parental attitudes towards bilingualism: a mixed-method study of iranian parents’ involvement in children second language learning

This mixed-method study investigated the attitudes of iranian parents towards children’s bilingualism and the strategies they adopt for developing their second language skills. it intends to seek whether demographic factors such as age, gender, educational background and income level influence parental attitudes towards bilingualism. 50 participants with children at age level 7-12 were chosen from karaj elementary schools. using the closed-ended, 5-likert scale questionnaire, the extent demographic factors influenced parental attitudes were analyzed descriptively through mean and percentage. employing independent t-test and anova test, the differences in parents attitudes about their child s bilingualism was examined. results showed favorable parental attitudes towards children’s bilingualism (x>2.5). moreover, only age and gender were shown to be influential on parental attitudes towards their children’s bilingualism this shows middle-aged parents revealed more favorable towards their children’s bilingualism and fathers showed a more positive attitude in this regard. in the qualitative phase, the strategies adopted by parents for developing their children’s second language skills were explored via semi-structured interviews. findings showed that parents used various techniques such as face-to-face training courses, textual content, questions and answers, conversations, dictation for developing their children’s second language skills. it became clear that this can show that attempts for developing reading skills are of utmost importance for parents while listening and speaking skills received equal attention and writing skills was considered less important.