Presenters: Dr Fay Shin, Associate Professor CSU Stanislaus; Annie Nguyen, Language Development Facilitator, Lodi Unified School District

Annie Nguyen is a language Development Facilitator in the Multilingual/Multicultural Office, Lodi Unified School District. She is also a part time instructor in the Teacher Education Department at California State University, Stanislaus.

As the American school system became increasingly diverse, the immigrant children’s heritage language status and their attitudes toward the heritage culture were believed to have an enormous effect on their achievement and success in school. Numerous research studies have been conducted exploring the relationship between academic achievement and social, cultural, and language influence, as well as self-efficacy of different ethnic groups at various levels. This study investigated (a) first to eighth grade Vietnamese students’ attitudes toward their heritage language and culture. In addition, this study investigated whether significant differences existed between (b) academic achievement and heritage language and culture attitudes, and (c) between academic achievement and Vietnamese language skills among the middle school Vietnamese students. Results through data collection and statistical analysis indicated positive attitudes toward heritage language and culture, and also positive relationship between attitudes and academic achievement among middle school Vietnamese students. However, there was no relationship between school achievement and Vietnamese language skills.

1) Is heritage language and culture important to Vietnamese elementary and middle school students?

2) Is there a relationship between Vietnamese middle school students’ attitudes toward their heritage language and culture and their school performance?

3) Is there a significant difference in school performance between middle school Vietnamese students who have higher Vietnamese language skills and those who do not?

The data in this study were collected and analyzed to investigate (a) first to eighth grade Vietnamese students’ attitudes toward their heritage language and culture, (b) whether significant differences existed between academic achievement and Vietnamese language skills, and (c) whether significant differences existed between academic achievement and attitudes toward heritage language and culture among the middle school Vietnamese students. Data analysis and discussion of the results clustered around the three hypotheses that were generated from the three purposes of the study mentioned above.

Hypothesis 1. There is no significant difference in the attitudes toward heritage language and culture among Vietnamese elementary and middle school students.

The data presented in Table 2 regarding participants’ language preferences showed that the majority of Vietnamese students preferred to maintain their heritage language along with English. Almost half of the students surveyed spoke Vietnamese to their parents who were the main connection between the students and the Vietnamese heritage. Approximately 43% of the total participants preferred to speak English to their friends.

Table 3 included the participants’ perceptions regarding the importance of maintaining their heritage language and culture. The participants overwhelmingly agreed that maintaining Vietnamese language and culture is important. The statistical analysis of questions 12 through 15 using both simple and complex Chi-Square consistently showed there was significant difference among the participants’ responses which implied there was a great distribution in the responses.

The summary of comments made by students presented the reasons behind students’ attitudes toward their heritage language and culture. Although only 25% of the students surveyed wrote comments, the majority of these comments (83%) consistently reflected the value of one remaining in contact with the heritage culture and being able to communicate with parents and grandparents.

Hypothesis 2: There is no relationship between Vietnamese middle school students’ attitudes toward their heritage language and culture and their school performance.

The analysis of covariance with participants’ 97 and 98 standardized test scores in reading, language, and mathematics utilizing the two-way ANCOVA test was applied to questions 12 through15. Significant differences were found in the following areas:

1. Students who answered yes to questions 12 – 15 (it is important to speak, read, and maintain Vietnamese language and culture) were more likely to score higher in the language section.

2. Students who answered yes to questions 13 and 14 (it is important to read and write both English and Vietnamese, and would like to learn Vietnamese in school) were more likely to score higher in the reading section.

3. Students who answered yes to question14 (would like to learn Vietnamese in school) were more likely to score higher in the mathematics section. Since significant differences were found in one or more areas of all four questions, it was concluded that there was a relationship between Vietnamese middle school students’ attitudes toward their heritage language and culture and their school performance, especially in the language skills. Also, students who agreed with the importance of maintaining and learning their heritage language and culture, tended to score higher in one or more sections of the standardized test.

Hypothesis 3. There is no significant difference in school performance between the Vietnamese middle school students who have higher Vietnamese language skills and those who do not.

The analysis of covariance with participants’ 1997 and 1998 standardized test scores in reading, language, and mathematics utilizing the two-way ANCOVA test was applied to question six which asked students to self-evaluate their Vietnamese language skills. Significant difference was found only in the mean reading scores among the students’ responses from various grade levels. Therefore, it was concluded that there was no significant difference in school performance between the Vietnamese middle school students who have higher Vietnamese language skills and those who do not.

Table 1

Demographics of Sample (N=588)

Background Number Percent

Gender

Male 304 51.70%

Female 284 48.30%

Status

U.S. Born 415 70.58%

Immigrant 173 29.42%

Length of U.S. Residency (Immigrant=173)

Less than 5 years 40 23.12%

Five years or more 133 76.88%

Grade Level

First 47 7.99%

Second 49 8.33%

Third 66 11.22%

Fourth 83 14.12%

Fifth 79 13.44%

Sixth 86 14.63%

Seventh 72 12.24%

Eighth 106 18.03%