ERIC Number: EJ1460411
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Feb
Pages: 16
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0142-6001
EISSN: EISSN-1477-450X
Available Date: 2023-10-31
The Impact of Filipina Domestic Workers on Hong Kong Primary School Children's L2 English Spoken CAF and Reading Accuracy and Fluency
Applied Linguistics, v46 n1 p146-161 2025
This study investigates the impact of Filipina domestic workers (FilDWs), a marginalized group in Hong Kong (HK), on HK children's language development. It focusses on FilDWs' influence on the second language (L2) English of bilingual HK primary school children attending an English Medium of Instruction school. The elements investigated are L2 English spoken complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF), and reading accuracy and fluency. Participants comprise 34 children (17 boys and 17 girls, mean age 8;11) from homes with FilDWs and 30 (15 boys and 15 girls, mean age 8;11) from homes with no FilDW. Participants completed an English reading and speaking task, and an English working memory capacity (WMC) test. Participants from households with FilDWs scored significantly higher on all aspects of both English language measures, while no significant differences for WMC were observed. These suggest that FilDWs exert a positive impact on children's L2 English proficiency, placing them in a different position to the low status they are usually ascribed. These findings have implications for decolonizing and decentring language learning and teaching.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Ethnic Groups, Housework, Service Occupations, Second Language Learning, English (Second Language), Bilingual Students, Elementary School Students, Language of Instruction, Language Fluency, Reading Skills, Reading Fluency, Language Proficiency, Immigrants
Oxford University Press. Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP, UK. Tel: +44-1865-353907; Fax: +44-1865-353485; e-mail: jnls.cust.serv@oxfordjournals.org; Web site: http://applij.oxfordjournals.org/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Hong Kong; Philippines
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1Independent Researcher, Hong Kong; 2Department of Humanities, Northumbria University, Applied Linguistics and TESOL, Room 401A, Lipman Building, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8ST, UK