Supporting Foreign Students in Elementary Schools: A Questionnaire Survey on Elementary School Teachers

Abstract

We conducted a questionnaire survey with 36 elementary school teachers who work with 93 foreign students to investigate the hurdles teachers face in supporting foreign students and the difficulties these students encounter in participating in classes and school life. Analyses employing the Mann–Whitney U test, the Pearson’s chi-square test and multiple regression analysis demonstrated that all elementary school teachers had trouble communicating with students’ parents from foreign backgrounds. Additionally, this research validated that according to the teachers, learning factors such as “listening,” “writing,” and “calculation and reasoning ability” substantially impacted foreign students’ participation in classes and school life. This work may contribute to elevating approaches for supporting foreign students as they navigate their struggles and serve as a foundation for more in-depth research on this topic.