Multilingualism and Translanguaging in Chinese Language Classrooms

Palgrave Studies in Teaching and Learning Chinese

Series Editors

Michael Singh

Centre for Educational Research, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW, Australia

Jinghe Han

School of Education, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW, Australia

Palgrave Studies in Teaching and Learning Chinese is a Pivot series designed for teachers, teacher education candidates and teacher educators working in the field of Chinese language education. Despite the world-wide growth in school-based Chinese language education it has not yet been accompanied by a strong program of educational research for teacher professional learning. This series provides an internationally significant forum by bringing together research from around the world to inform school-based Chinese language education. Specifically, this series draws on a wealth of evidence from studies of Chinese learning and teaching, weaving together theoretical study of language education and real-world experience of student-centred, learning-focused practices. The series uses theoretically-informed and empirically-grounded evidence to inform the professional knowledge and practices of teaching, learning and using Chinese.

More information about this series at http://​www.​palgrave.​com/​gp/​series/​14589

Danping Wang

Multilingualism and Translanguaging in Chinese Language Classrooms

Danping Wang

School of Cultures, Languages and Linguistics, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

Palgrave Studies in Teaching and Learning Chinese

ISBN 978-3-030-02528-1e-ISBN 978-3-030-02529-8

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02529-8

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Preface

On December 12, 2016, I was invited to attend a meeting of the Subcommittee on Rights of Ethnic Minorities Education for Children of Ethnic Minorities (Chinese as a Second Language Education) at the Hong Kong Legislative Council. Throughout the presentations by school representatives, minority students, their families and non-governmental organisations, one issue was frequently raised. What should we do with the emerging multilingual learners in Chinese as a Second Language (CSL) classrooms?

CSL practitioners have realised that the traditional monolingual tenet was one of the major problems that has limited the possibilities for pedagogical innovation and curriculum development. There is a pressing need to develop approaches that can make Chinese language teaching more accessible to multilingual learners who are struggling at the beginners’ level. Clearly, the one-size-fits-all monolingual curriculum and pedagogy are not well suited to the emerging multilingual learners, consequently resulting in communication problems, anxiety and demotivation in students learning Chinese. Such challenges are calling for a reconceptualisation of some of the key concepts in second language acquisition research in general (Li 2011a, b, 2014; Cook and Li 2016).

The meeting sent a clear message to policy-makers at the Legislative Council that thorough research is urgently needed to understand the realities and complexities of language practices in CSL classrooms. Questions to be answered include whether or not a students’ first language (L1) should be utilised to support the teaching and learning of Chinese? If so, how much L1 should be allowed? When and how should L1 be used to achieve positive second language (L2) learning outcomes? If students in a classroom speak a number of different L1s, which L1 should be used as the main medium of instruction? How do course developers consider the medium of instruction in CSL teaching? How should we prepare CSL instructors to teach in multilingual contexts? What are learners’ expectations and needs in terms of classroom language use? Such questions are not only troubling CSL teachers in Hong Kong but also many second language teaching professionals and curriculum designers in other parts of the world given the increasing diversity of the student population in language programmes.

To answer these pressing questions, I applied for funding to launch a research project with the support of my collaborator to investigate CSL classroom language policies and practices in Hong Kong. It is important to investigate the opinions from key stakeholders including CSL course developers, teachers and learners before any conclusions are made or regulations issued. Their attitudes and actions towards monolingual and multilingual policies and pedagogies will enrich our current understanding of L2 classroom language choices and its influence on teaching methods. Classroom-oriented research will provide evidence for policy-makers in reform the curriculum, allowing for better practices to develop in order to engage students in classroom learning. CSL teachers, in particular, need practical guidance to improve their teaching approaches. Otherwise, it is difficult for them to accommodate the long-run challenges posed by the dynamic nature of learning in the context of diversity. Preparing CSL teachers to effectively teach Chinese globally is a new phenomenon to understand for policy-makers, teacher educators and programme providers who aspire to offer quality CSL language programmes.

Focusing on language practices in the CSL classroom, this book provides research evidence to inform teachers and policy-makers of the complexities of language use in second language classrooms, and the controversies surrounding monolingual and multilingual pedagogies. Grounded in sociocultural theories and language learning theories, this study attempts to fill in research gaps by exploring actual classroom language teaching practices. The research results from this study will suggest viable conceptual and analytical frameworks, as well as validate research instruments for similar projects on classroom language policies, practices and perspectives of L2 classroom discourse in general.

