Chapter 5 revealed that parents did not consider the bilingual programme a selection criterion when first enrolling their children at Fritzkidz. They did, on the other hand, express a positive attitude towards the bilingual programme. In their interviews many parents used expressions such as ‘an added bonus’, ‘a nice extra’, ‘an extra benefit’ or ‘an additional plus’ to describe the bilingual programme. The purpose of this chapter is to find out what parents believe this benefit, bonus or extra to be. It emerged from the research interviews that the benefits they expect to receive are not primarily linguistic, instead referring mostly to the secondary value of language learning. As such, language learning, and particularly German language learning, does not have a particular value in itself but is seen as a booster for a range of benefits such as cognitive development, career and travel opportunities, influence on other languages and awareness of diversity. The English-only clientele in particular associate bilingualism or second language learning with people who do not have an English-speaking background.

This chapter is organised as follows: first, it describes how parents regard language learning as an aid to creating an advantage for their children, looking at the factors of cognitive development, career and travel opportunities, awareness of diversity and generic language learning benefits. Following this, an analysis of parents’ attitudes towards the primary value of language learning is presented, looking at these from both sides of the spectrum: positively (i.e. identity and communication with family) and negatively (e.g. language learning as an immigrant and Aboriginal phenomenon). In particular, the role of the German language is discussed. The chapter then closes with a discussion of what bilingual early childhood education means to parents at this point in time.

7.1 Creating an Advantage: Non-language Specific Values of Language Learning

7.1.1 Cognitive development

Brain development was by far the most frequently identified benefit of the bilingual programme.