Parents' Perceived Roles and Home Practices in Supporting Taiwanese Children's English Language and Literacy Learning
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Date
2010-03-??
Authors
李宜倩
Yi-Chien Lee
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
英語學系
Department of English, NTNU
Department of English, NTNU
Abstract
許多以英語家庭或是英語系國家的雙語家庭為研究對象的文獻都顯示，家長參與對孩童們語言整體學習跟發展，有很深遠的影響。但是，研究家長參與的文獻中，卻鮮少有以針對在以英文為外語 (EFL) 的環境裡學習英文的孩童及家庭來做深入的探討。本文將針對一項以台灣家長在孩童學習英語過程中的參與為主題的質化研究做部分結果探討，探討內容將著重在家長所認知其在孩童學習英語過程中所扮演的角色，以及台灣家長在孩童學習英語上的參與及所運用的資源與策略。本研究對象為十九位小學三年級的家長，他們的孩子分別就讀於台灣三個城市中的三個公立小學，研究資料的收集包括了深度家長訪談、使用的英語學習相關的資料及課室觀察。研究結果顯示，參與本研究的家長們對他們在孩童英語學習上所扮演的角色有不同的認知，而這些不同的認知與每位家長所面臨的環境及個人條件有關，例如經濟狀況與語言能力。不過，儘管家長們面臨的狀況不同，本研究發現參與研究的家長，都有鼓勵及讓孩子做許多不同與英語學習有關的活動。本文也將探討英語能力較高孩童的家長們在孩子學習英語過程中的參與之共同點。
Research with monolingual families and bilingual families in ESL contexts has shown that parental involvement plays a significant role in fostering children's language and literacy development. However, few studies have been conducted with families in an EFL context like Taiwan where English is spoken and taught as a foreign language. This article will report part of the results of a qualitative study that examined parental support and involvement in third grade children's English learning in Taiwan. It will particularly address parents' perceived roles in supporting their children's English language and literacy learning, and discuss the types of involvement and strategies they used to foster their children's language and literacy development. Participants of the study were nineteen parents of third grade children from three different schools located in three different cities in Taiwan. Data collected included in-depth parent interviews, artifacts related to English learning, and short teacher interviews and classroom observations. Results of the study showed that parents have different perceptions of their roles in their children's learning experience depending on their contextual and individual constraints (such as financial resources and language proficiency).Despite the constraints, parents engaged children in a variety of activities related to English learning. Similarities in the support system and learning opportunities provided by parents of high performing children are discussed.
Research with monolingual families and bilingual families in ESL contexts has shown that parental involvement plays a significant role in fostering children's language and literacy development. However, few studies have been conducted with families in an EFL context like Taiwan where English is spoken and taught as a foreign language. This article will report part of the results of a qualitative study that examined parental support and involvement in third grade children's English learning in Taiwan. It will particularly address parents' perceived roles in supporting their children's English language and literacy learning, and discuss the types of involvement and strategies they used to foster their children's language and literacy development. Participants of the study were nineteen parents of third grade children from three different schools located in three different cities in Taiwan. Data collected included in-depth parent interviews, artifacts related to English learning, and short teacher interviews and classroom observations. Results of the study showed that parents have different perceptions of their roles in their children's learning experience depending on their contextual and individual constraints (such as financial resources and language proficiency).Despite the constraints, parents engaged children in a variety of activities related to English learning. Similarities in the support system and learning opportunities provided by parents of high performing children are discussed.