Bioecological understanding of Korean Australian families’ heritage language maintenance

While Australia is a multilingual country, there is an accelerated shift from migrant heritage languages (HL) to English in migrant families. Korean migrants, however, reverse this trend, as they show a high level of HL maintenance. The maintenance of Korean can be attributed to the presence of well-established Korean-learning environments in the community. Focusing on the Korean communities in Australia, this study extends the knowledge about the potential of different HL-learning environments to promote HL maintenance. Specifically, drawing on interviews with six Korean parents and their children, this study explores how different HL-learning environments present opportunities for the HL maintenance of Korean migrants and their school-aged children. Data analysis and interpretation employ Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological theory. A key finding is that while younger children respond to immediate learning environments, teenagers tend to transverse their HL learning environments beyond their family or HL classroom, and create their own HL-learning environment with popular culture. Unlike the children, parents tend to engage in the higher and broader levels of the ecosystem, which shape their ideological orientation to HL and social class. This study deepens existing understanding of the intertwined dynamics of HLs and language learning environments in a multicultural society.