regarding the language plan, we two [the parents] mainly focus our attention on Mandarin (…) Sometimes I will watch some movies ah…or TV shows in Mandarin with him. [Mr. xx]

Another mother, however, prefers to build a natural language environment in Mandarin for children so that children can feel natural and accustomed to speaking Mandarin. She advices:

Just speak! And there is nobody teaching him [in particular]. That is, they [the children] are accustomed to speaking Chinese because they also speak Chinese with their grandparents. Therefore, except with their father, actually they speak Chinese with all of the family members. [Mrs. Shen]

The same mother also attaches significance to the consolidation of learning in the process of learning Mandarin according to her explanation:

That is, he must respond to me in Mandarin. Only in this way can he consolidate. If he responses in Dutch, although he can understand, but he cannot speak out [in Mandari], and I think that is a waste of endeavor, useless. You must speak out in your own mouth. [Mrs. Shen]

This mother‟s comment also reflects her expectations for her children‟s Mandarin proficiency. That is, she wants for her children not only to be able to understand Mandarin, but also communicate well by using Mandarin.

As for Chinese dialects, however, most of the parents prefer not to transmit them to their children. For one thing, it is unnecessary to let children learn Chinese dialects because Mandarin is enough for their children to communicate considering their friends in China nowadays all can speak Mandarin. For another,

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there are already many languages in the families, and parents are afraid that including dialects as well will confuse the children, which is not beneficial to their language acquisition, (especially not positive to Mandarin learning by their children). Besides these two factors, some parents also mentioned that they themselves do not use Chinese dialects very often in the family, so there is no need to teach dialects to their children.

When it comes to the language transmission strategies adopted by parents, they vary according to various conditions.

One immigrant mother, Mrs. Li, for instance, mentions that they adopt OPOL. Specifically, the mother only speaks Mandarin to the children and the father only speaks Dutch to the children. When the parents themselves communicate, they speak English even if their children are also beside them. Another grandma, Mrs. Zhou, said that the child‟s parents let their child watch Chinese videos on a specific electronic device which has Mandarin setting so that the child can learn Mandarin in this way.

Other transmission strategies are correlated with language mixing situations. According to the interviews from immigrant parents, language mixing is also a common phenomenon in immigrant children. Some parents mentioned that when their children feel it difficult to express themselves in Mandarin, they will use some Dutch words to make themselves understood. Some parents pointed out that their children respond in Dutch when they speak Mandarin to their children. And still some parents say language mixing is related to context. For instance, one parent says,

En…er…this is related to language context. Because if she talks about things relevant to school, or say, for example, talks something about the Netherlands, she mu (…) must use some Dutch. Because there is no matches in Mandarin. But except this situation, never, very rare. [Mr. xx]

Based on what the parents responded, we can conclude that immigrant children code mix so that they can feel it easier to express themselves in the multilingual family, which allows them to achieve their purpose of being understood. Also, language mixing to some extent reflects immigrant children‟s language proficiency of Mandarin, as the more they are approaching Chinese native speakers, the better they can fully express themselves in Mandarin, and thus the less they will code mix.

In addition, one mother, Mrs. Li-Kelly also mentions another form of code mixing which is accent. She says that when her children speak Mandarin, it is similar to the situation when foreigners speak Mandarin. In other words, there is a little accent when her children speak Mandarin. And the mother also points out that on

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account of the accent, her daughter is afraid of speaking Mandarin in front of other people because she is afraid that others will laugh at her even if her daughter can fully understand what others are saying.

When being asked immigrant parents‟ feeling concerning their children‟s language mixing phenomena, parents‟ attitudes differ. One mother, Mrs. Shen, holds negative attitude towards this situation and does not allow her children to mix languages at home. As she says,

No, he cannot answer to me in Dutch. He must answer to me in Mandarin. (…) I do not allow it, I do not allow it. [laugh] [Mrs. Shen]

Another two mothers Mrs. Huang and Mrs. Li-Kelly, nevertheless, are more lenient about their children‟s language mixing. Such attitudes can be inferred from Mrs. Huang‟s response, for example,

We are also accustomed, we sometimes also will(…)sometimes also(…)when speaking Dutch, it is also…think if it is easier to express this way, also will mix a bit(…) [Mrs. Huang]

Still another three parents Mrs. Li, Mrs. Lin and Mrs. Chen mention their strategy in response to their children‟s language mixing situations. Among them, Mrs. Lin and Mrs. Chen explain that they would correct their children when their children mix languages and ask the children to practice using solely Mandarin. Mrs. Li, however, points out that it is not reasonable to correct the child directly. Instead, translating the parts that the child mixes in Mandarin is a better way.

