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Language and social justice

Foreign language learning for minority empowerment?

By October 23, 202018 Comments5 min read4,802 views

LI Jia and LV Yong, Yunnan University

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Editor’s note: There is a Chinese saying that two heads are better than one (三个臭皮匠赛过一个诸葛亮). This proverb emphasizes both collective wisdom and the value of grassroots work. At its best, teaching is both. In this mini-series, Dr LI Jia and Ms LV Yong, Yunnan University, share how teaching about linguistic diversity has changed their understanding of linguistic diversity. Specifically, they summarize the findings of 77 small research projects undertaken by their undergraduate students. These research projects provide insight into the multifaceted and dynamic language experiences of Chinese youth from Yunnan province, a highly diverse border region in the southwest of China. Following on from their recent posts about the revalorization of Chinese dialects and the changing role of minority languages in Yunnan, this final post in the series focuses on the learning of foreign languages other than English in China.

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Yunnan as a link between China and Southeast Asia

Yunnan province in China’s southwest shares over 4,000 kilometers of borderline with Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam. Because of its geopolitical advantage and China’s regional expansion project, Yunnan is constructed as a window linking China to Myanmar and other Southeast Asian countries (see detailed discussion of the linguistic consequences of the geopolitical position of Yunnan here and here). In the emerging discourse of China’s engagement with its neighbouring countries, Yunnan has seized the opportunity and actively developed its cooperation Southeast and South Asian countries on all levels.

In education, for instance, over 80% of international students in Yunnan are from Southeast Asia and South Asia.

The increasing number and scale of non-English foreign language programs is unprecedented and largely geopolitically motivated. Yunnan University, for instance, has established ten foreign language degree programs in languages of Southeast Asia and South Asia only within the past seven years. This bi-directional flow of international students learning Chinese and Chinese students learning Southeast Asian and South Asian languages constitutes a new approach in foreign language education in China, which is very different to the approach of metropolitan cities such as Beijing and Shanghai.

Learning Burmese as extension of family capital

The study by Yang Hongli (杨洪黎) has offered some interesting learning experiences of a Chinese female student majoring in Burmese. Being brought up in Yingjiang, a border town in Yunnan, this Chinese student was able to speak simple Burmese language for daily communication with her parents before entering university. Her Burmese proficiency is mainly associated with the fact that she has a Burmese mother and a Chinese father, and both of her parents have been involved in the jade trade and crossing the border for decades. While studying at university, this student reports that “缅语越学越有成就感,越学越有自信” (“the longer I study Burmese, the more I feel accomplished and the more I feel confident”). As one of the top students in her class, she is often set up as an example in pronunciation, oral communication, and academic achievement. Despite undertaking her Burmese studies in Yunnan, this student does not feel inferior to other Chinese peers from elite universities in Beijing and Shanghai because her university has a one-year-exchange program with Yangon University, the top university in Myanmar and her excellent oral performance in the national Burmese language competition also proves her competence over other Burmese majors in China.

Learning English as burden

Li Jia with Dai and Shan students in a Yunnan primary school

This student, however, feels quite stressed when asked about her English proficiency. In the interview she confessed that her English is poor because she has not passed CET-4 (College English Test Band-4). Without this certificate, she is afraid that her future job prospects might be affected. Similar to this Burmese learner’s story, a Thai major also reported her different language learning experiences in English and in Thai to Bai Qiongfang (白琼芳).

This Thai learner used to study English in her first year, but due to her lack of interest and unsatisfactory performance in English, she decided to transfer to major in Thai. Another important reason to shift to study Thai is because of her ethnic identity as Dai. As a Dai speaker, she can understand 40% of Thai language because of the shared linguistic and cultural background.

Cross-border minorities learning Thai for additive identities

As China is increasingly promoting non-English foreign languages, Thai has become one of the most popular foreign languages in Yunnan and the spread of Thai social media also shapes Chinese young people’s desire to learn Thai. Due to the similarity between her mother tongue and Thai, this Thai learner has proved her competence in her class when she just started to learn Thai compared to other Chinese classmates who have to struggle from zero knowledge. It is interesting to note that her competence in Thai also shapes her curiosity and desire to maintain her ethnic identity. By working with her teacher on a project, she is running an official account on introducing the cultural practices of both Dai and Thai people. In fact, the increasing interest in speaking ethnic minority languages like Dai is not limited to grassroots efforts but also observed from top down approach in the shifting context of China’s geoeconomic and geopolitical conditions, as we shared in the previous post.

The studies mentioned above are mainly based on our students’ observations and lived experiences. An in-depth and longitudinal study is needed in future in order to understand how the shifting meanings of speaking “small languages” like Thai and Burmese might contribute to more equitable access to social resources. Whether the valorization of these foreign languages will fulfill the career aspirations of their speakers in education and at work also remains an open question.

