A comparison of trilingual education policies for ethnic minorities in China

Robert Damian ADAMSON, Anwei FENG

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlespeer-review

59 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In recent decades, the People's Republic of China (PRC) has instigated language policies in education ostensibly designed to foster trilingualism in ethnic minority groups. The policies, which, as this paper shows, vary from region to region, encompass the minority group's home language, Chinese, and English. Based on data arising from interviews, documentary analysis and secondary sources, this paper examines the tensions behind these trilingual education policies by comparing the implementation of policies for three minority groups: the Zhuang, the Uyghur and the Yi people. It identifies some of the facilitators and barriers that affect the achievement of trilingualism, and finds that ethnic minority languages are at a disadvantage compared with Chinese and English. The paper concludes by making some suggestions for enhancing the effectiveness of the trilingualism policy. Copyright © 2009 Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)321-333
JournalCompare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education
Volume39
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2009

Citation

Adamson, B., & Feng, A. (2009). A comparison of trilingual education policies for ethnic minorities in China. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 39(3), 321-333.

Keywords

  • Language policies
  • Ethnic minorities
  • China
  • Trilingualism

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