MASARYK UNIVERSITY BRNO
FACULTY OF EDUCATION
Department of English Language and Literature
Bilingual families and their communicative approaches
Bachelor Thesis
Brno 2010
Supervisor: Written by:
Mgr. Naděžda Vojtková Jana Vašíková
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Declaration
I proclaim that this bachelor thesis was done by myself and I used only the
sources that are stated in the bibliography. The thesis contains author’s own translations.
Prohlášení
Prohlašuji, že jsem bakalářskou práci zpracovala samostatně a použila jsem pouze zdroje
uvedené v seznamu literatury. Práce také obsahuje vlastní překlady autorky.
Brno, 20 April 2011 ________________________
Jana Vašíková
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Acknowledgements
I would like to express my gratitude to Mgr. Naděžda Vojtková for her support, valuable
advice, suggestions and very kind approach as a supervisor of this thesis.
I would also like to thank both the families for their willingness to share personal
information from their everyday lives as well as their kind help and open attitude.
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Annotation
The thesis ‘Bilingual families and their communicative approaches’ engages in a multiple
case study of two Czech-English bilingual families. The theoretical part investigates
groundwork in the area of bilingualism, bilingual children and language acquisition necessary
for the following practical part which is trying to explore two bilingual approaches to
communication in the chosen families in focus in children’s language acquisition.
Anotace
Bakalářská práce “Bilingvní rodiny a jejich přístupy ke komunikaci” se zabývá
případovou studií dvou vybraných česko-anglických rodin. Teoretická část uvádí základní
poznatky v oblasti bilingvismu, bilingvních dětí a osvojování jazyka, které jsou nezbytné pro
následující praktickou část, která se snaží prozkoumat dva bilingvní přístupy ke komunikaci
ve vybraných rodinách se zaměřením na osvojování jazyků u dětí.
Keywords
bilingual, bilingual child, bilingual family, case study, communicative approach,
language acquisition
Klí čová slova
bilingvní, bilingvní dítě, bilingvní rodina, případová studie, komunikativní přístup,
osvojování jazyka
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CONTENT
THEORETICAL PART
Introduction ............................................................................................ 6
1. Bilingualism ....................................................................................... 8
1.1 Definition .............................................................................................................. 8
1.2 Types of bilingualism ........................................................................................... 9
1.3 Researches on bilingualism ................................................................................ 10
2. Children and language ...................................................................... 12
2.1 Language in focus............................................................................................... 12
2.1.1 Language and thought ................................................................................. 13
2.1.2 Language and culture .................................................................................. 14
2.2 Child development.............................................................................................. 15
2.3 Language acquisition .......................................................................................... 16
2.3.1 Sociologistic development of a child .......................................................... 17
3. Bilingual child .................................................................................. 19
3.1 Similarities between bilinguals and monolinguals ............................................. 19
3.2 Awareness of bilingualism ................................................................................. 20
3.3 Separating languages .......................................................................................... 20
3.4 Code-switching ................................................................................................... 21
3.5 Nature of translation ........................................................................................... 22
3.6 Types of bilingual acquisition in childhood ....................................................... 22
3.7 Advice on bilinguals ........................................................................................... 23
4. Theory of case study ......................................................................... 25
PRACTICAL PART
1. Case study ......................................................................................... 29
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1.1 Sources of evidence ........................................................................................ 29
1.2 Analysing ........................................................................................................ 30
1.3 Reporting ........................................................................................................ 30
2. Bilingual families ............................................................................. 31
2.1 School systems ................................................................................................... 31
2.2 Children development ........................................................................................ 32
2.2.1 Three to four years....................................................................................... 32
2.2.2 The age of seven .......................................................................................... 32
3.First family ........................................................................................ 33
3.1 Settlement ........................................................................................................... 33
3.3 Children and languages ...................................................................................... 35
3.3.1 Special words or expressions....................................................................... 36
3.4 Lifestyle and traditions ....................................................................................... 37
3.5 Children and education ....................................................................................... 37
3.6 Preserving minor language ................................................................................. 37
4. Second family ................................................................................... 39
4.1 Settlement ........................................................................................................... 39
4.2 Ways of communication ..................................................................................... 40
4.3 Children and languages ...................................................................................... 41
4.4 Lifestyle and traditions ....................................................................................... 42
4.5 Children and education ....................................................................................... 43
4.3 Preserving the minor language ........................................................................... 43
5.Cross-case analysis ............................................................................ 45
Conclusion ............................................................................................ 48
Bibliography ......................................................................................... 50
Appendices ........................................................................................... 52
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INTRODUCTION
This thesis deals with case studies of two bilingual families, it examines different ways of
communication between the family members, explores their attitudes and lifestyle. The first
interest in this field came to the author when having the opportunity to observe one of the
families at an Intensive language course in Fryšták and in other encounters with bilingual
environments. Successively, an idea of this thesis was formed with the supporting help of the
supervisor.
The theoretical part provides foundations to the following case studies. Firstly, it analyses
the term bilingualism itself. Secondly, it proceeds to a child and its development in focus on
the language and continues with expanding the idea to a bilingual child, studying the
important aspects concerning acquisition of two languages from birth. Finally, it devotes the
attention to the theory of a case study and its importance as a research method. Being a
layman, it was interesting for me to see how these bilingual children easily switched between
languages and communicated freely and naturally in both of them. Curiosity of this potential
and whether some of this phenomenon may be somehow adapted to teaching had emerged.
Practical part starts with the presentation of used methods and convenience of choosing
case study research. It follows with outlining common features of the families and provides a
case study finding of the both families presented separately. The final chapter is a cross case
study where some of the already discussed points will be highlighted and connected with the
author’s own existing experience to terminate with the conclusion offering what methods
from the families and children’s acquisition of the language can be applied to teaching.
The aim of the thesis is not to provide some generally valid new style teaching methods,
but rather to help the author to muster motivation and inspiration for her own future teaching
with the help of the findings from this research.
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THEORETICAL PART
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‘The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.’ Ludwig Wittenstein
1. BILINGUALISM
Bilingualism is a sociolinguistic phenomenon that recently begins to attract more
attention especially among pedagogical researchers. With the influence of globalization and
gradually increasing importance of languages and communication in the world, more people
are able to master a different language than just their mother tongue or even more. There are
also more opportunities for travelling. Hence, marriages are not rare between people from
different countries and so it has to be admitted that their number is increasing in Europe. Also
bilingual education has got great attention. Programmes have been introduced that concern
starting teaching foreign languages to children at primary schools even at a lower level in a
number of countries. This draws attention to bilingual children being educated there and
raises a question of teaching them their “native” language in class as a second language.
The following theory will be examined mainly from the points that are important for a
bilingual family and children as the practical part will focus on case studies of two families.
1.1 DEFINITION
Definitions of bilingualism vary. A few examples will be provided:
Bilingualism [is] native-like control of two languages ... Of course, one cannot define a degree of perfection at which a good foreign speaker becomes a bilingual: the distinction is relative. (Bloomfield in Harding-Esch, Riley 23)
The phenomenon of bilingualism [is] something entirely relative … We shall therefore consider
bilingualism as the alternate use of two or more languages by the same individual. (Mackey ibid. 23) From the definitions given above it can be seen that as bilingualism is assumed to belong
to the domain of sociolinguistic, the definitions of this term will differ and are taken in more
width. However generally, according to Harding-Esh, the term bilingualism is viewed by
public as an ability to speak two languages ‘perfectly’ (22). Yet the definition is not as clear
as it seems to be. In the first place it cannot be stated in the matter of language that one speaks
perfectly, since not even the native speakers are able to master the language completely.
Harding-Esh and Riley demonstrate that an individual speaks only a part of their mother
tongue as each person’s language (NB vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation) varies according
to their different social and cultural background item one’s interests and work field (22).
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Taeschner’s note on defining a bilingual will be highlited for the purposes of this thesis.
Apart from considering bilingualism a continuum Taeschner suggests to ‘recognize the
gradual nature of person’s ability to express himself in one, two or more languages’ and take
into consideration monolinguals who may be ‘good or bad at understanding and speaking his
own language’ as well as the bilingual can be the same, but in two languages (5). Although, of
course, bilingualism has more types which can be distinguished – not only for individuals, but
also for societies.
1.2 TYPES OF BILINGUALISM
Since bilingualism, as was shown in the previous text, is a broad term, it is necessary to
categorise and point out its types. Bilingualism exists in many variants and can be viewed
from different perspectives, therefore only few divisions will be showed. The first difference
that can be drawn is the one between bilingual societies and individual bilingualism (Harding-
Esh 23).
Individual bilingualism focuses on one’s form of communication. It differs from human
to human depending on the languages he or she uses, society, culture, country, and other
circumstances influencing the person. Primarily, it is important to recognize individual’s
bilingualism according to age. Harding-Esch and Riley distinguish four stages, i.e. infancy,
childhood, adolescence and adulthood. The first two are associated with native-like control of
language, whereas the other two can be linked with non-native accent (42). Likewise above,
Hudcová (qtd. in Doskočilová, author’s translation) in her work labels natural and artificial
bilingualism, i.e. learning by communication without education, and by education in school
which can be compared to ‘childhood’ and ‘adulthood’ bilingualism.
Another division concerning age is McLaughlin’s. It recognizes simultaneous and
consecutive bilingualism. McLaughlin analyses probably the major points concerning
acquisition of two or more languages. The term simultaneous is used for all bilinguals who
had a stable contact with both languages before the age of 3. Consecutive bilingualism, on the
other hand, applies to all those who had their first contact with the second language after their
3rd birthday (qtd. in Taescher 4). This difference can be crucial for the purpose of capturing
the term of a native speaker. It is becoming a very current trend to send one’s children to
nursery schools where they learn another language from very early age. Thus one could
consider the child as bilingual, nevertheless, this division of age delimits it quite aptly.
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Although the age limit cannot be taken strictly, the author of these lines believes it rather
outlines the difference between children whose parents have two different native languages
and use it to communicate with their children and those who acquire the languages
differently.
Apart from individual bilingualism there are also bilingual societies - societies where the
majority of people speak two languages. It can be found for instance in nations with more
official languages. Harding-Esch and Riley define this as official bilingualism - it is the
situation ‘where two or more languages have full official recognition’ (e.g. Canada, Belgium,
Finland) (31).
Moreover, from the point of view of a smaller society we can distinguish elitist and folk
bilingualism as suggested by Harding-Esch and Riley (23). The difference between those two
terms may be concluded from two examples of families and the situation they occur in. It lies
in a voluntary or involuntary moving for better life conditions. Harding-Esch and Riley
assume ‘elitist’ are people who chose to live in another country. As an example they state a
middle-class family with proper education which seeks bilingualism and is prepared for the
conditions and arrangements they might need to make (esp. school education system) (24).
On the other hand, according to the definition,1 ‘folk’ bilingualism is quoted as involuntary,
achieved for the sake of survival due to economic or political circumstances.
This division may seem a bit prejudiced, but when examined closely, it is the social
situation that makes the difference between these two types. Elitist bilingualism tends to be
taken pretty positively by the society while folk bilingualism is generally viewed as the rather
negative one. It may be due to the fact that their native language is usually not so recognized
worldwide. Although the first situation seems to be easier at the first sight it does not make
the problems the family might be coping with dissimilar or less serious.
