Parental attitudes to language learning in Arabic and Chinese supplementary/complementary schools: a case study

Stella Bullo-Alos and Amy Wang(S.Bullo-Alos@mmu.ac.uk; Y.Wang@mmu.ac.uk)

Languages DepartmentManchester Metropolitan UniversityRoutes into Languages

Some quotes from focus groups

“I didnt learn Arabic as a child…I really feel that that part of me is missing...”

“Its our duty as parents to help them learn Arabic...”

“Chinese language is fascinating...”

“You are Chinese, you have to learn Chinese...”

Introduction

Research questions Background Methodology and data Findings

based on a corpus approach based on appraisal theory

Implications

Research questions

What attitudes do parents have to Arabic and Chinese learning

at supplementary schools?

What factors influence their attitudes to Arabic and Chinese

language learning?

What elements are considered as having an influence on the

children’s language learning process?

To what extent do Arabic parents’ attitudes differ from the

Chinese, and vice versa?

What implications can be drawn for supplementary education?

Background to the study: COLT

The Community and Lesser Taught Languages (COLT) project is part of the Routes into Languages DCSF and HEFCE funded initiative which has the overall aim of increasing the up-take of languages in schools and higher education

The focus of the NW consortium activities is to promote languages in general and Community Language in particular, working with Arabic, Chinese, Urdu and Italian.

close collaboration with SS and MS language enrichment events for 3000 pupils in

the region A Level days design and delivery of Community Language

teacher training student ambassador mentoring scheme advice and support

Background to the study: COLT II

Background (I): attitude

viewed as an “underlying predisposition to act or

evaluate behaviour in a certain way” (Gardner, 1985;

McGroarty, 2007: 5)

includes values and beliefs that promote or discourage

language learning

Evaluative attitudes encoded in discourse are

dependent on the socio-cultural background and

positioning of the speakers (Eggins and Slade, 1997).

Background (I): studies of attitudes

The majority of studies that examine attitudes to

language learning focus on pupils’ attitudes

(Gardner, 1991; Lambert and Tucker, 1972;

Gibbons and Ramirez, 2004).

Little consideration is given to parental attitudes.

Background (III): parental attitudes

“At the crossroads of maintaining ethnic language and being

assimilated into the mainstream culture, the parents and children in

Chinese immigrant families face a tough dilemma. In order to

maintain the ethnic culture and ingroup cohesiveness in the family,

the Chinese parents expect their children to learn Chinese. At the

same time, in order for their children to excel in society, the parents

desire their children to learn the dominant language” (Ou and

McAdoo, 1980, 1993; Sollenberger, 1968; cited in Luo, 2000: 308).

Background (IV): parental attitudes

Parental attitudes

Shaped by “the personal experience of

schooling and by the specific learning context”

(McGroarty, 2007: 18).

Reflect “responses to the wider cultural themes

framing their own experiences” (McGroarty,

2007: 19).

Linguistic approaches to attitudes

Appraisal Theory: The language of

emotion, ethics/morality and aesthetics

The Attitude system of the Appraisal framework

works within the framework of Hallidays (e.g. 1994)

systemic functional linguistics (SFL) and is

concerned with values by which speakers pass

judgements and associate emotional responses with

participants and processes

Linguistic approaches to attitudes (II)

Appraisal (Martin and White, 2005) considers three types of attitude:

Emotional reactions [AFFECT] “...they enjoy learning...”

Moral evaluations (admiration or criticism) by reference to norms

and conventions [JUDGEMENT] “...its our duty as parents to help

them learn Arabic ..”

Aesthetic evaluations of the quality of processes and products

[APPRECIATION] “...the Chinese language is fascinating...”

All three ways of feeling can be a) positive or negative and b) explicit

or implicit

Methodology and data

Data collection

Two 1-hour long FG with parents of SS pupils (Chinese and Arabic) with 7-8 people each.

