By: Tolipova Zebuniso Ulug’bekovna
Worth Noting:
- Some students described how their parents were able to help them even if they didn’t know any English (Xuesong, 2006). The responsibility for teaching English, then, was largely taken up by these upper-class parents..
- Within the Asian context, Lee’s (2008) study on Taiwanese parental involvement in children’s English language and literacy learning found that parents were very active in supporting their children’s learning, but that fac- tors such as their perceived language proficiency, financial resources and avail- able time all influenced their degree of involvement too.
- In Malaysia, Boivin et al.’s (2014) study on parents’ engagement in social multiliteracy practices with their children found that whilst most parents were very interested in helping with their children’s English social literacy learning, they lacked knowledge of how to do so effectively.
In reviewing the relatively small quantity of studies published on parental involvement in foreign language learning, a number of important issues stand out. The first is the responsibility for foreign language learning. How parents view this seems to depend on cultural beliefs. These beliefs can differ between contexts, such as between China and America, or within a context, such as within China.
For example, in Chi and Rao’s (2003) study on parental involvement in rural China, parents argued that the responsibility for teaching children English rested entirely with the teacher. Parents seldom participated in any of their children’s learning activities.
This placing of the responsibility on the teacher may be due to traditional values (for more details about trad- itional values see Ho, 2006), the lack of time that parents have to spend with their children due to work commitments, and perhaps most importantly, a lack of knowledge of English (Chi and Rao, 2003).
In contrast, Xuesong’s (2006) study of a group of upper-class students from urban China studying in Hong Kong revealed the strong role played by parents in students’ English learning. As the students explained, their parents used different strategies to support their English learning, such as instilling a positive attitude towards learning English, providing English TV programmes and movies, and finan- cing private tuition in English.
Some students described how their parents were able to help them even if they didn’t know any English (Xuesong, 2006). The responsibility for teaching English, then, was largely taken up by these upper-class parents..
Within the Asian context, Lee’s (2008) study on Taiwanese parental involvement in children’s English language and literacy learning found that parents were very active in supporting their children’s learning, but that fac- tors such as their perceived language proficiency, financial resources and avail- able time all influenced their degree of involvement too.
In Malaysia, Boivin et al.’s (2014) study on parents’ engagement in social multiliteracy practices with their children found that whilst most parents were very interested in helping with their children’s English social literacy learning, they lacked knowledge of how to do so effectively.
In relation to this, a limited number of studies have examined the influence of the home on the literacy practices of children in Hong Kong (Chow and McBride-Chang, 2003; Lau and McBride- Chang, 2005; Li and Rao, 2000).
Li and Rao (2000) examined Chinese lit- eracy development in three different locations: Beijing, Hong Kong and Singapore, and emphasise the influence of the home environment on literacy development in Chinese. Chow and McBride-Chang (2003) focused on the literacy development of children in terms of picture vocabulary in both
Chinese and English in Hong Kong. Both studies were directed at children at the pre-school level. Although Lau and McBride-Chang (2005) examined the Chinese reading ability of Primary Two (P2) students (aged around seven or eight) in Hong Kong, together with their parents, research into home English literacy and the English literacy development of children in Primary One (P1. aged around six or seven) is scant.
The motivation of children learning a foreign language is a second import- ant issue in the literature on parental involvement in foreign language learn- ing As expected, motivation differs across contexts.
In Hong Kong, for example, parents are aware that English proficiency is linked to material suc- cess and prosperity in society (Choi, 2003; Evans, 2008, 2011), so there is a strong motivation to help their children acquire English. One of the most common ways in which Hong Kong parents do this is by enrolling their children in afterschool English classes and hiring tutors (Bray and Kwok. 2003).
There is a fundamental difference when learning a foreign language in a country where English is the first language, and as such the status of English as a lingua franca means that students are already in a position to learn one of the world’s most influential languages, English.
Evans (2013). Kirkpatrick (2007) and Phillipson (2008) discuss the power English has as a lingua franca in the local context.
However, learning a foreign language does happen in many different contexts. For example, in the United States, parents may want their children to learn a foreign language because it is the child’s heritage language (Sung and Padilla, 1998) or because they believe in the educational or social value of foreign language learning (Sung and Padilla, 1998), or in many cases they have no choice and a foreign language is part of the educational curriculum.
In Canada, where English is the majority language and French the minority one, many English-speaking children learn French via what has been called additive bilingualism (Swain and Lapkin, 2005). Foreign language learning occurs in many different contexts and, as noted earlier, little is known about parental involvement in support- ing a child’s foreign language learning, especially in the context of Hong Kong.
Lastly, it is important to consider the type of parental involvement. In some studies, parental pressure to learn a foreign language was considered to be a type of involvement (e.g. Sung and Padilla, 1998). In others, involvement was described as teaching learning strategies (Xuesong, 2006).
Yet for others, involvement was described as teaching children the non-academic aspects of a language, such as parents teaching children about traditions (Lawton and Logio, 2009). In their longitudinal studies on the effects of parents.
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