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ERIC Number: EJ1180878
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2016-Dec
Pages: 9
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0119-5646
EISSN: N/A
Between the National and the International: Ethnography of Language Ideologies in a Middle-Class Community in China
Yu, Hua
Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, v25 n5-6 p703-711 Dec 2016
This paper explores a key dilemma of the Chinese middle class as it appears in their apparent adherence to official language policy despite their lack of direct knowledge of that policy. Using fieldwork data from Hangzhou, I show that a group of middle-class parents worked together to build an "Ancient Way Academy" for their children to chant the ancient Chinese classics. In this, although they were unaware of the official policy of "Chanting the Chinese Classics" (CCC), they effectively reproduced it in their actions. Some parents, however, soon drifted away from the traditionalism of CCC and toward a much stronger emphasis on the learning of English as the gateway to modernization. In facing the dilemma of choice between these two educational pathways, the parents thus unwittingly reenacted the state's ceaseless oscillation between nationalistic and international visions of the country's needs.
Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-348-4505; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://link.springer.com/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: China
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A