Blog # 11 Research Project Essay (draft)

Topic: How reading influences foreign and native born children?

            Emily Dickinson stated: “ There is no frigate like a book”.

There is no nation without language. Language provides human uniqueness, 

priceless literature works - memoirs, romances, stories, science discoveries, 

historical succession and  save their culture. Use of the language will able to 

deepen our knowledge by reading different books and it is an invaluable treasure 

of particular nationality. Happy is that person who recognized, educated and

 admired language during all of his/ her life.

             My research paper focuses on interviews with two families of different 

heritage one of them American and the other Russian. It was an interesting project, 

because I was able to use skills that I learned in class. For example I passed a test 

and got a certificate from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).Without this test 

I wouldn’t be able to do this research. It gave me a key for interviewer and

better understanding of the interviewee. The methods I shall use the interview, 

discourse analysis and oral analysis. I observed and wrote from my point of view 

using my own techniques. This research is going to answer the questions: “ How 

does reading influence two different heritage children? What values, roles and 

decisions both families have made in choosing literature for their children?”

The two families I interviewed had some similar features: The parents in 

both families were college graduates. Each child had no other siblings. Both 

children have been involved in higher education. Differences include American 

born parents and child, Russian born parents and child, as well as the sex of the 

children. An American born boy and Russian born girl. I did the interviews at my

house on different dates. Even I know these families well, I welcome them to make 

them feel comfortable. I used the same questions in the same order. The only 

difference was that I interviewed the Russian parent in her native language, since 

it was easier for her. I translated the Russian interview into English. Both interviews 

were recorded to that I would not skip anything important. During each interview I 

asked questions that were clear and on topic and allowed the interviewees to speak 

without interrupting when they went a little bit off topic.

          The questions that I asked my interviewees were “ Did you read to your child? 

What were the values, roles and decisions you made about what to read to your
child? What language did you use at home? In what language did you prefer to read
to your child? Why? How old was your child when you read to him/her? What kind
of books, stories did you read to your child? When did you read to your child?
(morning, during the day or evening) Did the child prefer to be read to in a group or
alone? How old was the child when you stopped reading for him/her? Did you notice
reading ability in the child? Did he/she recognize any letters, words in the story?
Was the child able to answer questions about the story? How did parental reading
help the child to develop his/ her own reading skills and writing skills? Did he/she
copy words from the book? When? While being read to or after? Was the child able
to retell the story? What books or stories does your child recall that were read to
him/her? Did reading to your child in your native language, help him/her to become
proficient in English? These questions helped me to evaluate and reading readiness
in basically two different families and get valuable information about children’s
literacy. I was able to get relevant information on cultural influences, values and roles.

             In transcript I  the parents are American. I know that they are teachers. I
discovered during an interview that the father has a Masters degree. When I asked a
question, she talked more about her background and her family.  Her parents weren’t
educated but her father was intelligent person and wanted both girls to get a high
education. This means that she deeply values the importance of education, and her
experience as a teacher. She also said that despite her decision to education, she
“still wanted to be a mother”. Doing her work responsibly  she spent all of her free
time with her son because her husband was getting his Master’s degree and working
even during the “weekend”. She decided what to read to her son and where to
take him to stimulate his interest in reading and writing  “But it was only when he
was ready”. She read for him whatever he wanted, she took him to the library where
he picked the books and once “I was embarrassed, but then I was like wait a minute”.
It had happened while the librarian read a book for twenty children. He left the group
and went to the shelves to choose a book. Her efforts to expose her son to sounds
and words paid off. He became a “good writer” in elementary school. His favorite
subject was history. She and her husband continued to stimulate his interest in his-
tory by visiting museums “we used to take him to museums in Washington DC ”.
He struggled in math “But he got fine”. Despite his weakness, he attended Rutgers,
got his Bachelor’s degree and became a police officer.

In Transcript II where the parents are Russian, both parents have degrees
in higher education. Compared to the interviewer this mother grew up in a
family where the parents did not pay as much attention to her education. She
learned to read on her own “ Nobody read for me but when I got older I liked
to read adult books”. As soon as she became a mother, her husband decided 
what book to read to their daughter. But when their daughter was little she
taught her poems. When the daughter got older her husband remembered a
lot of books from his youth and he helped  his daughter and gave direction
on what to read. They immigrated to the United States of America nineteen
years ago. Their daughter was seven years old. When they immigrated the
struggles and frustration that she had in school in the beginning didn’t stop
her from getting to associates degree and continuing to work on her bachelor’s
degree in medicine. It was interesting that her mother attributed her difficulties
not to second language learning, but to her personality. 

             Analyzing these two families each of them had their own way to guide their
children to become a good readers. The girl in the Russian family resisted her
mother’s attempts but in the end became a reader never the less. The boy in the
American family responded positively to his mother efforts to get him to read and
write. As his mother said he became a good writer. In Russian family I founded that
mother from her background who was never read to as a child but find a way get her
daughter get interested in books. Despite the difficulties and getting her daughter to
read that her daughter is now enjoys reading.