Home and community factors affecting imagined identities of Indonesian-English bilingual adolescents

With the rising awareness over the value of English, many parents in Indonesian are trying to raise their children as English speakers by all means, which may include renouncing Indonesian affecting the children’s identity as Indonesian. Home and community are said to be the contributing factors affecting person’s identity. This study aimed to investigate the imagined identity of two Indonesian-English bilingual adolescents in senior high school level. Home and school community were interrelated in helping participants maintaining both their Indonesian and English. Parents’ view towards English and socioeconomic status were the two factors enabling the participants to learn English since the early childhood. School community helped their practice using English with peers. They managed to maintain their identity as Indonesian during the English learning process since it was the home language and the school’s medium of construction. Retainment of both identities brought the impact of translanguaging.