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ERIC Number: EJ858584
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2009
Pages: 6
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1068-3844
EISSN: N/A
Language, Parents' Involvement, and Social Justice: The Fight for Maintaining Minority Home Language: A Chinese-Language Case Study
Wang, Yuxiang
Multicultural Education, v16 n4 p13-18 Sum 2009
English-only policies and the expiration of the "Bilingual Education Act," which is now replaced by "No Child Left Behind," make it clear that English is the official language of schools in the United States with the emphasis moved from the goal of maintaining students' home languages while learning English to a focus of ignoring minority students' home languages. The bottom line is that the dominant group determines what language or languages will be learned in school. In order to maintain their home language, culture, and identity, minority groups have had to fight for their home languages and for broader issues of social justice. Speaking and maintaining a home language has been asserted to be a basic human right of minority students and their families. This article investigates the efforts of Chinese American students and their parents and community members in seeking the right to learn Chinese as a foreign language. This article also examines the assimilative and oppressive nature of school language policies, the importance of learning Chinese as a foreign language for Chinese American students who are losing their home language, and the broader importance of fighting for social justice. (Contains 1 table.)
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A