Chinese immigrant parents’ opinions and experiences related to their involvement in children’s early English language learning in Finland

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Chinese immigrant parents’ opinions and experiences related to their involvement in children’s early English language learning in Finland

Xiaotong Yang

Degree Program Early Language Education for Intercultural Communication

University of Eastern Finland Philosophical Faculty

School of Applied Educational Science and Teacher Education 25.05.2021

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University of Eastern Finland, Philosophical Faculty

School of Applied Educational Science and Teacher Education

Degree Programme Early Language Education for Intercultural Communication

Yang, Xiaotong M.: Chinese immigrant parents’ opinions and experiences related to their involvement in children’s early English language learning in Finland

Thesis, 80 pages, 5 appendices (8 pages) Thesis instructor professor Ritva Kantelinen May 2021

Keywords: parental involvement, immigrant parents, early foreign language education, early EFL learning, primary-school level

Abstract:

It has been confirmed in many studies that parental involvement can significantly contribute to children’s success in foreign language learning. Meanwhile, immigrant parents are a special group who face unique challenges in their involvement in children’s education. However, limited studies have explored the immigrant parents’ involvement in their children’s early foreign

language education.

English is the most popular foreign language subject in Finnish primary school. The aim of this study is to investigate Chinese immigrant parents’ opinions and experiences related to their involvement in children’s early EFL education at school and home context in Finland. Qualitative approach and semi-structured interview were employed in this study. Ten Chinese immigrant parents whose children have been studying English for at least a year in Finnish public primary school were interviewed online. All interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. Content analysis approach was utilized for data analysis.

The findings reveal immigrant Chinese parents’ views about their children’s early EFL education as well as their experiences in the involvement in children’s early EFL learning. Firstly, most of

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them hoped their children to start early EFL learning following school curriculum. They did not believe in that starting EFL learning at an earlier age was the best choice for their children.

Secondly, these parents were fully aware of the benefits brought by learning English, and they considered English language as a communication tool for their children. Thirdly, these parents understood the importance of parental involvement and employed various ways to get involved in children’s early EFL learning, especially in home context. Lastly, except for the common

influential factors negatively affecting these parents’ involvement in children’s early EFL learning, these parents also encountered unique challenges in their parental involvement regarding their special status as immigrant parents. Overall, the immigrant Chinese parents held positive attitudes towards their children’s early EFL education in Finland and participated in children’s daily EFL learning actively. Moreover, these parents’ opinions and behaviours were greatly affected by the social and language contexts they lived in. Hopefully, the findings can provide Finnish educators a comprehensive revelation of immigrant Chinese parents’ involvement in children’s early EFL education at school and home context. Practical recommendations are given for Finnish primary teachers, administrators, and Chinese immigrant parents to foster home school collaboration and employ more efficient parental involvement.

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 5.1 Participants’ profile ………. 37

Table 6.1 Parents’ opinions on when to start English learning for their children ……… 45

Table 6.2 Ways of parental involvement in children’s EFL learning employed by parents ……….. 57

Table 7.1 Recommendations for Finnish primary school teachers ………... 73

Table 7.2 Recommendations for Finnish education administrators ………. 76

Table 7.3 Recommendations for Chinese immigrant parents ……….. 77

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 5.1 Research Design ………. 32

Figure 5.2 Data Analysis ………. 41

Figure 6.1 Parents’ expectations on their children’s EFL learning in primary school ………. 51

Figure 6.2 Parents’ views on the role of early EFL learning for children in future ……… 53

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Abbreviations

EFL English as A Foreign Language.

SES Socioeconomic Status.

UEF University of Eastern Finland.

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1 INTRODUCTION

Foreign language capability, especially English proficiency, has become an essential ability for people to integrate into the globalizing world. As a result, the starting age of foreign language education is becoming lower in many countries (Butler, 2015). In Finland, the time to start the first foreign language education for pupils was brought forward from Grade 3 to Grade 1 since 2020 (Finnish National Agency for Education, 2020a). For the language subjects offered in Finnish primary schools, English is the most popular one among pupils. In 2019, more than 80% of Finnish pupils in Grade 1-6 chose English as their first foreign language to study (Vipunen, 2020).

In this thesis, early foreign language education refers to the foreign language education pupils received at the age of 7-13 years old at primary school. For pupils’ education at primary school, parental involvement plays an important role. Parents’ opinions, attitudes and behaviours can significantly influence pupils’ learning success as well as their social, emotional, and

psychological development (Berthelsen and Walker, 2008; Boonk et al., 2018; Desimone, 1999;

Fan and Chen, 2001; Grolnick and Slowiaczek,1994: Jeynes, 2005; Larocque et al., 2011).

However, parental involvement in children’s early foreign language learning has not been widely explored by researchers. The limited studies showed it positively correlates with children’s foreign language academic achievements and various kinds of development (Butler, 2015; Chi &

Rao, 2003; Forey, Besser and Sampson, 2016; Griva and Chouvarda, 2012).

Parents’ behaviours in parental involvement are significantly affected by parents’ opinions, attitudes, cultural backgrounds, and other personal situations (Butler 2014, 2015; Chi and Rao, 2003; European Commission, 2011; Epstein, 2001; Forey, Besser and Sampson, 2016; Huang, 2013; LaRocque et al., 2011; Lee, 2010; Vera et al., 2012). Immigrant parents’ involvement in their children’s education gained special attention from some researchers. Immigrant parents are defined as “people residing in a country other than their country of birth” (IOM’s Global Migration Data Analysis Center, 2016, p. 5). They formed a special group who faced unique challenges in their involvement in children’s education, like “language barriers” and “unfamiliarity of the host countries’ education system” (Antony-Newman, 2019, p.8). In Finland, the number of immigrants has been increasing in the past 30 years, bringing more pupils and parents with

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immigrant backgrounds into Finnish primary schools (Statistic Finland, 2020; Finnish Immigration Service, 2020). Based on the Finnish National core curriculum, every child living in Finland has equal rights to receive education. Nevertheless, there is not much research focusing on the immigrant pupils’ education or their parents’ involvement in Finland, especially related to foreign language education.

