Workshop description

Participants in studies on bilingualism are all part of a family (at minimum, they are

someone's child). Many experience bilingualism through living in a bilingual family or

through living in a family that uses another language than the local societal

language(s).

This workshop has two aims:

(1) A first aim is to explore family members' lived experience with bilingualism. That

experience affects their socio-emotional subjective well-being. Harmonious

Bilingualism pertains when the bilingual experience has a positive or neutral effect

on people's well-being. In many cases, however, aspects of the bilingual experience

impinge on families' well-being, and members experience conflictive bilingualism.

Several factors support (or hinder) family members' Harmonious Bilingualism.

Among them are factors that are linked to the general dynamics of intra-family

communication. In addition, family systems are strongly affected by the socio-

political contexts in which they find themselves. Many of those contexts are hostile

towards bilingualism and do not treat bilinguals equitably.

(2) A second aim is to explore how we as researchers can apply a Harmonious

Bilingualism perspective to our studies of and with bilinguals. After all, our research

findings are being used outside of academia to support particular policies and

actions that may affect bilingual lives. Two main possibilities exist. First, we can gear

our studies towards further exploring bilinguals' lived experience with bilingualism

by, for instance, developing ways to measure and better conceptualize Harmonious

Bilingualism, or by examining factors that support or hinder Harmonious

Bilingualism. Second, even if we are not specifically studying Harmonious Bilingualism, we

can try to make sure that the methods we use to study our research participants are fully

equitable and, thereby, do not potentially detract from bilinguals' well-being through

yielding results that may hurt them. The workshop fully subscribes to the UN Declaration of

Human Rights and the UN Convention of Child Rights, which demand respect for all

languages and which see it as a human right to speak whatever language(s) one wishes

within the family.

ISB 2025: Harmonious Bilingualism Workshop