松嵜, 洋子

松井, 智子

MATSUZAKI, Yoko

MATSUI, Tomoko

[SUMMARY]The aim of the current study was to explore mothers’ perceptions of the linguistic features of their Japanese–English speaking children living in the UK. Twelve mothers were interviewed. Six participants have a Japanese spouse while the other six are married to a native English speaker. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and the conversations between the mothers and the interviewer were transcribed. The data was qualitatively analyzed and organized, both as a whole and by each family style, using the Steps for Coding and Theorization (SCAT) method. The results clarified the following three points. (1) Both types of family had greater consciousness of linguistic details in Japanese than in English. (2) Perceptions of families with two Japanese parents regarding their child’s linguistic ability were ‘Japanese has gradually become weaker than English after starting primary school ’, while parents in an international marriage perceived their child’s Japanese linguistic ability to be weaker than English in general .(3) Japanese families worried about not only the child’s English language development but also the language environment. In the future, it is important to investigate both mothers’ perceptions of a child’s language environment and language development, as well as the facts of the situation.