While having abundant linguistic and cultural resources in Yunnan, we should not exaggerate the idea of multicultural prosperity. As we pointed out in the previous post, only a very small number of ethnic minority students can overcome the linguistic and social barriers to be accepted into university. English still constitutes a huge barrier for their access to equal education especially in remote and minority-centered regions of Yunnan. In order to fulfill minority people’s aspirations, a more diversified foreign language educational policy needs to be adopted. Rather than using English as the only foreign subject, Southeast Asian languages such as Thai, Burmese, Vietnamese, and Laotian should be established to make use of the local linguistic resources and to empower young people’s upward mobility in the borderlands.

Li Jia

Author Li Jia

Li Jia obtained her doctoral degree from Macquarie University in 2017. She is an Associate Professor in the College of Foreign Languages of Yunnan University in Kunming, China. Her research interests include multilingualism, language in education, and intercultural communication. She is passionate about improving language education in Yunnan and beyond.

More posts by Li Jia

Join the discussion 18 Comments

  • Ni Zhijuan says:

    Thanks for my supervisor to share this article with me. As a local, some significant phenomenon will be “normalized” for me. But this article and articles from Language on the move are very inspirational. I am from Ruili, Yunnan province. At my hometown, transnational situations are very common. I had the time to have class with Myanmar students and sometimes buy foods from Myanmar dealers. I also have some Myanmar friends. From them I learned their educational system is quite different from us. Yunnan is constructed as a window to Southeast and South Asia, whose educational system and pattern differ from Shanghai or Beijing. What do students inland and abroad think of existing system? We can know from this article, the feedback is not so good. More thinkings and changes should be done for improvement.

    • Li Jia says:

      Thanks for your comments Ni Zhijuan. Yes, we might internalize certain norms without relating to specific contexts. It’s good to add your living experiences at Ruili where multilingual practices are quite diversified and dynamic. Your proposed study on a group of Burmese migrants working at a massage salon at Ruili is very promising and highly relevant to the wider contexts of social and political transformations between China and its neighouring countries. Looking forward to working with you.

  • Zhang Yu says:

    Thanks my supervisor Li Jia for sharing this insightful article and also thanks my junior schoolmates for sharing their language learning stories.
    It is glad to see that “small languages” like Thai and Burmese are valorized in Yunnan due to the strategic position of Yunnan in the construction of “Belt and Road”. The mode of language learning and teaching in Yunnan is undergoing changing. More and more people notice the value of learning languages of Southeast Asia and South Asia. Some students from border cities in Yunnan province who have non-English foreign language backgrounds like Yang and Bai in this article use such language backgrounds as a new resource and capital to help themselves to regain confidence, meet with academic success and get rid of the torment of English.
    It is also lamentable that many students, especially those from rural and ethnic minority areas of Yunnan, feel impotent to study the most powerful language, English, at a frontier “Double First Class” university but have to struggle to learn it. When their English proficiency fails to meet the social requirements, they begin to blame themselves and question their own ability. A good friend of mine told me when she graduated from college that she felt that she was useless because her poor English proficiency barred her from a good job. Recently, some senior students asked me about the postgraduate entrance examination and told me how much they regretted choosing to major in English. They said that the more they learn English, the more hopeless they feel. Although some of them got a good score in the Gaokao, due to the influence of previous teaching mode and lack of sufficient resources, they find that their English level is far from their classmates from developed cities and become less confident and feel unable to compete with others.
    Why does this happen? What factors cause the English learning pain for the frontier students? Can anyone equally fulfill the promise provided by learning English? As a student having learnt English in Yunnan University for five years and have seen many students’ struggles, I am haunted by these questions and hoping to do a research in the following stage of my postgraduate study to reexamine the myths of English. Hoping more and more people can abundant Anglophone-centered ideology and see the values of linguistic diversity; also hoping more and more scholars would conduct researches on the struggles of marginalized students from rural and minority areas learning English to help them get more notice and get equal learning resources and development opportunities.

    • Li Jia says:

      Excellent comments! As a teacher working in Yunnan, one of the most peripheral regions in China, I completely understand what you mean by the inferiority complexity caused by learning English for ages. Very delighted to see your willingness to take a great courage to reveal the myths of learning English as your proposed research. Let’s work together for the equal access to social resources and the empowerment of linguistic diversity.

  • Wang Zhiying says:

    Under the background of the deepening construction of the radiation center for South and Southeast Asia in Yunnan province and the “Belt and Road” initiative , Yunnan University has kept up with the situation and set up 10 foreign language degree programs in language of South and Southeat Asia. This research also points out that English is not entirely appropriate for every student and that some students learn non-English foreign languages more confidently and more easily. Considering the current high demand of non-English language professsionals and intercultural communicators, it is still worth thinking deeply about how individuals can matain this language confidence and what adjustments the government will make to the language policy to show its support.

