Investigating the motivations of parents choosing language immersion education for their child - Английский язык - Дипломные работы

Информация о документе

Цена	9000UZS
Размер	37.1KB
Покупки	0
Дата загрузки	26 Сентябрь 2019
Расширение	doc
Раздел	Дипломные работы
Предмет	Английский язык

Investigating the motivations of parents choosing language immersion education for their child

Купить

CONTENT Introduction ………………………………………………………………………3 Chapter I. General information about investigating the motivations of parents choosing language immersion education for their child….………………………4 1.1 To investigate the motivations of parents choice……………………………..6 1.2 Selecting language immersion education for their child…………………….12 1.3 Teaching and learning immersion education……………………………….14 Chapter II. Immersion education for young learners……………..…………….15 2.1 Parents’ educational goals……………………………………………………24 2.2 Parents’ own school experience……………………………………………..34 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………35 Key words ……………………………………………………………………….36 Bibliography ……………………………………………………………………37 1

Introduction The actuality of the work: Language immersion schools, which are the focus of this study, require parents’ support and involvement as they generally need to make extra strides in attracting students, locating funds, and justifying their worth and success. In a language immersion program, students, mostly at the elementary school age, learn another language by learning content taught to them in the second language. Immersion education effectively provides its students with “academic achievement, bi- or multilingualism, literacy in at least two languages, and enhanced levels of intercultural sensitivity”. The aim of the work: The aim of the course work is to give detailed information about investigating the motivations of parents choosing language immersion education for their c

The practical value of the work: This course work can be used as principal information for investigating the motivations of parents choosing language immersion education for their child. It comprises a great deal of materials which can be fruitful for self studying of choosing immersion education. It can be used as a fundamental source of materials which supports wide range of information about investigating the motivations of parents choosing language immersion education for their child. 3

Chapter I General information about investigating the motivations of parents choosing language immersion education for their child Much educational research of recent years has been examining the role of parents in their children’s education. Numerous studies have shown that parental involvement can enhance students’ academic achievements, behavioral outcomes, and their sense of well-being. Yet parents not only impact their children’s education but also are invaluable assets to schools. Parents’ beliefs and attitudes about a school or program have a tremendous impact on the decisions of other parents seeking a good school for their child as well as on the success and effectiveness of the school itself. It seems established among practitioners and researchers alike that parents are key stak

elementary level, these programs use the immersion language for at least 50% of the school day to teach subject matter . To date there are about 310 one-way immersion programs in the U.S. serving languages such as Spanish, French,German, Italian, Russian, or Arabic . Bilingual or two-way immersion programs serve a student body where “ideally, half of the students in each class are members of the majority language group and half are members of a minority language program . In these programs, minority language use varies from 90% to 50% in Kindergarten, to 50% of instruction time in each language in the remaining elementary grades. Two-way immersion programs, in particular, have seen a dramatic increase in recent years with currently 319 schools in states . Both one-way and two-way immersion

(d) The program aims for additive bilingualism (e) Exposure to the L2 is largely confined to the classroom (f) Students enter with similar (and limited) levels of L2 proficiency (g) The teachers are bilingual (h) The classroom culture is that of the local L1 community Due to the steady rise in numbers of especially the Hispanic school population nationwide, two-way immersion programs in Spanish have increased noticeably. Much of the related research has focused on two-way immersion programs; likely because these programs dominate the landscape as far as language education is concerned yet also because bilingual education has been under attack nationally with antibilingual initiatives in a number of states . Stritikus and Garcia describe Arizona’s Proposition 203 for example as “a direct ch

elementary school in the area, was very fluent in German, and that they were looking for someone who could continue working with her on the language, as she did not attend any German classes at this point and they did not want her to loose the language. I still remember that it puzzled me when he said, “she had attended a German school” as I did not know of any “German school” in the area. I expected a tutoring job like any other – reviewing grammar concepts and working on vocabulary. I still remember vividly the first time I met the daughter – Mary – and how impressed I was by her near-native fluency and knowledge of German. This was the beginning of my personal involvement with immersion language learning. My knowledge of and fascination with immersion programs started then – nine years