1.3 RESEARCHES ON BILINGUALISM
There have been many changes and a remarkable development in the field of bilingual
studies. Many researches and case studies have been done on this subject. Although in the
1 Tosi’s definition of folk bilingualism – ‘The conditions of ethnic groups within the single state who have
to become bilingual involuntarily, in order to survive.’ (qtd. in Harding and Riley 24)
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past bilingualism was viewed rather negatively, nowadays the approach has changed since
many people were brought up as ‘successful’ bilinguals.
Researches focusing on bilingualism are mainly interested in bilingual children and the
way they acquire language. Regrettably, the researches are not equally spread among all
existing types of bilingual families, but rather focus on middle-class children whose parents
made the decision to raise their children in a family with two languages. Not all bilingual
children are being raised in such a kind of environment with ‘ideal’ conditions and the
possibilities for good education. Moreover, these researches are mostly based on study diaries
where the researcher (oftentimes the parent him/herself – usually a linguist) records the
development of a child. This does not cover all cases and therefore it is difficult to generalize
the findings to all social contexts (Bialystock 10). When we dispose of the possible bias, these
researches are very important for building up the theory and exploring the subject. All these
accounts are important elementary stones for future studies in this field, beginning from
Ronjat (1913), Leopold (1939-49) proliferating to Arnberg (1979), Volterra and Taeschner
(1978), Saunders (1982), Taescher (1983), Fantini (1985), Hoffman (1985), Vihman (1985)
(listed in Bialystock 10).2
Although these researches are qualitative and deal with a constricted number of cases, we
can learn from their findings and take a look inside this voluminous area of sociolinguistics.
The proceeding chapter will focus on children and language in a more general way, from
the point of view that every human being undergoes when acquiring a language.
2 For more detailed list of studies on simultaneous bilingualism see Taeschner 7-18.
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‘Language shapes the way we think, and determines what we can think about.’
Benjamin Lee Whorf
2. CHILDREN AND LANGUAGE
The very beginning of this chapter concentrates on the language and its features, then the
children’s development is shortly summarized. Later, a child’s language is in focus as well as
a language acquisition.
2.1 LANGUAGE IN FOCUS
Language as a complex phenomenon has been studied and examined. The science that
deals with language is called linguistics. It is divided into more areas according to certain
fields. Some of them are concerned directly with the language formation and production
(phonetics, phonology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics), some are interdisciplinary and
connect the language with the external world (psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, applied
linguistics and others).
Language is used by humans to communicate with other members of human race.
Communication – communicatio in Latin - means connection, transfer or sharing. In the
narrow sense of the word it can be understood as interaction or transfer of information. The
aim of human’s communicative behaviour is mutual sharing of information and maintaining
interpersonal relationships. A successful communication has to have ‘seven Cs’ as stated by
Klenková (26): credibility, context, content, clarity, continuity and consistency, channels and
capability.
Before attempting to grasp the complexity of a language and its connection to thoughts,
let us briefly examine the language itself. De Saussure treats language as ‘a system of signs
that express ideas’ (qtd. in Lust 11). To communicate by using language is a specifically
human matter. Every human being uses their language to express their thoughts by words in
order to communicate with others. To sum it up, words make a language. Yet, when acquiring
a language one must consider not only words by themselves, but view them rather as signs,
which are more complex, as was mentioned above according to Saussure.
The structuralism maintains that a sign (word) is an arbitrary fusion of two parts – the
sound (the signifier) and the meaning (the signified). They are linked together by syntagmatic
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and paradigmatic relationships. Consequently, the meaning of an utterance cannot exist
independently on the form, it is regarded as a structure parts of which are meaningful only
when they are viewed in relation to each other (Lyon introduction)3. Of course, words belong
to classes and maintain certain relationships that inevitably have to be learned for proper
usage of the language.
Language is considered to be mastered only by humans, in fact there are parts of brain
that are responsible for language and speech. The study concerning the brain and language is
called neurolinguistics. Researches have been made on different parts of the brain and it has
been discovered that the left hemisphere plays a major role in connection with language.
Specific parts of the left hemispehere are related to specific language functions (Yule 138):
Broca’s area is described as the part of speech cortex responsible for production of
speech, the part for understanding a speech is called Wernicke’s area, and another vital
function for speech is movement of muscles obtained by the motor cortex (Yule 139).
Damaging these parts of brain was found to influence the functions of the centres. It leads to
loss of speech (aphasia) or other serious problems according to the part damaged.
2.1.1 LANGUAGE AND THOUGHT
Language and mind have been studied separately in psychology, linguistics and
philosophy. Psychologist Vygotsky offers children’s thinking border on cognition, theoretical
logic and philosophy (20). Humans use language to express their ideas. They talk to each
other but they also talk silently to themselves or even without any words said aloud. It is
speculated in psychology that ‘thought is speech minus sound’, yet Vygotsky emphasises to
consider ‘unitary nature of process under study’ (2). In order to understand this conception,
Vygotsky analyses verbal thought into units – word meanings. Because as he states: ‘... it is
word meaning that thought and speech unite in verbal thought’ (5).
Vygotsky claims each word is a generalization. For a child, it first refers to a group, class
of objects (5). Only after the word experience is simplified, it can be generalized again and
then translated into symbols (Sapir in Vygotsky 6). This hypothesis is supported by
3 Lyons, John. Language and linguistics : an introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981.
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Saussure’s idea of two parts of a sign - the signified and the signifier, which has already been
discussed.
Unlike Piaget and behaviourists, whose concepts are structured differently, Vygotsky’s
schema of development of the thinking develops ‘from the social to individual’ (20). Likewise
Hudson by defining that ‘speech is an instrument of socialisation’ (92), Vygotsky endorses
child’s primary aim is to communicate with the environment, i.e. communicative/social
speech. Another stage, egocentric, is when the child talks to himself aloud without any aim to
instruct the others but himself, he also proposes a hypothesis that this stage transfers social
speech into inner psychic functions (17). Following stage is the formulation of inner speech
itself after the disappearance of the previous one. In fact, Vygotsky assumes that ‘egocentric
speech turns into inner speech’ (18). Similarly, two groups of children conversations were
concluded by Piaget in early age of a child - egocentric (typical of preschool) and socialised
(exchange with others) (qtd. in Vygotsky 14).
Therefore, it can be observed that, especially at the egocentric stage, ‘the language of a
child more clearly reflects the thought of a child than his attempt to communicate with
someone else’ (Lust 11).
2.1.2 LANGUAGE AND CULTURE
‘Language is not a culture-free code, distinct from the way people think and behave’
explains Kramsch (8), but it expresses ‘cultural reality’ (3). Child learns language from
people who already find themselves in a culture background and are somehow determined by
this environment. In that account, language goes hand in hand with culture. In order to
conceive language, there is a need for context. One cannot learn Japanese without knowing
anything about Japanese people and the way they live, because language reflects the people –
their approaches, ideas and habits. Therefore those two are bond together and one could not
speak good Japanese without knowledge of the cultural background. According to Hudson,
the main point is that ‘semantic systems vary enormously, and roughly to the same extent as
cultures’ (91).
2.1.2.1 THE SAPIR-WHORF HYPOTHESIS
It is almost inconceivable to discuss language and culture without at least mentioning the
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.
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Sapir and Whorf produced arguments against then anthropology based on American
linguists stating that Native Americans ‘view the world differently from those who spoke
European languages’ due to their concept of language (Yule 218). In other words, the
structure of language that people use influences the manner in which they think and act in the
world. Kramsch draws the attention to the problem of translatability of languages in
connection to this hypothesis. He points out that two languages are mutually translatable only
to some extent (13). There may be some areas of languages which cannot be translated,
because for instance the word or certain expression does not exist in the other language. This
is, however, not a matter of superiority and inferiority of a language but rather than of
cultural, social and geographical backgrounds.
2.2 CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Through concept of language and its connection of mind and culture now it shall be
proceed to general child development.
Sometimes, it is referred to children as to ‘little adults’. Though they might appear as
only lessened adults, their body undergoes vast changes during a short amount of time in
order to attain maturity. These changes do not include only physical growth, but all important
psychical and intellectual aspects are formed in the early age. Likely, the most fragile period
of child’s growth is prenatal period. Mothers should be very careful about their diets and
activities, because the child at that time is completely dependent on her and when mistreated,
the fetus is vulnerable to many defects that may originate at that stage. Then, during the first
years of life children’s brain and body is prepared to absorb new information but it slowly
loses flexibility over time towards adolescence. There are several development periods of
child’s growth after birth that are related to age, i.e. newborn (from birth to the end of first
month), infant (1 to 12 months), toddler (12 to 36 months), pre-schooler (3 to 5 years old),
school-aged child (6 to 13 years old) and adolescent (13 to 20 years of age) (Aleen and
Marotz 5, author’s translation). Certain significant transformations are connected to each
period, nonetheless, they shall not be discussed in more detail. Some of them will be
remarked in the practical part in direct connection to the children. Although these stages are
distinguished precisely in compliance with a particular age, they may differ according to each
individual, since the development depends on other influences that are mostly never the same.
Hence, it is important, especially for parents, to do not strictly adhere to developmental tables
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or other ontological statistics, even though general knowledge of this topic is essential for
raising the child well and to discover possible deviations that might signal some kind of
disorder.
While speaking about child development, basic needs have to be pointed out. Among
elementary biological needs (viz. ‘shelter and safety, food appropriate to the age of child,
warmth and proper clothing, cleanness, medical care, rest and activity in balance’ (Aleen and
Marotz 14, author’s translation), which are indispensable, parent or guardian must bear in
mind other needs – need to be educated, need for respect and self-assurance and psychical
needs, such as love and consistency, safety and confidence as itemized in Allen and Marotz
(14 – 17, author’s translation). All these needs might seem automatic, but there are crucial
basis for good physical, social, economical and physical health that is consequential for the
child’s life and development.
2.3 LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
One of the elements of children’s development is the acquisition of a language. Ancient
Greek philosophers considered human beings ‘tabula rasa’ from birth, i.e. ‘blank slate’. This
metaphor announces that humans are born without any prior knowledge or preset behaviour
or language pattern. Lust adds people in general are taught by experience. It is known that
children are able to acquire any language if taught from birth, because they have the ability to
acquire their first language that is biologically conditioned and programmed and specific for
humans (1). This ability is not limited to a distinctive language – for example there are
registered cases where many Czech children were taken at an early age from their homes and
given to re-education in Germany, they learned German there and when they grew up, they
weren’t able to speak Czech. The fact is that even though humans are genetically programmed
to learn a language, it needs to be learned from someone. Usually, first language is learned
only from parents at the beginning, then from closest family, peers and later on from other
people as they are encountered, adults in general – this will be more discussed later. It is
important to stimulate children from early age, even toddlers, because they need to get used to
speech and have to have enough input and opportunities. It is a common problem that children
from infant’s homes suffer from language delay due to not adequate language exposure.
Therefore in language acquisition is the role of parents very important. It is also believed that
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reading stories with smaller children is helpful and expands especially vocabulary knowledge,
or reading in general.
