Raising Children to Speak Their Heritage Language in the USA: Roles of Korean Parents

Abstract

Parents play a significant role in fostering Korean-American children’s heritage language learning. This qualitative inquiry investigates Korean immigrant parents’ beliefs and the language practices they engage in to raise their children to speak Korean. Based on questionnaires completed by 40 parents and in-depth, open-ended interviews with 5 parents, this study specifically focuses on Korean parents residing in an area with a low Korean immigrant population and how they perceive, foster, and advocate for their children’s Heritage Language (HL) learning. The findings show that parents play crucial roles as active advocates of their children’s HL learning and positive belief in HL maintenance, making best efforts to help their children see the value of learning. In addition, the findings show that parents serve as HL educators, who create an HL learning environment, instruct HL reading and writing, and incorporate digital tools and popular culture for HL learning.

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