家長在孩子英文閱讀發展中的能動性

Abstract

兒童在英語為外語(EFL)學習環境中接觸英語的機會有限，英文閱讀更是個長時間累積的技能，因此父母在孩子學習上的角色十分重要。他們的參與不僅是有益的，而且是必不可少的。 父母作為子女教育旅程中的主要影響者，通過決策、資源提供和有目的的互動來塑造他們的語言習得經驗。這種積極支持和增強子女學習的能力構成了此背景下父母能動性 (agency) 的本質。本研究旨在理解和分析在兒童EFL閱讀發展背景下的父母的能動性發展。雖然現有文獻探討了父母參與子女對識字技能的影響，但針對父母在引導子女EFL閱讀旅程中的能動性研究仍然不足。本研究探討了兒童在英語作為外語（EFL）閱讀發展背景下，父母能動性（parental agency）的複雜動態。採用了Nasheedal等人（2019）的敘事研究框架，並借鑒了Emirbayer和Mische（1998）的人類能動模型來研究三位台灣母親在其子女EFL學習過程中的角色演變。本研究提出三個問題來深入了解父母能動性的變化: 一、在支持子女發展成為EFL讀者的過程中，哪些情境（時間-關係）因素會影響父母能動性取向的配置？二、父母的能動性取向如何隨著其子女在不同階段的EFL閱讀發展而演變？三、父母不斷演變的能動性如何影響他們在調解子女EFL閱讀發展和行使父母能動性方面採取的多樣化方法?為了深入了解參與者對其子女英語閱讀發展的經歷和觀點，本研究關注了三位台灣母親，分別化名為Pearl、Mandy 和 Shannon的經歷。研究資料包含2023年九月至2024年三月期間共十四次的正式中文訪談、家訪、閱讀活動錄音、研究者的日誌，以過去五年來線上聊天訊息為交叉參照訪談數據。這些資料揭示了參與者的能動性取向改變，包括在不同時間和關係背景下作為深度參與子女EFL閱讀發展的父母所體現的重複性 (iterational)、實踐性評估 (practical-evaluative)和投射性 (projective) 的能動面向如何影響她們支持子女閱讀發展的策略。研究結果顯示父母信念，教育背景，和時間-關係(temporal-relational) (例如，期望、健康、孩子的整體及閱讀發展) 等因素在塑造英語閱讀環境中的重要作用。家長能動性 (Parental Agency)是一個獨特的迴圈，由三個面向交互影響：重複性、實踐性評估和投射性。這三個面向分別代表了過去的經驗、當下的判斷和未來的目標。在這個迴圈中，家長在回顧和借鑒過去經驗（重複性）中積累的智慧和教訓，來做出當前的判斷和決策（實踐性評估），並根據這些經驗和判斷來設立未來的目標和計劃（投射性）。這些面向並不是孤立存在的，而是相互交織和影響，形成一個動態的過程，使家長在子女的教育過程中不斷調整和適應，從而有效地支持和引導子女的學習和發展。此三位母親分別展現Emirbayer和Mische能動模式中不同的主要面向。 我以航海來比喻英語閱讀學習路上此三位母親的定位: 象徵領導力的「掌舵」，不畏困難與韌性的「抵禦風暴」，及象徵秉持方向的「駕風」隱喻，來表達母親對孩子發展能動性和方法。母職、能動性和賦能這三個核心元素貫穿了這三位母親的旅程，突顯了她們各自故事在母親角色、決策和學習背景下的廣泛影響。每個故事都根植於母職經驗，這一經驗以深深致力於培育孩子的發展為特徵。每位母親所面臨的獨特挑戰—分心、情緒波動，或學業和個人成長的結合—都是母職經歷的各個方面，反映了父母能動性在引導孩子成為EFL讀者過程中的多面性。

In the context of children’s EFL learning environments, where opportunities for authentic English language exposure are limited and reading proficiency requires long-term accumulation, the role of parents in their children’s learning is not just beneficial, but absolutely essential. As primary influencers in their children’s educational journey, parents shape their children’s language acquisition experiences through decision-making, resource provision, and purposeful interactions. This active support and enhancement of children’s learning capabilities form the essence of parental agency within this context. This study aims to probe and analyze the development of parental agency in the context of children’s EFL reading development. While existing literature explores the impact of parental involvement on literacy skills, there remains a lack of in-depth research on the agentic role of parents in guiding their children’s EFL reading journey. The significance of this research lies in its potential to shed light on this crucial aspect of children’s EFL reading development.This research investigates the complex dynamics of parental agency in the context of children’s EFL reading development. It adopts the narrative inquiry framework of Nasheedal et al. (2019) and draws on the human agency model of Emirbayer and Mische (1998) to study the evolving roles of three Taiwanese mothers in their children’s EFL learning process. The study addresses three key questions to understand the changes in parental agency: (1) What contextual (temporal-relational) factors contribute to a parent’s configurations of agentic orientation in supporting their children’s development as EFL readers? (2) How do parental agentic orientations evolve in response to their children’s EFL reading development at different stages? (3) How does a parent’s evolving agentic orientation shape diverse approaches to mediating their children’s EFL reading development and asserting parental agency?To gain a deep understanding of the participants’ experiences and perspectives on their children’s English reading development, this study focuses on the experiences of three Taiwanese mothers, Pearl, Mandy, and Shannon. The research data includes 14 formal interviews conducted in Chinese, home visits, reading activity recordings, researcher journals, and over five years of online chat messages for cross-referencing the interview data collected from September 2023 to March 2024. These data reveal the changes in parental agentic orientations, including how parental agency’s iterational, practical-evaluative, and projective dimensions influence parents’ strategies in supporting their children’s reading development in different temporal and relational contexts.The findings indicate that parental beliefs, educational backgrounds, and temporal-relational factors (e.g., expectations, health, and children’s overall and reading development) play significant roles in shaping the English reading environment. Parental agency is depicted as a unique loop, influenced by three interconnected dimensions: iterational, practical-evaluative, and projective. These dimensions represent past experiences, present judgments, and future goals, respectively. In this loop, parents accumulate wisdom and lessons from past experiences (iterational), make current judgments and decisions (practical-evaluative), and set future goals and plans based on these experiences and judgments (projective). These dimensions are not isolated but interwoven, forming a dynamic process that enables parents to continuously adjust and adapt in their children’s educational journey, effectively supporting and guiding their learning and development. This dynamic nature of parental agency adds a layer of complexity and depth to the study, making it a rich and intriguing area of research.These three mothers each exemplify different primary aspects of the agency model proposed by Emirbayer and Mische. Using nautical metaphors to illustrate their roles in their children's English reading development, I describe their approaches as follows: “Steering the Helm,” symbolizing leadership; “Weathering the Storm,” representing resilience and perseverance in the face of challenges; and “Harnessing the Wind,” signifying a strategic and directional approach to their children's development. Motherhood, agency, and empowerment are core elements in these three mothers’ journeys, highlighting the broader implications of their individual stories within the context of maternal roles, decision-making, and learning. Each narrative is rooted in the experience of motherhood, characterized by a deep commitment to nurturing a child’s development. The unique challenges each mother faces—distractions, emotional fluctuations, or a combination of academic and personal growth—reflect the multifaceted nature of parental agency in guiding their children to become EFL readers.