Korean Immigrant Mothers’ Perspectives: The Meanings of a Korean Heritage Language School for Their Children’s American Early Schooling Experiences

Abstract

This study examines what a Korean heritage language school means to Korean immigrant families and their children, considering Korean immigrant mothers' perspectives on American early schooling. As part of an ethnographic research project on Korean-American children's peer culture in a heritage school, seven mothers, two guardians (grandmothers), and their young children were observed and interviewed during one academic year. The analysis showed that the heritage language school functions as a social and emotional support system, a buffer for reducing the detachment from parents, and a safety net for the Korean-American children's challenging lives. The Korean immigrant mothers also showed that they felt burdened by different cultural views of their children's behaviors, and described how their children were often considered problematic. The social and culture barriers caused by their immigrant status profoundly influenced their reasons for sending their children to a Korean heritage language school. This study suggests that teachers' deep understanding of culturally different perspectives on children's behaviors, along with systematic social and emotional support, can help these children attain psychological well-being.

Bilingualism in the family and child well-being: A scoping review

“…All but two (Kim, 2011; Mills, 2001) studies in this review are quantitative. The studies took place in a wide range of countries, most commonly studying Southeast and East Asian populations in the USA (7 articles).…”

“…The majority of empirical studies had large sample sizes, of between 40 and 5262 participants. The two qualitative studies in this review are based on 40 (Kim, 2011) and 10 (Mills, 2001) child participants respectively.…”

The Circulation of Care in Multilingual and Transnational Children

“…Learning and maintaining heritage language, or a language that immigrants and their children have personal, cultural, and historic connections with (Valdés, 2001), is a major topic of discussion among scholars whose research focuses on the language and literacy learning of Korean immigrant children. Previous studies reported that Korean immigrant parents emphasized passing down Korean language and culture to subsequent generations because they believed that it offered numerous sociocultural and educational benefits to their children, including strengthening their ethnic identities, building bilingual assets, and succeeding academically and professionally (Kim, 2011; Kwon, 2017; Park & Sarkar, 2007). Parents also believe that learning the heritage language and culture can contribute to fostering family cohesion because it enables the children to better communicate with parents and grandparents and strengthen the intergenerational relationship (Lee, 2013).…”

In Search of the “Korean Part”: Reinforcing Cultural Boundaries in a Korean Language School

“…Turning the lens of cultural capital onto language schools is an important theoretical contribution to the study of these institutions. Many studies of heritage language schools have illustrated their role in imparting cultural resources as well as language (Cho ; J. Kim ; Siegel ). However, fewer studies have made the explicit theoretical link to cultural capital.…”