| dc.description.abstract | Nowadays, families migrate more frequently than ever before. Regardless of
reasons for migration, it has a substantial impact on families in terms of their
language, culture, and communication. The linguistic aspect is a key part of this issue,
particularly in families with young children who enter school and have to develop a
new language. There is a lot of research about the acquisition of a second language
and the heritage language loss in an education context. This research focused on
socio-emotional factors associated with first language (L1) maintenance and second
language (L2) acquisition in a situation of migration in which both languages have
implications for education.
The relationship between second language acquisition and cognitive factors has
been a focus of interest for many authors, but the influence of social and affective
factors, such as parental attitude and cultural orientation on L1 and L2 acquisition
has not been explored to such an extent. Moreover, Polish migrant families represent
a non-traditional, more fluid type of migration, they often travel between their
heritage and their host country, so patterns of language acquisition and influencing
factors may also be different than those explored in previous studies.
The purpose of the longitudinal study was to assess the direction and rate of
development of L2 (English) and L1 (Polish) among the children of Polish migrants to
Scotland who have just started primary school, and explore the social-emotional
factors that might affect this. These consisted of the parents’ acculturation towards
the mainstream (British) culture and language, enculturation towards their Polish
heritage culture and language, selected family demographic features, and the
children’s socio-emotional functioning as measured by the Strengths and Difficulties
Questionnaire (SDQ) (Goodman 1997).
Participants of the current study comprised 69 Polish children (37 girls and 32
boys) and the parents of 53 of the sample, resident in central Scotland recruited
mainly through Scottish primary schools. There were three main research questions:
(1) What is the rate and direction of development of L1 (Polish) and L2 (English)
among the 4 to 6 year-old-children of Polish migrants to Scotland?; (2) In 4 to 6-year-old-
children of Polish migrants to Scotland is acquisition of L2 and maintenance of L1
associated with parents’ cultural orientation towards Poland and Scotland, parental
language attitudes to Polish and English, or socio-demographic factors?; (3) What is
the link between L2/L1 acquisition/maintenance and the socio-emotional functioning
of a child?; (4) What is the role of engagement with a language in the language
acquisition of the 4 to 6 year-old-children of Polish migrants to the UK?
The children’s L1 (Polish) and L2 (English) language skills were measured at the
start of their first school year using two language proficiency measures (an English
one and a Polish one). After 18 months the tests were repeated with the same cohort
to give a measure of the change/progress in each language. Additionally, the parents
of the assessed children completed the Acculturation Questionnaire, Strengths and
Difficulties Questionnaire, and Family, Language and Attitudes Questionnaire created
for the current study.
In regard to Research Question 1, the scores at T2 for English were significantly
higher than at T1. However, the overall group score for Polish was significantly lower
at T2 than at T1. One key finding was that the Polish did not progress for all but 15
(around 21%) out of 69 children. By contrast, only five (around 7%) out of 69 children
did not make any progress on English.
For Research Question 2, there was no association between parental cultural
orientation scores on either mainstream or heritage scale and the children’s total
language scores. Similarly, there was no link between parents’ language attitude
scores and their children’s total language scores. However, both cultural orientation
and their language attitudes scores predicted the amount of the children’s
engagement with a language. In addition, previous language exposure and current
language use were in turn strong predictors of L2 language scores. In terms of L1, the
amount of engagement with a language was affecting the language scores only in the
form of one of its components: the current language use.
For Research Question 2, three socio-demographic measures also played a role:
children’s place of birth, their time in Scotland and parents’ education. The children’s
country of birth (Poland or Scotland) had an effect on their L2 and the length of their
stay in Scotland had an effect on both L1 and L2. The parents’ education level
influenced their L1 performance in a positive way, but the link between this variable
and the children’s L2 results was not straightforward as there was a difference
between the effects of fathers’ and mothers’ education. Mothers’ education was
strongly associated with the children’s L1 progress.
For Research Question 3, the SDQ findings indicated that some, but not all of the
SDQ sub-scales (Pro-social, Emotions and Behaviour) in different ways were
associated with the children’s language scores. However, both heritage and
maintenance cultural orientations of the parents were negatively correlated with
psycho-social functioning problems of their children: higher scores on enculturation
and higher scores on acculturation parental attitude scales were associated with
fewer behavioural problems in their children. Additionally, the parental heritage
orientation was associated with their prosocial behaviour. This suggests that parental
attitudes do play an indirect role in children’s social adjustment. For Research
Question 4, for both Polish and English, in line with current literature, the amount of
engagement with a language contributed significantly to the children’s scores.
The above findings indicate that although the link between socio-emotional
factors and the children’s linguistic development in L1 and L2 is not direct, they do
play a role in language acquisition. It helps build a more complete picture of a
complex relationship between socio-emotional and cognitive aspects of bilingual
child development, contributing to the knowledge of this issue in both research and
practice. | en |