parental beliefs often influence these involvement decisions. In addition, parental attitudes, aspirations, and encouragement improve children’s performance in school and influence their attitudes and values about school and about learning . Parents are also fundamental in their role as volunteers giving their time, energy and sometimes even money to schools, most of which have been affected by recent budget cuts for teacher aides and paraeducators. Educational reforms such as Goals 2000 or the No Child Left Behind Act have made efforts to define parental participation and stipulate the promotion of family-school relationships . Parental involvement is of vital importance to a school, yet it is often enough underestimated and undervalued. Parents serve as advertisers and communicators of a

in Spanish speakers from 17.3 million in 1990 to 28.1 million in 2000. In 2003 of the 33.5 million foreign-born living in the U.S. 53.3% were from Latin America Consequently, this has had an impact on the demographics in our public schools as well. Of those school-aged children and adolescents who speak a language other than English at home, 75% speak Spanish . In order to keep up with these changes in American society and its implications on public education, much of educational research has simply had to focus on bilingualism and the various forms of Spanish language programs. In order to add to and expand the existing knowledge base of immersion education, my research study will employ qualitative methods to explore the motivations parents have for sending their child to a newly opened

why they chose immersion education for their child and what influenced these decisions. Semistructured interviews are used to answer the following research questions: 1. What are the stated motivations for parents to enroll their child in an immersion language program? 1.1 What educational goals do immersion parents have for their child? 1.2 What perceptions and expectations do parents have of their child’s immersion program? 1.3 Do beliefs about the German language influence immersion parents’ decision? 2. What are the stated factors that influence immersion parents’ decision-making? 2.1 Does an immersion parent’s own school experience influence his/her decisions? 2.2 Does an immersion parent’s role perception influence his/her decision? Conceptual Framework Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler’s m

In the original model, Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler hypothesized that “parents’ basic involvement decisions were primarily influenced by what they believe they should and can do in the context of their child’s education” . Two constructs are suggested to reflect these beliefs. In the revised model, Walker et al. organized these two ideas under one conceptual umbrella: parents’ motivational beliefs. Although this model was developed to explain why parents become involved in their child’s education, the psychological predictor of motivational beliefs is applicable to this study as it focuses on parents’ own attitudes, ideas and experiences as basis of their decisions within their child’s education. As Nell suggests, “Hoover-Dempsey’s perspective uses a more caring, realistic, and judgment-free

partnership-focused . A parent-focused role construction sees the ultimate responsibility for the child’s education with the parents whereas a school-focused role construction sees the responsibility with the schools. Lastly, a partnership- focused role construction reflects “beliefs and behaviors that parents and schools together are responsible for the child’s education” Parental Self-Effical define parental self- efficacy as “beliefs in one’s capability to act in ways that will produce desired outcomes people’s goal selection, effort, persistence, and ultimate goal accomplishment” (p. 93). Parents’ beliefs in their abilities to help their child succeed in school influence their goals, persistence and what they will do. Self- efficacy theory applied to parental involvement suggests that

parent interview and went through the writing and editing of the final document. The digitally-recorded interviews were transcribed and coded employing content analysis to find emerging patterns and themes with reference to the conceptual framework and research questions presented earlier. Constantly comparing participants’ responses allowed me to establish categories within parental motivations, beliefs, and expectations. To ensure the trustworthiness of this study, I collected several sources of data and requested the assistance of a fellow doctoral candidate to check the codes and themes I had established. Definition of Terms L1 – (first language) refers in the context of this study to a person’s first or native language. L2 – (second language) refers in the context of this study to the

programs with the goal “for students to acquire listening and speaking skills, gain an understanding of and appreciation for other cultures, and acquire limited amounts of reading and writing skills” . 14

