Abstract
This article analyzes the relationship between Korean mothers’ beliefs about early childhood English education and preschoolers’ attitudes toward English learning. English experiences in the home were also projected to be significantly related to the aforementioned factors. Participants consisted of 159 mother–child pairs in South Korea. This study yielded three main results. First, correlations were found between the mothers’ education level and all three factors, while the fathers’ education and family income levels correlated only with preschoolers’ English experiences at home. Second, the subfactors of the mothers’ beliefs, the preschoolers’ home English experiences, and their attitudes toward learning English were revealed to be partly related. Third, the study showed that preschoolers’ English experiences at home mediated the relationship between the mothers’ beliefs in the importance of English education and the preschoolers’ attitudes. In effect, while the mothers’ beliefs about early childhood English education did not directly affect their children’s attitudes, indirect effects were found to be mediated by English experiences at home. Based on these results, we propose that it is necessary for parents to create a rich language environment in the home that engenders in children positive foreign language learning attitudes.
Highlights
The growing phenomenon of early childhood English education is found in most East Asian countries, in South Korea, which is the focus of this study
The purpose of this study is to investigate the possible relationships between three factors: (a) mothers’ beliefs about early childhood English education, (b) preschoolers’ English experiences at home, and (c) preschoolers’ attitudes toward learning English
The purpose of this study was to find out whether beliefs held by mothers about early childhood English education, mediated by English experiences at home, affect preschoolers’ attitudes toward English learning
Summary
The growing phenomenon of early childhood English education is found in most East Asian countries, in South Korea, which is the focus of this study. For successful English learning, we should consider not just the rich environment (e.g., mothers’ beliefs or English experiences), and the learner’s engagement (e.g., preschoolers’ attitudes). How do these variables relate to each other? It showed a concurrent increase in the rate of children studying English using workbooks at home and participating in English extracurricular activities at childcare centers or other English programs These findings in Korea concerning early childhood English education are in line with those found in other East Asian countries (Butler, 2015)
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