Heritage Language Maintenance Among Second-generation Chinese-American Children in a Small Chinese Community

Daina Zhu; Peggy Hopper; Gulinaer Kulaixi

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijecs.20200505.13

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Heritage Language Maintenance Among Second-generation Chinese-American Children in a Small Chinese Community

Daina Zhu, Peggy Hopper, Gulinaer Kulaixi

Published in International Journal of Education, Culture and Society (Volume 5, Issue 5)

Received: 3 October 2020 Accepted: 19 October 2020 Published: 26 October 2020

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Abstract

Based on the findings of previous research conducted in Chinese-American children’s heritage language (HL) maintenance in large Chinese communities in urban settings, looking at positive parental attitudes, weekend Chinese schools, and interaction within local heritage language communities, the authors of this article investigated the contexts and outcomes of Chinese-language learning for second-generation Chinese-American children, in a small Southern United States college town. Research questions included: (1) What are the parents’ and grandparents’ attitudes about HL maintenance and efforts for passing on their HL to their children? (2) How consistent are parents’ and grandparents’ attitudes toward HL maintenance and their efforts of passing on HL to their children? What are reasons for the consistencies or inconsistencies? (3) Who has better learning outcomes, children who attending community Chinese-language school, or children taught by grandparents or parents? Results indicated that parents with higher education background and stay in the United State longer tend to have discrepancy between their attitudes and the real effort toward Chinese heritage language (CHL) maintenance. However, grandparents maintain consistency between their positive attitudes and the real effort regarding CHL maintenance. Grandparents’ heritage language communication supported children’s heritage language maintenance. Success of heritage language maintenance was determined more by children’s communicative need than by parental attitudes or schooling.

Published in	International Journal of Education, Culture and Society (Volume 5, Issue 5)
DOI	10.11648/j.ijecs.20200505.13
Page(s)	100-114
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Chinese Heritage Language Maintenance, Second Generation Chinese-American Children, A Small Chinese Community

References

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APA Style

Daina Zhu, Peggy Hopper, Gulinaer Kulaixi. (2020). Heritage Language Maintenance Among Second-generation Chinese-American Children in a Small Chinese Community. International Journal of Education, Culture and Society, 5(5), 100-114. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijecs.20200505.13

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Daina Zhu; Peggy Hopper; Gulinaer Kulaixi. Heritage Language Maintenance Among Second-generation Chinese-American Children in a Small Chinese Community. Int. J. Educ. Cult. Soc. 2020, 5(5), 100-114. doi: 10.11648/j.ijecs.20200505.13

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AMA Style

Daina Zhu, Peggy Hopper, Gulinaer Kulaixi. Heritage Language Maintenance Among Second-generation Chinese-American Children in a Small Chinese Community. Int J Educ Cult Soc. 2020;5(5):100-114. doi: 10.11648/j.ijecs.20200505.13

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@article{10.11648/j.ijecs.20200505.13,
  author = {Daina Zhu and Peggy Hopper and Gulinaer Kulaixi},
  title = {Heritage Language Maintenance Among Second-generation Chinese-American Children in a Small Chinese Community},
  journal = {International Journal of Education, Culture and Society},
  volume = {5},
  number = {5},
  pages = {100-114},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijecs.20200505.13},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijecs.20200505.13},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijecs.20200505.13},
  abstract = {Based on the findings of previous research conducted in Chinese-American children’s heritage language (HL) maintenance in large Chinese communities in urban settings, looking at positive parental attitudes, weekend Chinese schools, and interaction within local heritage language communities, the authors of this article investigated the contexts and outcomes of Chinese-language learning for second-generation Chinese-American children, in a small Southern United States college town. Research questions included: (1) What are the parents’ and grandparents’ attitudes about HL maintenance and efforts for passing on their HL to their children? (2) How consistent are parents’ and grandparents’ attitudes toward HL maintenance and their efforts of passing on HL to their children? What are reasons for the consistencies or inconsistencies? (3) Who has better learning outcomes, children who attending community Chinese-language school, or children taught by grandparents or parents? Results indicated that parents with higher education background and stay in the United State longer tend to have discrepancy between their attitudes and the real effort toward Chinese heritage language (CHL) maintenance. However, grandparents maintain consistency between their positive attitudes and the real effort regarding CHL maintenance. Grandparents’ heritage language communication supported children’s heritage language maintenance. Success of heritage language maintenance was determined more by children’s communicative need than by parental attitudes or schooling.},
 year = {2020}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Heritage Language Maintenance Among Second-generation Chinese-American Children in a Small Chinese Community
AU  - Daina Zhu
AU  - Peggy Hopper
AU  - Gulinaer Kulaixi
Y1  - 2020/10/26
PY  - 2020
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijecs.20200505.13
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijecs.20200505.13
T2  - International Journal of Education, Culture and Society
JF  - International Journal of Education, Culture and Society
JO  - International Journal of Education, Culture and Society
SP  - 100
EP  - 114
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2575-3363
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijecs.20200505.13
AB  - Based on the findings of previous research conducted in Chinese-American children’s heritage language (HL) maintenance in large Chinese communities in urban settings, looking at positive parental attitudes, weekend Chinese schools, and interaction within local heritage language communities, the authors of this article investigated the contexts and outcomes of Chinese-language learning for second-generation Chinese-American children, in a small Southern United States college town. Research questions included: (1) What are the parents’ and grandparents’ attitudes about HL maintenance and efforts for passing on their HL to their children? (2) How consistent are parents’ and grandparents’ attitudes toward HL maintenance and their efforts of passing on HL to their children? What are reasons for the consistencies or inconsistencies? (3) Who has better learning outcomes, children who attending community Chinese-language school, or children taught by grandparents or parents? Results indicated that parents with higher education background and stay in the United State longer tend to have discrepancy between their attitudes and the real effort toward Chinese heritage language (CHL) maintenance. However, grandparents maintain consistency between their positive attitudes and the real effort regarding CHL maintenance. Grandparents’ heritage language communication supported children’s heritage language maintenance. Success of heritage language maintenance was determined more by children’s communicative need than by parental attitudes or schooling.
VL  - 5
IS  - 5
ER  -

