Latinos are the fastest growing ethnic group in the United States. Thirty five percent of Latinos who are currently children will be contributing taxpayers and will be having a great influence on the future economy. Immigrant Latino parents must overcome significant challenges to ensure their children’s well-being. The purpose of this study was to investigate the challenges and resiliencies of Latino immigrant parents. This study examines the resources Latino immigrant parents lacked and what knowledge and parenting skills they already obtained. This study specifically looked at Latino immigrant parents and their specific needs regarding parental knowledge and resources. This study used a qualitative design accomplished through the use of face to face and phone interviews. This study conducted 15 interviews with first generation Latino immigrant parents who resided in Southern California who migrated to the United States and had at least one child born in the United States. One major finding of this study was that Latino immigrant parents could benefit from school resources for their children such as tutoring, assistance with the college admission program and assistance with applying for scholarships and financial aid. Another major finding was that language was one dominant challenge and barrier that Latino immigrant parents faced that affected their ability to cope with the U.S school system. Based on the findings of this study one of the recommendations is to produce a policy that mandates the U.S school system to have translation services available for Latino immigrant families.

The aim of this thesis was to describe the expectations that 1.5 generation immigrants perceive their parents expectations for them and their future. The researcher interviewed the experiences of twelve young adolescents who immigrated to New Zealand between the ages of 6 and 12. The researcher used a semi-structured interview to allow participants to freely discuss their experiences while staying true to the aims of the research. The study was conducted in Christchurch, New Zealand. The interviews were recorded on audio, transcribed and analysed. Each transcript was coded and themes were extracted from each interview. Similar themes were grouped into categories which were then discussed as part of the results. The most common expectations reported by participants were in the areas of education and high academic achievement. The effects of these expectations varied as participants grew older and the length of time residing in New Zealand increased. The results are discussed and also compared to studies of 1.5 generation immigrants in the United States. Finally, the implications of this study are discussed, and the relevance of the results to the well-being of the 1.5 generation in New Zealand are suggested.

Master of Science / School of Family Studies and Human Services / Elaine M. Johannes / Permanently moving from one country to another affects the family. This can include the ways in which parents interact with their children. That interaction can be especially challenging when Muslim families move to primarily non-Muslim Western societies such as the United States. This report reviews challenges, opportunities, and strategies for Muslim parents residing in the United States to embed Islamic values and religious practices with their adolescent children. This report also identifies effective ways for Muslim parents to help their adolescent children understand, accept, and practice the Muslim faith. After a review of scholarly literature and existing Islamic religious practice materials, recommendations are provided to help parents effectively model and support appropriate Islamic religious practice to their adolescent children based on the parents’ traditional Muslim beliefs.

Abstract Sweden has over the past years grown into a multicultural society which has caused that people with numerous variances of religion and cultures have to interact. This essay will be based on several primary school teacher’s experiences with immigrant families. The purpose of this essay is finding out how they are introduced and integrated in Swedish primary schools by the teachers. I’ve interviewed six primary teachers that shared what they’ve experienced with immigrant families. In order to achieve this study’s purpose I’ve used qualitative methods. The theory for this essay has been chosen to provide me with deeper knowledge about intercultural communication and meetings between people with different cultures. The results have shown that teachers experienced the culture as a big influence in the meetings. The meetings between parents and teachers has been challenging and difficult. The difficulties was often caused by the lack of understanding and communication issues, based on language, religious beliefs etc.  I’ve found out that teachers had trouble informing and achieving what was written in the curriculum for primary schools.  The teachers experienced that immigrant parents had low expectations of the primary schools and on its staff. This study has shown that teachers resolved difficulties in the meetings by acknowledging immigrant parent’s languages, heritages and cultures.

The Latino population in the United States is projected to increase significantly in the upcoming years as well as the numbers of Latino students enrolled in public schools. These schools are challenged with a gap in Latino student achievement when compared to White non-Hispanic students. Studies indicate that parental involvement in school settings has been correlated to student achievement and that parental involvement is lower for Latino parents than White parents. The purpose of this research study was to examine the relationship between parental involvement of seventh grade middle school Latino students and students’ reading and mathematics achievement. The study also examined selected relevant demographic variables, including socioeconomic status, parents’ level of education, single versus two-parent families, and the gender of the students and parents. The theoretical framework that supported this research study was derived from Joyce Epstein’s (1991) model for parental involvement.

