The purpose of the present study was to find out the effects of mothers' personal variables, home environmental stimuli, perception of childhood English teaching, and parenting attitudes on childhood English education and proficiency in multicultural ...
The purpose of the present study was to find out the effects of mothers' personal variables, home environmental stimuli, perception of childhood English teaching, and parenting attitudes on childhood English education and proficiency in multicultural families. In a large sense, this study was conducted focusing on the following two research subjects. First, through a qualitative observation of English development(linguistic and communicative development) in children from multicultural families, the differences between them and those with a Korean background in English development and proficiency were examined. Second, the relationship between mothers' variables (personal variables, home environmental stimuli, perception of childhood English education, and parenting attitudes) and children's English development and proficiency in multicultural families was determined.
In order to examine two goals, a survey of 98 mothers who were participating in a variety of programs offered by a multicultural support center located in Osan, Gyeonggi-do, was conducted to examine their personal variables, home environmental stimuli, perception of childhood English teaching, and parenting attitudes. Then 35 of their children were selected and instructed to carry out an English proficiency test. In addition, in order to look into actual English language development in children from multicultural families through an qualitative observation, English development in five of the children was observed and recorded in person. Then the observed details were analyzed through interviews with their homeroom teachers, English teacher, and parents.
For this study, questionnaires that consisted of questions about socio-demographic characteristics by mothers of multicultural families, those about home environmental stimuli, and those about parenting behavior inventory were translated into six different languages and used. ESPT Kids, supervised by ESPT(English Speaking Proficiency Test), a national English evaluation organization, was used to test the children's English proficiency. Regarding the five children to be qualitatively observed, one-to-one, face-to-face interviews and written interviews were performed with their mothers, a childhood English development teacher, and three homeroom teachers. The data collected from the interviews were analyzed along with the details observed by this observer based on a qualitative research method.
The results of this study are as follows; First, through the qualitative observation of the process of English development in children from multicultural families, the characteristics of their English linguistic development and communicative development were observed. As a result, problems regarding pronunciation, phonemic awareness, and phonics were detected in their English development process in accordance with their mothers' native country. This is presumably because of the influence of their mothers' native pronunciations. It is also because in most cases, mothers with low Korean proficiency use their native accents or pronunciations when speaking Korean even though the mother and her children speak mostly Korean. Such development delays in basic stages may influence children's communicative proficiency as well as vocabularies and sentences, which may eventually lead to overall English developmental delays. However, in the cases where mothers have their children frequently exposed to English by repeating what they learn at the kindergarten or childcare center and using CDs or the Internet, the children did not display big differences from children with a Korean background in terms of development. This indicates the importance of constant exposure to English in childhood through mother's intervention. Second, in order to determine the relationship between mothers' personal variables and children's English proficiency in multicultural families, 35 children took a children's English proficiency test, and the results were compared and analyzed with their mothers' personal variables. The results revealed that among mothers' personal variables, their native country influenced their children's English speaking and listening proficiency. Moreover, there was a significant relationship between mothers' age and length of residence in Korea and their children's English proficiency. It can be thought that mothers' perceived English proficiency varies according to their native country and educational level, and these factors influence their children's English proficiency. The results of comparative analysis of the relationship between home environmental simuli and children's English proficiency in multicultural families revealed that fathers' age and educational level and family member factors did not affect children's English proficiency. Nevertheless, there were the differences in children's English speaking proficiency according to the expenses invested into childhood English education influenced. The relationship between mothers' perception of childhood English education and children's English proficiency was examined. According to the results, 95 out of the 98 objects gave positive responses to the necessity of childhood English education, and the reasons for the responses were mostly that children can learn three languages at the same time, namely mother's native language, Korean, and English. Based on this, the relationship between teachers who are considered ideal by mothers and children's English proficiency was determined. The results showed that children from the group who answered that childhood English education personally given by mothers is ideal displayed greater English proficiency than children from the other groups did. Finally, the relationship between mothers' parenting attitudes and children's English proficiency in multicultural families was analyzed. According to the results, there was no significant relationship found. This indicates that mothers' parenting attitudes do not function as a factor that determine their children's English proficiency in multicultural families.
In conclusion, English development and proficiency in children from multicultural families are significantly influenced by their mothers' personal variables including their native country, educational level, and linguistic proficiency. In the future, further studies and examinations should be conducted to determine the effects of English development and proficiency in children from multicultural families on their public education starting from elementary school.
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