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE Since parents are considered primary stakeholders in their child’s education, I will begin this chapter with a discussion of relevant literature on the importance of parents in education and the crucial role they play as partners to schools but particularly immersion programs. The present study mainly draws on research on parental involvement in their child’s education. I will highlight studies done on the various benefits of parent participation and how it influences students’ academic achievements, motivations, and well-being. In order to examine parents’ motivations and the underlying factors for choosing immersion education, I will continue this chapter with a review of relevant literature that has aimed at exploring attitudes and beliefs of pare

determination, enthusiasm, hard work, and dedication of a group of parents who wanted to improve their children’s education.Parental Involvement The amount of current research on parental involvement is extensive. This is most likely due to its empirically proven positive effects, which appeal to educators and the public alike, who in turn consider “parental involvement an important ingredient for the remedy for many problems in education” . However, parental involvement has also become a federal mandate within the No Child Left Behind Act. To be entitled to federal funding, schools have to make every effort and employ appropriate practices based on the most current research to involve parents in their children’s education .In reviewing the literature it becomes apparent that various defin

of parents’ social groups on parental involvement and decision-making. In a study on parents’ social networks and beliefs as predictors of parent involvement, Sheldon surveyed mothers of elementary students. He found that “over and above parents’ individual beliefs, parents’ social networks are significantly associated with levels of parent involvement” . Another study on parental motivation, attitudes, support, and commitment for a two-way immersion program by Giacchino-Baker and Piller confirmed that parents’ social networks impacted the schooling decisions parents made for their children. In this study, Spanish- speaking parents reported that mostly other parents influenced their decision- making whereas English-speaking parents were mostly influenced by teachers and/ or administrators.

construction in Japanese mothers of preschool children. They found that mothers reported more involvement in their preschooler’s education when they felt efficacious and perceived their role to be an active supporter of their child’s intellectual development.This sample of the literature underlines the influence of motivational beliefs in parents’ involvement decisions and behaviors. To illustrate the educational impact of parents, the next segment will highlight some of the research on parent involvement and the reported benefits of such engagement to children’s academic achievements as well as to schools and programs. Parental Involvement Benefits Students Parental involvement has been a topic of interest in educational research for many years. Even though its benefits to a child’s educa

family life and status play a different role than in many western countries. Another metaanalysis conducted by Jeynes focusing on particularly urban elementary students found a strong relationship between academic achievement and parents’ involvement and concluded that “any group can experience the advantages of parental involvement” Sénéchal and LeFevre investigated parental involvement in the area of children’s literacy development – probably the most influenced subject by parent involvement. Their five-year longitudinal study examined early home literacy activities of parents and their kindergarten and first grade children. Literacy experiences at home included activities such as reading a bedtime story or teaching reading and writing . Their findings suggested “clear links from home ex

particular have an impact on students’ educational outcomes. Yet parental involvement also shapes students’ motivations and sense of efficacy. Gonzal found in their review of the literature on the relationship between parental influence and student motivation that positive relationships exist between the two constructs. They concluded, When parents show an interest in their child’s education by getting involved, students adopt a mastery goal orientation to learning where they are more likely to seek challenging tasks, persist through academic challenges, and experience satisfaction in their schoolwork . Second language learning is particularly influenced by attitudes and motivation. Donato studied a Japanese FLES program over the course of a number of years and observed a “strong, positive

who wanted to improve their children’s education . A lack of parental support, on the other hand, can result in a program’s disappearance – as happened with a number of FLES programs during the 1970s . As Heining-Boynton and Haitema put it succinctly, “A positive attitude can translate into increased support for the program, whereas a negative attitude may often lead to the program’s termination” Alternative education programs such as immersion or FLES are particularly dependent on parents’ support and involvement to justify their worth and to continue serving their communities. Often founders and supporters of immersion programs are faced with resistance from school authorities on the grounds that resources need to be reallocated or that these programs tend to not serve all students . Par

reason, it behooves foreign language educators to not ignore parental opinions and motivations. Within this first part of the literature review, I highlighted some of the extensive research on parental involvement and gave evidence of the impact it has on students’ academic achievements and motivations. Additionally, I discussed how parents function as partners to schools and their staff, and thus shape educational policies and decisions. It is the parents who make early educational choices for their children. They can ignite an enthusiasm for life-long language learning, for example, by sending their child to an immersion program. Thus, it is not surprising that many of these alternative forms of education were started by groups of parents and heavily depend on them for continuation. Curr

