T1 112008141 Full text
PARENTS’ ROLES TOWARD THEIR BILINGUAL
KINDERGARTEN CHILDREN’S LANGUAGE LEARNING: A
CASE STUDY
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Dewi Indrawati
112008141
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
SALATIGA
2013
PARENTS’ ROLES TOWARD THEIR BILINGUAL
KINDERGARTEN CHILDREN’S LANGUAGE LEARNING: A
CASE STUDY
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Dewi Indrawati
112008141
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
SALATIGA
2013
i
PARENTS’ ROLES TOWARD THEIR BILINGUAL
KINDERGARTEN CHILDREN’S LANGUAGE LEARNING: A
CASE STUDY
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Dewi Indrawati
112008141
Approved by:
ii
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT
This thesis contains no such material as has been submitted for examination in any
course or accepted for the fulfillment of any degree or diploma in any university. To
the best of my knowledge and my belief, this contains no material previously
published or written by any other person except where due reference is made in the
text.
Copyright@ 2013. Dewi Indrawati and Hendro Setiawan Husada, M.A.
All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced by any means without the
permission of at least one of the copyright owners or the English Department, Faculty
of Language and Literature, Satya Wacana University, Salatiga.
Dewi Indrawati:
iii
PUBLICATION AGREEMENT DECLARATION
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community, I verify that:
Name
: Dewi Indrawati
Student ID Number : 1120088141
Study Program
: English Language Teaching
Faculty
: Faculty of Language and Literature
Kind of Work
: Undergraduate Thesis
In developing my knowledge, I agree to provide SWCU with a non-exclusive royalty
free right for my intellectual property and the contents therein entitled:
Parents’ Roles toward Their Bilingual Kindergarten Children’s Language Learning: A
Case Study
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Made in
Date
iv
: Salatiga
: Februari 7, 2013
TABLE OF CONTENTS
COVER............................................................................................................................ i
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT ........................................................................................ii
PUBLICATION AGREEMENT DECLARATION ..................................................... iv
TABLE OF CONTENT ................................................................................................. v
ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... 1
INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 1
THE STUDY .................................................................................................................. 9
Context of the Study ................................................................................................... 9
Participants................................................................................................................ 10
Instruments of Data Collection ................................................................................ 10
Data Analysis ............................................................................................................ 12
RESULT AND DISCUSSION ..................................................................................... 13
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................ 23
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................................ 26
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................. 27
APPENDICES .............................................................................................................. 30
v
PARENTS’ ROLES TOWARD THEIR BILINGUAL KINDERGARTEN
CHILDREN’S LANGUAGE LEARNING: A CASE STUDY
Dewi Indrawati
ABSTRACT
This study examined parents‟ involvements in their bilingual kindergarten
children‟s English learning at home. The participants of this study were two
mothers and children of two families. The children were enrolled in a bilingual
(English – Indonesian) kindergarten, and both mothers were multilingual
speakers. A semi-structured interview and observations were conducted to
collect the data. The mothers and children were interviewed separately, using
different sets of questions but aimed for the same purpose. The results of this
study indicated that in general both mothers played their roles as children‟s
first teacher, partner, motivator and facilitator, but in different frequency and
consistency. However, the mother in the first family played her role as the first
teacher and a motivator more actively than the mother in the second family did.
Keywords: Parents‟ role, Indonesian-English Bilingual Kindergarten, English
learning
INTRODUCTION
In order to elevate standards of education generally through the schools‟
development of „international standard‟, Indonesia started the bilingual school
program in 2004 (Bax, 2010). Hamers and Blanc (2000) defines Bilingual School or
Education as any system of education in which, at a given point in time and for
varying length of time, simultaneously or consecutively, instruction is given in two
languages. Therefore, bilingual program, which in Indonesia known as RSBI or
Rintisan Sekolah Bertaraf Internasional (International Standard Pilot-Project
Schools), for some people are considered as a new and better program than non-RSBI
schools. This condition strung out bilingual program in some education institutions,
1
since nowadays many daycares, pre-schools or kindergartens offer bilingual (EnglishIndonesian) program.
A study of parents‟ attitudes toward bilingual study in New Mexico that was
conducted by Parkes (2008) as cited in Pugliese (2010), found that since bilingual
education was widespread social, cognitive, academic, and economic advantages, it
had successfully made parents feel attracted to it. Added to Parkes, Lee (2009) states
that most parents believe that sending their children to bilingual schools could grant
their children in communicative development. Furthermore, previous studies by Liu &
Chien (1998), Lao (2004), Oladejo (2006) in Shang, Ingebritson, & Tseng (2007) had
investigated three major reasons why Taiwanese parents sent their children to a
bilingual kindergarten. The first, parents hoped that early exposure to English could
enhance children‟s skills in this language for academic achievements or better career
opportunities. The second reason was Taiwanese parents would like their children to
start formal English learning even before the official commencement age. And the
last, parents would like to see their children began learning English as early as
kindergarten, as opposed to the current provision of third grade level. In my opinion,
the condition in Indonesia is almost the same with in Taiwan, where English is being
introduced and taught at school as the second language. Hence, many Indonesian
parents might have the same consideration in sending their children to bilingual
schools, especially bilingual kindergatens. Furthermore, Cotton & Wikelund (1989)
also suggested that the earlier in a child's educational process their parents‟
involvements began, the more powerful the effects would be.
This is also supported by Lenneberg‟s (1967) in Ellis (1997) theory of CPH
(Critical Period Hypothesis) which states that there is a period when language
acquisition takes place naturally and effortlessly. Kindergarten schooled children
2
(about 4 to 6 years old) are included in this golden period of language learning,
because their brain still retain plasticity. For these reasons, parents have to support and
make use of this critical period. One ways to do that is by enrolling their children to
bilingual schools, since bilingual school can help facilitating children to acquire
second language. Besides parents could also actively involved in their children‟s
learning process. However, although young learners are in the golden period of
language learning, they still need adults, or in this case parents as their closest
relatives, to guide them in learning a language. In line with that, a thorough study
about children language development by Hart & Risley (1995) in Barton & Coley
(2007) found that children mimic their parents in vocabulary, language and interaction
styles. Furthermore, Wu (2005 p.2389) also points out that “when children have close
relation with their parents, they see parents as their language model. They see what
language their parents use and make decisions about their use of language based on
what they perceive”. Besides, parents‟ code-switch to English almost always lead to
the child using English (Pan, 1995 in Wu, 2005). Therefore, young learners do need
their parents to actively involved in their learning process, because children need role
models and encouragement in using English as their second language. In addition,
according to Dimock, O‟Donoghue, and Robb (1996) in Berthelsen & Walker (2008)
deciding where children will study is also included as one of parents‟ involvement.
Hence, since English is a new language for children, they require a lot of information
to learn new things, such as new words, name of things, and grammatical forms, from
elder (parents or teachers).
Parental involvement can be defined as parental participation in the
educational processes and experiences of their children (Jeynes, 2005 in Hornby,
2011). Besides, Burden and Byrd (1999, p. 162) define parents‟ roles as “function that
3
parents play to motivate, stimulate, encourage, and develop children‟s thinking ideas.”
Specifically, according to Kalia & Reese (2009), parental involvement refers to time
parents spend engaging with their children in literacy-related activities, such as
reading books together and teaching print skills.
The idea in optimizing parents‟ involvement in their children‟s education is
also supported by other research findings, which revealed the existence of a positive
relationship in parental involvements, which may vary by factors such as students‟
grade level, socioeconomic and race/ethnic background, and children‟s achievements
(Epstein, 1992 in Barton & Coley, ibid.; Henderson & Mapp, 2002). Moreover,
parents‟ role has long been thought to be centrally important to their children‟s
academic achievement (Nye, Schwartz, & Turner, 2003). This study implicitly
reported that parents should involve actively in order to fulfill their children‟s needs in
language learning. Furthermore, some previous research findings supported the
significant result that parental involvement in the form of „at-home good parenting‟
had a significant positive effect on children‟s achievements (Edmonds, 1979 &
Walberg, 1984 in Yap & Enoki, 1995; Abouchaar & Desforges, 2003). These research
findings clearly showed how important parental involvements for children at home. In
addition, home-based learning not only enhances children‟s learning but also
reinforces, support and strengthen learning that has been introduced and shared at
school (Trahan & Lawler-Prince, 1999 in Fuller & Olsen, 2008). Furthermore,
parental involvement especially in their children‟s education is indispensable, so it is
important for parents to optimize their roles in their children‟s education. Vassalo
(2000) also states that parental involvement, which is the key to educational exellence,
is so critical to children‟s future.
4
Epstein, et.al (2000) in Hepburn (2004) divides parental involvements into six
types. Since all of parents‟ efforts to help their children‟s learning process might
influence children‟s achievements, these involvements are also applicable to
children‟s language learning process, The six types of parental involvements are:
1. Parenting; where parents assist their families with parenting skills and
set home conditions to support children as the students, as well as, assist schools
to understand families.
2. Communicating;
where
parents
should
conduct
effective
communication from school-to-home, and vice versa about school programs and
development.
