“Searching for Meanings and Becoming Better Moms”

Abstract

This article explores the education-related experiences of Vietnamese immigrant women in Taiwan. The author adopts a qualitative methodology, utilizing semi-structured interviews, followed by a constant comparative analysis. Three core themes are unearthed: the participants’ learning experiences, the process of meaning-making, and the multidimensional impacts of their education. Key findings include the effort invested by participants in obtaining familial support to pursue their education and the learning challenges posed by language barriers. Furthermore, the pursuit of education is found to extend to deeper aspects of self-identity, encompassing motherhood and empowerment. This article illustrates how higher education can facilitate better employment and enhance societal integration and intra-familial power dynamics for immigrant women. Its impact is not unilateral but spans multiple dimensions of their lives in their host society. The insights gained from this article indicate a need for broader, comparative, and diverse research to understand experiences across other immigrant communities in Taiwan.