Overview

This book explores language practices, beliefs and management across a group of Polish immigrant families in Australia, drawing on these case studies as a lens through which to unpack dynamics of Family Language Policy (FLP) and their implications for future research on FLP. The volume begins by outlining the historical context of Polish immigration in Australia, charting two key waves of Polish migration in the 20th century and the subsequent unfolding of issues around language and culture maintenance in these families. This discussion paves the way for exploring key themes of language socialization, language ideologies and heritage language maintenance and the affordances of FLP research in elucidating these dynamics at work in the lived experiences of a group of Polish immigrant families in Melbourne. The book highlights the importance of a triangulated approach, integrating qualitative and quantitative methods, in offering nuanced insights into parental approaches and children’s experiences of a bilingual upbringing and the wider impact of FLP on transnational families. Opening up avenues for future research on Family Language Policy and a better understanding of the language practices of specific communities in a globalised world, this book will be of interest to scholars in multilingualism, sociolinguistics and applied linguistics.

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9780367706449

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Reviews

This volume is a welcome contribution to the growing literature on family language policies and heritage language maintenance. Through the lens of the Polish diaspora in Australia, it presents a comprehensive and captivating account of the dynamics of family language policies, illustrating how they are constantly negotiated, contested, and formed by both parents and children. Elizabeth Lanza, University of Oslo, Norway. This is the first comprehensive study of the Polish community, one of the well- established yet understudied groups that make up multicultural Australia. The book explores the community's attitudes, beliefs, and practices to maintain the heritage language against the backdrop of limited institutional support. Piotr Romanowski has produced a rigorous yet highly engaging contribution to the flourishing field of family language policy, as well as a model to study other ethnolinguistic communities. Susana Eisenchlas, Griffith University, Australia. This research is a valuable interdisciplinary examination of heritage language transmission ecology within a group of Polish immigrant families in Australia. Piotr Romanowski traces current tendencies in transnational families' FLP, such as minority-language parents' legitimising of flexible happylingual practices as well as minority language support by majority-language parents. Importantly, the book demonstrates an essential shift in emphasis from traditional FLP research on or about children to research with children. This significant work of scholarship will become essential reading not only for researchers in multilingualism but also for scholars of family and ethnic studies, as well as child development. Mila Schwartz, Oranim Academic College of Education, Israel. This book makes a solid and important contribution to not only the burgeoning literature about Family Language Policy but also our general understanding of linguistic, sociocultural and educational practices in an increasingly multilingual world. Xiao Lan Curdt-Christiansen, University of Bath, UK.

Author Information

Piotr Romanowski, PhD, is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Applied Linguistics of the University of Warsaw, Poland.

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