Analysing language education policy for China's minority groups in its entirety

Feng, Anwei; Sunuodula, Mamtimyn

doi:10.1080/13670050802684396

Cited by 51 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Huang (2007, in press) has observed that in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the home language, Zhuang, is being increasingly ignored in societies and schools, while the importance of English for the region and for individuals has radically increased due to highly profitable international megaevents such as the China-ASEAN Exposition that is held annually, and because of the regional government policies to promote English language education. Feng and Sunnudula (2009) report that many Zhuang student interviewees in their research referred to Zhuang, unconsciously perhaps, not as a language for the indigenous group but as a 'dialect' of Chinese. In a remote village school in Yunnan attended by Naxi children, according to Blackford and Jones's research (in press), an English teacher, though poorly trained, has been available to the school to offer English in recent years, but the Dongbawen (the Naxi written language) teacher who used to be there disappeared.…”

Section: Cultural and Linguistic Tensionsmentioning

confidence: 96%

English in China

Feng

2009

AILA

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This paper starts with an overview of the sociolinguistic context and a series of policy documents concerning English language education promulgated recently in China. It moves on to an analysis of disparities in English language education policies practised in different regions, differences between urban and rural areas, between social classes and between linguistic minority and majority groups. The juxtaposition aims to reveal what different regions and social and ethnic groups in China have in common and how divergent they can be in terms of local policies and practices in English language provision. Also discussed in the paper are issues such as tensions between the spread of English and Chinese language education, and between mother tongue, Chinese and English language education in the case of minority groups, inequality in education and other linguistic, political and cultural dimensions. IntroductionRecent scholarship on English in China has shown a consensus that the role and status of English in the society and in education have reached unprecedented heights (Hu 2008; A.W. Feng in press; Gil and Adamson in press). The exponential spread of English has been particularly evident since the turn of the century when the central education authorities promulgated a series of documents promoting the language in schools and tertiary institutions. The whole country seems to be mobilized for their implementation. Official statistics cited in Wen and Hu (2007) claim that the overwhelming majority of over 226,000,000 students in primary and secondary schools and in universities study English taught by a strong force of English teachers numbering 850,000 in the country. There is common agreement that the last couple of decades have witnessed the fastest growth in English language education.Despite the rapid increase of English use in Chinese society in general and the popularity of English language education, tensions remain high between the spread of English and the national language, Mandarin Chinese, 1 for the majority group of the country, and between the minority home language, 2 Mandarin Chinese as a second language and English as a third language in the case of a typical minority group. The provision of the English language in schools in economic and sociopolitical powerhouses and in coastal regions differs enormously from that in inland and remote regions. Even within the same geographical location, whether it is an economic and sociopolitical centre or a small town in a remote region, access to resources for English language learning can vary greatly from one social group to another. Arising out of this context are vexing issues such as social and ethnic divisiveness and inequality in education. This paper provides a general description of the

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Section: Cultural and Linguistic Tensionsmentioning

confidence: 96%

English in China

Feng

2009

AILA

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“…The number and percentage of ethnic minority students in HEIs have also increased in the past 25 years, especially after the year 2000 (see Table 3). Regarding the effectiveness of those preferential and ethnic minority languageand culture-related policies, there are controversial voices (Feng & Sunuodula, 2009). One general policy cannot cover all ethnic minority groups, especially in China with such a diverse ethnic minority situation in terms of geographic locations, ethnic history, population, and the level of economic development.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Minority Language Issues in Chinese Higher Education: Policy Reforms and Practice among the Korean and Mongol Ethnic Groups

Xiong

Jacob

2016

Front Educ China

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The purpose of this study is to compare Korean and Mongol minorities in the People's Republic of China in terms of their native language preservation and educational experiences at the higher education level, and to investigate differences and similarities between Korean and Mongol minorities' language issues. Content area experts on Chinese minority education from China, South Korea, and the United States were interviewed for this study. Findings include suggestions for helping to formulate government educational policies regarding issues related to language in Chinese minority education at the higher education level. This information is helpful to better understand and educate others in school and home settings where Chinese ethnic minority students reside. The advancement of Chinese minority education knowledge related to higher education will significantly strengthen and empower individuals, families, and communities throughout the People's Republic of China.

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“…Li and Huang (2004) divided development in XUAR into three stages (Feng & Sunuodula, 2009). According to Li and Cao's (2009) In order to understand the multilingual education in XUAR, it is necessary to understand the multilingual and multicultural context in XUAR.…”

Section: The Implementation Of Multilingual Education In Xuarmentioning

confidence: 99%

Promoting Multilingual Education in Xinjiang: Challenges and Possible Solutions

Zhang¹

2016

UCER-B

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Multilingual education in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) has attracted attention from both the educators and scholars. The need for bilingual and multilingual education in XUAR in recent years has become even more important and urgent in order to develop regional economics and maintain stability in this very multicultural region. During the implementation of bilingual and multilingual education in XUAR, great efforts have been putting on promoting Mandarin Chinese (L2) as the language of instruction, as well as minority language (L1) and English (L3) in order to promote, strengthen, and develop it quickly. However, it is necessary to highlight the importance of maintaining the L1 and its culture, which contribute to the cultural pluralism and linguistic diversity during the promotion of bilingual and multilingual education. The possible suggestions would been made through three approaches, which are documentation, top-down revitalization, and bottom-up revitalization with reference to the XUAR situation. The model of the fourth way has been adopted to summarize the ways of maintenance and revitalization of L1 and cultures in XUAR.

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Analysing language education policy for China's minority groups in its entirety

Cited by 51 publications

References 19 publications

English in China

English in China

Minority Language Issues in Chinese Higher Education: Policy Reforms and Practice among the Korean and Mongol Ethnic Groups

Promoting Multilingual Education in Xinjiang: Challenges and Possible Solutions

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