行政院國家科學委員會專題研究計畫 期中進度報告
進入初始的同儕文化(1/3)
計畫類別： 個別型計畫 計畫編號： NSC91-2413-H-009-004- 執行期間： 91 年 08 月 01 日至 92 年 07 月 31 日 執行單位： 國立交通大學通識教育中心 計畫主持人： 梁瓊惠 報告類型： 精簡報告 報告附件： 出席國際會議研究心得報告及發表論文 處理方式： 本計畫可公開查詢中 華 民 國 92 年 6 月 2 日
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行政院國家科學委員會專題研究計畫成果報告
進入初始的同儕文化(1/3)
Entering the Initial Peer Culture (1/3)
計畫編號：NSC 91-2413-H-009-004
執行期限：91 年 08 月 01 日至 92 年 07 月 31 日
主持人：梁瓊惠 國立交通大學通識教育中心
E-Mail Address: [email protected]
一、中文摘要 本計畫的目的為探討兒童進入初始同 儕文化的歷程。兒童初始與同儕的互動及 由家庭向外移向學校的時間通常由父母決 定，這些決定和父母的文化信念系統和作 為有關。由於臺灣幼稚園就學率的提高， 同儕在兒童生活中扮演的角色也日趨重 要。台灣父母通常認為自身在孩子社會化 的歷程中扮演非常重要的角色，同儕的角 色相對較不重要。雖然許多研究指出同儕 關係和友誼對兒童的學校適應和學業表現 有重大的影響，我們對台灣兒童進入同儕 文化及同儕文化的發生過程所知非常有 限。台灣兒童社會化歷程的研究著重於大 人，關於大人和兒童如何共同影響和參與 同儕社會化歷程則相對被忽略，本研究採 用民族誌研究法，對家庭成員進行深度訪 談並詳細觀察及探究兒童的日常生活。針 對三個問題來切入主研究的主題: 1.父母 關於兒童同儕文化的信念為何? 2.經由兒 童的共同參與，父母的信念系統如何影響 兒童由家庭到學校的轉接? 3. 幼稚園兒童 如何建構同儕文化? 第一年的工作重點為 進入現場、與參與研究對象建立關係、訪 談家長關於兒童同儕文化的信念、對兒童 的日常生活進行瞭解、及在幼稚園進行先 探性的觀察。至目前為止，受到 SARS 疫情 的影響，訪談進度和先探性觀察進度有所 落後，預計在目標小孩入幼稚園以前可以 追上預期進度。 關鍵詞：社會化、同儕、兒童、幼稚園、 臺灣 Abstract
The goal of this study is to investigate
children’s entry into their initial peer cultures. Parents usually make decisions about
children’s initial interactions with peers and when children move outside families to preschool. The nature and timing of these decisions relate to parental cultural belief systems and practices. Because the
increasing number of children who now are attending preschools in Taiwan, the role of peers becomes very significant in children’s daily life. Taiwanese parents often consider their role in children’s socialization a very significant one. Peers are not considered as important as parents. This project
investigates children’s entry from family to their initial peer culture by ethnographic
approach, involving in-depth interviews with families and thorough observation and investigation of children’s daily life at a regular interval over a period of two years. Three main questions are investigated in this project: What are parents’ cultural belief systems about children’s peer cultures? How the belief systems, jointly with children’s participation in the transition process, influence children’s transition from families to peer groups? And how children begin to construct of their initial peer cultures in the preschool setting? The first year of this project focuses on the field entry to the community, establishing relationships with families, and basic understanding of parents belief systems about peer interaction through interviewing the parents. Meanwhile, pilot observations in the preschool will be
conducted. Because of the outbreak of SARS, interviewing with parents and pilot
observation in the preschool has been behind the original schedule. It is expected that planned tasks of the first year to be
accomplished by the time the target children enter preschool.
Keywords: socialization, peer, children, preschool, Taiwan
二、緣由與目的
The goal of this study is to investigate children’s entry into initial peer cultures. Parents usually make decisions about children’s initial interactions with peers and when children move outside families to preschool. The nature and timing of these decisions relate to parental cultural belief systems and practices (Corsaro, 1997). Yet, the process is not solely decided by parents. Children themselves also play important roles. By viewing socialization as the process of how children grow up to be cultural beings, children’s active role in selecting from
cultural resources, using resources in creative ways, and contributing to the production of adult culture is revealed (Gaskins, Miller & Corsaro, 1992). The influence of peer
relationships and friendships in the classroom environment has been extensively studied in the past decades. Evidence supports that
children’s classroom peer relationships may operate as relational supports or stressors (e.g., Furman & Robbins, 1985; Ladd, Kochenderfer & Coleman, 1997).
Friendships have been viewed as support systems that facilitate school adjustment (Ladd, Kochenderfer & Coleman, 1996). Therefore, how parents, children themselves and their classroom peers jointly participate in the socialization process in the
home-school transition is an important area for investigation.
Because the increasing number of children who now are attending preschools in Taiwan, for example, a recent study showed that majority of 3- to 6-year olds (64.8%) attended preschool (Lin & Fung, 1999), preschool as well as family has become an important context for preschool-aged children’s socialization. By 3 years of age, many Taiwanese youngsters have entered their initial peer cultures from families to preschool.
