Bilingual Education In China Research Articles

Bilingual Education in China: Current Issues, Problem, and a Proposal for Change

Bilingualism is an important feature which may affect language learning and language instruction. The bilingual education has become an important and widely used teaching model in Chinese students’ English education. The purpose of this paper is to explore bilingual education issues and practices in China. This paper first introduces the background of Chinese language policies and then examines bilingual education policies and practices in China. It then analyzes issues exist in Chinese bilingual education. Through exploring and analyzing significances and issues exist in Chinese bilingual education, this paper reviews teaching strategies of effective bilingual education and provides practical suggestions and recommendations for Chinese bilingual education.

The Influence of Children's Literature on Bilingual Education in China

Children's literature has emerged as a significant resource in bilingual education, particularly in China because it helps students become more proficient in multiple languages, have a deeper understanding of different cultures, and have increased opportunities for communication and future academic success. This paper provides an overview of the current state of employing children's literature in bilingual education and explores its influence on language skills, cultural understanding, and literacy development. The paper highlights the need for effective teaching materials and strategies in bilingual education and analyzes the challenges faced in using children's literature in this context. Further, several key strategies are proposed for the use of children's literature in bilingualism. It discusses the influence of children's literature on cultural comprehension and bilingual vocabulary learning and suggests practical activities like book club discussions and creative writing for better application in bilingual education. It also promotes a comprehensive approach involving cultural integration, teacher training, material development, creative activities, and research-based strategies to enhance learning outcomes for bilingual students.

Research on Early Childhood Bilingual Education in China from the Perspective of Cognitive Neuroscience

With the rapid development of globalization and the world economy, English, as the universal language, plays a pivotal role in the international political, economic and cultural fields. English non-native speakers are paying more and more attention to popularizing English education as an important part of basic education, and English learning is also showing a trend of becoming younger and younger. However, the early childhood language acquisition process is influenced and controlled by various complex factors, including acquisition age, acquisition methods, family ecological environment and socio-cultural factors. At present, the early childhood bilingual education in China is booming, but due to the mentality of most parents and the immaturity and incompleteness of various conditions, combined with the lack of scientific theoretical basis and empirical research on early childhood bilingual learning, the bilingual education in early childhood There have been many problems in the development process. In recent years, the development of brain development in the field of cognitive neuroscience has made important progress, prompting people to continuously explore how to more effectively promote early childhood language development and bilingual ability. Starting from the concept of bilingual education, this paper expounds the latest research results of early childhood bilingual ability development and brain development, the current situation, existing problems and development path of bilingual education for preschool children in China, and provides a large number of parents, educators and educational decision-making departments. Useful lessons are learned from experience.

The Enlightenment of US Bilingual Education Model to Ethnic Minority Preschool Bilingual Education in China

Two-way immersion (TWI) bilingual education, as a model of strong bilingual education with distinctive characteristics and a unique way of implementation, has been widely practiced in many multi-ethnic, multilingual and multicultural countries, such as the US, and has achieved positive results. This article summarizes and analyzes the implementation mode, characteristics and limitations of the TWI program. In the light of the local conditions of ethnic minority areas in the country, this article also puts forward suggestions on the trial implementation of TWI program in pilot kindergartens in ethnic areas: strengthen national policy support and ensure the vigorous development of preschool bilingual education; stabilize and enhance the quality of bilingual teachers; promote the integration of Han nationality and ethnic minorities as well as realize the sharing of high-quality educational resources; encourage Han children to learn minority languages; develop preschool bilingual teaching resources and facilitate the construction of preschool bilingual teaching materials; and foster a good family and community environment for preschool bilingual education. In a word, bilingual education plays a pivotal role in the long-term competition of the country bearing a special function of cultivating bilingual talents. It is undoubtedly a beneficial exploration and bold innovation to attempt to pilot TWI preschool bilingual education in ethnic minority areas of China

Bilingual education in China: a qualitative synthesis of research on models and perceptions

