Exploring Parental Expectations On Children's English Learning: A Social-cultural Perspective

With the children that start to learn English becoming younger,expectation of parents on their English learning has been a burning topic in early childhood education academy.However,previous researches on expectation over-emphasized the expectation itself,neglecting the social-cultural context that generated it.Inspired by the problems encountered in teaching pre-school children English and communicating with their parents,as well as thinking on the shifting trends of social value system of education,the author draws her research concentration to the social-cultural context based parental expectation.Applying phenomenological methodology,the research surveys ten families to understand their expectations on their pre-school children's learning of English in the social-cultural frame.Analyzing via theories of parental expectations,children English development,and social change,the research explores:1) what expectations do parents have on their pre-school children? 2) What main social-cultural elements may influence the formation and practice of their expectations? To collect data, semi-open interviews,documentation collecting,researching notes,and photography are implemented.Conflicts in six aspects are identified in parental expectations on pre-school children's learning of English:1) whether it is the earlier,the better to learn,or not;2) whether study shall be school-centered;3) whether learning achievement shall be judged based on scores;4) whether interest becomes priority in motivations of study;5) whether study experience shall counterbalance the shortcomings of parents,and 6) whether a concern on giving the children a happy childhood shall be prioritized in the whole development of them.Beyond these expectations,the influences placed on parental expectations by the recent change of social-cultural context are elaborated:1) Enhanced material level of living provides more choices and wider perspectives of education for parents;2) accordingly,the increase of social pressure and shift of living styles results in changes of parental expectations;3) the collision between the incoming western value system and the Chinese traditional intrigues a basic conflict in parental expectations.The validity of the research is strengthened by multi-layer data collection and considerable realistic description and analysis.Pointing out those parental expectations on early child English learning are deeply influenced by social-cultural context,the research draws attention to rethinking the change of social value system,and promoting a harmonized development between parental expectation system,child development,and social change.Meanwhile,the research is rich in directing the practice of early child English education,which advocates education adaptive to social-cultural change.