Significance of the study

English learning in Taiwan especially at the primary level is so significant and popular but does not seem to be as effective as expected. Thus, the discussion of parents’ influences on children’s English achievement is important because of parents’ close relationships with children. This study aims at investigating parental attitudes towards English learning

especially the affective domain of parental attitudes on children’s English achievement. The study can be served as an exploratory study when studying the relationship of parental effect on children’s English academic achievement. In addition, the results of the study can be taken as future research direction when investigating the factors that influence parents’ expectation of children’s English education and parents’ involvement in children’s English education as well.

Furthermore, parents’ responses to the open-ended questions can illustrate parents’

problems regarding English learning and reasons for and against parents’ being involved in children’s English education.

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

Chapter Two provides a review of literature from five angles. Those being: (a) English teaching and learning in Taiwan, (b) family background and parental background, (c) parental attitudes and related studies, (d) parental expectation and related studies, and (e) parental involvement and related studies. This chapter first deals with problems surrounding English education; myths of English teaching and learning, and difficulties facing English instruction and learning in Taiwan. Second, the significant role of family and parental background and related studies into family background and the background of parents in children’s

achievement are described. Third, the definitions of attitudes and the research studies related to parental attitudes are discussed. Fourth, the definitions of parental expectation and its related studies are mentioned in this part. Finally, the importance and classification of parental involvement and its related research studies are discussed.

2.1 English Teaching and Learning in Taiwan

Recently, English education in Taiwan has been reviewed from different perspectives;

suggestions and implications have also been provided to improve learners’ English

proficiency in Taiwan. In this section, the problems facing English education, the myths and difficulties of English teaching and learning are presented.

2.1.1 Myths and difficulties facing English learning and teaching in Taiwan

To improve learners’ English proficiency in Taiwan, the efforts have been made and a great deal of research into English teaching and learning has also been undertaken. However, there are myths and difficulties associated with English teaching and learning in Taiwan. For example, when discussing the English learning environment in Taiwan, Su (1998) dispelled

the myth that Taiwan’s English learning environment is the context of English as a second language (ESL). After taking Taiwan’s English education objectives, learning environment, and learners’ motivation into consideration, Su concluded that the English learning in Taiwan remains firmly in the context of English as a foreign language (EFL), and thus children’s English education in Taiwan should not be carried out under the name of bilingual education.

Further, in the discussion of English teaching, Liang (2003) listed seven major myths of English teaching in Taiwan’s formal English education. These being the myths that (a) teachers should at all times keep up with a given teaching schedule (b) what teachers have taught in class is equal to what students have learned in class (c) teachers’ competent ability in English guarantees them the ability to teach English (d) English is declarative knowledge, in other words information consisting of facts, concepts and ideas (e) learning English entails learning English grammar only (f) English should be learned by translating into Chinese, and (g) errors should be corrected immediately. In her book, Liang (2003) observed the myths which exist in normal English education in Taiwan and provided her own suggestions.

Writing from the perspective of a parent, in her book (2003), Chang (with a daughter studying in an entirely English speaking kindergarten) outlined the myths and difficulties that she observed and encountered in the “whole-English” program. For example, parents are under the impression that sending children to the whole-English program ensures that

children acquire a native-like accent, get immersed in a foreign environment, and even pursue higher social status in society. Besides parents’ myths regarding such English-only programs, children also suffer from learning difficulties when studying on whole-English programs. In Chang’s (2003) book, her daughter, Hannah, encountered learning difficulties when learning Chinese, which is her mother tongue, at the same time as her English learning was suffering negative impact while studying on the whole-English program. For instance, her daughter held negative attitudes towards her own native language and culture, and did not even enjoy learning her mother tongue. Thus, due to the interference of the target language in her native

language, she encountered learning difficulties when studying Chinese. Furthermore, the high expectations of parents where English education is concerned makes children refuse to learn English on whole-English programs. As both a parent and a professor, Chang (2003)

concluded that (a) there is no so-called critical period for learning English; (b) native-accent and fluency do not guarantee English proficiency; (c) young learners are not always faster learners when learning a foreign language; (d) foreign English teachers are not always qualified teachers; (e) whole-English programs have negative effects on young learners’

comprehension of native language and culture; (f) for parents, sending children to whole-English kindergartens is not equivalent to emigration to America or higher social status in Taiwan; and finally (g) the qualifications of whole-English kindergartens should be examined more cautiously and carefully by government authorities.