As a Chinese graduate student majoring in language education in Finland, when I talked with friends who immigrated from China with children aged 7-13 years old, I often had the

opportunity to learn their opinions and experiences in their involvement in children’s EFL education at home and school. Besides, it is worth noting that Chinese immigrants ranked the sixth biggest immigrant group in Finland in 2020 (Finnish Immigration Service, 2020). As a result, I want to learn more about immigrant Chinese parents’ involvement in their children’s education at home and Finnish primary schools, especially their involvement in EFL education.

In the current study, I explore Chinese immigrant parents’ opinions and experiences in their involvement in children’s EFL education at home and school context in Finland. Particularly, I first investigate Chinese immigrant parents’ opinions on the appropriate age for their children to start English learning and the role of learning English for their children. Then, I focus on their experiences in the involvement in children’s EFL learning, including their perceptions about their role as parents and their ways of involvement at different contexts. I also explore challenges they faced in parental involvement, especially the challenges they encountered related to their special status as immigrant parents. By studying Chinese immigrant parents’ involvement in their children’s EFL learning, I want to give Finnish primary teachers and education

administrators more information about this special parent group’s opinions and experiences.

Hopefully, the information can enable them to provide more support to help the Chinese immigrant parents get involved in children’s education and collaborate well with school.

Meanwhile, I hope more Chinese immigrant parents can learn from each other to participate in children’s education more efficiently in the future. Finally, I hope this small-scale research can inspire other researchers to further dig into immigrant parents’ involvement in children’s education in Finland, especially regarding foreign language education.

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In the following chapter, the theoretical background would be laid out in Chapter 2, introducing parental involvement, parental involvement in early foreign language education, and challenges faced by parents in parental involvement, including the unique challenges encountered by immigrant parents. Chapter 3 illustrates the background of the current study providing a general introduction about parental involvement and early foreign language education in Finnish Basic Education as well as language education for immigrant children in Finland’s public primary schools. Then research questions are listed in Chapter 4. Subsequently, chapter 5 describes the methodology of the study, data processing and analysis, validity, reliability, and ethical issues.

After that, the findings are reported and discussed in comparison with previous research materials in Chapter 6. Lastly, the summary of the study, the recommendations for Finnish primary teachers, Finnish education administrators and Chinese immigrant parents, the strength and limitations of this study, and the suggestions for further studies are presented in Chapter 7.

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2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

2.1 Parental involvement in education

It has been confirmed that parents play a crucial role in their children’s education. Previous studies indicated that parental involvement was positively related to their children’s learning success (Berthelsen and Walker, 2008; Boonk et al., 2018; Fan and Chen, 2001; Desimone, 1999;

Jeynes, 2005; Larocque et al., 2011). Boonk et al. (2018) reviewed 75 studies published from 2003 to 2017 researching parental involvement. They found that parental involvement’s positive effect on students’ academic achievements was stated in most previous studies. Besides, some

researchers suggested that parental involvement was correlated with children’s social, emotional, and psychological well-being (Berthelsen and Walker, 2008; Grolnick and Slowiaczek,1994).

Although the significance of parental involvement was reported widely, its definitions were varied according to different researchers and contexts. It was stated in Fan and Chen’s (2001) research that “despite its intuitive meaning, the operational use of parental involvement has not been clear and consistent” (p. 3). Grolnick and Slowiaczek (1994) provided a general definition that “the dedication of resources by the parent to the child” (p. 238). Larocque, Kleiman, and Darling (2011) defined parental involvement as “the parents’ or caregivers’ investment in the education of their children” (p. 116). Wilder (2014) explained parental involvement as “parental participation in the educational processes and experiences of their children” (p. 387). Some researchers were inclined to define parental involvement based on the contexts where the involvement behaviours happened. For example, it was narrowly defined as “parents’

participation within school”, such as attending school events and parent-teacher meetings (Lareau, l989). However, most researchers entailed both parental activities at school and home as parts of parental involvement (Berthelsen and Walker, 2008; Epstein, 2010; Topor et al.,2010;

Wilder, 2014).

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Furthermore, previous study indicated that parental expectations and parents’ attitudes towards their children’s education were also essential parts of parental involvement (Topor et al.,2010).

These less concrete parental involvements could even contribute more to children’s academic achievement than other actual practices do (Jeynes, 2005). In the current thesis, parental

involvement is seen as a combination of parent’s behaviours within school and home contexts as well as parents’ opinions toward their children’s education.

Parental involvement within home context can affect children’s study and development

positively. According to a survey conducted by Harris and Goodall in 2008, home-based parental engagement could positively affect children’s academic achievement. The results of their surveys revealed that home-based parental involvement is most likely to bring academic achievements (Harris and Goodall, 2008, p.277). Some researchers explored different types of home-based involvement at a more specific level. After reviewing 11 meta-analyses about parental

involvement, Clinton and Hattie (2013) found that parents’ participation in discussion about schooling and learning at home was positively correlated with their high academic

achievements.

Previous studies claimed that the positive influence of school-based parental involvement on students’ academic achievements was not as strong as home-based parental involvement (Clinton and Hattie, 2013). However, parental involvement within school context was also valuable as parents’ active participation in school activities could help them form a good

relationship with teachers and better understood their children’s situation (Harris and Goodall, 2008). At the same time, parents’ active interactions with teachers could help students reinforce the message about the importance of learning and the significance of being kind to other people (Epstein, 2010).

As the less concrete parental involvements could benefit student’s learning significantly (Jeynes, 2005), many researchers mentioned the influence of parents’ attitudes and expectations towards children’s learning. Topor et al. (2010) collected data from 158 mothers and teachers of seven- year-old children to explore the relationship between parents’ positive attitudes and children’s

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learning success in literacy and Mathematics. Their results showed a statistically positive

relationship among these two factors. After interviewing students from a private primary school in Turkey, Kalaycı and Öz (2018) found that parents who understood the importance of parental involvement and the academic aspects of education tended to have a good relationship with the teachers.

Furthermore, some researchers claimed that the influential factors affecting parental

involvement should also be considered, such as parents’ Socioeconomic Status (SES), educational background and cultural factors (Berthelsen and Walker, 2008; Desimons,1999; Epstein, 2010;

Topor et al.,2010; Wilder, 2014). Desimone’s (1999) survey on students with various socio-cultural backgrounds indicated that the effectiveness of parental involvement practices was related to race-ethnicity and economic status. Moreover, different cultural backgrounds can influence parents’ attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours in parental involvement. For example, some rural Chinese parents did not think they were responsible for engaging in their children’s study activities. Their thoughts were relevant to the traditional values in China, which gave teachers great responsibility and authority towards students (Ho, 2006). Culturally specific behaviours in parental involvement were also showed in some studies. For instance, in Asian countries, parents were willing to delegate some parts of parental involvement to the tutoring centers. It was prevalent for Asian pupils to attend tutorial schools to do homework and review school subjects (Bray and Kwok, 2003).

