Iranian Parents' Attitudes and Home-Based Strategies for Children's Bilingualism: A Mixed-Methods Study

This mixed-method study investigated the attitudes of Iranian parents' attitude towards children's bilingualism and the strategies they adopt for developing second language skills. It also intends to seek whether demographic factors such as gender, age, educational background, employment, and family income influence parental attitudes towards bilingualism. In the quantitative phase of the study, the parental attitudes of ۵۰ parents with children at age level ۷-۱۲ were explored on a ۵-Likert scale questionnaire. Independent t-test and ANOVA were used to examine the differences in parents' attitudes based on their demographic. Results showed that parents revealed favorable attitudes towards their children's bilingualism (X>۲.۵). Moreover, among the individual parental characteristics, only age (F = ۳.۳۸, P = ۰.۰۴۳) and gender (t = ۲.۲۸۱, p = ۰.۰۲۷) were shown to be influential on parental attitudes towards their children's bilingualism. The results of semi-structured interviews showed that parents used various techniques to develop their children's second language skills. findings revealed that attempts for developing children's reading skills are of utmost importance for parents, whereas listening and speaking skills receive almost equal attention, but the writing skills are considered less important. The findings can be beneficial to plan practical courses at schools which are better matched with parental attitudes and the strategies they adopt.

کلیدواژه ها:

Mixed-method ، Bilingualism ، Attitudes ، Parental strategies