Cover not available
Part of
Dynamics of Linguistic Diversity
Edited by Hagen Peukert and Ingrid Gogolin
[Hamburg Studies on Linguistic Diversity 6] 2017
► pp. 75–98

Heritage language use among Turkish and Vietnamese mothers in Germany

| University of Hamburg
| Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg
| University of Hamburg

In this study we investigate heritage language use among Turkish and Vietnamese mothers in Germany. We suggest that exclusive use of the heritage language in mother-child interactions is affected by an interplay of structural characteristics in the family environment as well as mothers’ rational expectations aimed towards their language use. We seek to provide an appropriate explanation for mothers’ heritage language use by expanding the usual model through the integration of further types of rationalities. Our results strongly confirm recent findings that immigrants’ heritage language use is mostly linked to the respective social environment and its opportunity structures. The use of the heritage language between immigrant mothers and their children is therefore mainly influenced by situational instrumental rationality aimed towards interactional pragmatism. Interestingly, we did not find any negative relation between mothers’ exclusive heritage language use with their child and mothers’ strategic instrumentally rational expectations aimed towards their child’s future educational success.

Keywords: heritage language, immigration, language use in the family, parental investments
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Explaining heritage language use
  • 3.Data and methods
    • Data
    • Dependent variable
    • Independent variables
  • 4.Results
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 24 May 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/hsld.6.05sch
References
Auer, P.
2005 A postscript: Code-switching and social identity. Journal of Pragmatics 37(3): 403–410. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Autorengruppe Bildungsberichterstattung
2014 Bildung in Deutschland 2014. Ein indikatorengestützter Bericht mit einer Analyse zur Bildung von Menschen mit Behinderungen. Bielefeld: Bertelsmann.Google Scholar
Barni, M. & Extra, G.
(eds) 2008 Mapping Linguistic Diversity in Multicultural Contexts. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Becker, B.
2011 Cognitive and language skills of Turkish children in Germany: A comparison of the second and third generation and mixed generational groups. International Migration Review 45: 426–459. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Berry, J.W.
1980 Acculturation as varieties of adaptation. In Acculturation: Theory, Models and Some New Findings, A.M. Padilla (ed.), 9–25. Boulder CA: Westview.Google Scholar
Bialystok, E.
2007 Cognitive effects of bilingualism: How linguistic experience leads to cognitive change. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 10(3): 210–223. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bialystok, E. & Poarch, G.J.
2014 Language experience changes language and cognitive ability. Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft 17(3): 433–446. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Biedinger, N.
2010 Early ethnic inequality: The influence of social background and parental involvement on preschool children’s cognitive ability in Germany. Child Indicators Research 3: 11–28. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bos, W., Schwippert, K. & Stubbe, T.C.
2007 Die Koppelung von sozialer Herkunft und Schülerleistung im internationalen Vergleich. In IGLU 2006. Lesekompetenzen von Grundschulkindern in Deutschland im internationalen Vergleich, W. Bos, S. Hornberg, K.-H. Arnold, G. Faust, L. Fried, E.-M. Lankes, K. Schwippert & R. Valtin, (eds), 225–247. Münster: Waxmann.Google Scholar
Bos, W., Berkemeyer, N., Manitius, V., Hermstein, B. & Khalatbari & J.
(eds) 2013 Chancenspiegel 2013. Zur Chancengerechtigkeit und Leistungsfähigkeit der deutschen Schulsysteme. Gütersloh: Bertelsmann.Google Scholar
Cummins, J.
2000 Language, Power, and Pedagogy. Bilingual Children in the Crossfire. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
De Houwer, A.
2007 Parental language input patterns and children’s bilingual use. Applied Psycholinguistics 28: 411–424. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dollmann, J.
2010 Türkischstämmige Kinder am ersten Bildungsübergang. Primäre und sekundäre Herkunftseffekte. Wiesbaden: Springer VS. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Esser, H.
2006 Migration, Sprache und Integration. Frankfurt: Campus.Google Scholar
Extra, G. & Gorter, D.
(eds) 2008 Multilingual Europe: Facts and Policies. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Friedrichs, J. & Triemer, S.