For inaccuracy to be reduced it should be distinguished between language learning and
language acquisition. Acquisition is a ‘gradual development of ability in language by using it
naturally in communicative situations with other who know the language’ (Yule 163). It is
typical of mother tongue of a child, it involves subconscious process that is ‘programmed’ to
learn a language. Children do not ‘learn’ grammar – it is acquired by transfer through natural
communication. Language learning is more connected to ‘conscious process of accumulating
knowledge of features ... typically in an institutional setting’ (Yule 163). It is common for
later age and foreign or second language - students are familiarized with the rules of language
and are instructed by an authority.
One can ask when the acquisition begins? The linguistic experience starts even before
birth at prenatal stage where the child prepares itself for oral development of speech. For
instance the fetus cries within the uterus - ‘vagus utericus’ or sucks its thumb (Klenková 34,
author’s translation). Important diagnostic moment is approximately between 6 to 8 months
when the child should proceed from babbling to lalling (i.e. from the simple play with speech
organs to the imitating of lalling) (Klenková 35, author’s translation). This diagnostic moment
is vital for discovery of hearing defects. Then, the verbal development of speech follows.
Children must acquire different aspects of a language which are simultaneously being
passed to them. They must perceive content of language knowledge including phonetics,
syntax and lexicon. It can be said that lexicon is central in the acquisition of language as
words make a language and are also the first to be acquired in language. Clark proposes that
the word forms are learned from ‘use among the speakers around’ children where for each
word ‘they need to store all sorts of information in memory’ (2). Words are therefore learned
together with its meanings and pronunciation. Then, children begin to make generalizations
about kind of words, they need words to form grammatical relations and realize the syntax.
The first recognizable word usually appears around the age of one, but it is sometimes hard to
recognize.
2.3.1 SOCIOLOGISTIC DEVELOPMENT OF A CHILD
Acquiring a language is a sociolinguistic process. Similarly, as people acquire culture
from other people, children have various linguistic models during their life from whom they
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learn. Along with developmental stages children acquire various structures of language in
certain age. Following division is as Hudson suggests rather a rough generalization which he
divides into four phases according to age (14-16):
o Babyhood – The models are parents or fosters of a child, they would change their
matter of speaking by adopting ‘baby talk’ with the child. It is a specific modification of their
speech when talking to young children. Ferguson proposes this may be universal on innate
basis (qtd. in Lust 110).
o Childhood – Besides parents, children’s models are other children of the same age
whom they are trying to imitate. Moreover, at his stage they apply archaic language used by
children centuries ago (counting-out rhymes, skipping songs etc.).4 Also, children more prefer
company of children of the same sex.
o Adolescence – Generally, adolescents attempt to be different than the ‘previous’
adolescence. This leads to creation and constant change of teenage slang. Consequently, main
models are other adolescents.
o Adulthood - Adults are almost linguistically stable. Their language is defined by their
social world, including the region, their sex, social class and other characteristics.
Linguistic models change and shift during human’s life and each individual is under a
different unique influence.
All the previous subchapters were meant to draw attention to an every child’s
development in focus on a language. This area is very vast and contains numerous amount of
information. Therefore, let it be considered as brief overview of the topic that can be built on
and proceeded further. The following chapter will concentrate on bilingual children and
possible diverse factors on their lives.
4 For more examples see book: Opie Iona, and Peter Opie. The Oxford dictionary of Nursery rhymes. New
York : Oxford University Press, 1997. Print
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‘Truly wonderful the mind of a child is.’
Yoda, Star Wars Episode II
3. BILINGUAL CHILD
This chapter will examine diverse factors in child’s life when brought up in a bilingual
family. Nevertheless, it will account only simultaneous bilingualism due to consideration of
the practical part. Moreover, Romaine considers consecutive or successive bilingualism ‘to
belong to the field of second language acquisition’ (182) and according to her opinion only
simultaneous bilingualism is regarded to be first language acquisition.
3.1 SIMILARITIES BETWEEN BILINGUALS AND
MONOLINGUALS
Previous chapter suggested that all children had to undergo through similar development.
The main and clear difference between monolingual children and bilingual ones is that
bilinguals acquire two languages instead of one and distinguish them. Does this fact influence
their development of the languages? It is rumoured that bilinguals start to speak later and their
vocabulary in not as vast as at their monolingual peers. On the contrary, in a study of the first
occurrence of a word bilingual mothers stated the age of 11,2 months in average and mothers
of monolinguals 12 months (Harding-Esh and Riley 54). However, a conclusion cannot be
drawn strictly. There lies a question of reliability of the mothers’ testimonies as they might be
subjective. As far as vocabulary is concerned, studies have proved bilingual children to have
poorer vocabulary than monolinguals at least in the first few years (Bialystok 222). Yet, it is
part of the progress they make not to cover certain area in the vocabulary unless they are not
contacted with it, saving they need to use it in that language. But having reached adulthood
most bilinguals have no problem expressing themselves in one or the other language.
Nonetheless, bilingualism as a method of raising a child has been proved as ‘successful’,
states Harding and Riley. They mean that ‘all children who have been studied in this way
have grown up to be perfectly normal, none of them having exhibited any sign of being
disturbed by their experience’ (50). In conclusion, Harding-Esh and Riley find similarities of
bilinguals and monolinguals ‘far more striking than the differences’ (55).
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3.2 AWARENESS OF BILINGUALISM
The question, when exactly are children aware of the two languages they are using, is not
clear for specialists. It is partly because it is individual, and methods to find out cannot be
exact, so do Harding-Esh and Riley suggest it is ‘a period of transition which is difficult to pin
down’ (62). Despite this, Romaine presents that children in a bilingual environment are aware
of the two language systems at 18 months (qtd. in Hudson 16) according to numerous studies.
Furthermore, Harding-Esh and Riley announces that observations show children use two
languages appropriately at about the age of three (61).
To conclude, children do not strictly distinguish that they can speak two languages. Most
probably they are not aware of utterances as ‘I am speaking English now’ at early age, but
they certainly distinguish that there are two ways to communicate. An example will be
provided by author’s own direct observation (scrap of conversation from Czech/English
family – father and son 4 years old):
Child: is hiding from visitors Father: Are you shy? Child: ... yes. Father: What is the other way to say shy? Do you know that? Child: Stydlivý. Even very small children are able to switch languages when they see the person they are
trying to talk to does not appear to understand them in one way.
3.3 SEPARATING LANGUAGES
As has been showed in the previous section, children do not have to be aware of the two
languages for say in order to tell them apart. Harding and Riley present that there are
theoretical schools that deal with the separation of two languages. One believes children to
have two separate language systems from their birth without mixing them and others that
claim children combine the languages at the beginning and start to separate them after some
time (55). However, it is worth mentioning that mixing is part of the process of language
development and it is a sign that child begins to sort things out. The most convincing model
of children’s development is Volterra and Taesher’s according to Harding and Riley (56). It
consists of three phases:
21
During first phase children have one word for one concept, they sometimes produce
nonsense blends and compounds. As time passes children proceed to second phase where they
are aware of separate vocabulary, but they use the same grammatical rules for both languages.
Third phase is when the two language vocabularies and grammars are stabilized. These phases
lie on a continuum which is very individual and cannot be associated with particular age.
When speaking about separating languages, another important feature must be pointed
out – a dominance of a language. Bilinguals tend to be stronger in one of the languages, it is
somewhat natural occurrence. But the dominance is not static (Harding and Riley 59), it
changes due to the language environments and other influences. Stronger language influences
the other one and as Harding and Riley suggest the main criterion for language dominance is
the input in one language (61), the more a child is exposed to a language the more probable is
the dominance of that language.
Along with separating the languages two aspects are important for bilinguals that
monolinguals cannot naturally produce – code switching and translation.
3.4 CODE-SWITCHING
Code-switching as Clark claims is ‘inevitable consequence of bilingualism’ (51), in other
words it is ‘the point at which the languages change’ (53). Every bilingual uses the switch
between languages which is chosen according to the circumstances for other speaker to
understand - either to other bilingual where they can use the full potential of both language
communicative resources or to a monolingual who does not understand the other language.
Harding and Riley view only the first case as a code-switching, the choice of a language
according to other person they label a ‘language choice’ (63).
Harding and Riley recognize different types of code-switching. Very common type is
when the speaker cannot find the word in one language so he uses the other language to
express it. ‘Triggering’ occurs when a word, similar in both languages, makes the speaker to
continue in the other language. To provide an example (French/English child): ‘Donne moi
encore de cornflakes, please’ (‘Give me some more cornflakes, please’) (Harding and Riley
64). The word ‘cornflakes’ makes the speaker to continue in English, it is rather a mechanical
and functional occurrence, though. Sometimes code-switching is used to exclude someone
from the conversation or the speaker switches to other language to ‘amplify a point and win
an argument’ (65).
22
Code-switching is natural for bilinguals, but it requires a great skill to avoid grammatical
clashes, the message therefore has to remain clear (Harding-Riley 66). Some parents might
worry that switching too frequently between languages is a bad sign, but Harding and Riley
explain that in fact ‘the more bilingual people are, the better they are at code-switching’ and
‘as long as parents are consistent, there is no evidence that code-switching has any adverse
effects on the bilingual development of child’ (66).
3.5 NATURE OF TRANSLATION
Almost every bilingual child finds himself/herself in the situation when he/she must
translate to someone from one language to the other. It may depend on the type of the
bilingualism whether it is on a daily basis (e.g. translation from the language of the
community to parents) or occasionally (e.g. visit of the monolingual grandparents). Harris and
Sherwood believe that translation is an innate skill (qtd. Harding and Riley 67). However, this
ability is individual and some bilingual children are more skilled in translations than other
ones. It emerges generally from observations that children enjoy being socially approved and
thus bilinguals become rather socially skilled due to these translations required situations.
Many parents view bilingualism as a good sign for their children as professional
translators. These individuals have undoubtedly certain advantages, but it is vital to say that
not always is it enough. One must master other different skill to become a professional
(Harding and Riley 67). But nobody can deny that native speakers ‘are seen as not only
embodying the authentic use of language, but as representing its original cultural context’
(Kramsh 79). They possess natural intuition in what is proper and grammatically accurate.
These facts give the bilinguals unquestionable advantage in translation in general.
3.6 TYPES OF BILINGUAL ACQUISITION IN
CHILDHOOD
Harding and Riley classify acquisition in early childhood into five types which also
correspond to the types of bilingual families. Romain, on the contrary, adds the sixth type,
though she admits leads to ‘more mixing and interference than the other types’ and it is also
more rare (183). Each type has its own strategy of communication, specific language of a
community and the language or languages of the parents. Hereby it will be listed only the five
more successful methods by Harding and Riley (52-53):
23
First type calls Romain ‘One person-one language’ (183), the parents have different
languages and the family lives in a community where language of one parent is dominant.
Parents speak to the child in their own language.
In second type (‘One language – one environment’ as labelled in Rommaine 184) parents
also have different native languages and one language of the parent is dominant in the
community, but both the parents speak the non-dominant language to their child.
Third type – when parents share the same native language, and the dominant language of
the community is not that of the parents who speak to the child in their native language.
Fourth type includes parents having different native language, community speaking other
language then both parents when the parents communicate with their own language with the
child.
Last fifth type - both parents and community language is the same, but one of the parents
addresses the child in his/her non-native language.
