Investigating parental involvement strategies and roles used by Turkish parents to support learners' EFL distance learning process in terms of parents' economic, social, and cultural capitals: A mixed-methods study

Abstract

The issue of parental involvement in a child's EFL learning process is still one of the most current concerns for today's world of education. Its significance has increased in distance education during the Covid-19 pandemic so that parents have become the sole partners of teachers and school staff for sustaining child education at home. Based theoretically on sociocultural theory of Vygotsky and conceptually on Bourdieu's concept of capital, the present study aimed to investigate the nature and scope of parental involvement in Turkish secondary school learners' EFL distance learning in terms of three basic aspects of involvement. First, parental involvement roles and strategies were investigated and associated with parents' capitals (i.e. economic capital, social capital, and cultural capital). Second, it was aimed to find out parental beliefs and attitudes towards parental involvement, child's EFL learning, and distance education. Last but not least, the study tried to investigate possible barriers to parental involvement in child's EFL learning process. In order to do these, the study used a mixed method design in which a parent online questionnaire was used to obtain quantitative data and semi-structured interviews were used to have more detailed information about the nature and scope of parental involvement in Turkish EFL context. The sample involved 375 Turkish parents for the quantitative part while qualitative data were collected from 8 Turkish parents. At this point, the former one was analyzed with SPPS v.16 program while the latter one was analyzed with content analysis. The setting involved four state secondary schools in Erzurum province. The results demonstrate that parents' economic, cultural, and social capitals influence their involvement strategies and roles used to support children's EFL distance learning. In addition, most of Turkish parents have positive beliefs and attitudes towards involvement and EFL learning; however, they have some negative beliefs and attitudes towards distance education. Furthermore, parents' lack of English proficiency is the most significant barrier affecting the participants' involvement process. The study suggests that the multidimensional nature of parental involvement seems attractive for further research. It also recommends a parent-teacher-school collaboration that may open door to efficient involvement. Further recommendations from parents to other stakeholders are also revealed. Key Words: Parental Involvement, EFL Learning, Capitals, Distance Education