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Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 259

Part of Session 107: Minority and Majority Languages within State, Community and Family (Other abstracts in this session)

Israeli parents' choice of a bilingual Hebrew-Arabic kindergarten for their children: background motives, family language and cultural policy, and its consequences

Authors: Schwartz, Mila (1); Moin, Victor (2); Klayle, Manal (1)
Submitted by: Schwartz, Mila (Oranim Academic College of Education; Safra Brain Research Center for the Study of Learning Disabilities, Department of Learning Disabilities, University of Haifa, Israel, Israel)

The parental choice regarding bilingual education is not an arbitrary one. Parents have background motives which drive them to integrate their child in to a bilingual and bicultural environment which are related to their family language and cultural policy. This choice may, inevitably, have impact on their child's linguistic, cognitive and social development (Schwartz, 2010; Schwartz, Moin, Leikin, & Breitkopf, 2010).

In Israel, the unique socio-political context in which the Jews and Arabs live is what makes bilingual educational institutions in the country exceptional and incomparable to those in other countries. Unlike elsewhere, the two languages used in these institutions are both official languages which belong to two host (non-immigrant) communities that live, separately and unfortunately in conflict, in the country. Bilingual education, in this case, may give the Israeli population, especially the majority Jewish, the chance to be exposed to this significant, however less familiar, language. By doing so, the two groups will be introduced to each others' cultures, and possibly achieve mutual recognition. The aim of this study is, therefore, to investigate the background motives and family language and cultural policy of the parents who choose to send their children to bilingual Hebrew-Arabic kindergartens in Israel. The following two questions were examined: (1) what are the similarities and differences between Jewish and Arabic parents with regard to their motives of choice of a bilingual Hebrew-Arabic kindergarten for their children? (2) What are the consequences of this language and cultural policy concerning the child's socio-linguistic development, the family's satisfaction with the kindergarten and the family's language and cultural policy with regard to the two target groups of comparison?

The study was conducted by applying themixed-methods sequential explanatory design, which implies collectingquantitative (parents' questionnaires) and then qualitative (parents' semi-structural interviews) data in twoconsecutive phases within one study. The research population in the study consisted of Jewish (n = 35) and Arab (n = 45) Israeli parents who choose the bilingual preschools in the Northern part of Israel. The data reveal considerable similarities between the Jews and Arabs on the motives for the kindergarten choice and satisfaction with the kindergartens. However, the differences were found in the self-parents' reports on the management and practice of family language and cultural policy.  As for consequences of this education, both Arab and Jewish parents reported that this experience strengthened their child's personality and empowered them as individuals. Finally, we found that the Arab and Jewish parents' interest in the second language increased drastically and this was reflected in their practice with their children. These findings will be discussed in light of state language policy in Israel.

References

Schwartz, M. (2010). Family language policy: Core issues of an emerging field. Applied Linguistics Review, 1 (1), 171-192.

Schwartz, M., Moin, V. , Leikin, M., & Breitkopf, A. (2010). Immigrants' Family Language Policy toward Children's Preschool Bilingual Education: Parents' Perspective. International Multilingual Research Journal, 4, 107-124.