New Papers on Chinese-English Bilinguals
Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development Special Issue
First publication led by Dr. Genevieve Leung
While the role of parental ideologies on children’s bi/multilingual development and the role of children’s beliefs about multilingualism are well-documented, less work examines how parental and student ideologies are enacted through talk. That is, how do students interpret what their family caregivers tell them about bi/multilingualism, and how do these beliefs about English and partner language(s) get enacted as a form of social personae? This article examines talk about language and identity from two focus groups with upper elementary students attending a Cantonese–English DLBE school. Participants frequently referenced their parents/caregivers in discussing goals and aspirations and likes/dislikes towards bi/multilingual language use through various forms of reported speech. These evaluations often took the form of commenting on ‘good’ and ‘bad’ language immersion curriculum and what a ‘successful’ or ‘unsuccessful’ bi/multilingual speaker should be like. A deeper discursive look into the utilitarian and intrinsic ideologies about multilingualism illustrates how this talk works in conjunction with neoliberal, classed ideas about linguistic knowledge and competitiveness. Findings demonstrate the complex ways learners see themselves in relation to broader perceptions of language learning and use and how DLBE is used as a vehicle towards (upper-middle) class orientations.
Genevieve is a UCD MA graduate of Education and Linguistics, and currently Associate Prof, Academic Director of the Asian Pacific Studies MA program, and Director of the Asian Pacific American Studies minor at the University of San Francisco.
Second publication led by Neva Shuhua He, mentored by Lu Yang.
Building on research that has demonstrated the benefits of Dual-Language Bilingual Education (DLBE) programmes on students’ bilingual, academic, and cross-cultural development (Lindholm-Leary and Hernández 2011), this study examines the links between dual language proficiency and competence in elementary students enrolled in a Cantonese DLBE programme in the U.S. Specifically, we examined the relations between (a) children’s bilingual (English and Cantonese) language proficiency in four dimensions (reading, writing, listening, and speaking) and (b) their competence in academic, peer relationships, activities involvement, and classroom behaviour domains with a group of 60 fourth and fifth graders enrolled in a Cantonese–English DLBE programme. Multiple regression results show that both Cantonese speaking and writing proficiency had significant main effects on academic competence. These effects remained significant even after controlling for students’ English speaking/writing proficiency. Moreover, both Cantonese and English writing proficiency were positively related to students’ classroom competence. Additionally, higher English reading proficiency was positively associated with peer competence. Results highlight the different beneficial roles of Cantonese and English proficiency on positive self, peer acceptance, and prosocial behaviour. The current study generates new insights into the role of bilingual proficiency and has implications for DLBE programme curriculum and policy.
Neva worked in the Language and Literacy Development Lab as an undergraduate at UCD, become our project manager and now is a graduate student in Public Health at UCLA.
