Home environment and second‐language acquisition: the importance of family capital

Abstract

Framed within Coleman’s theory of family capital, this article examines how different home variables such as family physical, human and social capital affect immigrant children’s second‐language acquisition in the homes of four Chinese immigrant families in Canada. Specifically, the study analyzes the relationships between family physical capital and family investment in second language learning, between parental human capital and levels of parental involvement, and between family social capital and access to familial and community resources. The analysis demonstrates that parental educational backgrounds, their occupational choices and chances, and their adaptation and integration into Canadian society had a significant impact on the families’ accumulation and activation of family capital to support their children’s second‐language learning.

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