This case study, which explored immigrant youths' adjustment to multicultural preliminary schools and regular schools through in-depth case studies, aimed at providing suggestions on immigrant youths' adjustment to schools. To this end, 15 students fr...
This case study, which explored immigrant youths' adjustment to multicultural preliminary schools and regular schools through in-depth case studies, aimed at providing suggestions on immigrant youths' adjustment to schools. To this end, 15 students from multicultural preliminary schools, teachers in charge of those students at regular schools and the students' parents were selected as the participants of the study. The data were collected through observation, in-depth interviews, and document analysis. The collected data were compared and analyzed through analysis within and between cases, and school adjustment factors were extracted from such analyses.
The results of the case study are as follows. First, multicultural preliminary schools focused on teaching Korean language and Korean culture, serving as initial organizations that helped immigrant youths to adjust to strange new surroundings. In the beginning, immigrant youths had hardship because of the problems resulting from the unfamiliar environment and language, reunion with family and family restructuring, and identity confusion, but they gradually adjusted to their new lives and actively participated in school activities. They however, underwent a great deal of trial and error in adjusting to school activities and learning because of the difference in culture between their home country and Korea.
Second, the students who had been transferred from multicultural preliminary school to regular school had no problem communicating in Korean about ordinary things. But, being minorities in regular schools, immigrant youths felt distance towards classmates and teachers and passively participated in school activities. Furthermore, as the curriculums in transferred schools were quite different from those of schools in their home countries and require high-level Korean ability and substantial knowledge on Korean culture, they had hardship keeping up with class. Immigrant youths' types of adjustment to regular schools were divided as follows: an active participation type that actively participates in both learning and other activities in the new environment; a passive participation type that is a bit passive about participating in school activities but studies constantly without giving up; a passive adaptation type who is interested in school activities and learning, but, due to his or her poor Korean ability and lack of support, makes little efforts for improvement, adapting to the circumstances; and an aggressive non-participation type that is interested in neither school activities nor study, and makes little efforts for improvement.
Third, the differences between immigrant youths' adjustment to multicultural preliminary schools and regular schools were examined. While immigrant youths learned Korean at preliminary schools, they acquired Korean at regular schools. Once transferred to regular schools, they learned Korean for study, not just for living. At the beginning in regular schools, their relationships with parents helped them most to smoothly adjust to school life. Unlike preliminary schools where students were active and open-minded in making friends, there were invisible barriers to making friends at regular schools and students at regular schools interacted with friends in a limited fashion. Furthermore, they kept their distance from teachers, largely perceiving them as conveyors of knowledge. On the other hand, immigrant youths strengthened their identity as citizens of their home country, but as they gradually became adjusted to school and living in Korea, they wanted to become assimilated into Korean society. With regard to adjustment to regular schools, as regular schools were basically an extension of multicultural preliminary schools, immigrant youths, who had already experienced the rules and systems of Korean schools at preliminary schools, had no problem adjusting to them. However, singled out as minorities at regular schools, immigrant youths became passive in participating in school activities. In addition, as the curriculums at regular schools did not focus on teaching Korean like those at preliminary schools, immigrant youths, whose level of Korean was not sufficient, had difficulty keeping up with class. They, therefore, lowered their goal in study, adjusting to the new school life.
This study, based on the various experiences of immigrant youths of elementary school ages in adjusting to multicultural preliminary schools and regular schools, has limitations in generalizing to all immigrant youths. Therefore, in order to produce an plan that helps immigrant youths to successfully adjust to regular schools, further research should be carried out on more various curriculums at multicultural preliminary schools and immigrant youths‘ adjustment to regular schools from various perspectives.
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