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theses

This study investigated the use of directives by three bilingual Korean American children and their families in central New Jersey in the contexts of home and school. Directives are a crucial part of language socialization in the home (Bhimji, 2002; Blum-Kulka, 1997; Kent, 2012) and they are a critical part of the teacher’s repertoire in the classroom since directives aid teachers in the daily task of instructing the learning processes of students (Waring & Hruska, 2012). While directives play an important role in the language socialization practices of children in the home and school, there is little research on how directives are used by bilingual children in both settings of home and school. The study addressed this gap in research by examining the directive repertoires of three bilingual Korean American children and their families in their homes and by analyzing how the children’s directive repertoires intersected with the use of directives in their preschool classroom. The study consisted of an eight-month ethnography of three Korean American children and their families. The participants included three Korean American children, their parents, siblings, and teachers in their preschool class. The children were recruited from a preschool class in which the researcher had previously volunteered. The data was collected through field observations in the three homes and preschool class, interviews of children, parents, and teachers, and a collection of material artifacts in order to capture the use of directives of participants. All observations were audio-and video-recorded. The study contributed to an increased understanding of the bilingualism and biculturalism of Korean American children with a focus on their use of directives. It also shed light on the educational experiences and challenges of bilingual Korean American children in a monolingual preschool class. The study has implications for families and teachers of young bilingual children and learners of English in preschool.

ETD_7205

Ph.D.

Includes bibliographical references

by Sora Suh

doi:10.7282/T3NZ89T5

ETD doctoral

The author owns the copyright to this work.