In this article, we synthesise research on language ideologies and language policies related to minority languages in China published in international journals between 2001 and 2022. We review 73 empirical studies published in English to examine research trends and identify issues in terms of what was studied, how it was studied and what was…

This paper examines the impact of the local tea industry on the language ecology of the geographically remote Blang community in China. The paper takes an ecology perspective in language planning where all languages in the locality are given equal attention. These languages in the context of this paper include Blang, Putonghua, and English as the…

Prof. Baldauf was one of the first who saw the planning agency as a central issue in examining the effectiveness of language planning (LP) endeavors (e.g. Baldauf, R. B. Jr. (1982). "The language situation in American Samoa: Planners, plans and planning." "Language Planning Newsletter," 1(8), 1-6). This paper chooses the…

This paper explores language ideology, policies and the role of English in Pakistan and China, two countries in which English plays different roles in education. Owing to globalization and communication development, the role of the English language is changing; thus, there is need to change the policies and ideologies surrounding English…

There are media and research reports of international students from the People's Republic of China as being deficient in the capabilities for thinking critically. This paper argues for a shift in the frame for researching their critical thinking, moving the focus from the ethno-national label of "Chinese students" to "multilingual…

Owing to its economic growth and social changes in the past two decades, China has become a popular destination for tourists, investors, and diverse communities of migrants. When foreign-language-speaking migrants interact with Chinese criminal justice system, they rely on interpreters to participate in the proceedings. Based on four-month trial…

In this article, we apply Ruiz's language-as-resource orientation to three international settings: Taiwan, Pakistan, and mainland China. Our guiding question was how different languages (indigenous languages, Chinese, and English) were positioned differently as resources in these contexts. For our analysis, we used Lo Bianco's (2001) elaboration…

This article explores the background to the Chinese government's decision to embark on a programme of promoting the study of Chinese language and culture overseas. This includes the impact of Joseph Nye's concept of "soft power" in China, ownership of the national language, the Confucius connection, and how these factors interact with…

In recent decades, the People's Republic of China (PRC) has instigated language policies in education ostensibly designed to foster trilingualism in ethnic minority groups. The policies, which, as this paper shows, vary from region to region, encompass the minority group's home language, Chinese, and English. Based on data arising from interviews,…

A vast array of cultural traditions and languages can be found among China's 55 legally recognized minority nationalities. Mother tongue education has been the norm for several of the large minority groups (namely, Koreans, Kazaks, Mongolians, Tibetans, and Uyghurs) for most of the time since 1949. This article, which is based on empirical data,…

The Han sphere, including Vietnam, Korea, Japan, Taiwan and China, adopted Han characters and classical Han writing as the official written language before the 20th century. However, great changes came with the advent of the 20th century. After World War II, Han characters in Vietnam and Korea were officially replaced by the romanised "Chu…

The Mekong has long attracted interest although it remains economically insignificant. A group of riparian states known as the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS)--Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and Yunnan Province (China)--now manage aspects of regional development including trade, water management and education. Standard GMS discourse…

This article discusses language planning in the People's Republic of China, and opens by commenting on the difficulty in observing the language planning process in China, particularly in the area of decision-making. A brief history of language planning is provided. Following the establishment of the People's Republic in 1949, a shift took place…

The author summarizes some of the spoken language policies of the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China of Taiwan, including some statistics on dialect speakers in the population, methods for promoting Mandarin in the schools, and attitudes toward the maintenance of minority languages. (SJL)

Reviews use of mixed-code teaching in Hong Kong schools and outlines educators' efforts to persuade the government to accept mixed-code as not only inevitable, but preferable in most Hong Kong schools. Notes that English must be preserved for business purposes, but the Chinese medium of instruction is receiving greater emphasis as Hong Kong nears…