Raising Bilingual Children: an Exploration of Language Ideology and its Practices in an Indonesian Family

Abstract

Article history: Received: 09-07-2021 Revised : 25-09-2021 Accepted:20-10-2021 The role of parents' beliefs or ideology is one of the most important factors in promoting the strategies for encouraging children's bilingual development. This case study examined how the parents' beliefs influenced an effort to practice the languages at home. The data were obtained through observation, in-depth interviews, digital artefacts, and language portrait silhouettes with English-Indonesian bilingual parents, and three children at the age of 6 to 11. Nvivo12 Plus application was used to organize and code the data. The results revealed that the parents believed in the importance of laying language foundations at the golden age as this could lead to shaping confident bilingual children. Findings also highlight the influential factors in parental ideology, i.e. the changing era, parents’ experience, and the support from the extended family. Although parents chose a non-bilingual school for their children, they could practice English dominantly with children at home with a wide range of strategies.