ABSTRACT
Focusing on family language policy as an evolving strand of LPP research, I argue in this chapter that recent ecological approaches to language use in the home take the family unit as a site whose interactions are under constant pressure from the outside world. Against this background, I set out to explore the interplay between family language policy among Azerbaijani-speaking families in Tabriz, Iran, and educational policies of the state, and in the process attempt to ‘unpeel’ the layers of the LPP onion. As I will point out, although the state of multilingualism and multiculturalism has been officially recognized in Article 15 of the Iranian Constitution, Farsi has been declared the only official language of the state. As such, this state of affairs has overwhelmed minority languages in the country, reducing them to aural/oral languages and preventing them from appearing in domains where writing is required. Drawing on an analysis of a focus group interview with six mothers of young children and three case studies—that is, observations of parent-child interactions in the home—I attempt to shed light on how monolingual approaches to educational policies ultimately define and construct ‘an ideal parent’, cajoling them into a particular way of thinking and acting. Such constructions of parents’ and children’s agency in the home suggest that family members do not always have free choice. Rather, their linguistic attitudes, practices and management are informed by push factors external to the domain of the home.
