An examination of Melody’s identities, contexts, and learning in a US science classroom: implications for science education of Asian transnational students

Abstract

This study examines how Melody, a Korean transnational girl in the US, participates in high school AP (Advanced Placement) biology class, engages in identity work, and learns science. Melody was a daughter of a gireogi family (a transnational family separated for educational purposes), living with her mother and brother in the US. The recent increase of transnational educational migration among Asian students and the importance of identity in understanding students' learning and participation motivated this study. I define identity as a type of personhood and view that it is always performed and negotiated by individuals in their social lives. Drawing on ethnographic data collected in Melody's AP Biology class, I will show Melody constructed identities as a non-participant, limited English-proficient student and incompetent biology learner. Her identity construction was influenced by the meso level contexts (e.g., school, classroom) and personal contexts (e.g., gireogi family contexts). Yet, Melody constantly negotiated with these contexts to re-figure her identities to be more conducive to her biology learning and to enhance her classroom participation. This study demonstrates how individual students in the US, while coming from a stereotypically successful ethnic group, experience their life contexts and explore possibilities for learning and being in different ways. Implications include how researchers and teachers should pay attention to individual differences and contexts in order to better facilitate their science learning and classroom participation. I will also provide implications for education in countries that send gireogi families and transnational students.

How Did We Engage Resettled Chin Youth in Critical STEM Literacy Practices?

“…We admit that it is difficult to moderate and facilitate participants' discussion when they were talking in non-English languages. Research also showed that learners sometimes switch to a nondominant language to engage in off-task conversations or communicate with each other without engaging teachers and dominant-language monolingual peers (Reyes, 2004;Ryu, 2015a). However, there is enough evidence that shows how multilingual learners utilize their full linguistic and knowledge resources to participate in meaning-making discourse and negotiate scientific meanings and participation positions.…”

Learning to orient toward Myanmar: ethnic Chinese students from Myanmar at a university in China

“…Some subjects are more language-heavy than others and some studies have found that migrant students struggle particularly in the social sciences. Ryu (2015), for instance, examined the language difficulties of a Korean student in the USA and found that due to her limited English proficiency, this Korean student had to give up her talents in social studies. Instead, she chose to concentrate on the natural sciences in the interest of achieving higher grades.…”

“…Lack of proficiency in the dominant language may not only keep students from interacting with the teacher but may also present an obstacle to peer interactions. Ryu (2015), for instance, found that the Korean student in the USA introduced above felt embarrassed to ask her native English-speaking peers to work together; instead, she felt she had to wait to be asked to participate in a group. After class, her limited English also prevented her from making friends with other students even though she felt a strong desire to mingle with them.…”

Editorial: Asia-Pacific Science Education (APSE): Challenged to Lead in Uncertain Times

“…As noted previously, APSE also includes research from colleagues in the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Germany who have conducted comparative analysis studies with researchers in the Asia-Pacific or with members of the Asian diaspora in other parts of the world. Some examples include Minjung Ryu's (2015) qualitative study exploring identity and science learning of Korean transnational students in an advanced biology course in a high school in the United States. Other examples include historical comparative studies examining similarities and differences in secondary science education in Britain, Japan, and the United States (Isozaki, 2016) and a comparison of German and Japanese student teachers' views on creativity in chemistry (Semmler et al, 2018).…”