This dissertation features a three-month qualitative descriptive case study that examined the home literacy practices employed in maintaining a heritage language by a Chinese immigrant family living in a mid-sized city in western Canada. Influenced by Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory, as well as the foundational concepts of d/Discourse, diglossia, and accommodation without assimilation, the research questions guiding the study were: (1) What activities do Chinese parents use in the home to maintain and develop their children’s Mandarin home language? (2) How do children respond to these activities? and (3) What beliefs and attitudes do the parents and children hold in relation to heritage language maintenance (HLM)? Most of the literature on HLM has focused primarily on post-secondary learners, children in metropolitan areas, or heritage language schools and communities, whereas this research was an in-depth examination of home literacy environment provided by immigrant parents to support their children’s heritage language, with limited community resources. Data were collected through home observations, video recordings selected by and submitted by the parents of their heritage language (HL) activities, semi-structured interviews of individual members of the family, and children’s work samples. Data were inductively analyzed using NVivo 10 software. Four themes emerged from the study: (a) parents’ intentional provision of a rich and robust home literacy environment; (b) a range of children’s responses to Chinese and English literacy activities in the home; and (c) parents’ broad perspectives on children’s language and literacy learning; (d) parents’ expectations and attitudes towards learning Chinese. The research showed that the parents drew on learning practices from both Western and Eastern traditions. One powerful activity that the family used was an extended read-aloud practice in which the mother made innovative use of the same texts/resources in different languages, along with exploratory talk that engaged the children. Various homework practices elicited a mixture of responses, ranging from enthusiastic involvement to mild engagement to frustration. The practices were related to the parents’ beliefs about how language learning occurs. The finding also indicated that the parents faced significant challenges in supporting their children’s HLM in a diglossic society, which offered few opportunities to use Chinese at a high cognitive level. / Graduate

Because of shifting demographics, the Taiwanese government opened the country to immigrants from Southeast Asia. Foreign-born brides of Taiwanese men have contributed significantly to this trend of new immigration, inspiring fears that their children, inadequately prepared for the literacy requirements of early education, might negatively impact the educational system and society. to better understand the socio-political implications of this cultural shift, the researcher gathered data from one hundred and twenty immigrant and native families with first graders in six major cities in Taiwan. Purposes of this research are to: (a) investigate to what extent, if any parenting style is impacted by differences in immigration status between native Taiwanese and Southeast Asian immigrant mothers, (b) examine to what extent, if any maternal parenting styles relate to children’s early literacy, and (c) determine to what extent, if any maternal parenting styles along with the children’s and familial characteristics associate with children’s early literacy. the study found that (a) immigrant mothers are statistically lower on authoritative and higher on permissive parenting style than native mothers; (b) immigrant mothers’ participation in integration programs does not relate to maternal parenting styles or children’s literacy performances; (c) children from immigrant families are significantly lower than their peers from native families on receptive vocabulary and phonological awareness; (d) children from higher income families perform better on receptive vocabulary than their lower income peers; (e) children whose mothers are senior high school graduates achieve significantly better on literacy skills than others. Furthermore, children of mothers with higher education perform better on receptive vocabulary than those whose mothers have lower education levels; (f) there was little relationship between children’s literacy development and the three maternal parenting styles; (g) age and gender are the most significant predictors of children’s literacy development. the limited influence of parenting styles on childhood literacy may be attributed to cultural differences. Parenting styles theory and instrumentation emerged from Western research and parenting expectations. Translations, both linguistic and cultural, may be imperfect once grafted onto Taiwanese society. Further complications potentially arise when foreign-born women carry their own varied cultural expectations and start families in an unfamiliar society. This research would suggest that government-sponsored programs could address the demographic inequalities which characterize this segment of Taiwanese society.

No description available.

本研究目的係為探討新移民母親參與親子共讀團體後，其在自我認同、親子關係，以及對家庭關係上之變化。本研究採質性為主，量化為輔的方法。質性研究以深度訪談和參與觀察方式；量化研究以前-後測之親子共讀問卷瞭解新移民母親在分數上的變化。九位受訪者以立意和滾雪球抽樣取得。主要研究結果如下： 在「原生家庭對新移民女性在教養子女的影響」方面：新移民女性作為孩子的主要照顧者，並非為全職家務工作者，且新移民女性與台灣先生、夫家和原生娘家的相處情形，會受到原生家庭中母親與父親及上一代公婆、娘家的互動模式影響；在「自我認同的轉變」方面：新移民女性渴望得到來自夫家或社會的認同，因此，她們對於養育或管教子女的自我要求極為嚴苛，孩子的成就代表她們人生的成功。並用真誠信任且開放的態度去面對團體中的領導者、協同領導者和其他團體成員時，其越能得到較多的社會支持與正向感受；在「提昇親子關係」方面，從質化與量化加以說明：質化方面：當新移民親子溝通和互動關係變好，在教養上就會順利許多。量化方面：研究採個人之自我分數對照方式，深入瞭解每位受訪者的改變。在「家庭關係和諧」方面：先生非常支持太太上課學習，並願意建立有效夫妻溝通模式，此也影響新移民女性跟夫家和娘家的互動關係。 最後，針對新移民女性及家庭的需求對實務工作、服務體系及未來研究等三方面提出相關建議，作為未來實務工作、政策制定以及研究之參考。 / Abstract The research discusses the change of self-recognition, parent-child relationship, and family relationship after new immigrant mothers join in the parent-child reading group. This qualitative research, deep interview and observation, is assisted with quantitative method, pre- and post- test parent-child reading questionnaire to understand the score changing of new immigrant mothers. 9 respondents were selected from judgment and snowball sampling. The main results are as follows: In the aspect of “the influence of original family on the new immigrant female when raising child”: new immigrant female is the main care taker of the child, not full time house chores doer. Also, the living situation of the new immigrant female with their husband, in-laws, and original family is affected by the interaction between their parents from the original family and the in-laws and the original family of last generation. In the aspect of “the changing of self-recognition”: new immigrant female long for recognition from the husband’s family or the society. Therefore, they are hard on themselves in raising or disciplining the child. The achievement of the child is their life success. When they face the leader, the co-leader, and other group members with sincere, trust, and open attitude, they can have more positive social support and feeling. We explain the aspect of “increasing parent-child relationship” qualitatively and quantitatively. In qualitatively, when the communication and interaction between the parent and child of the new immigrant is better, the raising and teaching will be smoother. In quantitatively, the research contrast personal scores and deeply understand the changing of each respondent. In the aspect of “family harmony”: the husband supports the wife to learn and is willing to build effectively couple communication model, which has also influence the interaction of the new immigrant female with the in-laws and the original family. Finally, we propose related suggestions on the need of the new immigrant female and the family in the aspects of practical works, service system, and future research as the reference for future practical work, policy stipulation, and research.