Cette thèse porte sur les choix de l’école secondaire par des parents immigrants dans le contexte montréalais pour leurs enfants. Elle analyse la façon ils perçoivent le marché scolaire. Elle examine également les logiques d’action, contraintes (réelles ou perçues) et stratégies qui sont au cœur des choix. Elle vise aussi à mettre en lumière les défis et les besoins spécifiques de choisir l’école en contexte migratoire. Pour ce faire, le cadre d’analyse mobilisé conçoit les choix comme le résultat de l’articulation de déterminants individuels et familiaux et d’effets structurels. Il reconnaît aussi que les parents immigrants sont insérés dans des relations familiales et des réseaux sociaux et inscrits dans différentes positions sociales. Plaçant les acteurs sociaux et le sens qu’ils donnent à leurs choix au centre de l’analyse, cette thèse s’inscrit dans une sociologie compréhensive. Les analyses se basent sur trente entrevues semi-dirigées réalisées auprès de parents immigrants de Montréal ayant au moins un enfant fréquentant une école secondaire. Cette thèse illustre que les parents immigrants se positionnent différemment envers le marché scolaire montréalais et vivent diverses expériences. Ces différences s’expliqueraient par des positions sociales distinctes, des valeurs et des visées différentes, des trajectoires de vie diverses, etc. Malgré cela, la thèse met de l’avant l’existence de tendances fortes traversant le corpus. Certaines se rapportent aux effets de l’expérience migratoire sur les choix et à des positions sociales minorisées. D’abord, la majorité a une représentation négative des programmes réguliers au public, les poussant à les éviter. Cette perception est, entre autres, influencée par la présence d’un discours dans l’espace public en défaveur de ces programmes. Ensuite, malgré des positionnements distincts relativement au marché scolaire montréalais, la majorité a choisi l’école secondaire pour des visées de reproduction ou de mobilité sociale ascendante (choix stratégiques). Un sentiment d’impératif caractérise les choix stratégiques, notamment afin d’augmenter les chances que le projet migratoire soit un succès. Certains appartenant à des communautés ethnoculturelles racisées ressentent davantage cet impératif afin de contrer une discrimination systémique perçue sur le marché de l’emploi. Enfin, l’analyse révèle la présence d’un sentiment de méconnaissance du système éducatif du Québec, attribué à l’expérience migratoire, plaçant les parents immigrants devant des défis et des besoins spécifiques en matière de choix de l’école secondaire. Étant proactifs, la plupart ont réduit cette méconnaissance perçue grâce à la détention d’un capital scolaire de niveau universitaire, mais aussi à leurs réseaux sociaux locaux. Or, les parents immigrants sont inégalement informés, mettant en lumière un enjeu relatif à l’équité devant la possibilité de choisir l’école secondaire. La thèse soulève la question du rôle du système éducatif dans cette iniquité. La thèse contribue à l’avancement des connaissances sur les dynamiques à l’œuvre dans le marché scolaire montréalais, ainsi que des effets des modes de régulation du système éducatif québécois les inégalités sociales. Elle contribue également à l’avancement des connaissances sur les rapports des personnes immigrantes au système éducatif du Québec, et à la société québécoise. / This thesis examines immigrant parents’ choice of a high school for their children in Montreal. It analyzes how they perceive Montreal’s school market, and examines the logics of action, constraints (real or perceived) and strategies at the heart of their choices. It also aims to shed light on the challenges and specific needs associated with choosing a school in the host country. The analytical framework mobilized conceives choices as the result of the articulation of individual, familial and structural determinants. It also recognizes that immigrant parents evolve within family contexts and social networks and hold various social positions. Rooted in an interpretative sociology, social actors and the meaning of their choices are placed at the center of the analysis. The analyses are based on data from thirty semi-structured interviews conducted with immigrant parents from Montreal who have at least one child attending a high school. This thesis illustrates that immigrant parents position themselves differently towards Montreal’s school market and have different experiences. These differences are the result of different social positions, values, goals, life trajectories, etc. However, general trends are uncovered in the corpus. Some of these relate to the experience of being an immigrant and/or belonging to a marginalized or racialized group. First, the majority of respondents have a negative perception of regular programs in the public sector, which leads them to avoid these. This perception is partially influenced by the presence in the public space of an unfavorable discourse regarding these programs. Next, despite different positioning towards Montreal’s school market, the majority choose a high school to ensure the reproduction of their social status or to achieve upward mobility (strategic choices). A sense of urgency surrounds these strategic choices, notably in regard to increasing the chances that the migration project is a success. Immigrant parents belonging to a marginalized or racialized group feel this urgency more strongly due to perceived systemic discrimination in the labour market. Finally, the analysis reveals feelings of disorientation in relation to Quebec’s education system, which respondents attributed to their experience as immigrants. These feelings leave immigrant parents facing specific challenges and needs in terms of choosing a high school in the context of Montreal. Because they are proactive in collecting information about high schools and their programs, most can reduce their feelings of disorientation and unfamiliarity. The possession of a university-level diploma is helpful in this process, as are parents’ local social networks. Nonetheless, the analyses show that immigrant parents are unequally informed, highlighting inequalities in the possibility of choosing a high school. This thesis raises the possible role of the education system in the creation of these inequities. This thesis contributes to the advancement of knowledge on the dynamics at play in Montreal’s school market, as well as on the effects of the structure of Quebec’s educational system on social inequalities. It also contributes to the advancement of knowledge on immigrants’ relationship to Quebec’s educational system and to Quebec’s society more broadly.

