Noción de contar con los números naturales

Concepts of parents’ attitudes and motivations are important in understanding children’s language attainment because they influence parents’ language behavior with regards to

children’s language learning (Tse, 1998). In other words, parents’ attitudes toward languages considerably affect children’s attitudes (Baker, 1992). For example, Chou’s (2005) examination

of Taiwanese EFL learners’ attitudes and motivations toward learning English as a foreign language, found that university students with higher positive attitudes to English learning

produced higher scores on self-reported English proficiency. Scores on attitudes and motivations toward English learning were higher for the Taiwanese learners who experienced more parental

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encouragement. The results indicate that there are interconnections between learners’ attitudes and their parental attitudes toward language learning.

Parents, especially mothers, play an important role in developing their children’s language because they serve as significant language learning models for their children (Bartram, 2006; Luo & Wiseman, 2000). For example, when parents have favorable attitudes toward bilingualism, they might select bilingual schools where their children can be exposed to a learning

environment with both languages and become bilingual successfully. These parents are likely to provide their children a variety of family literacy practices such as shared reading of books, hiring tutors, participating in children’s learning activities, watching TV programs, etc, because they have specific motivations toward children’s language learning. These parents’ language behaviors might strongly influence their children’s second or foreign language attainment.

Therefore, parent attitudes and motivations can be a significant way to understand children’s language attainment.

For example, Giacchino-Baker and Piller (2006) examined parents’ attitudes toward two- way immersion (TWI) found that the majority of parents were highly committed to place their children in the TWI programs. In the study conducted at the border region between Mexico and California, 30 parents from various ethnic backgrounds3 were surveyed and interviewed in the second year of a TWI program. Two thirds of participants (63.3%) used Spanish as their home and heritage language, and the rest of them (36.7%) used English. Almost 10% of the

participants spoke both languages, English and Spanish. The education levels of English- speaking parents were higher than those of Spanish-speaking parents. Both groups agreed that

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Participants of the study varied ethnically: Latino (72.4%), Anglo (20.7%), African American (6.9%), and Native American (3.4%).

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TWI programs contribute to the development of second language proficiency and children’s bilingualism, children’s biliteracy ability, and instrumental advantages of bilingualism, like good

careers and better jobs. Regarding their children’s success in the program, both English-speaking and Spanish-speaking parents emphasized family literacy practices, such as speaking in both English and Spanish at home, helping their children with English and Spanish homework, reading in both English and Spanish, and watching TV in English and Spanish, regardless of their different ethnic and linguistic backgrounds.

Parents’ favorable attitudes toward TWI encouraged them to enroll their children in the

program. These attitudes and motivations allowed parents to select the TWI program and motivated them to provide their children with a variety of family literacy practices at home. Parents’ language behaviors, based on their attitudes and motivation, might considerably influence children’s language learning. Therefore, parent attitudes and motivation will be an important means in predicting children’s language attainment.

According to Bartram’s study (2006), parents’ attitudes toward foreign language learning

can significantly influence children’s motivation and achievement. In order to provide some indication of the relationships between parental influences and children’s attitudes toward

language learning, Bartram included 411 foreign language students of French, German, and English participated in this study. The foreign language learners attended three data collection activities. In the first stage, all the participants were surveyed through written questionnaires relevant to language attitude and influences. Subsequently, about half of them participated in the second stage to comment on the questions more thoroughly. In the third stage, about 80 students consisting of 14 focus groups attended the interviews.

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The findings showed that parents strongly influenced children’s understanding of language status and importance. In terms of parental positive and negative attitudes toward children’s

foreign language learning, the results of this study demonstrated that the German pupils (98.5%) were more likely to have positive attitude toward foreign language learning than English (48.2%) and French pupils (82.2%). There were a variety of ways in which parents affected children’s attitudes. Some students believed that their parents favorably influence their own attitudes because they helped them with their homework, gave them encouragement, and provided role model status. The parents’ value system is especially important due to their language proficiency, which is useful for their children to develop their foreign language skills. Interestingly, parents’ language proficiency also influenced children’s attitudes. If parents lack language skills, children

recognize that the language is not important. In other words, limitations of parental knowledge can be a cause of failure or success in foreign language learning, so parents have a significant effect on children’s understanding of language significance and status (Oladejo, 2006).

However, the attitudes of some parents toward their children’s foreign language learning were not positive, because they thought that other academic subjects, such as math and science, were more important for their children than their foreign language proficiency. Parents’ attitudes can be a cause of failure in children’s foreign language learning and programs. Also,

Cunningham (2001) demonstrated that parents’ attitudes and behaviors can strongly influence their children’s performances.

2.2.4 Research on Parent Language Attitudes and Motivations in Second and Foreign