2.2 Parental involvement in early foreign language education

Among the studies published about parental involvement, only a small amount of them focused on foreign language learning, especially early foreign language learning in the primary school (Forey, Besser and Sampson, 2016, p. 384). In previous studies, parents’ beliefs, expectations, and behaviours on children’s foreign language learning as well as the influential factors of parental involvement were investigated. Meanwhile, the positive correlation between parental involvement and student’s academic achievements in foreign learning was revealed in many

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studies (Butler, 2015; Chi and Rao, 2003; Forey, Besser and Sampson, 2016; Griva and Chouvarda, 2012).

Parents’ attitudes and actions toward foreign language learning can greatly influence their children’s learning success. Griva and Chouvarda (2012) found that parent’s positive attitudes and behaviors could arouse their children’s interests in foreign languages and improve their multilingual competence. More specifically, parents’ viewpoints on the importance of parental involvement could significantly affect their involvement behaviours. According to Chi and Rao’s (2003) study, some rural Chinese parents tended to place the whole responsibility of helping their children learn English on the teachers, so they seldom participated in children’s English learning. In contrast, parents in Hongkong who linked English proficiency with their children’s future success had a strong motivation to help their children acquire English skills. These parents were more likely to send their children to after-school English classes (Bray and Kwok, 2003).

Furthermore, the significance of parents’ high expectations was also indicated by researchers. In a study conducted with primary and middle school students and their parents in China

Mainland, the researcher found that Chinese parents’ high expectation of children’s English learning success motivated those students to study hard (Butler, 2015).

Besides, research findings from previous studies revealed different types and ways of parental involvement. Some researchers explored parental involvement behaviours focusing on the techniques of learning foreign languages taught by parents (Xuesong, 2006), while others discussed the parental involvement in foreign language learning more broadly, like the diverse English learning materials provided by parents (Lawton and Logio, 2009).

Lastly, the factors influencing parental involvement in foreign language learning are also investigated previously. In Chi and Rao’s (2003) research about rural Chinese parents’

involvement in English language learning, researchers found that those parents seldom

participated in children’s learning activities due to lack of time and lack of English knowledge (Chi and Rao, 2003). Another study conducted by Lee (2008) investigated Taiwanese parental

involvement in children’s English language and literacy learning. After the survey, Lee concluded

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that main factors affecting parental involvement were their perceived language proficiency, level of income, and the time they could devote (P.104).

In the current study, I want to investigate parental involvement in early English as a foreign language (EFL) education from the perspective of Chinese immigrant parents whose children have been studying English in public Finnish primary schools. For these Chinese immigrant pupils, their first language is Chinese or Finnish, so English is a foreign language for them.

Meanwhile, English is taught as a foreign language in Finnish public primary school. Thus, English is seen a foreign language for these Chinese immigrant pupils by schools and their parents.

Thus, in the following section, the introduction of previous studies focuses on parents’

perceptions and involvement in children’s early EFL learning. The introduction is divided into three sections: parents’ opinions related to children’s early EFL learning, parents’ ways of involvement in children’s early EFL learning, and the challenges parents faced in their involvement.

2.3 Parents’ opinions related to their children’s early EFL learning

2.3.1 The appropriate age for children to start early EFL learning

Parents’ opinions about the appropriate age for their children to start early English learning is a topic of discussion in previous studies. According to the studies, considerable number of parents believed in the so-called “the earlier the better”, which refers to that the earlier children started EFL learning, the better English skills they would gain in the future. These parents thought the earlier start of English learning can bring their children better academic achievement in English subject and multiple advantages in the future (Celaya, 2012; Enever, 2007; Lee and Chou, 2014;

Lin and Chen, 2016).

For example, some parents in Poland deemed that the earlier their children began to learn English, the better English proficiency they could manage later. These parents also believed that

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proficient English would bring their children confidence for future English learning, better communication skills with foreigners and more chances in the job market (Enever, 2007). In particular, some Chinese parents believed learning English from a young age enabled their children to gain a native-like accent (Lin and Chen, 2016). Furthermore, some parents thought the early exposure to English was beneficial because kindergarten age was the best time for children to absorb languages (Lin and Chen, 2016).

As many parents held the belief of “the earlier the better” and expected the benefits it would bring, the exact starting age these parents hoped is also worth exploring. In a study conducted by Oladejo (2006) surveying parents’ opinions about when to start EFL education in Taiwan, the results showed that most parents supported kindergarten age around three years old. When the study was conducted, students in Taiwan started to learn English from Grade 3, which is a very late starting time according to these parents. Another study explored the parents’ opinions in Mainland China in 2008, and it showed similar results with the study conducted in Taiwan.

Among the 489 surveyed parents who participated in the research, more than 40% of them deemed that English teaching should begin from kindergarten (Chang, 2008). Besides, some parents in Europe also supported the earlier start of EFL education. According to Enever’s (2012) survey, Poland’s parents believed in the positive correlation between the early start of English learning and the learning success in English. Spanish parents hoped that learning English at a young age can bring their children a happier learning experience rather than the unpleasant technique learning experienced by the older learners (Celaya, 2012).

Although “the earlier the better” was supported by many parents in Asian and European contexts, some parents still doubted the necessity of starting EFL learning language at kindergarten age. In the survey conducted with parents in Taiwan by Oladejo (2006), a small number of parents thought kindergarten age is too early for English learning. According to their opinions, EFL learning from a very young age would negatively affect children’s mother tongue acquisition (p.161). Lin and Chen (2016) interviewed some parents whose children entered kindergarten without offering English language education. These parents believed learning mother tongue and English as a foreign language at the same time would put a heavy burden on

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their children (Lin and Chen, 2016, p. 66). Another concern shared by these parents was that they worried children in kindergarten were immature for accepting a foreign language, as their brains had not yet developed maturely to process two languages simultaneously (Griva and Chouvarda, 2012, p.11).