As a critical unit for identifying family-constructed meanings of education, a deeper contextual understanding of Korean immigrant parents' cultural/ethnic perceptions in relation to educational beliefs should be central to culturally responsive education designed to support Korean immigrant families. It is necessary for educators to examine the beliefs and practices of Korean immigrant families around education in order to broaden the educational conversation and mutual understanding between parents and teachers for effectively facilitating their children's learning and socialization. The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the variations in cultural/ethnic perceptions and educational beliefs about childrearing and early schooling among three Korean parent groups: (a) 79 Korean immigrant parents in the U.S., (b) 98 Korean parents with no transnational experiences outside of the country of origin, Korea, and (c) 42 transnational parents in Korea who have returned from the U.S. to Korea. It examined the relationships between cultural/ethnic factors and Korean parents' educational beliefs about young children's learning and socialization. This study was a mixed methods design. Research findings from the quantitative survey data indicate several significant intracultural variations in cultural/ethnic perceptions and educational beliefs and noteworthy relationships among variables (e.g., between socio-demographic factors and acculturation, between enculturation and educational beliefs, etc.). Probing further through interviews, this study qualitatively explored four Korean immigrant parents' cultural/ethnic experiences with their children's schooling to raise additional questions regarding beliefs, attitudes, and values emerging in daily family lives. The findings indicate that Korean immigrant families encounter dual processes of acculturation and enculturation, that is, integration rather than assimilation, that can be potentially challenging for facilitating their children's learning and socialization. (Cho, Chen, & Shin, 2010; Miyoshi, 2011; Song, 2010). The findings suggest that Korean immigrant families develop particular culture-belief structures derived from experiences of socio-cultural transformations between their own socio-cultural contexts and the mainstream school settings of their children. This study provides a critical foundation for a contextual understanding of Korean immigrant parents' educational beliefs and practices related to early school schooling while being acculturated into the dominant school culture and curriculum. The implications are discussed for culturally responsive education.

