Guofang Li

Biliteracy and Trilingual Practices in the Home Context: Case Studies of Chinese-Canadian Children.

Although Chinese has become the third largest mother tongue in both Canada and the USA, Chinese/English biliteracy development has received little attention in educational research.This article explores three Chinese-Canadian first and second graders’ biliteracy (Chinese/English reading and writing) and trilingual (Mandarin, Cantonese, and English) practices in the home milieu. Findings suggest that the home context is a crucial environment for success or failure in achieving biliteracy. All families expected their children to become biliterate and multilingual, but the three children vary in their preferences and use of different languages and literacies at home. Factors such as parents’ perceptions of their minority status in the host society, their attitudes toward the role of heritage language and their own proficiencies in the dominant language, as well as several school and societal factors, such as quality of instruction in heritage language schools, language policies in the mainstream schools, and the media, played an important role in shaping the children’s language choices and patterns of use at home. These multiple factors suggest that helping immigrant children become biliterate and multilingual is a challenging task that requires concerted efforts between parents, public schools, and community organizations.

Home Environment and Second-Language Acquisition: The Importance of Family Capital.

Framed within Coleman’s theory of family capital, this article examines how different home variables such as family physical, human and social capital affect immigrant children’s second‐language acquisition in the homes of four Chinese immigrant families in Canada. Specifically, the study analyzes the relationships between family physical capital and family investment in second language learning, between parental human capital and levels of parental involvement, and between family social capital and access to familial and community resources. The analysis demonstrates that parental educational backgrounds, their occupational choices and chances, and their adaptation and integration into Canadian society had a significant impact on the families’ accumulation and activation of family capital to support their children’s second‐language learning.

Primary EFL Teachers’ Technology Use in China: Patterns and Perceptions

Drawing on survey data, this paper examines the patterns and perceptions of technology use by primary EFL teachers in China. Findings suggest that although Chinese EFL teachers hold positive attitudes toward the value of technology for teaching and learning, they use technology mainly for teacher-centered purposes, such as teaching preparation and instructional delivery, and seldom utilize technology for student-centered activities. Factors constraining student-oriented technological use in early EFL instruction include teacher-center pedagogical practices and lack of effective professional development that focuses on instructional design and technology integration. These findings suggest that China must redirect its effort to promote teacher conceptual and pedagogical change in integrating technology in early EFL instruction and emphasize alignment among technology, curriculum, and pedagogy in EFL teaching.Drawing on survey data, this paper examines the patterns and perceptions of technology use by primary EFL teachers in China. Findings suggest that although Chinese EFL teachers hold positive attitudes toward the value of technology for teaching and learning, they use technology mainly for teacher-centered purposes, such as teaching preparation and instructional delivery, and seldom utilize technology for student-centered activities. Factors constraining student-oriented technological use in early EFL instruction include teacher-center pedagogical practices and lack of effective professional development that focuses on instructional design and technology integration. These findings suggest that China must redirect its effort to promote teacher conceptual and pedagogical change in integrating technology in early EFL instruction and emphasize alignment among technology, curriculum, and pedagogy in EFL teaching.

Literacy as Situated Practice

In this article, I examine the early literacy practices of a three-year-old Chinese girl in her family restaurant in an underprivileged community. Her literacy practices indicate that home contexts have a role in shaping emergent literacy. Her unique home literacy experiences, characterized by constructive, communal, and oral practices, are different from both school practices and those of middle-class Chinese immigrant families. Differences suggest a need for teachers to re-evaluate classroom practices to help minority children make the transition from their familiar world of home to the unfamiliar world of school. Une Chinoise de trois ans de milieu defavorise apprend a lire et a ecrire dans le restaurant familial. Cet apprentissage repose sur des pratiques constructives, collectives et orales differant des methodes utilisees a l’ecole comme de celles des familles d’immigrants chinois de classe moyenne. Ces differences donnent a penser que les enseignants devraient reevaluer les methodes d’apprentissage a l’ecole afin d’aider les enfants des minorites a faire la transition entre leur milieu familial et un monde qui ne leur est pas familier, a savoir l’ecole.