    • Li Jia says:

      Thanks for your comments, Wang Zhiying. Yes, I agree that a more inclusive and diversified foreign language policy should be implemented in China’s border regions such as Yunnan!

  • He Bin says:

    Since I am studying English Language and Literature for my Master degree, I really feel that English is so powerful in many fields around my life. Two of my roommates, majoring in Japanese Language and Literature for Master degree, who spend lots of their spare time to practice their listening and speaking competence of English. The reason why they have to learn English so hardly is that they have to pass those English exams and the CET(College English Test) for acquiring the certificate of degree. Non-English major post-graduate students have to spare no efforts to learn English well. For them, it definitely is a burden. And for myself, I’ve learned Korean for many years out of classroom, and I find that I am more interested in Korean learning than English. I am not means to abandon the English language, but to reflect on myself why major in English even if is more interested in Korean. Maybe the reason is that I always hear about the “statement “ of “English is better” from primary school till today.
    After reading stories in this article, I really feel good about more and more students in Yunnan province and especially in Yunnan University choosing to learn non- English foreign languages. They are the students to challenge the supremacy of English.

    • Li Jia says:

      Thanks, He Bin, for sharing with your language learning experiences in English and Korean. Yes, the propaganda on the supremacy of English tends to delude ourselves into an illusion that English is the only way to success whereas other languages do not deserve similar investment. However, your investment in learning Korean language out of class might demonstrate a brand-new experience from English. Looking forward to reading your work in future!

  • Bai Qiongfang says:

    Thanks for Language on the move can offer such a good opporunity for Yunnan University teachers and students to share their ideas. I’m so glad that my fridend’s story in this essay can be shared on this platform. I hope my friend’s story will inspire people. I believe learning southeast Asian language will become more popular in China and will definitely bring more opportunities for students in Yunnan and promote the internationa communication with southeast Asian countries.

    • Guo Haiyan says:

      Because of the special location, Yunnan is rich in language resources. Local students also face a lot of language confusion in their education: English learning greatly affects their study, life, and even employment. As EMI is implemented in minority areas, English learning in minority areas is generally inefficient.
      It reminds me of my undergraduate roommate’s experience of supporting education in Aba, she said that it was really difficult for children in minority areas to learn English, and suddenly she understood the policy of extra points for minority students in English during the college entrance examination.
      I am puzzled: although extra points for students’ English make up for their weak position in the college entrance examination due to their English scores to some extent, they have not substantially improved their language ability. After going to college, they still face the English confusion. What linguistic significance does such EMI have for minority students?

      • Li Jia says:

        Thanks, Guo Haiyan, for raising a very important question for Chinese kids from Aba, a minority-centered area, in Sichuan. Instead of blaming them for their poor English proficiency, we shall relate their learning experiences to their access to the social resources. The policy of offering extra points may seem to bridge the social barrier and increase their opportunity for going to university, but what’s the proportion of those minorities who have successfully obtained the admission ticket when both English and Putonghua are safeguarding as the gate-keeping power?

    • Li Jia says:

      Thank you Bai Qiongfang for your excellent work! Let’s keep reading on LOTM and exploring how cross-border minorities might empower their life trajectories in future. Very exciting project!

  • Yang Hongli says:

    Thanks for Language on the Move can provide such a good platform for teachers and students of Yunnan University. Language is powerful. I believe that under the background of Yunnan’s unique geographical location, the learning of Southeast Asian language will create more resources and opportunities for students in Yunnan.

    • Li Jia says:

      Thanks, Yang Hongli, for sharing with us a wonderful story on how a Chinese student gets empowered in learning Burmese language in Yunnan. Let’s keep in touch and see how this student fulfills her employment prospect in the coming two years.

  • Ge Tingjiang says:

    Yunnan province, a province shared bordline with plenty of Southeast Asian and South Asian countries, recieves tons of linguistic resources. Due to the on-going process of “Belt and Road” initiative and its needs for multilingual talents, universities in Yunnan province, like Yunnan University, have established more foreign language degree programs in languages of Southeast Asia and South Asia. This research has shared us some learning experience of students studying Thai, Burmese and English to examine how these students regard minority language as language capital and language confidence and how they regard English as burden. Thus, this article will provide a reference for policy makers to adopt a more advanced foreign language educational policy.

    • Li Jia says:

      Thanks for your comments, Ge Tingjiang! Your proposed study on Laotian students’ language learning experiences in Yunnan will definitely contribute to this topic. Very much expecting to read your study in the near future!

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