Both Romain and Harding-Riley agree that the most successful and also most common
method is the first type – ‘One language - One person’. This may be due to expose to both
language from birth only by native speakers and due to the support of the language
community. It is also probably the most natural attitude how to raise a bilingual child.
3.7 ADVICE ON BILINGUALS
Every parent finds himself/herself in need of advice concerning advice about children.
Seemingly, same situation applies to parents of bilingual children, or even more. Although
bilingualism is not so rare, there might seem to be less information sources for parents who
are not linguists. Apart from the bilingual studies which concern in-depth descriptions of
acquisition and other children’s development, there are few other useful books for ‘ordinary’
parents. One can attain information from researches introduced in chapter one, but their
findings are presented in scientific ways which might discourage some parents.
Ideal way to learn more for future bilingual parents might be an experience of other
bilingual parent, but not everyone knows a bilingual family. However, there are other useful
sources which can be highlighted. There can be find many different articles and forums about
this topic on the internet. For examples on website www.rodina.cz is and extensive forum
24
where parents share their experiences with Czech and other language acquisition. On the other
hand, there are other various sources in English – academic journals such as The International
Journal of Bilingualism, The Bilingual Review and others (Hardiing-Riley 180).
There has been published a number of books giving advice on how to raise child
bilingually – Saunders, Harding-Riley, Arnverg. Alas, only the publication by Harding-Esh
and Riley is available also in the Czech version.5
5 Harding-Esh, Edith and Riley, Philip. Bilingvní rodina. Praha: Portál, 2008. Print.
25
‘But a science is exact to the extent that its method measures up to and is adequate to its object.’ Gabriel Marcel
4. THEORY OF CASE STUDY
A case study is one of several social research methods. Of course, each method has its
advantages and disadvantages. Therefore it has to be carefully chosen the most convenient
way for a concrete research. Unlike other methods case study is most appropriate if research
questions starting with ‘how’ or ‘why’ are asked. Moreover, when the researcher has no
control over the occurrences and when the research focuses on contemporary events (Yin 5).
These are the main criteria a researcher must bear in mind when selecting the strategy. Yin
denies that theory development is essential for a good case study, no matter if it is
exploratory, explanatory or descriptive because every case study, in fact it ‘benefits from ... a
theoretical framework’ (33). Therefore it is inevitable for the researcher to familiarize
himself with the theory in advance and set a research question.
The potential case study designs can be a single- or multiple-case study (Yin 39)
depending on a number of case studies which will be investigated. A single-case study is used
to describe critical case in testing theory or when it represents a unique case. On the other
hand, multiple-case studies are generally more preferred and less vulnerable, even if only two
of them are presented. Besides, a conclusion can be drawn from more than two case studies.
This multiple-case study should be followed by a replication of data and it must be chosen in
a way to predict similar or contrasting results. (Yin 53)
Other division that has to be made according to Yin is whether the study is holistic or
embedded which can differ in multiple-case studies (39).
Another important step in conducting case study is preparation for data collection. Apart
from studying theoretical field it contains requirements on the investigator (viz. being a good
listener, adaptability and flexibility, being unbiased, knowledge of studied issues and
capability of asking efficient questions), the case study protocol (which should help the
investigator to structure and organize work properly), screening case study nominations (to
detect whether the candidates are suitable) and finally the pilot case study (Yin 57).
While collecting the evidence during the process of conducting a case study, Yin presents
six sources of evidence:
26
o documentation
o archival records
o direct observation
o participant observation
o physical artefacts
(Yin 83)
He also warns that a good study should follow three principles which help to observe
validity and reliability and are relevant to the six sources (97). He proposes the evidence
should not rely only on one source, but it should choose more means to receive information in
order to avoid subjectivity. What is more, it is advisable to ‘maintain a chain of evidence’
(105) and ‘create a case study database’ (101) in sake of accuracy.
As soon as all the evidence has been collected, following stage of the process is analyzing
the evidence and finally reporting the case study. Yin recognizes three analyzing strategies:
‘relying on theoretical propositions, setting up a framework based on rival explanations, and
developing case study description’ (109). Nonetheless, he concedes that analyzing of a case
study is arduous and though the techniques have not been defined well, each case study
should endeavour to have a general strategy for analysing the data as mentioned above (115).
In addition to these three main strategies he affirms five distinctive techniques (i.e. ‘pattern
matching, explanation building, time-series analysis, logic models, and cross-case synthesis’
109) which are to be used under the general ones and serve to set the groundwork (139).
Lastly, the researcher faces the final closure of his/her work – reporting case study.
Before the report starts, the researcher has to decide upon three compositions according to
Yin: ‘identifying the audience for the report, developing the compositional structure and
following certain procedures’ (141). As for the targeting the audience, this is usually set in
advance. Still, it may happen that researcher is supposed to deliver the results both to his/her
academic colleagues and to the uninitiated public. Therefore suitable methods have to be
chosen in both cases. There are six compositional structures from which can be chosen, Yin
shows them in dependence on the suitableness of the purpose of the case study as indicates
Fig. 1.
27
Fig.1.1 Six Structures and Their Application to Different Purposes of Case Studies
Source: Robert K. Yin, Case study: design and methods (Thousand Oaks: SAGE
Publications, 2003) 152. Print.
Three important procedures are to be taken into account as remarks Yin. In each case
study the researcher faces the problem of anonymous identities, research worker also has to
consider ‘general tactic for starting a composition and review procedure for increasing the
construct validity of a case study’ (155).
The previous chapters concerned child language development, bilingualism, bilingual
children and theory of a case study. Following practical part will concentrate on concrete
cases of bilingual families and try to depict how the members of the family communicate
together in focus on the children.
Type of Structure Explanatory Descriptive Explanatory
1. Linear-analytic x x X 2. Comparative x x X 3. Chronological x x X 4. Theory building x X 5. “Suspense” x 6. Unsequenced x
28
PRACTICAL PART
29
1. CASE STUDY
Practical part is devoted to studies of two chosen bilingual families. A case study has
been chosen as the most convenient research method for this thesis. Firstly, because it is a
qualitative research and deals with selected representative subjects. Secondly, it has no aim to
generalize or conclude any universally valid inference. Thirdly, its aim is to depict the
situation.
Therefore, it may be stated that it is a descriptive multi-case study. Two families were
chosen in order to increase reliability and more sources for the study.
1.1 SOURCES OF EVIDENCE
The sources of evidence used for the investigation were interviews with mothers based on
preprepared questions, common questionnaire for parents and recordings of communication
within the families. Moreover, the researcher had chance to observe one of the families.
However, these observations were not a part of planned research methods. At the first
encounter it rather inspired and drew the researcher’s attention to this topic before the idea of
this thesis originated. Other random meeting enabled the observer to create a picture of the
communication pattern in practice.
One of the objects of the research was to respect the families’ privacy and preserve the
natural way of their communication. In order to avoid disruption and restraint of the children,
it had seemed ideal to choose recordings of the communications as the most natural and
comfortable way. The author did not intend to impose and effect the communication in the
families. These recordings were supplemented by a questionnaire for parents (both
questionnaires are to be found in the appendix) and interviews with mothers (recordings of the
interviews and communication of members of two families are available from author on
request). The questionnaire was meant for both parents to fill in and consider the questions
together. Some of the questions were inspired by a questionnaire in a book by Harding-Esh
and Riley (89-92). Their questionnaire is oriented to assess the situation in the family and to
help the parents to decide whether to raise their children in bilingual environment. Interviews
with the mothers broadened the asked questions in the questionnaire and elicit their opinions,
impressions and experience.
30
1.2 ANALYSING
According to Yin, analysing is the most difficult part of the case study, he notes it better
to start from a simple two-case even if there will not be any significant innovations (155).
Among general analysing strategies the development of a case description has been chosen.
Its purpose is to describe the communication in the families. As a specific technique it will
contain cross-case analysis.
1.3 REPORTING
As suggested in Yin, the format of a written multiple-case study (concretely in this case
the second type of reporting and written format) should contain each study report as a single
case in narrative as a chapter and a cross-case analysis should be concluded (147). The type of
compositional structure is unsequenced which is typical of descriptive studies. As far as the
question anonymity is concerned, the author has decided to refer to the individuals by their
first names with their permission. However, no more details apart from the age and country
shall be specified in order to sustain anonymity and traceability.
31
2. BILINGUAL FAMILIES
In this following chapter two cases of bilingual family will be analysed. It will examine
their way of communication within the family, children acquisition of the languages, their
experiences and opinions on bilingualism and their options according to their environment.
Families whose languages are Czech and English were chosen for this purpose. Both
conjugal families live in the country of father’s native language. Thus mother’s language is
not major in the environment. Children attend nursery or primary school in the country
according to their age. Two pairs of children from each family are approximately of the same
age and sex - meaning two older boys and two younger girls. One chapter will be devoted to
each family in the subsequent parts. To keep good arrangement, following parts will tackle
two topics before the studies themselves. It will be brief overview of a children development
of the age of 4 to 5 and 7 (same as the children in the studies) and school system of the two
countries (the Czech Republic and Canada).
2.1 SCHOOL SYSTEMS
In Canada, there are variations between provinces in elementary, secondary and post-
secondary education, as it is matter of the provinces themselves.
On its website the Government of Alberta states that educational system in their province
is divided into early childhood education (attendance is not compulsory), elementary
education (it has 8 grades from the age of 6 to 14), secondary (5 grades, 14 to 18) and tertiary
education. Besides public schools, the parents have the right to choose between private,
francophone, charter schools or home education. Second language learning starts at grade 4
and it is mostly French.6
In the Czech Republic, the education is divided into pre-school, elementary, secondary
and tertiary education. The pre-school education is compulsory for at least one year as well as
the attendance at elementary school. Education at all stages in the Czech Republic is for free
so far, apart from private schools, naturally.
6 For more information see the official document of Alberta education on
http://www.education.alberta.ca/media/832568/guidetoed.pdf
32
Education of the children from the families shall be discussed more concretely in
following two chapters.
2.2 CHILDREN DEVELOPMENT
Two short description of a child development will follow. It will be briefly looked on
cognitive-intellectual development, social-emotional development and language. The years of
three and four will be recounted together as the two girls overlap this age boundary.
2.2.1 THREE TO FOUR YEARS
At this age the child’s fantasy is very important and it enters other activities (games,
listening and retelling fairytales). The child usually talks to itself and comments on certain
happenings. The play next to others should change to play with others. Often change of
moods may occur as well sulk. The child should differentiate distinct sound and have better
phonemic hearing. Children like poems, songs and dance. In language, they should be able to
create more complex and compound sentences. Their active lexicon is approximately from
300 to 1000 words at that time. (Allen and Marotz 99 – 151)
2.2.2 THE AGE OF SEVEN
Lexicon contains 17 thousand words on average at the age of seven (Clark 13). Children
have better conception of time and space. They are able to plan activities in future and are
aware of a cause and consequence. They like to tell stories and also their reading has
improved – they read for pleasure for themselves. They often exaggerate and like to be
praised. They are able to criticize, but tend to be more sensitive when being criticized. (Allen
and Marotz 137 – 144)
33
3.FIRST FAMILY
The first studied family lives in Canada. Mother Iva comes from the Czech Republic, her
husband Aaron is Canadian. Parents have currently three children – Ronen (7.3)7, Arwyn
(3.7) and Oren (3 months). The youngest boy, however, will not be directly involved in the
study as at time the research was done he was not born yet.
