Language Socialization of Chinese Children in the American Midwest: Learning to Write in American Preschool, Chinese Sunday School, and at Home

<p>Early literacy studies in American preschool, Chinese school and home settings have reported very different sets of beliefs and practices about writing and learning. However, few studies have explored the cultural underpinnings and the socialization role of such differing beliefs and practices across these settings in the Chinese community in U.S. Taking a language socialization perspective, this study explores early writing socialization of Chinese preschool children in English and Chinese in three community settings: American preschool, Chinese Sunday school, and at home. In a six-month ethnographic study, the researcher observed and video-taped the writing activities in the three settings, collected artifacts and interviewed teachers and parents. Discourse analysis of moment-to-moment interaction was triangulated with observation and interview data. </p><p>The research reveals the contrasting yet complementary social meanings of becoming an emergent writer in and out of formal schooling. In preschool, the children are encouraged to become writers who develop a strong sense of authorship and ownership of their writing, produce both nonconventional and conventional writing, and use them to achieve a number of communicative purposes. Children’s individuality is valued and the desirable learner characteristics are imaginative, creative and expressive of their ideas, initiating interaction with the teacher and peers, and active in exploring the material environment. At home, parents’ beliefs and practices about English writing and learning show differences from those at preschool; but there are also signs that parents have begun to adopt school practices. </p><p>In Chinese Sunday school, the children are encouraged to develop mastery of the character sound and meanings, and become skillful producers of character forms. Early writing in the class is not so much for communicative purposes, but more for moral, aesthetic and cultural purposes. Therefore, the children are expected to develop a respect for written characters, a value and enjoyment of classics. In the learning activities, the children’s collectivity is emphasized and the main desirable learner characteristics are paying attention to and following teacher’s explanation. Many of the parents’ expectations of Chinese language in general, and writing in particular, are realized in the Chinese Sunday school. In addition, some of the parents’ beliefs and practices about Chinese writing and learning resemble those at the Sunday school. These findings add to evidence that community-based organization is an important socialization venue for minority children in the U.S.</p><p>By connecting writing practices with beliefs about early writing and learning, the research highlights the culturally specific process of early writing socialization in English and Chinese languages. By comparing writing practices across schools and home settings, the research demonstrates the bidirectional nature of language socialization in bilingual environment and yields understandings of changes and hybrid socialization practices in contact situations.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

EDU Teaching and Learning

Grantor dc:publisher

The Ohio State University

Year dc:date

2013

Author dc:creator

• Su, Liping

Contributors dc:contributor

• Moore, Leslie

• Bilingual Education
• Early Childhood Education
• Language
• language socialization
• early writing practices
• Chinese children
• bilingualism and biliteracy

Statement dc:rights

• unrestricted
• This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1357162249

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:etd.ohiolink.edu:osu1357162249