Investigating receptive bilingualism through a family language policy lens: The case of Arabic-English speaking families in Australia

Abstract

Maintaining a heritage language in a monolingual society presents ongoing challenges for immigrant families, particularly when children develop receptive bilingualism—understanding the heritage language but with limited production skills. While receptive bilingualism has received some scholarly attention in second-language acquisition and heritage-language studies, it remains underexplored in family language policy research.

To address this gap, this thesis investigates how the three components of family language policy—beliefs, practices, and management strategies (Spolsky, 2004)—and agency—the capacity to act and make choices—influence receptive bilingualism among Arabic-English-speaking families in Australia. Data were collected over six months using a multiple, ethnographically informed case study approach with three families whose Australian-born children were aged 5–12 years.

Findings reveal that active parental agency, characterised by intentional engagement, mediated the translation of parental language beliefs into supportive practices and management strategies, developing both receptive and productive bilingualism. Constrained and deferred agency created misalignment between beliefs, practices, and strategies, reinforcing receptive bilingualism. From the children's perspectives, their beliefs, practices, and engagement with parent-initiated strategies were shaped by their perceived awareness of receptive bilingualism.