Iva as a university student went through students’ exchange program to Australia, where
she met her future husband. Currently on maternity leave, she used to work as a teacher in
their home town in Canada. She has been living in Canada for ten years now, she moved there
after she had married. As already mentioned, her first language is Czech, she studied English
at university and masters all skills of the language. Apart from these two languages, she also
speaks German which she learned from her grandparents. Therefore her approach to
bilingualism is very positive in all aspects. Neither Aaron has been raised in a bilingual
family. Though he finds bilingualism rather difficult, he views it positively and means it is
pleasant and useful. He masters English as his mother language and has ‘extremely basic
Czech’. Important languages in their family are obviously English and Czech. The parents
view world-wide significant languages to be English and Spanish. Decision to raise their
children bilingually was primarily due to mothers monolingual parents. Furthermore, parents
consider it ‘a free gift/skill to acquire a second language in childhood’. They did not have any
worries or doubts about this approach and ‘generally accepted that second language is easily
acquired by children’. The mother is planning to adopt the same approach of communication
to her third child as well and even more intensively with the help of her daughter Arwyn who
will be staying home with the baby.
3.1 SETTLEMENT
Family lives in a smaller town of Alberta province on an American boarder in the Rocky
Mountains. The city has about 6000 inhabitants and it is spread through a long valley. As for
education opportunities, there are two kindergartens and one elementary school. There is no
noticeable dialect in that area, Canadian English tends to be very similar in almost all its parts
(except the French speaking areas). Both Iva and Aaron made joint decision to live in Canada
‘on convenience, life quality, shared language and desires’. Their broad family is widely
7 For purpose of this thesis let be assumed following simplification that e.g. 7.3 years
old means 7 years and 3 months.
34
spread all over the world. Mother’s grandparents live in the Czech Republic. Father’s brother
moved to Australia, grandmother lives next door to the family and grandfather lives in
Thailand. The family is trying to visit all the family members who do not live in Canada at
least once a year.
3.2 WAYS OF COMMUNICATION
Before the children were born, the couple used English as the main way of their
communication. In addition, the husband was learning bits of Czech. After their first son was
born the mother started to use Czech with the baby which she had not used before, however
the communication with the husband remained unchanged. She spoke in her first language to
the baby in their alone time, though, not consistently during the first two years. Ronen
attended nursery school from approximately his nine months of age for few hours a week,
because his mother started to work. Surprisingly enough, when the son grew older he asked
his mother to speak English to him and she respected his wish. She thinks he did not want to
be different from the other children. As soon as their daughter was born, this situation
changed a bit again. The mother decided to be more precise when addressing her daughter in
Czech. But she still tried to speak English to Ronen at least in public. He was more exposed to
Czech, then, because Iva used Czech as the main way of communication with Arwyn. Iva
admits she was more precise speaking Czech with Arwyn than with Ronen, she had been
more concerned about motherhood itself with the first child. She often used English outside
their home under the influence of environment because she claims she ‘did not want them to
feel uncomfortable’. Generally, it can be said that they used English as a social setting. Czech
language was dominant at their home when mother and children were alone. The children
obviously communicated in English with their father and each other. The pattern of the
communication looks as shown in diagram Fig 1. Currently, the situation is as follows: whole
family communicates in English, mother speaks Czech to Arwyn when Ronen is at school.
They created a ‘special Czech time’ that occurs after dinner. The mother takes care about
bathing, dressing up and telling fairy tales all in Czech.
When visiting relatives in the Czech Republic the pattern does not markedly change
there, but mother uses only Czech to their children as there are ‘no English disruptions’ for
her. Also the children add more Czech expressions into their communication between each
other under the influence of Czech environment. The communication between father and
35
children as well as between him and her wife remains the same even in the Czech Republic.
The same situation occurs when Czech relatives come to visit their Canadian home.
Fig.1
3.3 CHILDREN AND LANGUAGES
Children’s dominant language has been English. When mother started consciously using
Czech at home she states it was no problem for the children but ‘quite an effort’ for herself.
Mother addressed both the children in Czech during the first years of their life. However, she
was more consistent with her daughter. Although she states the children started to speak a bit
later (first words occurred after their second year of life), they understood everything she said
but they did not produce Czech because there was no immediate necessity for them. They
heard only passive Czech – commands, instructions and some narratives from their mother.
For example the mother stated that Arwyn when asked in Czech at her 14 months of age
would show where different parts of her body are. Also Ronen at 2 .5 years started to
differentiate the languages. He used some Czech words usually the ones connected to food
(such as ‘ještě’).
Before Arwyn started to differentiate the two language systems, she sometimes added
English endings to Czech words as it may be seen on following illustration of conversation:
Mother: Arwy, papej. (‘Arwy, eat.’) Girl: I am papaing! (‘I am eating!’) Family has been to two longer visits with both children in the Czech Republic so far.
Ronen was there few more times but only as a little baby. Nonetheless, the parents decided
36
not to travel longer distances with such a small child after a bad experience when Ronen fell
ill during one of the visits. The siblings used more Czech words (especially nouns and verbs)
in their communication with each other under the influence of a different language
environment. Parents noticed that Ronen in Arwyn’s age did not have the knowledge of
Czech as she does now. He has English accent when speaking Czech and declination is rather
challenging for him too. Yet he is not afraid to communicate and is not ashamed of making
mistakes. He seems to pick up the language very quickly and the parents noted a big progress
after summer holiday in Czech speaking environment. They were at children summer camp
during their last summer holidays in the Czech Republic. Ronen had strong motivation for
communicating with his coevals and under the language influence he started to interconnect
and explore the words and grammar in the two languages. His mother was very surprised
when he learned a new word ‘netopýr’ (a bat). He said to her: ‘That’s like didn’t drown...’
Ronen reffered to the past tense of the word ‘drown’ in Czech which sounds familiar as the
animal (netopil). She admits she would have never thought about this similarity.
If made a comparison of Czech language knowledge between her children, Iva says
‘Arwyn’s Czech is definitely better’ but Ronen is pleasantly surprised by how much she is
able to say in Czech. ‘He praises Arwyn for her good understanding’ of Czech. She is more
exposed to active Czech even at their Canadian home. Iva’s Czech friend moved to Canada
two years ago and she also teaches her small child Czech. They regularly meet and speak
Czech. ‘Arwyn still speaks English but inserts more and more Czech words,’ says Iva. Ronen,
nonetheless, is at school at that time. Both the children now perceive they can speak two
different languages, ‘they are proud of their extra skill’ and their mother admits they
‘occasionally use it as a secret code ... out in public.’
3.3.1 SPECIAL WORDS OR EXPRESSIONS
The children created few special words when acquiring Czech and English language.
Both the children use the word ‘bia’ which refers to their special blanket for sleeping. Iva
explains: ‘It originates from the time when I used to teach Ronen colours and I would point to
his blanket and say bílá (‘white’) repeatedly’. This expression stayed and is used even by
Arwyn. She likes to say ‘dudak’ which she uses instead of Czech dudlík (‘baby's dummy’).
Both siblings also ‘love saying “platíš pivo” when two people say the same thing at the same
time,’ states their mother.
37
3.4 LIFESTYLE AND TRADITIONS
The parents try to protect children’s lives from any commercial influence (television,
radio etc.). The family doesn’t hold any specific traditions (such as Christmas or Easter) due
to religious reasons.
One more observation may be added which is somewhat connected to the lifestyle of the
family as well. While being at children summer camp in Czech Republic, the son was
surprised by the competitiveness during the games and the ‘focus’ on comparison with other
children. The mother explains there is more stress on individuality not on valuing prices in
Canada. This is a sociocultural factor which influences also the lifestyle of the family.
3.5 CHILDREN AND EDUCATION
Ronen is in the first grade, he has just started to learn his academic skills in English. The
parents are not thinking about supporting his Czech with written form as well yet. Iva has
decided to ‘place all focus on comprehension and speaking, and believes if there is need in the
future for him to master the written part of the language, he will be able to do so’.
Arwyn attends ‘play school’ only one day in a week because mother is at home with the
youngest child – Oren. Both children visit various after school activities.
The parents have no worries about their children’s education. Since the only second
language choice is French in their town (starting in grade 4). Although they claim it seems not
to be very high quality, they ‘do not consider this language to be essential for their children’s
life’.
3.6 PRESERVING MINOR LANGUAGE
Iva is trying to encourage her children to speak Czech especially after dinner by reading
stories to them in Czech and make them interact with the story (as can be shown on the
following conversation). Reading story ‘O Třech Prasátkách’ (‘About Three Pigs’):
Iva: Tak, ta pohádka je takhle. Byla jednou tři malá... Co? (‘The story goes like this. Once upon a time there were three little... Who?’) Both children (shout together): PRÁSÁTKA! (‘PIGS!’ )
38
They rarely read English as she wants to practice their Czech in an entertaining way.
Although the children often respond in English, the mother gives them little time to adapt to
Czech and then asks them whether they know the word in Czech as well:
Iva: Rochňáček se rozhodl, že si postaví domeček ze slámy... (‘Rochňáček decided to build a house from straw..’) Ronen: Not very good place... Iva: Proč ne? (‘Why not?’) Ronen: Protože.... Sometimes the children ask their mother if they are not sure about the word:
Ronen (when describing a picture): ...kyticka, voda... and how do you say mountain in Czech? Iva: Ho... Ronen: Hory... Iva: Ok, hory. They play games only in Czech, the most favourite is a memory game where the children
expand their vocabulary. The siblings watch only Czech cartoons and films. The family does
not own a TV but they always try to buy supplies of Czech DVDs with cartoons when they
are in the Czech Republic which is another way of exposing them to a Czech speaking
environment. The family sees their Czech relatives once a year for a minimum of three weeks
either in Europe or in Canada. As already mentioned Iva’s Czech friend comes to visit with
her baby so the children have the opportunity to hear Czech conversation.
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4. SECOND FAMILY
The second family lives in the Czech Republic where father Jiří comes from. His wife
Ailsa was born in England. They have a son - Theo (7.4 years old) and a daughter Iona (4.8
years old).
Ailsa has been living in the Czech Republic for 10 years and she masters the language
very well, although she finds her writing weaker. She studied French at university and used to
teach it in England. She went to the Czech Republic for a chance of another experience for
one year, but she stayed when she met her future husband. Jiří learned English at a language
school and later by being married to Ailsa. Neither Jiří nor Ailsa have been raised in a
bilingual family, but they have generally positive approach to bilingualism as such. Even
though Ailsa finds it difficult, she thinks it is good and none of the parents has had any
worries about this approach. Ailsa had seen how different bilingual families function and
most of the experiences were positive. The decision of bilingual upbringing of their children
was based on the nature of speaking one’s own language to a child as explains the mother.
She says she ‘might have raised them bilingually anyway even ... with an English partner ... as
it is a great advantage for them’ (meaning in French and English). But naturally Czech is now
more important for them when they live in the Czech Republic.
