English Language Learners of Chinese Immigrant Families in Canadian Schools

Author

Jiayang ShiFollow

Keywords

Chinese Immigrant Children, ELL, EFL, ELL Curriculum Documents

Abstract

Given the context that many Chinese immigrant families are settling in Canada, their children, as English language learners (ELLs), have encountered a variety of obstacles and barriers while studying at local schools. The purpose of this Major Research Paper (MRP) is to understand the obstacles and barriers that Chinese newcomer ELLs in Ontario have encountered and hence to offer some helpful suggestions. A series of official documents of Ontario ELL curriculum has been introduced to school educators by the Ontario Ministry of Education (2005, 2008), such as Many Roots, Many Voices: Supporting English Language Learners in Every Classroom and Support English Language Learners Grade 1 to 8. Meanwhile, Chinese newcomer English learners have accepted systemic English language education in China before immigration. Therefore, to better understand the needs and challenges of Chinese newcomer ELLs, English curriculum in compulsory education in China and educational documents for ELLs in Ontario Canada will be discussed in this paper, followed by a comparison of pedagogies applied in compulsory education in Canada and China. Comparing the similarities and differences, and giving suggestions to pre-service, and in-service educators may help ELLs and EFLs to improve their academic performance. Other literature in the field is concerned with Chinese ELLs in Ontario elementary schools and the obstacles that they face at school. However, only a few studies compare ELL curriculum documents in Canada and English curricula standards in China, then give suggestions to schoolteachers, parents, and students' home countries about the challenges faced by Chinese immigrant children. Those barriers and challenges reflect the problems that still exist in curriculum and educational policies. Therefore, it is important to introduce Chinese EFLs to Ontario teachers in order to help Chinese ELLs get involved in their unfamiliar environment

Primary Advisor

Shijing Xu

Program Reader

Zuochen Zhang

Degree Name

Master of Education

Department

Education

Document Type

Major Research Paper

Convocation Year

2021