Life and Perception, and the Decisions of a Parent

The goal of this analysis is to understand how personal characteristics–behavior, motivations, personal history, societal perceptions, professional background, etc.–influence a parent’s approach to heritage language preservation (HLP) in their household. Personal characteristics affect every aspect of cognition, in particular decision-making and perception of outcomes or progress. This paper is part of a larger study that conducted interviews with parents of households that utilize three or more heritage languages and wish to preserve them in their children. In reviewing the transcription of one of these interviews, several themes and personal characteristics were identified. Of note, the interviewee described their experience learning foreign languages as part of their profession, and the prior experience of their spouse working as a teacher. The interviewee expressed that they both share the same desire to take the HLP of their children into their own hands. The interviewee displayed a marked disdain for the school system and opined on the practicality of multilingualism and the essentialness of fluency, making references to his own experiences as a child of immigrants. According to the interviewee, both parents are “happy with the way things are going.” Certain characteristics appear to accompany a positive perception of outcomes or progress in this case. Both parents have some form of history with language learning, education, or both, as well as a set of personal beliefs as to the importance of preserving heritage languages and culture, and an identification of systemic barriers to that effort. There also seems to be a relationship between related personal hardship and a sense of importance regarding HLP. Further targeted investigation may reveal additional characteristics that contribute to outcome perception, and potentially a set of strategies that could be employed by other parents with similar desires but who lack certain characteristics