FILIPINO AMERICAN IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT AND ITS RELATION TO HERITAGE LANGUAGE LOSS Jennifer Guiang Osalbo B.S., University of California, Davis, 2005 THESIS Submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in EDUCATION (Multicultural Education) at CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, SACRAMENTO SPRING 2011 © 2011 Jennifer Guiang Osalbo ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii FILIPINO AMERICAN IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT AND ITS RELATION TO HERITAGE LANGUAGE LOSS A Thesis by Jennifer Guiang Osalbo Approved by: __________________________________, Committee Chair Forrest Davis, Ph.D. __________________________________, Second Reader Albert Lozano, Ph.D. ____________________________ Date iii Student: Jennifer Guiang Osalbo I certify that this student has met the requirements for format contained in the University format manual, and that this thesis is suitable for shelving in the Library and credit is to be awarded for the thesis. __________________________, Department Chair ___________________ Susan Heredia, Ph.D. Date Department of Bilingual and Multicultural Education iv Abstract of FILIPINO AMERICAN IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT AND ITS RELATION TO HERITAGE LANGUAGE LOSS by Jennifer Guiang Osalbo Statement of the Problem Filipino American elders are discouraging their youth from learning their heritage language, which in turn is causing Filipino youth to actively abandon their culture. Language is the strongest link to one‟s culture (Zentella, 1997), yet Filipino parents and grandparents are encouraging by their children to desert it and assimilate (Tuason, Taylor, Rollings, Harris, & Martin, 2007). Although other immigrant families try to teach their children their heritage language, limited amounts of Filipino American families attempt to, fearing their children will have a foreign accent (Nadal, 2009). When Filipino families deter from sharing their native tongue, Filipino youth learn to reject their culture and assimilate to American ways without learning their heritage. The researcher of this study interviewed six Filipino Americans of different generations to further understand how they feel about their Filipino American culture. “While a people preserves its language; it preserves the marks of liberty.” – Jose Rizal _______________________, Committee Chair Forrest Davis, Ph.D. _______________________ Date v DEDICATION I would like to dedicate this Thesis to my only living grandparent, Remedios Almazan Guiang. She is my maternal grandmother and helped raise me from the time I was 5 years old. My grandma's words inspired this thesis so I am dedicating this work to her. I also hope that my brothers: Jonathan and Justin; younger cousins: Ramon Jr., Jaryce, Michael Glenn, Dennis, Michael Pierre, Catherine Mae, Neiman, and Nasya; and Godchildren: Anthony “Banjo”, Jacqueline Nadine, and Olivia Marie; find this work an inspiration to not only continue their formal education, but also to learn more about our Filipino heritage. “He who does not know how to look back at where he came from will never get to his destination.” - Jose Rizal vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost I need to thank the Lord for blessing me with my life and the opportunity to finish this thesis. For all the experiences You have allowed me to have, decisions that You allow me to make, and the life lessons that I have learned along the way. Thanks God! I want to thank both of my parents for their love and support throughout my life. I am grateful for their constant encouragement and guidance. Mama, Papa, I love you and thank you for providing me with an advantaged Filipino upbringing and for your continued suggestions to further my education. I owe my gratitude to my most trusted advisor, Dr. Forrest Davis. I thank Lisa Daniels for introducing us and for your initial interest in my research topic. Thank you so much for our regularly and postponed and rescheduled meetings. Your kind, inspiring words added to the fuel for me to accomplish our goal of me completing this work. I must also thank my cousin-roommate, Wilfrengerard Esposo, who was my study partner and acted as my instant thesaurus as needed. Thanks for the late nights and high fives. Congrats to both of us for completing our Masters Degrees. I value the closeness of my BMED cohort, especially my affinity group: Gretchen, Aneela, Hong-An, Victoria, and Nancy, for the encouraging phone calls and putting up with re- reading my numerous drafts. I appreciate the lifelong friendships I have made with these mujeres. To my closest friends, Angelina, Bernadette, Cristina, and Dre, and my closest co- workers, Lorena, Valerie, Schonette and Melanie. Thank you for your verbal encouragement and for spending time with me during much needed breaks and nourishment. And last, but not least, to my two Ates, Ate Phoebe and Ate Misty. Thank you for setting the example of persistence towards school. I appreciate your support through the years. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Dedication ................................................................................................................................ vi Acknowledgments.................................................................................................................. vii Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 1 Statement of Problem ................................................................................................... 4 Research Questions ...................................................................................................... 5 Definition of Terms ..................................................................................................... 5 Limitations of this Study .............................................................................................. 7 Importance of this Research ......................................................................................... 7 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................................... 9 Philippine History ........................................................................................................ 9 Waves of Migration ................................................................................................... 13 Linguistic Formation .................................................................................................. 17 Misperceptions ........................................................................................................... 19 Colonial Mentality .................................................................................................... 21 Identity Development ............................................................................................... 22 Processes of Cultural Adaptation ............................................................................... 25 Multicultural Education ............................................................................................ 26 Summary .................................................................................................................... 27 3. METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................... 29 Setting of this Study ................................................................................................... 29 Population and Sample ............................................................................................. 29 Design of this Study ................................................................................................... 30 Instrumentation ......................................................................................................... 30 Data Collection ......................................................................................................... 30 Grandparent Generation Female ................................................................... 31 Grandparent Generation Male ...................................................................... 37 Parent Generation Female ............................................................................. 41 viii Parent Generation Male ................................................................................ 43 Grandchild Generation Female ...................................................................... 46 Grandchild Generation Male ......................................................................... 49 4. RESULTS ........................................................................................................................ 54 5. DISCUSSION .................................................................................................................. 62 Appendix A. Interview Questions ............................................................................................ 67 Appendix B. Consent to Participate in Research .................................................................... 68 References ............................................................................................................................... 69 ix 1 Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION Cultural and Historical Background Many Filipino Americans, like myself, grew up with an identity struggle. Even with a large Filipino population in California, my small town of Oakley had only five Filipino families. My parents spoke only Ilocano (one of many Filipino languages) to me until my preschool teacher warned my