Educational discourse and knowledge construction in family language policy: the case of a Korean transnational family

Abstract

Informed by Family Language Policy (FLP) and Community of Practice (CoP) as the main theoretical frameworks, this study explores the characteristics of language practices at the home of a Korean-English bilingual family. In particular, this study examines how a mother creates educational discourse at home and promotes the construction of knowledge with her eight-year-old child. Data was collected throughout one year, and interviews with the mother, recordings of the family interactions, and ethnographic information were analyzed. The analysis focuses on the bilingual interactions between the mother and the child, how the collaborative process of constructing knowledge impacts family dynamics, and what resources family members draw upon. The findings reveal that the family members construct home as a space for collaborative learning by sharing their bilingual resources. In this process, maintaining Korean serves as a tool to access Korean resources for academic support. Discussion of bilingualism in the newly arrived immigrant family and how they negotiate and establish their FLP to maximize knowledge construction in the home as a bilingual and bicultural space will follow.

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