Abstract:

The purpose of this research was to reveal the experiences, views and perceptions of parents who teach their children English during the mother tongue acquisition period and raise them as bilingual individuals, although their mother tongue is not English. This research was carried out in phenomenology design. The study group was determined by criterion sampling method. Accordingly, semi-structured eight interviews were done with 8 parents who participated in the research. The collected data were analyzed by content analysis and findings obtained. During the interviews, parents mentioned not only positive experiences but also negative experiences. Their perception of bilingualism is generally positive. On the other hand, parents stated some setbacks and downsides in the process of raising bilingual kids. One parent stated that the downsides she experienced made her suspicious about bilingualism and her practice. Some parents stated that people around them reacted negatively about their practices on raising their kids as bilinguals. Also they mentioned the troubles they experienced because of talking to their kids in English which is not their mother tongue.

All but one of the families follow a similar method to acquire two languages to their children simultaneously. One family applies “one parent, one language” method and the other families follow a method in which one parent speaks one language and the other parent speaks both languages. Considering parents' perceptions of their children's language skills, some think that their children start to speak later than usual.

Keywords:

Bilingualism, artificial bilingualism, English teaching, teaching English to children.