3. Volunteering, where parents organizing volunteers and audience to
support the school and students.
4. Learning at home, it means to involve families with their children on
homework and other curriculum-related to the activities and decisions.
5. Decision-making; where parents should involve actively in the process
of making school decisions and developing parent leaders and representatives.
6. Collaborating with the community, where parents can coordinate
resources and services from the community for families, students, and the school,
and providing services to the community.
Furthermore, the first and fourth types focus on parent‟s cognitive or
intellectual involvement which means behaviors that promote children‟s skill
development and knowledge, which include children‟s language learning process
(Wendy and colleagues, 1997 in Hartantyo, 2005). According to type 1 and 4, parents‟
roles can be divided into four:
Parents as First Teachers
5
The importance of parents toward their children education is strongly
supported by some researchers (Berger, 1987; Whitehead, 2002; Fuller & Olsen,
2008) who believe that parents are their children‟s first and the most influential
educators. This is true, since the mother‟s and the children‟s relation begins even
before birth.
Parents are also the ones who provide continuity as the child grows up. Since
the children live with their family, home can be one aspect that must be recognized as
a significant learning environment in the children‟s life. Furthermore, in line with this
idea, Pfannenstiel & Zigler (2007) states that education begins at home and parents are
their children‟s first and most influential teachers.
In order to do this, parents should provide a home environment that can
encourage and set an example in order to attract their children to commit in learning.
Weinberger (1996) also echoes the same idea that the way parents behave as
„teachers‟ and how they interact with their children on literacy practices and events is
one roles that parents can do in supporting their children‟s literacy learning.
Parents as Partners
Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler (1997) discusses three major factors of parental
involvement in the education of their children. One of them is parents‟ beliefs about
what is important, necessary and permeable for them to do with and on behalf of their
children. Once parents are empowered to assume the full measure of their
responsibility to support their children‟s education, they will become partners with the
educators in creating and maintaining the schools their children need.
Besides, parents also can interact with their children on literacy practices and
events informally, without necessarily conscious thinking about the literacy teaching
involved (Weinberger, 1996), for example by discussing about child‟s school
6
experiences or academic masters. In addition, parents can also accompany their
children when they are doing their homework or learning English, so children will feel
comfortable and supported by their parents. By doing so, parents have become
children‟s partners who assist and support the children (Einon, 1999).
Parents as Motivators
According to Dornyei (2001), motivation is probably the most frequently used
term for explaining the success or failure of almost any complex tasks and it is a key
to better performance. In order to gain better achievement and to reach the success in
language learning, young learners need some motivation, especially from their
parents.
Goss and Bernstein (1991) suggest some forms of motivation that can be used
by parents to influence children‟s achievement. For example, parents may encourage
their children to attempt difficult tasks in learning particular subjects, by offering
praise and other rewards for the success that they make later on or they could
encourage their children to find ways to succeed instead of complaining their failure
and punishing them. In addition, parents tend to give extrinsic motivation (such as
toys, money, candy and excessive praise) instead of intrinsic motivation (National
Association of School Psychologists, 1993 in Soedarmo, 2011). Besides, as motivator,
parents may also act as a literacy model by reading a newspaper or writing a shopping
list, so children will be encouraged to imitate what they do (Weinberger, 1996).
Parents as Facilitators
Psychologists believe that social environmental experiences result in a
tremendous influence on the young learners‟ development (Souto-Maning, 2010).
Therefore, in order to accommodate supportive social environment, parents can
facilitate young learners‟ learning process in three ways.
7
The first facility is home environment. Home is the center of learning beside
schools. Since the most of parents contact with their children is at home environment,
as supported by Clark (1990) in Michigan Department of Education (2003), who
showed that school age children spent 70% of their waking hours (including weekends
and holidays) outside of school, which was at their home or with their family. Home
provides opportunity for both parents and children to spend time and do relaxed
learning activities. Weinberger (1996) suggests that how parents resourced literacy in
the home is also important for children‟s language development.
The second facility is by providing books. To varying extents, parents can
provide resources and opportunities for their children‟s literacy by supplying books,
going on a shopping expedition, involving some reading and writing (.ibid). Reading
to child is very beneficial for language learning process, because by listening to
stories, children learn about written syntax and vocabulary and develop phonological
awareness and concepts of print, all of which are closely linked to learning how to
read and write (National Early Literacy Panel, 2008 in Gillanders & Castro, 2011).
For young dual language learners, pictures storybook can help them in
understanding the new words and the stories. Pictures and illustration will encourage
children to make comments, predict events, and ask questions about the story and
illustrations during reading (Crosser, 2007).
Furthermore, parents can contribute to their children success at school by
facilitating media. As stated by Suhartatik (2008), the main role of the media is as a
tool to arouse students‟ motivation in learning English. Media that can be provided by
parents are video media (e.g. movies, video clip, and animation), audio media (e.g.
music, song, rhymes) and computer.
8
Since the previous studies more concern in primary education (Suliestyorini,
2009; Hartantyo, 2005) and high school education (Soedarmo, 2011), this study would
investigate how parents involved in the bilingual kindergarten students‟ learning
process, especially in learning English as children‟s second language. Besides, in my
opinion, parents who enrolled their children to bilingual school had to support their
children‟s learning development by actively involved in their children‟s learning
process, since their children had to deal with more than one language acquisitions.
Thus, this study would analyze deeper on what kind of contributions that parents
could give to their children in learning English. However, parents in this study were
mothers, who considered as the first as well as the best teacher and have more
responsibility in children‟s learning process (Freiburger, 2010). In addition, Luo &
Wiseman (2000) in Wu (.ibid) found out that parents, especially mothers, served as
important language model for shaping children‟s language behavior when they had
good family relation (p. 320). Hence, the research question that would be answered is
“What are parents‟ involvements in their bilingual school children‟s English learning
at home?”
THE STUDY
Context of the Study
This study was conducted in participants‟ houses, which were located in
Salatiga, Central Java, Indonesia. Since I focused on parents‟ involvements at home,
so it was important for me to observe directly from their houses. The language that
was being used in these families was Indonesian. However, since their children were
studying in a bilingual kindergarten, sometimes parents also spoke in English with
them.
9
Participants
The participants of this study were two mothers and children of two families.
Both families were from Salatiga, Central Java. In this research, I took both mothers
as the participants because in those families the one who had bigger responsibility in
the children‟s learning were mothers.
The first mother was a 33-year-old Indonesian woman. She graduated from the
English Department, Faculty of Language and Literature, Satya Wacana Christian
University, Salatiga. She was working as an English teacher. Although she worked,
she still had time for picking up her son from the school, and spent most of her time at
home. She was a multilingual speaker who spoke Indonesian, Javanese, and English.
The second mother was a 33-year-old Indonesian woman. She graduated from
the English Department, Faculty of Language and Literature, Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu
Agama Islam, Salatiga. She was working as a housewife, hence she spent most of her
time at home with her child. She was a multilingual speaker who spoke Indonesian,
Javanese, and English.
The first child was a 5-year-old Indonesian boy. He was studying in a bilingual
kindergarten in Salatiga. He started to learn English in pre-school (about 3 years old).
He was the one and only child in his family. The second child was a 5-year-old
Indonesian girl. She was also studying in the same bilingual kindergarten with the first
child. She started to learn English from 3 years old, also in the same pre-school with
the first child. She was the second child in the family.
Instruments of Data Collection
In collecting the data, the instruments used were interviews and observations.
In regard to the interview a semi structured interview was used in order to provide
individual diversity and flexibility, and it also allowed the researcher to compare
10
responses across participants (Patton, 1990 in Zacharias, 2011). The interview
questions were adapted from Ratih‟s study (2010) and redesigned based on the
theoretical framework to answer what parents‟ involvements in their bilingual school
children‟s English learning. I interviewed both mothers and their children separately
and used different sets of questions. There were 14 open-ended questions that I asked
to the participants (mothers), and the focus of the questions was related to the parents‟
involvements in their children‟s learning at home. Questions number 1-3 were
designed to answer parents‟ role as the first teacher (e.g. when do you usually
communicate to your son/daughter in English?), questions number 4-5 were designed
to answer parents role as children‟s partners (e.g. what do you usually do when your
son/daughter is doing his/her English homework?), questions number 6-11 were
designed to answer parents role as the motivator (e.g. how will you react when your
child got an A or a star for his/her English homework?), and questions number 12-14
were designed to answer parents role as the facilitator (e.g. what is your opinion
toward learning English through book, song, movie, or other media?) .
For the children, I asked different questions but aimed for the same purpose,
i.e. to find out parents‟ involvement from the children‟s perspective. Since the
interview was semi-structured, I also asked unprepared questions when I got
difficulties in getting information from them. During the interview, mothers would
leave the children alone so it would create convenient atmosphere for the children.
The interviews were conducted two times in each family (once for the mother,
once for the child), and the interviews were done before the observations. Each
interview lasted from 7 to 9 minutes. These interviews were audio-taped and
conducted in Indonesian to ensure the clarity and avoid misinterpretation. Later, the
11
interview results were transcribed manually for the analysis of this study and as the
guidelines in conducting the observation.
