The Construction of Interculturality: A Study of Chinese as Heritage Language Teachers in Canada

Abstract

Interculturality is the interaction of people from distinct cultural backgrounds, which emphasizes respect of difference, as well as the socio-affective capacity to see oneself through the eyes of others at the crossroad of cultures (Dervin 2011, Journal of Multicultural Discourses 6(1):37–52; Dervin and Machart, 2015, Cultural essentialism in intercultural relations. London: Palgrave; Holiday, 2013, Understanding intercultural communication: Negotiating a grammar of culture. London: Routledge). Within the context of promoting Chinese internationally, teaching Chinese as a heritage language (CHL) is a critical component of Chinese language education and plays an active role in language maintenance for Chinese immigrants and their descendants (Duff and Li, 2013, Learning Chinese as a heritage language. In K. Arnett & C. Mady (Eds.), Minority populations in Canadian second language education (pp. 87–103). Bristol: Multilingual Matters). CHL teachers have experienced different pedagogical conceptions and cross-cultural boundaries as they teach in an environment different from China. Thus, it is important to explore the nature of CHL teachers’ intercultural experiences and to promote their intercultural awareness and competence. While most of the literature focuses on students’ experience of interculturality, very few empirical studies related to CHL teachers have been conducted. Aiming to fill the research gap, by using Deardorff’s (2004, The identification and assessment of intercultural competence as a student outcome of international education at institutions of higher education in the United States. Raleigh: North Carolina State University dissertation; Deardorff, 2006, Journal of Studies in International Education, 10(3):241–266; Deardorff, 2009, Implementing Intercultural Competence Assessment. In Deardorff, D.K. (ed.).The Sage Handbook of Intercultural Competence (pp. 477–491). Thousand Oaks: Sage) model of intercultural competence, this study explores: (1) To what extent and in what form do CHL teachers adjust their teaching practices? (2) What are the factors that contribute to CHL teachers’ professional development in terms of their intercultural competence? (3) In what way can we help CHL teachers to improve their intercultural competence? This study adopted a multi-phased mixed-methods approach (Creswell and Plano-Clark, 2011, Designing and conducting mixed methods research (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage), which combines interview and observational data of six CHL teachers with qualitative (e.g., open coding) analysis. The results demonstrate that, first, CHL teachers’ practices in the classroom show that their teaching efficiency are decreased because of lacking knowledge of intercultrality. Second, educational background, working experience, and child-caring experience are significant factors helping develop teachers’ intercultural awareness, while a lack of pre-service training and understanding of local educational tradition diminish their efficiency.