Abstract
MA. Thesis
A Study on the Experience of Female Marriage Immigrants as Parents
Lee Moon-hee
Department of Multi Cultural Education
Graduate School of Education
Kyonggi University
The Ministry of Education announced that students ...
Abstract
MA. Thesis
A Study on the Experience of Female Marriage Immigrants as Parents
Lee Moon-hee
Department of Multi Cultural Education
Graduate School of Education
Kyonggi University
The Ministry of Education announced that students from multicultural families numbered 67,806(1.07%) as of April 1, 2014, and that they accounted for more than 1 percent of the entire student population. According to statistical data, one out of five Koreans who will be in their 20s in 2010 will be a child from international marriage family, and a third of newborn babies will be children from international marriage families. Thus, the number of children from multicultural families is on the increase. The purpose of this study was, therefore, to examine the role performance of female marriage immigrants as parents, whose educational and cultural background were different from those of Koreans. Three research questions were posed:
1. What is the awareness of female marriage immigrants on their own roles as parents?
2. What is the role performance of female marriage immigrants as parents?
3. What expectations or hope do female marriage immigrants have for their children in terms of education?
The subjects in this study were seven selected female marriage immigrants. Individual in-depth interviews were conducted for about two hours each to make a qualitative analysis of their lives and role performance as parents and the meaning of their experience to address the research questions. The major findings of the study were as follows:
First, as for awareness of parental roles, they were concerned about their children's peer relationship and gave priority to their children's education. And they thought everybody was a multicultural person. Specifically, they were worried that their children might be teased because of their differences. They gave priority to education for their children rather than to family economy, and they replied that it was very helpful to take advantage of free after-school programs provided by the government or of local children's center. Concerning their perspective of multiculture, they answered that they weren't sure why they didn't want to hear the word "multiculture," and that Korean people should know the fact all of them were multicultural people, too.
Second, regarding role performance as parents, they answered that their mothers-in-law or husbands helped their children with their studies due to their poor Korean skills. Some of them replied that their children's homeroom teachers provided career counseling for their children on behalf of them. As to communication with teachers, they didn't have a smooth communication with teachers since they weren't active in that regard due to language problems or work. In contrast, there was a strong tendency for them to put their energy into child rearing by having a discussion with other parents from the same country as them and by sharing information, but they didn't mingle with Korean parents because they felt awkward toward them due to mutual differences.
Third, concerning expectations and hopes for their children, all of them attached importance to what life their children wanted to live. They wanted their children to go on to a college and get an occupation according to their own wish, but they told it would be okay for them not to go on to college if they wanted. They considered it more important for them to lead a healthy, happy life. As for schools and teachers, they wanted schools to offer after-school programs and keep providing multicultural education for non-multicultural students. And they wanted teachers to treat both multicultural and non-multicultural students in the same manner without giving special treatment to the former. Besides, they wanted to change themselves to become good mothers who wouldn't lag behind others. Also, they hoped to get recognized by their children as qualified mothers.
There are some suggestions on how to support female marriage immigrants in parental role performance:
First, a variety of programs should be designed for the sake of their families. The term "multiculture" should be avoided, and the kind of educational programs that stimulate them to live as full-fledged mothers without being intimidated should be prepared.
Second, multicultural education geared toward people in general is urgently required to change the way Korean society look at multicultural families or speak about them. That is, everybody needs a change of mind-set to learn to acknowledge and accept differences. The kind of social environments that encourage multicultural parents and children to lead a dignified life without being intimidated must be created.
Third, as foreign cases suggest, schools should keep offering an opportunity for immigrant parents to teach their own native culture and language. They will be able to lead a better, more dignified life by showing at school what they can do.
Fourth, every school should offer training for teachers on a regular basis and keep holding workshops to inform them of the reality and difficulties of parents from multicultural families and to enhance their own multicultural literacy and competency. That will make it possible for teachers to offer more full-fledged assistance for multicultural children and their parents.
Sixth, more research efforts should be made to find out what services and assistance should be offered for parents from multicultural families in detail. The characteristics of different countries should be taken into account at that time to prepare professional educational programs and manuals for the sake of multicultural parents.
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