The second instrument was observation. According to Zacharias (2011), the
purpose of observation is to provide rich and thick description of what happens in a
field research. Besides, the observations were also conducted in order to validate the
results of the interviews as well as obtain further information on the roles of parents in
their children‟s English learning process that could not be collected by the interviews.
The observations were carried out to both families using data saturation, i.e. I did the
observation continuously to the point at which no new data emerge (Parahoo, 1997).
In the first and second family, the observations were carried out for 5 times.
In the observations, I observed the activities between parents-children and
wrote down all the activities which were related to parents‟ roles (As the first teacher,
partner, motivator and facilitator). I did the observation during the studying time, from
4.30 to 6 p.m. for the first family, and 6.30 to 8.00 p.m. for the second family.
Sometimes, I also observed when the family were gathering at home in the evening or
on the weekend. In order to ease the analysis, from the recorded data, I categorized the
activities based on the kind of parents‟ roles.
Data Analysis
After the data had been collected, the interview data were all transcribed
verbatim. Then, the transcription data were analyzed for the occurrence of parents‟
roles in their children‟ learning process. In order to find out what parents do in
supporting their bilingual kindergarten children learning process, I re-read the
transcripts for several times and tried to find parents‟ statements about their
involvements in their children‟ learning process.
12
Then, the observation data, which were collected through field notes, were
used as complementary data to give the narrative explanation to the parents‟ roles in
their children learning process at home. Finally, based in the interview transcription
and field notes, I categorized the roles of parents based on Epstein‟ (2002) four
parents‟ roles as the first teacher, partner, motivator and facilitator.
RESULT AND DISCUSSION
The research question asked the parents‟ roles toward their kindergarten
children language learning. From the interviews and observations data, I found that
parents in the first family and the second family played the same role as the children‟s
first teacher, partner, motivator and facilitator.
The result of this study corresponded to what had been suggested by Epstein
(2002) as cited in Suliestyorini (2009) & Soedarmo (2011) that as the first teacher,
parents became the first models and teachers at home by behaving as children‟s
teacher, helping their children in learning English, accustoming the children to
communicating in English, and helping the children to have speaking English practice.
In regards to parents‟ roles as the first teacher, during my observations in the
first family I found that the first mother helped her son in learning English by using
English in their daily life. During the observations, the first mother often made the
children to communicate in English. She often gave simple instructions (e.g. “Do your
homework!”), asked questions (e.g. “Which one do you want, milk or tea?”) or
produced sentences in English (e.g. “We will go to Uti’s house.”). For example, in one
occasion, she asked her child to pray before eating by saying, “Pray first before you
eat, dear.” The child agreed and then prayed. Usually, after school she asked in
English whether or not he had a homework. If he did not answer in English or
answered it incorrectly, she would act as a teacher who encourages her student to try
13
to answer in English or to correct the mistakes. When I asked the reason why she
insisted in using English, in the interview she said:
I want him to be fluent in speaking English, although it is only in
the form of a simple instruction or sentence.
The first mother‟s decision to use English to communicate with her son was in line
with the idea that parent‟s code-switching to English almost always leads the child to
use English (Pan, 1995 in Wu, 2005). Besides, by doing so, she also had provided a
home environment that encouraged her children to have commitment in learning
English, which was one responsibility that parents should do as their children‟s first
teacher (American Teacher Association, 2009).
Meanwhile, in the second family I found that the second mother played her
role as the first teacher in a different form, frequency and consistency compared to the
mother from the first family. From the interview, I found that she would communicate
in English to her daughter when they were gathering with foreigners. In this situation,
when her daughter made a mistake or got difficulties, she would help her and asked
her to speak in English. She would also correct her daughter‟s mistake and asked her
to repeat the correct one. What she had done was in line with what Weinberger (1996)
suggests that the way parents behave as a „teacher‟ is one role that parents can do in
supporting their children‟s literacy learning.
However, she did not force her daughter to speak English regularly at home.
She even rarely asked some questions to her daughter in English. During my
observations at home, she only communicated in English after her daughter returned
from school, during studying hours and sometimes when watching television. For
example, when they were watching cartoon on TV, she asked her daughter, “What is
that?” while pointing at the TV or “What’s the color of Dora’s bag?”. Sometimes,
her daughter will answer in English, and sometimes in Indonesia. However, when her
14
daughter answered in Indonesia, she did not force her to repeat it in English. Thus,
mother in the second family performed different attitudes in those two situations
illustrated her inconsistency as the children‟s first teacher.
Based in the interview and observations both mothers showed their roles as the
first teacher in different ways, frequency and consistency. The first mother did her role
as the first teacher more dominantly by constantly using English to communicate with
her son, on the other hand, this condition was rarely found in the second family. In the
second family, the mother seemed to focus on her role as her daughter‟s teacher by
helping her when she got difficulties and giving examples for her daughter to repeat,
but she did not do it regularly. Besides, her frequency and intensity in using English to
communicate to her daughter was also less than that of the first mother. This condition
might be caused by different purposes in teaching English to the children. The first
mother wanted her son to be fluent in speaking English, so she insisted to in using
English whenever it was possible. Meanwhile, in the interview, the mother in the
second family had explained that she wanted her daughter to learn English as naturally
as possible, so she did not want to push or force her to speak English.
Regarding to parents‟ role as children‟s partner, there were several ways that
parents could do, such as accompanying or supervising children when they were
studying at home, helping them if they found difficulties in doing their homework, and
assisting them in memorizing vocabularies. The results from the interviews and
observations showed that the first mother and the second mother played their role as
their children‟s partner in their daily life, commonly by helping and accompanying
their children when they were studying or doing their homework. In the first family,
the mother always checked her son‟s communication book from school to check
whether or not he had the homework or what her son had done at school. If he had the
15
homework, she would ask him to do it. Usually, she would sit next to him and monitor
him. If there was no homework, she would check what his son had learnt on that day,
and then used it as the material for studying. Just like in my first observation, there
was no homework from school and her son had learnt a short story about animal life
and mathematics. Then, she asked him to retell the story and checked her son‟s
understanding in mathematics.
I prefer to accompany my son‟s when he is doing his homework.
You know, he is a boy, so his mood is up and down. Therefore, I
often accompany him and help him.
This finding was in line with what Einon (1999) suggested that by accompanying their
children when they are doing their homework or learning English, parents have
become children‟s partners who assist and support them.
Almost similar to the first family, the mother in the second family also often
accompanied her daughter when she was doing her homework, but it was not as
intensively as the first mother was because the second mother had to divide her
attention between her son and her daughter. However, when her daughter found
difficulties and asked her, she always helped her and explained to her until she
understood. Her daughter also inform me in the interview that whenever she found
difficulties, she usually asked for her mother‟s help.
Interestingly, almost similar to the child in the first family, the child in the
second family was also moody. Although the child in the second family was a girl, her
mood was also up and down, as a result this condition influenced her studying time.
I prioritize my daughter‟s readiness in studying, so her studying
time is flexible. Although the prime time is in the evening, it is
possible for her to study after school, in the afternoon, even
before she goes to bed.
Since according to Skehan (1989) in Varela, et.al (2010) gender is one of young
learners‟ characteristic that can influence young learners‟ language acquisition, I
16
assume that girls are less outgoing than boys are, and girls can perform better in
studying. However, from the observations I found that child in the second family was
also outgoing. In the fourth observation, the second child wanted to do her homework
while watching TV. Since her mother had committed that her daughter‟s readiness in
studying was the most important aspect in her learning process, she did not prohibit
her, and kept helping as well as monitoring her although her daughter only focused on
her homework during the commercial breaks.
The findings of the current study was consistent with those of Soelistyorini
(2009), Ratih K.W. (2010) and Soedarmo (2011) who also found that regarding to the
parents‟ role as partners, accompanying or monitoring their children when they were
studying was the most dominant activity that parents did. However, although the first
and the second parents had a different style in helping their children, as long as they
kept assisting their children during the studying time, they had showed their role as
children‟s partners. Besides, they were also helping their children when they got
difficulties in doing their English homework. From the interview with the children
about what they did when they got difficulties on their homework, both of them told
me that they usually asked their mother, and their mother would help them. However,
during my observations or interview, I did not see any activities about memorizing the
vocabularies in both families.
Regarding the parents‟ role as motivators, there are several ways that parents
can do, such as offering praise and other rewards for the success that children make,
encouraging their children to find ways to succeed, and acting as a literacy model
whom children will be encouraged to imitate what parents do. The overall responses
to the questions related to parents‟ roles as motivator were very positive. From the
observations in both families, I found that mothers tended to give intrinsic motivation
17
(praise the children) rather than extrinsic motivation. The finding was in contrast with
what National Association of School Psychologist (1993) in Soedarmo (2011) had
suggested that parents tended to give extrinsic motivation (such as toys, money, candy
and excessive praise) instead of intrinsic motivation. In one of my observation in the
first family, when the first child showed to her mother that he got a star for his
homework, his mother praised and kissed him. Then, he asked her mother for another
reward, he wanted to play a computer game. Then she allowed him to play it, but at a
limited duration. Additionally, mother in the second family also preferred to give
intrinsic and extrinsic motivation when her daughter got a star for her assignments.
