Bilingual education in a globalized age: an ecological perspective on two Chosonjuk schools in China

ABSTRACT

Drawing on ecological perspectives, this study investigates changes in the bilingual education of ethnic Koreans in China in the context of globalization. Focusing on two Chosonjuk (ethnic Korean in China, 중국조선족, 朝鲜族) schools in Northeast China that experienced challenges due to declining enrollment as a result of the increasing popularity of attending Han (ethnic Han Chinese, 汉族) schools, this study discusses the ways in which these two schools repositioned their bilingual programs to leverage the Korean (Chosonmal, 朝鲜语) and Mandarin (Putonghua, 普通话) languages as linguistic capital and the ways in which such repositioning affected the school choices of Chosonjuk families and other student families. Our findings show that these two schools implemented a series of changes, including the provision of individualized instruction to students to meet their specific needs and the enrollment of Han students and international students from South Korea who were interested in learning the Korean or Mandarin languages. These practices increased the attractiveness of the two schools to families with a variety of needs and concurrently created an inclusive educational environment for the students.

KEYWORDS:

• Bilingual education programs
• ethnic minority education in China
• Chosonjuk schools in China
• ecological perspective of language practices
• educational reforms
• ethnographic study

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Guihua Zhao

Dr. Guihua Zhao is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of International Studies at Nagoya University of Commerce & Business. She received her Ph.D. (Education) at the University of Tokyo. Her research focuses on educational anthropology. She is currently working on migration and settlement of East Asians. Focusing on the Korean Chinese migrants, she is interested in studying the experiences of ethnic conflicts and integration in their destination, and the creation of culture in their communities, and how their sense of belonging and identities affect their language education planning for their children. Her book and papers are published in Japanese and Korean.

Wendy Li

Dr. Wendy Li is an Assistant Professor in the Center of language and Culture at Duke Kunshan University. She received her PhD in Second Language Studies at Michigan State University. Her research focuses on the social aspects of second language learning and teaching. Her main research interests include Second Language (L2) identity construction, L2 socialization, and multilingual and multimodal literacy practices. Her research has appeared in journals such as English Today, Language Teaching, Language Teaching Research, and Multilingua.

Chih-Hao Chang

Dr. Chih-Hao Chang is an assistant professor in the Faculty of International Studies at Nagoya University of Commerce & Business in Japan. He has published research articles in international journals - such as International Journal of Educational Development, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development and Language Awareness.