Author: Ulrike Glinzner
Glinzner, Ulrike, 2020 Testing a theoretical model of motivators of parental home involvement in children’s German heritage language learning, Flinders University, College of Education, Psychology and Social Work
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In heritage language (HL) schools, parental home involvement in children’s HL learning varies greatly (Glinzner, 2010; Hu, 2006; Salahshoor, 2017; Seo, 2017). Despite the importance of the home, next to formal instruction for children’s HL maintenance (Hitchens Chik, Carreira, & Kagan, 2017; Kagan, 2005), research in HL schools is rare (Baker & Wright, 2017). This is also the case for German HL (GHL) schools (Ludanyi & Liu, 2011). This study aimed to: 1) investigate the extent of parental home involvement in children’s GHL learning; 2) identify motivators pertaining to parents’ personal beliefs, their social environment and their personal context that explain the extent of parental home involvement in children’s GHL learning; and 3) examine the effect of such motivators on parental home involvement and on parents’ role in school–home partnerships at GHL schools.
A quantitative approach was adopted to assess a hypothesised model of motivators of parental home involvement in children’s GHL learning at GHL schools. After piloting the questionnaire in Australia, in the main study, 313 parents from 31 GHL schools participated in the United States of America (U.S.). This study identified two distinctly different groups of parents labelled as the GHL expert group and the GHL non-expert group.
Structural equation modelling (SEM) using the AMOS program version 25 was employed to investigate the complex relationships between motivators of parental home involvement (e.g., self-efficacy, role belief and perceived child invitations) and four forms of parental home involvement in children’s GHL learning (i.e., speaking the GHL, teaching the GHL, assisting with GHL studies and motivating GHL learning). No evidence was found of a composite factor that comprised the four forms of parental involvement; rather, each form of parental home involvement had to be treated as a discrete outcome variable in a set of related models. The data were then analysed to examine the differences between GHL experts’ and GHL non-experts’ home involvement through speaking the GHL. Speaking the GHL was selected as a focus because it has been shown to be the most important factor affecting children’s learning of a HL (De Houwer, 2007; Döpke, 1986; Juan-Garau & Perez-Vidal, 2001).
Notably, the roles of GHL experts and GHL non-experts differed in the school–home partnership in GHL schools. More than half of all GHL experts preferred to communicate with their children in the GHL, while most GHL non-experts rarely used the GHL. Children’s characteristics and behaviour in the form of perceived child invitations dictated the extent to which GHL experts used the GHL at home. Conversely, a lack of the skills and knowledge required to help children learn the GHL was the strongest barrier to GHL non-experts’ home involvement as it prevented these parents from speaking the GHL.
Findings suggest that future research at GHL schools should differentiate between GHL experts and GHL non-experts. Similarly, teachers at GHL schools should hold different expectations about the home involvement of GHL experts and GHL non-experts. Finally, by adopting quantitative methods and SEM, the study differed from previous studies in its methodological approach and addressed a methodological gap in the literature.
Keywords: heritage language schools, community language schools, heritage language maintenance, family language policy, parental home involvement, heritage language education, bilingual education, child bilingualism, German heritage language, questionnaire, structural equation modelling, USA, Australia
Subject: Education thesis
Thesis type: Doctor of Philosophy
Completed: 2020
School: College of Education, Psychology and Social Work
Supervisor: David Curtis