Abstract:

Family represents the first phase of socialization process of children. Formation of identity and personality and socialization process of migrant children who live in a multicultural society depends directly on sensibility shown towards heritage language. Language used at home nourishes self-respect of the children and brings happiness to them. Turkish migrant students have the opportunity to learn Turkish at primary and secondary level beside home thanks to the multicultural education policy in Australia. However, most Turkish migrants would head towards to learn target language rather than heritage language in order to be part of the society and not to feel isolated. Language acquisition and development show differences from one generation to another. Families should pay extra attention to use heritage language at their homes to minimize the language loss among first, second and third generations. This research includes parents who enrolled their children to Saturday Turkish Schools in the state of Victoria, Australia. The aim is to identify families’ approaches and expectations towards Turkish class and their contribution to the acquisition of mother tongue of their children. Data that was obtained from Turkish parents is analysed using descriptive and content analysis methods. In the research which is supported with graphs and tables extra attention is given to the identification of the relation of causes and effects between data.

Keywords: