Exploring heritage language learning among Korean migrant families in Australia

<p dir="ltr">The increasing influx into Australia of migrants whose first language is not English has made Australia more linguistically diverse than ever. Australians speak more than 300 languages at home, with one in five speaking a language other than English at home. Of these, more than 150 are a ‘heritage language’ (HL) which is not spoken as the societal majority language but passed down through the family in the migrant community. While HLs are immensely valuable resources both for individuals and for society, they are, overall, vulnerable in Australia. Indeed, English is still the only language spoken in 72% of all Australian households. There is also a significant break in intergenerational continuity in the use of the HL in migrant families in Australia.</p><p dir="ltr">Korean migrants in Australia buck this trend, as they show a relatively high level of language maintenance. According to Census data across years, the majority of Korea-born people speak Korean as a main language at home. High maintenance of Korean may be attributed to their well-established Korean communities. Australia’s Korean community, especially in Sydney, has become well-established and supports an active network that maintains its Korean identity. Notable within their community groups are Korean-speaking church congregations which many Koreans consider as a focal point of Korean culture. The Australian Korean community, nevertheless, has experienced a language shift toward English among younger generations, and a sharp decline in the rate of high school students enrolled in Korean community language schools.</p><p dir="ltr">Using Korean migrants in Australia as a case study, the research presented in this thesis expands existing knowledge of HL maintenance. Specifically, it explores the ways in which Korean HL learners and their parents identify themselves in a multilingual setting, comparing the views of young HL learners of primary and secondary school ages, and considering environmental factors influencing migrant parents’ and their children’s decision to maintain their HL. It also considers a Korean church as one of the language-learning environments, exploring the ways in which affiliation with a migrant church contributes to the HL maintenance of the children. This mixed-methods exploration combines diverse data and analytical tools: statistical analysis of 300 parental questionnaires; and thematic and critical discourse analyses of interviews with eight Korean migrant parents and their school-aged children.</p><p dir="ltr">The study’s key findings highlight that the ways in which migrant parents and their children view their HL and identify themselves in a multicultural society vary by school age and generation. Those differences regarding ideologies around their language and identity may be reflected in the finding that the participants, in childhood, adolescence and parenthood, engage in different environments for their HL learning and maintenance. Despite these differences, both parent and child participants agree that their HL-speaking church contributes to their HL maintenance. This thesis presents multiple implications for migrant families and communities, and for HL education policy makers. It also contributes to a dynamic notion of multilingualism and language education in a multicultural society such as Australia.</p>