Abstract Bilingual education has become increasingly popular in China, with a subsequent growth in research, particularly research with a qualitative component that examines learners’ and teachers’ experiences and perspectives. These studies have mostly been conducted in individual classroom settings where contexts and learners differ, making findings less transferrable to other educational settings. To address this need, we conducted a qualitative synthesis of research that aims to provide a holistic and rich description of bilingual education in China. Our focus is on the implementation of bilingual education in different educational contexts, learners’ and teachers’ perceptions of bilingual education, and the research instruments used for the evaluation of bilingual education. Following a discipline-specific methodological framework for conducting qualitative research synthesis (Chong, Sin Wang & Luke Plonsky. 2021. A primer on qualitative research synthesis in TESOL. TESOL Quarterly 55(3). 1024–1034), we identified suitable studies using a pre-determined search string within various databases. Search results were screened based on a set of inclusion criteria and relevant information was extracted from the included studies using a piloted data extraction form. The extracted data were synthesised using grounded theory to identify new themes and sub-themes. Our findings point to the need for more fine-grained classifications of bilingual education models, despite the fact that Chinese learners generally show positive attitudes towards bilingual education. The study ends with an analysis of limitations, as well as recommendations for future research and practice.

The roots of bilingual education in China: the educational practices of Fujian Naval College in the late Qing period, 1866-1911

ABSTRACT The present article seeks to fill a scholarly gap in the early history of bilingual education (Chinese and foreign languages) in China by investigating the educational practices of Fujian Naval College, the premier naval college in late imperial China (1840–1911), with a focus on the curriculum design in the college. Based on a variety of primary sources such as memorials to the throne, imperial edicts and education reports, this article informs us of a crucial but surprisingly overlooked historical episode of bilingual education in China. It also enhances our understanding of the subtle entanglements of education, culture and politics in China during the second half of the 19th century. The findings show how bilingual education emerged in China’s government colleges, and how deep-rooted Confucianism could be compatible with modern science knowledge in the bilingual curriculum. The bilingual education in Fujian Naval College achieved a dual objective of transferring modern technical expertise to China and maintaining Chinese cultural identity, which exerted a considerable impact on the promotion of multilingualism in China.

Concluding commentary: the discursive space for bilingual education programs in China

ABSTRACTIn this closing commentary, two Chinese scholars working in different contexts offer their views on the space for and prospect of different bilingual education in China. Professor Ronghui Zhao from Shanghai International Studies University contends that shifting discursive constructions of language and language-related works in national language policy texts carve out a valuable discursive space for the implementation and promotion of bilingual education initiatives, since languages are increasingly seen as resources for the nation rather than challenges to be overcome for national unity. Professor Minglang Zhou draws attention to the ideological boundaries that constrain individual agents’ efforts to promote bilingual education programs. He argues that the promotion of bilingual education programs takes place within the limits imposed by the Chinese State's language ideology, and reflects an institutionalized language hierarchical order which regulates their speakers’ access to resources and power.

Controversies of bilingual education in China

ABSTRACTIn this opening commentary we highlight the tension surrounding the emergence and development of bilingual education programs in mainland China, which has attracted much attention in research. Scholars have contradictory views about efforts aimed at promoting and sustaining bilingualism/multilingualism through education in different parts of China. To contribute to this ongoing discussion, this special issue contains the collective efforts of scholars holding different views and examining three types of bilingual education initiatives in mainland China: bilingual education programs for ethnic minority students, the rise of Chinese-English bilingual education, and the vitality of regional Chinese varieties or dialects in major coastal cities. We contend that all the efforts to promote and sustain bilingualism in the aforementioned aspects are to some extent double-edged and require critical examination.

Theory and practice of bilingual education in China: lessons from Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture

ABSTRACT Bilingual education in China’s ethnic minority regions can serve as a test case of the ability of governments to maintain linguistic pluralism in the face of rapid social change and the spread of standard national languages. In pursuit of its policy of multilingualism, since the late 1970s China has conducted ambitious programs of bilingual education for many of its 55 officially recognized shaoshu minzu, or ‘minority nationalities,’ including the Nuosu, a subgroup of the Yi minzu or ‘nationality.’ Interviews, questionnaires, and class observations in 17 elementary and secondary schools in the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in southwestern Sichuan assessed the success or failure of bilingual education in the Standard Chinese (‘Mandarin’) and Nuosu languages. While there was still widespread support for the concept of bilingual education, results did not match expectations: few students in bilingual programs left school with functional literacy in the Nuosu language. We attribute this problem to two kinds of factors: structurally, bilingual education has failed to adapt to changing linguistic landscapes in Liangshan; and practically, programs have suffered from inadequate teacher training, outdated textbooks, and omission of Nuosu language from entrance examinations. We propose reforms that would bring bilingual education up to date for contemporary society.

