The transition from home to school: exploring bilingual development in Chinese-Australian children in Melbourne

This qualitative case study focuses on Chinese-Australian parents’ experiences of raising their children bilingually and maintaining heritage language in the transition period from home to school. Data from semi-structured interviews with the parents and observations of home practices suggest that parents had complex understandings about the relative use of Mandarin and English at home because of the emerging influence of school. The research points to a mismatch between expectations at home and school regarding children’s Mandarin maintenance. One implication is the need for school educators to utilise bilingual linguistic resources in the classroom to establish continuity between home and school.