No description available.

Cette recherche vise à comprendre les raisons qui incitent les parents immigrants originaires d’Afrique subsaharienne à s’impliquer dans le cheminement scolaire d’un enfant présentant un trouble du spectre de l’autisme (TSA). Spécifiquement, nous décrivons leur rôle parental, leur sentiment de compétence parentale perçu et nous analysons les facilitateurs et les obstacles à leur implication. En nous référant au modèle d’implication parentale de Hoover-Dempsey et Sandler (1995; 1997; 2005; 2010) nuancé par la typologie d’Epstein (1995; 2002; 2018), nous avons pu cerner la réalité de ces parents subsahariens au regard de nos objectifs précités. L’utilisation de l’entretien semi-directif et l’analyse thématique de contenu nous ont menées à des résultats centrés sur le rôle de parent dans la prise en charge des besoins fondamentaux de l’enfant, la collaboration école-famille et l’investissement de temps et d’énergie. Les parents immigrants subsahariens ayant un enfant présentant un TSA perçoivent leur sentiment de compétence au regard de leur rôle parental. Par ailleurs, l’autonomie de l’enfant, la communication ouverte avec l’école, le soutien de la communauté et les stratégies d’investissement de temps et d’énergie facilitent leur implication parentale. Cependant, la spécificité des besoins fondamentaux de l’enfant, la communication école-famille fermée, les méthodes d’intervention divergentes entre l’école et la maison, la barrière linguistique et l’investissement limité de temps et d’énergie ne leur permettent pas de s’impliquer davantage. La discussion nous indique que ces parents subsahariens jouent un rôle parental que nous qualifions de traditionnel. Ainsi, aucune différence notable n’apparait entre les parents non-immigrants et eux. De plus, la perception positive du TSA les motive à s’impliquer dans le cheminement scolaire de leur enfant. Leur implication parentale en contexte scolaire se limite soit au niveau de la consultation et de l’information mutuelle (niveau 1) soit à la concertation et la coordination (niveau 2) du modèle de collaboration école-famille proposé par Larivée (2006; 2011). / This research aims to understand the reasons that encourage immigrant parents from sub-Saharan Africa to get involved in the schooling of a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Specifically, we describe their parenting role, their perceived sense of parental competence and analyze the facilitators and barriers to their involvement. By referring to the parental involvement model of Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler (1995; 1997; 2005; 2010) nuanced by Epstein's typology (1995; 2002; 2018), we were able to identify the reality of these sub-Saharan parents regarding our mentioned objectives. The use of the semi-structured interview and thematic content analysis led us to results centered on the parent's role in taking care of the basic needs of the child, the school-family collaboration and the investment of time and energy. Sub-Saharan immigrant parents with a child with ASD perceive their sense of competence regarding their parental role. In addition, child autonomy, open communication with the school, community support, and time and energy investment strategies facilitates parental involvement. However, the specificity of the basic needs of the child, the closed school-family communication, the divergent methods of intervention between school and home, the language barrier and the limited investment in time and energy do not allow them to be more involved. The discussion tells us that these sub-Saharan parents play a parental role that we qualify as traditional. Thus, no notable difference appears between non-immigrant parents and them. Furthermore, the positive perception of ASD motivates them to get involved in their child's educational progress. Their parental involvement in a school context is limited either to the level of mutual consultation and information (level 1) or to consultation and coordination (level 2) of the school-family collaboration model proposed by Larivée (2006; 2011).

No description available.

This dissertation focuses on the living arrangements of multi-generational households among ten biggest immigrant groups in the United States. Specifically, it examines whether the husband's or the wife's older parents were more likely to be present. Co-residence patterns were taken as a proxy that reflected relative decision-making power in the family. A number of factors hypothesized to be associated with the outcome were examined to explore the effect of immigration on gender role ideology and gender relations in the post-1965 immigrant family. More than 102,000 multi-generational households from the 2000 U.S. Census were included in the analyses. Results suggested that while there were positive signs for women's increasing status and relative decision-making power, the influence of original sending culture where immigrants have come from proved to be strong and persistent. Those from more patriarchal sending cultures, represented by India, Korea, and China, were more likely to have the husband's parents co-residing; while those from less patriarchal sending cultures, represented by Jamaica, Cuba, and El Salvador, were more likely to have the wife's parents present in the household. These findings illustrate the complex nature of gender relations in the immigrant family whereby the effect of assimilation is found in some domains, while the influence of sending culture is enduring or even reinforced in other domains. Results of this research contribute to the better understanding of the diversity of changes in gender relations that accompany immigration.