Research Summary: Text mining analysis of school adaptation among Chinese children living in Japan

Research identifies challenges faced by Chinese elementary school children in Japan regarding school adaptation, particularly for those requiring Japanese language instruction. These challenges span academic learning, interpersonal relationships, and school participation. The study emphasizes the importance of understanding the interrelationships between these dimensions from the children's own perspectives, leveraging text mining analysis of interview data.

Why it matters

This research highlights critical social integration challenges within educational systems for growing diverse populations. Understanding these challenges from the perspective of affected children provides crucial insights for developing effective support mechanisms and inclusive policies, ensuring equitable access to quality education and social development.

Key insights

• A growing demographic of children with foreign backgrounds in Japan necessitates enhanced support for school adaptation.
• Chinese children requiring Japanese-language instruction may face difficulties across academic learning, interpersonal relationships, and participation in school life.
• Previous research on the interrelation of these adaptation dimensions from Chinese children's perspectives has been limited.
• The study employed semi-structured interviews with six Chinese elementary school children in Japan.
• Analytical methods included word-frequency, co-occurrence network, hierarchical cluster, and correspondence analyses using KH Coder.

Source

Frontiers in Education — https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1720904