I congratulate her, and then I thank her, so that she will keep
doing that. Sometimes I also buy her a gift, but it is for
something accumulative, for example, when she can maintain
her achievements and got stars for all of her homework.
Interestingly, in my observation I found what mother in the second family said was
work well. In my fourth observation, the second child got an „Excellent‟ for her
assignment. When her mother saw it, she cheered and said, “You’re great!” and gave
two thumbs up for her daughter. The finding was in line with what Dornyei (2001) has
suggested that children do need parents‟ appreciation and motivation to encourage
them during their learning process. Besides, what both mothers had done according to
Goss and Bernstein‟s (1991) motivation forms, was essential to influence children‟s
achievement.
Besides praising or buying the children some gifts, as a motivator parents may
also act as a literacy model by reading a newspaper or writing a shopping list, so
children will be encouraged to imitate what they do (Weinberger, 1996). However,
both in the first family and in second family the conditions were different. Although
both mothers admitted that they enjoyed reading very much, but their children was not
interested in reading. During my observations, I rarely saw the children read English
18
book, except when they were doing their homework. However, mother in the first
family realized that reading in early age was important.
Yeah, I think reading is very important. However, my son‟s
environment does not support it because in his kindergarten
focuses more on how to speak and communicate in English
rather than reading.
From this, it could be concluded that children‟s interest in reading was not only
affected by parents‟ attitude as their literacy models but also school policy.
In contrast, a previous study on parents‟ roles toward elementary school
students‟ English learning by Ratih (2010) revealed that parent‟s role as a motivator
was the least role that parents did to enhance their children‟s English learning. It
might be because of the different participants‟ English proficiency level. For that
reason, parents‟ English proficiency level might influence their role as children‟s
motivator.
Parents can also play their role as facilitator at home by resourcing literacy at
home, for example by providing conducive room for studying and suitable books for
their children, reading to children, enrolling their children to an English course, and
facilitating media such as television, computer or laptop, video, song, and other media
that can support children‟s English learning process.
The results of the observations showed that mother in the first family were
more concerned with creating a comfortable home environment for her son‟s study.
During studying time, I found that she always turned off the TV and computer, and
then asked the other family members to not switch it on until her son finished
studying. The room that was used to study was clean, had good lighting, and there was
a small whiteboard hanging with colorful markers. The facilities that had been
successfully provided by the first mother made her son enjoy studying at home.
19
Yes, I do like it (studying at home). Because, it is easier than
studying at school. Besides, I enjoy it.
During my observations, I found that the first mother really made used of the small
whiteboard and the colorful markers during the studying time. She created relax
atmosphere by doing his son‟s homework using games. It was like a TV quiz, she
asked the questions from his homework, counted down from ten to one, and during the
ten seconds he had to find the answer and wrote it down on the whiteboard. After all
the questions were answered, he rewrote them on his book. In another observation, she
taught subtraction in English to him by drawing some objects like marbles, apples, and
oranges. By doing so, she had provided an opportunity for both parents and children to
spend time and do relaxing learning activities (Clark, 1990 in Michigan Department of
Education, 2003).
Meanwhile, the mother in the second family also facilitated comfortable
environment for her daughter‟s study. She facilitated her by enrolling her in an
English course. Twice a week she learned English in that English course. According to
the mother, she really enjoyed studying in this new place.
She likes studying in the English course because she has lot of
friends here, so she is more encouraged to learn.
Besides, parents can also facilitate their children by providing books (Epstein, 2002 in
Suliestyorini, 2009 and Soedarmo, 2011). Although their children did not like reading,
the mothers in the two families always tried to provide books, either textbooks or story
books. From the observations, I saw that the first child had a few bilingual children
stories. However, he preferred to read any kind of books that were written in
Indonesian.
Yes, I like it. (Reading story book). I also have a book about
the Earth. Then, I have Naruto (a Naruto fan-book) and Peri
Bermata Hijau (a compilation of children‟s short stories)!
20
His mother also informed me in the interview that her son preferred to read the science
book about the Earth because he could relate it directly to his daily life.
Like the mother in the first family, the mother in the second family also
provided some books and kids magazines for her child. For her, the most important
was to introduce books to her child, although her child could not read well yet.
The most essential for me is to make her interested in books; it
is either a magazine or something else. Although she only
looks at the pictures on the book, I will buy it for her. The
point is, I want her to get used to books in the early age and
know that book is important.
From the observation, I found that they subscribed a girl‟s magazine, which had many
pictures on it. The second child really liked this magazine, because there were princess
characters which she liked.
The books that those children liked had a lot of colorful pictures and a few
texts. The mother in the first family really made use of those pictures in learning
English. I found that when her son was enjoying take a look at the pictures, she asked
some questions in English, such as “What picture is that?”, “What is the color of
this?”, “What happened to the character?”, and “Which characters do you like?”.
Usually, he would answered the questions in English, but when he realized that he was
studying English subconsciously, he asked her mother to stop disturbing him. This
finding was consistent with what Crosser (2007) states that pictures and illustration
will encourage children to make comments, predict events, and ask questions about
the story and illustrations during reading.
In contrast, I did not find this kind of activities in the second family. The
mother in the second family only provided the books to her daughter. She never
accompanied her daughter when she was reading the magazine. This condition might
be because the second mother had limited time, as she had to divide her time for her
21
daughter and her son. Her son was ten years old, so he still needed her attention and
guidance. Meanwhile, although the mother in the first family was working as a
teacher, she dedicated all of her time at home for her one and only son. The mother in
the first family had spent more time with her child than the mother in the second
family. Therefore, I might conclude that mothers‟ time availability could be another
factor that could influence parents‟ role toward their children‟s English learning.
Furthermore, parents can contribute to their children‟s success at school by
facilitating media, like video, audio or computer. From the observations in both
families, I found that media which played the most important role in their children‟s
language learning was a laptop or computer. The first child‟s hobby was playing
computer games. During my observation, he often asked permission to play computer
games as a reward after he did something good, for example, when he finished reading
a page of a story book. However, playing games was not the only activity that could
encourage him to learn English.
Besides playing games, sometimes I asked him to type some
vocabularies or sentences (in English) or draw something using
Paint application. After that, I asked him to describe what he
had drawn and mention what the colors were. He was more
interested.
The mother in the second family also agreed that the laptop was the most effective
way to learn English, especially through games. In my observations, I found that there
was an ESL game from British Council which her daughter really enjoyed to play.
Sometimes, her mother also connected the laptop with the internet to play online
games for ESL learners.
Besides the laptop, the mother in the first family also provided some English
cartoon movies, for example Rio, Up!, Alvin and The Chipmunks, and Spirited Away.
Her son also liked to watch the movies and subconsciously learn English from it.
22
During my observations, he often shouted, “Make a way-make a way!” when someone
blocked his way. In the interview, he told me that he got those words from a movie.
Besides, from the observation, I also found that song was also a good media to learn
English. Usually when he learnt a new song from school, at home he would keep
singing that song.
In the second family, besides the laptop, the mother provided interactive
cartoons (e.g. Dora the Explorer) for her daughter. Although in the interview her
daughter told me that she did not like watching the cartoons; in the observation I
found that she enjoyed watching it and even sometimes she answered what the
character asked. For example, when the character asked, “Where should we go?”, and
there were a picture of a bridge, a forest and a mountain, she shouted, “Bridge!
Bridge!”. These finding of the current study were consistent with what was suggested
by Suhartatik (2008) that the main role of the media is as a tool to arouse students‟
motivation in learning English.
CONCLUSION
The purpose of the current study was to determine what parents‟
involvements in their bilingual school children English learning at home are. This case
study found that in general both mothers in the first and second family played their
role as children‟s first teachers, partners, motivators, and facilitator.
Furthermore, from the interviews and observations, the result of this
investigation showed that mother in the first family played all of the roles more
dominantly than mother in the second family, especially on parent‟s role as the first
teacher and as a motivator. As the first teacher, mother in the first family insisted to
communicate in English to her son, in contrast mother in the second family rarely
communicated in English to her daughter. Then, as children‟s partner, both of them
23
regularly monitored and accompanied their children during their studying time.
Regarding to parent‟s role as a motivator, the mothers in both families also preferred
to give intrinsic motivations by praising their children. Therefore, regarding to
parent‟s role as a facilitator, the mothers in the first and second families agreed that
playing ESL games on a computer or laptop was effective media for their children‟s
English learning.
The following conclusions could be drawn from the present study. First, the
major role that parents played to enhance their children‟s English learning at home
was their role as facilitators. They had provided media that could enhance and support
their children‟s English learning. Second, parents‟ different purposes in teaching
English to the children might influence the role of parents as the first teacher. Third,
this study showed that parents‟ jobs did not influence their roles, but their time
availability at home might be another factor that could have impact to their roles.
