DOCUMENT RESUME ED 228 853 FL 013 624 AUTHOR. Tsang, Sau-Lim TITLE Bilingual Education in a ChineseCommunity. Final Research Report. INSTITUTION ARC Associates, Inc. Oakland,CA. SPONS AGENCY National Inst. of Education(ED), Washington, DC. PUB DATE 30 Sep 82 CONTRACT 400-80-0013 NOTE 195p. PUB TYPE Reports - Research/Technical(143) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC08 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Bilingual Education Programs;*Bilingualism; Case Studies; *Chinese Americans;*Cultural Context; Elementary Education; Language Usage;Program Evaluation; *Sociocultural Patterns ABSTRACT A study is reported.whichexamines the following issues: the linguistic and culturalvalues that the Chinese community attaches to education and to the processesand outcomes of education; and the nature of the community'sinvolvement with school programs and the degree of match andmismatch between the school andthe home culture. Data were collectedfrom King School and WilsonSchool in Cherrywood, California (allfictitiout names), using a case study methodology over a period of 13months. In addition to the description of, the background to thestudy and the methodology, a detailed report of the followingis given: (1) the history of the Chinese community in Cherrywood;(2) a linguistic profile of the community; (3) a description ofthe two schools; (4) developmentof bilingual education at King School;(5) bilingual classes in grades and dialect 2,5, and 6 at King School;(6) issues of language use choice of the bilingual program atKing School; (7) language usein bilingual classrooms; (8) studentoutcomes; and (9) questions onthe status of bilingual education atWilson School. The study concludes provide with a summary and recommendations,and two appendices which a linguisticcomparison of the Chinesedialects and observation- fieldnotes of a reading lesson.(AMH) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS arethe best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** BILINGUAL EDUCATION IN ACHINESE COMMUNITY FINAL RESEARCH REPORT September 30, 1982 Principal Investigator: Sau-Lim Tsang U.S. DEPARTMENT OFEDUCATION NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER IERICI XThis document has beenreproduced as received from the person ororganizaeon originating it. Minor changes have been made toimprove reproduction quality. CA Points of viewm opinions stated inthis docu mem do not necessarily representofficial NIE- position or policy ARC Associates, Inc. 310 Eighth Street, Suite 220 Oakland, CA 94607 this publication is base'd wasperformed pursuant The work upon which It to Contract No.400-80-0013 of the NationalInstitute of Education. does not, however, ,necessarilyreflect the views of that agency. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS of many individuals.The This research reportis a joint effort contributions of thefollowing persons arespecially noted. the study andcond,ided the sur- John Lum tookcharge early in for the selectionof vey ofChinese bilingual programsand communities the research site. responsible for the concptualization and Chui-Lim Tsang was of the study.He supervisedthree conduct of thesOciolinguistic portion and Arpita Steve Baron,Margaret Boot royd, research assistants, Eight, Nineand AppendixA of Mishra, in preparingChapters Foe. , In addition, he dealt with thesociolinguistic findings. this report which integrating theociolinguistic findings also providedextensive input on with other aspectsof the study. collection of a large Grace Pung Guthrie wasresponsible for the data. She wasthe main authorof Chapter po don ofthe interview Chapters Two, Four,and Seven and contributedto thedevelopment of Eleven. of the history Armentrout-Ma conducted anin-depth study L. Eve research site.Chapter Three wasthe of the Chinesecommunity in the product of herexhaustive researcheffort. Chan, Wai-LinChang, Oy-Lene Four researchassistants, Elaine study in datacollec- Yee, workeddiligently on the Chong, and Virginia community and theschools to con- tion. They spent manyhours in the duct participantobservations andinterviews. benefited from theadvice of manyresearchers and The study also the researchdesign, datacollec- educational practitionerswho helped in Beatriz Arias, and interpretationof data. They are tion strategy, John Gumperz,Chris Lim, John Kenyon Chan,Charles Ferguson, Kenyon Ward, Linda Wing,and David Wu.Among them, Ogbu, Beatrice Gumperz, John Ogbu,and Linda Wing Chan, CharlesFerguson, John to help avoid grosserrors. also reviewedthe draft ofthis final report contents of the are solelyresponsible for the However, the authors we decidedto stay with our final report, becausein many instances own interpretation. editing this re- spent manypainstaking hours in Joyce Coleman differences in