who believed they are efficacious and felt they can be a teacher to their child were more likely to be involved in exposing their children to intellectually stimulating activities. Sheldon also examined predictors of parental involvement focusing on parents’ social networks and beliefs. He could confirm positive links between parental beliefs and parent involvement. Sheldon found that “the more parents believe that all parents should be involved in their children’s education, the more likely they are to be involved themselves” . Since beliefs are seen as the driving force behind actual involvement practices,Drummond and Stipek examined low- income parents’ beliefs about their role in their children’s academic learning. They could find evidence that this particular parent group also believe

in math and science. Mothers in this study, for example, were reported to be more likely to buy math- and science-related toys for sons than for daughters regardless of the child’s school grade; thereby conveying the attitude that boys have a higher math and science aptitude. In a different study focused on attitudes towards science, Tenenbaum and Leaper examined parent-child conversations about science. The study provided evidence that associations could be drawn bet ween parents’ and children’s science-related attitudes. Parents were found to believe that their daughters were less interested in science than sons and that they would find science difficult. In addition, parental attitudes were reported to significantly predict children’s interest and self-efficacy in science. Parents are g

of language, its usefulness and status by successful communicating “educational regrets” or the “utilitarian value of language learning” Henkel studied Hungarian minority students in Ukraine and their motivations for studying Ukrainian. Participants were 211 students aged between sixteen and eighteen who had been studying Ukrainian from six to eleven years. The researcher hypothesized that parents played an influential role in their children’s motivation to master the second language. Using students’ questionnaire responses, the study could provide evidence that parents actively shaped and advanced these students’ language learning motivation through their encouragement of and attitude toward language learning. In an ethnographic inquiry on Chinese immigrant families in examined parental i

increased interest in these programs and their educational outcomes . Since “bilingual education is not, and never has been, a neutral process” much attention has been given to this educational approach, not only by researchers and practitioners but also by politicians and the general public alike. Because bilingual education is embedded in the divisive and contested issue of immigration, various states in recent years have seen antibilingual initiatives come to pass. As a result, many promoters and researchers in the field of bilingual education have turned to parents and their attitudes and perspectives to attest to the benefits of two-way immersion schooling. Parents’ involvement is vital not only to students’ academic achievement but also for maintaining schools and programs – especial

language. Indeed, parents view these programs as an excellent educational opportunity for their children and expressed their desire for these programs to expand in Colorado. In a different study, Stritikus and Garcia employed data from a statewide survey of randomly sampled parents in Arizona to delve deeper into parents’ perspectives on matters of bilingualism in schools. They found most parents to favor English and Spanish as the languages of instruction for English- language learners, which suggested that, “educational policies, at least in this state, may be seriously out of sync with majority perspectives of parents” . Two-way immersion programs lend themselves especially well to research on differences in motivations between the diverse groups of parents represented at many of these

integrative motivations, today’s Spanish-speaking parents see the need for their children to be “completely bilingual with excellent literacy skills in both languages” . Other recent studies have focused solely on minorities in two-way immersion programs. Flynn surveyed Hispanic and African-American parents in a two-way immersion program in the Los Angeles area. These predominantly low-income and working class families gave the following top three reasons for enrolling their children at a two-way immersion school: (a) Academic advantage (b) Stronger identity as bilingual-bicultural/multicultural individual (c) Ability to communicate with family, friends or other Spanish-speaking people Boone found similar instrumental and integrative motivations in her research study on successful African

effective in maintaining the L1, teaching the L2 and cultural sensitivity, and as valuable and advantageous in today’s society. Some of these parental motivations likely also apply to one-way immersion and FLES programs, which the next section will explore. One-Way Immersion/FLES Programs One-way immersion and FLES programs are two types of early language program models. They are not the same as they have different goals and expected student outcomes. However, since research on parents and one-way immersion programs is rather limited, I drew on both program models for this literature review. FLES programs are non- immersion language programs at the elementary school level that have less contact hours with the target language and serve as language enrichment opportunities for predominantly

foreign language to interfere with other subjects . In addition, parents often choose to send their child to a language program based on the excellent reputation of such schools and their teaching staff . Choy’s participatory research study had six parents critically reflect on a Japanese language program their children attended in California . For this group of parents, The collective impression was that learning another language is an effective way to begin learning about that culture. Parents felt that skills acquired while learning about a specific language and culture could be applied to other situations and that children who possessed these skills would be better able to live successfully in a diverse societty. These six parents had mainly integrative motivations for enrolling their

