The Roles of Multilingual Learning Facilitators in Assisting Non-Chinese-Speaking Students in Learning Chinese in Hong Kong: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

This study aimed to define the roles played by Multilingual Learning Facilitators (MLFs), a novel post created to facilitate non-Chinese-speaking (NCS) pre-schoolers in learning Chinese in Hong Kong, based in community agencies. Qualitative analysis of field observations and interviews with MLFs and social workers found that roles fell under teaching-related and social workrelated categories. For teaching-related roles, MLFs facilitated learning of Chinese in NCS pre-schoolers, assisted social workers in classroom management during activities, engaged NCS parents, and fostered communication between social workers and NCS parents. For social work-related duties, MLFs offered consulting for NCS parents dealing with issues, and also fostered communication between social workers and NCS parents. These roles are made possible due to MLFs' language and cultural expertise of that of NCS families and the local Chinese community. This addresses current limitations faced by teachers and social workers in their roles in teaching NCS students, and expands resources available for NCS families, from schools to the community, in supporting their children in learning Chinese, potentially opening up opportunities for NCS children to integrate into the local community.

What Empowers Ethnic Minority Parents to Change towards Supporting Their Children’s Learning of Chinese in a Hong Kong Home-School-Community Project?

“…Some parents had higher participation in program activities than others. Echoing the recent observation that the Chinese language proficiency of children whose parents have higher program participation rate improved more than children having parents of no or low participation, parents learned together with their children in activities and enjoyed the learning with appreciation for the support offered by both NGOs and schools (Tse et al, 2021a(Tse et al, , 2021b(Tse et al, , 2020bNg et al, 2020). As evidenced, some parents were less involved in their children's school activities, and data showed the main obstacles as follows: full-time working parent status; time constraints of parent within family schedule; limited activity choices.…”

“…NCS parents at family level have limited proficiency in Chinese language. This creates difficulties in their communication with schools (Tse et al, 2021a(Tse et al, , 2021b(Tse et al, , 2021c, and also in their monitoring of children's learning progress (Tse et al, 2020a(Tse et al, , 2020b. Therefore, helping parents to learn Chinese language is essential to make the NCS families, both parents and children, to be more adapted to the education system in Hong Kong.…”

Pre-primary education and Chinese language acquisition of ethnic minority students in Hong Kong: a multidisciplinary critical evaluation

“…For example, workshops arranged for parents, with topics on how to create an enriched language learning environment, and the ways to model literacy and participate in their children's literacy activities could be useful. With help from postsecondary institutions, Jockey Club launched a program to introduce Multilingual Learning Facilitators in kindergartens to facilitate communication between teachers, social workers and NCS parents and promote community-based language learning (Tse et al , 2021). It is proven effective in offering children with a more appealing and culturally appropriate language learning experience, sharing workloads with teachers and social workers and engaging with NCS parents.…”