Localizing immersion education: A case study of an international bilingual education program in south China

ABSTRACT Due to the growing status of English as the language of international communication, English immersion programs have been on the rise in China and the rest of the world. Though there has been much discussion on the theoretical and practical characteristics and features of immersion, current models are not adequate for explaining the language-driven English immersion programs in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context such as China. Drawing on interviews, observations and documentary data and test scores gathered during a longitudinal study of a public-funded foreign languages school in China, this paper reports on a Sino-Canadian collaborative educational program and concludes that in addition to exhibiting most of the core features of immersion programs suggested by Swain and Johnson (1997), the program revealed several noteworthy emerging characteristics. The study argues for the importance of re-contextualizing Swain and Johnson’s model of immersion to address the local social, cultural and educational contexts as more and more schools are adopting this model of language-driven bilingual education in China.

Korean-Chinese parents' language attitudes and additive bilingual education in China

China's diversity of minority groups, marked by many languages and cultures, has led to much push and pull experience between homogenising forces and indigenous cultures. This is apparent in its bilingual education programme for ethnic minorities, among which Korean diaspora communities are to be counted. Korean-Chinese people in China have been exposed to the global evolution from agricultural economy to market-oriented industrial and post-industrial economy. Paradoxically, this globalising societal change has fuelled their ethnic consciousness amidst a process of ‘monolingual market economy’, where Putonghua is seen as the ‘High’ language for upward mobility. This paper explores Korean-Chinese parents' attitudes towards Putonghua and the Korean language. Using data from interviews with 27 families in north-east China, it is argued that the more the parents are exposed to the Koreans in the Peninsula, the clearer they realise the importance of Putonghua and Korean, not only affectively, but also referentially in function of a cross-national context. The findings suggest an increasingly complex, non-determinant hierarchy of power built between the dominant language and the non-dominant language, thereby it could be suggested that an additive bilingualism in education is needed in order to cater for referential and affective functions of language.

Imagined identity of ethnic Koreans and its implication for bilingual education in China

Imagined identity is the way of positioning individuals or being positioned by others in an imagined world, where individuals' cultural identifications interplay with cultural and language practices. This lays the basis for the current research on the construction of imagined memberships by two young ethnic Korean students in China. An analysis of the students' life histories indicates that the negotiation of imagined identities takes place in-between the polarized positions of assimilation and separation, as coined by Berry in the multidimensional categories of acculturation. The process of identity construction suggests that Chinese is an important type of linguistic capital, which to a considerable extent determines an individual's desired membership in the mainstream society, whereas a certain degree of preservation in the Korean language complicates the process of acculturation, through which both Chinese and Korean languages are integratively and instrumentally functional in market-oriented Chinese economy and may open up alternative imagined communities where ethnic Koreans become bilingual users. This research reflects the integrative acculturation, which is illustrative of a selective process and puts forward explicit assumptions about an additive bilingual education in China.

Chinese–English bilingual education in China: a case study of college science majors

This quantitative study examines current practice and challenges of Chinese–English bilingual education in Chinese tertiary institutions and presents a case study of a bilingual course by investigating learners' attitudes toward this educational and language policy. Using a convenience sampling strategy with an instrument modified from a nation-wide survey on bilingual education, this study involves 153 undergraduate science majors from a university located southeast of China. Results indicate that students held positive attitudes toward bilingual instruction and believed that such a model will not threaten the status of Chinese language and culture; and such an attitude significantly predicted students’ academic achievement whereas the level of English proficiency did not. Further, female students outscored their male counterparts in the final examination. Finally, the positive relationship between years of learning English and attitudes toward bilingualism corroborates with the current literature that earlier exposure results in additive bilingualism. We recommend future studies be conducted to identify the threshold for a minimal level of English skills commensurate with distribution of language of instruction so that college students can benefit from bilingual education. In conclusion, despite challenges, Chinese–English bilingual education is still expected to be a legitimate and eventually rewarding educational practice that fits the socio-political environment of developing China.