children in French or Spanish one-way immersion programs were explored. The research team found that the majority of parents chose an immersion program because they wanted their child to learn a second language and become bilingual. Finally, parents in several studies voiced another interesting finding: parents who send their child to a one-way immersion or FLES program have acknowledged a certain level of anxiety about their decision. Because these programs are rather unique and provide an alternative form of education, many parents have “a heightened desire for information about curricular content, student progress and, above all, a need for reassurance about achievement” also found this to be true about parents they surveyed in a Japanese FLES program. In addition, some immersion teache

a challenge of one-way immersion or FLES programs alone; English-first parents in two-way immersion programs face similar dilemmas . Motivations and anxieties have a marked influence on parents’ decision to send their children to an immersion school underscoring the complex relationship that takes place between parents and these schools in particular. In order to have an effective partnership between schools and parents, it is worth exploring what parents think in regards to these programs, what factors influence their decisions to send their child to a language program, and what factors encourage and discourage them from continuing with programs. In this last segment of the literature review, I highlighted current research on parents’ motivations for enrolling their child in two-way immer

by being involved and they influence their children with their educational decisions. As some of the studies in the first part of this chapter illustrated, students are motivated to learn a language and about other cultures especially if their parents show interest and thereby foster the children’s enthusiasm. Parents’ motivations for sending their child to an immersion program naturally vary from family to family. However, as the second part of this literature review indicated, parents want their children to maintain their home language and culture as is the case for especially bilingual families, become fluent in two languages for better educational and job prospects, or have an enriching learning experience that regular schools do not provide. Much of the current research on parental pe

and educational enrichment as well as future benefits . The present study was designed to explore in more detail why parents selected a newly established German immersion program as the school of their choice for their child. By learning more about the motivations and thought-processes behind such decision- making and understanding the factors that influence these decisions, I will add to the knowledge base of particularly parents and immersion schooling which in turn can assist the profession in program development and improved language learning and teaching. In this chapter, I describe the research design used in this study. I will provide a detailed description of the context, the participating schools and parents, and I will offer a rationale for my data collection and analysis procedu

These schools cannot survive without parental involvement, their support and patronage, and the enthusiasm they bring. Parents want these kinds of educational experiences for their children and are needed to guarantee immersion programs flourish and grow. As this study has attempted to highlight, parents can truly make or break a program. 36

BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Adams K. S., & Christenson, S. L. (2000). Trust and the family–school relationship Examination of parent–teacher differences in elementary and secondary grades. Journal of School Psychology, 38 (5), 477-497. 2. Amaral, O. M. (2001). Parents’ decisions about bilingual program models. Bilingual Research Journal, 25 (1&2), 1-23.Anderson, K. J., & Minke, K. M. (2007). Parent involvement in education: Toward anunderstanding of parents’ decision making. The Journal of Educational Research,100 (5), 311-323. 3. Baranick, W. A., & Markham, P. L. (1986). Attitudes of elementary school principles toward foreign language instruction. Foreign Language Annals, 19 (6), 481-489.Bartram, B. (2006). An examination of perceptions of parental influence on attitudes to language learning. Educat

9. Choy, V. K. S. (1993). Parents’ critical reflections on an elementary Japanese bilingual bicultural public school program: A participatory research study. Doctoral dissertation, University of San Francisco, San Francisco. 134 10. Cloud, N., Genesee, F., & Hamayan, E. (2000). Dual language instruction: A handbook for enriched education . Boston: Heinle & Heinle. Cunningham, A.F., Erisman, W., & Looney, S.M. (2007). From aspirations to action: The role of middle school parents in making the dream of college a reality . Washington, DC: Institute for Higher Education Policy. 11. Curdt-Christiansen, X. L. (2009). Invisible and visible language planning: Ideological factors in the family language policy of Chinese immigrant families in Quebec. Language Policy, 8 (4), 351-375. 12. Curtain, H.,

Купить