Current studies have shown that
contemporary Taiwanese parents believe that their role as a socializing agent is a very significant one. They take many
opportunities to teach their children and feel that they themselves must set an example for their children’s moral character. These views are consistent with the Confucian emphasis on teaching. How children make a transition from families to preschool and how they construct peer cultures in the preschool is largely unknown. The present study aims to fill this gap to investigate how parents, children themselves and their peers jointly participate in the socialization process in the home and school contexts.
三、結果與討論
The project is ethnographic in approach, involving in-depth interviews with families and thorough observation and investigation of children’s transition from families to preschool over a period of two years. The project includes three phases across a two-year period of fieldwork and an intensive data analysis period.
The study begins with a first year field entry to the community, establishing
parents for a basic understanding of parental belief systems about peer interaction. Data collection mainly relies on interviewing the parents and field notes during this phase of study. This phase also includes a pilot observation period during which the researcher observes a classroom and
participates in daily activities to gain a basic understanding of the children’s daily life. The researcher will regularly stay in the preschool from early morning until the last child left the preschool to establish rapport and
enhance the comfort of children and teachers. The goal is to gain a first-hand understanding of the ways in which children engage in daily activities. The immersion in the children’s life in the preschool is intended to ensure the ecological and cultural validity of the data collection and to familiarize the researcher with the children’s world. It is planned to recruit about more than 20 families in a community. Children from these families will include 2-years olds. All of the children participating in this study are very likely to attend the same preschool the next year when they are 3 years old, when they will be observed in the preschool.
The focus of the project in the second year is on how parents and children work together in the process of moving from home to preschool, and the construction of peer cultures in the preschool setting. Parents will be interviewed about children’s transition and adjustment to the preschool. Fieldwork, audio and video recording will be conducted in the preschool. Twenty children who stay in the same preschool will be followed when they are 3 years of age. Participation in daily activities regularly may make the children soon accept the researcher as part of their preschool life. The role-defining process needs special attention. The researcher needs to be very careful to establish a role to enable the researcher to gain access to the children’s peer groups, which may not often accessible to adults.
The third year of this project will concentrate on data analysis. One needs long hours of training to become a skillful
transcriber to capturing the children’s voices and movements. An hour of tape often takes 20 to 40 hours of transcribing time for an
experienced transcriber. Because of the difficulty of transcribing audio and video data, it is reasonable to devote a year on data analysis. The directions of analysis include parents’ folk theories about peers, the familial, emotional and interpersonal influence on children’s entry into peer cultures and the process of the construction and negotiation of the major elements of peer cultures (sharing, control, conflict, and differentiation of gender and status). The way in which Chinese culture frames parents’ folk theories about peers and children’s entry into peer groups is also a focus of analysis.
Up to this point, the researcher is continuing to recruit families from three communities. Because some parents have not decided which preschool their children will attend, it is intended to recruit a bigger number of families to ensure a good number of them can fully participate in the long-term project.
Preliminary findings indicate that before the child enters preschool, parents have not thought much about the issue of peers for their child. Their concerns are tilted to adult influence and the quality of preschool. However, parents do recognize some possibilities that peers can bring to their child’s development. More data will inform the understanding of the parental cultural belief systems about children’s initial peer cultures and the process of children’s transition from families to preschool peer groups as the project proceeds.
四、計畫成果自評
The project proceeds as stated in the original proposal. However, because of the outbreak of SARS, interviewing parents and pilot observation in the preschool are behind schedule. It is planned to resume the process when the families are comfortable about the researcher’s visiting and other conditions are allowed. It is expected that planned tasks of the first year to be accomplished by the time the target children enter preschool.
This project will provide a basic
understanding of the parental cultural beliefs about children’s initial peer cultures and the process of children’s transition from families
to preschool peer groups, which will inform the theorization of socialization. The
information yielded from this study will also be important to parents, teachers and other professionals who work with children and need a deep understanding of children’s transition from families to peer groups and their everyday life among their peers. 五、參考文獻
Corsaro, W. A. (1997). The sociology of childhood. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.
Furman, W., & Robbins, P.(1985). What’s the point? Issues in the selection of treatment objectives. In B. H. Schneider, K. H. Rubin & J. E. Ledingham (Eds.),
Childrne’s peer relations: Issues in assessment and intervention (pp. 41-54). New York: Springer-Verag.
Gaskins, S., Miller, P. J., & Corsaro, W.
A. (1992). Theoretical and methodological perspectives in the interpretive study of children. In W. A. Corsaro, P. J. Miller (Eds.), Interpretive approach to children's
socialization (pp. 5-23). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Ladd, G. W., Kochenderfer, B. J. & Coleman, C. C., (1996). Friendship quality as a predictor of young children’s early school adjustment. Child Development, 67,
1103-1118.
Ladd, G. W., Kochenderfer, B. J. & Coleman, C. C., (1997). Classroom peer acceptance, friendship, and victimization: Distinct relational systems that contribute uniquely to children’s school adjustment? Child Development, 68, 1181-1197.
Lin, P. J. & Fung, Y. (1999). Survey of under-7-year-old children’s preschool facility enrollment (in Chinese). Unpublished
research report, Ministry of Education, Taiwan.
行政院國家科學委員會補助專題研究計畫期中進度報
告
進入初始的同儕文化(1/3)
Entering the Initial Peer Culture (1/3)
計畫類別：v□ 個別型計畫 □ 整合型計畫
計畫編號：NSC 91－2413－H－009－004－
執行期間： 91 年 08 月 01 日至 92 年 07 月 31 日
計畫主持人：梁瓊惠
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