The use of educational programmes to support marriage immigrants in Taiwan: a case study of an Information Communication and Technologies (ICTs) course

Thesis

There is an increasing flow of marriage migration around the world in the era of globalisation. As a result of moving to a new country, marriage immigrants typically encounter a range of difficulties due to language, cultural and environmental differences. To try to address some of these challenges a number of countries have begun to provide educational programmes for marriage immigrants.

Focusing on the case of Taiwan, which is one of several countries to acknowledge this issue, this study aims to explore what educational needs marriage immigrants have and the extent to which educational programmes can help to support these individuals. Indeed, the Taiwanese government has been making a concerted effort to support marriage immigrants’ educational needs by offering a range of learning programmes. Here, the focus is on developing ICT skills because ICTs form an important part of all aspects of daily life in Taiwan and the skills are believed to facilitate independent and continued learning.

Using a qualitative case study approach, this research investigates one ICT programme specifically targeted at 25 marriage immigrants in an urban district in Taipei and studies the value of the programme in assisting their adaptation to their new lives in Taiwan. This study draws on adult learning theories to examine the motivations of the participants, the barriers to learning that they encounter and the ways these can be overcome, as well as longer-term impacts of the programme and the use of ICTs in their lives.

The marriage immigrants were found to have strong goal-oriented motivations. These goal-oriented motivations can be further subcategorised into those associated with job, life management and parenting. As for overcoming learning barriers for them, the government’s financial support and childcare services offered proved to be important in supporting learning by decreasing both the institutional and situational barriers. Although ICTs were proved to have the capability of reducing situational barriers, they were not the participants’ main concern. There were a number of longer term impacts of the programme. Increasing confidence is one of the most significant which led to further learning motivations. This research contributes to the understandings of the marriage immigrants’ learning needs and the possible ways ICT programmes are supportive of those needs.

Authors: Lee, C

• Publication date: 2010
• Type of award: MLitt
• Level of award: Masters
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: educational programmes; marriage immigrants; ICT courses
• Subjects: Education; Internet and everyday life