Parental attitudes to language learning in Arabic and

Parental attitudes to language learning in Arabic and Chinese supplementary/complementary schools: a case study Stella Bullo-Alos and Amy Wang (S. Bullo-Alos@mmu. ac. uk; Y. Wang@mmu. ac. uk) Languages Department Manchester Metropolitan University Routes into Languages

Some quotes from focus groups § “I didnt learn Arabic as a child…I really feel 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. . . ”

Introduction § Research questions § Background § Methodology and data § Findings q based on a corpus approach q based on appraisal theory § Implications

Research questions § What attitudes do parents have to Arabic and Chinese learning at supplementary schools? q What factors influence their attitudes to Arabic and Chinese language learning? q What elements are considered as having an influence on the children’s 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?

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.

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 § §

Background (I): attitude § viewed as an “underlying predisposition to act or evaluate behaviour in a certain way” (Gardner, 1985; Mc. Groarty, 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).

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.

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 Mc. Adoo, 1980, 1993; Sollenberger, 1968; cited in Luo, 2000: 308).

Background (IV): parental attitudes Parental attitudes § Shaped by “the personal experience of schooling and by the specific learning context” (Mc. Groarty, 2007: 18). § Reflect “responses to the wider cultural themes framing their own experiences” (Mc. Groarty, 2007: 19).

Linguistic approaches to attitudes Appraisal Theory: The language of emotion, ethics/morality and aesthetics § The Attitude system of the Appraisal frameworks 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

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

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

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)

Corpus findings (I): Keywords analysis Arabic § religion-related words: Muslim (frequency=18, keyness=19. 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)

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).

Corpus findings (III): concordance Concordance of problem from Chinese focus group

Corpus findings: Collocation analysis § Arabic: collocates with speak, in, and school. § Chinese: collocates with in, the, learn, is and speak. Main difference - Arabic collocates with school. § Arabic q school frequently occurs with Arabic q 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).

Appraisal approach I a) Main categories of elements being discussed or appraised were identified. They are: § § Identity Language learning and use and subcategories: q Learning Arabic or Chinese language q Learning languages in general q Learning A or C at HE q Parental use of L 1 and role (of L 1 and of parents in children’s language learning) § § § Mainstream school (teaching and learning) Supplementary school (teaching and learning) Status (language and Supplementary school)

Appraisal approach II b) Within these categories, lexical items displaying Appraisal in the data identified were selected and categorized according to the Appraisal Framework categories: Affect / Appreciation / Judgment c) Number of Appraisal occurrences calculated per turn (as opposed to number of words). n Arabic FG: total number of turns 310 of which 67 contain instances of Appraisal (22%) n Chinese FG: total number of turns 215 (longer turns than Arabic FG) of which 98 contained Appraisal instances 45%)

Appraisal results I Chinese Focus Group (CFG) Arabic Focus Group (AFG) Participants: § § § § § 8 parents, 2 males and 6 females Same nationality parents All speak Mandarin as L 1 or know Mandarin Non-native speakers of English 7 parents, all female Mixed nationality parents Some of them do not speak Arabic as L 1 All Muslim Non-native speakers of English Dialogue: § Appraisal of their childrens SS experience § Reasons for the children learning the language and personal experience § Mainly anecdotal conversation § Not a lot of appraisal used / mainly anecdotal § Parental expectations are evidenced § § and use of the language Fewer but longer turns than AFG Plenty of Appraisal instances Children’s attitudes are described Parental expectations are not strong

Appraisal results II + attitude Chinese - attitude Affect Appreciation Judgement 46% 54% 11% 28% 61% identity 10% 11% Language learning & use 60% 63% 43% MS 10% 8% 6% SS 20% 29% 21% Status Arabic 82% 18% 19% 30% 5% 65% identity 6% 13% Language learning & use 38% 53% MS 17% 8% SS 39% Status 100% 26%

Appraisal results III Chinese Arabic Nearly balanced polarity, slightly negative (54%) Mostly positive attitude (82%) Judgement (65%) Lang learn & use; SS; status; identity and MS* Judgement (61%) Lang learn & use; SS; identity and MS* Main points raised by parents: § § Difficult to maintain Chinese environment Lack of institutional support and challenges of the SS Lack of motivation (qualifications) Support of children’s choice, even if Chinese is not present in the future § § Importance of religion, culture knowledge and family (abroad) in language learning; SS education as duty based Personal experiences They expect and hope Arabic to be present in their children’s future education

Appraisal results IV Chinese Arabic Appreciation (28%) Affect (30%) Lang learn & use; SS; and MS* Lang learn & use; SS; MS and Identity* § practicality and aesthetic elements § § § lack of strong interest in children’s future due to perceived § poor standards § need of both sectors MS and SS to work together § benefits of learning the Chinese for non-Chinese children § parents’ own experience and belief system; children enjoy attending SS and are happy and proud to learn Arabic children become more aware as they grow older no links with MS but MS acknowledging Arabic speakers

Appraisal results V Chinese Arabic Affect is low (11%) Appreciation is very low (5%) Discusses most categories briefly, concentrating on Language learning & use Discussion of SS § § Affect relates to the children’s enjoyment of being exposed to a Chinese environment Positive discussions of the SS, its running and its effect.

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 children’s future learning

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 children’s future language learning

Implications n Collaboration between Chinese SS and MS n Qualifications for Chinese learning n Pedagogical considerations for Chinese n Cultural context (and religious identity) considered in Arabic language education (not only language input)

Limitations of the study n This is a case study of 2 schools – a larger sample of schools for more accurate generalisation n Cross examination with children’s perspective would be appropriate

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.

References II Halliday, M. A. K. (1994). An Introduction to Functional Grammar. (2 nd 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.

References III Mc. Groarty, M. (2007). Language attitudes, motivation and standards. In S. L. Mc. Kay & N. H. Hornberger (Eds. ). Sociolinguistics and Language Teaching (pp. 3 -46). NY: Cambridge University Press. Ou, Y. and H. P. Mc. Adoo. (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. Mc. Adoo. (1993). Socialization of Chinese American children. In H. P. Mc. Adoo (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.