Korean Immigrant Parents' Involvement in Children's Biliteracy Development in the U.S. Context

Background

According to the American Community Survey (U.S. Census Bureau, 2015), approximately one million Korean immigrants live in the United States. Historically, Korean immigrants have come to the United States for political, economic, military, and educational reasons (Min, 2013). Korean immigrant students, like other Asian immigrant students, are often depicted as model minorities due to several characteristics, including academic achievement, respect for teachers, and seemingly very few academic challenges. Furthermore, Korean immigrant parents, like other Asian parents depicted in the media, are also often viewed as having a high expectation for their children and makeing considerable efforts to offer support for their children’s learning. Therefore, this chapter explores how first-generation Korean immigrant parents in the U.S. conceptualize their roles in supporting their children’s heritage language development and academic learning. More specifically, this study aims to provide insights into Korean immigrant parents’ perspectives of their efforts and decision making on everyday literacy practices to support their children’s biliteracy development.