Browsing by Subject "Chinese"

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Adolescent academic achievement in Chinese immigrant families : the direct effects of individual and dyadic acculturation processes and the indirect effects of family obligation and academic engagement
(2011-08) Ammon, Natalie Younok 1981-; Kim, Su Yeong
The Asian immigrant population is growing more rapidly than any other group in the U.S. (Social Science Data Analysis Network, 2004), and Chinese Americans represent the largest Asian subgroup (U.S. Census Bureau, 2002). Assuming recent trends continue, the number of first- and second-generation Chinese children will increase dramatically, and their developmental needs will demand special attention. Using structural equation modeling to analyze two waves of data from a study on 444 Chinese families, this project aims to provide a better understanding of the relations between family members’ adaptations to life in the U.S. and adolescents’ academic grade point average (GPA). Chinese children of immigrants have been found to succeed in school (Fuligni, Tseng, & Lam, 1999). However, little is known about the ways in which their academic achievement may be related to acculturation, the process through which an individual or group makes socio-cultural or behavioral adjustments through repeated contact with another group or culture (Gordon, 1964; Berry, 2003). Exploring the variation in acculturative processes among Chinese immigrant family members and identifying how the various acculturative strategies may relate to adolescent academic achievement would bridge a gap in the extant literature. Therefore, the first objective of this study was to assess whether fathers’, mothers’, and adolescents’ individual acculturation to American and Chinese cultures were related to adolescents’ GPA. The second goal was to test for moderation effects in these relations. Interaction terms were created for parents’ acculturation in relation to adolescents’ acculturation to test whether the connections between adolescents’ acculturation to the American and Chinese cultures and adolescents’ GPA were conditional on either fathers’ or mothers’ American or Chinese orientation. Third, this study included two culturally salient factors as mediators of potential relations found between individual and dyadic acculturative processes and adolescents’ academic achievement. These mediators were adolescents’ sense of family obligation and adolescents’ level of behavioral academic engagement. The fourth and final objective was to assess whether there was invariance by adolescent gender in the structural model.
Chinese coolies in Cuba and Peru : race, labor, and immigration, 1839-1886
(2010-08) Narvaez, Benjamin Nicolas; Brown, Jonathan C. (Jonathan Charles), 1942-; Hu-DeHart, Evelyn; Garfield, Seth W.; Gurdiy, Frank A.; Deans-Smith, Susan; Hsu, Madeline Y.
This dissertation examines the experience of the tens of thousands of Chinese indentured laborers (colonos asiáticos or “coolies”) who went to Cuba and Peru as replacements for African slaves during the middle of the nineteenth century. Despite major sociopolitical differences (i.e., colonial slave society vs. independent republic without slavery), this comparative project reveals the common nature in the transition from slavery to free labor. Specifically, the indenture system, how the Chinese reacted to their situation, and how they influenced labor relations mirrored each other in the two societies. I contend that colonos asiáticos, while neither slaves nor free laborers, created a foundation for a shift from slavery to free labor. Elites in both places tried to fit the Chinese into competing projects of liberal “progress” and conservative efforts to stem this change, causing them to imagine these immigrant laborers in contradictory ways (i.e., free vs. slave, white vs. non-white, hard-working vs. lazy, cultured vs. morally corrupt). This ambiguity excused treating Asian laborers as if they were slaves, but it also justified treating them as free people. Moreover, Chinese acts of resistance slowly helped undermine this labor regime. Eventually, international pressure, which never would have reached such heights if the Chinese had remained passive, forced an end to the “coolie” trade and left these two societies with little option but to move even closer to free labor. That said, this work also considers the ways in which the differing socio-political contexts altered the Chinese experience. In particular, in contrast to Peru, Cuba’s status as a colonial slave society made it easier for the island’s elites to justify exploiting these workers and to protect themselves from mass rebellion. My dissertation places the histories of Cuba and Peru into a global perspective. It focuses on the transnational migration of the Chinese, on their social integration into their new Latin American host societies, as well as on the international reaction to the situation of immigrant laborers in Latin America.
The effects of L1 orthographic features and phonological awareness on Chinese speakers learning to read in English
(2010-12) Moody, Joe William; Sardegna, Veronica G.; Schallert, Diane
This report focuses on language transference between alphabetic (English) and logographic, non-alphabetic (Chinese) languages, with respect to the importance of phonemic awareness in literacy acquisition. Within large ESL/EFL classrooms, language learners from all cultures are taught in the same way. Instruction rarely caters for specific problems directly associated with L1 transfer or the learner’s culture. The purpose of this report is not only to gain a better understanding of the differences in literacy acquisition between the two languages (English and Chinese), but also to assess the impact of this difference on Chinese children learning how to read in English. Research is examined that focuses on the role that phonemic awareness plays in the acquisition of English literacy and in the acquisition of Chinese literacy. The relationship between Chinese orthographic features and word recognition processing in English as a second language is explored as well as cross-language transfer of phonological awareness and its effect on English literacy acquisition. Pedagogical implications are also discussed on how to apply these findings to the classroom for instructors of English as a second language.