Fourth, th
KINDERGARTEN CHILDREN’S LANGUAGE LEARNING: A
CASE STUDY
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Dewi Indrawati
112008141
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
SALATIGA
2013
PARENTS’ ROLES TOWARD THEIR BILINGUAL
KINDERGARTEN CHILDREN’S LANGUAGE LEARNING: A
CASE STUDY
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Dewi Indrawati
112008141
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
SALATIGA
2013
i
PARENTS’ ROLES TOWARD THEIR BILINGUAL
KINDERGARTEN CHILDREN’S LANGUAGE LEARNING: A
CASE STUDY
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Dewi Indrawati
112008141
Approved by:
ii
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT
This thesis contains no such material as has been submitted for examination in any
course or accepted for the fulfillment of any degree or diploma in any university. To
the best of my knowledge and my belief, this contains no material previously
published or written by any other person except where due reference is made in the
text.
Copyright@ 2013. Dewi Indrawati and Hendro Setiawan Husada, M.A.
All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced by any means without the
permission of at least one of the copyright owners or the English Department, Faculty
of Language and Literature, Satya Wacana University, Salatiga.
Dewi Indrawati:
iii
PUBLICATION AGREEMENT DECLARATION
As a member of the (SWCU) Satya Wacana Christian University academic
community, I verify that:
Name
: Dewi Indrawati
Student ID Number : 1120088141
Study Program
: English Language Teaching
Faculty
: Faculty of Language and Literature
Kind of Work
: Undergraduate Thesis
In developing my knowledge, I agree to provide SWCU with a non-exclusive royalty
free right for my intellectual property and the contents therein entitled:
Parents’ Roles toward Their Bilingual Kindergarten Children’s Language Learning: A
Case Study
along with any pertinent equipment.
With this non-exclusive royalty free right, SWCU maintains the right to copy,
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This declaration is made according to the best of my knowledge.
Made in
Date
iv
: Salatiga
: Februari 7, 2013
TABLE OF CONTENTS
COVER............................................................................................................................ i
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT ........................................................................................ii
PUBLICATION AGREEMENT DECLARATION ..................................................... iv
TABLE OF CONTENT ................................................................................................. v
ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... 1
INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 1
THE STUDY .................................................................................................................. 9
Context of the Study ................................................................................................... 9
Participants................................................................................................................ 10
Instruments of Data Collection ................................................................................ 10
Data Analysis ............................................................................................................ 12
RESULT AND DISCUSSION ..................................................................................... 13
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................ 23
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................................ 26
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................. 27
APPENDICES .............................................................................................................. 30
v
PARENTS’ ROLES TOWARD THEIR BILINGUAL KINDERGARTEN
CHILDREN’S LANGUAGE LEARNING: A CASE STUDY
Dewi Indrawati
ABSTRACT
This study examined parents‟ involvements in their bilingual kindergarten
children‟s English learning at home. The participants of this study were two
mothers and children of two families. The children were enrolled in a bilingual
(English – Indonesian) kindergarten, and both mothers were multilingual
speakers. A semi-structured interview and observations were conducted to
collect the data. The mothers and children were interviewed separately, using
different sets of questions but aimed for the same purpose. The results of this
study indicated that in general both mothers played their roles as children‟s
first teacher, partner, motivator and facilitator, but in different frequency and
consistency. However, the mother in the first family played her role as the first
teacher and a motivator more actively than the mother in the second family did.
Keywords: Parents‟ role, Indonesian-English Bilingual Kindergarten, English
learning
INTRODUCTION
In order to elevate standards of education generally through the schools‟
development of „international standard‟, Indonesia started the bilingual school
program in 2004 (Bax, 2010). Hamers and Blanc (2000) defines Bilingual School or
Education as any system of education in which, at a given point in time and for
varying length of time, simultaneously or consecutively, instruction is given in two
languages. Therefore, bilingual program, which in Indonesia known as RSBI or
Rintisan Sekolah Bertaraf Internasional (International Standard Pilot-Project
Schools), for some people are considered as a new and better program than non-RSBI
schools. This condition strung out bilingual program in some education institutions,
1
since nowadays many daycares, pre-schools or kindergartens offer bilingual (EnglishIndonesian) program.
A study of parents‟ attitudes toward bilingual study in New Mexico that was
conducted by Parkes (2008) as cited in Pugliese (2010), found that since bilingual
education was widespread social, cognitive, academic, and economic advantages, it
had successfully made parents feel attracted to it. Added to Parkes, Lee (2009) states
that most parents believe that sending their children to bilingual schools could grant
their children in communicative development. Furthermore, previous studies by Liu &
Chien (1998), Lao (2004), Oladejo (2006) in Shang, Ingebritson, & Tseng (2007) had
investigated three major reasons why Taiwanese parents sent their children to a
bilingual kindergarten. The first, parents hoped that early exposure to English could
enhance children‟s skills in this language for academic achievements or better career
opportunities. The second reason was Taiwanese parents would like their children to
start formal English learning even before the official commencement age. And the
last, parents would like to see their children began learning English as early as
kindergarten, as opposed to the current provision of third grade level. In my opinion,
the condition in Indonesia is almost the same with in Taiwan, where English is being
introduced and taught at school as the second language. Hence, many Indonesian
parents might have the same consideration in sending their children to bilingual
schools, especially bilingual kindergatens. Furthermore, Cotton & Wikelund (1989)
also suggested that the earlier in a child's educational process their parents‟
involvements began, the more powerful the effects would be.
This is also supported by Lenneberg‟s (1967) in Ellis (1997) theory of CPH
(Critical Period Hypothesis) which states that there is a period when language
acquisition takes place naturally and effortlessly. Kindergarten schooled children
2
(about 4 to 6 years old) are included in this golden period of language learning,
because their brain still retain plasticity. For these reasons, parents have to support and
make use of this critical period. One ways to do that is by enrolling their children to
bilingual schools, since bilingual school can help facilitating children to acquire
second language. Besides parents could also actively involved in their children‟s
learning process. However, although young learners are in the golden period of
language learning, they still need adults, or in this case parents as their closest
relatives, to guide them in learning a language. In line with that, a thorough study
about children language development by Hart & Risley (1995) in Barton & Coley
(2007) found that children mimic their parents in vocabulary, language and interaction
styles. Furthermore, Wu (2005 p.2389) also points out that “when children have close
relation with their parents, they see parents as their language model. They see what
language their parents use and make decisions about their use of language based on
what they perceive”. Besides, parents‟ code-switch to English almost always lead to
the child using English (Pan, 1995 in Wu, 2005). Therefore, young learners do need
their parents to actively involved in their learning process, because children need role
models and encouragement in using English as their second language. In addition,
according to Dimock, O‟Donoghue, and Robb (1996) in Berthelsen & Walker (2008)
deciding where children will study is also included as one of parents‟ involvement.
Hence, since English is a new language for children, they require a lot of information
to learn new things, such as new words, name of things, and grammatical forms, from
elder (parents or teachers).
Parental involvement can be defined as parental participation in the
educational processes and experiences of their children (Jeynes, 2005 in Hornby,
2011). Besides, Burden and Byrd (1999, p. 162) define parents‟ roles as “function that
3
parents play to motivate, stimulate, encourage, and develop children‟s thinking ideas.”
Specifically, according to Kalia & Reese (2009), parental involvement refers to time
parents spend engaging with their children in literacy-related activities, such as
reading books together and teaching print skills.
The idea in optimizing parents‟ involvement in their children‟s education is
also supported by other research findings, which revealed the existence of a positive
relationship in parental involvements, which may vary by factors such as students‟
grade level, socioeconomic and race/ethnic background, and children‟s achievements
(Epstein, 1992 in Barton & Coley, ibid.; Henderson & Mapp, 2002). Moreover,
parents‟ role has long been thought to be centrally important to their children‟s
academic achievement (Nye, Schwartz, & Turner, 2003). This study implicitly
reported that parents should involve actively in order to fulfill their children‟s needs in
language learning. Furthermore, some previous research findings supported the
significant result that parental involvement in the form of „at-home good parenting‟
had a significant positive effect on children‟s achievements (Edmonds, 1979 &
Walberg, 1984 in Yap & Enoki, 1995; Abouchaar & Desforges, 2003). These research
findings clearly showed how important parental involvements for children at home. In
addition, home-based learning not only enhances children‟s learning but also
reinforces, support and strengthen learning that has been introduced and shared at
school (Trahan & Lawler-Prince, 1999 in Fuller & Olsen, 2008). Furthermore,
parental involvement especially in their children‟s education is indispensable, so it is
important for parents to optimize their roles in their children‟s education. Vassalo
(2000) also states that parental involvement, which is the key to educational exellence,
is so critical to children‟s future.
4
Epstein, et.al (2000) in Hepburn (2004) divides parental involvements into six
types. Since all of parents‟ efforts to help their children‟s learning process might
influence children‟s achievements, these involvements are also applicable to
children‟s language learning process, The six types of parental involvements are:
1. Parenting; where parents assist their families with parenting skills and
set home conditions to support children as the students, as well as, assist schools
to understand families.
