Guided by the conceptual model of biliteracy development (Dixon & Wu Language Teaching, 47(4), 414-449, 2014), this research aimed to examine tertiary-level English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) literacy development in ethnic minorities (EM) in China, an underexamined population in the literature. Three research questions (RQs) were posed: RQ1:…

This study aimed to examine incidental learning of multiword expressions (MWEs) from bilingual captioned videos among language minority students. The participants consisted of 403 language minority university students enrolled in the Preparatory Year Programme (PYP) in the Southern part of China. The study evaluated participants' vocabulary…

To examine the specific education challenges that minority language-speaking parents encounter in teaching their children heritage language, this study conducted in-depth interviews with ten Chinese immigrant parents in Korean-Chinese multicultural families. Textual analysis of the interviews revealed that 'One Parent One Language' is a natural…

This study was conducted with Zhuang and Miao students and Mandarin teachers in grades four to six in four township elementary schools in Dehou Township, Wenshan City, Yunnan Province. The purposes of this study were:1) to study the influences of the native language that affect Zhuang and Miao students when they learn Mandarin,2) to study…

A field trip to Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture was conducted in early 2016, to investigate bilingual education for the Tujia in China. Through observation of language classes, along with interviews with local students, parents and bilingual teachers, this paper investigates the current bilingual education situation for the Tujia in three schools. A…

This paper examines the translanguaging practice of two EFL teachers in a Xinjiang university, where English and Mandarin Chinese are predominant but Uyghur is minoritised as a medium of instruction. We focus on data in which the teachers translanguage across all three languages and make a case for the conception of pedagogical translanguaging…

The medium of instruction (MoI) is regulated in the bilingual education of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in two ways. One requires most school subjects to be taught through Mandarin, whereas the other demands that all subjects be delivered with Mandarin as the MoI. A field trip to the capital city, Urumqi, was conducted in 2017 to investigate…

As we all know, China is a country with many ethnic minorities mainly living in the northeastern and southwestern China. The English education in the primary schools in these areas is an important issue. The article analyzes the status quo of English education in primary schools in minor ethnic areas, taking the Leshan city, a western one as an…

The study of multilingualism has gained prominence due to increases in linguistically diverse student populations. This paper aims to contribute to research on multilingualism by addressing schoolteachers' beliefs and practices related to linguistic diversity. A unique sample of 606 teachers across ten minority-dominant schools from Southwest…

Bilingual education has unique and complex features. In the course of language study, with the mother tongue as a foundation, acquiring a second language depends on the features of student's learning and age. Based on the construction of J. Cummins's (1984) dual iceberg theory dual-language model, students' bilingual education is founded on the…

Minority language literacy is an important issue in national education policy for any multi-nationality country. China sticks to the policy of safeguarding the rights and interests of ethnic minority groups to use their own languages and writing systems. In education, considering communications among different nationalities and the development of…

Two groups of 12-year-old ethnic minority (EM) users of alphasyllabary (66 Tibetan and 45 Yi) were compared with 42 Han Chinese students in comprehending Chinese narrative and expository texts, each with inferential questions requiring short open-ended written answers. Three constructs (verbal working memory, orthographic and sentential…

The Chinese state sees language as an essential determinant in ethnic minority schooling. The use of minority language as a medium of instruction is viewed as a way to increase attendance rates and strengthen socialization into a national ideology. However, the policies differ for those ethnic minorities with or without a commonly used written…