Gordon (1964) in his theory of assimilation predicts that when a society is fully integrated, minority’s distinct characteristics would wane and inter-group marriage will be common. Thereafter, inter-group marriage has been widely used as an indicator of race/ethnic relations. This study investigates the attitudes of Taiwanese immigrants, who reside in Burnaby, British Columbia, toward dating, mate selection and marriage, as a case study, for the understanding of the process of integration of minority groups residing in large ethnic communities in Canada. The study begins with a discussion about the current debates based on the assimilationist and integrationist approach with an application of Gramsci’s theory of “good sense” and “common sense”. The empirical question of this study is whether intra-group marriage of ethnic minority is a contingent outcome of such ethnic group in areas of high ethnic density (i.e., ethnic communities), or it is a spontaneous outcome of their established ethnic solidarity based on the emergence of panethnicity due to social exclusion. An overview of the historical development of ethnic Chinese communities in Canada then follows for the purpose of illustrating the structural context these immigrants reside in. A detail demographic profile of the Taiwanese immigrants in Burnaby is also included. An examination of the phenomenon, Asian panethnicity, as a by-product of the assimilationist approach, among first and 1.5 generation Asian immigrants in Census Metropolitan Area of Vancouver is provided. Internal force from within group to pull the members of the Taiwanese community together, as well as the ethnic boundary they draw, are discussed the in following chapter. Intergenerational and gender difference of the Taiwanese immigrants of this study are also investigated. In summary, the results of the study indicate that intra-group marriage is more than a contingent outcome of a high level of immigrant population density in an ethnic community. Rather, marrying someone of the same race/ethnicity is more of a spontaneous outcome of ethnic solidarity in places where the emergence of Asian panethnicity has been observed. Patterns of Gramsci’s “common sense” are found among immigrants who have passively rationalized their subordinate status; however, some patterns of “good sense” are also shown among immigrants with the capacity to become historically autonomous.

This study explored the contexts that immigrant Taiwanese mothers provided for their American born children concerning heritage language learning. Five immigrant Taiwanese mothers in central Texas participated in this study. To collect data, a qualitative approach was used including in-depth interviews, follow up interviews, supplemental interviews with other family members, and observations of the mothers and their children in different environments. The data was analyzed to answer two research questions: (1) What meanings do immigrant Taiwanese mothers attribute to their American-born children's heritage language? (2) What are the strategies that immigrant Taiwanese mothers describe themselves as using in relation to their American-born children's heritage language learning? This study demonstrated that because of the relative lack of heritage language teaching resources independent of the family, the mothers played an important role in teaching their children a wide variety of languages including Mandarin Chinese, Taiwanese, Spanish, Japanese, and Cantonese. Furthermore, the meanings that the mothers placed on heritage language could be categorized into cultural relationships, family bonds, social status within the immigrant community, relationship with American and global societies, and academic achievement and social success. The strategies the Taiwanese immigrant mothers used to teach heritage and home languages were diverse but could be analyzed by the concept of social capital and the theories of Lev Vygotsky. The mothers with more economic capital were able to use their social capital to allow one parent to stay at home teaching their children heritage language full-time. They were also able to purchase other people's time in the form of services and effectively use resources such as the Chinese school or travel to promote heritage language learning. Thus, they could actively pursue and establish goals for their children's heritage language learning. Mothers with less social capital were less able to provide an environment promoting early language learning and instead hoped for other resources in the future. The result was that mothers with more social capital were able to have their children excel in many languages including English, while mothers with less social capital not only had difficulty creating proficiency in heritage language but also in English. / text