Social capital and home literacy engagement: case studies of low-SES single mothers' access to literacy resources

Abstract Drawing on the theory of social capital, this paper explores how difference in mothers’ social networks might impact on low-SES’ children’s literacy development at home. A cross-case analysis of the influence of two low-SES single-mothers’ social networks on their children’s home literacy practices suggests that difference in mother’s social capital has a disparate impact on their access to literacy resources, their home literacy engagement with their children, and their interaction/connection with school teachers and contributes to their children’s differential school literacy achievement. The findings suggest that for low-SES children to achieve school success, parents must be able to access resources that support their ability to engage in literacy activities that align with those valued in the school. Therefore, there is a need for schools and teachers to provide not only services that allow more networking opportunities but also support to understand school-literacy practices and expectations for low-SES families, especially single-parents who might be more socially isolated.

East Asian Heritage Language Education for a Plurilingual Reality in the United States: Practices, Potholes, and Possibilities

Drawing on research about East Asian (mainly Chinese, Korean, and Japanese) heritage language (HL) teaching and learning in three contexts—the home, community heritage language schools, and programs in U.S. K–12 schools—this article discusses the challenges that East Asian subethnic groups face in improving HL education in each context. Specifically, the review finds that in the home context, parents’ practices in HL maintenance are complicated by factors such as parents’ attitudes and beliefs about language maintenance and literacy resources. While community language schools have been recognized as the strongest efforts for teaching HLs, these schools often face various challenges in getting the human and physical resources they need. Finally, the review reveals the lack of a supportive environment for HL maintenance in K–12 schools. The findings suggest an urgent need for realignment among federal policies, mainstream school curricular, and community practices in order to maximize the full potential of the United States becoming multilingual in a globalized society.

Use of Technology to Support the Learning and Teaching of English in China

Technology is generally considered a useful teaching tool in English as a foreign language education in China. With the belief that technology may benefit foreign language teaching and learning, China has expanded its technology infrastructure, equipment, and policy in the field of foreign language education. EFL teachers are encouraged to increase their use of technology in their English language classrooms. However, research to date has not examined how technology is used in EFL teaching in the Chinese context. In this chapter, the authors describe the historical stages and typical formats of technology use in supporting English language education in China. They then discuss current practices and issues related to technology integration in English education, including changes to assessment and evaluation practices. Finally, they use a dataset from their current research project to present the patterns and perceptions of technology use by Chinese elementary EFL teachers and students. Based on the historical development and their current study, the authors summarize several strategies and recommendations to improve the value of technology investment and the quality of technology-enhanced English language education in the Chinese context.

Chinese Language Teachers’ Pedagogical Adjustment and Classroom Management in Cross-Cultural Contexts

As Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) becomes increasingly popular in U.S. schools, an increasing number of schools are recruiting teachers from China to teach Chinese to American students. These teachers often come without any prior experiences in the U.S. or its classrooms and with culturally different teaching styles and expectations. This chapter focuses on reviewing current research on the challenges Chinese teachers face in cross-cultural language teaching, their classroom management experiences, as well as their pedagogical adjustment in the U.S. and around the world. It begins by reviewing instructional practices and classroom management styles in China and the U.S. This is followed by a summary of existing studies on Chinese language teachers’ classroom management experiences and pedagogical adjustment in American schools. Following this, implications for teachers, teacher education, and professional development for CFL education in the U.S. are discussed. The chapter concludes with a summary and suggestions for future research directions.

English Medium Instruction (EMI) as Linguistic Capital in Nepal: Promises and Realities

ABSTRACT This article reports on a critical qualitative case study of an EMI-based, underresourced public school in Nepal through Bourdieu’s lens of linguistic capital. As the data analysis revealed, parents, students, and teachers regarded EMI as a privileged form of linguistic capital for developing advanced English skills, enhancing educational achievements and access to higher education, and increasing the chance of upward social and economic mobility. In contrary to these rosy perceptions of EMI with overtly superficial promises, switching to EMI, without enough teacher preparation and infrastructure support in the school, had contributed to several unplanned negative outcomes, including a contested process of developing the English proficiency. Despite the school’s claim of offering EMI education, Nepali was the actual language of instruction in the school due to teachers’ lack of proficiency in English and the school’s inadequate resources and preparedness for a shift to EMI. As a result, the students developed neither the content knowledge nor English language skills. Therefore, rather than being an educational equalizer, EMI has served to (re)produce linguistic marginalization and educational inequality and injustice for children from a lower socioeconomic status. We suggest critical reflection on EMI adoption and reenvision “sustainable additive multilingualism” in such contexts (Erling et al., 2016).