NEW ZEALAND EARLY CHILDHOOD TEACHERS BELIEFS AND PRACTICES IN SUPPORTING

ENGLISH ACQUISITION FOR ASIAN IMMIGRANT ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS (ELLS): A

PILOT PROJECT

M Che Mustafa1 and J.Duncan2

1
2

School of Educational Studies and Leadership, University of Canterbury, New Zealand

School of Educational Studies and Leadership, University of Canterbury, New Zealand
Email: 1mazlina.chemustafa@pg.canterbury.ac.nz, 2judith.duncan@canterbury.ac.nz
ABSTRACT

There has been an increasing enrolment of Asian immigrant English language learners (ELLs)
in New Zealand early childhood centres (ECE) due to large rises in immigration families from
non-English speaking countries and an increase in children born to bilingual parents in New
Zealand. This phenomenological case study explores the beliefs and practices of New Zealand
early childhood teachers in supporting English acquisition for Asian immigrant English
language learners (ELLs). The focus of the study is on analysing early childhood teachers
beliefs on how they can support English acquisition among Asian immigrant ELLs and
discovering how these beliefs influence their practice in early childhood education setting
from sociocultural perspectives. The theoretical framework of this research draws on a range
of perspectives, including (i) the sociocultural positions initially framed by Lev Vygostky
(1978), (ii) the notion of cultural participation and transformation as argued by Barbara
Rogoff and (iii) theories of second language acquisition discussed by Baker (2006) and
Krashen (1988). Research methods involved were semi-structured interviews and
observations. The findings were analysed using thematic analysis and presented three themes:
Teachers beliefs and practices; relationships and identities. These themes impacted the
learning experiences for the Asian immigrant ELLs and other children attending the ECE.
This study will provide a basis from which to consider how early childhood teachers in New
Zealand could support English acquisition among Asian immigrant ELLs, while valuing and
supporting childrens cultural background.
KEYWORDS
English language learners, early childhood education, English acquisition, teachers beliefs
and practices

01548117916 7018
CONTEXT

Increasing numbers of young children, who speak home languages other than English, are
attending ECE centres in New Zealand (Ministry of Education, 2007). Statistically 12.6 % of
Asian children were enrolled in public kindergartens, while 24.6% were enrolled in other
child care centres (New Zealand Childcare Survey, 2010). Thirteen thousand hundred and
eighty one (13,181) of Asian children were enrolled in licensed early childhood services and
ranked third in terms of number of children enrolled after European/Pakeha (119,170) and
Mori (38,580).
Despite the increase of Asian immigrant children in early childhood education (ECE)
centres, studies on how they are supported by teachers with regard to English acquisition are
not extensive. Whilst there are empirical studies in bilingual education in early childhood
education and development (Haworth, Cullen, Simmons, Schimanski, McGarva & Woodhead,
2006; Podmore & Samu, 2006) the numbers of studies which explore early childhood
teachers beliefs and practices with regard to specifically supporting English acquisition
among Asian immigrant ELLs are limited. Podmore and Samu (2006) investigated strategies
to promote Samoan language and culture so as to nurture positive identity of the children.
These studies (Haworth, Cullen, Simmons elt., 2006; Podmore & Samu, 2006) are particularly
concerned that young children are highly susceptible to losing their first language if the first
language is not strongly maintained during early childhood years. These same studies focused
on mainstream populations in New Zealand such as Mori and Samoan, making the study of
supporting English acquisition among Asian immigrant ELLs very limited in number and
scope.

RESEARCH AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to explore the beliefs and practices of New Zealand early childhood
teachers in supporting English acquisition for Asian immigrant English language learners
(ELLs) by using socio-cultural approaches. The focus of the study was on analysing early
childhood teachers beliefs on how they can support English acquisition among Asian
immigrant ELLs and discovering how these beliefs influence their practice in early childhood
education setting.
The study, and especially the data gathering process, was guided by the following
questions:

1. What do New Zealand early childhood teachers state as their beliefs about supporting
English acquisition among Asian immigrant English language learners (ELLs)?
2. Do New Zealand early childhood teachers vary in their beliefs about supporting English
acquisition among Asian immigrant English language learners (ELLs)? If so, how?
3. How do New Zealand early childhood teachers perceive that they support English
acquisition among Asian immigrant English language learners (ELLs)?
4. How can New Zealand early childhood teachers support English acquisition among Asian
immigrant English language learners (ELLs) by using sociocultural approaches?
The research questions shaping this study are derived from:
What are early childhood teachers beliefs and practices in supporting English acquisition for
Asian immigrant English language learners?

