Social Science Research

Social Science Research

Introduction

Growing up as a child of parents who have immigrated can be a very challenging experience to the child. The child gets intense pressure from the parents to succeed in the new country which can be viewed as a better country in terms of opportunities as compared to their native country. More often than not the children of immigrant families face intense challenges because of the difference between their cultural background and the community that they are trying to fit into; all of this put together with the pains of growing up make the situation more awkward and complicated for the children.

Statement of problem

There are various aspects surrounding the life of an immigrant child and therefore it is necessary to carry out a research on the children of immigrants in schools. This research will focus on the immigrant child and look at their life in the new country particularly when it comes to the way they settle into their new schools.

Purpose of the research

The research aims to look at the life of an immigrant child in the new country. Its objective is finding out how the children settle into the schools and what challenges they face as they settle in the schools. It will look at the ease of settling into the new school as well as the performance of the children in the schools. It will also look at the efforts made by various parties when it comes to trying to settle into the schools. Specifically it will look at how the parents of immigrants, the teachers and other students in the schools influence the process of settling in as well as the performance of the children in the schools. In general the research is purposed to try and find means of helping the immigrant child in the schools.

Significance of Research

The research to be conducted is very significant as it will look at the immigrant child in schools and the challenges they face. After getting the challenges then there can be proposals made on how these children can be helped when it comes to their life and stay in schools. The results from the research can also be used by teachers and parents when it comes to understanding and treating the immigrant children in the schools. The research is therefore very significant and is a course worth taking.

Background

Immigrants tend to move to new countries so that they can be able to build their lives afresh with new opportunities that present themselves in the new area. They specifically keep in mind the welfare of their children .the idea of a new life is pleasant the reality however dawns on the children as they face various issues that are negative and long lasting. They experience difficulties in relationships, in homes and particularly in schools. There have been various research carried out by different people on immigrant children in schools. These include the challenges these children face in schools and their performance in schools. The education systems are not designed to meet the needs of the immigrant children’s needs. The immigrant children face various challenges in schools the basic being language barriers. It is expected of the children to take in the educational standards for their age and at the same time learning new languages and new social norms in the country. Schools are knitted in bilingual educational debate that seeks to establish whether children should obtain instructions in the language that is dominant or in the native language while learning English. The immigrant children face poverty at their homes and this can be detrimental to the experience they have in school particularly those children that are not receiving proper nutrition. There have been registered high drop out rates of immigrant children As compared to the natural-born citizens this is according to a study conducted by Princeton University (Dalcour, 2010).

Immigrant children that are from socioeconomic backgrounds that are low face many challenges in schools such as learning difficulties, high drop out rates, communication skills, poor academic performance, summer loss and many more academic related issues. Researchers have clearly stated the limited access to resources is a clear mark of difference in preparation for schools as well as the emergence of literacy among the immigrant children. There have been growing numbers of studies on the correlation between low SES and the learning of children. This however can not be used to make generalized observations across all immigrant groups. For instance Asian groups adjust faster as compared to Hispanic groups. This is due to the fact that there are multifactor’s apart from SES that in close interaction have an effect on the achievement of the different immigration groups. It should the responsibility of schools to ensure that immigrant students that have problems in schools are located, provided with support in terms of available academic interventions. There should also be initiation of communication between schools and immigrant families on the available programs so that they can be able to plan for the learning needs of the students. As a response a parent should be actively involved in the encouraging as well as giving support in the performance of the children in school. Parents are also called to monitor the children when they come from school at every opportunity they get.

It is fair to state that any new child in a school no matter if they are immigrants or will have various challenged to overcome when they are in anew school. The difference with the immigrant children is that the normal or usual problems faced by new children can be exacerbated due to their status. They might face bullying and due top their difference it is usually easier to attack them. Parents should also have a role to play; they often focus more on the academic achievements without acknowledging that their children are actually struggling socially (D’Souza, 2011).

The success of integrating immigrant children is an enormous task to the entire society and the education system has a crucial role to play in the entire process. Different nations have different approaches towards the immigrant students in schools and there have been various programs put in place to ensure that there is improvement of the understanding of the role education institutions have as well as policies when it comes to the integration of immigrant children.

The children fro immigrant families are also socially segregated in the world. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development immigrant children are clustered in schools that are disadvantaged as compared to their counterparts. There are also incidences where immigrant children are seen to be outperforming the native children in schools. Researches Hao and Woo carried out a research that showed that a comparison made between children with similar social economic status and school conditions the best students were those from foreign countries. This shows that despite the challenges the immigrant children face in schools they still work hard and become meaningful people in life.

Research Design

The research design that will be used is a flexible research design. The specific flexible research design that will be used is Ethnographic study. This involves the study within a group, community, culture or organization. In this the research will involve group of immigrant children, the institution will be the schools this students are enrolled and while the community will be the parents of the immigrant students as well their teachers and fellow students. The research will therefore be conducted in schools and homes of the immigrant students.

Data collection methods

There are various methods that will be used in collecting data for the research this include questionnaires. There will be formulation of questions that will be required to be filled by the respondents. The respondents in this case will be teachers, immigrant students, other students and the parents of the immigrant students. These questionnaires will only be issued to a sample of the population that will be taken as a representation of the entire population. The respondents are expected to fill the questionnaires themselves. The questions in the questionnaire will be simple in structure so that it can be easy to get answers and hence analyze the data collected. The other method of data collection is interviews. Interview questions will be formulated and interviews organized among the target population. This will be group interviews as well as personal interviews. Observation is another tool that wil be used, there will be visits to schools where immigrant children are enrolled and their behavior in class observed. This observations will then be noted down and analysis done at a later time.

Data analysis plan.

After data has been collected it will consequently undergo analysis .the data will be taken through a process of data analysis that will involve several processes. Data cleaning is the first phase where the data collected will be inspected and any errors found corrected. Initial data analysis phase follows, at this stage there will be refraining from analysis that aims to answer the initial research question. The initial data analysis phase therefore will be guided by four questions the quality of data that should be checked at the early stages of analysis as possible. Quality of measurements, initial transformations as well as if the implementation of the study fulfills the initial intentions of the research designs are the remaining questions that will be asked at this initial phase. The data sample will also be characterized and the structure of the sample will be put into consideration .at the final stage of the initial data analysis the findings are documented and any corrections that are deemed important are made at this stage. The main data analysis phase follows that is aimed at answering the actual research question as well as any analysis that will be important when it comes to writing the first report of the research.

Future application of the research

The data that has been collected and analyzed can now be put into use. This information can be used to help immigrant students when it comes to their stay in schools. The data will be used in helping them overcome the challenges that might face them in schools so that they can be better students. The information can also be used to giving directions to schools so as to know how to treat the immigrant students and hence make them perform better. And finally the information can be used to improve the performance of these students in schools as well as sustaining those students that perform well.

Conclusion

The research will be conducted in a month and analysis done in just a few days. The findings will then be relayed to the relevant people or institutions that will put it into use. This is a research that is very important as this is an issue that is faced by many people due to the fact that the number of immigrants is continuing to rise.

References

D’Souza, J.B. (2011). Children of immigrants and their challenges.Retrieved march 7, 2013 from

http://canadianimmigrant.ca/family/children-of-immigrants-and-their-challengesDalcour, J. (2010).Problems of immigrant children. Retrieved March 7, 2013 from

http://www.ehow.com/info_8391989_problems-immigrant-children.htmlDavies, L. (2011).Children from immigrant families ‘face significant challenges’ in UK schools.

Retrieved March 7, 2013 from

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/sep/11/childrenimmigrant-families-uk-schools