Funds of Knowledge Used to Support Young Children From Chinese Immigrant Families

• In Event: The Possibilities of Communal Learning Spaces: Fostering a Sense of Belonging for Asian American Young Children

Abstract

1. Objectives
Learning a heritage language does not only mean how to read a word, but it is more about gaining the meanings and cultural practices associated with the language (Byram, 1994; Mazari, & Derraz, 2015). Offering effective heritage language education usually needs language teachers to be equipped with pedagogical methods and an understanding of the cultural knowledge of young heritage learners. While the funds of knowledge framework has been employed as an effective pedagogical approach to explore the cultural knowledge of immigrant children (Moll et al., 1992; McDevitt, 2016; Oliveira & Gallo, 2021), there is little inquiry about funds of knowledge in heritage language education for young children from Chinese immigrant families. The purpose of the study is to explore what the funds of knowledge were in early childhood settings at a community-based Chinese heritage language school.

2. Perspectives of the Theoretical Framework:
The perspectives on funds of knowledge are utilized to support my investigation. By citing Vélez-Ibáñez and Greenberg (1989), Moll et al. (1992) defined funds of knowledge as “the historically accumulated and culturally developed bodies of knowledge and skills essential for household or individual functioning and well-being” (p. 133). Examples included household knowledge and skills associated with economics, folk medicine, cooking, childcare, and social networks (Moll et al., 1992).

3. Methods:
The data were collected at a community-based Chinese heritage language school in a large city in the southwestern United States. As the study focused on early childhood, the ethnographic research design was employed to explore the funds of knowledge in three classes that served early childhood learners at the school in the fall 2022 semester. The focal participants included three teachers: Mrs. Li, Ms. Yan, and Ms. Wang (All the names are pseudonyms). All three teachers spoke fluent English and Mandarin Chinese. Consent was received from all three teachers before conducting the project. The data sources included classroom observations, video recordings of class conversations, artifacts provided by the participants, and informal conversations. Data analysis included coding, categorizing, and identifying themes.

4. Findings:
Findings illustrate representative examples to demonstrate the themes: families’ daily life experiences, poetry reading practices, and folktale cultural knowledge. The families’ daily practices were identified as funds of knowledge that the teachers utilized to design learning activities at the community-based Chinese heritage language school. For example, Mrs. Li drew upon the daily life experiences of using chopsticks to design the activity, getting jelly beans, to provide space for the young children to gain the household skill that passed through generations in many Chinese families and simultaneously invite the children to acquire the vocabulary words (e.g., 筷子, chopsticks).

5. Scholarly Significance:
This proposal ties to the conference theme by exploring the educational assets (i.e., funds of knowledge) available in early childhood settings at a community-based Chinese heritage language school, which has been marginalized from the U.S. institutional discourse. The findings suggest that the funds of knowledge in Chinese heritage language classrooms need to be valued and recognized.

Author

• Aijuan Cun, University of New Mexico