2. Communicating;
where
parents
should
conduct
effective
communication from school-to-home, and vice versa about school programs and
development.
3. Volunteering, where parents organizing volunteers and audience to
support the school and students.
4. Learning at home, it means to involve families with their children on
homework and other curriculum-related to the activities and decisions.
5. Decision-making; where parents should involve actively in the process
of making school decisions and developing parent leaders and representatives.
6. Collaborating with the community, where parents can coordinate
resources and services from the community for families, students, and the school,
and providing services to the community.
Furthermore, the first and fourth types focus on parent‟s cognitive or
intellectual involvement which means behaviors that promote children‟s skill
development and knowledge, which include children‟s language learning process
(Wendy and colleagues, 1997 in Hartantyo, 2005). According to type 1 and 4, parents‟
roles can be divided into four:
Parents as First Teachers
5
The importance of parents toward their children education is strongly
supported by some researchers (Berger, 1987; Whitehead, 2002; Fuller & Olsen,
2008) who believe that parents are their children‟s first and the most influential
educators. This is true, since the mother‟s and the children‟s relation begins even
before birth.
Parents are also the ones who provide continuity as the child grows up. Since
the children live with their family, home can be one aspect that must be recognized as
a significant learning environment in the children‟s life. Furthermore, in line with this
idea, Pfannenstiel & Zigler (2007) states that education begins at home and parents are
their children‟s first and most influential teachers.
In order to do this, parents should provide a home environment that can
encourage and set an example in order to attract their children to commit in learning.
Weinberger (1996) also echoes the same idea that the way parents behave as
„teachers‟ and how they interact with their children on literacy practices and events is
one roles that parents can do in supporting their children‟s literacy learning.
Parents as Partners
Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler (1997) discusses three major factors of parental
involvement in the education of their children. One of them is parents‟ beliefs about
what is important, necessary and permeable for them to do with and on behalf of their
children. Once parents are empowered to assume the full measure of their
responsibility to support their children‟s education, they will become partners with the
educators in creating and maintaining the schools their children need.
Besides, parents also can interact with their children on literacy practices and
events informally, without necessarily conscious thinking about the literacy teaching
involved (Weinberger, 1996), for example by discussing about child‟s school
6
experiences or academic masters. In addition, parents can also accompany their
children when they are doing their homework or learning English, so children will feel
comfortable and supported by their parents. By doing so, parents have become
children‟s partners who assist and support the children (Einon, 1999).
Parents as Motivators
According to Dornyei (2001), motivation is probably the most frequently used
term for explaining the success or failure of almost any complex tasks and it is a key
to better performance. In order to gain better achievement and to reach the success in
language learning, young learners need some motivation, especially from their
parents.
Goss and Bernstein (1991) suggest some forms of motivation that can be used
by parents to influence children‟s achievement. For example, parents may encourage
their children to attempt difficult tasks in learning particular subjects, by offering
praise and other rewards for the success that they make later on or they could
encourage their children to find ways to succeed instead of complaining their failure
and punishing them. In addition, parents tend to give extrinsic motivation (such as
toys, money, candy and excessive praise) instead of intrinsic motivation (National
Association of School Psychologists, 1993 in Soedarmo, 2011). Besides, as motivator,
parents may also act as a literacy model by reading a newspaper or writing a shopping
list, so children will be encouraged to imitate what they do (Weinberger, 1996).
Parents as Facilitators
Psychologists believe that social environmental experiences result in a
tremendous influence on the young learners‟ development (Souto-Maning, 2010).
Therefore, in order to accommodate supportive social environment, parents can
facilitate young learners‟ learning process in three ways.
7
The first facility is home environment. Home is the center of learning beside
schools. Since the most of parents contact with their children is at home environment,
as supported by Clark (1990) in Michigan Department of Education (2003), who
showed that school age children spent 70% of their waking hours (including weekends
and holidays) outside of school, which was at their home or with their family. Home
provides opportunity for both parents and children to spend time and do relaxed
learning activities. Weinberger (1996) suggests that how parents resourced literacy in
the home is also important for children‟s language development.
The second facility is by providing books. To varying extents, parents can
provide resources and opportunities for their children‟s literacy by supplying books,
going on a shopping expedition, involving some reading and writing (.ibid). Reading
to child is very beneficial for language learning process, because by listening to
stories, children learn about written syntax and vocabulary and develop phonological
awareness and concepts of print, all of which are closely linked to learning how to
read and write (National Early Literacy Panel, 2008 in Gillanders & Castro, 2011).
For young dual language learners, pictures storybook can help them in
understanding the new words and the stories. Pictures and illustration will encourage
children to make comments, predict events, and ask questions about the story and
illustrations during reading (Crosser, 2007).
Furthermore, parents can contribute to their children success at school by
facilitating media. As stated by Suhartatik (2008), the main role of the media is as a
tool to arouse students‟ motivation in learning English. Media that can be provided by
parents are video media (e.g. movies, video clip, and animation), audio media (e.g.
music, song, rhymes) and computer.
8
Since the previous studies more concern in primary education (Suliestyorini,
2009; Hartantyo, 2005) and high school education (Soedarmo, 2011), this study would
investigate how parents involved in the bilingual kindergarten students‟ learning
process, especially in learning English as children‟s second language. Besides, in my
opinion, parents who enrolled their children to bilingual school had to support their
children‟s learning development by actively involved in their children‟s learning
process, since their children had to deal with more than one language acquisitions.
Thus, this study would analyze deeper on what kind of contributions that parents
could give to their children in learning English. However, parents in this study were
mothers, who considered as the first as well as the best teacher and have more
responsibility in children‟s learning process (Freiburger, 2010). In addition, Luo &
Wiseman (2000) in Wu (.ibid) found out that parents, especially mothers, served as
important language model for shaping children‟s language behavior when they had
good family relation (p. 320). Hence, the research question that would be answered is
“What are parents‟ involvements in their bilingual school children‟s English learning
at home?”
THE STUDY
Context of the Study
This study was conducted in participants‟ houses, which were located in
Salatiga, Central Java, Indonesia. Since I focused on parents‟ involvements at home,
so it was important for me to observe directly from their houses. The language that
was being used in these families was Indonesian. However, since their children were
studying in a bilingual kindergarten, sometimes parents also spoke in English with
them.
9
Participants
The participants of this study were two mothers and children of two families.
Both families were from Salatiga, Central Java. In this research, I took both mothers
as the participants because in those families the one who had bigger responsibility in
the children‟s learning were mothers.
The first mother was a 33-year-old Indonesian woman. She graduated from the
English Department, Faculty of Language and Literature, Satya Wacana Christian
University, Salatiga. She was working as an English teacher. Although she worked,
she still had time for picking up her son from the school, and spent most of her time at
home. She was a multilingual speaker who spoke Indonesian, Javanese, and English.
The second mother was a 33-year-old Indonesian woman. She graduated from
the English Department, Faculty of Language and Literature, Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu
Agama Islam, Salatiga. She was working as a housewife, hence she spent most of her
time at home with her child. She was a multilingual speaker who spoke Indonesian,
Javanese, and English.
The first child was a 5-year-old Indonesian boy. He was studying in a bilingual
kindergarten in Salatiga. He started to learn English in pre-school (about 3 years old).
He was the one and only child in his family. The second child was a 5-year-old
Indonesian girl. She was also studying in the same bilingual kindergarten with the first
child. She started to learn English from 3 years old, also in the same pre-school with
the first child. She was the second child in the family.
Instruments of Data Collection
In collecting the data, the instruments used were interviews and observations.
In regard to the interview a semi structured interview was used in order to provide
individual diversity and flexibility, and it also allowed the researcher to compare
10
responses across participants (Patton, 1990 in Zacharias, 2011). The interview
questions were adapted from Ratih‟s study (2010) and redesigned based on the
theoretical framework to answer what parents‟ involvements in their bilingual school
children‟s English learning. I interviewed both mothers and their children separately
and used different sets of questions. There were 14 open-ended questions that I asked
to the participants (mothers), and the focus of the questions was related to the parents‟
involvements in their children‟s learning at home. Questions number 1-3 were
designed to answer parents‟ role as the first teacher (e.g. when do you usually
communicate to your son/daughter in English?), questions number 4-5 were designed
to answer parents role as children‟s partners (e.g. what do you usually do when your
son/daughter is doing his/her English homework?), questions number 6-11 were
designed to answer parents role as the motivator (e.g. how will you react when your
child got an A or a star for his/her English homework?), and questions number 12-14
were designed to answer parents role as the facilitator (e.g. what is your opinion
toward learning English through book, song, movie, or other media?) .
For the children, I asked different questions but aimed for the same purpose,
i.e. to find out parents‟ involvement from the children‟s perspective. Since the
interview was semi-structured, I also asked unprepared questions when I got
difficulties in getting information from them. During the interview, mothers would
leave the children alone so it would create convenient atmosphere for the children.
The interviews were conducted two times in each family (once for the mother,
once for the child), and the interviews were done before the observations. Each
interview lasted from 7 to 9 minutes. These interviews were audio-taped and
conducted in Indonesian to ensure the clarity and avoid misinterpretation. Later, the
11
interview results were transcribed manually for the analysis of this study and as the
guidelines in conducting the observation.
