Analysis of Language Developmental Supporters for Multicultural Family’s Perception and Demand on IT-based Pragmatic Language Intervention

Abstract

Objectives: This survey study investigated the perception of supporters of language development for multicultural families (the supporters) in regards to the pragmatic language difficulties of multicultural children, the importance of intervention, and the demand for an IT-based pragmatic language intervention program. Methods: Among a total of 300 supporters across the country, 159 completed questionnaires, which were used for the analysis. The questionnaire consisted of the respondents’ background information; experience of pragmatic language intervention; perception of pragmatic language difficulties of multicultural children and importance of intervention, and demands of IT-based pragmatic language intervention program. Results: The supporters with 4 years or more of experience reported the children to have greater pragmatic language difficulties compared with those with those with less than 4 years of experience. No statistically significant differences were found in the perceptions of the importance of pragmatic language intervention for multicultural children. The supporters indicated that the most useful IT-based pragmatic language intervention program would be ‘materials offer type’, followed by ‘pragmatic-language-intervention-related parent education type’, and ‘evaluation type’ respectively. Also, the respondents indicated that ‘pragmatic-language-intervention-related parent education type’ would be the most useful for the parents followed by ‘problem solving type’, and ‘learning type’ in the order listed. Conclusion: The supporters were highly aware of the pragmatic language difficulties of multicultural children and the importance of intervention, and the survey results indicated that they needed active support. The results of this study can be used as basic data when a follow-up study is conducted to develop an IT-based pragmatic language intervention program.