2.3.2 The role of early EFL learning for children

Based on previous studies, parents emphasized the role of learning English for their children mainly from two perspectives. On the one hand, some parents thought early English learning could be beneficial for children’s development, like broadening horizons and developing self- esteem. On the other hand, most parents focused on the practical benefits proficient English skills can bring, such as better job opportunities and social upwarding (Enever, 2007; Griva and Chouvarda, 2012; Hu and Mckay, 2012; Kim, 2006; Rokita-Jaśkow, 2015).

For instance, Griva and Chouvarda (2012) surveyed 50 Greek parents whose children were in Grade 1 or 2 in primary schools. The parents claimed proficient English language could help children broaden horizons, travel abroad, communicate with foreign people, develop good personalities, and have more job opportunities in the future. Similarly, Poland’s parents also hoped that good English skills help their children find ideal jobs easily and talk with foreigners without obstacles (Enever, 2007). More recently, another 15 Poland’s parents were interviewed about how they perceive the role of English learning for their children. Except for good jobs, these parents stated other reasons for their children to learn English as a foreign language. They believed that proficient English enabled their children to develop high self-esteem, cope well with foreign friends, gain “a bicultural identity” and eventually become a global citizen (Rokita- Jaśkow, 2015, p. 467). In Asian contexts, parents paid more attention to the practical values brought by learning English. Korean parents saw proficient English as a symbol of higher social class. As a result, they were willing to send children to native English countries to learn original English with the cost of a large amount of money (Kim, 2006). For many Asian parents, English language learning was seen as a tool for improving social status and great wealth (Hu and Mckay, 2012).

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Parents’ views about the role of parental involvement are an important factor affecting their behaviours of involvement. Parents who believed in the effectiveness of parental involvement tended to involve more in their children’s EFL learning. For example, a survey on rural Chinese parents showed that most of these parents did not believe their involvement could positively influence their children’s EFL learning, so they seldom participated in children’s EFL studying process (Chi and Rao, 2003).

Parents’ opinions and attitudes related to their children’s early EFL learning would eventually result in their various behaviours in parental involvement. In the next section, findings from previous studies about parents’ ways of involvement in children’s EFL learning would be introduced.

2.4 Parents’ ways of involvement in their children’s early EFL learning

Parents performed various behaviors to get involved in their children’s early EFL learning.

According to researchers, parental involvement can be divided into home-based and school- based involvement (Berthelsen and Walker, 2008; Epstein, 2010; Topor et al., 2010; Wilder, 2014).

While some researchers surveyed parental involvement related to English learning at school, more studies focused on parents’ various behaviors in home-based involvement. They claimed parental involvement at home played an important role in children’s EFL learning (Harris and Goodall, 2008). Home-based involvement was classified as two kinds of involvement in Senechal and LeFevre’s (2002) longitudinal study: formal and informal practices. The formal practices were involvement like teaching children new vocabulary and grammar. The informal practices could be explained as indirect teaching, such as asking children to read original English storybooks. In recent studies, both formal and informal practices are particularly investigated.

Some parents held a strong belief in the effectiveness of formal practice. In a study conducted with parents in Taiwan, Huang (2013) revealed that Taiwanese parents were concerned about their children’s understanding of vocabulary and grammar. Hence, their involvement was mainly teaching children the English knowledge. At the same time, their teaching focused on the

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accuracy of using English, which also revealed the grammar-based English education in Taiwan (Huang, 2013, p. 258 – 259). Kalaycı and Öz (2018) surveyed 180 Turkish parents whose children studied at a private primary school (p.832). Half of the parents stated that their only involvement was helping their children revise the grammars and vocabulary they learned. Besides, all parents claimed they would help their children do homework. However, these parents were involved in doing homework in different manners. Less than half of them would only explain some

complicated instructions for their children, while other parents would participate in the whole process of doing homework, including helping in spelling and pronunciation (p.842-843).

The informal practices are also performed variously by parents in their involvement in children’s EFL learning. Rokita-Jaśkow (2015) explored Polish parents’ ways of involvement and reported plenty of methods the parents used. The results showed they employed formal practices like teaching English directly at home, and they also got involved in children’s EFL learning informally.

For example, to help their children understand the importance of English, they took their children to international social events and travel abroad, and to create an English language environment at home, they read English books and play authentic English cartoons for children.

Some parents even invited international friends to visit home to raise children’s interests in English and multicultural communication (Rokita-Jaśkow, 2015, p. 466 – 469). The activities showed these Polish parents were actively participating in children’s early EFL learning. Like the polish parents, most parents employed both formal practice and informal practice in their involvement process. Forey, Besser and Sampson conducted a study with parents of pre-school and lower primary school pupils in Hong Kong (2016). Results showed that these parents

understood the importance of parental involvement in children’s EFL learning. They employed formal practices like teaching children to read vocabulary because they placed a high priority on direct teaching. Besides, these parents liked to give their children more exposure to standard English, so they asked their children to listen to English songs and watch English cartoons.

Another way of involvement preferred by them is reading English storybooks together with children (Forey, Besser and Sampson, 2016, p. 401 – 402).

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In addition, some parents were inclined to seek assistance from outside to get involved in their children’s early EFL learning. According to the research conducted by Rokita-Jaśkow, some polish parents stated that their children learned English with native speakers in private institutions, and some even sent their children to the native English-speaking countries to learn authentic English (Rokita-Jaśkow, 2015). Specifically, this way of involvement was revealed in many studies

exploring parental involvement in EFL education in Asian contexts. Parents in Hong Kong claimed that sending children to private tutors or tutorial centers was a common way for them to assist children’s learning, which decreased parents’ burdens on direct teaching and

monitoring children’s homework (Forey, Besser and Sampson, 2016, p. 401 - 402). Seeking assistance from local tutors or even native teachers was equal to investing a large amount of money in children’s EFL learning. Some Korean parents were willing to send their children to native English countries to learn authentic English at a high monetary cost (Hu and Mckay, 2012).

According to previous research findings, most parents realized the significant role of learning English for their children. They were willing to get involved in their children’s EFL learning in various ways according to their own understanding of parental involvement and practical situations. It is worth noting that, in the process of parental involvement, parents would face some factors influencing their involvement which limit their levels and types of involvement.

