Language attitudes towards Spanish and Catalan in autochthonous and immigrant families in Catalonia: analysing the correlation between student attitudes and their parents'

Abstract

This paper analyses the language attitudes of autochthonous and immigrant families living in Catalonia towards Spanish and Catalan. The research is intended to assess the possible differences in the language attitudes of students and their parents towards the two languages spoken in Catalonia. The investigation takes a sample of 476 students and their families from several cities in Catalonia who answered an attitude questionnaire. The data were analysed with SPSS and t-tests were performed, with students reporting better attitudes towards Catalan and parents showing more favourable views on Spanish. Statistically significant differences were identified between local and immigrant participants, with non-Spanish families showing worse attitudes to Catalan than towards Spanish. A correlation was found between autochthonous students and their parents when it comes to language attitudes towards the two languages, suggesting that the family environment does have an impact on the development of language attitudes. However, this effect is less visible in the case of immigrant families, where social and educational elements could moderate the impact of language attitudes within the family.

This work was supported by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain by the Grants EDU2014-54093-R, EDU2017-82479-R and IJCI-2016-28250; the Catalan Government’s Agency for Management of University and Research Grants (AGAUR) by the Grant 2017 SGR 322