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Models for Trilingual Education in the People’s Republic of China

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Minority Languages and Multilingual Education

Part of the book series: Educational Linguistics ((EDUL,volume 18))

Abstract

Since 2002, the People’s Republic of China has instigated a variety of language policies in education ostensibly designed to foster trilingualism in ethnic minority groups. This chapter reports the findings of a project studying the implementation of trilingual education policies (covering the ethnic minority language, Chinese and English) in Yunnan, Sichuan, Guangxi, Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Jilin, Gansu, Guizhou, Qinghai and Tibet. The study identifies four models of trilingual education—accretive, balanced, transitional and depreciative—that have emerged in the different regions, and explores reasons for the various manifestations. While there appears to be consensus among key stakeholders regarding the potential benefits of trilingual education, the differences in the four models reveal tensions in the context of policy implementation.

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Acknowledgement

We would like to acknowledge the generous support for this research that was received from the Hong Kong Research Grants Council (General Research Fund 840012). The views expressed in this chapter are those of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of International Education and Lifelong Learning, Hong Institute of Education, Hong Kong, China

    Bob Adamson

  2. School of Education, Bangor University, Bangor, Wales, UK

    Anwei Feng

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  1. Bob Adamson
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Correspondence to Bob Adamson .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Theory & Hist. of Education, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU - IKERBASCQUE, Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain

    Durk Gorter

  2. Dept. of Philoogy & Language Teaching, Public University of Navarre Campus de Arrosadia, Irunea-Pamplona, Spain

    Victoria Zenotz

  3. Dept. of Research Methods in Education,, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain

    Jasone Cenoz

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Adamson, B., Feng, A. (2014). Models for Trilingual Education in the People’s Republic of China. In: Gorter, D., Zenotz, V., Cenoz, J. (eds) Minority Languages and Multilingual Education. Educational Linguistics, vol 18. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7317-2_3

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