2.5 Challenges parents faced in their involvement in children’s early EFL learning

Many researchers explored the factors hindering parental involvement. The commonly mentioned challenges were limited English skills, low Socioeconomic Status (SES), lack of time availability, the influence of cultural background, and the effects of teachers’ and school administrators’ attitudes (Butler 2014, 2015; Chi and Rao, 2003; European Commission, 2011;

Epstein, 2001; Forey, Besser and Sampson, 2016; Huang, 2013; LaRocque et al., 2011; Lee, 2010;

Vera et al., 2012).

According to previous studies, parents with limited English skills involved in children’s English language learning less than parents with proficient English. Parents’ poor English proficiency could prevent them from participating in Children’s English learning directly, especially

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knowledge teaching. These parents believed that their English level could not contribute to children’s English success and did not assure the effectiveness of their involvement (Forey, Besser and Sampson, 2016, p. 397 – 399). Some studies explored how lower English levels

affected parents’ attitudes of involvement in children’s EFL learning. In a study exploring Chinese parents’ involvement in EFL learning, some parents claimed that school English teacher could help their children more than themselves, as their English is not standard and proficient. They were not confident enough to get involved in Children’s EFL learning and even worried they would mislead their children (Huang, 2013, p. 260 - 261). Another study conducted with Chinese parents in rural China showed similar views. Most of these parents did not have basic English skills and they placed the role of helping children learn the English language entirely on English teachers at school (Chi and Rao, 2003, p. 350). Besides, in the Asian context, the feeling of losing face also negatively affected some parents’ involvement in children’s EFL learning. These parents worried that showing their lack of English knowledge would weaken their authority in front of their children (Forey, Besser and Sampson, 2016, p. 398).

However, it has been found that limited English skill is not a hindrance in some types of parental involvement in early EFL education. Parents with lower English ability could also positively

influence children’s English language learning. Researchers claimed there were plenty of

involvement behaviors that parents with limited English skills could perform to take part in their children’s EFL learning (European Commission, 2011; Vera et al., 2012). The efficient ways of involvement included providing more English resources from outside, seeking assistance from others with better English skills and sending children to private tutorial centers (Vera et al., 2012). Parents was even able to use their lower language capability as an entry point to

participate in children’s foreign language learning. They could learn the language together with their children, which might set a good model for children and arouse children’s motivation to learn (European Commission, 2011, p.26).

Socioeconomic status (SES) is an influential factor in parental involvement in Children’s EFL learning. Parents’ SES was measured by parental income, educational background, and social resources, which could affect parents’ behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs in parental involvement

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and eventually may influence their children’s learning success in early EFL education (Butler, 2014; Lee, 2010). For example, a study was conducted with 572 Chinese parents and their children in fourth, sixth and eighth grade by Butler in 2014. The researcher explored the relationship between SES status and parental involvement in Children’s EFL learning and indicated the correlation between these two factors. Surprisingly, the results showed that parents’ beliefs in English education were not associated with parents’ SES status. However, parents in different SES groups did perform different behaviors while involving in children’s EFL learning. Researchers also found that the children’s learning outcome was partly related to their parents’ SES, especially their English-speaking skills (Butler, 2014).

Lack of available time is also a challenge faced by many parents in getting involved in Children’s English learning. Lee’s survey on parental involvement in children’s English learning in Taiwan showed that although some parents wanted to participate in their children’s English learning, they did not have enough time because of work commitment (Lee, 2008). In the study conducted by Forey, Besser and Sampson, parents indicated that the amount of available time would

influence their degrees of involvement in children’s English learning (2016, p. 387).

Cultural influence is a factor affecting parents’ beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors of involvement generally. For instance, Chinese parents believed that academic achievements were strongly related to personal efforts, but not talent or inner ability. As a result, they had high expectations for their children’s academic success and encouraged them to study harder (Butler, 2015).

Parents’ behaviors were influenced by their cultures, which crested some regional phenomenon in parental involvement. In Hong Kong and South Korea, it was common for parents to seek assistance from tutors or tutorial centers to help children learn English (Forey, Besser and Sampson, 2016; Kim,2006). In Chinese traditional culture, teachers were given great

responsibility, so some Chinese parents thought teachers should fully take charge of children’s learning. In contrast, parents were only responsible for paying the tuition. This thought hindered the motivation of conducting parental involvement for these Chinese parents (Chi and Rao, 2003, p. 350).

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Teachers’ and school administrators’ attitudes in parental involvement could influence parental involvement. A study showed that teachers’ and school administrators’ invitations could

encourage parents to participate in more types of involvement and increase their degree of involvement (LaRocque et al., 2011). Epstein (2001) also mentioned that if parents felt they were welcomed by teachers and schools to get involved in children’s learning process, they would devote more time and energy to parental involvement.

Parents commonly faced the challenges mentioned above in their involvement in children’s early EFL learning. In this study, Chinese immigrant parents’ involvement in their children’s EFL

learning in Finnish primary school is explicitly studied. As immigrant parents, they should face some unique challenges in their participation in children’s EFL learning.

2.6 Unique challenges in parental involvement faced by immigrant parents

Immigrant parents are a special parent group for the researchers exploring parental

involvement. As parents who “reside in a country other than their country of birth” (IOM’s Global Migration Data Analysis Center, 2016, p. 5), immigrant parents have their distinctive attitudes, beliefs, expectations, behaviors, and various cultural backgrounds (Antony-Newman, 2019). They faced the challenges commonly encountered by local parents, such as lack of time and low SES status. At the same time, they encountered some unique difficulties due to their special status.

The first challenge immigrant parents faced is that their understanding of parental involvement could differ from those of the local teachers. Some immigrant parents attached importance to participating in children’s study at home and considered involvement in school as interfering with teachers’ work, while the local parents and teachers in host countries emphasized more on home-school communication and correlation (Huntsinger and Jose, 2009; Theodorou, 2008). In a study, researchers surveyed parental involvement of immigrant parents and local parents in the US. They found that Chinese immigrant parents were inclined to involve children’s learning at home, while local US parents volunteered and participated more in school activities (Huntsinger and Jose, 2009). These contradictions in parents’ roles could cause misunderstandings between

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immigrant parents and teachers and leaded to inefficient parental intervention (Theodorou, 2008). Besides, the language barriers could hinder communication, which is another challenge many immigrant parents faced.