2.1.2 Problems of English education in Taiwan

As for English education in Taiwan, problems are proposed by many scholars in order to improve the quality of English education in Taiwan especially after the implementation of English education in primary schools. For example, Tsao (2004) stated that learners in Taiwan cannot put what they have learned in class into practice, and students of higher

education cannot read English materials or textbooks by themselves. He further proposed that in Taiwan, (a) the current curriculum design are incapable of meeting society’s requirement for advance English learners, (b) there is a gap between language learning theories and real teaching methods in the classroom, (c) the traditional teaching methods of reading skills cannot develop the ability of learners to read by themselves, and (d) the criteria of exams cannot reflect learners’ actual needs for English. Finally, from the perspective of language planning and education planning, Tsao (2004) suggested that government authorities or schools should aim at developing learners’ self-reading abilities and further develop the materials that are suitable for learners’ self-reading.

Moreover, along with the policy of reducing the age at which formal English education is received in Taiwan, problems for English teaching and learning in elementary schools are emerging. Starting from 1968, formal English education in Taiwan was required in the first year in junior high school: the age of thirteen. After the 2005 academic year, the age at which formal English education is first received was reduced to the third grade in elementary school.

After the policy had been implemented for a number of years, many scholars started to examine and evaluate the effects of compulsory English education in elementary school from different perspectives.

From the perspective of elementary English teachers, Chen (2002) first presented the teaching problems and difficulties that they have been encountered in classroom. Chen (2002) interviewed elementary English teachers and summarized the difficulties that they have faced and problems that they have to overcome in the process of teaching English in elementary schools in Taiwan. The problems are that (a) there is a striking discrepancy in learners’

English proficiency levels, (b) parents misunderstand the distinction between EFL and ESL learning environments in Taiwan, (c) the teaching resources in cities and rural areas are discrepant, (d) current English teaching material and activity designs are not adequate and appropriate, (e) learners lack motivation in English learning, and (f) there is no specific facilities for English teaching such as English classroom, laboratory or related equipment. In order to provide more effective teaching, in Chen’s (2002) study, the teachers suggested that (a) the number of students in each classroom should be decreased, (b) the number of English class hours on the class schedule should be increased, (c) English class should be classified according to learners’ proficiency levels, (d) the age for receiving formal English education should be lowered to the first or second grade, and (e) the access for teacher cultivation should be multiplied.

Other problems related to Taiwan’s elementary English education are mainly discussed in three domains: the sourcing and qualification levels of teachers, curriculum design and

teaching materials, and English learning environment in elementary school. When discussing teachers’ qualification and cultivation, the problems are related to the issues of (a) the

qualifications of elementary English teachers, (b) the institutions responsible for the

cultivation of elementary English teachers, (c) the shortage of elementary English teachers in rural areas, and (d) the selection the best-qualified teachers (Chen, 2002; Chen & Liao, 1998;

Cheng, 2000; Wu, 1999; Yang, 2004). As for curriculum design and teaching materials, they are mainly related to (a) the selection of textbooks and teaching materials, (b) the application of teaching materials in classroom contexts, (c) the development of authentic materials or textbooks for Taiwan’s English learning context, (d) the ways of evaluating and assessing learners’ language ability, and (e) filling the gap of teaching materials between elementary English education and junior high and even senior high school English education (Chen, 2002;

Chen & Liao, 1998; Cheng, 2000; Wu, 1999; Yang, 2004). Finally, the problems of Taiwan’s English learning environment are related to (a) the class hours of official English classes per week, (b) the lack of specific English classroom and facilities, and (c) the creation of English learning environments for learners (Chen, 2002; Cheng, 2000; Wu, 1999). Altogether these comprise the commonly mentioned problems of elementary school English education.

On the other hand, coming from a sociological perspective, Xu (2003) discussed

Taiwan’s English education in terms of social class. She claimed that family background, the economic status of parents, and cultural capital that parents provide for children are the factors that affect children’s learning in English and cause the discrepancy of English ability between cities and rural areas.

2.2 Family Background and Parental Background

Family is not only the environment for children to develop their cognitive skills in early stages, but also the most dominant social context in young children’s lives (Gauvain, 2001), and parents are “the significant others” in the minds of children and teenagers, and act as a

“reference group” in their process of growing up and learning (Chen et al., 2000, p. 111). In this section, the importance of family and parents’ background and their related studies are reviewed.

