Article published In:
Linguistic Landscape: Online-First Articles

Family language policy and the design of homescape in transnational families

Initiating children’s Chinese literacy development

ORCID logo | SeDyL (CNRS, UMR 8202)
ORCID logo | University of Göttingen
Building upon previous research on family language policy, this study explores the homescape, pertinent to the Chinese home literacy environment within Chinese transnational families. It categorizes various forms of Chinese literacy homescape and examines parental perspectives and agency in the design, creation, and adaptation of the homescape within their households. The study draws on ethnographic data from four Chinese-speaking families residing in France and Germany. Data includes sound recordings of family interactions, photographs, in-depth interviews and field notes from discussions with family members. Adopting the lens of ethnographic Linguistic Landscape, the study categorizes the Chinese literacy homescape into four sensory modalities: highly visible, semi-visible, soundscape, and digital and interactive. Findings reveal that parents employ highly strategic and agentic approaches when designing the Chinese literacy homescape, demonstrating their keen awareness of the unique characteristics of the Chinese writing system and the specific challenges their children face when learning to read Chinese.
Keywords: Family language policy, homescape, home literacy environment, Chinese transnational families
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical framework
    • 2.1Parents’ agency in Family language policy (FLP) in the context of immigration
    • 2.2Homescape in multilingual and multicultural transnational families
    • 2.3Home Literacy Environment (HLE) and multiliteracy practices
  • 3.Participants and data collection
    • 3.1Data collection
    • 3.2Data analysis
  • 4.Parental agency in four types of homescape of Chinese home literacy environment
    • 4.1Highly visible homescape
      • 4.1.1Highly visible homescape in active use
      • 4.1.2Highly visible homescape not in active use
    • 4.2Semi-visible Chinese literacy development landscape
    • 4.3Chinese heritage language soundscapes
    • 4.4Digital interactive landscape for children’s Chinese literacy development
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
Published online: 26 November 2024
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.23073.wan
References (67)
References
Ahearn, Laura M. (2001). Language and Agency. Annual Review of Anthropology, 30 (1), 109–137. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Apperley, Tom & Beavis, Catherine. (2014). A Model for Critical Games Literacy. The Journal of Digital Learning and Teaching Victoria, 11, 46–54. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Attané, Isabelle. (2022). Chinese Immigration to France. Population, 77 (2), 217–248.Google Scholar
Bandura, Albert. (2001). Social cognitive theory: An agentic perspective. Annual Review of Psychology, 52 1, 1–26. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bellassen, Joel. (2015). Le chinois, langue émergente. État de l’enseignement du chinois en 2015–2016. Inspection Report. Ministère de l’Éducation Nationale. [URL]
Ben-Rafael, Eliezer, Shohamy, Elana, Amara, Muhammad Hasan & Trumper-Hecht, Nira. (2006). Linguistic Landscape as Symbolic Construction of the Public Space: The Case of Israel. International Journal of Multilingualism, 3 1, 30–37. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Blommaert, Jan. (2013). Ethnography, Superdiversity and Linguistic Landscapes: Chronicles of Complexity. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Boivin, Nettie. (2021). Homescape: Agentic space for transmigrant families multisensory discourse of identity. Linguistic Landscape, 7(1), 37–59. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Braun, Virginia & Clarke, Victoria. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Burgess, Stephen R. (2011). Home literacy environments (HLEs) provided to very young children. Early Child Development and Care, 181(4), 445–462. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Burgess, Stephen R., Hecht, Steven A. & Lonigan, Christopher J. (2002). Relations of the home literacy environment (HLE) to the development of reading-related abilities: A one-year longitudinal study. Reading Research Quarterly, 37(4), 408–426. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chan, Ying Ngai, Choy, Yat Sze, To, Wai Ming & Lai, Tsz Ming. (2021). Influence of classroom soundscape on learning attitude. International Journal of Instruction, 14(3), 341–358. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chen, Xi & Pasquarella, Adrian. (2017). Learning to Read Chinese. In Ludo Verhoeven & Charles Perfetti (Eds.), Learning to read across languages and writing systems (pp. 26–56). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cope, Bill & Kalantzis, Mary. (2009). “Multiliteracies”: New Literacies, New Learning. Pedagogies, 4 1, 164–195. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cun, Aijuan. (2023). An Arts-Based Lesson: Chinese Heritage Children’s Multimodal Early Writing Using Fallen Leaves. Early Childhood Education Journal. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Curdt-Christiansen, Xiao Lan. (2009). Invisible and visible language planning: Ideological factors in the family language policy of Chinese immigrant families in Quebec. Language Policy, 8 (4), 351–375. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. (2013). Family language policy: Sociopolitical reality versus linguistic continuity. Language Policy, 12 (1), 1–6. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. (2018). Family Language Policy. In James W. Tollefson & Miguel Pérez-Milans (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Language Policy and Planning (pp. 420–442). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Curdt-Christiansen, Xiao Lan, & Huang, Jing. (2020). Factors influencing family language policy. In Andrea C. Schalley & Susana A. Eisenchlas (Eds.), Handbook of Home Language Maintenance and Developement (pp. 174–193). Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Curdt-Christiansen, Xiao Lan & La Morgia, Francesca. (2018). Managing heritage language development: Opportunities and challenges for Chinese, Italian and Pakistani Urdu-speaking families in the UK. Multilingua, 37(2), 177–200. [URL]. DOI logo
Curdt-Christiansen, Xiao Lan & Wang, Weihong. (2018). Parents as Agents of Multilingual Education: Family Language Planning in China. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 31 (3), 235–254. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Eisenchlas, Susana A., Schalley, Andrea C. & Moyes, Gordon. (2016). Play to Learn: Self-Directed Home Language Literacy Acquisition through Online Games. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 19 (2), 136–152. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Elo, Satu & Kyngäs, Helvi. (2008). The qualitative content analysis process. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 62(1), 107–115. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Esser, Hartmut. (2006). Migration, language and integration. Berlin: Social Science Research Center.Google Scholar
Farver, Jo-Ann M., Xu, Yiyuan, Eppe, Stefanie & Lonigan, Christopher J. (2006). Home environments and young Latino children’s school readiness. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 21(2), 196–212. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Favell, Adrian. (2008). The New Face of East–West Migration in Europe. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 34(5), 701–716. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Anthony Feiler, Jane Andrews, Pamela Greenhough, Martin Hughes, David Johnson, Mary Scanlan & Wan Ching Yee. (2007). Improving Primary Literacy: Linking Home and School. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hamilton, Kyra, Spinks, Teagan, White, Katherine M., Kavanagh, David J. & Walsh, Anne M. (2016). A psychosocial analysis of parents’ decisions for limiting their young child’s screen time: An examination of attitudes, social norms and roles, and control perceptions. British Journal of Health Psychology, 21 (2), 285–301. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jewitt, Carey & Kress Gunther. (2003). Multimodal Literacy. Frankfurt-am-Main: Peter LangGoogle Scholar
Kane, Daniel. (2006). The Chinese Language: Its History and Current Usage. North Clarendon: Tuttle Publishing.Google Scholar
King, Kendall A., Fogle, Lyn & Logan-Terry, Aubrey. (2008). Family Language Policy. Language and Linguistics Compass, 2 (5), 907–922. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
King, Kendall & Fogle, Lyn. (2006). Bilingual Parenting as Good Parenting: Parents’ Perspectives on Family Language Policy for Additive Bilingualism. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 9(6), 695–712. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kitsiou, Roula & Bratimou, Stella. (2023). Homescapes of immobility: Migratory transpatial repertoires during the pandemic. Language in Society. 53(3), 499–522. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lanza, Elizabeth & Gomes, Rafael Lomeu. (2020). Family language policy: Foundations, theoretical perspectives and critical approaches. In Andrea C. Schalley & Susana A. Eisenchlas (Eds.), Handbook of Home Language Maintenance and Development (pp. 153–173). Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Li-Gottwald, Jiayin. (2022). Chinese Migrant Parents and Complementary Schooling in Germany: A Sociolinguistic Ethnography. The Hague: Verlag Barbara Budrich. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Little, Sabine. (2019). ‘Is there an app for that?’ Exploring games and apps among heritage language families. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 40 (3), 218–229. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Marsh, Jackie. (2010). Young children’s play in online virtual worlds. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 8 1, 23–39. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Melo-Pfeifer, Silvia. (2022). Linguistic Landscapes in the Home: Multilingual Children’s Toys, Books and Games. In Anat Stavans & Ulrike Jessner-Schmid (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Childhood Multilingualism (pp. 605–622). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Morita-Mullaney, Trish, Li, Haiyan & Renn, Jennifer. (2019). Multiliteracies in Rural Schools: The ‘Revuelto y Mezclada’ of Home and Community Literacy Practices of Midwestern Emergent Bilingual Families. The Rural Educator, 40(3), 35–48. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nelson, Ron, Stage, Scott, Epstein, Michael & Pierce, Corey. (2005). Effects of a Prereading Intervention on the Literacy and Social Skills of Children. Exceptional Children, 721. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Obojska, Maria & Purkarthofer, Judith. (2018). ‘And all of a sudden, it became my rescue’: Language and agency in transnational families in Norway. International Journal of Multilingualism, 151, 249–261. [URL]. DOI logo
