Transnational habitus: Educational, bilingual and biliteracy practices of Chinese sojourner families in the U.S.

Abstract

Grounded in the perspectives of language socialization and transnational habitus, this one-year ethnographic case study explores two middle-class Chinese sojourner families’ educational, bilingual and biliterate practices after their arrival in the U.S. It addresses the process that their middle childhood children experienced, from the excitement of the new English-speaking environment to linguistic and social isolation, to their adaptation to the environment and, finally, to transnational uplift. The families’ transnational practices throughout the four phases are shaped by their economic, educational and sociocultural dispositions that link together their country of origin and the U.S. They tend to cross national borders in language, literacy and education as well as to circulate glocalized English–Chinese biliteracy. This study reveals the disjunction between the families’ “imagined world” of the U.S. and the reality of a language barrier and ideological conflicts underpinned in an English-only society. The families’ transnational migration is an educational practice with access to their children’s “imagined world”. This study suggests that ESL learning should be considered as a socialization practice, which is tied to and structured by transnational fields in today’s globalized world.

Chinese parent's mediating practices in their children's learning: the case of Chinese immigrant parents in Greece

“…For example, they use their social networks to encourage their children's proficiency in the host language, since they associate with English language speakers or teachers to offer them maximum exposure to English. Similar arguments have also been developed by Chao and Ma (2019) referring to Chinese immigrants' willingness, regardless of their social class, to support their children's English language learning practices.…”

“…Although non-existent in the Greek framework, research into Chinese migrant parents' mediation in their children's learning process through the practices and strategies they adopt to support their potential, exists in international literature (e.g. Mok 2020; Chao and Ma 2019;Anicama et al 2018;Gates and Guo 2014;Zhan et al 2013).…”

“…There are sufficient recorded findings in the international literature on both the impact of acculturation and the involvement of Chinese immigrant parents on their children's education (e.g. Chao and Ma 2019;Zhou and Zhong 2018;Anicama et al 2018;Ng et al 2017;Huang et al 2017;Li and Li 2017;Huang and Lamb 2015;Zhong and Zhou 2011;Costigan and Korzyma 2011). Nevertheless, the interconnection of ethnocultural profile and acculturation with school progress and children's general development through the practices of Chinese immigrant parents has not been studied so as to produce concrete results towards this direction.…”

“…Therefore, they hire home tutors, thus, contributing to their child's cognitive empowerment and reinforcement (Anicama et al 2018;Zhan et al 2013). They want their children to learn how to speak and write the language of the host country efficiently, which is why they value private teachers' contribution (Mok 2020;Chao and Ma 2019). For example, P4 considers her son to be "fluent in mathematics if he knows the language", and justifies home tutoring "to study and do well".…”

Health Literacy Among Bhutanese Adult Refugees in the United States: The Sociocultural Approach

“…The sociocultural view on literacy is also found within Barton’s (2001) concept of text , which means to understand literacy—written or spoken—is to understand the ways that words, things, behaviors are used in social contexts. Inspired by the view of literacy as socioculturally situated, the first author’s own previous studies reveal not only how immigrants’ and refugees’ everyday practices shape and are shaped by literacy but also how their literacy access is fashioned for personal, social, and community development in relation to culture, education, and class (Chao, 2013, 2019; Chao & Kuntz, 2013; Chao & Mantero, 2014; Chao & Ma, 2017).…”