RESEARCH DESIGN

The framework for this study has been a sociocultural and phenomenological case study. Two
major methods of data gathering were used for each case study to obtain rich and detailed
information about teachers beliefs and practices to support English acquisition among Asian
immigrant ELLs. The primary method of data gathering was the phenomenological three
interview series (Siedman, 2006) to illuminate early childhood teachers experience in
supporting English acquisition among Asian immigrant ELLs. I conducted a series of three
interviews. In the first interview, my task is to place the participants experience in context by
asking them to tell as much as possible about their experiences them in light of the topic up to
the present time. The purpose of the second interview was to concentrate on the participants
present lived experience in the topic area of the study. In the third interview, I asked the
participants to reflect on the meaning of their experiences and highlighted salient scenarios
during my observations. Each interview took approximately between 20 to 45 minutes and
spaced from three days to a week apart.
Another method was field notes encompassing direct observations of early childhood
teachers practices in each ECE centre alongside my reflective notes containing insights,
understanding, questions and thoughts generated during data gathering process. I recorded
social interactions between each case study teacher and case study children as well as social

interactions between case study children and other children who attended the centre.
Observations were recorded by using pen and paper, digital camera and camera video recorder
to document salient scenarios on the basis of clear illustrations of teachers behaviour,
language or social relationships with Asian immigrant ELLs. The use of this equipment was
negotiated with the early childhood teachers, children and the childrens parents.
For individual case study analysis, three steps were involved which were in line with
phenomenological analysis. The first step was to review the transcripts and field notes to get a
sense of early childhood teachers beliefs and practices in supporting English acquisition
among Asian immigrant ELLS. I read and reread the field notes, listened to the audio
recordings of interviews with teachers and watched the videotapes a few times to gain
sensitivity to the entire data. My reflective notes were not analysed and part of case
description but they assisted me to analyse the data and reminded me how and why I
understood something when it happened during my fieldwork.
The second step of the data analysis was to scrutinise the data to develop preliminary
codes for clustering around topics. It involved extracting the notes and transcripts that directly
pertained to understanding early childhood teachers beliefs and practices in supporting
English acquisition among Asian immigrant ELLS and putting aside data which were not
relevant to the research phenomena. Although certain codes were developed during
preliminary stage, coding topics was not a static process in my data analysis as later thoughts
of including other items were also part of the data development analysis.
The final stage of the data analysis was to discover meaning units. This was achieved
through close examination of the data and studying the preliminary codes many times to see
whether some of them illustrated a similar point. From the initial codes, I identified keywords,
phrases and sentences that indicated the early childhood teachers beliefs and practices in
supporting English acquisition among Asian immigrant ELLS in similar ways and group them
together. As I read and listened, I searched for patterns and meanings among all the initial
codes. I looked across the transcripts and notes to reorganise the segmented codes to establish
links with my research questions. This resulted in clustering themes which allowed for close
interaction with the transcript (Smith & Osborn, 2008) that best described the responses.

FINDINGS

Thematic analysis involved expanding the themes into narratives based on information the
participants have shared. The outcome of this thematic analysis led towards further broader
themes and in turn, to the main findings of this study. The thematic analysis was described in
relation to the research questions (1) teachers beliefs and practices, and (2) relationships and
(3) identities.
Teachers beliefs and practices

The teachers beliefs and practices highlighted the issue between promoting English
acquisition and supporting home language. The teachers in this study believed that the Asian
immigrant ELLs should be supported to use their home language in the ECE centre and these
children will naturally acquire English as they grow older because the English-speaking
environment will help them to acquire English. Despite articulating this view, the teachers
were observed to provide opportunities for English acquisition through interactions with the
Asian immigrant ELLs. These interactions were described by the teachers as important in
order to engage Asian immigrant ELLs in teacher-led activities and build good relationships.
There were times during my observation; I noticed the teachers were having difficulty in
interacting with the Asian immigrant case study ELLs as they were speaking in their own
languages. There was a sense of disappointment by the teachers for not being able to engage
in the activities involving some Asian immigrant ELLs particularly when they interact in their
own language and when they were playing nearby the teachers. Nevertheless, Anna and Carol
(not real names) used various strategies to interact with the children such as body language
and repetitions.
Relationships

Anna emphasised the importance to strengthen the relationship between the teachers and the
parents of Asian immigrant ELLs despite the language barrier and cultural differences. As
noted from Annas statement, the teachers needed to find out more about Asian cultural
practices, particularly with regards to their childrens learning in order to understand what
were important for these families. Carol highlighted that some of Asian immigrant ELLs
parents were also making efforts to share information about their culture with the teachers and
children at the ECE centre. She quoted a few examples of their efforts such as a
demonstration of making sushi and ang pow (money given to children during Chinese New
Year). This was evident in the photographs taken in the learning folios of the Asian immigrant
case study ELLs.