The difficulty of using the main language in the host country was seen as a major challenge in parental involvement by immigrant parents and teachers (Zhong and Zhou, 2011). Language barriers limited the diversity of communication methods and the efficiency of communication.

Dyson (2001) conducted a study with immigrant parents in Canada. Results showed that

immigrant parents from China interacted less with teachers than European immigrant parents, whose English capabilities were better than Chinese parents in average. Besides, Chinese immigrant parents preferred to communicate with teachers in written messages, as the lack of speaking skills prevented immigrant parents from communicating with teachers face to face.

Moreover, like mentioned before, the various cultural backgrounds could lead to communication barriers beyond language. Immigrant parents’ different cultural backgrounds and education experiences affected their parental involvement behaviors, which might be seen as “between the two extremes of inadequate and excessive involvement” by the teachers in the host country (Antony-Newman, 2019, p.7).

The unfamiliarity of the host countries’ school system is another unique challenge encountered by immigrant parents (Antony-Newman, 2019, p.8). The education systems are diverse in different countries. Immigrant parents coming from a foreign country were likely to have

inadequate knowledge of the host country’s education policies and school rules (Yakhnich, 2015).

Specifically, the unfamiliarity of the teacher’s duty, school’s curriculum, and ways of receiving guidance counseling were hindrances for immigrant parents in their process of parental involvement (Klein, 2008).

Despite the common influential factors and the unique challenges faced by immigrant parents, they could still perform parental involvement with the help from the local schools, which benefited their children’s learning success and development. Canadian schools practiced some special supports aiming at helping immigrant parents, such as providing language support for

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parents, modifying homework for children’s diverse language skills, and emphasizing children’s first language. Immigrant parents reported they knew more about school and children’s learning situations after receiving this support (Ladky and Peterson, 2008).

There was only limited studied mentioning immigrant parents’ involvement in children’s second or foreign language learning. Most of them focused on parental involvement to help children learn the main language of the host country. Few studies paid attention to immigrant parental involvement in early EFL learning in a country where English is not the main language (Hirvonen, 2010).

In the current study, Chinese immigrant parent’s involvement in children’s early EFL learning at school and home contexts in Finland would be investigated particularly. Therefore, in the following section, some background information is provided to reveal the current situation of parental involvement and early foreign language education in Finnish basic education, and the language education for immigrant children in Finnish public primary school.

3 THE BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

3.1 Parental involvement in Finnish Basic Education

Parental involvement was firstly claimed in Finland in 1931. After that, the emphasis on parental involvement could be seen from all Acts on primary school education (Eurydice, 1997, p. 89). For example, in the Basic Education Act (628/1998, 3§), it was stated that teachers had the

responsibility to organize cooperation to help parents become good educators for their children.

More recently, according to the National Core Curriculum for Basic Education 2014, parents’

involvement in school was taken as necessary as educational projects, because parental

involvement enabled children to receive educational opportunities and reach their full capability (Opetushallitus, 2016, pp. 59- 60).

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Educators in the Finnish Basic Education system were required to undertake various ways to boost parental involvement. In recent policies, the importance of cooperation between home and school was stated to form equality, mutual trust and respect between parents and teachers.

As a result, constant feedback from teachers to parents was considered necessary, which could help parents support their children’s learning and learn more about children’s daily life at school.

By receiving feedback and giving suggestions, parents could take part in school activities and evaluate school’s educational work cooperating with the pupils and teachers (Opetushallitus, 2016, p. 60).

The importance of parental involvement had been widely acknowledged by educators and administrators in the Finnish education system. However, limited studies explored parental involvement in children’s early EFL learning in Finland particularly. In the following section, the insight into early foreign language education in Finnish Basic Education are introduced to provide a comprehensive understanding of foreign language curriculum settings in Finnish primary school.

3.2 Early foreign language education in Finnish Basic Education

There are two official languages in Finland: Finnish and Swedish. Finnish pupils in primary schools were used to learn their first foreign language at grade 3 and the second national

language at grade 6 (Kantelinen and Hildén, 2016, p. 158). However, since 2020, the time to start first foreign language education in primary school was brought forward. Pupils began to learn their first foreign language or second national language in the spring term of grade 1 at the latest (Finnish National Agency for Education, 2020a). For learning a foreign language in Finnish schools, a language was seen as a skill subject, a cultural subject, and a communication tool.

“Growth towards cultural diversity and linguistic awareness” was the first main components in the goals of language teaching (Kantelinen and Hildén, 2016, p. 161-162).

In Finland, different primary schools offer different numbers and kinds of language subjects, and the local authority or the municipality determines which languages pupils are offered. Before

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starting foreign language learning, pupils can choose which foreign language they want to learn based on the language subjects offered by their primary school (Finnish National Agency for Education, 2020b).

Among the various foreign language subjects in primary schools, the most often offered and studied one is English. According to the statistics in 2019, 83% of Finnish pupils in Grade 1-6 studied English as their first foreign language (Vipunen, 2020). English is popular because of its current state in global communication. Many pupils and their parents valued the importance of proficient English (Jalkanen, 2017, p. 55-56). Meanwhile, the widespread of English also help pupils to learn English outside school. They listen to English songs, play English video games, and watch TV in English without subtitles (Kantelinen and Hildén, 2016, p. 158).

3.3 Language education for immigrant children in Finnish public primary school

In recent 30 years, more and more immigrants chose Finland as their destination. Between 1990- 2019, the number of foreign citizens living in Finland has constantly been growing (Statistic Finland, 2020), Based on the statistical data from Finnish Immigration Service, from 2018 to 2020, the number of people who received residence permits in Finland is 208513 in total and 14.7% of the new immigrants are children aged under 13. Besides, among new immigrants in 2020, Chinese immigrants ranked the sixth biggest citizenship group in Finnish immigrants (Finnish Immigration Service, 2020).

Immigrant children’s education is a big issue concerned by immigrant parents, teachers, and national education departments, as it is important for children’s physical and psychological development as well as their future lives. As immigrant children have various mother tongues and cultural backgrounds, receiving education in host country is also their first step in

integration (Kilpi-Jakonen, 2011, p. 78).

