Chinese-Spanish Immigrant Child Performance on Chinese Language Tests: A Case Study on Chinese-Spanish Children

Abstract

Research on Chinese-speaking communities in recent years has accompanied growing interest in language acquisition and usage in Chinese immigrant children. Second-generation Chinese immigrants must navigate a highly complex linguistic environment rife with factors that affect their language proficiency. Overseas, Chinese children face greater difficulties in learning Chinese and show generally low Chinese proficiency compared to their non-immigrating counterparts. What exactly are the difficulties in the process of their Chinese learning? How can their Chinese language proficiency be precisely defined? What are the external and internal factors that influence their language skills? To solve these questions, we assessed 80 Chinese children ranging from 7-9 years of age in Malaga City, Spain, by issuing questionnaires, interviews, and language tests designed to reveal the relationship between their language proficiency and living conditions. Factors such as family environment, parents' occupation, parents' education, and language attitude and motivation are taken into consideration as crucial factors, which affect language proficiency. We also distributed a language test to 80 Chinese students at South Lake Primary School in Hubei Province to compare their language proficiency with that of the Spanish immigrant children overall, and to identify specific points of weakness. A combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches was used in the data analysis.