2.2.1 The importance of family background and parental background

From a sociological point of view, family plays the significant role as the earliest and most highly influential social context for socializing all types of skills in children’s

development of socialization. Therefore, family does have a great deal of influence on children’s development. Family serves a diverse range of functions for children in their early stages of development especially the function of education and that makes family exert great influences on children’s academic performance. In the study of sociology, Eshleman (1994) first stated seven functions of family; those being the functions of (a) economics, (b) prestige and status, (c) education, (d) protection, (e) religion, (f) recreation, and (g) affection and procreation. In Schaefer and Lamm’s book (1995), six further functions of family are

presented, namely: (a) reproduction, (b) protection, (c) socialization, (d) regulation of sexual behavior, (e) affection and companionship, and (f) providing of social status. In their book, Chen et al. (2000) concluded seven functions of family: functions of (a) biology, (b)

psychology, (c) economy, (d) politics, (e) education, (f) recreation and (g) religion. Although these functions are given different names, they share similar meanings and ideas. Among the functions, the function of education is composed of the development of personal behavior, personality, attitudes, norms, values and culture. Chen et al. (2000) further specified the influences of family on children. Family has influences on (a) children’s development of personalities and behaviors, (b) children’s acquisition and development of language, (c) children’s value systems, and (d) children’s learning experience in school. Among these influences, children’s learning experience in school may be the factor that affects children’s future success or failure in their subsequent academic performance, social and life adaptation.

Moreover, Eshleman (1994) proposed that family and educational systems supplement each other in the process of conveying cultural values, norms and skills. Zhou (2006) also declared that family provides children who are six to twelve years old with opportunities to develop their literacy skills; shape their values and norms; learn the role of genders, as well as giving them the right environment in which to complete their schoolwork. Thus, the significance of the role played by the family in children’s learning, education and development is evident, and likewise the importance of parents, who are the main caretakers in family, is also considerable.

According to Pomerantz et al. (2005), parents contribute to children’s motivation for achievement by aiding children in satisfying their psychological needs to feel competent, autonomous, related and purposeful. Further, Guthrie (2003) also proposed that most experts still hold the belief that the way parents raised children had profoundly impact on children’s emotional, cognitive, and behavioral development. In children’s development and education, parents as well as the family play significant roles.

2.2.2 Research on family background and parental background

The positive correlations of family background and parental background with respect to children’s academic performance have been proven. Family background in these studies includes family-cultural environment (e.g., Wang, 2000), family learning environment (e.g., Chen, 2004; Chen, 2007; Hung, 2007; Li, 2004); parental background such as parents’

socio-economic status (e.g., Chen, 2004; Chung, 2003; Liu, 2006; Pan 2002; Wang, 2000), parents’ education level and occupation (e.g., Chen, 2007; Wang, 2000), with parents’ English proficiency (e.g., Chang, 2004) also being discussed.

When discussing the relationship between family background and children’s English achievement, Wang (2000) defined family-cultural background as (a) family facilities and appliances that facilitate children in their learning of English, (b) family members’ interaction

with children in English, and (c) parenting styles. In her study, Wang (2000) found that family-cultural background especially family members’ interaction with children in English positively correlated with elementary school students’ English achievement and English learning methods. Likewise, Chen (2004) also proposed that learners with a better family environment for English learning perform better than those with poor family environments for English learning. Chen (2004) investigated seventh graders’ English proficiency

discrepancy and their family background, and in her study, family environment for English learning was composed of (a) verbal communication in an English context between parents and children, (b) parental expectation referring to parents’ desire for their children’s English competence, (c) parents’ values which is parents’ cognition and demanding for their

children’s English learning, and (d) parental assistance in children’s English learning. The positive correlations between family environment and children’s learning achievement are verified in these papers.

With respect to parental background, the effects of parents’ educational level, occupation and socio-economic status on children’s achievement are most widely discussed. For example, parents’ socio-economic status had positive correlations with children’s learning achievement (Chen, 2004; Chung, 2003; Liu, 2006; Pan 2002; Wang, 2000). Children also perform better when their parents have higher levels of educational and occupation (Chen, 2007; Wang, 2000). In Chang’s (2004) study of gifted students’ English education at home, she concluded that parents’ English proficiency affects children’s English learning at home. The studies show how parental influences relate to children’s achievement.

2.3 Parental Attitudes

Parents’ attitudes or affection are important because they may have impacts on parents themselves as well as on their children. Based on Pomerantz et al. (2005), children’s

orientation towards achievement is enhanced when parents satisfy children’s psychological

needs, namely the needs to be competent, autonomous, related to others and purposeful. In addition, when investigating the role of parents in how children approach achievement, Pomerantz et al. (2005) proposed three distinct strands of research. The three modalities investigate (a) the influence of parenting practice called parents’ actions or behavior, (b) parents’ perceptions of children’s competence called parents’ cognition, and (c) parents’ affect.

