Impact of Childhood Poverty on Education for Disadvantaged Children in Bangladesh

Shohel, M. Mahruf C. Korean Association of Child Studies 2014 Child studies in Asia-Pacific context Vol.3 No.2

Little attempt has been made to empirically investigate the effects of childhood poverty on children's educational attainments and their everyday life in Bangladesh. Quality education is a prominent aspiration in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), but there are few studies of school improvement in relation to the educational achievement of disadvantaged children living in rural Bangladesh. This article offers a theoretical understanding of childhood poverty and educational exclusion, building on the empirical research carried out in two rural areas to explore the following questions: Why do so many socio-economically disadvantaged children tend to dropout from formal secondary school? and Why do some succeed? After exploring the challenges of childhood poverty and educational exclusion, it shows how the challenges could be mitigated through attention to the ecology of human development in the contexts of individual children. Complex ways in which efforts can be made to tackle the challenges of childhood poverty are influenced by ecological factors within the context of the study. Recommendations for policy and practice are offered based on the findings to improve formal secondary schooling for socio-economically disadvantaged children in Bangladesh.

Cognitive and Affective Perspective-Taking Ability of Young Bilinguals in South Korea

Han, Sinae,Lee, Kangyi Korean Association of Child Studies 2013 Child studies in Asia-Pacific context Vol.3 No.1

The present study examined balanced bilingual children's cognitive and affective perspective-taking and compared them to that of monolingual children. A total of 133 children aged 4 to 5 years and consisting of 73 Korean-English bilinguals and 60 Korean monolinguals were tested with cognitive perspective-taking and affective perspective-taking tasks. Balanced bilinguals were screened through general language ability tests in both English and Korean. Participant backgrounds were collected through a parent questionnaire. Results showed significant differences in affective perspective-taking between bilingual and monolingual children, demonstrating that bilingual children outperformed monolingual children. Although there was no difference in cognitive perspective-taking between bilinguals and monolinguals, the result showed that children's cognitive perspective-taking ability develops with age. This study provides basic information about bilingual children's perspective-taking ability and their bilingual advantage.

Emotion Expressiveness and Knowledge in Preschool-Age Children: Age-Related Changes

Shin, Nana,Krzysik, Lisa,Vaughn, Brian E. Korean Association of Child Studies 2014 Child studies in Asia-Pacific context Vol.4 No.1

Emotion is a central feature of social interactions. In this study, we examined age-related changes in emotion expressiveness and emotion knowledge and how young children's emotion expressiveness and knowledge were related. A total of 300 children attending a daycare center contributed data for the study. Observation and interview data relevant to measures of emotion expressiveness and knowledge were collected and analyzed. Both emotion knowledge and expressed positive affect increased with age. Older preschool children expressed positive affect more frequently than did younger preschoolers. Older preschool children also labeled, recognized, and provided plausible causes mores accurately than did younger preschool children. In addition, we tested whether children's errors on the free labeling component conform to the structural model previously suggested by Bullock and Russell (1986) and found that preschool children were using systematic strategies for labeling emotion states. Relations between emotion expressiveness and emotion knowledge generally were not significant, suggesting that emotional competence is only gradually constructed by the child over the preschool years.

Effects of A Picture Book Reading Intervention Program on Young Children's Language Development and Print Concept

Kim, Myoung-Soon,Lee, Min-Joo,Pae, Sun-Young Korean Association of Child Studies 2013 Child studies in Asia-Pacific context Vol.3 No.1

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of picture book reading intervention activities on language development of low-income children. The subjects were 60 children in low-income families, aged 5, selected from 24 child care centers located in three cities nearby Seoul, South Korea. The experimental group had received intervention program for 8 weeks, two days a week, and three teachers conducted the intervention program for 30 to 40 minutes for each session. The intervention program was administered to the children with picture book reading activities in the first session, followed by providing more extensive activities in the second session. Afterwards, the study allowed the children to take one picture book to read at home. To evaluate the effect of the picture book reading intervention program, this study utilized instruments called the Preschool Receptive-Expressive Language Scale and the Concepts about Print. Significant differences found between the two groups. The experimental group showed higher scores compared with the control group in the post-test of expressive language development. Also, children in the experimental group showed a significant increase in the concepts about print after the intervention program was administered. In conclusion, findings indicate several changes in positive outcomes after implementation of the picture book reading intervention program.

Taiwanese Mothers' Motivations for Teaching English to Their Young Children at Home

Lan, Yi-Chen,Torr, Jane,Degotardi, Sheila Korean Association of Child Studies 2012 Child studies in Asia-Pacific context Vol.2 No.2

Research has shown that mothers' attitudes towards early English language and literacy learning are important for children's English language development. Some researchers have indicated that in Taiwan most parents have a positive attitude towards English instruction and are motivated to teach English at home to their preschoolers. There is, however, little current data available to explain the motivations behind such parents' decisions to teach English to their child in the home before the commencement of formal schooling. We conducted a thematic analysis of the written survey responses of 263 Taiwanese mothers who explained why they taught their preschool children English at home. The findings indicate that English is highly valued for children's school readiness, future career opportunities, and because of its status as a global language. The mothers' motivations for teaching English include the desire to cultivate the child's interest, a belief in 'the earlier the better" for second language learning, and a belief in the need to review and practice English. These findings have the potential to inform educational policies and implementation strategies, as they can reveal whether mothers' motivations align with national priorities for English language education.