On the Economic Approach to Bilingual Education in China

In the process of globalization, each country culture retains an independence from the others besides in reality a fusion of several cultures. Bilingual education as an effective means and intangible resource, which have long been neglected, will play an important part in social and economic development in China.Bilingual education, in this method of language instruction, the regular school curriculum is taught through the medium of a foreign/second language. The foreign/second language is the vehicle for content instruction. The subject of the instruction is to make students master language as well as subject knowledge.This thesis attempts to expound the necessity of the implementation of bilingual education in China in the process of globalization. Bilingual education is mot a unitary language phenomenon and usually displays an essentially economic concern for the languages to be used. Hence, economics can be of service and offer insights and information in the study of language issues that other approaches do not provide so far. besides, the problems in China’s bilingual education are analyzed, followed by a list of suggestions for reference, however, due to a variety of reasons ,there still exist several drawbacks like lack of linear research and whatnot. Those are to be dealt with in further researches.Keywords: Globalization, Bilingual education, Economics, Problems

A Comparison and Research on the Sino-U.S Bilingual Education

With the coming of era of global economic integration and knowledge economy, China is increasingly opening its door to the outside world and actively making connection with international society. Under such circumstance, the Chinese education, especially higher learning education will certainly has a very close connection and interaction with the international education system, and this also means that Chinese higher learning education system will face the new challenge of how to train Chinese students to handle the international competition with bilingual ability. Therefore, it will be helpful for us to have a comparison and research on the bilingual education in China and the United States.

Identity, ‘acting interculturally’ and aims for bilingual education: an example from China

In major texts on bilingualism and bilingual education, one often finds such notions as biculturalism, multiculturalism, pluralism or interculturalism that are used interchangeably as concepts – as opposed to monoculturalism or cultural assimilation – to address political and sociocultural dimensions in language learning and teaching. Recently, some scholars have begun to make distinctions between them as processes or outcomes of bilingual education. They compare the terms conceptually and evaluate the implications these concepts might have for bilingual education. The notion of ‘acting interculturally’, for example, is such an attempt that aims to shed light on the conceptual perplexity between being bicultural and being intercultural and to argue for learning outcomes that are attainable and desirable in bilingual education. On the basis of an overview of conceptual discussions on these notions and an analysis of key guiding ideas and research on bilingual education in China, this paper argues that a conceptual distinction between these terms is not only necessary for advancing theories of bilingualism in general but also crucial for addressing multifaceted issues in bilingual education, including sociopolitical concerns, in a country like China whose language education policies and curricula are determined by the government's political agenda for maintaining an unwavering state.

Bilingual Education in China: Practices, Policies and Concepts edited by FENG, ANWEI

<i>Bilingual Education in China: Practices, Policies and Concepts</i> edited by FENG, ANWEI

The Misleading Academic Discourse on Chinese–English Bilingual Education in China

Although official promotion of content-based English language teaching started in mainland China only at the turn of the century, this form of language instruction, widely known in China as “Chinese–English bilingual education,” has gathered great momentum in the last 6 years and is now rattling across the country like a juggernaut. So-called Chinese–English bilingual education has always been controversial. Although small numbers of opponents have raised concerns about potential negative consequences and the constraints compromising optimistically envisioned goals, their voices have been drowned in the overwhelming academic discourse by a growing contingent of vocal advocates. This discourse is a driving force behind “the great leap forward” for Chinese–English bilingual education. This article problematizes the prevalent discourse on bilingual education in China. Based on analysis of systematically selected data sources, it contends that the academic discourse with its misconceptions, misrepresentations, and misinterpretations has misled stakeholders of bilingual education.

Review of Feng (2007): Bilingual Education in China: Practices, Policies and Concepts

Review of Feng (2007): Bilingual Education in China: Practices, Policies and Concepts

English Bilingual Education in China

This paper addresses theoretical and pedagogical issues of English Chinese bilingual education in China by exploring the new phenomena where English is used as the medium of instruction among native Chinese speakers. Motivated by individual and national interests, combined with favorable government policies and general attitude, bilingual education comes into being in response to the changing demands of English use and the inadequacy of the traditional ELT methods. A number of intrinsic (the increasing importance of English as gatekeeper in Chinese education system and the economic/social mobility offered by English) and external factors (China’s successful Olympic bid and admission to the WTO) contribute to its spread. Data collected from current debates in Chinese media, surveys, reports, and interviews show bilingual education is blooming at all levels of education across disciplines in different regions, which introduces new changes in curriculum design, teaching methodologies, and testing techniques. Although still in its rudimentary and experimental stage, bilingual education will have a long-term effect on English use, code-mixing, and language transfer and will play an important role in the forming and spreading of Chinese varieties of English. This research calls into question the traditional ESL vs. EFL pedagogical model, arguing for a research model that recognizes the nativized varieties of English.