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Author Information

Daina Zhu

Department of Curriculum, Instruction, and Special Education, College of Education, Mississippi State University, Starkville, Mississippi, USA
Peggy Hopper

Department of Curriculum, Instruction, and Special Education, College of Education, Mississippi State University, Starkville, Mississippi, USA
Gulinaer Kulaixi

School of International Trade and Economics, Xinjiang University of Finance and Economics, Urumqi, China

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Daina Zhu, Peggy Hopper, Gulinaer Kulaixi. (2020). Heritage Language Maintenance Among Second-generation Chinese-American Children in a Small Chinese Community. International Journal of Education, Culture and Society, 5(5), 100-114. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijecs.20200505.13

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ACS Style

Daina Zhu; Peggy Hopper; Gulinaer Kulaixi. Heritage Language Maintenance Among Second-generation Chinese-American Children in a Small Chinese Community. Int. J. Educ. Cult. Soc. 2020, 5(5), 100-114. doi: 10.11648/j.ijecs.20200505.13

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AMA Style

Daina Zhu, Peggy Hopper, Gulinaer Kulaixi. Heritage Language Maintenance Among Second-generation Chinese-American Children in a Small Chinese Community. Int J Educ Cult Soc. 2020;5(5):100-114. doi: 10.11648/j.ijecs.20200505.13

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@article{10.11648/j.ijecs.20200505.13,
  author = {Daina Zhu and Peggy Hopper and Gulinaer Kulaixi},
  title = {Heritage Language Maintenance Among Second-generation Chinese-American Children in a Small Chinese Community},
  journal = {International Journal of Education, Culture and Society},
  volume = {5},
  number = {5},
  pages = {100-114},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijecs.20200505.13},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijecs.20200505.13},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijecs.20200505.13},
  abstract = {Based on the findings of previous research conducted in Chinese-American children’s heritage language (HL) maintenance in large Chinese communities in urban settings, looking at positive parental attitudes, weekend Chinese schools, and interaction within local heritage language communities, the authors of this article investigated the contexts and outcomes of Chinese-language learning for second-generation Chinese-American children, in a small Southern United States college town. Research questions included: (1) What are the parents’ and grandparents’ attitudes about HL maintenance and efforts for passing on their HL to their children? (2) How consistent are parents’ and grandparents’ attitudes toward HL maintenance and their efforts of passing on HL to their children? What are reasons for the consistencies or inconsistencies? (3) Who has better learning outcomes, children who attending community Chinese-language school, or children taught by grandparents or parents? Results indicated that parents with higher education background and stay in the United State longer tend to have discrepancy between their attitudes and the real effort toward Chinese heritage language (CHL) maintenance. However, grandparents maintain consistency between their positive attitudes and the real effort regarding CHL maintenance. Grandparents’ heritage language communication supported children’s heritage language maintenance. Success of heritage language maintenance was determined more by children’s communicative need than by parental attitudes or schooling.},
 year = {2020}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Heritage Language Maintenance Among Second-generation Chinese-American Children in a Small Chinese Community
AU  - Daina Zhu
AU  - Peggy Hopper
AU  - Gulinaer Kulaixi
Y1  - 2020/10/26
PY  - 2020
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijecs.20200505.13
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijecs.20200505.13
T2  - International Journal of Education, Culture and Society
JF  - International Journal of Education, Culture and Society
JO  - International Journal of Education, Culture and Society
SP  - 100
EP  - 114
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2575-3363
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijecs.20200505.13
AB  - Based on the findings of previous research conducted in Chinese-American children’s heritage language (HL) maintenance in large Chinese communities in urban settings, looking at positive parental attitudes, weekend Chinese schools, and interaction within local heritage language communities, the authors of this article investigated the contexts and outcomes of Chinese-language learning for second-generation Chinese-American children, in a small Southern United States college town. Research questions included: (1) What are the parents’ and grandparents’ attitudes about HL maintenance and efforts for passing on their HL to their children? (2) How consistent are parents’ and grandparents’ attitudes toward HL maintenance and their efforts of passing on HL to their children? What are reasons for the consistencies or inconsistencies? (3) Who has better learning outcomes, children who attending community Chinese-language school, or children taught by grandparents or parents? Results indicated that parents with higher education background and stay in the United State longer tend to have discrepancy between their attitudes and the real effort toward Chinese heritage language (CHL) maintenance. However, grandparents maintain consistency between their positive attitudes and the real effort regarding CHL maintenance. Grandparents’ heritage language communication supported children’s heritage language maintenance. Success of heritage language maintenance was determined more by children’s communicative need than by parental attitudes or schooling.
VL  - 5
IS  - 5
ER  -

Copy | Download