The second instrument was observation. According to Zacharias (2011), the
purpose of observation is to provide rich and thick description of what happens in a
field research. Besides, the observations were also conducted in order to validate the
results of the interviews as well as obtain further information on the roles of parents in
their children‟s English learning process that could not be collected by the interviews.
The observations were carried out to both families using data saturation, i.e. I did the
observation continuously to the point at which no new data emerge (Parahoo, 1997).
In the first and second family, the observations were carried out for 5 times.
In the observations, I observed the activities between parents-children and
wrote down all the activities which were related to parents‟ roles (As the first teacher,
partner, motivator and facilitator). I did the observation during the studying time, from
4.30 to 6 p.m. for the first family, and 6.30 to 8.00 p.m. for the second family.
Sometimes, I also observed when the family were gathering at home in the evening or
on the weekend. In order to ease the analysis, from the recorded data, I categorized the
activities based on the kind of parents‟ roles.
Data Analysis
After the data had been collected, the interview data were all transcribed
verbatim. Then, the transcription data were analyzed for the occurrence of parents‟
roles in their children‟ learning process. In order to find out what parents do in
supporting their bilingual kindergarten children learning process, I re-read the
transcripts for several times and tried to find parents‟ statements about their
involvements in their children‟ learning process.
12
Then, the observation data, which were collected through field notes, were
used as complementary data to give the narrative explanation to the parents‟ roles in
their children learning process at home. Finally, based in the interview transcription
and field notes, I categorized the roles of parents based on Epstein‟ (2002) four
parents‟ roles as the first teacher, partner, motivator and facilitator.
RESULT AND DISCUSSION
The research question asked the parents‟ roles toward their kindergarten
children language learning. From the interviews and observations data, I found that
parents in the first family and the second family played the same role as the children‟s
first teacher, partner, motivator and facilitator.
The result of this study corresponded to what had been suggested by Epstein
(2002) as cited in Suliestyorini (2009) & Soedarmo (2011) that as the first teacher,
parents became the first models and teachers at home by behaving as children‟s
teacher, helping their children in learning English, accustoming the children to
communicating in English, and helping the children to have speaking English practice.
In regards to parents‟ roles as the first teacher, during my observations in the
first family I found that the first mother helped her son in learning English by using
English in their daily life. During the observations, the first mother often made the
children to communicate in English. She often gave simple instructions (e.g. “Do your
homework!”), asked questions (e.g. “Which one do you want, milk or tea?”) or
produced sentences in English (e.g. “We will go to Uti’s house.”). For example, in one
occasion, she asked her child to pray before eating by saying, “Pray first before you
eat, dear.” The child agreed and then prayed. Usually, after school she asked in
English whether or not he had a homework. If he did not answer in English or
answered it incorrectly, she would act as a teacher who encourages her student to try
13
to answer in English or to correct the mistakes. When I asked the reason why she
insisted in using English, in the interview she said:
I want him to be fluent in speaking English, although it is only in
the form of a simple instruction or sentence.
The first mother‟s decision to use English to communicate with her son was in line
with the idea that parent‟s code-switching to English almost always leads the child to
use English (Pan, 1995 in Wu, 2005). Besides, by doing so, she also had provided a
home environment that encouraged her children to have commitment in learning
English, which was one responsibility that parents should do as their children‟s first
teacher (American Teacher Association, 2009).
Meanwhile, in the second family I found that the second mother played her
role as the first teacher in a different form, frequency and consistency compared to the
mother from the first family. From the interview, I found that she would communicate
in English to her daughter when they were gathering with foreigners. In this situation,
when her daughter made a mistake or got difficulties, she would help her and asked
her to speak in English. She would also correct her daughter‟s mistake and asked her
to repeat the correct one. What she had done was in line with what Weinberger (1996)
suggests that the way parents behave as a „teacher‟ is one role that parents can do in
supporting their children‟s literacy learning.
However, she did not force her daughter to speak English regularly at home.
She even rarely asked some questions to her daughter in English. During my
observations at home, she only communicated in English after her daughter returned
from school, during studying hours and sometimes when watching television. For
example, when they were watching cartoon on TV, she asked her daughter, “What is
that?” while pointing at the TV or “What’s the color of Dora’s bag?”. Sometimes,
her daughter will answer in English, and sometimes in Indonesia. However, when her
14
daughter answered in Indonesia, she did not force her to repeat it in English. Thus,
mother in the second family performed different attitudes in those two situations
illustrated her inconsistency as the children‟s first teacher.
Based in the interview and observations both mothers showed their roles as the
first teacher in different ways, frequency and consistency. The first mother did her role
as the first teacher more dominantly by constantly using English to communicate with
her son, on the other hand, this condition was rarely found in the second family. In the
second family, the mother seemed to focus on her role as her daughter‟s teacher by
helping her when she got difficulties and giving examples for her daughter to repeat,
but she did not do it regularly. Besides, her frequency and intensity in using English to
communicate to her daughter was also less than that of the first mother. This condition
might be caused by different purposes in teaching English to the children. The first
mother wanted her son to be fluent in speaking English, so she insisted to in using
English whenever it was possible. Meanwhile, in the interview, the mother in the
second family had explained that she wanted her daughter to learn English as naturally
as possible, so she did not want to push or force her to speak English.
Regarding to parents‟ role as children‟s partner, there were several ways that
parents could do, such as accompanying or supervising children when they were
studying at home, helping them if they found difficulties in doing their homework, and
assisting them in memorizing vocabularies. The results from the interviews and
observations showed that the first mother and the second mother played their role as
their children‟s partner in their daily life, commonly by helping and accompanying
their children when they were studying or doing their homework. In the first family,
the mother always checked her son‟s communication book from school to check
whether or not he had the homework or what her son had done at school. If he had the
15
homework, she would ask him to do it. Usually, she would sit next to him and monitor
him. If there was no homework, she would check what his son had learnt on that day,
and then used it as the material for studying. Just like in my first observation, there
was no homework from school and her son had learnt a short story about animal life
and mathematics. Then, she asked him to retell the story and checked her son‟s
understanding in mathematics.
I prefer to accompany my son‟s when he is doing his homework.
You know, he is a boy, so his mood is up and down. Therefore, I
often accompany him and help him.
This finding was in line with what Einon (1999) suggested that by accompanying their
children when they are doing their homework or learning English, parents have
become children‟s partners who assist and support them.
Almost similar to the first family, the mother in the second family also often
accompanied her daughter when she was doing her homework, but it was not as
intensively as the first mother was because the second mother had to divide her
attention between her son and her daughter. However, when her daughter found
difficulties and asked her, she always helped her and explained to her until she
understood. Her daughter also inform me in the interview that whenever she found
difficulties, she usually asked for her mother‟s help.
Interestingly, almost similar to the child in the first family, the child in the
second family was also moody. Although the child in the second family was a girl, her
mood was also up and down, as a result this condition influenced her studying time.
I prioritize my daughter‟s readiness in studying, so her studying
time is flexible. Although the prime time is in the evening, it is
possible for her to study after school, in the afternoon, even
before she goes to bed.
Since according to Skehan (1989) in Varela, et.al (2010) gender is one of young
learners‟ characteristic that can influence young learners‟ language acquisition, I
16
assume that girls are less outgoing than boys are, and girls can perform better in
studying. However, from the observations I found that child in the second family was
also outgoing. In the fourth observation, the second child wanted to do her homework
while watching TV. Since her mother had committed that her daughter‟s readiness in
studying was the most important aspect in her learning process, she did not prohibit
her, and kept helping as well as monitoring her although her daughter only focused on
her homework during the commercial breaks.
The findings of the current study was consistent with those of Soelistyorini
(2009), Ratih K.W. (2010) and Soedarmo (2011) who also found that regarding to the
parents‟ role as partners, accompanying or monitoring their children when they were
studying was the most dominant activity that parents did. However, although the first
and the second parents had a different style in helping their children, as long as they
kept assisting their children during the studying time, they had showed their role as
children‟s partners. Besides, they were also helping their children when they got
difficulties in doing their English homework. From the interview with the children
about what they did when they got difficulties on their homework, both of them told
me that they usually asked their mother, and their mother would help them. However,
during my observations or interview, I did not see any activities about memorizing the
vocabularies in both families.
Regarding the parents‟ role as motivators, there are several ways that parents
can do, such as offering praise and other rewards for the success that children make,
encouraging their children to find ways to succeed, and acting as a literacy model
whom children will be encouraged to imitate what parents do. The overall responses
to the questions related to parents‟ roles as motivator were very positive. From the
observations in both families, I found that mothers tended to give intrinsic motivation
17
(praise the children) rather than extrinsic motivation. The finding was in contrast with
what National Association of School Psychologist (1993) in Soedarmo (2011) had
suggested that parents tended to give extrinsic motivation (such as toys, money, candy
and excessive praise) instead of intrinsic motivation. In one of my observation in the
first family, when the first child showed to her mother that he got a star for his
homework, his mother praised and kissed him. Then, he asked her mother for another
reward, he wanted to play a computer game. Then she allowed him to play it, but at a
limited duration. Additionally, mother in the second family also preferred to give
intrinsic and extrinsic motivation when her daughter got a star for her assignments.
