Home-related strategies and practices to maintain Chinese heritage language and their implications for identity construction

This study explores the strategies and practices that Chinese immigrant families undertake for the maintenance of their children’s Chinese heritage language, both within and beyond the home setting. Additionally, it investigates the development of children’s ethnic identities, examining perspectives from both parents and children, and identifying factors contributing to identity construction. This qualitative ethnography involves sixteen Chinese immigrant families, comprising fourteen parents and sixteen focal children who migrated to Australia between ages 3-10. Data were collected through open-ended in-depth interviews, triangulated by informal conversations, evidence of literacy practices and WeChat posts. Findings show that these immigrant families employed a variety of strategies, such as home tutoring, enrolling children in community schools, and sending them back to schools in China, to maintain their children’s Chinese heritage language. These family strategies engaged children in diverse Chinese literacy practices, including calligraphy practice, assigning Chinese math, dictating Chinese characters, writing essays, reading Chinese literature. The study also highlights variations in the children’s degrees of Chineseness, ranging from distancing themselves from their ethnic country and Chinese-speaking peers to expressing affection for both. The strength of children’s Chinese identity, though multilayered, is positively associated with their proficiency in Chinese and habitus of language socialization, both of which are primarily influenced by age at migration but subject to modification or reversal through post-migration Chinese language practices.