Bilingual parenting in two Vietnamese families: returning to and leaving Vietnam

Abstract

Bilingual parenting has been identified to be under-researched in monolingual contexts like Vietnam despite its important role in bilingual education and its large body of research under the field of family language policy. Adopting a case study design, this study explores how two Vietnamese families implemented bilingual parenting in the family milieu in transnational contexts. These two selected families featured bilingual parenting in two reverse settings, in which one family returned to Vietnam from Australia and the other left Vietnam for England. The findings show how parents’ language beliefs influence their language management and practices in bilingual parenting. Furthermore, they illustrate how bilingual parenting could be successfully implemented in transnational contexts with major changes in language environments. The study thereby emphasises the importance of and implies the need for bilingual parenting in monolingual contexts where bilingualism and multilingualism are deemed essential in today’s globalised world