I congratulate her, and then I thank her, so that she will keep
doing that. Sometimes I also buy her a gift, but it is for
something accumulative, for example, when she can maintain
her achievements and got stars for all of her homework.
Interestingly, in my observation I found what mother in the second family said was
work well. In my fourth observation, the second child got an „Excellent‟ for her
assignment. When her mother saw it, she cheered and said, “You’re great!” and gave
two thumbs up for her daughter. The finding was in line with what Dornyei (2001) has
suggested that children do need parents‟ appreciation and motivation to encourage
them during their learning process. Besides, what both mothers had done according to
Goss and Bernstein‟s (1991) motivation forms, was essential to influence children‟s
achievement.
Besides praising or buying the children some gifts, as a motivator parents may
also act as a literacy model by reading a newspaper or writing a shopping list, so
children will be encouraged to imitate what they do (Weinberger, 1996). However,
both in the first family and in second family the conditions were different. Although
both mothers admitted that they enjoyed reading very much, but their children was not
interested in reading. During my observations, I rarely saw the children read English
18
book, except when they were doing their homework. However, mother in the first
family realized that reading in early age was important.
Yeah, I think reading is very important. However, my son‟s
environment does not support it because in his kindergarten
focuses more on how to speak and communicate in English
rather than reading.
From this, it could be concluded that children‟s interest in reading was not only
affected by parents‟ attitude as their literacy models but also school policy.
In contrast, a previous study on parents‟ roles toward elementary school
students‟ English learning by Ratih (2010) revealed that parent‟s role as a motivator
was the least role that parents did to enhance their children‟s English learning. It
might be because of the different participants‟ English proficiency level. For that
reason, parents‟ English proficiency level might influence their role as children‟s
motivator.
Parents can also play their role as facilitator at home by resourcing literacy at
home, for example by providing conducive room for studying and suitable books for
their children, reading to children, enrolling their children to an English course, and
facilitating media such as television, computer or laptop, video, song, and other media
that can support children‟s English learning process.
The results of the observations showed that mother in the first family were
more concerned with creating a comfortable home environment for her son‟s study.
During studying time, I found that she always turned off the TV and computer, and
then asked the other family members to not switch it on until her son finished
studying. The room that was used to study was clean, had good lighting, and there was
a small whiteboard hanging with colorful markers. The facilities that had been
successfully provided by the first mother made her son enjoy studying at home.
19
Yes, I do like it (studying at home). Because, it is easier than
studying at school. Besides, I enjoy it.
During my observations, I found that the first mother really made used of the small
whiteboard and the colorful markers during the studying time. She created relax
atmosphere by doing his son‟s homework using games. It was like a TV quiz, she
asked the questions from his homework, counted down from ten to one, and during the
ten seconds he had to find the answer and wrote it down on the whiteboard. After all
the questions were answered, he rewrote them on his book. In another observation, she
taught subtraction in English to him by drawing some objects like marbles, apples, and
oranges. By doing so, she had provided an opportunity for both parents and children to
spend time and do relaxing learning activities (Clark, 1990 in Michigan Department of
Education, 2003).
Meanwhile, the mother in the second family also facilitated comfortable
environment for her daughter‟s study. She facilitated her by enrolling her in an
English course. Twice a week she learned English in that English course. According to
the mother, she really enjoyed studying in this new place.
She likes studying in the English course because she has lot of
friends here, so she is more encouraged to learn.
Besides, parents can also facilitate their children by providing books (Epstein, 2002 in
Suliestyorini, 2009 and Soedarmo, 2011). Although their children did not like reading,
the mothers in the two families always tried to provide books, either textbooks or story
books. From the observations, I saw that the first child had a few bilingual children
stories. However, he preferred to read any kind of books that were written in
Indonesian.
Yes, I like it. (Reading story book). I also have a book about
the Earth. Then, I have Naruto (a Naruto fan-book) and Peri
Bermata Hijau (a compilation of children‟s short stories)!
20
His mother also informed me in the interview that her son preferred to read the science
book about the Earth because he could relate it directly to his daily life.
Like the mother in the first family, the mother in the second family also
provided some books and kids magazines for her child. For her, the most important
was to introduce books to her child, although her child could not read well yet.
The most essential for me is to make her interested in books; it
is either a magazine or something else. Although she only
looks at the pictures on the book, I will buy it for her. The
point is, I want her to get used to books in the early age and
know that book is important.
From the observation, I found that they subscribed a girl‟s magazine, which had many
pictures on it. The second child really liked this magazine, because there were princess
characters which she liked.
The books that those children liked had a lot of colorful pictures and a few
texts. The mother in the first family really made use of those pictures in learning
English. I found that when her son was enjoying take a look at the pictures, she asked
some questions in English, such as “What picture is that?”, “What is the color of
this?”, “What happened to the character?”, and “Which characters do you like?”.
Usually, he would answered the questions in English, but when he realized that he was
studying English subconsciously, he asked her mother to stop disturbing him. This
finding was consistent with what Crosser (2007) states that pictures and illustration
will encourage children to make comments, predict events, and ask questions about
the story and illustrations during reading.
In contrast, I did not find this kind of activities in the second family. The
mother in the second family only provided the books to her daughter. She never
accompanied her daughter when she was reading the magazine. This condition might
be because the second mother had limited time, as she had to divide her time for her
21
daughter and her son. Her son was ten years old, so he still needed her attention and
guidance. Meanwhile, although the mother in the first family was working as a
teacher, she dedicated all of her time at home for her one and only son. The mother in
the first family had spent more time with her child than the mother in the second
family. Therefore, I might conclude that mothers‟ time availability could be another
factor that could influence parents‟ role toward their children‟s English learning.
Furthermore, parents can contribute to their children‟s success at school by
facilitating media, like video, audio or computer. From the observations in both
families, I found that media which played the most important role in their children‟s
language learning was a laptop or computer. The first child‟s hobby was playing
computer games. During my observation, he often asked permission to play computer
games as a reward after he did something good, for example, when he finished reading
a page of a story book. However, playing games was not the only activity that could
encourage him to learn English.
Besides playing games, sometimes I asked him to type some
vocabularies or sentences (in English) or draw something using
Paint application. After that, I asked him to describe what he
had drawn and mention what the colors were. He was more
interested.
The mother in the second family also agreed that the laptop was the most effective
way to learn English, especially through games. In my observations, I found that there
was an ESL game from British Council which her daughter really enjoyed to play.
Sometimes, her mother also connected the laptop with the internet to play online
games for ESL learners.
Besides the laptop, the mother in the first family also provided some English
cartoon movies, for example Rio, Up!, Alvin and The Chipmunks, and Spirited Away.
Her son also liked to watch the movies and subconsciously learn English from it.
22
During my observations, he often shouted, “Make a way-make a way!” when someone
blocked his way. In the interview, he told me that he got those words from a movie.
Besides, from the observation, I also found that song was also a good media to learn
English. Usually when he learnt a new song from school, at home he would keep
singing that song.
In the second family, besides the laptop, the mother provided interactive
cartoons (e.g. Dora the Explorer) for her daughter. Although in the interview her
daughter told me that she did not like watching the cartoons; in the observation I
found that she enjoyed watching it and even sometimes she answered what the
character asked. For example, when the character asked, “Where should we go?”, and
there were a picture of a bridge, a forest and a mountain, she shouted, “Bridge!
Bridge!”. These finding of the current study were consistent with what was suggested
by Suhartatik (2008) that the main role of the media is as a tool to arouse students‟
motivation in learning English.
CONCLUSION
The purpose of the current study was to determine what parents‟
involvements in their bilingual school children English learning at home are. This case
study found that in general both mothers in the first and second family played their
role as children‟s first teachers, partners, motivators, and facilitator.
Furthermore, from the interviews and observations, the result of this
investigation showed that mother in the first family played all of the roles more
dominantly than mother in the second family, especially on parent‟s role as the first
teacher and as a motivator. As the first teacher, mother in the first family insisted to
communicate in English to her son, in contrast mother in the second family rarely
communicated in English to her daughter. Then, as children‟s partner, both of them
23
regularly monitored and accompanied their children during their studying time.
Regarding to parent‟s role as a motivator, the mothers in both families also preferred
to give intrinsic motivations by praising their children. Therefore, regarding to
parent‟s role as a facilitator, the mothers in the first and second families agreed that
playing ESL games on a computer or laptop was effective media for their children‟s
English learning.
The following conclusions could be drawn from the present study. First, the
major role that parents played to enhance their children‟s English learning at home
was their role as facilitators. They had provided media that could enhance and support
their children‟s English learning. Second, parents‟ different purposes in teaching
English to the children might influence the role of parents as the first teacher. Third,
this study showed that parents‟ jobs did not influence their roles, but their time
availability at home might be another factor that could have impact to their roles.
Fourth, th