5.2 Comments or feedback from the environment

Based on the semi-structured interviews from the ten Chinese immigrant families in Groningen, the author can conclude that the general attitude towards multilingualism in Dutch society is undoubtedly positive, which can be vividly reflected in the following fragments from the personal interviews:

Dutch(…)Dutch people actually rela(…)relatively encourage multilingualism, because generally speaking, they [Dutch people] can speak German, or for instance, at junior high school, some better schools will teach Spanish or French. And some still better schools will learn Latin, so generally it is normal that people can use four or five languages, and also English… [Mr. xx]

The same father also explains that

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[country], including very diverse ethnicities…such as Romanian, Polish, that is(…)immigrants from Russia are particularly many, also including Italy… [Mr. xx]

Such general positive attitude towards multilingualism in Dutch society is reflected in the positive attitudes held by Chinese immigrant families among Chinese communities in Groningen as well. One mother, for instance, admits that But I think it is not a bad thing. Having one more language is(…)is relatively(…)to ourselves is [beneficial]. [Mrs. Xue]

Meanwhile, the general positive attitude towards multilingualism has positive impact on the maintenance of the heritage language in particular. Another mother reports her emphasis on Mandarin by saying:

Lay emphasis on [Mandarin] [exclamatory tone] (…) Dutch, if we stay in the Netherlands, there is no doubt that Dutch is important. But Mandarin…is like what other people say, is like our second language… [Mrs. Wang]

Regardless of general positive attitudes towards multilingualism in the Netherlands, there exist negative comments or feedback from the immediate community ranging from not integrative in the immediate community to lack of support for children‟s Chinese learning from the immediate community. Regarding feeling not integrative in the immediate community, one mother reports that

But for our Chinese people, Chinese people are relatively (…) ourselves are likely (…) with others(…)not integrative. [Mrs. Xue]

The same mother also points out that the main reason for this phenomenon lies on the language issue, by saying:

Firstly, probably it is concerning language, and culture is another. Actually people can all accept [cultural differences]. Every country has its own culture [firm tone]. But language is probably more (…) [Chinese people think that a different language is more unlikely to be accepted by others than a different culture] Chinese often say that (…) ‘I am afraid of speaking in the wrong way, so I just do not speak.’ [Mrs. Xue]

Furthermore, the schools in the immediate community attach importance to learning the dominant language (in this case Dutch), and the heritage language Chinese lacks support and promotion from local schools and institutions. Even worse, the teachers at Dutch schools express an implicit negative attitude towards immigrant children‟s learning of the heritage language. One father, for

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instance concludes one teacher‟s comments in the Dutch school by explaining that

As for Dutch, we also do not teach it because the teacher in the kindergarten tells us that ‘you do not need to teach Dutch [by yourselves at home) as you cannot teach well and your pronunciation is not standard.’ [Mr. xx]

Likewise, one mother says,

That is, the school said ‘you shouldn’t use too many languages together…to talk with him [the child]. Because he [pause] cannot differentiate clearly, he cannot not understand. (…) So…the teacher said, ‘you…you can speak a little bit more Dutch with him [the child] at home at the beginning. Relatively…for him [the child]…is relatively better because he [the child] is studying here. So [we] do not give him too much pressure ah…to learn Mandarin, yeah.’ [Mrs. Li-Kelly] Therefore, it is noticeable that teachers in the immediate society hold implicit positive attitude towards the learning of the dominant language for immigrant children while ignore the maintenance of the heritage language.

Apart from it, there are special services helping the learning of the dominant language Dutch in the immediate community. Nevertheless, no parents have reported any such services to help maintain the immigrant children‟s heritage language. One mother in the personal interview expressed her positive feeling towards the social assistance for Dutch learning. She says,

Actually for us…that is, when I lived in the Derlard [cannot make sure the name of this steeet], there were people who specially helped our group of people [Chinese people]. [They] would come to our home to help the children learn Dutch like this. Eh…I think that is good. Then since [our family] moved from there, there has been no [such teaching programs]. [We] cannot find them. [laugh] Because when he [the teacher who taught Dutch] taught the children, we parents were also there, and (we) could also learn a little Dutch meanwhile…this is the case, [this] is very good. [Mrs. Shen]

Not only does the mother‟s response above suggests the availability of schools and services helping immigrant children‟s dominant language learning, but also it suggests the parent‟s desire to learn the dominant language Dutch as well since she mentions that she is willing to and feels good to learn Dutch at the same time when the Dutch teacher is teaching her children.

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5.3 Parents’ motivation to maintain the heritage language

5.3.1 Personal values

In this study, all the Chinese parents held a positive attitude towards the maintenance of the heritage language among their children. When it comes to the motivation to maintain the heritage language, some participants responds that maintaining the heritage language Mandarin and/or Cantonese enables their children to construct and keep their national and cultural identity. One mother of this study, for instance, says:

Because before he learned Mandarin, he thought he was Dutch and we were [the parents] Chinese. He thought he was Dutch, then I think we are the descendants of Chinese people, and we two both [the parents] are Chinese, there is no need he [my child] does not learn Chinese. That is, he must learn. (Mrs. Huang)

Based on the mother‟s response, we can see that learning Mandarin helps the child recognize that he is Chinese. In other words, the maintenance of the heritage language Mandarin does contribute to the construction of the child‟s ethnic identity.

