CERCular: No.2 of 1997

Several research students have recently graduated. We here reprint the abstracts of two theses.

A Comparative Study of Pai Yao and Han Chinese Junior Secondary School Dropouts in Liannan Yao Autonomous County, Guangdong Province, the People's Republic of China

by Nam Yung, Jane (Ph.D., 1997)

This study examined Pai Yao and Han Chinese students of Form Two and Form Three levels who dropped out of junior secondary school during and between the 1992-93 and 1993-94 school years in a national minority, rural area - Liannan Yao Autonomous County (Liannan). The research sample consisted of 10 Pai Yao and 10 Han Chinese dropouts of the Sanpai and Chunxi junior secondary schools, with reference to information from four other groups of people. These four groups of people included the 20 dropouts' fathers, classmates, previous form teachers, and 301 successful Form Three students.

Few studies have identified the influence of family-related and school-related factors on secondary school dropouts in national minority, rural areas. This study contributed to the understanding of why and how family financial conditions and students' interest in schooling influenced Pai Yao and Han Chinese students' decisions to drop out of junior secondary schools. Two groups of variables were developed from the fieldwork in Liannan. The first group included fathers' occupations, financial income, family properties, and five family financial levels (lower, lower-middle, middle, middle-upper, and upper levels). The second group included students' ability to master Han Chinese as the language of instruction at school, and their competence in learning academic subjects, passing examinations and classroom learning. Three research methods were employed, including in-depth interviews, a questionnaire survey, and the review of relevant documents.

The study identified three types of school dropouts to indicate the relationships among family financial conditions, students' interest in schooling, and students' decisions to drop out of junior secondary schools in Liannan. The first type included dropouts who had interest in schooling, but their fathers were unable to pay their school expenses. The ability of fathers to pay school expenses was affected by earnings from their occupations. Findings indicated that Pai Yao dropout peasant fathers tended to have low financial standing. The majority of successful students' families were at the middle financial level.

Dropouts of the second type had low interest in schooling and their fathers were unable to pay their school expenses. With the third type of dropouts, although their fathers could afford to pay their school expenses, they had low interest in schooling. Regarding the second group of variables, students' low interest in schooling was influenced by their inability to pass examinations and low competence in learning academic subjects. According to the 10 Pai Yao dropouts' reports, they tended to fail in Chinese language examinations. The academic ability of students at junior secondary schools was related to the quality of primary schools that students attended.

The Bilingual Development in Hong Kong of Korean Children Aged Four to Six

by Moon Lee, Hye kyung (M. Phil. 1996)

The aim of the study was to explore variations in the patterns of bilingual development of young Korean children aged from four to six years in Hong Kong, and to identify the sociolinguistic factors which affect that development by using various techniques of data collection. The bi-lingual development of sample children and environmental influences at home and in preschool/school on their bilingual development were investigated.

This study found that the overall bilingual development of sample children moves from Korean dominance to English dominance over three years, reflecting the children's move from predominantly home (Korean) to school (English) environment.

In considering the environmental influences on the children's bilingual development, significant environmental factors concerned in this study were categorised into three groups: (1) the child's bilingual background, (2) the child's language interaction, and (3) parents' and teachers' attitudes. From data analysis, two distinct patterns of bilingual development were observed across the ages. The children who had greater exposure to English showed an advantage in English at the age of four and five, while those who put greater emphasis on Korean show a higher proficiency in Korean. At the age of six, after the children entered English medium primary school, the critical advantage in English of the former children disappeared as latter ones catch up, but the gap in Korean proficiency widened. The greater emphasis on Korean language thus had no long-term cost in levels of English language proficiency, but a greater emphasis on English in the earlier years had an adverse effect on the children's Korean language development.

Therefore, these findings suggest that parents bringing up their children in a bilingual context such as Hong Kong should provide stimulation and encouragement for their children to develop mother tongue proficiency if they want their children to maintain the home language, while taking advantage of opportunities for becoming fully bilingual. Teachers also need to emphasize to bilingual parents the importance of their child's mother tongue development and to encourage them to use their home language as much as possible in the home.

It is hoped that the results of this study may provide parents and educators with more understanding of the bilingual development of young Korean children in Hong Kong. Also, this research should be of some use to parents who belong to other bilingual communities.