Jaeyeon Oh , Sook Hyun Kang

DOI: Vol.20(No.1) 1-19, 2014

This article compares the early adjustment process of full-Korean and multicultural children to preschool institutions and investigates the levels of adjustment of these students week to week. A total of 29 Korean children and 29 multicultural students attending preschools in Gwangju, Jeonnam provinces were selected to participate in this research, and their early adjustment was measured each week for a total of eight weeks. At the end of eight weeks, a difference in adjustment levels to daily routines between Korean and multicultural children was made manifest, and it was apparent from the first week that multicultural students struggled with self-perception in comparison to Korean children. Also, through the repetitive daily routines of preschool, both Korean and multicultural children overcame struggles in adjusting to prosocial behavioral expectations and working with peers, and their levels of adjustment each week were very similar. Accordingly, the routine of preschool must be treated as the children’s first experience with social life, and an educational support for helping multicultural children adjust to their first stable routine and to overcome struggles with self-perception must be implemented.

early adjustment, multicultural children, daily routine, self-identity, being around peers,engaging in prosocial behavior, preschool institutions

Youn Sun Lee

DOI: Vol.20(No.1) 21-40, 2014

Language is the most essential forms of expression of culture. Since necessities for multicultural education have arisen in the field of early childhood education, discourses of bilingual education has been included as well. The Korean government supported bilingual education program for children with linguistically diverse backgrounds. What are the goals and ideologies of national bilingual education policies for these children in Korea? This study investigated the concepts, ideologies and goals of bilingual education in the policy document. In this study, CDA gives critical lens to investigate what the meaning of bilingual education is for young children with linguistically diverse backgrounds in Korea. Findings demonstrate that, the Korean government promotes bilingual education for parents and children with linguistically diverse backgrounds; their intention is to assimilate them into the Korean educational context. Based on a compensatory perspective, it was offered with the goal of reducing developmental gap between native Korean children and children from multicultural families. There has been little discussion of minority rights with regard to bilingual education. It is recommended that the focus on social justice and linguistic human rights issues need to be included in the process of bilingual program developing. Bilingual teachers need to be highly qualified educationally and linguistically and be critical since immigrant parents and their children have rights to be socially competent in Korea, but at the same time to maintain their own identity, language and pride. Children need to become aware of the power differential between Korean and their mothers’ language in the Korean society through education.

bilingual education policy, compensatory framework, minority linguistic rights

Mi Ai Kim

DOI: Vol.20(No.1) 41-60, 2014

As the grand narrative in early childhood education, ideas of Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) have had a great influence on research on teachers’ beliefs and practices. The literature pertaining to this area is critically reviewed in this article. The article focuses on how the dichotomous and modernist notion of DAP has limited practitioners’ beliefs and thoughts of their performance in classrooms. The review includes 1) debates on DAP from critical perspectives, 2) the ways in which the dichotomous idea of DAP has, in each category of the research, a limitary effect on shaping early childhood teaching identity, and 3) a discussion of issues of gender, ethnicity, and sexuality as possible alternative teaching identities for future research on early childhood teachers’ beliefs and practices. It also discusses a need to expand early childhood teachers’ teaching identities beyond DAP.

teachers` beliefs and practices, developmentally appropriate practice, DAP, grand narrative, teaching identity, critical perspectives

Youn Woo Lee

DOI: Vol.20(No.1) 61-84, 2014

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the relationship between preschool teachers’ perceptions about language and early literacy practices and independent observations of their implementation of those practices in a classroom setting. Semi-structured interviews and classroom observations were conducted with five preschool teachers who participated in an Early Reading First (ERF) program. The teachers were purposively selected based on differences in their level of fidelity implementation of instructional practices. Three teachers were selected from high fidelity (HF) of implementation group and two teachers were chosen from low fidelity (LF) group. The three research questions were related to 1) teachers’ beliefs about the effect of ERF program on children’s early literacy outcomes, 2) changes in teachers’ instructional behaviors resulting from ERF, and 3) teachers’ beliefs about individualizing early literacy experiences according to children’s ages or developmental level. Based on the interview and observations, three themes were found: (a) importance of preschooler’s early literacy experiences, (b) changes in teaching behaviors, and (c) changes in early reading and writing instruction according to children’s ages or developmental level. Implications and limitations were discussed in terms of using the information of teachers’ perceptions into professional development training to increase teachers’ early literacy practices.

fidelity of implementation, preschool teachers, teachers` perceptions, early literacy instruction, qualitative study, Early Reading First program

Kai Sook Chung , Mi Na Kim

DOI: Vol.20(No.1) 85-102, 2014

The goal of this study was to investigate the connection between conflicted teacher-child relationship and conflicted or passive peer play behavior using maternal object relations as moderator on the connections. For this purpose, researchers collected teachers’ and mothers’ reports of young children (age range = 29- 83 months; girls = 184, boys = 185) in Korea. Teachers, who perceived their relationship with target children as conflicted, reported that the children were engaged in conflicted play with peers more often than the counterpart children who were in close relationship with the teachers. Children, especially girls, whose mothers were experiencing more difficulties in their relationships with others were observed by their teachers as having more conflicted play with their peers. Likewise, for passive peer interaction, children, whose mothers were having more difficulties in their relationships with others, were perceived as being passive in peer interaction.

teacher-child relationship, peer interaction, maternal object relations

Soyoun Bae , Jin Young Kim , Young Mee Lee

DOI: Vol.20(No.1) 103-124, 2014

The purpose of this study was to explore the difficulties and desires of Korean parents in educating their children in the US. Seventy-eight Korean parents participated in this study through the questionnaire developed by researchers. The findings were: (1) Korean parents have difficulties in educating their children in the US mostly resulting from the unfamiliarity of the American culture including the school culture and language barriers, specifically speaking and listening; (2) Korean parents mostly consult with other Koreans when facing difficulties in educating their children in the US, although they did also consult with their children’s teachers; (3) Korean parents desire specific types of support from teachers in terms of better communication with them and more attention to their culture and difficulties; and (4) Korean parents with their own experiences of schooling in the US had less levels of difficulties in educating their children in the US. Discussions, conclusions, and suggestions for further studies drawn from these findings were also stated.

Korean parents in the US, building partnerships with parents of diverse backgrounds, home-school relationships, immigrant families

Young Hee Park

DOI: Vol.20(No.1) 125-148, 2014

The purposes of the study were to investigate the following: (1) what factors consist of the school climate? (2) does the school climate influence parental school involvement? (3) does the school climate affect children’s early academic achievement at kindergarten? and (4) does parental school involvement mediate the impact of the school climate on children’s early academic achievement? Data for the study were extracted from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study .Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999 (ECLS-K), (NCES, 2004); the research focused on 10,743 children, their parents, teachers, and administrators who participated in the study in the spring of 1999. Using structural equation modeling (SEM), results showed that the school climate that could be explained by four indicators (children’s, parents’, and teachers’ perception about teacher/school and school learning environment) contributed to parental school involvements, representing parent-school partnerships. Results also demonstrated that parental school involvement mediated the impact of the school climate on children’s reading and mathematics achievement. Findings were discussed in relation to future research and policy-making.

parental school involvement, school climate, early academic achievement