In terms of methodology, the study is based on an ethnographic research design that recognises the importance of language policy at a macro-level, and teacher and students’ classroom language practices, as well as their perspectives towards the ideal and practical use of language on a micro-level. Both qualitative and quantitative data have been collected from classroom observations and interviews with teachers and students. Drawing on research instruments from similar studies on classroom language use, the study adapts and develops existing analytical frameworks and instruments for collecting and analysing multiple types of data from CSL classrooms.

Practically, this study aims to offer analysis of classroom conversations in everyday CSL teaching and learning. Focusing on classroom teaching with CSL students in Hong Kong, this study is expected to help increase teacher awareness of the importance of language choices and uses in teaching, and to provide pedagogical suggestions for CSL teachers who teach multilingual learners. It is hoped that this will facilitate their development of strategies which can make instruction more principled, efficient and assessable particularly to beginners.

The book is designed to be practical with first-hand information from classrooms and stakeholders. It is organised into five chapters. Chapter 1 introduces the background of the study, focusing on the major challenges facing the implementation of CSL courses in the Hong Kong context. Chapter 2 reviews the development and controversy surrounding medium of instruction policies in CSL teaching. Chapter 3 introduces the theoretical frameworks and research design of this study, followed by a systematic literature review on existing classroom language research. Chapter 4 presents the research results from students, teachers and course developers regarding their attitudes towards language use and their preferences of monolingual or multilingual pedagogy. It also provides samples of real classroom conversations to demonstrate how teachers and students actively and sensibly employ multiple codes for teaching and learning Chinese. Chapter 5 invites a critical re-examination of key concepts, including code-switching, medium of instruction, native speaker, English as a lingua franca in second language teaching and learning.

References

Cook, V., & Li, W. (Ed.). (2016). The Cambridge handbook of linguistic multi-competence . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Li, W. (2011a). Multilinguality, multimodality, and multi-competence: Code‐ and mode-switching by minority ethnic children in Complementary Schools. The Modern Language Journal, 95 (3), 370–384.

Li, W. (2011b). Moment analysis and translanguaging space: Discursive construction of identities by multilingual Chinese youth in Britain. Journal of Pragmatics, 43 (5), 1222–1235.

Li, W. (2014). Translanguaging knowledge and identity in complementary classrooms for multilingual minority ethnic children. Classroom Discourse, 5 (2), 158–175.

Danping Wang

Auckland, New Zealand

Acknowledgements

This piece of work would have been impossible to complete without the research funding of the Vocational Training Council Seed Grant (Project number LANG/HSEP/1617/03). I am especially indebted to Ms. Xiaoyan Qiu, head of the language centre at Shatin IVE for her constant support throughout the project. Xiaoyan has always been a fantastic collaborator and mentor to me. I am also grateful to Prof. Li Wei from the University of London, Prof. Bob Adamson from the Education University of Hong Kong and Prof Andy Kirkpatrick from Griffith University for their insightful comments on the contents of this book. Their lifelong research on multilingualism in second language education has inspired me to make Chinese teaching and learning more accessible for the ever-increasing number of multilingual learners. I am also thankful for the editors of the book series, Prof Michael Singh and Dr. Jinghe Han from the University of Western Sydney, for inviting to contribute to their series on teaching and learning Chinese.

Many other people have also provided assistance in the preparation of this book. First of all, I would like to thank the course facilitators who helped arrange class visits, recruited participants and participated in project meetings. They are Yani Chen, Doris Lo and Jackie Tsang from the Vocational Training Council. I would also like to thank my two research assistants in Hong Kong, Isaac Iu and Gary Yip, who helped transcribe all the interviews and classroom conversations, and my current research assistant Scott Yang, who helped edit the manuscript. I am also thankful to all the teachers and students who took out their personal time to participate in the project and in doing so provided valuable point of views. All of them have made tremendous contributions to the project. Despite their active involvement in this project, I am solely responsible for any problems and unanswered questions arising out of this book.

Much of the writing for this book was undertaken during my first year of work at the University of Auckland. During this time, I became the course coordinator of the largest and probably most rigorous university Chinese language programme in New Zealand. My biggest thanks, however, must go to my partner Sixia Geng who was forced to stay at home with me for this book. You know how hard it is to ignore the breath-taking scenery outside your window in New Zealand!

Praise for Multilingualism and Translanguaging in Chinese Language Classrooms

"This book addresses the challenges of teaching Chinese in a global context from a fresh, critical perspective. New questions on policy and practices are raised, and core issues in language teaching and learning are critiqued. The rich empirical base illustrates vividly the dynamic translanguaging practices in the Chinese classroom by both the learners and