In Oskamp’s (2005) book, he proposed that parents hold great power in shaping children’s attitudes. Thus, children’s attitudes are probably a combination of their own experience with the world and what they have learned or heard from their parents. Furthermore, Oskamp (2005) stated that an attitude can be considered the cause of a person’s behavior toward another person or an object.

With respect to the importance of parental attitudes or their effect on children’s language learning and attitudes towards the target language, the research results are evident as well.

Bartram (2006) found that parental attitudes are important, for they help parents to construct children’s understanding of language importance, utility and status. Likewise, in Freeman and Long’s (1991) book, they stated that learners’ attitudes towards the target language and learners’ success in the target language are directly related to parents’ attitudes towards the target language. The factors that influence learner’s attitudes towards the target language are parents, peers, learning situation, teachers, and ethnicity. Freeman and Long (1991) further stated that although learners’ attitudes have an important but indirect effect on second language acquisition, learners’ positive attitudes towards the target language and speakers of the target language are related to second language acquisition success. Parents’ attitudes towards learning are important, for what parents experience in life may influence the ways of their parenting and then influence their children’s achievement.

2.3.1 Definition of attitudes

The way in which attitudes are defined alters depending on the purposes of different

researchers. Oskamp (2005) provided the most detailed and complete definitions of attitudes.

In Oskamp’s (2005) book, he summarized the different definitions of attitudes which include

“attitude as a mental set or disposition, attitude as a readiness to respond, the physiological basis of attitudes, their permanence, their learned nature, and their evaluative character” (p. 7).

He further summarized the features of these definitions of attitudes: readiness for response, driving force of attitudes, relatively enduring nature of attitudes, and the evaluative aspect of attitudes. Moreover, attitudes have three important components. In Oskamp (2005), the three components, alternatively called the ABC model included: (a) a cognitive component which is the attitude-holder’s ideas and belief in the attitudes object, (b) an affective or emotional component which refers to the feelings and emotions one has towards the object, (c) a

behavioral component consisting of one’s action tendencies toward the object. In Pan’s (2002) study of primary school students’ English learning attitude, she separated English learning attitudes into five categories, attitudes towards (a) English courses, (b) English teachers, (c) English homework, (d) persistent studying, and (e) active studying.

2.3.2 Research on parental attitudes and children’s achievement

While investigating the influences of parents on children’s development or achievement, most studies center on parents’ cognitive and behavioral influence such as parental

expectations (e.g., Liu, 2006), parental involvement (e.g., Gao, 2006; Liu, 2006) or parental assistance (e.g., Chen, 2004) instead of parents’ affective influence on children. However, the effect of parents may influence parents’ themselves as well as their children (e.g., Bartram, 2006; Eccles, 2005; Kaplan et al., 2001), and parents’ effect in any past learning experience may also be important (e.g., Sattes, 1989; Zhou, 2006). For example, Kaplan et al. (2001) investigated the influence of parents’ self-feeling and expectations on children’s academic performance. They found that parents’ expectations for children and the transmission of those expectations to children may be modified by how parents feel about themselves. Thus, how

parents feel about themselves affects their own expectation on children. In Bartram’s (2006) study of children’s perception of parents’ attitudes, there are associations between parental attitudes and learners’ attitudes. For some children, connections may be made between parental experience or behaviors with their own language attitudes. Bartram (2006) further found that when parental attitudes are perceived as positive, these positive attitudes appear broadly mirrored in their children’s orientations. Further, Bartram (2006) concluded that parents help to construct their children’s understanding of language importance, utility and status. Under the influence of parental attitudes on children’s development and achievement, the survey of parental attitudes and affect is inevitably necessary.

However, while examining learning attitudes or learning experiences, most studies put focuses on learners themselves instead of parents (e.g., Chang, 2005; Ho, 2004; Pan, 2002).

For example, in Pan’s (2002) study of primary school students’ English learning attitudes, the findings suggested that students from higher socioeconomic status families have better learning attitudes, persistent study and active study; in addition, learners’ family

For example, in Pan’s (2002) study of primary school students’ English learning attitudes, the findings suggested that students from higher socioeconomic status families have better learning attitudes, persistent study and active study; in addition, learners’ family