Helping our Children with Homework: Homework as an Activity of Anxiety for First Generation Bilingual Korean American Mothers

Park, Hye-Yoon,Jegatheesan, Brinda Korean Association of Child Studies 2012 Child studies in Asia-Pacific context Vol.2 No.2

This study aimed to understand communicative and socialization practices of immigrant bilingual families in everyday learning situations by examining interactions between parents and children in the United States. Drawn on language socialization theory and socio-cultural factors influencing immigrants, this study explored how three Korean American mothers struggled as they helped their children with homework by interviewing the mothers and observing mother-child interaction during homework time. The study paid attention to the emotional values of immigrant parents that they tried to teach their children who are members in two distinctive communities, such as Korean American and mainstream American. The findings showed that parental socialization practices had effects on children's emotional and social competence and at the same time the socialization process was bidirectional. Mothers started with Korean values, but they faced challenges with the English language, different demands for American homework, and children's rejection of their attempts. Mothers needed to change their strategy and borrow American ways of keeping emotional distance from their children by acknowledging their independence. Their struggles are discussed with attention to their language choice and culture.

The Relationship between Chinese Parents' Reaction to Children's Negative Emotions and Children's Understanding of Emotions

Jin, Rihua,Lee, Young Korean Association of Child Studies 2014 Child studies in Asia-Pacific context Vol.3 No.2

The purpose of this study was to investigate Chinese parents' reaction to their children's negative emotions and how these reactions relate to their children's understanding of emotions. Forty-two Chinese children (aged 4) and their parents participated in this study. Coping with Children's Negative Emotion Scale was given to parents to assess their reaction to their children's negative emotions. Children's emotional understanding was assessed using the modified emotional false-belief task and mixed emotion task. The results showed that Chinese parents gave supportive reactions more than non-supportive reactions to their children, and no difference in sex was found. The percentages of correct answers to false-belief task and mixed emotion task were low with no gender difference in both tasks. When age and sex of children were controlled, only fathers' supportive reactions to children's negative emotions significantly explained the variances in the level of children's understanding of emotions in both tasks. That is, children whose fathers showed greater supportive reactions to their negative emotions performed better at both tasks. It was concluded that fathers' supportive reactions to their children's negative emotions are very influential for emotional understanding among 4-year-old children in China.

Young Children's Use of Trait Similarity Information to Make Inference of Others

Yoo, Seung Heon Korean Association of Child Studies 2015 Child studies in Asia-Pacific context Vol.2 No.2

The purpose of this study was to understand the influence of personality trait information on young children's perception of initial attraction in peer relationships. The sample consisted of 90 children of three to five years of age in South Korea. Children were presented with an inductive inference task where they had to make inference of a target character's preference on novel-play and prosocial act based on trait labels (smart-not smart, outgoing-shy, nice-mean) and perceptual (toy) similarity information of two test characters. Children showed difference in their use of trait information depending on the perceptual similarity information, trait valence, and inference question with age. This result provides initial support that not only do young children understand the significance of trait in peer attraction but also know when trait label is more informative to use to infer others depending on the situation.

Development of Theory of Mind in Preschoolers Who Grow up in Two Conflicting and Unbalanced Cultures

Qu, Li,Shen, Pinxiu Korean Association of Child Studies 2013 Child studies in Asia-Pacific context Vol.3 No.2

Individuals rely on Theory of Mind (ToM) to represent themselves, others, and socio-cultural norms. Distinctive Western and Eastern developmental patterns of ToM have been reported in monocultural children. Relatively little is known about bicultural children, especially those children who grow up in two conflicting and unbalanced cultures. We hypothesized that the development of ToM in these bicultural preschoolers would follow the pattern of the dominant culture. To examine this hypothesis, we recruited English-speaking Chinese Singaporean preschoolers. In Study 1, we tested 3- to 5-year-olds (N = 120) with 5 ToM tasks, including diverse desires, diverse beliefs, knowledge access, and false belief, as well as a vocabulary task. In Study 2, we tested 5-year-olds (N = 30) with a picture-choice version of these ToM tasks. Both studies supported our hypothesis by revealing that the development of ToM in these bicultural children followed the pattern of the dominant culture. Additionally, we found that 5-year-old bicultural children are still developing false belief, and their verbal ability correlated with their ToM.

Access to Education for the Children of Sex Workers in Bangladesh: Opportunities and Challenges

Shohel, M. Mahruf C. Korean Association of Child Studies 2013 Child studies in Asia-Pacific context Vol.3 No.1

The children of sex workers in Bangladesh are denied even the most basic human rights. This article is based on recent research focused on the children of sex workers in the context of their everyday lives. The study focused on access to education and how education could be a vehicle for them to break the vicious cycle of exploitation. This was a mixed method interpretative study which employed qualitative and quantitative approaches, but in this paper only qualitative data which was generated through in-depth interviews and focus group discussions is used. Data was collected from sex workers, their children, teachers and NGO workers who participated in the study. Information has been collected for analysing the expectation of the children of sex workers and hope for the future, and the opportunities available to them during their schooling. Thematic analysis technique was used to understand the challenges and barriers faced by the children of sex workers in fulfilling their educational aspirations. The lives of the children of sex workers are marginalised by the mainstream society. Though it is very difficult to break the vicious cycle of exploitation, this research finds that education may be a stepping stone for them to create a better future. However, it is argued that the children of sex workers need income generating vocational and technical education to enable them to earn and support their family. Policy recommendations have been made in order to achieve Education For All targets and Millennium Development Goals, and to provide a second chance for these vulnerable young people to have a better life.