Packard, Jerome. (2000). The Morphology of Chinese: A Linguistic and Cognitive Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Peng, Yue & Wan, Yanjun. (2023). Understanding parental agency in family language policies from language-as-resource ideology perspective: The case of three Shanghainese families. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 1–12. [URL]. DOI logo
Pennycook, Alastair. (2017). Translanguaging and semiotic assemblages. International Journal of Multilingualism, 14 (3), 269–282. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pieke, Frank N. (2012). Immigrant China. Modern China, 38 (1), 40–77. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Said, Fatima F. S. (2021). Arabic-English bilingual children’s early home literacy environments and parental language policies. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 29 (3), 424–440. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Saillard, Claire & Boutet, Josiane. (2008). Construction des répertoires langagiers dans la migration Wenzhou (Chine) à Paris. Cahiers de l’Observatoire des pratiques linguistiques, 2 1, 61. [URL]
Sénéchal, Monique, LeFevre, Jo-Anne, Hudson, Ernie & Lawson, Penelope E. (1996). Knowledge of storybooks as a predictor of young children’s vocabulary. Journal of Educational Psychology, 88 (3), 520–536. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sénéchal, Monique, LeFevre, Jo-Anne, Thomas, Eleanor M. & Daley, Karen E. (1998). Differential Effects of Home Literacy Experiences on the Development of Oral and Written Language. Reading Research Quarterly, 33 (1), 96–116. [URL]. DOI logo
Sénéchal, Monique & Young, Laura. (2008). The Effect of Family Literacy Interventions on Children’s Acquisition of Reading from Kindergarten to Grade 3: A Meta-Analytic Review. Review of Educational Research, 78 (4), 880–907. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Simon, Patrick. (2012). French National Identity and Integration: Who Belongs to the National Community? Washington, DC.: Migration Policy Institute.Google Scholar
Smith-Christmas, Cassie. (2020). Child agency and home language maintenance. In Andrea C. Schalley & Susana A. Eisenchlas (Eds.), Handbook of Home Language Maintenance and Development (pp. 218–235). Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Spolsky, Bernard. (2004). Language Policy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
(Eds.), (2012). The Cambridge Handbook of Language Policy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Statista, retrieved April 22, 2024 from [URL]
Stavans, Anat. (2012). Language policy and literacy practices in the family: The case of Ethiopian parental narrative input. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 33 (1), 13–33. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Stavans, Anat & Hoffmann, Charlotte. (2015). Multilingualism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Szecsi, Tunde & Szilagyi, Janka. (2012). Immigrant Hungarian families’ perceptions of new media technologies in the transmission of heritage language and culture. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 25 (3), 265–281. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Torsh, Hanna Irving & Lising, Loy. (2022). Multilingual family language policy in monolingual Australia: Multilingual desires and monolingual realities. Multilingua, 41 (5), 519–527. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vold Lexander, Kristin. (2021). Polymedia and family multilingualism Linguistic repertoires and relationships in digitally mediated interaction. Pragmatics and Society, 12 1, 782–804. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wang, Chong Jiong. (2014). Parental Attitudes to Bilingual Education of Children in German-Chinese Families. International Dialogues on Education Journal, 1 (3), Article 3. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wang, Nanfei. (2019). Les politiques linguistiques familiales dans les familles mixtes : Études de cas sur la transmission et la non-transmission des langues chinoises dans trois familles franco-chinoises en France (Doctoral dissertation, Université Paris-Est). [URL]
. (2022). Les politiques linguistiques familiales dans les familles franco-chinoises : Les aspirations et les motivations parentales de la transmission du mandarin. Langage et société, 176 (2), 163–184. [URL]. DOI logo
Yu, Yin. (2022). FLP and homescapes: Employing walking tour methodology in researching children’s and parents’ perspectives. Journal of Home Language Research 5(1), 6–15. [URL]. DOI logo
Zhu, Hua. (2008). Duelling Languages, Duelling Values: Codeswitching in bilingual intergenerational conflict talk in diasporic families. Journal of Pragmatics, 40 (10), 1799–1816. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zhu, Hua & Li Wei. (2016). Transnational experience, aspiration and family language policy. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 37 (7), 655–666. [URL]
Zimmerman, Barry & Cleary, Tim. (2006). Adolescents’ Development of Personal Agency. In Frank Pajares & Tim Urdan (Eds.), Adolescence and Education: Self-Efficacy Beliefs of Adolescents (pp. 45–69). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.Google Scholar