Home Language Choice and Identity Negotiation
About the topic
This project explores how everyday language choice in migrant families relates to identity, belonging, and family relationships. Rather than focusing only on language maintenance or children’s development, it examines the home as an intercultural space where family members negotiate meaning, roles, and connection through ordinary daily interaction.
The Paper
This paper examines home language choice in migrant families through the lens of intercultural communication theory. Rather than treating language use at home as a measure of maintenance or ability, it explores how everyday interactions between parents and children reveal identity negotiation, shifting roles, and multilingual family dynamics.
Relevant implications
By approaching the home as an intercultural space, this study offers a different way of understanding migrant family communication. It suggests that language choice is not only about preserving a heritage language, but also about how families adapt, relate to one another, and make sense of change.
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Biography & Interests
Ami Ochiai
Ami is an intercultural communicator with professional experience in administration, finance, university research support, and international operations. Passionate about language, identity, and migrant family communication, she hopes to connect research and communication practice to support multilingual families and deepen intercultural understanding between Japan and Canada.
