Harmonious Bilingualism: A focus on well-being and equity for the people we study
Annick De Houwer
Contact
Affiliation: The Harmonious Bilingualism Network (HaBilNet)
Email address: annick.dehouwer@habilnet.org
https://www.habilnet.org
Open to registered ISB participants only. Registration here
Brief presenter bio
Annick De Houwer, PhD, is Director of the Harmonious Bilingualism Network. Now Professor Emerita, she held positions at the universities of Antwerp (Belgium) and Erfurt (Germany). She was a Visiting Scholar at several top institutions in the US and has been affiliated with the Eunice Shriver Kennedy National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. She was President of the International Association for the Study of Child Language from 2021 until 2024. Her research has mainly focused on children's language development, addressing both linguistic and socio-psychological aspects. She first called for research attention to bilingual families' well-being in 2006, and since then has further developed the concepts of Harmonious Bilingual Development and Harmonious Bilingualism. Dr. De Houwer has published widely, including four monographs on bilingual acquisition, and several edited volumes (among them, the 2019 Cambridge Handbook of Bilingualism, co-edited with Lourdes Ortega).
Workshop description
Participants in studies on bilingualism are all part of a family (at minimum, they are someone's child). Many experience bilingualism through living in a bilingual family or through living in a family that uses another language than the local societal language(s).
This workshop has two aims:
(1) A first aim is to explore family members' lived experience with bilingualism. That experience affects their socio-emotional subjective well-being. Harmonious Bilingualism pertains when the bilingual experience has a positive or neutral effect on people's well-being. In many cases, however, aspects of the bilingual experience impinge on families' well-being, and members experience conflictive bilingualism. Several factors support (or hinder) family members' Harmonious Bilingualism. Among them are factors that are linked to the general dynamics of intra-family communication. In addition, family systems are strongly affected by the socio-political contexts in which they find themselves. Many of those contexts are hostile towards bilingualism and do not treat bilinguals equitably.
(2) A second aim is to explore how we as researchers can apply a Harmonious Bilingualism perspective to our studies of and with bilinguals. After all, our research findings are being used outside of academia to support particular policies and actions that may affect bilingual lives. Two main possibilities exist. First, we can gear our studies towards further exploring bilinguals' lived experience with bilingualism by, for instance, developing ways to measure and better conceptualize Harmonious Bilingualism, or by examining factors that support or hinder Harmonious Bilingualism. Second, even if we are not specifically studying Harmonious Bilingualism, we can try to make sure that the methods we use to study our research participants are fully equitable and, thereby, do not potentially detract from bilinguals' well-being through yielding results that may hurt them.
The workshop fully subscribes to the UN Declaration of Human Rights and the UN Convention of Child Rights, which demand respect for all languages and which see it as a human right to speak whatever language(s) one wishes within the family.
Workshop format
Minutes 1-30 a presentation by the presenter primarily focusing on Aim 1
Minutes 31-45 participant questions + lead in to Aim 2
Minutes 46-70 participant brainstorming primarily focusing on Aim 2
(in pairs/groups)
Minutes 71-90 brainstorming "results" + general discussion
Workshop details
- Maximum number of workshop participants: 25
- Duration of the workshop: 1.5 hours
- Registration cost: free
- This workshop is part of the main conference. You must register for the main conference to attend this workshop.
Selected References
Bezcioglu-Göktolga, Irem & Kutlay Yağmur. 2018. The impact of Dutch teachers on family language policy of Turkish immigrant parents. Language, Culture and Curriculum 31(3). 220-234.
Boutakidis, Ioakim P., Ruth K. Chao & James L. Rodríguez. 2011. The role of adolescents’ native language fluency on quality of communication and respect for parents in Chinese and Korean immigrant families. Asian American Journal of Psychology 2(2). 128–139.
Chang, Florence, Gisele Crawford, Diane Early, Donna Bryant, Carollee Howes, Margaret Burchinal, Oscar Barbarin, Richard Clifford & Robert Pianta. 2007. Spanish-speaking children’s social and language development in pre-kindergarten classrooms. Early Education and Development 18. 243–269.
