Transcultural and familial factors in bilingualism and language transmission: A qualitative study of maternal representations of French-Maghrebi Arabic bilingual children

Abstract

This qualitative exploratory study examined transcultural and familial factors involved in bilingualism and minority language transmission among French and Arabic-speaking children. Participants included 30 children aged 4 to 6 years, born in France, and their bilingual French-Maghrebi Arabic-speaking parents. Children’s bilingual language profiles were assessed with the ELAL Scale for Maghrebi Arabic (minority language) and the Neel Scale for French (majority language). Mothers participated in qualitative interviews about cultural and language practices and representations. Interview contents were compared with the children’s language profiles. Results indicated that parents closely associated the transmission of the Arabic language with their cultural heritage transmission. The parents of fluent bilinguals had a strong desire to transmit the minority language. Mothers of minority language dominant bilingual children reported little perception of change in their lives since migration. Half of the mothers of majority language dominant bilingual children reported relationship or emotional difficulties with their children. Four minority language transmission types were identified: direct parent-child transmission; indirect transmission through private classes; indirect transmission through visits to family in the parents' native countries; and alternative transmission by another family member. Direct parent-child transmission was most frequent among the fluent bilinguals. Families' processes of hybridity were related to language transmission and bilingual development of children. Parental cultural affiliations to native country were related to minority language transmission. Perception of change since migration and affiliation to host country may also play a role in harmonious bilingual development. Moreover, the quality of family relationships can affect minority language transmission.

Articulating biological and social approaches in child and adolescent psychiatry

“…The tools available to us shape research designs and clinicians' representations, notably by capturing some cultural forms of mental health experiences, while rendering others invisible. In standard evidence-based and nomothetic CAP approaches, there is a lack of culturally appropriate and transculturally valid instruments (54,55). Some Westernderived scales distort or miss some culturally specific dimensions of mental distress, inducing a form of experience measure fallacy, or an error in measuring the experience of patients by superimposing Western experiences of mental distress (as a parallel to Kleinman's category fallacy, referring the application of a nosological category developed for a particular cultural group to the members of another culture for whom it lacks coherence and validity has not been established) (56)(57)(58).…”