Native speaker constructions in multilingual families

Abstract

This thesis addresses the well-established subject area of native speaker research. Previous research into the native speaker has addressed the history of the concept of the native speaker, criticisms of this concept, and alternative terms for native- and non-native speaker. My research investigates how members of multilingual families construct the concept of the native speaker based on their lived experiences. To further guide my research, I investigate how the families establish and enact language beliefs through their constructions of themselves as multilingual subjects.

I have designed small scale, qualitative case studies, which focus on families who share multiple languages as a family. I conducted focus group discussions with three families who share German in their language repertoires, and analyzed the data of two of these families. In the focus group discussions, the family members were encouraged to share their lived experiences as they relate to language use, language ideologies, and sharing multiple languages as a family.

The results of this study show that the family members construct the concept of the native speaker based on their lived experiences and most often confirm the existing literature on the subject. A common theme throughout the family members’ constructions of the native speaker is the influence of the monolingual bias. Through the focus on native speaker constructions in the context of a multilingual family, the influence of the family members’ native speaker constructions on their family language polices (FLP) is noted and briefly explored.