Immigrant Parents’ Perspective on Their Children’s School and Education in the Era of COVID-19: A Case of Vietnamese Mothers in South Korea

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

 

The introductory sections are very well argued and give an extensive background to the South-Korean context. However, the background sections should lead into a more precise stipulation of the scientific issue under investigation. Only the last two sentences state that ”The notion that immigrants are a homogeneous group can create a distorted image. Thus, this study only investigates Vietnamese immigrants, which are the largest immigrant group in South Korea.”   This passage can be thoroughly elaborated. For example, while the Vietnamese immigrant group might be the largest, this seem not to be of high relevance to the study, where all paricipants are recruited in the same residential area/region. I think this can be a strength in a qualitative study as this, and the authors should elaborate to play on this strength - i.e. what are special to VN immigrants in this region that can be reflected in the interviews.   Formatting: Perhaps the layout can be edited so that the participants responses are indented or italicized and/or put within quotation-marks. Now it is not always readable where the respondents views are and when the researchers interpretation are.

There are some typos and grammatical issues. While overall well-written, the paper should be proof-read before publication.

Author Response

I am grateful to the reviewer for his/her time and constructive comments on my manuscript. I have implemented his/her comments and suggestions.

comments:  ...the background sections should lead into more precise stipulation...

Answer: Thank you for bring this to my attention. I have added a new paragraph that starts with "as the multicultural families has rapidly grown.." on page 4.

Comments: ...where all participants are recruited in the same residential area/region.  I think this can be a strength in a qualitative study as this...

Answer: Thank you for raising this point. However, I think the fact that the participants were recruited in the same residential area (Gyeonggi) is not a strong point of the study. Gyeonggi province is the most populous province in South Korea, and the land size of province is huge. Besides the size of each town in the province varies. Some are rural and some are urban areas.

Comments: Formatting: perhaps the layout can be edited so that the participants responses are indented or italicized...

Answer: Thank you for raising this point. I have made this change on page  7, 8, 9, 10, 12.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

The abstract can be made with strong connections to the findings and implications. There is a scope for  a conceptual framework connecting main aspects of the research. This would highlight the significance and    the research question.

Key findings could be highlighted in the conclusion section as dot points.

Moderate language editing could be done.

Author Response

I am grateful to the reviewer for his/her time and constructive comments on my manuscript. I have implemented his/her comments and suggestions. 

Comments: The abstract can be made with strong connections to the findings and implications.

Answer: Thank you for bring this to my attention. I have further reinforced the abstract by adding implications. 

Comments: There is scope for a conceptual frameworks connecting main aspect of the research. This would highlight the significance and the research question.

Answer: Thank you for pointing this out. As requested, I have added a new paragraph that start with, "as the number of children of multicultural families has rapidly... on page 4.  I also added the overarching research question for clarification (See page 5).    

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

The paper reports six Vietnamese mothers’ views on education and schooling in the time of Covid 19. The justification for this is the lack of studies that focus on parents’ views. Existing studies that note in particular the guiding role of parents of higher SES groups and differences in expectations for primary and secondary ages are highlighted but there is a general  lack of analysis or reference to theoretical standpoints. Overall the paper is descriptive and lacks critical evaluation of current research and scholarship (see, for instance, the section on multicultural families).  Methodologically, there are questions to raise about the sampling strategy, the analysis and the relationship of analysis to findings as presented. Discussion of the limitations of drawing on six participants in order to generalise about immigrant families in South Korea is absent. In terms of sampling, the mothers selected are not very recent immigrants. We learn nothing about their SES status or the ages of their children. The analytical strategy that involves identifying ‘significant statements’ correlated to the phenomenon then formulated into specific meanings  and then aggregated into sub-themes (pager 5) is not clear to the reader. Discussion and conclusion are quite repetitive and the findings as they stand unremarkable in terms of report to an international audience.

Author Response

Please see the attachment. 

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 4 Report

My comments are included in the attached document.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

I am grateful to the reviewer for his/her time and constructive comments on my manuscript. I have implemented his/her comments and suggestions. 

Comments: The abstract should be structured in clear way: introduction, methodology... plus a few words of conclusion and closure. 

Answer: Thank you for  raising this point. I have further reinforced the abstract by adding new sentences for clear closure. 

Comments: It would be interesting to look, albeit briefly, into the legal regulations concerning the treatment of multiculturalism in the country..

Answer: Thank you for bring this to my attention. I have added a new paragraph that discusses about policies related to multiculturalism and studies on multicultural families (see page 4-5).   

Comments: The objectives (general and specific) should have been included under a separate heading, within or before this heading 4.

Answer: Thank you for raising this point. I added the purpose of the study and the overarching research questions on page 5 (before the heading 4).

Scanned the references for proper style and typos.

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 3 Report

Relatively minor adjustments have been made to the paper. The abstract has been rewritten and exemplification of the analytical process provided.

Overall, the study is very small-scale and limited in the sample selected. That said, the paper is carefully presented, structured and reported.

The decision is proceed to publication lies with the editor who is best placed to judge merit in the context of an international audience. for the journal.