English Reading and Writing Proficiency of Southeast Asian Immigrant’s Children in Urban and Rural Areas: A Study on Third Grade Students of Elementary Schools, Taichung County

• Main Authors: Liao Chin Huang, 廖錦煌
• Other Authors: Lim, Khay-thiong
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2008
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/08497839411729602112

碩士 === 國立暨南國際大學 === 東南亞研究所 === 96 === Abstract The purpose of this study is to explore and analyze the English Reading and Writing Proficiency of the third-grade students, who were new immigrant’s children, concerning English learning as compared between urban and rural elementary schools in Taichung County. The research focused on whether English learning achievement of the new immigrant’s children was influenced by their geographical location. Document analysis, interviews, and questionnaires were used in this study. The participants were third-grade students, their mothers who were new immigrants, and teachers in ths urban and rural schools in the mountain area in Taichung County. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used in this study. Interviews were used with mothers who were new immigrants. Concerning teacher's questionnaires, 18 responses were obtained for statistical analysis. The English reading and writing proficiency exam for these third-grade students was used to identify students’ English learning achievement in four schools. Two of these schools were in a rural area and two of them were in an urban area. There were 41 questionnaires mailed of which 39 were valid. The results of this study are as follows: 1. The result revealed that the third-grade new immigrant students’ English reading and writing achievement in the urban schools were better than that of students in the rural areas. There were differences between these two areas. 2. Concerning English reading and writing proficiency, the students in the urban schools were superior to those in the rural schools in terms of distinguishing between small and capital letters and the order of letters in words. On the other hand, the reading achievement between the urban and rural schools was almost the same. 3. The interview for the new immigrant's mother indicated that the environmental factors between the urban and rural areas and parents’ discipline of their children were important factors that influenced different English learning achievements in the urban and rural areas. 4. Obviously, the English resources in the urban area homes were better than those in the rural area homes. This included computer access, network, and other forms of modern technology. 5. The resources in the urban and rural schools were almost the same. Both the urban and rural area teachers were concerned with new immigrant children’s achievements. However, the students in the urban area had more access to English than those in the rural area. According to the above conclusions, the results of research could be used as a reference for future studies and as a recommendation for the government authorities and schools to establish an educational policy for new immigrant’s children.