Looking Both Ways: Structure, Agency, and Language Ideology at a Chinese Saturday School

The core topic addressed by this dissertation is the maintenance of a heritage language in America, where immigrants who arrive speaking a non-English language generally see this language eroded within two to three generations. Efforts by communities to maintain their languages have, however, also been part of American history and this study investigates one such effort: a Chinese Saturday school in suburban Los Angeles. Focusing on the parent organizers, this study examines their role in constructing a language learning environment for their children. What factors contribute to the construction of this environment? How do parental language ideologies, in particular, influence language learning at this setting? How does a social context that includes an overwhelmingly dominant language impinge on goals parents pursue for Chinese maintenance? How do other social factors, such as the racial visibility of this community, influence parental objectives, including those for language learning?;Participant observation was conducted at the school on a total of 64 Saturdays, primarily between 2007 and 2010, and also at several off-campus events. Additionally, 8 teachers and 51 parents were interviewed. The data was analyzed using a framework that sees subaltern groups as both protesting against and also accommodating to dominant societal arrangements, with "protest against" and "accommodation to" themselves seen as complex categories. In terms of protest, a creative, positive dimension was apparent in the preservation and manifestation of heritage culture and language. A more negative, defensive dimension was also present as parents used the school setting to manage and respond to a racial/ethnic minority status. At the same time, the parents adopted an "accommodation to" perspective that focused not on maintenance of ethnic traditions but on adjustment to mainstream society. Parents embraced the economic and educational success that conformity with the mainstream promised as well as the necessity for English mastery in this effort. With regard to the children, their English dominance was recognized as integral to second-generation identities and the widespread use of this language at the school accepted. Parents nevertheless felt that the school established a basis for future bilingual development in terms of both linguistic acquisition and of fostering a positive attitude toward the heritage language.