Relationships with Asian immigrant ELLs were also viewed important by Anna. When
the teachers have good relationship with these children, they would feel comfortable being
themselves. As pointed by Anna, one of the ways to build a good relationship with these
children is to have a sense of empathy, especially during interaction. She felt empathy as most
Asian immigrant ELLs, especially those who were never enrolled in ECE centre, entered a
new environment where they encountered a set of language and cultural practices that may be
different from the practices they were used to. When the Asian immigrant case study ELLs
had difficulty in communicating with her, she was observed to be very patient in
understanding the message that the children were trying to get across. She recognised the
struggle to be understood as she had been in a situation where English was not a main
language spoken when she travelled overseas before. Carol stated that sometimes
relationships with these children became stronger when she gave particular attention to a
small group of children or an individual. Apparently, during my observation most Asian
immigrant ELLs were more comfortable to have one-to one attention by the teachers. When
they were in a mixed and bigger group, for example, during mat time; most Asian immigrant
ELLs appeared to be very quiet and did not respond much to their teachers. The empathy and
attention given to Asian immigrant ELLs may help to build good relationship between the
teachers and the children.
Identity

Identity formation is a complex process that is never complete (Siraj-Blatchford & Clarke,
2000). The complexities of identity for some Asian immigrant ELLs were highlighted by one
of the teachers. Anna pointed that cultural and language identities were important for most
Asian immigrants ELLs and they should feel comfortable using their home language and
proud of their cultural heritage but the children were observed having to take longer time and
making extra effort to build friendship with their friends of other ethnicities in the centre due
to their linguistic constraint. She tried to involve Asian immigrant ELLs in social games
where they didnt have to rely on English to play the games. Clara described that despite these
complexities, as long as there was a strong sense of belonging where their culture is valued
and visible and teachers being interested in building the relationship with Asian immigrant
ELLS, it would help the children to have a positive self-identity as they acquire English.
As observed during the study, Asian immigrant case-study ELLs sometimes needed to
feel proud of their heritage and language but it might affect their efforts in making friends
with English-speaking background in the centre. For example, Yang was fond of one of his

martial arts heritage, kung fu. Most of the times, he played kung fu with two other
friends who had the same background as his. Other children who wanted to play with him
found it hard to play along as they either found it not interesting or intimidating due to the
physical movement. This might give Yang the idea that some of his friends in the ECE centre
may not like his heritage martial arts. This was evident when I asked Yang whether some of
his friends (from different ethnicities) like his kung fu. I also noticed that some children
were behaving as if they were uncomfortable when Yang interacted with them in his mother
tongue. As English is a major tool for interaction with majority of the children, Yang seemed
to find it challenging to engage in a conversation with his English-speaking friends in some
situations due to his limited proficiency in English. At times, although Yang did not cut
himself entirely from English acquisition situations he found ways of avoiding learning much
of English being used around him. In situations in which he could play with his friends who
spoke the same language, he continued to associate with them, forming social groups on that
basis.
MY REFELECTION

This study has given opportunities to reflect on as a researcher. I hope to use these reflections
to improve my data gathering in my main study. The followings are issues that I need to
tackle before embarking my main data gathering:
The Voice of Parents

Te Whariki, the New Zealand early childhood curriculum, advocates the partnership between
early childhood centres and parents. Although, there was a plan in the beginning of my field
work to interview the parents, I did not pursue it because I found that the parents of the case
study children were busy with their daily commitments. I wanted to find out the parents
views on their childrens English acquisition and values of their native language as well as
their culture. It would be interesting to know the parents views because this would help their
childrens learning experiences at the centre.
The use of video footage

During my observation, I video-recorded and took photographs of situations between the case
study children and the teachers. Some of the video footages recorded interactions between
teachers and case study children and teacher-led activities where case study children were
either or indirectly directly or indirectly involved. Although, I planned to show selected videofootages and photographs to the teachers during the interviews, I didnt do it as I thought it
would be sufficient to just mention the incidents in the video-footages and photographs to the

teachers. I realized then that the teachers would probably have found the video-footages and
photographs useful, themselves. The video footages and photographs, as stimulus tools would
help the teachers to better recall and reflect, thus probably a more well-thought discussions
during the interviews sessions.

CONCLUSION

As this study aimed to explore the early childhood teachers beliefs and practices in
supporting Asian immigrant ELLs as they acquire English, this has been illustrated by the
themes derived from the interviews with the teachers and observations made during their
interactions with Asian immigrants ELLs. One of the teachers hoped for adequate support for
ongoing professional development for teachers in knowledge of first and second language
acquisition. This becomes increasingly important for teachers to be well-prepared for teaching
and learning in cross-racial, cross-ethnic, and cross-cultural situations.

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