Intergenerational communication and family language policy of multicultural families in Japan

Abstract This article examines the communication patterns among multicultural African families in Japan. Using ethnographic vignettes, this article uses family language planning (FLP) theories to understand how African parents communicate with their children, how parents aim to shape their children’s language use, how parents conceptualize their family communication, and how Japanese institutions affect the trajectories of parental FLP efforts. This article demonstrates how five intersecting factors influence the outcomes of FLPs in idiosyncratic ways. These five factors include Japanese education and socialization practices, parents’ economic resources, parents’ language skills, identity ambitions, and parents’ willingness to use economic and cultural resources. It also highlights the utility and limitations of applying FLP theories of child agency to the Japanese context. These findings suggest scholars reconsider the interplay of macro- and micro-factors in shaping FLP outcomes, the role of child agency in actualizing FLPs, and the affective elements that shape parents’ understandings of language use.