Language ideologies of three intercultural and interlingual parent couples in Canada: an examination of intervening factors that prevent active multilingualism for their children

This paper presents the family language policies of three intercultural parent couples in Canada. Drawing upon a larger study of their perceptions of childhood and childrearing, and recognising the families as microcosms reflecting larger wholes, this paper revisits the narrative case studies composed in the original research to examine each couple's language ideologies. In this study, the developmental niche framework was employed in analysis of the parents' experiences and perspectives as they pursued, considered, or rejected multilingualism for their children. The parent couples included (1) one French Canadian spouse born and raised in Canada and one in Uganda; (2) one Scottish/English spouse born and raised in Canada and one in The Netherlands; and (3) a Plains Cree spouse born and raised in Canada and one in Romania. Findings were that not all participants desired to impart a heritage language to their children due to social, cultural, political, and economic realities and histories. Participants who did desire multilingualism for their children reported being unsuccessful due to various intervening factors: the affective dimension, differing parental language ideologies and impact beliefs, parental cognitions of language use, child agency, a lack of language community, and an autochthonous minority language. Further interpretive studies are recommended.