Early societal-language exposure in Israel’s Arab minority: parental agency and the perceived home-Institution implementation gap

This mixed-methods study examines how Arab parents in rural northern Israel position early exposure to Hebrew within an asymmetrical Arabic-Hebrew sociolinguistic order. Drawing on survey data from 143 parents of children aged 1–4 and 15 semi-structured interviews, the study explores how support for early Hebrew exposure is articulated alongside a strong commitment to Arabic maintenance. Parents showed strong status-oriented support for early Hebrew exposure as a resource for educational participation and future mobility, while also maintaining a strong Arabic-maintenance orientation and expressing comparatively limited concern about harm to Arabic or identity. At the same time, interview accounts revealed a perceived home-institution implementation gap: early childhood settings were described as providing limited and inconsistent Hebrew exposure, leading many families to create compensatory routines through songs, media, and extracurricular activities. The findings suggest that parental support for early societal-language exposure is part of a family language policy shaped by unequal access to the dominant societal language. The article contributes to research on minority multilingualism by showing how families negotiate mobility, linguistic continuity, and institutional responsibility under sociolinguistic asymmetry.