Home Language Practices of Trilingual Children in French Immersion

Abstract

This article draws on sociocultural theories of language and learning as well as research on bilingual families to examine the home language practices of three trilingual French immersion students. This research expands on an earlier study of their language practices at school. An ethnographic stance was adopted to explore the daily context of language use at home, the children's representations of their identity as trilinguals, their family values concerning language maintenance and additional language learning, and the reasons their parents opted to enrol them in French immersion. A rich array of language practices was documented in these bilingual homes. The families highly valued the maintenance of the home language and actively promoted the development of trilingualism through French immersion education as a means to access cultural capital for their children. The children expressed their identity as trilinguals in terms of having greater linguistic resources than unilinguals.