Listening to their Stories - Chinese Families Sharing their Lived Experiences in Australia and their Children's Mathematics Learning

Abstract

This paper challenges the prevailing understandings of homogenous Chineseness in the context of children's mathematics learning in Sydney. Recent research which examines the influence of culture on student's mathematics performance tends to see Chinese as one homogenous group. Research data collected from six Chinese families living in Sydney, however, suggests a contradictory view on Chineseness. Through the use of narrative inquiry as storytelling of lived experiences, it was found that families have different interpretations of Chineseness and hence, different representations of their identities. Their hybrid identities shift over time and in different social situations. While they see mathematics as important for their children's future, there do not seem to be clear links between their perceptions of identities and their children's mathematics learning in Australia. Data gathered in the interviews with the six families were first analysed with themes derived from the literature on identity and Chinese students' performance in mathematics before they were written in the form of narratives. Interpreting data with different analysis crystallises the experiences of the participants. This paper also provides some insights into how the researcher's own narrative can provide a special lens in the interpretation of that of the participants' in an ethnographic study.