This study focuses on investigating the dynamics of language brokering as Korean immigrant families experience environmental challenges associated with immigration. This study was conducted with qualitative research design with purposive sampling of Korean immigrant families. Six parent-child dyads were recruited and participating children were between 12 to 16 years old. Semi-structured interviews were conducted separately with parents and children in either English or Korean. Thematic analysis was employed for analyzing the transcribed interviews. The Dedoose software program was applied to assist the coding process. 12 subthemes were revealed under four main themes, which were aligned to the study's research questions. The twelve subthemes included parents' dependence on children, vulnerability and resilience of Korean immigrant families, children's socioemotional development through language brokering, and the role of first-born daughter in the family. Parent and child responses indicated how language brokering affects can be a risk in relation to children's development (i.e., with responsibility of language brokering leading the child to experience stress or experience the responsibility of translation as a burden. Positively, respondents indicated that the parent and child experienced a greater sense of empathy for each other's roles. The results derived from this study were aligned with the results of previous research conducted in the field in that language brokering affects parent-child relationship and the socioemotional development of children. The study adds to the literature with the interviewing both parents and children, thereby hearing both perspectives and experiences of parents and children on language brokering and parent-child relationships could be obtained. This study targeted Korean immigrant families since there is a lack in literature that have studied this population in relation to language brokering.

Les personnes immigrantes font face à de multiples défis lorsqu’ils s’établissent dans une société d’accueil. Pour certains d’entre eux, apprendre une langue additionnelle sera l’un de ces défis. Dans le cadre de ce mémoire, nous nous intéressons à l’apprentissage du français comme langue additionnelle chez des parents issus de l’immigration qui ont de jeunes enfants, puisque ces parents disposent généralement de moins de temps que les parents d’enfants plus vieux (Bradbury, 2008), ce qui peut constituer un obstacle à leur apprentissage de la langue de la société d’accueil. En outre, nous avons constaté que la réussite scolaire de leur enfant était au coeur du projet migratoire de plusieurs parents issus de l’immigration (Charette, 2016, 2018). Nous avons également remarqué des lacunes dans les connaissances scientifiques en lien avec les apprentissages langagiers que pouvaient réaliser des parents qui participaient à des activités de littératie familiale plurilingues avec leur enfant, donc nous avons décidé d’évaluer l’apprentissage du vocabulaire de ces parents dans un tel contexte. Le vocabulaire, qui est la base de la communication (Dodigovic et Agustín Llach, 2020) constitue un élément essentiel pour la compréhension (Billard et al., 2010; Nation, 2000) et serait encore plus important que la connaissance de la grammaire pour l’apprentissage d’une langue additionnelle (Meara, 1992). Nous avons donc mis en oeuvre une intervention visant l’apprentissage du vocabulaire chez des parents immigrants qui sont aussi parents de jeunes enfants (enfants inscrits à la maternelle 4 ans plus spécifiquement). À l’aide de deux épreuves, toutes deux réalisées en prétest et en posttest, nous avons pu démontrer que les parents-participants réalisaient des apprentissages liés au vocabulaire après notre intervention. Plus précisément, après l’intervention, ils ont été en mesure de produire davantage d’unités lexicales et de mieux définir, expliquer et exemplifier le vocabulaire ciblé, ce qui était également lié à leur présence aux activités de littératie familiale plurilingues. / Immigrants face numerous challenges when they settle in a new society, and for some of them, learning an additional language is one of those. In this thesis, we focus on French learning as an additional language among immigrant parents with young children. These parents generally have less time, compared to parents of older children, which can be an obstacle to their language learning in the host society (Bradbury, 2008). Furthermore, we observe that the academic success of their children was central in the migratory project of many immigrant parents (Charrette, 2016, 2018). We also noted a gap in scientific knowledge regarding the language learning assessement of parents engaged in multilingual family literacy activities with their children. Consequently, we decided to assess the vocabulary learning of these parents in such a context. Vocabulary, being the base of communication (Dodigovic et Agustín Llach, 2020), is crucial for comprehension (Billard et al., 2010; Nation, 2000), and may be even more critical than grammar knowledge for learning an additional language (Meara, 1992). Thus, we implemented an intervention targeting the vocabulary learning of immigrant parents of young children (specifically of four-year-old kindergarten). Using non-standardized tools (two examinations, both conducted as a pre and post-tests) we demonstrated that the participating parents had learned some vocabulary after our intervention. Specifically, after this intervention, they were able to produce more lexical units, and give better definitions, explanations, and examples of the targeted vocabulary. This improvement was also associated with their participation in multilingual family literacy activities.

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