Evaluating Changes in Chinese International Adoption: How China’s Adoption Policies Shaped Adoptive Parent Experiences
(2021-05) Sparkman, Emily; Lin, Ken-Hou
The year 2021 marks the thirtieth anniversary of the international arrangement that allowed American citizens to adopt children from China. The Chinese government’s decision to implement transnational adoption policies paved the way for thousands of orphaned children to be adopted into new families worldwide. These children became available for adoption following the implementation of China’s One Child Policy effort to control the rapidly growing population in the early 1980s (Andrew 123). Parents will endure months to years of waiting before they have the chance to bring their new child into their family. Although tedious, the Chinese government’s terms of adoption are attractive because they are highly standardized, predictable, and clear. Current adoption statistics report a total of 82,456 adoptions from China into the U.S. between the fiscal years of 1999-2019. However, the annual number of U.S. adoptions from China peaked at 7,903 in the year 2005 and has sharply declined since (US Department of State). This thesis seeks to understand how the major policies affecting Chinese international adoption have shaped adoption experiences for American adoptive parents of Chinese children. Namely, I examine the One Child Policy (1979), the Two-Child Policy (2015), the Foreign NGO Law (2017), and various Chinese government restrictions to adoption eligibility. The study uniquely centers on the voices of 15 American adoptive parents with children from China through a series of interviews aiming to understand their personal experiences with the Chinese International Adoption process. More specifically, I have gathered participants who’ve adopted in years ranging from 1997 through 2017 and compared their adoption processes, changes in feelings associated with Chinese adoption, and experiences as American parents raising Chinese children. It is important to study individual adoptive parent narratives because the aforementioned policies impact each family differently.
Fangyan-speaking learners of Mandarin Chinese in U.S. universities : experiences of students with heritage backgrounds in Chinese languages other than Mandarin
(2010-08) Hsiao, Jennifer Ching-hui; Horwitz, Elaine Kolker, 1950-; Schallert, Diane L.; Kelm, Orlando R.; Maloch, Anna E.; Teng, Wen-Hua
With the rising importance of Mandarin Chinese since the 80s, researchers have paid more attention to the Mandarin learners of heritage backgrounds who can understand or speak Mandarin Chinese before entering Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL) programs. However, the study of Fangyan-speaking learners of Mandarin Chinese has been long neglected and still remains scarce. This interview study was conducted with twelve Fangyan-speaking learners of Mandarin in U.S. universities with an aim of investigating the linguistic knowledge and ethno-cultural identities that Fangyan-speaking students bring to college-level CFL classrooms. Another focus of this study is to investigate the perception Fangyan-speaking students have about their linguistic abilities and what Fangyan-speaking students are perceived to be the expectations of their instructors and peers. This study was conducted in two CFL programs: a long-established dual-track program in a research university and a newly-established mixed track program in a teaching university. Both Fangyan-speaking students and their instructors were recruited for interviews and document data were collected from both students and their instructors. A modification of Krashen’s Input Hypothesis (1981) was employed in categorizing four types of Mandarin input, in which Cantonese pronunciation for reading purposes and media consumption were found to play important roles in Fangyan-speaking students’ Mandarin learning. Analysis of the data also revealed that Fangyan-speaking participants’ ethno-cultural identities may exhibit a nature of “hybridity” (Young, 1995) owing to their family immigration histories. Implications derived from the findings are offered for researchers, practitioners, and administrators of programs that serve tertiary CFL learners.
Fraud asylees from China
(2012-05) Yuan, Zhongyu; Todd, Russell; Jensen, Robert
Immigration issues have been put on the center of the discussion table for years. Mentioning the term, the first thing coming into one’s mind maybe Mexican or Latino citizens secretly hide inside a cargo ship and risk their lives to cross the border. But the new Chinese immigrants’ inflow creates no less influence. They do not bring drugs but take brutal labor jobs, they do not come with families but live more compactly with groups, they do not keep unnoticed but will actively show up in churches and can get green card with much ease. The externalization of Chinese migrant worker trend deserves more social and economic attention. In this master’s report, I will unravel the puzzles of the Chinese immigration wave, focusing on their pursuit of asylum fraud. In 2011, more than 32 percent of the total 21,012 asylum approvals are granted to Chinese nationals. In east Los Angeles area, where undocumented Chinese conglomerate, low-end factories and shops, churchs, and law offices form up a complete immigration chain service. V The two main characters, Ai Peng and Guo Yinghua, represent the two universal approaches among the Chinese community: asylum through reasons of religion and birth control. Through interviews with professionals and scholars and existing materials, I am intending to depict the real lives of asylees, evaluate impact of the immigration wave, and raises legal and executive questions for improvement.
