As part of a larger project that investigates the issue of identities in Hong Kong, this study anchored on the sociocognitive paradigm in second language acquisition (SLA) explores the potential relationship between one's identity and perceived language accentedness. Our study set in Hong Kong (HK) aims to extend Gatbonton and colleagues' works…

While previous studies have shown that drawing upon funds of knowledge benefits teaching and learning in many educational settings, there is little inquiry into funds of knowledge in Chinese heritage language education. Employing ethnographic methods, I explored the evidence of funds of knowledge in early childhood settings in a community-based…

This study explores teachers' perceptions and practices about the translanguaging approach in CLIL elementary and secondary school contexts in Taiwan. It first investigates 422 in-service teachers' perspectives toward teachers' and students' use of (1) a native language; (2) non-verbal behaviors; and (3) other meaning-making signs in the language…

This study examines how immigrants' enculturation/acculturation, language use, and parenting were linked to their oral and written language proficiencies in multilingual Hong Kong (speak English, speak Cantonese, read and write Chinese). Participants in this study included 655 immigrant parents (from Pakistan, Nepal, India, Philippines, Indonesia,…

This qualitative study investigates the lived experiences of interculturality among international students enrolled in a top-rated comprehensive university in Shanghai and a key provincial university in China's hinterland. Based on an analysis of narrative interviews with 20 international students from different sociocultural backgrounds, the…

Based on a larger ethnography (Li, 2017. Social Reproduction and Migrant Education: A Critical Sociolinguistic Ethnography of Burmese Students' Learning Experiences at a Border High School in China. (PhD), Macquarie University. http://www.languageonthemove.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/LI_Jia_Social_reproduction_and_migrant_education.pdf) and…

This paper presents findings of a qualitative inquiry into international students' experiences and perceptions of their language use in an English-medium international university in multilingual Hong Kong, with particular attention to the use of English as a lingua franca (ELF) in relation to other languages. Based on data collected from in-depth…

As a linguistically heterogeneous nation, China has 290 languages and nearly 2000 distinct "fangyans" (dialects or subdialects) with "Putonghua" as the national language. These languages and language varieties are hierarchically ranked, based on their wider communicative and socioeconomic values. This paper reports on how…

Educators and researchers increasingly recognise the impact of language policies on bilingual education. The present study examined the similarities and differences in how the teachers and principals in two different contexts, a Mandarin-English bilingual programme in a Canadian kindergarten and elementary school and a Russian-Hebrew bilingual…

After China resumed the sovereignty of Hong Kong, the Curriculum Development Council encouraged schools to experiment with Putonghua as a medium of instruction (PMI) to teach the Chinese language. A review of the literature indicates that there have been problems in implementing the switch to the new medium of instruction (MOI). The aim of this…

This detailed phenomenological study of three immigrant children's individual networks of linguistic contact (INLC) (interpersonal contact, educational support and contact through media) challenges the myth that heritage language maintenance is solely the responsibility of Chinese immigrant families and communities. Through examining children's…

This qualitative study investigates attitudes toward heritage language (HL) maintenance among Chinese immigrant parents and their second-generation children. Specific attention is given to exploring (1) what attitudes are held by the Chinese parents and children toward Chinese language maintenance in the USA, (2) what efforts are engaged in by the…

This article presents results of a study on a weekend Chinese community school in a mid-Atlantic state that looks at parents' perceptions of the challenges the school faced in teaching Chinese to heritage versus non-heritage learners. Survey and qualitative interviews with parents show differences in their expectations regarding teacher…

Introduces this volume of the journal, which focuses on language in education in post-colonial Hong Kong. Before Hong Kong was returned to China, Cantonese and English were the predominate languages; since the change of sovereignty, the status of Mandarin has increased tremendously. (Author/VWL)

Reports a case study of a Mandarin Chinese as a foreign language program for third and fourth graders in a Canadian elementary school. Attempts to investigate the feasibility of adopting a content-based approach to achieve the dual goals of language and culture learning for young beginners. (Author/VWL)