The Study Of Family Language Policy

China is a linguistically and ethnically heterogeneous nation with a large population and a vast territory.The nationwide promotion of Putonghua and English,as well as the disappearance of ethnic languages and dialects,has dramatically changed the linguistic ecology in China,particularly in the urban contexts.However,most previous studies related to language policy were grounded in the macro or meso level and focused on the public domains such as government institutions or school education,rare attention has been paid to the family domain.The explanatory sequential mixed-method design has not been conducted in the previous studies concerning dialect,Putonghua and English.Based on Spolsky’s three dimensional language policy theory,the study intended to investigate family language policy in Wuhan adolescents’ families and the influence of the macro and meso language policy on family language policy.The participants were 30 adolescents’ families in Wuhan with adolescents aged 10-15 years.Data were collected via questionnaires and interviews by inquiring parents and adolescents’ language practice as well as their language ideology and language management.Data analysis indicated that the mixture of dialect and Putonghua was the most frequent choice in parents’ communication with family members and visitors.As for children’ family language practice,the mixture of dialect and Putonghua was second only to Putonghua in communicating with family members.Moreover,some explicit measures were taken by almost all the parents and some children to maintain the language use,which were mainly focused on the children’s acquisition of Putonghua and English.Additionally,the majority of participants put strong emphasis upon Putonghua and English while adopted diversified attitude toward dialect.The study has some implications for future family language policy research and language learning at home.Firstly,home is the primary and principal place for developing language competence.Secondly,the heritage language maintenance is of cultural and emotional significance as well as improving one’s linguistic competence.Thirdly,more attention should be paid to family language policy.