It is written in Finnish National core curriculum that each pupil has the right to receive a good education and become successful in studies. As a result, immigrant children’s study rights are

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equal to local Finnish pupils. Some programs in Finnish primary schools can provide immigrant pupils supports from different aspects, especially helping them overcome the language barriers.

According to Opetushallitus (2016), pupils aged from seven to seventeen years old without sufficient Finnish skills to attend regular classes in Finnish schools may enter a preparatory education, where these pupils can learn Finnish as a second language lessons for about 20 hours per week. After learning Finnish for a year and proving they have enough Finnish skills to cope with regular learning at schools, these children would be transferred to “regular” classes, where they can keep learning Finnish as their second language (Infopankki, 2018). The preparatory education provides immigrant children whose Finnish capabilities are relatively low a precious opportunity to learn Finnish systematically and prepare for regular classes using Finnish as a language of instruction. In addition, immigrant children are encouraged to keep learning their mother tongue, as the importance of native language is highlighted in the language education in Finnish National Curriculum (Opetushallitus, 2018). Furthermore, it is stated that Finnish

teachers are required to carefully consider immigrant children’s native language and cultural backgrounds when planning lessons for them (Opetushallitus, 2016, P.148).

Although Finland is becoming more multicultural in recent thirty years, the research focusing on immigrant children’s education issues in Finland is still scarce, especially immigrant children’s early language acquisition. A small number of studies explored immigrant children’s Finnish learning, which was seen as an essential tool for integrating into Finnish society. However, literature investigating immigrant children’s EFL learning in Finland is little (Hirvonen, 2010).

Meanwhile, studies aiming at the experience of Chinese immigrant pupils in Finland are hard to find, as the number of Chinese immigrants in Finland is not large enough comparing with some countries, like Estonia and Russian (Finnish Immigration Service, 2020).

4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

This study explores parental involvement in children’s early EFL learning in school and home contexts from the perspective of Chinese immigrant parents living in Finland. As English is a

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popular foreign language subject in Finland, and Chinese immigrant parents are a special parent group in Finnish primary schools, their involvement in children’s early EFL learning is worth investigating. This study is processed to investigate questions in four parts. Firstly, it aims at finding out Chinese immigrant parents’ opinions about the appropriate age for their children to start EFL learning as a school subject. Secondly, Chinese parents’ perceptions on the role of EFL learning for their children are investigated, including their expectations on children’s early EFL learning in primary school and their views on how English language learning can help their children in the future. Thirdly, the study investigates how Chinese immigrant parents get

involved in their children’s early EFL learning. Parents’ thoughts on their roles in children’s early EFL learning and how they practiced their role in different contexts are explored respectively as sub-questions. Lastly, the challenges Chinese immigrant parents faced in their involvement in children’s EFL learning are explored, especially the unique difficulties related to their special status as immigrant parents.

In addition, it is worth noting that the targeted research group of this study is Chinese immigrant parents living in Finland with children studying English as a foreign language for a least a year in Finnish public primary school. The reason for limiting the duration of children’s EFL learning as more than a year is to make sure their parents have enough experiences in getting involved in children’s early EFL learning at Finnish primary schools. Therefore, according to the research goals mentioned above, four research questions with sub-questions are listed below for Chinese immigrant parents whose children have learned English for a least a year in Finnish public

primary school.

1. What are these parents’ opinions about when to start early EFL learning for their children as a school subject?

2. How do these parents perceive the role of early EFL learning for their children?

2a. What are these parents’ expectations of their children’s early EFL learning in the primary school period?

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2b. What are these parents’ views on the role of English language learning for their children in the future?

3. How do these parents get involved in their children’s early EFL learning?

3a. How do they perceive their role in children’s early EFL learning?

3b. What are their ways of involvement to support their children’s early EFL learning?

4. What are the challenges these parents faced in their involvement in their children’s early English learning?

4a. What are the common factors negatively influencing these parents’ involvement in children’s early EFL learning?

4b. What are the unique challenges these parents faced in parental involvement related to their special status as Chinese immigrants living in Finland?

By exploring these questions, I hope to gain a comprehensive understanding of the current situation of Chinese immigrant parents’ involvement in their children’s early EFL learning at Finnish primary school and home. Hopefully, these findings can provide Finnish educators with the information about Chinese immigrant parents’ perceptions and behaviors. Besides, the information may inspire Finnish educators to explore more efficient ways to help and

communicate with Chinese parents. Furthermore, the thoughts and experiences shared by the Chinese immigrant parents might give other immigrant parents facing similar contexts some practical guidelines for getting involved in their children’s daily learning at school and home.

5 METHODOLOGY

5.1 Qualitative research approach

Qualitative research approach is used in this study to answer the research questions mentioned above. Qualitative approach is defined as an approach exploring the outside world, and then

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understanding, describing, and sometimes explaining the inside social phenomena (Gibbs, 2007). The features of qualitative approach make some specific research methods appropriate for it. Researchers conducting qualitative research tended to use a wide and deep angle to explore real life situations, so they prefer to collect data in the form of words rather than numbers (Johnson and Christensen, 2014). Hennink, Huter, and Bailey (2011) stated that

“Research methods such as in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, observations, content analysis, visual methods and life histories or biographies” were used by qualitative researchers

“to examine people’s experiences in detail” (p.9). Besides, in qualitative approach, the researcher is also an instrument in data collection and analysis (Creswell, 2007, p.45). Therefore, the

qualitative researchers need to act as a tool in exploring participants’ experiences in social life.

They collect data themselves from participants, and then interpret the data based on the specific contexts and view the phenomenon from participants’ perspectives (Creswell, 2007, p.21).

Qualitative approach is chosen for the current study because it aims at exploring Chinese parents’ opinions and experiences in their involvement in children’s EFL learning in Finland’s primary school. The research questions mentioned above determine the choice of research approach (Creswell, 2012). Linguistic data are needed to answer these questions, and numbers or statistically significant relationships are not appropriate for revealing the explored

phenomenon. Overall, qualitative approach is the appropriate tool according to the research questions and aims.

5.2 Research design

To explore Chinese parents’ involvement in their children’s early English education at Finnish primary school, I used qualitative interviews to gain Chinese parents’ opinions and experiences.