From public bathhouse to smartphone apps, has the destiny of Chinese gay men really changed during the past 50 years?
(2013-05) Jiang, Liefu; Todd, Russell
Because of the pressure from the traditional value, the suppression by the authorities and the misleading propaganda for spreading AIDS, Chinese gay community has gone through more severe misery and discrimination than their western peers during past 50 years. Although a more tolerant social attitude towards homosexuality is slowly taking shape in this country, most Chinese gay men still have to keep their sexual orientation in dark and would not publicly interact with other gay men. The four main characters in this story -- Nian, Sa, Cui Zi-en and Xiao -- represent gay men of four different generations, born in 1990s, 1980s, 1960s and 1930s, respectively. Their personal experiences of cruising in public restrooms and bathhouses, gay bars and clubs, on the Internet and through smartphone apps demonstrate the evolution of methods for social intercourse in Chinese gay community during the past 50 years. Although the new technologies enable Chinese gay men to enjoy more freedom than ever before, there is still a long way to go before real equality and tolerance could ever be achieved.
The LIBERATOR Archive, December 2018
(University of Texas at Austin, 2018-12) University of Texas at Austin
Merging Tutoring and Editing in a Chinese Graduate Writing Center
(2018) Kyle, Barbara Rau
Graduate students often find a mismatch between their needs and the services offered at university writing centers, a problem that has recently gained considerable attention from graduate writers and their advocates. Second language scholars have long challenged and modified writing center pedagogy to better serve non-native speakers of English (NNS), and similarly, the demand for more specific graduate writing support has resulted in various alternatives. Separate graduate writing centers are better able to accommodate the length and technical nature of graduate writing, and separate editing services meet the students’ need to begin publishing their papers. When the students are graduate multilingual writers (GMLW), that is, both graduate and NNS, graduate needs are compounded by second language issues. The graduate writing center faces challenges that may entail two of the greatest divergences from accepted practice: relocating the balance of attention to process and product, and the resultant redefinition of the role of writing tutors to that of combined tutor-editors. This paper addresses those reconceptualizations, and applies them toward balancing pedagogical values with situated needs at the nascent Tongji University Writing Center. This small Englishlanguage graduate writing center at a Chinese university is being built upon a loosely connected writing support system for the university’s Department of Traffic Engineering, in which outside editors have been assisting the department’s GMLW in publishing in English-language international journals. The globalization of research and concern for equal access to publishing suggest our situation is not isolated.
The Third Space in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language: A Reconceptualization of the Conventional Pedagogical Approach
(2019-12) Cockrum, Paul David; Lai, Chiu-Mi
Learning a foreign language is a required part of most high school and collegiate curriculums, so most people have experienced learning a foreign language at some point in their lives. Additionally, with the rapid rate of globalization, traveling to a Chinese-speaking country has become more common in the 21st Century. Accordingly, the educational literature is rife with discussions of how best to teach language, and since the 1980’s, how culture should be taught in the language classroom. However, engaging with this discourse on the importance of culture in language instruction, this thesis argues that creating a third space approach establishes effective principles for achieving holistic learning outcomes. The third space represents a continuum between that of the student’s own base culture and that of the target culture, emphasizing that bridging two authentic reproductions carries critical pedagogical value. The learning outcome of a third space classroom is quotidian communicative competence, mirroring that of the immersion approach, but with an added focus on metalinguistic cultural awareness. The third space classroom places emphasis on advancing students in both linguistic and cultural knowledge while taking the background of the student into consideration. The objective of the thesis is not to overhaul the conventional Chinese language classroom curriculum. Rather, this thesis argues for the embedding of the third space in existing curricula and thus presents a reconceptualization of the mainstream pedagogical approach in the US. The third space pedagogical approach aims to address the exclusion of cultural topics within the language classroom and argues that language and culture-based instruction can be successfully integrated from the beginning of a student’s exposure to the language and should not be treated as advanced level material. In the third space pedagogical approach, the student is encouraged to learn the language as it relates to their lives, not through the roles of artificial characters created for a textbook. This approach complements conventional textbooks that provide necessary grammatical instruction and vocabulary lists. However, the principles of the third space still allows for flexibility and adaptation on the part of the instructor to personalize the language materials. The purpose of the third space approach is not to reinvent the wheel in Chinese language education, but instead to serve as a reconceptualized approach to achieving the same linguistic learning outcomes. In other words, third space pedagogical principles are embedded in the curricular approach to teaching language and not a fundamental shift away from language to culture.