stylesand formatsof the port andreconciled the authors. in contact with many The nature ofthis study putthe researchers students,parents, andother èqmmunity teachers, administrators, offered invaluableinforrñtion and members. All wereenthusiastic and mo t enjoy- researcher-.. Theexperience has been a perceptions to the through this contactwill\be able one and thefriendships developed treasured by us for many years to come.However, because of the decision to keep the research site anonymous,we regret we cannot acknowledge them each individually. Finally, we wish to thank those atthe National Institute of Education for their insight of initiating thestudy and providing the financial support that made the studypossible. We are especially indebted to Mae Chu-Chang andCynthia Wallet, the two Project Officers of the study, for their encouragingguidance and assistance. Sau-Lim Tsang October, 1982 CONTENTS Acknowledgments Table of Contents iii CHAPTER I Introduction 1 CHAPTER II Methods and Procedures 12 CHAPTER III The History of Chinese in Cherrywood 20 CHAPTER IV Linguistic Pr'ofile of the Chinese 35 Community of Cherrywood CHAPTER V Description- of the Target Schools 57 CHAPTER VI Development of Bilingual Education 68 at King School CHAPTER VII Three Bilingual Classes 81 at King School CHAPTER VIII Language Use at King School and 101 Dialect Choice of Bilingual Program CHAPTER IX Language Use in Bilingual Classrooms 111 CHAPTER X Student Outcomes 130 CHAPTER Xl Bilingual Education at Wilson School? 137 CHAPTER XII Summary and Recommendations 140 APPENDIX A A Linguistic Comparison of the Chinese 149 Dialects APPENDIX B Observation Fieldnotes of a Reading 188 Lesson CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Education in the United States has undergone a series ofchanges over the last three hundred years.In colonial America, education was the privilege of the rich, who hired tutors to teachtheir children privately in their homes. Gradually, church schoolsbegan tO appear, serving a broader population. Then, in the earlynineteenth century, citizens who had begun to appreciate the importanceof education estab- lished schools funded by revenues from local governments.This innova- tion marked the beginning of the U.S. publiceducation system (Katz, 1968). The goal of this system is to provide aquality education to all children, so that everyone can operate successfullyin American society. As Horace Mann put it, in his 1941 "AnnualReport to the Massachusetts Board of Education": I believe in the existence of a great, immutableprinciple of natural law, or natural ethics, . which proves the absolute right of every human being that comes intothe world to an edu- cation; and which, of course, proves thecorrelative duty of every government to see that the means of thateducation are provided for all.(Cremin, 1957, p. 63) The nineteenth-century curriculum, however, was notwithout its challengers, and through their challenges changes weremade.In the 1920s, the progressive education movement'scriticisms of the public schools initiated a series of revisions in the schoolcurriculum, ren- dering it more pragmatic and better able to meetthe needs of American society (Cremin, 1961).In 1957 the Soviets succeeded in launchingthe first space satellite, Sputnik. This technicalfeat inspired the U.S. to undertake a major effort to strengthenits mathematics and science curricula in the 1960s. One major result of thiseffort is the "new math" curriculum which is used by almost every school inthe U.S. (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 1970). American society has been called a "melting pot";enteringit, immigrants from --att- over-the- wortd-woutd-shed-the-IT-home-cultures to emerge reborn as "Americans."America's education system served as an efficient "melting agent." Studentsfrom differentcultural backgrounds, speaking different languages, were enrolledinthe nation's public schools and taught a uniform curriculum inEnglish. Many groups of European immigrants--German, French,Irish,English, Russian, and Jewish--have gone through this system and emerged as"exemplary" Americans. However, the American education system hasbeen less successful with other minority groups. Numerous studieshave documented the inequality of treatment suffered by Blacks(see, for example, Bond, 1939) and their consequent low levels of academicachievement (Coleman, 1966;National Assessment of Educational Progress,1979;California Assessment Program, 1980; Weinberg, 1977).In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court interceded and handed down thelandmark Brown v. Board of Education decision (347 US 483, 1954) which rul hat state-supported segregationis unconstitutional(Kirp and Yud f,1974).From this decision grew the civilrights movement and, ultimately,