4.1 SETTLEMENT
The family lives in the second largest city of the Czech Republic which has about 404
hundred thousand inhabitants and is situated in the South Moravian region. There does not
occur any significant dialect that is different from the standard Czech in that region. The
couple had decided to stay in the Czech Republic due to better job opportunities for both of
them.
Father’s parents have passed away when the children were younger. Relatives from
mother’s side live in England and they visit each other regularly (at least three or four times a
year).
40
4.2 WAYS OF COMMUNICATION
Ailsa and Jiří had used Czech language to speak to each other before their children were born.
They say their communication did not change much after they had children, but they ‘try to
speak English sometimes in front of the children if [they] are having a conversation together’.
When the children were smaller, they used Czech as a secret language because the children’s
English was stronger. The mother currently speaks English to her children at all times, the
father uses mostly Czech when speaking to Theo and Iona but occasionally inserts some
English expressions and utterances. The siblings use English to communicate with each other
and the whole family communicates by a mix of Czech and English, but mainly as has been
described above. A diagram depicting the families’ way of communication is shown in Fig. 2
below.
Fig. 2
An example of how the whole family communicates might be showed on following
extract (the previous conversation being in English):
Theo: Daddy? Venku můžem si hrát na stezku odvahy? (‘Can we go and play outside for ‘the path of courage’?’)
Father: Teďkom ne, já půjdu pryč za chvilku. (‘Not now, I shall go away in a moment.’)
Theo: Mami? Can we ...with you?
Mother: It is too dark, my love, to go out just now.
Theo: We will have lots of torches. That’s what the stezka odvahy is all about! To be brave in a dark.’
41
The son uses addressing the parents (Mami, Daddy) to switch codes from previous
language to the other one – the one of the parent. But not always it depends on the
circumstances. Theo also says ‘stezka odvahy’ while talking to his mother because there is no
such exact expression in English for that and probably to ensure they are talking about the
same thing. This is a matter of culture – ‘stezka odvahy’ probably may be translated as ‘the
path of courage’ as stated in the extract of conversation, but it is not common in English
speaking countries. It is a night game played for example on summer children camps where
the participants are supposed to go through a set path alone in dark to prove and test their
courage.
This communicative situation pattern does not change even in different environments.
For instance when there are Czech visitor at their home. The mother would use Czech to
speak to the quests but she would still communicate in English with her children and they
would respond in English as well. She says ‘it does not create a problem because most Czech
people understand’ English. The situation would be probably different if it was other foreign
language that is not spoken so worldwide as English. When visiting relatives in England the
pattern does not change much either, because as Ailsa says her parents are in fact encouraging
her husband to speak Czech with the children even in England and are very positive about this
approach.
4.3 CHILDREN AND LANGUAGES
The mother recalls children had no problems with acquisition of the languages and did
not mix them much. ‘Only if they didn’t know a word in one language they would say it in
another,’ reports Ailsa. She observed in other bilingual families that children usually prefer
the language of their peers, so for this reason she really tried to make sure their English was
strong from the start and ‘wasn’t worried about their Czech being weak’. Consequently,
children’s English has been stronger, ‘they understood and responded to English better for the
first 2-3 years’. Theo’s first words occurred in his 13 or 14 months and were partly Czech and
partly English. On the other hand, Iona started to speak earlier – at about 11 months – but her
first words were only English and did not speak Czech for first 2 to 3 years. When she started
attending nursery schools, she did not speak at all, it took her about six months to start to
speak Czech. Concerning the children’s pronunciation the English one is very good. When
42
speaking Czech, they sometimes mix the ‘English r’ with ‘Czech r’, but rather occasionally.
Ailsa says their word order in Czech is sometimes like in English.
The children do not use any special or made up words except from the word ‘blanket’
which is ‘Czechified’ says Ailsa (e.g. ‘blanket, s blanketem’ etc.). The mother claims the
children ‘are keen on to speak properly ... so other people can understand them’.
‘When was Iona small her father spoke more English to her then, now it is more Czech. It
will become more consistent as they get older and their Czech gets better,’ estimates Ailsa.
Iona’s Czech has improved a lot recently. However, she is still more confident in English. The
mother thinks Theo influenced Iona ‘by speaking English to her all the time so her Czech was
poor even though she never lived in England’. They developed this pattern and have kept it up
to the present time. One of the reasons why Theo started to speak English to Iona from the
beginning is that before Iona was born the family lived in England for a year at time when the
son was 2 years old and Ailsa says it helped his English a lot. Although Theo writes better in
Czech, he reads better in English because he had English reading lessons before he started
school, Ailsa has reported in the questionnaire.
Ailsa stresses one point of children’s awareness of their bilingualism: ‘They realise that
everyone else is trying to learn English so it is something special for them that they already
know it.’ She adds that they have ‘an ideal situation’ and she thinks the ‘benefits of
bilingualism tend to be forgotten when the second language is not a ‘useful’ one in the world’.
This is a very interesting point and as discussed in the theoretical part, most of the researches
on bilingual children are done on ‘elitist’ bilingualism and it can be said that ‘folk’
bilingualism is not viewed that positively by the society.
4.4 LIFESTYLE AND TRADITIONS
The family does not have a television, but the children watch cartoons on DVDs and they
read stories together. The mother tries to emphasise the English traditions since they live in
the Czech Republic. It is different concerning holiday, it depends who the family celebrates
with. But usually, they will have turkey on Christmas Eve and Father Christmas will bring
presents to the children. Similarly, the Easter is more English. The children when asked the
question - where are you from- reply that they are from England although they were born in
the Czech Republic. They view their being bilingual positively and are proud to be doing
things differently, because it proves they are English states their mother.
43
4.5 CHILDREN AND EDUCATION
Theo and Iona attended Czech nursery school. The parents’ decision to put them to a
Czech nursery school, and now Theo to Czech primary school (now in the first grade), was
mainly because they wanted them to learn Czech properly (as English has been still dominant)
although they ‘would have preferred a bilingual school.’ Nevertheless, there is not one in the
town and the only English school is very expensive. Even though Theo and Iona attended the
same nursery school, they were in different classes. Since they speak to each other in English,
the parents wanted them to take the full advantage of the opportunity of using Czech in the
nursery school.
Before Theo started primary school he used to take English reading lessons. The mother
explains: ‘I wanted him to read English as it is more difficult.’ She wanted him to create
‘more positive attitude’. As a result he had already known all the letters of alphabet and had
been able to read in English before he started school. They already have English as a second
language in the first grade. There was the possibility for the son to attend school where the
first language is German, but it was too far from the place where the family lives. The parents
wanted Theo to do something different instead of the English classes at first and they say ‘the
teachers were cooperative’ and willing to give him extra Czech classes. However, the parents
decided not to burden Theo’s already ‘heavy timetable’ even more. He used to have his own
extra work for the lessons (reading in English) but now he helps the teacher in the classes as
he is keen on to actively participate. The parents admit they would probably have to change
the approach as he will be older.
Iona attends Czech nursery school and also visits small English nursery school once a
week where they speak both languages. Ailsa would also like Iona to read in English before
she starts a Czech primary school, because ‘it went quite good with Theo’.
4.3 PRESERVING THE MINOR LANGUAGE
The parents try to encourage their children in speaking English by many ways although
their English has been stronger up today. Since they know their Czech will become eventually
stronger due to influence of the environment. Ailsa speaks to the children always in English
and tries to spend as much time with them as possible. They read stories together in English
44
and when the children are not sure about a word she explains it in English (not Czech) as
shows following extract (reading fairy tale):
Mother: ... Head up everyone don’t stoop girl... (Theo makes a quiet gesture expressing he did not understand something)... don’t stoop means like don’t go with your head down and like it means you should walk straight...
Although she says it is comfortable for everyone when having Czech visitors at home
who understand English, she feels it sometimes creates a barrier for children when they ‘are
out at the park [and the children] always speak to [her] in English even when there are other
children there’.
They watch English DVDs, the mother usually gives the children a chance to choose, but
they would pick up the English one almost every time. She also reads them stories in English
and Theo also reads in English for himself. Ailsa says: ‘Theo is comfortable to read alone’
and they ‘buy books from England, easy ones for him to read’. The mother admits it is easier
with English than another language, because one can find English books everywhere and even
Czech DVDs usually have the choice of English dubbing. Moreover, they can also go to the
cinema where would usually be Czech subtitles in English speaking films. The family goes to
an English speaking church to secure more opportunities where children can hear English. In
addition, Iona visits English nursery school once a week as has been already discussed. The
family regularly visits their grandparents in England and spends there most of the summer
holidays. They have also many English speaking friends and know other bilingual families
(Czech – English) and visit them. In fact, the mother is thinking of setting up ‘something
official for bilingual families to be able to meet more regularly’.
45
5.CROSS-CASE ANALYSIS
The undermentioned chapter is a cross-case analysis of two above family case studies. Its
purpose is not to compare or in any way judge the communicative approaches and strategies
of the families. It should, however, both summarize main points of the studies and highlight
useful strategies that can be adapted to teaching English as a second language.
Both the families were chosen purposely due to convenient conditions in which the
children acquire two languages (Czech and English). Languages of both the mothers are
minor to the community and they try to preserve and develop this children’s language. Both
of them are using interesting and predominantly entertaining ways to do so. The role of the
mothers’ grandparents (as speakers of the ‘minor’ language) is very important in both
families, and they try to visit them as often as possible to ensure the maximum contact with
the language in its natural way.
Without the need of translations within the second family as all of the members
understand both of the language they are able to communicate more freely than the first
family. Every member of the family is free to express him/herself in a way he/she finds the
most convenient and comfortable in the situation. This situation is not possible in the first
family as the father does not speak Czech very well. The only way for the whole family to
communicate is English. Therefore the son might have not sensed the necessity to speak
Czech to his mother as she clearly understood and spoke English as well. On that account, as
she said the son needs more motivation for speaking Czech. Similar attitude might experience
teachers in their English classes, esp. with teenage students.
Similarly, as the first mother did, patience and providing enough time for the students is
also very important. If the teacher speaks English to the students it is good if they respond in
Czech – it proves they understand. One should remember that silent period might occur and
respect for that should be taken in account (esp. with younger children). An example can be
provided from the second family, it took some time to the daughter to start to speak Czech at
nursery school, because it is something perfectly natural.
What cannot be applied to class is the constant contact with the language and the
necessity to use language to parent from birth as a natural way of communication. Likewise,
the students can be familiarised with culture as far as traditions are concerned, but other
aspects and direct experiences are unlikely to be taught at school as naturally. On the other
46
hand, many nursery schools have been established in the last 20 years in the Czech Republic
which attempt to simulate this bilingual family environment. From the author’s own
observations in such classes, the children are quick to understand the meaning of the message
in English, but their own production is limited and they tend to speak Czech. These schools
are becoming popular, but rather among ‘upper-class families’ as they are very expensive.
However, the parents have to continue with their endeavour to develop their children’s
English constantly even after nursery school to avoid getting their efforts in vain.
Some primary and secondary schools in the Czech Republic have a native English teacher
who either teaches some of the classes or visits them regularly. This is excellent motivation
for the students. They have the opportunity to actually put what they have learned to use - to
communicate with a native speaker. Sadly, it is not possible for all schools to employ a native
English speaker. It is, therefore, up to the teacher to present the skills of a native speaker to
the class and motivate the students. It is possible to speak to the children and adolescents for
that matter in English most of the time and set this rule in advance to eliminate the
possibilities to slip back into Czech.