Data recorded, transcribed and coded

Data analysis: two approaches

Approach 1: Corpus approach Approach 2: Appraisal

Corpus approach

Corpus Keywords: words which occur with significantly greater frequency in one corpus than another

Concordance: a listing of all the occurrences of a particular word; e.g. problem

Collocation: the habitual co-occurrence of two (or more) words

(based on Hoffmann et al., 2008: 203)

Corpus findings (I): Keywords analysis

Arabic

religion-related words: Muslim (frequency=18,

keyness=19.850), religion (12, 13.233), Islamic (6,

6.617);

frequent use of school (73, 7.003)

Chinese

problem (6 vs. 27, 21.676)

mainstream (8 vs. 25, 15.186)

Corpus findings (II)

For Arabic parents, learning Arabic is related to religion.

“Its important because of our religion”.

“Its important to learn the language of the

Koran”

Learning Arabic is institutionalised:

frequent use of school (73 instances)

For Chinese parents, learning Chinese is problem-related:

frequent use of problem (27 instances).

Corpus findings (III): concordance

Concordance of problem from Chinese focus group

Corpus findings: Collocation analysis

Arabic: collocates with speak, in, and, and school.

Chinese: collocates with in, the, learn, is and speak.

Main difference - Arabic collocates with school.

Arabic

school frequently occurs with Arabic

a distinction is made between Arabic and English schools

Chinese - Chinese does not collocate with school, and

mainstream schools are referred to simply as school (unmarked).

Appraisal approach I

a) Main categories of elements being discussed or appraised were

identified. They are: Identity Language learning and use and subcategories:

Learning Arabic or Chinese language Learning languages in general Learning A or C at HE Parental use of L1 and role (of L1 and of parents in

children’s language learning) Mainstream school (teaching and learning) Supplementary school (teaching and learning) Status (language and Supplementary school)

Appraisal approach II

b) Within these categories, lexical items displaying Appraisal in

the data identified were selected and categorized according to

the Appraisal Framework categories: Affect / Appreciation /

Judgment

c) Number of Appraisal occurrences calculated per turn (as

opposed to number of words).

Arabic FG: total number of turns 310 of which 67 contain instances

of Appraisal (22%)

Chinese FG: total number of turns 215 (longer turns than Arabic

FG) of which 98 contained Appraisal instances 45%)

Appraisal results IChinese Focus Group (CFG) Arabic Focus Group (AFG)

Participants:

8 parents, 2 males and 6 females Same nationality parents All speak Mandarin as L1 or know Mandarin Non-native speakers of English

Participants:

7 parents, all female Mixed nationality parents Some of them do not speak Arabic as L1 All Muslim Non-native speakers of English

Dialogue:

Appraisal of their childrens SS experience and use of the language Fewer but longer turns than AFG Plenty of Appraisal instances Children’s attitudes are described Parental expectations are not strong

Dialogue:

Reasons for the children learning the language and personal experience Mainly anecdotal conversation Not a lot of appraisal used / mainly anecdotal Parental expectations are evidenced

Appraisal results II

+ attitude

- attitude

Affect Apprecia-tion

Judgement

Chinese

46% 54% 11% 28% 61%

identity 10% 11%

Language learning & use 60% 63% 43%

MS 10% 8% 6%

SS 20% 29% 21%

Status 19%

Arabic

82% 18% 30% 5% 65%

identity 6% 13%

Language learning & use 38% 53%

MS 17% 8%

SS 39% 100% 26%

Status

Appraisal results III

Chinese Arabic

Nearly balanced polarity, slightly negative (54%)

Mostly positive attitude (82%)

Judgement (65%)Lang learn & use; SS; status; identity and MS*

Judgement (61%)Lang learn & use; SS; identity and MS*

Main points raised by parents:

Difficult to maintain Chinese environment

Lack of institutional support and challenges of the SS

Lack of motivation (qualifications) Support of children’s choice, even

if Chinese is not present in the future

Main points raised by parents:

Importance of religion, culture knowledge and family (abroad) in language learning;