2009 Gespaltene Städte? Soziale und ethnische Segregation in deutschen Großstädten. Wiesbaden: Springer VS.Google Scholar
van der Gaag, M. & Snijders, T.A.B.
2005 The resource generator: Social capital quantification with concrete items. Social Networks 27: 1–29. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ganzeboom, H.B.G.
2010 International Standard Classification of Occupations: ISCO-08 with ISEI-08 Scores. 27 July 2010 [URL] (12 December 2014).
Gogolin, I. & Neumann, U.
(eds) 2009 Streitfall Zweisprachigkeit – The Bilingualism Controversy. Wiesbaden: Springer VS. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gresch, C.
2012 Der Übergang in die Sekundarstufe 1 – Leistungsbeurteilung, Bildungsaspiration und rechtlicher Kontext bei Kinder mit Migrationshintergrund. Wiesbaden: Springer VS.Google Scholar
Henning, M., Brandes, U., Pfeffer, J. & Mergel, I.
2012 Studying Social Networks. A Guide to Empirical Research. Frankfurt: Campus.Google Scholar
Huinink, J.
1995 Warum noch Familie? Zur Attraktivität von Partnerschaft und Elternschaft in unserer Gesellschaft. Frankfurt: Campus.Google Scholar
International Labour Organisation
2007 Resolution Adopting ISCO-08. 16 December 2007 [URL] (17 December 2014).
Klinger, Thorsten
2017 Selbsteinschätzung von Sprachfertigkeiten. In Sprachentwicklung im Kontext von Mehrsprachigkeit – Hypothesen, Methoden, Forschungsperspektiven, J. Duarte, I. Gogolin, T. Klinger, B. Schnoor & M. Trebbels (eds). Wiesbaden: Springer VS.Google Scholar
Lao, C.
2004 Parents’ attitudes toward Chinese-English bilingual education and Chinese-language use. Bilingual Research Journal: The Journal of the National Association for Bilingual Education 28(1): 99–121. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lareau, A.
2003 Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life. Berkeley CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Linten, A. & Jiménez, T.
2009 Contexts for bilingualism among US-born Hispanics: 1990 and 2000. Ethnic and Racial Studies 32: 967–995.Google Scholar
Lutz, A.
2006 Spanish maintenance among English-Speaking Latino youth: The role of individual and social characteristics. Social Forces 84: 1417–1433. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Medvedeva, M.
2012 Negotiating languages in immigrant families. International Migration Review 46(2): 517–545. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mouw, T. & Xie, Y.
1999 Bilingualism and the academic achievement of first- and second-generation Asian Americans: Accommodation with or without assimilation? American Sociological Review 64(2): 232–252. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nauck, B.
2007 Value of children and the framing of fertility: Results from a cross-cultural comparative survey in 10 societies. European Sociological Review 23: 615–629. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2008 Acculturation. In Multilevel Analysis of Individuals and Cultures, F.J.R. van de Vijver, D.A. van Hemert & Y. Poortinga (eds), 379–409. New York NY: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
2014 Value of children and the social production of welfare. Demographic Research 30: 1793–1824. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2009 Intergenerational transmission, social capital, and interethnic contact in immigrant families. In Cultural Transmission. Psychological, Developmental, Social, and Methodological Aspects, U. Schönpflug (ed.), 161–184. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Nauck, B., Diefenbach, H. & Petri, K.
1998 Intergenerationale Transmission von kulturellem Kapital unter Migrationsbedingungen. Zum Bildungserfolg von Kindern und Jugendlichen aus Migrantenfamilien in Deutschland. Zeitschrift für Pädagogik 44: 701–722.Google Scholar
Nauck, B. & Lotter, V.
2014 Bildungsspezifisches Sozialkapital in einheimischen, türkischen und vietnamesischen Familien in Deutschland. In Familie in Fokus der Wissenschaft, A. Steinbach, M. Hennig & O. Arránz Becker (eds), 225–253, Wiesbaden: Springer VS.Google Scholar
2015 Parenting styles and perceived instrumentality of schooling in native, Turkish, and Vietnamese families in Germany. Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft 18(4): 845–869. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
OECD
(ed.) 2013 PISA 2012 Ergebnisse: Was Schülerinnen und Schüler wissen und können. Bielefeld: Bertelsmann.Google Scholar
(ed) 2014 PISA 2012 Ergebnisse: Exzellenz durch Chancengerechtigkeit. Allen Schülerinnen und Schülern die Voraussetzungen zum Erfolg sichern. Bielefeld: Bertelsmann. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Park, R.E.
