Understanding the Transformations and Deviations on the Ethnic Identities: Children of Female Immigrants from Mainland China and Southeast Asia

• Main Authors: Yuan-feng Kung, 龔元鳳
• Other Authors: Jui-Jung Lin
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2007
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/84483833084456965040

碩士 === 國立臺南大學 === 教育學系課程與教學碩士班 === 95 === The goal of this study is to investigate the condition and deviations on the ethnic identities of children of female immigrants from Mainland China and Southeast Asia. Due to the recent globalization and capitalization, more female immigrants from Mainland China and Southeast Asia came to Taiwan and settled down with their children born, it becomes a phenomenon which has influences in schools. Educators, researchers and policy-makers realized this issue and seriously explored the commonalities and variations of the children’s achievement, adaptability in life, self-esteem, and self-concept et al.; however, but few research about their ethnic identities. In the past, most studies on ethnic identities in Taiwan focused on the first nations. Efforts and attention from research on immigrants become extremely urgent; the lack of empirical studies does require more researchers to understand this new phenomenon. Several methods used to understand the ethnic identities of children of female immigrants: First, this study adopted the theories on ethnic identities (Phinney, 1990). Second, the self-made questionnaire with four dimensions, data collection involves survey and semi-structured interviews toward the ethnic identities of children. Among children of female immigrants who are 4-6 grades in the Pingtung County, the research findings of their ethic identities are: 1. The identifications toward their parents’ races of is above the average, and the children’s recognition toward Father’s ethnic is higher than Mother’s ethnic, and children’s recognition toward both are highly relevant, with r = .701. 2. In the aspect of variables on the ethnic identities between different backgrounds of children of female immigrants: (1) 4th graders have higher ethnic attitudes than the 6th graders. (2) Female students have higher ethnic attitudes than the male students. (3) The children who come from middle and higher Social Economic Status (SES) s’ families have higher ethnic attitudes than those from lower SES’s families. (4) Students in the urban areas have higher ethnic attitudes than those in rural areas. (5) The children whose mother comes from Mainland China have higher ethnic attitudes than those children whose mothers come from Southeast Asia. (6) The children who are in the care by parents and/or parents’ relatives has the highest ethnic identities toward their parents’ ethnics, and the children who take care only by their father and/or their father’s relatives has the lowest ethnic identities. (7) The children of female immigrants whose caretakers use more than two kinds of languages have higher ethnic attitudes than those children whose caretakers use only single language, and the ethnic identities and the condition of children use their mothers’ language related to each other positively, that means, the higher ability of use their mothers’ language, the higher level of identities toward their parents’ ethnics. 3. The analysis of four components of ethnic identities: (1) Ethnic sense of belonging: most of the interviewee consider that there’s no difference between children whose mothers from different countries, and there’s just a little of relationship between themselves and their own ethnic. (2) Ethnic self-identification: all interviewee think that they are biethnic individuals, and consider that they own more ethnic heritages and cultures from Fathers’ ethnic than from Mothers’, and all of them can also accept and recognize their mothers’ ethnic. (3) Ethnic attitudes: all interviewee didn’t think that the children of dominant ethnic are smarter than the children of their own ethnic, and most of them favored their own ethnic more than the dominant ethnic. (4) Ethnic behavior: most of interviewee considered it a positive experience to live in a community with multiple ethnics. Otherwise, all of them can make the promise of responsible to their own ethnic for being a membership. Based on the results, the conclusions and suggestions made from this study would like to serve as a reference to the educational authorities about making decisions, to the administration of elementary schools for pushing about multicultural curriculum and teaching leadership, and to teachers about improving their teaching strategies.