Another two parents also mention:

Because we are Chinese people, and I think one’s mother tongue should always be maintained. (Mr. xx)

Then we originally are Chinese people, so that he [the child] must learn Chinese. This is always our views (…) but I think more or less he should speak some Chinese. After all, firstly we are Chinese. (Mrs. Xue)

From these two Chinese immigrant parents, it is noticeable that the parents find it necessary that their children learn the heritage language simply on account of the Chinese identity they have.

In addition, one participant mentions that the children‟s ability to appreciate the traditional Chinese culture is also one important reason for them to maintain Mandarin.

Mrs. Li: Also it is said, Chinese…lots of traditional cultures, oh, if you cannot read [in Mandarin], and you read with the help of a translated version, it feels like something that has been chewed. Er…actually it will lose its original flavor. So the parent wants her children to learn how to read in Mandarin in order for

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them to have the ability of reading the original version of some Chinese books or novels which can facilitate children‟s appreciation of traditional Chinese culture and eventually help construct their national identity.

The relationship between the heritage language and identity can back this finding. As Park and Sarkar point out, the Korean immigrant parents firmly support their children‟s heritage language maintenance so as to allow them to maintain their cultural identity through the Korean language. The Korean immigrant parents are convinced that heritage language maintenance makes contributions to the positive identity construction of their children (Park & Sarkar, 2007). Cavallaro also claims that language lies one of the most essential elements for constructing the ethnic identity under multilingual circumstances (Cavallaro, 2005). Besides, previous research has shown that the development of the heritage language can positively contribute to children‟s defining their cultural identity in multilingual and multicultural societies as being bilingual to some extent improves children‟s embrace of the majority cultural and their heritage cultural as well (Cho & Krashen, 1998).

5.3.2 Integrative values

5.3.2.1 Integrative values in extended community

Another significant factor determining Chinese immigrant parents‟ maintenance of the heritage language is the integrative values, and wanting children to achieve integration in the extended community by using the heritage language is particularly noticeable. More than one participant mentions that they want their children to learn Mandarin in order to communicate with grandparents and other relatives and friends in China. The interview fragment presented below can suggest the mother‟s desire to let her children learn Mandarin for the purpose of communicating with grandparents and relatives when going back to China.

Mrs. Xue: Because after all [pause] er…their grandparents, for example are all in China, right?

Miss Qian: So maybe they need to communicate.

Mrs. Xue: Um, yes. Need to communicate when going back. Then, even if er…they go out [of China], after all we, that is, we have relatives in China, so we must communicate [in Chinese].

Another immigrant parent from Hongkong also expresses the similar motivation to maintain the heritage language Cantonese:

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is, you will transmit…transmit these languages? Cantonese is, then is there other…

Miss Li-Kelly: Cantonese is more [Miss Qian repeated, ‘Cantonese is more’] because her grandmother is…speaks Cantonese, so she wants all children able to…to communicate, communicate a bit.

Miss Qian: Okay…

This result is in accord with Park and Sarkar‟s research in 2007: they pointed out that Korean language should be maintained among Korean immigrants in Canada so that the children can communicate with their grandparents in Korea (Park & Sarkar, 2007).

Moreover, two participants mention that communicating with the friends in China is also an important factor to transmit the heritage language.

Mrs. Huang: (…) you are Chinese people, and when you come back [to China], you cannot communicate with others.

Miss Qian: Um…

Mrs. Huang: The situation is the same with my daughter. When we came back [to China] during the summer holiday, they could not be understood and they spoke Dutch when they were really anxious. But others also could not understand Dutch. When you come back, at least you do not need to learn all the dialects.

Miss Qian: Um… [for agreement].

Mrs. Huang: But for Mandarin, you must grasp. Miss Qian: Um… [overlap]

Mrs. Huang: Chinese definitely is required. Miss Qian: Alright, alright.

Mrs. Li: One of her good friends, what I often mention is that one of her best friends is in China. Then he [refers to the child]…and our relatives, many relatives are also in China. If you learn well, ah...you can use it when you go back.

According to the responses of the two parents stated above, we can conclude that obtaining a close sense of belonging within the extended Chinese community in China is undoubtedly a significant factor determining the parents‟ choices of languages are to be transmitted.

5.3.2.2 Integrative values in immediate community

Among the ten Chinese immigrant parents, two parents reckon that maintaining the heritage language is of vital importance to achieve integrative values in the immediate community as well. The parents‟ responses vividly reflect such desires:

Language Transmission among Multilingual Chinese Immigrant Families in Groningen, the Netherlands