Copyright is owned by the Author of the thesis. Permission is given for a copy to be downloaded by an individual for the purpose of research and private study only. The thesis may not be reproduced elsewhere without the permission of the Author. CHINESE IMMIGRANT PARENTS AS HOME TEACHERS: MAINTAINING AND DEVELOPING CHILDREN'S HERITAGE LANGUAGE IN NEW ZEALAND A thesis presented in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Master of Education in Arts and Language at Massey University Lin Lu 2003 11 ABSTRACT This research investigated Chinese immigrant parents as home teachers maintaining and developing children ' s heritage language in New Zealand. The case study approach was employed to enable rich information to be obtained. Data was collected from eight recent Chinese immigrant families and their children by means of non-participant observations and interviews . From my research, I found Chinese immigrant parents defined bilingualism as both their children 's first and second language. I also found that these immigrants who immigrated to New Zealand under the Points System were highly educated in China and maintained a strong subconscious belief in the Confucian ideas . As the descendants of Confucianism, Chinese immigrant parents have positive attitudes towards their children ' s bilingualism and highly value education. They set up a home Chinese teaching and learning context so they can pass on the Chinese language and culture. A major finding of this study is that children have a positive attitude towards their heritage language maintenance and development, even though there is a strong influence from the reality of living in an English dominated country and receiving English formal education. The main reason for this outstanding result seen in these children's bilingual development is because of their parents ' great efforts to offer teaching in Chinese at home. The results are illustrated as a tree to demonstrate that the traditional Chinese Confucian ideas , and the impact of Chinese parents ' perceptions of bilingualism and reality in New Zealand. The Confucian ideas are shown as the roots of the tree that support and nurture the expectations of Chinese parents ' perceptions. The trunk illustrates the contribution from the parents as home teachers. The three main branches stand for parents ' opinions, and the outcome of the children ' s attitudes is presented by the leaves surrounding the branches. 111 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to sincerely acknowledge the unfailing support and interest of people who have helped in me to process this thesis. I have a very special and impressive appreciation to my supervisors Mrs . Penny Haworth and Professor Wayne Edwards. I would like to thank Penny for her constant invaluable professional guidance and untiring patience, and Wayne ' s on-going encouragement and invaluable wisdom. Without my supervisors ' continued confidence in me and generous professional help, this thesis could not have been done. What they have taught me and what I have learned from them will benefit me life long in my future career. l would like to thank all my participants who allowed me to listen to their voice. It is my pleasure to share and to present their thoughts in order to benefit our children ' s future, as our children are our future. There are so many lecturers I wou ld like to express my grateful thanks. ln particular, to Dr. Tri sh Johnson, Dr. Keith Greaney, Dr. John O 'Neill , Dr. Lisa Emerson , Mrs. Mary-Jane Stirling, Mr. Guy Broadley, Ms. Teresa Ball , Mr. Lloyd Shearman, Mr. Bill Macintyre, Ms. Cathleen Vossler, MJ. Leon Wickham, Ms. Jen McLeod, Ms. Judith Carter and Mr. Barry Brocas who gave me their moral support and help. l would also like to thank my friends Mrs. Anne Ayers, Mrs. Patricia Mary Van Laar and Rinzin Choden who also offered their generous and untiring support. My final thanks belong to my parents (Jinji Lu ?lliHR and Wenying Ma 12;}(~) for being with me and supporting me through all the years of my study, and my elder brother (Jian Lu pf~) and my nephew (Xiaxi Lu p]if~) who planted the little seeds for this piece of research. I would like to dedicate this thesis to my supervisors Penny Haworth and Wayne Edwards for their toleration, understanding, inspiration , supporting and caring about me. lV TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION 1 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 6 2.1 Key Definitions of Bilingualism 6 2.2 Types of Bilingual Education 9 2.3 Development of Bilingualism in Differing Contexts 12 2.3 .1 The Early Studies of Bilingualism 12 2.3.2 A Turning Point in Understanding Bilingualism 13 2.3.3 The Common Underlying Proficiency Model of Bilingualism 15 2.3.4 The Thresholds Theory and Contexts of Language Learning 16 2.3.5 Codes witching 20 2.4 Factors Effecting Bilingual Development 21 2.4.1 Language Exposure as a Factor in Bilingual Deve lopment 21 2.4.2 Age as a Factor in Bilingual Development 23 2.4.3 Attitude and Identity as Factors in Bilingual Development 24 2.5 Social and Cultural Processes in Deve lopment Bilingualism 26 2.5.1 Broad Ideas on Social and Cultural Processes 26 2.5.2 Social and Cultural Processes at Home Context 29 2.6 Summary 31 3 METHODS AND METHODOLOGY 34 3.1 The Research Approach 34 3.2 The Research Questions 36 3.3 The Research Instruments 38 3.3.1 The Pilot Study 39 3.3.2 Non-Participant Observations 40 3.3 .3 Interviews 41 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 4 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 Participants 3.4.1 Recruitment of Participants 3.4.2 The Subjects Ethical Considerations Data Analysis Summary RESULTS OF THE STUDY Parents ' Understandings of Bilingualism Parents ' Teaching Strategies at Home Reasons for Chinese Teaching and Learning Parents' Expectations about Organized Children's Chinese Classes Parents ' Opinions on Two Educational Systems The Influence of Learning Context on Bilingualism 4.7 Changes in Parents ' Attitudes and Perspectives on Bilingualism for a Few Years 4.8 Children ' s Attitudes towards Chinese Learning and China 4.9 Children ' s Effo1ts with Regard to Chinese Learning 4.10 Summary 5 DISCUSSION OF RESULTS 5.1 Parents ' Descriptions of First Language and Second Language 5.2 Parents Understandings of Bilingual Development 5.3 5.2.1 The Language Dilemma 5.2.2 The Bilingual Tolerance View 5.2.3 The Bilingual Advantage View 5.2.4 Codeswitching and Language Choices The Impact on Children ' s Bilingualism of Traditional Chinese Confucian Ideas and the Reality 5.3.1 Confucian Ideas as Hidden Educational Pedagogy 5.3.2 Parents' Understandings of Bilingual Education v 46 46 48 50 54 55 56 56 60 68 71 73 76 80 81 82 85 86 86 87 87 89 90 92 94 95 98 5.4 5.5 6 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 5.3 .3 Parents ' Teaching Strategies for the Chinese Language 5.3.4 The Influence of Learning Context on Bilingualism The Factors that Support or Interfere with Children's Bilingual Development Summary CONCLUSIONS Summary of Key Ideas Limitations of the Study Recomrnendati ons Suggestions for Further Research BIBLIOGRAPHY APPENDICES Vl 103 106 110 11 5 119 119 123 124 126 128 147 .. Vll LIST OF APPENDICES 1.1 A Letter to Possible Participants (in English) 147 1.2 A Letter to Possible Participants (in Chinese) 148 2.1 Information Sheet (in English) 149 2.2 Information Sheet (in Chinese) 151 3 .1 Consent Form (in English) 153 3.2 Consent Form (in Chinese) 154 4.1 Consent Form for a Child (in English) 155 4.2 Consent Form for a Child (in Chinese) 156 5.1 Individual Consent Form for Group Agreement (in English) 157 5.2 Indi vidual Consent Form for Group Agreement (in Chinese) 158 6.1 Pre-interview Questions for Parents (in English) 159 6.2 Pre-interview Questions for Parents (in Chinese) 160 7.1 Interview Questions for Parents (in English) 161 7.2 Interv iew Questions for Parents (in Chinese) 164 8.1 Interview Questions for Children (in English) 167 8.2 Interview Questions for Children (in Chinese) 169 Vlll LIST OF FIGURES 2.1 Language Acquisition: The Prism Model (Adapted from Thomas & Collier, 1997, cited in Collier, 1998) 32 5.1 Traditional Confucian Ideas within the Teaching Philosophy and Educational Pedagogy of Chinese Parents 95 5.2 How Confucian Ideas Influence Parents Understandings and Implementation of Bilingual Education 98 5.3 Children's Attitudes and Efforts towards Chinese Learning as the Result of Their Parents ' Teaching at Home l l 0 5.4 The Impact between Traditional Chinese Confucian Ideas and Parents ' Perceptions of Bilingualism in Reality in New Zealand 117