Translanguaging and the intergenerational transmission of the language

Translanguaging (TR) is a complex phenomenon. TR suggests that a bilingual person has one integrated linguistic system (García, 2009), focusing on flexible bilingualism and multiple discursive practices (Blackledge and Creese, 2010). This study investigated the TR practices of Russian-speaking parents and their children in Estonia. The data were collected using parental written questionnaires with the focus on general background, socio-economic status and language proficiency, oral semi-structured interviews and ethnographic observations, in order to get a deeper understanding of how TR practices and literacy activities are managed in Russian-speaking families and what differences and similarities could be observed between them.
Applying the theories of family language policy (FLP) (King et al. 2008), I explored divergent language choices within the family context in connection with available linguistic resources. There were 60 families who participated in the study. Six families were chosen for a closer look at FLPs and TR strategies. My ethnographic participant observation aimed to observe language use in the widest possible range of situations.
The results show that parents realised quite soon the importance of early child literacy experiences at home and tried to enhance these experiences both in Russian and in Estonian via (in)direct teaching and meaning-focused shared activities. While most parents wanted to preserve the quality of Russian and transmit it to their children, they sometimes let the children use the language that was most convenient at particular moments. In turn, some parents noted that over time more domains were replaced with Estonian, which led to language shift.

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