1950 The nature of race relations. In Race and Culture, R.E. Park (ed.), 81–116. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.Google Scholar
Park, S.M. & Sarkar, M.
2007 Parents’ attitudes toward heritage language maintenance for their children and their efforts to help their children maintain the heritage language: A case study of Korean-Canadian immigrants. Language, Culture and Curriculum 20(3): 223–235. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Portes, A. & Rumbaut, R.G.
2001 Legacies: The Story of the Immigrant Second Generation. Berkeley CA: University of California Press & Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
2006 Immigrant America: A Portrait. Berkeley CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Reich, H. H.
2005 Forschungsstand und Desideratenaufweis zu Migrationslinguistik und Migrationspädagogik für die Zwecke des „Anforderungsrahmens“. In Anforderung an Verfahren der regelmäßigen Sprachstandsfestellung als Grundlage für die frühe und individuelle Förderung von Kindern mit und ohne Migrationshintergrund, K. Ehlich (ed.), 121–169. Berlin: Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung.Google Scholar
Prenzel, M., Sälzer, C. & Klieme, E.
(eds) 2013 PISA 2012. Fortschritte und Herausforderungen in Deutschland. Münster: Waxmann.Google Scholar
Relikowski, I.
2012 Primäre und sekundäre Effekte am Übertritt in die Sekundärstufe I. Zur Rolle von sozialer Herkunft und Migrantionshintergrund. Wiesbaden: Springer VS. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Relikowski, I., Schneider, T. & Blossfeld, H.-P.
2010 Primäre und sekundäre Herkunftseffekte beim Übergang in das gegliederte Schulsystem: Welche Rolle spielen soziale Klasse und Bildungsstatus in Familien mit Migrationshintergrund? In Komparative empirische Sozialforschung. Anwendungsfelder und aktuelle Methoden in BestPractice-Studien, T. Beckers, K. W. Birkelbach, J. Hagenah & U. Rosar (eds), 143–167. Wiesbaden: Springer VS. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rubin, D.B.
1987 Multiple Imputation for Nonresponse in Surveys. New York NY: Wiley. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Statistisches Bundesamt
(ed.) 2013 Bevölkerung und Erwerbstätigkeit. Ausländische Bevölkerung. Ergebnisse des Ausländerzentralregisters. Fachserie 1 Reihe 2.2 2012. Wiesbaden: Statistisches Bundesamt.Google Scholar
Strobel, B. & Kristen, C.
2015 Erhalt der Herkunftssprache? – Muster des Sprachgebrauchs in Migrantenfamilien. Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft. [URL] DOI logo
van Tubergen, F. & Mentjox, T.
2014 Minority language proficiency of adolescent immigrant children in England, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden. Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie 66(1): 241–262. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
van Tubergen, F. & Kalmijn, M.
2009 Language proficiency and usage among immigrants in the Netherlands: Incentives or opportunities? European Sociological Review 25(2): 169–182. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
UNESCO
(ed.) 2006 International Standard Classification of Education – ISCED 1997, 2nd edn. UNESCO Institute for Statistics.Google Scholar
Weber, M.
1922 Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, 5th edn. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck.Google Scholar
Weiss, H.
2007 Die Identifikation mit dem Einwanderungsland – das Ende des Integrationsweges? In Leben in zwei Welten. Zur sozialen Integration ausländischer Jugendlicher der zweiten Generation, H. Weiss (ed.), 189–215, Wiesbaden: Springer VS.Google Scholar
Yagmur, K. & van de Vijver, F.J.R.
2011 Acculturation and language orientations of Turkish immigrants in Australia, France, Germany, and the Netherlands. Journal of Cross Cultural Psychology 43(7): 1110–1130. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Young, R.L. & Tran, M.T.
1999 Vietnamese parent attitudes toward bilingual education. Bilingual Research Journal 23(2–3): 225–233. DOI logoGoogle Scholar