Examining Acculturation of Immigrant Children in the Domain of School and Education: Understanding the Mechanism of Acculturation Using the Theory of Sociocultural Models
Date
2024-07-17
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
ORCID
0009-0009-8477-0240
Type
Thesis
Degree Level
Doctoral
Abstract
This project used the theory of sociocultural models (TSCM; Chirkov, 2020a; 2020b) to examine the acculturation mechanism used by Indian immigrant children to navigate the Canadian educational context. According to the TSCM, acculturation involves navigating the discrepancy between the immigrants’ home and host cultures’ sociocultural model (SCM) of education. A system of SCMs is a primary mechanism for regulating people’s activities in every domain of their lives in different cultures. It is the rule that the SCM for education in their home country differs from the model in their host country, and immigrants and their children must discover these differences and navigate them. Following this logic, the initial stages of the project involved extracting a student-centered Canadian and a teacher-centered Indian SCM of education. First, they were identified using a comprehensive literature review and then examined through qualitative interviews with Canadian educators and Indian immigrant caregivers. The cultural discrepancies between the Canadian and Indian public education models were identified. In the second phase, case studies of immigrant caregivers illuminated the parents’ interactions with their children and with schools. Finally, immigrant children’s navigation between these SCMs and their families’ demands was studied using interviews. The results identified the children’s adjustment to the education domain, uncovering an acculturation mechanism involving the newcomer child at the center of a triangle of school, home and peer contexts. They reflected upon all three contexts to navigate their demands, interpreting and evaluating their place to find a harmonious balance for a successful education and happy lives.
Description
Keywords
Acculturation, Canadian-education, cultural-differences, immigrant children, Indian-education, sociocultural models
Citation
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
Department
Psychology
Program
Culture and Human Development