Kvale (2007, p. 9) claimed that qualitative interview was a crucial step that enabled the interviewer to enter informants’ world as described in their own words. By conducting

interviews, interviewers can learn how informants comprehend their words and how they justify their opinions and behaviors. After conducting the pilot study and determining the interview questions, I interviewed ten informants. Then content analysis was used to analyze the

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transcribed data from the interviews. The overall design of my current research is shown in Figure 5.1.

Figure 5.1. Research Design

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5.3 Data collection

In this study, the target group of informants is Chinese immigrant parents living in Finland with their children, who have been studying English in Finland’s primary school for at least a year.

Qualitative interviews were conducted with these parents, as it is “a key venue for exploring the ways in which subjects experience and understand their world. It provides a unique access to the lived world of the subjects, who in their own words describe their activities, experiences and opinions” (Kvale, 2007, p. 9).

I chose semi-structured interview as a tool to collect information from parents because it was the ideal choice for gaining a balance between the interviewer’s pursuit of the determined research questions and the informant’s flexible sharing of the specific phenomenon. In semi- structured interviews, the interviewer can provide pre-identified guidelines and promote flexible reflections from participants at the same time (Salmons, 2015). Semi-structured interview not only allows me to investigate the opinions and experiences of participated Chinese immigrant parents in their parental involvement in children’s EFL learning, but also enables me to learn other issues relevant to foreign language learning expressed by these parents.

5.3.1 Interview questions and pilot study

Once I identified qualitative semi-structured interview as the most suitable tool to gain insight information from participants, I began to design interview questions based on the research questions. The interview questions were divided into four parts.

The first part focused on participants’ background information. Interview starting with background communication enabled the interviewer to talk about familiar things with

participants, which might create an easy atmosphere in the beginning (Hatch, 2002). By asking background questions, I wanted to learn some basic information about informants themselves and their children. For example: How long have you been living in Finland? How many children do you have? Besides, some background questions related to children’s language learning,

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parents’ language proficiency and children’s daily language contexts are promoted, such as:

What are the languages you child/children using and learning at school? What are the languages your child/children using at home? What are the languages you know? These questions can lead to the following main questions of the interview, which focused on parents’ opinions and

experiences in their involvement in children’s early EFL learning.

The main questions of the interview were divided into three parts according to research questions. The first part includes the first two research questions, which aim to find parents’

opinions regarding their children’s early EFL learning. Questions were designed to explore how parents view the appropriate age of starting EFL learning and how they perceive the role of EFL learning.

The second part of the interview corresponded with the research question about how parents show support in their involvement. After asking their perception of their role in children’s EFL learning, I paid more attention to exploring parents’ behaviors in their involvement in children’s EFL learning. Except for asking “what” behaviors they employed, I also asked “how” they

employed. By considering “what” and “how” simultaneously, I gained a comprehensive description from the parents about their ways of involvement in children’s EFL learning.

The third part of the interview investigated the challenges encountered by Chinese parents in their involvement in Children’s EFL learning. Because these Chinese parents live in Finland as immigrants, I was curious about whether Chinese parents had challenges in parental

involvement due to their special status and what kind of unique challenges they would

encounter. Lastly, participated parents were asked to give some suggestions to improve Chinese parents’ involvement in their children’s EFL learning in Finland (For the interview questions before pilot interview, see appendix 1).

I first designed the interview questions in English. However, my target informants are Chinese parents living in Finland, who speak Chinese as their native language. Meanwhile, I am also a native Chinese speaker. As a result, I thought the interview process would be smoother if I

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communicated with informants in our mother tongue. Therefore, I translated my interview questions into Chinese, and then I asked a Chinese Ph.D. student who just graduated from the UEF (University of Eastern Finland) to verify my translation. She is a native Chinese speaker and has a good command of English. Gratefully, she modified my translation and provided me some advice to prevent the interview questions from repetitive and redundant. My supervisor also gave me some valuable suggestions for revision after viewing the initial version of the interview questions.

To ensure the interview questions are appropriate and efficient enough to gain crucial information about research goals, I conducted a pilot study with a Chinese mother living in Joensuu in October 2020. Because of the Coronavirus quarantine, we conducted the interview online. The mother has a boy aged 10 years old, studying in Grade 3 in a local primary school.

They moved to Joensuu, Finland one and a half years ago and the boy began to learn English in Finland since he attended the Finish primary school. This pilot study enabled me to adjust my interview questions in three places. Firstly, I revised the estimated time for the interview. Before the pilot study, I thought the time for the entire interview would be 90 minutes. But the whole pilot study only took about 60 minutes. The mother thought she expressed all information she thought important in the 60 minutes. Thus, I revised the approximate time for the interview on the informed consent form to provide potential participants a more specific time this interview would take. Secondly, in the part of background information, I added a question “How many children are living in Finland with you right now?”, because the mother claimed she had another two children living in China and she could not express this situation clearly by just answering the question “how many children do you have?”. Lastly, the pilot interview revealed that some of my interview questions about parents’ backgrounds, perceptions and parental experiences were a bit repetitive. I modified those questions and made sure all my questions are clear and short (For the interview questions after the pilot interview, see appendix 2; For the final interview questions in Chinese version, see appendix 3).

Except for revealing the problems of the interview design, this pilot study also proved that qualitative semi-structured interview is an appropriate method for the research questions and

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research goals. In the pilot study, the informant reflected her opinions under the guidance of interview questions and provided the information related to this topic with flexibility.

5.3.2 Participant recruitment and their profiles

Parallel to the process of designing interview questions, I started to recruit potential participants.

As stated earlier, informants should be Chinese immigrant parents living in Finland whose children are aged from 7-13 years old and studying in Finland’s public primary school. Besides, the children should have been studying English in Finnish primary school for at least a year.

I used snow-ball technique to look for potential participants (Marshall and Rossman, 2006). In the beginning, I contacted three Chinese parents I knew living in Joensuu through WeChat. I introduced them the topic and requirements of my study. They were interested in participating in the study and willing to help me seek other informants. I asked them to forward my interview information and recommend other Chinese parents qualified to participate in this study. Then, eleven parents contacted me through WeChat or Email. One of the parents has children studying in an international school, which does not meet the requirement that “the children study in Finnish public primary school”. At last, I interviewed ten Chinese parents (see Table 5.1), four of them live in Joensuu, and the other six of them live in other cities of Finland.

Chinese immigrant parents’ opinions and experiences related to their involvement in children’s early English language learning in Finland