Acceso usuarios
The present study describes family language policy (FLP) concerning the Azerbaijani Turkish language as an under-investigated context in Iran. Drawing upon Spolsky’s (2004) model of FLP with three major components of language ideologies, practices, and management strategies, we adapted Kaveh’s (2018) questionnaire to investigate language policies of Azerbaijani families in Urmia. To this end, 150 families completed the questionnaire about their language policies at home and their children’s competency in their heritage language and second language, and how they impacted one another. Moreover, seven families took part in semi-structured interviews to elicit further ideas on the key themes of the questionnaire. Analysis of the FLPs revealed that a host of factors played a role in improving the use of dual languages by the children of these families. However, it was found that clear-stated language policies were not spelled out in most families, and poor media coverage and schooling in Persian augmented parents’ worries concerning heritage language attrition. The findings showed that apart from the family, a number of macro-based sociocultural elements seem to govern the language-based choices families and their children make, and high-quality media programmes in heritage language and bilingual educational system (use of both official and heritage languages) can alleviate families’ concerns to a great extent.
