Abstract
Parenting practices and home learning environments are critical for young children’s reading development. To foster a curiosity and love of reading and promote literacy development, it is important for parents to provide a home learning environment that is supportive and encouraging of children’s reading activities. This is particularly true for children who are from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, such as bilingual and bicultural (L2/C2) children in Chinese immigrant families. Given that traditional Chinese culture emphasizes the role or duty of parents to set high expectations for children’s academic success, it is essential to understand the culture perspective to literacy development in Chinese immigrant families. On the other hand, the self-determination perspective emphasizes the importance of the child in making decisions for themself and taking control of their own learning. Together, these perspectives highlight the importance of understanding how cultural background and self-determination in Chinese immigrant families can be balanced or interwoven to support children’s literacy development. In this chapter, we will discuss the literacy development in Chinese immigrant families from the lens of culture and self-determination theory, as well as the parenting practices that can promote children’s reading motivation, engagement, and competence.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Chao, R. K. (1994). Beyond parental control and authoritarian parenting style: Understanding Chinese parenting through the cultural notion of training. Child Development, 65, 1111–1119. https://doi.org/10.2307/1131308
Chow, H. P. (2001). Learning the Chinese language in a multicultural milieu: Factors affecting Chinese-Canadian adolescents’ ethnic language school experience. Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 47(4), 369–374.
Chow, S. S. Y., & Chu, M. H. T. (2007). The impact of filial piety and parental involvement on academic achievement motivation in Chinese secondary school students. Asian Journal of Counselling, 14(1–2), 91–124.
Comanaru, R., & Noels, K. A. (2009). Self-determination, motivation, and the learning of Chinese as a heritage language. Canadian Modern Language Review, 66(1), 131–158. https://doi.org/10.3138/cmlr.66.1.131
Conradi, K., Jang, B. G., & McKenna, M. C. (2014). Motivation terminology in reading research: A conceptual review. Educational Psychology Review, 26(1), 127–164. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-013-9245-z
Curdt-Christiansen, X. L. (2008). Reading the world through words: Cultural themes in heritage Chinese language textbooks. Language and Education, 22(2), 95–113. https://doi.org/10.2167/le721.0
Dickinson, D. K., & Tabors, P. O. (2001). Beginning literacy with language: Young children learning at home and school. Paul H Brookes Publishing.
Dixon, L. Q., & Wu, S. (2014). Home language and literacy practices among immigrant second language learners. Language Teaching, 47(4), 414–449. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444814000160
Fuligni, A. J., & Zhang, W. (2004). Attitudes toward family obligation among adolescents in contemporary urban and rural China. Child Development, 75(1), 180–192. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2004.00662.x
Gagné, M., & Deci, E. L. (2005). Self-determination theory and work motivation. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 26(4), 331–362. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.322
Gee, J. P. (2015). The new literacy studies. In J. Rowsell & K. Pahl (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of literacy studies (pp. 35–48). Routledge.
Gonzalez, J. E., Liew, J., Zou, Y., Curtis, G., & Li, D. (2021). ‘They’re going to forget about their mother tongue’: Influence of Chinese beliefs in child home language and literacy development. Early Childhood Education Journal, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-021-01241-x
Guthrie, J. T., & Davis, M. H. (2003). Motivating struggling readers in middle school through an engagement model of classroom practice. Reading and Writing Quarterly, 19, 59–85. https://doi.org/10.1080/10573560308203
Guthrie, J. T., & Wigfield, A. (2000). Engagement and motivation in reading. In M. Kamil & P. Mosenthal (Eds.), Handbook of reading research (Vol. 3, pp. 403–422). Erlbaum.
Haddad, N. A. (2016). Multimedia and cultural heritage: A discussion for the community involved in children’s heritage edutainment and serious games in the 21st century. Virtual Archaeology Review, 7(14), 61–73. https://doi.org/10.4995/var.2016.4191
Ho, D. Y. (1996). Filial piety and its psychological consequences. In M. H. Bond (Ed.), The handbook of Chinese psychology (pp. 155–165). Oxford University Press.
