Parental Guan and Heritage Language Development: Reframing Family Language Policy among Chinese Immigrant Families in Ireland

Abstract

Globalism is changing Ireland, marking a shift from a predominantly monolingual past to a multilingual future, visible in the growing number of immigrant families. This global shift has given researchers an opportunity to delve into the lives of families and see how or if they practice their heritage languages. It also affords us with an opportunity, that this research has taken up, to understand culture-based parenting. This thesis explores the indigenous Chinese parenting concept of guan, which is rooted in Confucianism, and examines its role in shaping Family Language Policy and heritage language development. Guan encompasses guidance, care, training and governance. Moving beyond Western-centric parenting norms, this research focuses on culture-based philosophies and positions parental guan as a management system within family socialisation which can facilitate heritage language development and transmit sociocultural values, family expectations, and norms of behaviour.
A mixed-methods design was used to investigate how guan is practiced and shapes the family language. The research consisted of two phases. The first phase involved qualitative data collection designed to explore how guan was practiced and perceived by parents and their adolescent children. Data were gathered from six parents and nine adolescents drawing on interviews, focus groups, researcher reflexivity, reflective diaries and social media interaction. The findings revealed guan as both essential and necessary for fostering heritage language development. This qualitative exploration was then used to inform the second phase which involved the development of the questionnaire. Data was collected from 92 Chinese or Chinese speaking parents living in Ireland. The findings showed strong relationships between parental roles and language choice, teaching Chinese, transmitting Chinese culture, and encouraging children to speak Chinese. The correlations suggest that parental guan is linked to broader beliefs and practices around the importance of Chinese language development and family influence.

Date of Award	25 Jun 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bath
Supervisor	Xiao Lan Curdt-Christiansen (Supervisor), Janina Iwaniec (Supervisor) & Reka Ratkaine Jablonkai (Supervisor)