The idea of the second mother to meet other bilingual families more regularly is not the
first one that occurred in the Czech Republic. Many bilingual parents are now taking
responsibility for their children’s language that is minor in the country they live in. Parents
are forming smaller communities where their children can communicate and acquire the other
language in natural way from other people than only their parents. As an example the project
‘Class Acts’ might be introduced. It is a multicultural community with its seat in Prague
founded by parents of bilingual children. This project was awarded by the European
Language Label award for the year 2010. It originated from the impulse of English mothers
raising their bilingual children in the Czech Republic. They wanted to share their experience
and to expose their children more to active language usage as such. Moreover, this
community does not only provide leisure activities only for bilingual children, they are
experiencing a big interest from many Czech parents and their children learning English who
take part in numerous activities and programmes. This project among other programmes
provides After School English for bilingual children visiting Czech schools and creates an
important community of parents which is attempting to set open multicultural environment.8
8 More information can be found on the website www.classacts.cz
47
This successful project may be an inspiration for other bilingual parents in creating a
community that can help beyond the bilingual families with second language teaching
inspired by natural bilingual language acquisition.
Another method that is inspired by the ways the mothers in the case studies employ is
storytelling - using stories (mainly fairytales and cartoons) to engage the children. Not only it
is entertaining, motivating and it enriches their vocabulary, but also it passes the cultural
knowledge. Andrew Wright, a teacher and author of many books on storytelling, writes on
this subject. He has created many methods how to use storytelling in teaching. As he explains,
stories are part of our everyday life as we describe events and share them with others. Wright
highlights the importance of stories in the lives of children: ‘stories help children to
understand their world and to share it with others.’ (Wright, Introduction).9 Stories also
motivate children to listen, learn and present English in its common form. When telling the
stories the children have the opportunity to express themselves, and by making the
personalization available for them more involvement is reached. Indeed, storytelling is very
extensive and variable method which seems to fulfil many of the ways of bilingual language
acquisition.
There are many ways that can enrich and inspire ones teaching. Surely, this short analysis
did not include all of them, but it rather summarized author’s gained valuable experience from
this research and linked it with her current didactic knowledge and practice.
9 Wright, A., Storytelling with children. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995. Print.
48
CONCLUSION
The purpose of the theoretical part was to reconnoitre theory on bilingualism and
bilingual children. Its attempt was to prepare basis for following research. The main aim of
the practical part was to examine and describe ways of communication within two Czech-
English families, apart from that it was viewed on various methods that help children to
acquire both languages.
A number of interesting points is presented in the theoretical part - acquisition of
language(s) from birth, connection between language, culture and thought, children
development and bilingualism as such. When considering different types of how a child can
acquire two languages the case when each parent speaks his/her own native language to the
child is considered to be the most common one for ‘elitist’ bilingualism. Therefore two
families with this same approach had been chosen. It was stated that what language people
use determines the way they think, it opens doors to two cultures and broadens horizons of
one’s life. This has influenced individuals growing up in bilingual environment. A case study
has been chosen as the most suitable method of the research as to fully capture the qualitative
nature of data and to ensure authenticity.
English is a dominant language for all the children of the studies. It is due to constant
exposure to English language by the mother at early years of their life in the second case and
dominance of English in the environment of the children and only ‘one way’ Czech to lesser
extent in the first case. This situation might and certainly will change in the future to some
extent, because language knowledge is not a rigid frame and evolves and shapes thank to
various influences. Several interesting language methods have been described in ways of
communication in the families. In a summary, it can be stated the constituency of using only
one language to the child, motivation by other monolingual speakers of that language (both
coevals and adults), strong motivation for usage of the language, encouragement, loving
approach to the learners and using stories and fairytales as an entertaining and natural way of
language knowledge improvement.
Cross-case analysis combined findings from both case studies with the author’s
experience and tried to propose ways of potential adapting those conclusions to classes of
English. One of the most important things was found to motivate students for speaking and
using English in class which can be achieved by many ways. Maximum exposure to the
49
language is also vital and thus is better when the teacher speaks English as much as possible
(depending on the age and level of the students). Using stories in classes (both telling and
retelling personal experience or fairytale) might be one of the ways how to involve more
personalization in classes. Entertainment and relaxed atmosphere are essentials, especially for
younger learners in order to capture their attention. What seems as stimulating for the teacher
is not to teach only the curriculum but rather the learners themselves and to let them be more
active in the process of teaching.
50
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Chomsky, Noam. Language and mind. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1972.
Print.
Clark, Eve V. The lexicon in acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Print.
De Houwer, Annick. The acquisition of two languages from birth : a case study.
Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1990. Print.
Doskočilová, Kateřina. “Co je to bilingvismus?” Web Ústav českého jazyka a teorie
komunikace, 5 Dec. 2002. Web. 7 Feb. 2011
Government of Alberta . “Goverment of Alberta – Education. “ GOVERNMENT OF
ALBERTA. Web. 3 March 2011
Harding-Esh, Edith and Riley, Philip. The bilingual family: a handbook for parents.
Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2003. Print.
Hudson, Richard A. Sociolinguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
Print.
Kramsch, Claire J. Language and culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. Print.
Lust, Barbara. Child language: acquisition and growth. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2006. Print.
Purdue OWL. “MLA Formatting and Style Guide.“ THE PURDUE OWL. Purdue U
Writing Lab, 10 May 2008. Web. 8 February 2011.
Romaine, Suzanne. Bilingualism. Malden : Blackwell, 1995. Print.
Taeschner, Traute. The sun is Feminine: a study on Language Acquisition in Bilingual
Children. Berlin : Springer-Verlag, 1983. Print.
Vygotsky, Lev S. Thought and language. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1965. Print.
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Yin, Robert K. Case study: design and methods. Thousand Oaks : SAGE Publications,
2003. Print.
52
APPENDICES
Appendix 1: Questionnaire from the first family
Appendix 2: Questionnaire from the second family
53
Appendix 1: Questionnaire - first family
Questionnaire:
This is a questionnaire for you as parents. It consists of two parts, first contains questions
about yourselves and the other about your children. It is enough if only one of you fills the
questionnaire in (except the first three questions – they are for both of you to be answered
separately) or you can do it together and cooperate. The questions are mostly open and your
other ideas or expansions of the thoughts are warmly welcomed. Of course if you are not
comfortable with a question or do not want to answer it, please make a dash (-) under the
question. Should you have any questions please contact me (by email) and ask.
Thank you for your time and kindness
Jana Vašíková
A) parents
What languages do you speak?
languages What skills do you master? (speaking, reading, understanding, writing)
How did you learn them?
mother Czech, English, German
All of the above German from grandparents, English in school, Czech mother tongue
father
English Extremely basic Czech
All of the above spoken
Mother tongue
Were you raised in a bilingual family? If so, what languages? (underline)
M - yes – no
F - yes – no
54
Do you think that bilingualism is _________ (underline)?
mother father good – bad – none of the two good – bad – none of the two easy – difficult - none of the two easy – difficult - none of the two pleasant - unpleasant none of the two pleasant - unpleasant - none of the two useful – burden - none of the two useful – burden - none of the two
What languages are important
- in your family: English and Czech
- in the world: English and Spanish
What language(s) had you used with your partner before you had children?
Mother – all of the above mentioned ones
How did you decide where your will live as a family?
Joint decision based on convenience, life quality, shared language, shared desires
Is there any dialect in the area where you live? Do you see any remarkable differences from
standard English/Czech?
No, Canadian English is more or less the same throughout the country, with the exception of
French speaking areas.
B) children
Did your communication change (between you and your partner) when your children were
born? If so, how and why?
No, it hasn’t. I did start using Czech to Ronen which I had not been using here in our
Canadian home before.
Please, describe the communication in your family. (What languages (or mix) do you use to
speak to each other?)
Mother/children – mix of English, Czech, English being prevalent
Father/children - English
55
Children together – English, with occasional Czech words
Whole family - English
Why did you decide to raise your children bilingually?
It’s a free gift/ skill to acquire a second language in childhood, Mothers grandparents speak
only Czech.
Had you taken any advice before you decided to raise your children bilingually? Was the
advice positive or negative?
No (generally accepted that second language is easily acquired by children)
Did you have any worries or doubts about this approach?
No.
What was the beginning like for you and your children?
No problem for children, quite an effort for mother = conscious effort.
What was the development and change of your children’s language? Did they mix both
languages together? Which one was dominant in early years and which one after some time
(e.g. after they started their nursery school)?
Ronen – English always dominant, mother did not use Czech consistently during his first two
years of life
Arwyn – addressed only in Czech by mother in their alone/ together time, used Czech
expressions during this time, English during family time ; same after starting play school
(attends only 1 day a week)
Which language do you think they master better/ is more used at present time? (How do they
master different skills? - speaking, reading, understanding, writing)
Definitely English. Ronen is just in grade 1 and is only learning his academic skills. He is
very bright in the use of both languages; as for Czech though, understanding is very good and
speech is used mainly when in the Czech Republic, occasionally at home.
Do you see any differences between the language development of your children?
56
Yes, Arwyn, who has been more exposed to Czech than Ronen reacts to Czech spoken around
her even when not addressed directly. (I have two Czech friends who live in our area and visit
regularly). Has excellent comprehension skills.
Do you think the older sibling influenced the younger (considering the language)? If so, how?
Ronen definitely in a negative way as far as spoken Czech goes, as he uses English
dominantly and would not communicate with Arwyn in Czech.
Do you have any special/extraordinary words in your family? Did your children create any
special words? Do they use them?
Dudlik id dudak (Arwyn)
They love saying “platis pivo” ☺ when two people say the same thing at the same time
“Bia” – is the name which both kids use for their special blanket. It originates from the time
when I used to teach Ronen colours and would point to his blanket and say bila, repeatedly.
What language environments do your children occur in? How do they communicate there?
Ronen – except for home, English. Occasionally Czech when my friends come to visit, or
grandparents.
Arwyn – is more exposed to Czech as I have regular playdates with my Czech girlfriend who
has a small child also and teaches him Czech. We communicate Czech then, Arwyn still
speaks English mostly but inserts more and more Czech words, expressions.
Does your communication (with your children) change in different environments (at nursery
school/school/vacation in different country etc.)? How (describe it, please)?
Of course, in CZ I use Czech constantly as there are no “English disruptions” ☺
Why did you decide to put your children to English/ Czech nursery school? Did you have
another choice?
Small town – no Czech nursery schools
How do you try to preserve the language of your children, which is not dominant in your
community?
57
We read only in Czech, kids only watch Czech cartoons, movies, we regularly visit the Czech
Rep. and ensure their maximum exposure to the language there, grandparents regularly visit
us in Canada
Where do both your broad families (esp. grandparents) live, how often do you visit each
other?
Aaron’s mother – in our neighbourhood (we see her regularly)
Aaron’s father – in Thailand (he visits once a year)
My parents – Brno, CZ, we see them once a year for a minimum of three weeks, either in
Europe or in Canada
Do you know other bilingual families? Are you in contact with them?
Yes, two of my girlfriends, as mentioned previously. With one of them who lives directly in
our town we visit regularly (once a week), the other one in about 200km away from us so not
quite that often.