SS education as duty based Personal experiences They expect and hope Arabic to

be present in their children’s future education

Appraisal results IV

Chinese Arabic

Appreciation (28%) Affect (30%)

Lang learn & use; SS; and MS* Lang learn & use; SS; MS and Identity*

practicality and aesthetic elements

lack of strong interest in children’s future due to perceived poor standards

need of both sectors MS and SS to work together

benefits of learning the Chinese for non-Chinese children

parents’ own experience and belief system;

children enjoy attending SS and are happy and proud to learn Arabic

children become more aware as they grow older

no links with MS but MS acknowledging Arabic speakers

Appraisal results V

Chinese Arabic

Affect is low (11%) Appreciation is very low (5%)

Discusses most categories briefly, concentrating on Language learning & use

Discussion of SS

Affect relates to the children’s enjoyment of being exposed to a Chinese environment

Positive discussions of the SS, its running and its effect.

Conclusions I

Chinese parents attitudes consider:

Focus on practicalities of language learning (e.g.

qualifications)

Motivation is practical (e.g. qualifications)

Learning environment and institutional support as areas to

improve

Language learning based on their appreciation of Chinese

language and culture

Allow for flexibility in children’s future learning

Conclusions II

Arabic parents’ attitudes consider:

Language learning is institutionalised

Focus on religion and religious identity

Motivation is cultural (in-group)

Learning for religious and in-group culture

Language learning based on affective factors such as own

learning experience of the language

High expectations for children’s future language learning

Implications

Collaboration between Chinese SS and MS

Qualifications for Chinese learning

Pedagogical considerations for Chinese

Cultural context (and religious identity) considered in Arabic language education (not only language input)

Limitations of the study

This is a case study of 2 schools – a larger sample of schools for more accurate generalisation

Cross examination with children’s perspective would be appropriate

References I

Eggins, S. and Slade, D. (1997). Analysing Casual Conversation. London: Cassell.

Gardner, R.C. (1985). Social Psychology and Second Language Learning. The Role of Attitudes and motivation. London: Edward Arnold.

Gardner, R.C. (1991). Attitudes and motivation in second language learning. in A.G. Reynolds (Ed.), Bilingualism, Multiculturalism, and Second Language learning (pp. 43-63). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Gardner, R.C. and Lambert, W. (1972). Attitudes and Motivation in Second Language Learning. Rowley, MA: Newbury House

Gibbons, J., E. Ramirez, et al. (2004). Maintaining a Minority Language: a case study of Hispanic teenagers. Clevedon, England; Buffalo, Multilingual Matters.

References IIHalliday, M.A.K. (1994). An Introduction to Functional Grammar. (2nd

edition). London: Edward Arnold.

Hoffmann, S., Evert, S., Smith, N., Lee, D. and Y. Berglund Prytz. (2008). Corpus Linguistics with BNCweb – A Practical Guide. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.

Lambert, W.E. and Tucker, G.R. (1972). Bilingual Education of Children. The St. Lambert experiment. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.

Luo, S-H. and R. L. Wiseman. 2000. Ethnic language maintenance among Chinese immigrant children in the United States. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 24: 307-324.

Martin, J. R., and White, P. R. R. (2005). The Language of Evaluation: Appraisal in English. Basingstoke, Hants.: Palgrave Macmillan.

References IIIMcGroarty, M. (2007). Language attitudes, motivation and standards.

In S.L. McKay & N.H. Hornberger (Eds.). Sociolinguistics and Language Teaching (pp. 3-46). NY: Cambridge University Press.

Ou, Y. and H. P. McAdoo. (1980). Ethnic preference and self-concept in Chinese children. In paper presented at Eighty-eighth Annual Meeting of American Psychological Association, Montreal.

Ou, Y. and H. P. McAdoo. (1993). Socialization of Chinese American children. In H. P. McAdoo (Ed.), Family Ethnicity: Strength in Diversity (pp. 245-270). Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.

Sollenberger, R. (1968). Chinese American child-rearing practices and juvenile delinquency. Journal of Social Psychology, 74, 13-23.