Parental attitudes to language learning in Arabic and Chinese supplementarycomplementary schools: a

1
Parental attitudes to language learning in Arabic
and Chinese supplementary/complementary schools
a case study

• Stella Bullo-Alos and Amy Wang
• (S.Bullo-Alos_at_mmu.ac.uk Y.Wang_at_mmu.ac.uk)
• Languages Department
• Manchester Metropolitan University
• Routes into Languages

2
Some quotes from focus groups

• I didnt learn Arabic as a childI 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...

3
Introduction

• Research questions
• Background
• Methodology and data
• Findings
• based on a corpus approach
• based on appraisal theory
• Implications

4
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 childrens 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?

5
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.

6
Background to the study COLT II

• 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

7
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).

8
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.

9
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).

10
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).

11
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

12
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

13
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

14
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)

15
Corpus findings (I) Keywords analysis

• Arabic
• religion-related words Muslim (frequency18,
  keyness19.850), 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)

16
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).

17
Corpus findings (III) concordance

• Concordance of problem from Chinese focus group

18
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).

19
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 childrens language learning)
• Mainstream school (teaching and learning)
• Supplementary school (teaching and learning)
• Status (language and Supplementary school)

20
Appraisal approach II

• Within these categories, lexical items displaying
  Appraisal in the data identified were selected
  and categorized according to the Appraisal
  Framework categories Affect / Appreciation /
  Judgment
• 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)

21
Appraisal results I
22
Appraisal results II
23
Appraisal results III
24
Appraisal results IV
25
Appraisal results V
26
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 childrens future
  learning

27
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 childrens future language
  learning

28
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)

29
Limitations of the study

• This is a case study of 2 schools a larger
  sample of schools for more accurate
  generalisation
• Cross examination with childrens perspective
  would be appropriate

30
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.

31
References II

• Halliday, 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.

32
References III

• McGroarty, 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.