This presentation aims to show the impact parental language ideologies can have in Family Language Policies (FLP) that take a minority language, majority language and foreign language into consideration. The study presented is located in the Basque Autonomous Community (BAC), where a multilingual perspective to FLP is especially relevant taking into account the multilingual nature of the education system. In the BAC's public education system Basque, Spanish and English are offered as language of instruction and/or subject matter, depending on each school's language program. In addition, students are required to attain at least a B2 level in Basque and Spanish and a B1 level in English at the end of compulsory education (16 years). Most FLP studies have been often focused on policies regarding the minority language in the framework of the hegemonic position of a majority language without taking a foreign language into account, thus, the multilingual perspective of this study can make a contribution to the field.
Language ideologies are of great importance in the field of FLP and Language Policy and Planning in general as they reflect the values and patterns in a specific society based on the beliefs and assumptions individuals have related to languages (Curdt-Christiansen, 2009). Those beliefs and assumptions (subconscious or not) have an influence on language management, and individual and societal language practices, which are interrelated as the three components of Language Policy (Spolsky, 2004, 2009).
The data presented is based on a PhD dissertation that studies the FLPs of parents who live in a mostly Spanish-speaking area of the BAC and whose children attend a pro-Basque immersion school. Overall, data from 19 families have been collected through an online questionnaire, two semi-structured focus groups and fourteen semi-structured individual interviews. It will be shown that living in a mostly Spanish-speaking area, parents have an ideological position in favor of Basque, but they attach different values to Basque, Spanish and English. These values affect and determine to a great extent FLPs, hence, parents' language management strategies in their family and their declared language practices. Whilst all parents support Basque and positively value learning English, there are differences amongst them; the most activist parents, establishing an iron-cast hierarchy, prioritize Basque above all; English has been found to have a clear value and function but its place in this hierarchy varies; and in all cases Spanish is considered to be guaranteed and not requiring special ad hoc strategies. The study confirms the ideological positioning in relation to the minority language as a key factor in minority language FLPs, but also shows the impact of ideas about multilingual upbringing in their decisions, their expectations, and the degree of satisfaction or frustration with results.
Curdt-Christiansen, X. L. (2009). Invisible and visible language planning: Ideological factors in the family language policy of Chinese immigrant families in Quebec. Language Policy, 8(4), 351-375. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-009-9146-7
Spolsky, B. (2004). Language policy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Spolsky, B. (2009). Language management. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
