Abstract
In this qualitative grounded theory dissertation-in-practice study, the researcher explored both parental motivations for enrolling their children in private language programs as an extracurricular activity and how those parents perceived the value of their investment. Considering the commonly understood benefits to learning one or more additional languages in youth, the researcher aimed to generate data-informed recommendations that would improve language interest, engagement, curricula, and delivery, thereby broadening parental motivations for access to languages and their advantages for children. The study yielded five practical recommendations to achieve this goal: (1) align outreach and engagement strategies with the long-term parental goal of providing a child with differential skills, (2) align marketing strategies with the parental goal of supporting a child’s well-roundedness, (3) focus teaching practices on making language classes enjoyable for students, (4) schedule and locate classes according to parental convenience, and (5) engage parents with the language classes. The researcher also identified several
specific procedures for implementing these solutions and implications for research to include future quantitative studies.
Keywords: grounded theory, qualitative, language instruction, extracurricular activity