Quebec-based Parents’ Attitudes towards Childhood Multilingualism: Evaluative Dimensions and Potential Predictors

This is the first large-scale, quantitative study of the evaluative dimensions and potential predictors of Quebec-based parents’ attitudes towards childhood multilingualism. Such attitudes are assumed to constitute a determinant of parental language choices, and thereby influence children’s multilingual development. The newly-developed Attitudes towards Childhood Multilingualism Questionnaire was used to gather data from 826 participants raising an infant/toddler aged 0-4 years with multiple languages. The results reveal three separate dimensions: status and solidarity (the same dimensions found in attitudes towards individual languages) as well as cognitive development (not previously attested as a separate dimension). The study thus advances knowledge regarding the dimensionality of attitudes. Participants’ approach to promoting multilingualism and the combination of languages transmitted – and specifically, whether this included a heritage language – correlated significantly with parental attitudes towards childhood multilingualism. Parents’ linguistic background and location within Quebec were not significant predictors of attitudes. The paper discusses directions for further research.