Bilingual Education in China: Practices, Policies and Concepts

Edited by: Anwei Feng

Format:
Hardback
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ISBN:
9781853599927
Published:
Publisher:
Multilingual Matters
Number of pages:
304
Dimensions:
210mm x 148mm
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The complexity and diversity of the linguistic situations, practices, policies and theories of bilingual education is widely acknowledged in a country with a population of 1.3 billion people consisting of 56 officially recognised indigenous nationalities speaking more than 80 languages. This book addresses this complexity and diversity with a comprehensive examination of issues in bilingual education for both minority and majority nationalities in China and explores the links between the two major forms of bilingual education. It includes voices that are 'emic' or 'etic', local or international, and voices that come from those who work at the forefront of bilingual education or in the development of theory. All these voices are needed as different and divergent perspectives represent a reality

This will be a significant sourcebook for all in Bilingual Education, not only Chinese specialists. It offers new perspectives by juxtaposing different forms of bilingual education and explaining bilingualism in China to readers worldwide.

This eagerly awaited book shares Eastern viewpoints and understandings that are sometimes varied from the dominant Western writings on bilingual education.

This is a substantial and impressive work, which makes a valuable contribution to understandings of Chinese education, specifically of the immensely complex twin character of its bilingual practices. The able editor, Dr Anwei Feng of Durham University UK, 'tops and tails' the volume with a ground-setting introduction and an excellent reflective conclusion, in which he proposes re-interpretations of key guiding ideas in majority and minority bilingual education. Both the top and the tail lend the volume a commendable degree of cohesion. This book provides a comprehensive and generally excellent treatment of a wide range of issues that are always tied to the central theme of the volume. The issues and settings are intrinsically interesting and important as well as serving as a point of reference for the specifically Chinese nature of bilingualism and bilingual education.

Journal of Asia Pacific Education

This work is one of the first to discuss the practices, policies, and concepts of bilingual education in China. It includes two types of bilingual education largely unknown to the West. One is bilingual education for the minority of Chinese, which is the teaching of Mandarin Chinese (Pu Tong Hua) and an ethnic minority language (e.g., Tibetan, Mongolian, Yao, Bai). The other is bilingual English and Chinese education (mostly for the Chinese majority, Han), which has become an important national education issue in recent years. Overall, this is an informative work and a must-read for anyone interested in language education in general and bilingual education in particular.

Studies in Second Language Acquisition 4th December 2007

Anwei Feng lectures and supervises education doctoral students at Durham University mainly in the areas of bilingualism, bilingual education and intercultural studies. He has researched the experience of minority students studying the second and third language in universities in China and the experience of students from Confucian Heritage Cultures on UK campuses. His latest publications include the article 'An evaluative analysis of parallel conceptions of bilingualism in China' in IJBEB in 2005 and the book 'Living and Studying Abroad' (co-edited with M. Byram, 2006).

Foreword - Colin Baker

1. Introduction - Anwei Feng

Part I: Policy, Curriculum and Ideological Orientations

2. Bilingual or Multilingual Education: Policy and Learner Experience - Agnes S. L. Lam

3. Depoliticisation in the English Curriculum - Bob Adamson

4. Language in Tibetan Education: The Case of the Neidiban - Gerard Postiglione, Ben Jiao and Manlaji

Part II: Varieties in Bilingual Education

5. Typology of Bilingualism and Bilingual Education in Chinese Minority Nationality Regions - Qingxia Dai and Yanyan Cheng

6. The Juggernaut of Chinese-English Bilingual Education - Guangwei Hu

7. Research and Practice of Tibetan-Chinese Bilingual Education - Minggang Wan and Shanxin Zhang

Part III: Practices and Underpinning Principles

8. Integrated English: A Bilingual Teaching Model in Southern China - Zengjun Feng and Jinjun Wang

9. Implementing Language Policy: Lessons from Primary School English - Ellen Yuefeng Zhang and Bob Adamson

10. Challenges and Prospects of Minority Bilingual Education: An Analysis of Four Projects - Heidi Cobbey

11. Facts and Considerations About Bilingual Education in Chinese Universities - Jiazheng Pan

Part IV: English Provision for Minority Students

12. An Empirical Study of Teachers' Perceptions of Bilingual Teaching in Guangxi - Binlan Huang

13. EFL Education in Ethnic Minority Areas in Northwest China: An Investigational Study in Gansu Province - Qiuxia Jiang Quanguo Liu, Xiaohui Quan and Caiqin Ma

Conclusion

14. Intercultural Space for Bilingual Education - Anwei Feng

Postgraduate, Research / Professional
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