Melissa Ong
High Distinction
Hornsby Girl's High School
Tongue-Tied: An exploration into the attitudes towards the mother tongue among second generation adolescent Australians

On a smaller scale, it is through my PIP that I have come to an understanding of the importance of language maintenance and language acquisition and consequently how this strengthens cultural and familial ties. Exploring the emotional and cognitive benefits of bilingualism has helped me to comprehend the complexities of language and language use on micro and macro level.

My PIP has been an insightful and worthwhile process, realising that nothing is as simple or easily defined as it appears. Although I did reveal a change in attitude towards the mother tongue by non-speakers, from defiance during childhood to an embracing in maturity as I had initially anticipated, I also detected sociolinguistic dilemmas for speakers which I was unaware existed. The influences of socialising agents from both the parents’ culture and Australian culture impact on an individual’s identity as they struggle to balance and hybridise their social values and belief systems. Language choice, maintenance and shift pattern are transformed through multiple or dual identities of the speaker. Subsequently, my cross-cultural component has highlighted the personal experiences and struggles held by the second generation towards language choice and towards their mother tongue are common to all, no matter your cultural background or language ability.

The research methodologies employed have provided me with a public knowledge on linguistic development among diasporic individuals and the various socialisation influences which perpetuate bilingualism. My primary research allowed me to pin-point shared feelings held among the second generation and explore the diverse personal experiences which occur within the individual’s micro world thus permitting me to empathise with different people of varying societies and cultures.

If given the opportunity, I would have liked to interview more people from a wider range of cultural backgrounds to enrich my perspective on the topic and further support the plethora of secondary research I have utilised. Similarly, a few more participants in my focus groups would have explored more areas of interest as well as highlight commonalities and differences in perspectives. Also, a larger sample size and distribution to persons in differing socioeconomic environments would have seen my quantitative data more accurate. Nevertheless, despite these weaknesses, I am confident that I have investigated the impact of language on cultural identity and its implications for both speakers and non-speakers coherently.

Overall, the PIP has been a learning process, one which has broadened my knowledge and thoughts on something I experience on a daily basis as a non-speaker trying to learn her mother tongue.
The interests in my micro world have been heightened by my investigation and inquiry into my macro world and thus I have come to appreciate the society, culture and environment I exist in. The PIP has allowed me to reflect on my own circumstances, to reconsider my values and beliefs and hence redefining my personal and cultural identity, ultimately bringing me one step closer to the social and cultural literacy I strive towards.