Hui, E. K., Sun, R. C., Chow, S. S. Y., & Chu, M. H. T. (2011). Explaining Chinese students’ academic motivation: Filial piety and self-determination. Educational Psychology, 31(3), 377–392. https://doi.org/10.1080/01443410.2011.559309
Iyengar, S. S., & Lepper, M. R. (1999). Rethinking the value of choice: A cultural perspective on intrinsic motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76(3), 349. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.76.3.349
Kagan, O. (2005). In support of a proficiency-based definition of heritage language learners: The case of Russian. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 8(2–3), 213–221. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050508668608
Krcmar, M., & Cingle, D. P. (2014). Parent-child joint reading in traditional and electronic formats. Media Psychology, 17, 262–281. https://doi.org/10.1080/15213269.2013.840243
Li, G. (2006). Biliteracy and trilingual practices in the home context: Case studies of Chinese-Canadian children. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 6(3), 355–381. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468798406069797
Liew, J., Kwok, O., Chang, Y. P., Chang, B. W., & Yeh, Y. C. (2014). Parental autonomy support predicts academic achievement through emotion-related self-regulation and adaptive skills in Chinese American adolescents. Asian American Journal of Psychology, 5(3), 214. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0034787
Liew, J., Erbeli, F., Nyanamba, J. M., & Li, D. (2020). Pathways to reading competence: Emotional self-regulation, literacy contexts, and embodied learning processes. Reading Psychology, 41(7), 633–659. https://doi.org/10.1080/02702711.2020.1783145
Luo, R., Tamis-LeMonda, C. S., & Song, L. (2013). Chinese parents’ goals and practices in early childhood. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 28(4), 843–857. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2013.08.001
Mathewson, G. C. (1994). Model of attitude influence upon reading and learning to read. In R. B. Ruddell, M. R. Ruddell, & H. Singer (Eds.), Theoretical models and processes of reading (4th ed., pp. 1131–1161). International Reading Association.
McKenna, M. C. (1994). Toward a model of reading attitude acquisition. In E. H. Cramer & M. Castle (Eds.), Fostering the love of reading: The affective domain in reading education (pp. 18–40). International Reading Association.
McKenna, M. C., Kear, D. J., & Ellsworth, R. A. (1995). Children’s attitudes toward reading: A national survey. Reading Research Quarterly, 30, 934–956. https://doi.org/10.2307/748205
McTigue, E., & Liew, J. (2011). Principles and practices for building academic self-efficacy in middle grades language arts classrooms. The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 84(3), 114–118. https://doi.org/10.1080/00098655.2010.543191
Morgan, P. L., & Fuchs, D. (2007). Is there a bidirectional relationship between children’s reading skills and reading motivation? Exceptional Children, 73(2), 165–183. https://doi.org/10.1177/001440290707300203
Purcell-Gates, V., Melzi, G., Najafi, B., & Orellana, M. F. (2011). Building literacy instruction from children’s sociocultural worlds. Child Development Perspectives, 5(1), 22–27. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1750-8606.2010.00144.x
Riches, C., & Curdt-Christiansen, X. L. (2010). A tale of two Montréal communities: Parents’ perspectives on their children’s language and literacy development in a multilingual context. Canadian Modern Language Review, 66(4), 525–555. https://doi.org/10.3138/cmlr.66.4.525
Ryan, R., & Deci, E. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55, 68–78. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2017). Self-determination theory: Basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness. Guilford Publications. https://doi.org/10.1521/978.14625/28806
Sénéchal, M., & Young, L. (2006). The effect of family literacy interventions on children’s acquisition of reading from kindergarten to Grade 3: A meta-analytic review. Review of Educational Research, 78, 880–907. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654308320319
Shenghong, J., & Dan, J. W. (2004). The contemporary development of philosophy of education in mainland China and Taiwan. Comparative Education, 40(4), 571–581. https://doi.org/10.1080/0305006042000284556
Tang, J., Li, N., Sandoval, J. R., & Liu, Y. (2018). Parenting styles and academic motivation: A sample from Chinese high schools. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 27(10), 3395–3401. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-018-1164-7
Weber, R. C., Johnson, A., Riccio, C. A., & Liew, J. (2016). Balanced bilingualism and executive functioning in children. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 19(2), 425–431. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728915000553
Wigfield, A. (1997). Reading motivation: A domain-specific approach to motivation. Educational Psychologist, 32(2), 59–68. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326985ep3202_1
Wigfield, A., Gladstone, J., & Turci, L. (2016). Beyond cognition: Reading motivation and reading comprehension. Child Development Perspectives, 10(3), 190–195. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12184
Xu, Y., Farver, J. A. M., & Krieg, A. (2017). The home environment and Asian immigrant children’s early literacy skills. Parenting, 17(2), 104–123. https://doi.org/10.1080/15295192.2017.1304783
Zhang, D., & Slaughter-Defoe, D. T. (2009). Language attitudes and heritage language maintenance among Chinese immigrant families in the USA. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 22(2), 77–93. https://doi.org/10.1080/07908310902935940
Zhou, H., & Salili, F. (2008). Intrinsic reading motivation of Chinese preschoolers and its relationships with home literacy. International Journal of Psychology, 43(5), 912–916. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207590701838147
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Li, D., Liew, J. (2023). Parenting Practices and Home Learning Environments that Promote Reading Motivation, Engagement, and Competence in Chinese Immigrant Families: A Cultural and Self-Determination Perspective to Literacy Development in Early Childhood. In: Gonzalez, J.E., Liew, J., Curtis, G.A., Zou, Y. (eds) Family Literacy Practices in Asian and Latinx Families. Critical Cultural Studies of Childhood. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14470-7_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14470-7_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-14469-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-14470-7
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)