Collins, Brian A., Claudio O. Toppelberg, Carola Suárez-Orozco, Erin O’Connor & Alfonso Nieto-Castañon. 2011. Cross-sectional associations of Spanish and English competence and well-being in Latino children of immigrants in kindergarten. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 208. 5–23.
De Houwer, Annick. 2006. Le développement harmonieux ou non harmonieux du bilinguisme de l’enfant au sein de la famille. Langage et Société 116. 29-49.
De Houwer, Annick. 2019. Equitable evaluation of bilingual children's language knowledge using the CDI: It really matters who you ask. Journal of Monolingual and Bilingual Speech 1(1). 32-54.
De Houwer, Annick. 2020. Harmonious Bilingualism: Well-being for families in bilingual settings. In Eisenchlas, Susana & Andrea Schalley (eds.), Handbook of home language maintenance and development, 63-83. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
De Houwer, Annick. 2023. The danger of bilingual–monolingual comparisons in applied psycholinguistic research. Applied Psycholinguistics 44(3). 343-357.
Han, Wen-Jui & Chien-Chung Huang. 2010. The forgotten treasure: Bilingualism and children’s emotional and behavioral health. American Journal of Public Health 100(5). 831–838.
Hollebeke, Illy, Esli Struys & Orhan Agirdag. 2023. Can family language policy predict linguistic, socio-emotional and cognitive child and family outcomes? A systematic review. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 44(10). 1044-1075.
Lambelet, Amelia, Annick De Houwer & Anna Ghimenton, eds. 2024. Answering parents’ questions about child language. Antworten auf Elternfragen zur Kindersprache. Des réponses aux parents sur le développement du langage. Risposte alle domande dei genitori sul linguaggio dei bambini. Special Issue, Babylonia Journal of Language Education, 3. https://babylonia.online/index.php/babylonia/issue/view/46
Müller, Lisa-Maria, Katie Howard, Elspeth Wilson, Jenny Gibson, & Napoleon Katsos. 2020. Bilingualism in the family and child well-being: A scoping review. International Journal of Bilingualism 24(5-6), 1049-1070.
Pavlenko, Aneta. 2004. "Stop doing that, ia komu skazala!": Emotions and language choice in bilingual families. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 25. 179-203.
Portes, Alejandro & Lingxin Hao. 2002. The price of uniformity: Language, family and personality adjustment in the immigrant second generation. Ethnic and Racial Studies 25. 889–912.
Schachter, Ariela, Rachel T. Kimbro & Bridget K. Gorman. 2012. Language proficiency and health status: Are bilingual immigrants healthier? Journal of Health and Social Behavior 53. 124-145.
Sevinç, Yeşim. 2016. Language maintenance and shift under pressure: Three generations of the Turkish immigrant community in the Netherlands. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 242, 81–117.
Sun, He, Nurul Taqiah Binte Yussof, Malikka Begum Binte Habib Mohamed, Anisa Binte Rahim, Rebecca Bull, Mike W. L. Cheung & Siew Ann Cheong. 2021. Bilingual language experience and children’s social–emotional and behavioral skills: A cross-sectional study of Singapore preschoolers. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 24. 324–39.
Tiulkova, Ekaterina, Vanda Marijanovic ́, Jean-François Camps & Barbara Köpke. 2024. Assessing the role of input factors in Harmonious Bilingual Development in children. Languages 9. 289.
von Grünigen, Renate, Kochenderfer-Ladd, Becky, Perren, Sonja & Françoise D. Alsaker. 2012. Links between local language competence and peer relations among Swiss and immigrant children: The mediating role of social behaviour. Journal of School Psychology, 50(2), 195-213.
Interview with Annick De Houwer by Jeremy Sawyer on the issue of the "bilingual cognitive advantage" from a Harmonious Bilingualism perspective: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EssjDJGwC8 (minute 20:00-31:46)