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Authors: Yi Hou
Keywords: Chinese study mother, English language learning, sojourner, Australia
Abstract: An increasing number of Chinese study mothers are staying in Australia to accompany their children (<18 years) attending Australian schools. This special household arrangement involves the mothers providing care and support for the children in the host country while the fathers remain in China to provide financial support for the family. Australian visa regulations restrict these mothers from undertaking paid work, and limit their study of English language course within 20 hours every week. This can pose challenges for study mothers’ (and possibly their children’s) social and cultural settlement into Australian society, and impact their sense of belonging. Substantial research has been conducted on the transnational experiences of migrants among especially immigrant-receiving countries. Nevertheless, there is little research on Chinese study mothers, especially their English language learning experiences as transient sojourners (i.e., temporary residents). These women may return to China during any stage of their stay and thus, are acknowledged as sojourners who have different desires for learning English from other individuals such as long-term settlers.
This paper outlines a proposed narrative case study that explores Chinese study mothers’ English language learning experiences, and how these experiences intersect with their mothering practices while sojourning in Australia. Using the frameworks of ‘investment’, ‘capital’, and ‘ideological becoming’, this research attempts to gain a partial but in-depth understanding of the English language learning experiences of Chinese study mothers based in Melbourne, Australia, trying to capture the mixture of the old and new of their being and becoming in a transnational context. Specifically, an empirical inquiry will be undertaken into their desires for English language learning, and how these desires mediate their investment in language learning in both formal and informal settings in their daily lives. Simultaneously, this proposed study seeks to understand how Chinese study mothers make sense of their English language learning experiences and negotiate their transnational identities during the second language learning process in the local community.
This proposed research plans to inform Australian federal government policies that will promote the social inclusion of migrants in Australia as an immigrant-receiving country, school policies around the inclusion of international families, and English Language Teaching pedagogy; particularly, for female adult migrants as transient sojourners in an Australian context. It is also anticipated that this proposed study can provide insight into autonomous English or second language learners who are living in the target language speaking countries but who are limited from participating in formal learning.