Do you see any weak points in the school system of your country?
I described this previously at our personal meeting in Brno.
What is your opinion on your children’s education? Do you have any worries? What about a
foreign language at school?
I don’t have any worries, and the only language taught in our town in French, starting in grade
4. Not very high quality but I do not consider this language to be essential for my children’s
life.
Are you planning to adopt the same approach to your third child? / If you had another child,
would you adopt the same approach (of communication)? / If not, why? How will/would it be
different?
Same approach, hopefully even more intense. Arwyn will be at home with baby and me and
she communicates Czech very well.
Do you think your children perceive they can speak more languages? What is their opinion?
How do they feel about it?
58
Abosolutely they do. They are proud of their extra skill and occasionally we use it as a secret
code btw us when out in public.
What language(s) had you used with your partner before you had children?
English, plus he was learning bits and pieces of Czech also.
Did your communication (between you and your partner) change when your children were
born? If so, how and why?
No, it hasn’t.
Where do both your broad families (esp. grandparents) live, how often do you visit each
other?
Aaron’s mother – in our neighbourhood (we see her regularly)
Aaron’s father – in Thailand (he visits once a year)
My parents – Brno, CZ, we see them once a year for a minimum of three weeks, either in
Europe or in Canada
How do your children communicate (with each other/ with their father) in Czech Republic or
when Czech visitors come to your home?
Btw. the two of them, in Czech this past summer they spoke mostly English but definitely
applied a wide range of Czech expressions in their communication. With their dad, they
communicated as usual.
Ronen has just started school, have you thought of supporting his Czech with written form as
well?
To be honest, no. I definitely place all focus on comprehension and speaking, and believe that
if there is a need in the future for him to master the written part of the language, he will be
able to do so.
How do think your children's Czech will develop from now on?
I believe their vocabulary will expand, and expect that every time we visit the Czech
Republicnot only their fluency but also their motivation to use the language will grow. (Their
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cousins are similar age and they have a very nice relationship, also have established other
friendships in Czech).
How do you celebrate holidays (Christmas, Easter) Czech/English tradition?
We actually don’t, I am a very non-traditional person and try to stay away from all
commercial influences in the children’s lives. Apart from that, we are Christians and try to
follow the Bible as far as traditions are concerned, and neither Christmas not Easter is of
biblical origin (came from pagan traditions introduced about 300AD and Catholic church
adopted them into their non-biblical rituals.)
This is a space for you to add something (if you want to share some experience or something
which was not included in the questions):
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Appendix 2: Questionnaire - second family
Questionnaire:
This is a questionnaire for you as parents. It consists of two parts, first contains questions
about yourselves and the other about your children. It is enough if only one of you fills the
questionnaire in (except the first three questions – they are for both of you to be answered
separately) or you can do it together and cooperate. The questions are mostly open and your
other ideas or expansions of the thoughts are warmly welcomed. Of course if you are not
comfortable with a question or do not want to answer it, please make a dash (-) under the
question. Should you have any questions please contact me (by email) and ask.
Thank you for your time and kindness
Jana Vašíková
A) parents
What languages do you speak?
languages What skills do you master? (speaking, reading, understanding, writing)
How did you learn them?
mother English, Czech, French
English - all French and Czech - all but writing weaker
English – mother tongue French –school and university Czech – living in the Czech Republic
father Czech, English
Czech – all English – all but writing weaker
Czech – mother tongue English – at a language school and being married to Ailsa
Were you raised in a bilingual family? If so, what languages? (underline)
M - yes – no
F - yes – no
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Do you think that bilingualism is _________ (underline)?
mother father good – bad – none of the two good – bad – none of the two easy – difficult - none of the two easy – difficult - none of the two pleasant - unpleasant none of the two pleasant - unpleasant - none of the two useful – burden - none of the two useful – burden - none of the two
What languages are important
- in your family: English and Czech
- in the world: English and whatever language is spoken where you live
What language(s) had you used with your partner before you had children?
Czech
How did you decide where your will live as a family?
Job reasons – easier for both to have a job here
Is there any dialect in the area where you live? Do you see any remarkable differences from
standard English/Czech?
No, not really
B) children
How old are your children (please state year and month)?
7 – Dec 2003 and 4 – July 2006
Did your communication (between you and your partner) change when your children were
born? If so, how and why?
Not really but we try to speak English sometimes in front of the children if we are having a
conversation all together. Also, when they were smaller we used Czech as a secret language
as their English was much stronger
Please, describe the communication in your family. (What languages (or mix) do you use to
speak to each other?)
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Mother/children - English
Father/children - mostly Czech with some English
Children together - English
Whole family - a mix
Why did you decide to raise your children bilingually?
It is more natural to speak in your own language. Actually, I might have raised them
bilingually anyway even in England with an English partner – I considered it before I met my
husband as it is a great advantage for them. But with a Czech husband they obviously need
English and they need Czech because we live here.
Had you taken any advice before you decided to raise your children bilingually? Was the
advice positive or negative?
No advice – I had already seen how it works in many families so I knew a lot about it already.
Most advice was positive – no real problems although some people had experienced that their
children stopped speaking one of the languages later in life -they usually prefer the language
of their peers so for this reason I really tried to make sure their English was strong from the
start and I wasn’t worried about their Czech being weak. A couple of people with no
experience of it told me I should speak to my children in Czech but I ignored them!
Did you have any worries or doubts about this approach?
No. Only that my husband was not consistent in speaking Czech to them but that didn’t worry
me because I knew their Czech would get stronger naturally.
What was the beginning like for you and your children?
It was fun to see them saying some words in Czech and some in English. They had no
problems but they understood and responded to English better for the first 2-3 years.
What was the development and change of your children’s language? Did they mix both
languages together? Which one was dominant in early years and which one after some time
(e.g. after they started their nursery school)?
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They didn’t mix them much - only if they didn’t know a word in one language they would
say it in another. English has been dominant for them up to now.
Which language do you think they master better/ is more used at present time? (How do they
master different skills? - speaking, reading, understanding, writing)
My son can read better in English because he had English reading lessons before he started
school. I think he writes better in Czech as it is easier. He speaks better English and
understands more too. My daughter can’t read or write yet but she can understand more
English I think. As for her speaking, her Czech has improved a lot recently and she maybe
speaks them both at the same level. However, she is more confident in English when speaking
to people she doesn’t know well.
Do you see any differences between the language development of your children?
Definitely. My son could always speak both, but his Czech was always weaker. My daughter
didn’t speak Czech at all until she was 3, and then her Czech got suddenly much better and
now she is almost the same in both. The interesting thing is that we lived in England for a
year at a time when my son’s speech was really developing (he was 2 ) and I think it helped
his English a lot. He then influenced my daughter by speaking to her in English all the time so
her Czech was poor even though she never lived in England.
Do you think the older sibling influenced the younger (considering the language)? If so, how?
Yes. He spoke to her all the time in English and she heard us speaking English all the time
which is why her Czech didn’t have a chance to develop. Even at nursery school they spoke
English together. Now, I can see that she is happy to speak Czech but they are already used to
speaking English so it is hard to change the pattern.
Do you have any special/extraordinary words in your family? Did your children create any
special words? Do they use them?
Some things which are important to them (e.g. blankets) are always referred to in English, and
Czechified (blankety, s blanketem ...) My husband and I make up words but the children tend
to speak the languages more properly than us and don’t really use any made-up words. They
are keen to speak properly I think so other people can understand them.
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What language environments do your children occur in? How do they communicate there?At
school/nursery school they speak Czech
At home more English. There are not many opportunities for them to speak English as most
friends and after school clubs are Czech. We go to an English-speaking church so they can
have at least some opportunity to hear English outside the home. When we are out at the park
they always speak to me in English even when there are other children there. I sometimes feel
this creates a barrier for them to be able to speak to other children.
Does your communication (with your children) change in different environments (at nursery
school/school/vacation in different country etc.)? How (describe it, please)?
No, I always speak to them in English at all times. My husband does change depending on the
situation but often the children will speak to him in English so then he may answer in English
regardless of the situation. I don’t think he really thinks about it that much.
Why did you decide to put your children to English/ Czech nursery school? Did you have
another choice?
I wanted them to learn Czech properly at nursery before they started school. I knew they
would have to go to a Czech school as there was no other choice. I would have preferred a
bilingual school but there is not one in Brno. The only English speaking school is extremely
expensive and I am not sure about the quality of it.
How do you try to preserve the language of your children, which is not dominant in your
community? By speaking at home, by watching DVDs in English, my daughter goes to
English nursery once a week, we go to an English-speaking church. I read to them in English
and try to spend time with them as much as possible.
Where do both your broad families (esp. grandparents) live, how often do you visit each
other?
We don’t have any Czech grandparents - they have died. Our English grandparents live in
England. We try to see them about 3 or 4 times a year.
Do you know other bilingual families? Are you in contact with them?
Yes, a lot. We are not in contact much although I would like to be. I am thinking of setting up
something official for bilingual families to be able to meet more regularly.
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Do you see any weak points in the school system of your country?
A lot of children come out of school in Britain unable to read or write well. However, I do not
think this is really the fault of the schools. I think children slip through the system because
they are not able to work independently and there are problems with discipline. Starting
compulsory school at the age of 4 seems less attractive to me now but I think in the Czech
Republic more could be done with the children at the age of 5 to prepare them for school.
What is your opinion on your children’s education? Do you have any worries? What about a
foreign language at school?
There are no bilingual schools, which I think would be excellent. Czech schools treat the
whole class as a unit and do not allow for differences of ability within the class. Everyone is
expected to be at the same point, whereas English schools have the children working in
groups depending on their ability. The children are more independent. I am worried that there
is too much homework here and too much pressure on the children in general. I would like my
children to learn another foreign language but all the focus is on English until much later.
Are you planning to adopt the same approach to your third child? / If you had another child,
would you adopt the same approach (of communication)? / If not, why? How will/would it be
different?
If I had another child I would adopt the same approach.
Do you think your children perceive they can speak more languages? What is their opinion?
How do they feel about it?
Yes, they definitely know it. They also realise that everyone else is trying to learn English so
it is something special for them that they already know it. If it was another language that we
spoke at home the effect would be different. I try to talk about other languages a lot so they
don’t get lazy and think they already know everything they need to know about languages!
How do you celebrate holidays (Christmas, Easter) Czech/English tradition?
Christmas – half and half. It depends who we are celebrating with. But probably more English
than Czech. We put up the tree at the start of December and none of us like carp so we
normally have turkey. Father Christmas comes to our house. But so does Mikulas. I really
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dislike the Czech Easter traditions of the stick and getting drunk on Easter Monday so we
definitely have a more English Easter.
This is a space for you to add something (if you want to share some experience or something
which was not included in the questions):
There is definitely some kind of status symbol with speaking English in the Czech Republic
so being bilingual is quite easy. I think if we lived in England and spoke Czech it would be
quite different and harder for the children. We really have an ideal situation. There are a
number of bilingual communities in the Czech Republic amongst eg. Vietnamese and Roma
people but people tend to view that more negatively in terms of the children not being able to
speak good Czech. The benefits of bilingualism tend to be forgotten when the second
language is not a ‚useful’one in the world.
