This qualitative study examines three non-limited English proficiency (LEP)/English as a second language (ESL)-labeled Chinese American students' English language and literacy performance in mainstream classrooms. Multiple methods were adopted for data collection, including interviewing the focal students' teachers and their parents, observing and…

The purpose of this paper is to examine cross-cultural differences in gesture frequency and the extent to which exposure to two cultures would affect the gesture frequency of bilinguals when speaking in both languages. The Chinese-speaking monolinguals from China, English-speaking monolinguals from America, and Chinese-English bilinguals from…

This article examines the relation between social class and language attitudes through a triangulated study that analyses the attitudes of 836 secondary school students from different socioeconomic backgrounds toward the 3 official spoken languages used in postcolonial Hong Kong (HK; i.e., Cantonese, English, and Putonghua). The respondents were…

This article will explore the role of "CYC," a community-based youth center, in providing a sense of what I call "Youth (Comm)Unity" for Chinese American youth from low-income immigrant families. While CYC combines the youths' home and school worlds, it is also distinct from these worlds by forming a new and hybrid culture/space. In doing so, I…

This article addresses the importance of language underlying the stratification process in Taiwan within the context of globalization. Specifically, I ask if one's language skills may serve as a key to getting ahead. The Taiwanese government has imposed Mandarin as the official language since 1945 and introduced English courses into compulsory…

This study aims to identify the two principal reasons why college students choose a certain language to satisfy a general education second language requirement by polling 172 students enrolled in first-year language courses in 13 languages at a large Northeastern research university. Students answered a questionnaire and chose the two main reasons…

Learning to write Chinese characters is often thought to be a very challenging and laborious task. However, new learning tools are being designed that might reduce learners' tedium. This study explores one such tool, an online program in which learners can learn Chinese characters through vision-based motion games. The learner's gestures are…

A dual immersion program in Chinese and English at the 3e International School in Beijing is helping children become fluent in both languages, even though many students spoke neither language when they entered the school. Children enter the program as young as two years old. Studies indicate that bilingual children have higher levels of cognitive…

One of the most controversial policies in minority education concerns the so-called inland ethnic minority schools or classes in Han-inhabited areas in China. From 2000 onward, the boarding Xinjiang Classes have been established in the eastern cities of China for high school students from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region to educate young…

This study, involving a questionnaire and personal interviews with participants from more than 10 ethnic minority groups, explores the work and learning experiences of ethnic migrant workers in China's Beijing and Shenzhen. The study reveals that China's ethnic migrant workers face multifaceted barriers in their adaptation to urban life. They…

Despite individual differences, all bilinguals share the ability to act in their native language, in their second language, and to switch back and forth between the two languages they know (Van Hell, 1998). Chinese is the largest Asian American ethnic group in the United States. Their use of code-switching is an increasingly important issue in…

This article focuses on the identity accounts of a group of Chinese children who attend a heritage language school. Bakhtin's concepts of ideological becoming, and authoritative and internally persuasive discourse, frame our exploration. Taking a dialogic view of language and learning raises questions about schools as socializing spaces and…

This report on the Chinatown Youth Services and Coordinating Center (CYSCC) presents a short-term evaluation of the delinquency prevention program operating in San Francisco's Chinatown. Research problems bearing on the evaluation were said to be the lack of concensus among all interviewed (every permanent member of the staff of CYSCC) as to the…

This is one of a series of elementary readers written in Cantonese and English and designed to familiarize children with the traditional major Chinese festivals celebrated by the Chinese in America. This booklet describes the celebration of the harvest-time holiday called the Moon Festival. (CLK)

This paper studies the lexical changes between pre-1949 Mandarin and the pu-tong-hua of today. The extent of change and the identification and description of a few cases of linguistic change are considered. The relative significance of these changes and remarks on pedagogy conclude the paper. (Author/CFM)