Immigrant Families and Children (Re)Develop Identities in a New Context

Resolving conflicting linguistic traditions and struggling with new identities are significant challenges for immigrants to the United States. This case study introduces an immigrant mother from Mexico who renamed her youngest son on his first day of first grade to avoid the widespread stereotypes and academic stagnation experienced by her two older sons. Such (re)naming practices constitute and represent the very precarious social and institutional relationships taking place in schools involving immigrant children. In this case study, there was indication of negative aspects of assimilation processes taking place as the family adapted to a new culture and language. For example, the misconception is still widespread that efforts to learn two languages rather than just one diminish a child’s ability to learn other things, which should be learned. However, research in language acquisition and development, points to bilingualism and multilingualism as resources rather than deficits (Souto-Manning, 2006).     

城市发展与流动儿童学前教育

改革开放30余年来,进城务工人员为中国的经济发展与城市建设作出的贡献举世公认.然而,他们随迁子女的学前教育问题却迟迟未进入公众的视线范围之内.平民教育实践为这些流动儿童提供了最基本的学前教育服务.然而,政府有关部门的认识滞后和管理失当令平民教育处境尴尬.期待在<国务院关于当前发展学前教育的若干意见>(国发[2010]41号)出台的当下,政府能够采取切实有效的举措,以促进平民教育健康发展,满足流动儿童的学前教育需求.     

Intergenerational Communication in Immigrant Punjabi Families: Implications for Helping Professionals

This paper is an extension of the primary author’s post-doctoral research on the Sikh diaspora in Vancouver, Canada. Drawing upon the orality, literacy and ‘analytics’ (critical inquiry) paradigm, the paper delineates the distinctive communication patterns that characterize each of three generations in the Punjabi community in that location. A sample intergenerational dialogue in the counselling context is provided to demonstrate the nature of fluidity in communication, and the implications for helping professionals are discussed.     

Limited English Proficiency and Socioemotional Well-Being Among Asian and Hispanic Children From Immigrant Families

Research Findings: Previous research has suggested that children from immigrant families face multiple stressors associated with acculturation. One component of acculturation that has not been widely explored in relation to children's socioemotional development is limited English proficiency (LEP). Given that English is the main language used in American schools, it is important to understand how LEP can affect the socioemotional development of children from immigrant families whose 1st language is not English. This study explores the effects of LEP on the socioemotional development of 5,268 Hispanic and 2,088 Asian American children from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study data set (first 3 waves of data). Results from generalized estimating equation analyses revealed significant interactions between ethnicity and language status. English-proficient Asian American children fared better than Hispanic children, but Asian American children with LEP lagged behind their Hispanic counterparts in their approaches to learning, self-control, and interpersonal skills at the beginning of kindergarten. These ethnic differences disappeared by the end of 1st grade. Practice or Policy: Our findings suggest that language-related challenges among minority children may be more consequential for young Asian American children, who would benefit from additional efforts to help them attain proficiency in English.     

单亲家庭儿童社会性发展问题的研究

近年来我国离婚率有不断上升的趋势,离异后的单亲家庭不断增多。儿童社会性发展是儿童心理发展的一个极其重要的方面,因此对单亲家庭儿童社会性发展问题的研究也显得尤为重要。笔者通过调查证实单亲家庭儿童社会性发展确实差于完整家庭儿童,并在相关理论基础上提出了促进单亲家庭儿童社会性良好发展的对策。     

新加坡华裔家庭幼儿英汉双语学习环境调查

研究者选取新加坡199名6岁华裔幼儿和128名3～4岁华裔幼儿,对其家长进行问卷调查,以分析新加坡华裔家庭幼儿英汉双语学习环境.调查发现,家长的英语水平与幼儿使用汉语的频率呈负相关关系;与英语水平较低的家长相比,英语水平较高的家长更愿意与幼儿进行汉语交流;幼儿在同伴交往中更倾向于使用英语;幼儿接触英语学习资源的频率普遍高于汉语学习资源.研究者建议华裔家长树立科学的双语学习观,创设良好的语言学习环境,投放高质量的汉语学习资源,重视幼儿的汉语学习,从而提高幼儿的双语表达能力.     

听力正常家庭和聋人家庭中聋童心理理论的发展

聋童能否正确理解他人心理状态直接影响其正常的社会交往。已有研究表明,听力正常家庭中的聋童心理理论水平低于正常儿童,但随其语言发展和年龄增长而逐步提升。聋人家庭中的聋童心理理论处于正常水平,并随年龄增长而成熟。尽管存在心理表征能力发展的迟滞,听力正常家庭中的聋童能在一定程度上理解图片对于现实的错误表征。研究结果提示正常的社交情境可能与聋童的心理理论发展有关。     

早期教育对贫困家庭儿童发展的影响研究

以贫困家庭和普通家庭儿童为研究对象,通过教育实验系统观察贫困家庭儿童在不同教育情境下的身心发展状态,检验早期教育对贫困家庭儿童发展的积极作用。结果表明:家庭是儿童早期发展的重要影响源,适宜的早期教育能够有效促进贫困家庭儿童神经心理、社会适应能力和行为与情绪的发展,早期教育对儿童体格发育和感觉统合失调的影响并不显著。     

Comprehensive Services for Children and Families: The Federal Role

Comprehensive services for children and families bring together an array of formal services and informal supports and make them available and accessible at the community level with a goal of improving the well-being of children and families. Since the early 1970s, federal policy has moved between periods of support for integrating services and support for separate and discrete programs. Three streams of change in the federal role in comprehensive services are traced over the past 10 years: (a) a change from supporting the process of integrating services to providing incentives for achieving results for children and families, (b) a change from focusing on service providers to focusing on customers, and (c) a change from supporting projects to changing the systems that serve children and families. Despite these changes and the devolution of responsibility for many social programs to the states, there is still a need for a federal role in supporting system change to serve children and families. The federal government can be most effective when a high-level agency takes on a leadership and coordinating role in support of comprehensive community efforts.     

From Learning Beliefs to Achievement Among Chinese Immigrant and European American Preschool Children

Little research exists on how immigrant children develop their beliefs about school learning (BASLs) in their home and host cultures. We examined the BASLs and achievement children of Chinese immigrants’ (CCI) and European American (EA) children. We followed longitudinally 120 middle-class children from age 4 to 5, balanced for gender. Children heard two story beginnings depicting a child eager to attend school and another not. Children completed the stories and were tested for math and literacy achievement. We found seven BASLs. CCIs and EAs showed similar BASLs. Awareness of parental involvement and intellectual benefit consistently explained their achievement, with CCIs showing greater achievement. CCIs’ (but not EAs’) valuation of learning explained their net academic growth. Implications on CCIs’ development are discussed.     

致力于解决流动儿童学前教育问题——首届流动儿童学前教育发展论坛综述

2010年12月10-11日,首届流动儿童学前教育发展论坛在北京师范大学隆重召开.来自全国的500多位代表参加了本届论坛. 在<国务院关于当前发展学前教育的若干意见>(国发[2010]41号)等文件明确要求大力发展学前教育的春风中,流动学前儿童的受教育权受到了进一步关注.     

流动儿童与城市儿童社会认知特点比较

采用整群抽样的方法,对浙江省某市450名城市儿童和434名流动儿童的社会认知进行问卷调查.结果表明:流动儿童社会认知三个因子得分均低于城市儿童(P值均0.05);两组儿童总体,男生社会认知三个因子得分均低于女生(P值均0.05),流动男生归因和社会认知结构两个因子得分均低于城市男生(P值均0.05),流动女生社会认知三个因子得分均低于城市女生(P值均0.05);两组儿童总体,社会认知三个因子得分均存在年级差异(P值均0.05).三个年级流动儿童均有单个因子得分低于城市儿童的现象(P值均0.05);两组儿童总体,社会认知三个因子得分均不存在抚养人差异(P值均0.05),但当抚养人是父母时,流动儿童社会认知三个因子得分均低于城市儿童(P值均0.05).因此,应加强对流动儿童,尤其是流动男性儿童社会认知方面的教育和引导.     

试论少儿汉语的发展及少儿汉语短期培训班的教学模式

随着＂汉语热＂在全球升温,汉语学习者呈现出明显的低龄化趋势,来华留学生年龄不断降低,越来越多的少儿走进高校参加短期培训。面对汉语发展的新趋势和新挑战,我们从少儿汉语的发展趋势入手,分析了少儿学习汉语的优势,摸索目前少儿汉语存在的问题,提出少儿汉语短期培训班的教学模式。     

重组家庭青春期子女的家庭教育

重组家庭青春期子女因为经历了家庭的变故有着强烈的被抛弃感和恐惧感,再加上在青春期阶段,又具有成人感强、容易叛逆,感情丰富、不愿表达,意志不稳定、好交友等特点,因此,对重组家庭青春期子女进行家庭教育时,必须采用合适的方式来进行,比如:构建和谐的家庭环境;亲生父母健康爱的付出等。     

Children, Families and Change: International Perspectives

This special issue draws from several disciplines, including early childhood care and education, social and family policy, and economics to examine global trends affecting children and their families in rapidly changing environments. Authors' and guest editors' experiences and data drawn from ten countries help frame issues of importance to early childhood researchers, educators, policy-makers, and advocates. As the end of the century approaches, such cross-national perspectives on issues affecting the lives of children and families become increasingly relevant to our field. The introduction provides several contextual and theoretical frameworks through which to make connections between the articles in this special issue.     

Parenting as a Protective Process for School Success in Children from Homeless Families

The role of parenting as a protective process for school success was investigated among 59 African American children 6 to 11 years old from homeless families residing in a Minneapolis shelter. Reliable scores for three dimensions of parenting—parent-child closeness, parent involvement in education, and firm discipline—were derived from ratings based on interviews with parents while they were living at the shelter. After families had left the shelter, children's school success was assessed via three types of indicators: a) performance on a standardized achievement test; b) ratings of school records for the current school semester as well as cumulative school records; and c) teacher assessments of appropriate school behavior. Results suggested that good parenting may be protective for school success in these children. Close parent-child relationships and high parent involvement in the child's education were associated with school success in terms of school records of achievement and behavior in school. Parent's intellectual functioning, education level, psychological distress and firm disciplinary practices were unrelated to child academic success. Future research directions and implications for intervention are discussed.     

Parenting as a Protective Process for School Success in Children from Homeless Families

The role of parenting as a protective process for school success was investigated among 59 African American children 6 to 11 years old from homeless families residing in a Minneapolis shelter. Reliable scores for three dimensions of parenting—parent-child closeness, parent involvement in education, and firm discipline—were derived from ratings based on interviews with parents while they were living at the shelter. After families had left the shelter, children's school success was assessed via three types of indicators: a) performance on a standardized achievement test; b) ratings of school records for the current school semester as well as cumulative school records; and c) teacher assessments of appropriate school behavior. Results suggested that good parenting may be protective for school success in these children. Close parent–child relationships and high parent involvement in the child's education were associated with school success in terms of school records of achievement and behavior in school. Parent's intellectual functioning, education level, psychological distress and firm disciplinary practices were unrelated to child academic success. Future research directions and implications for intervention are discussed.