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Student Ethnic Identity and Language Behaviors in the Chinese Heritage Language Classroom

Yang, Chun-Ting
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7667-244X
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1462865990

Abstract Details

2016, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, EDU Teaching and Learning.
Recent decades have seen growing importance placed on research in heritage languages in the United States as a result of the increasing number of immigrants whose mother tongue is not English. Despite the rapid increase of the number of people who speak the Chinese language in the United States, research on Chinese heritage language education has received little attention. This ethnographic study was thus carried out at a Chinese heritage language school in a Midwestern U.S. city. Two classes of twenty-one eighth and ninth graders participated in the study, involving two Taiwanese immigrant teachers and four focal students. Data collection took place about six months through semi-structured interviews with four focal students and two teachers, participant observation, and audio-recordings of classroom discourse. The aim of this thesis is threefold. First, in Chapter 4, I examine what stage of ethnic identity development the four focal students may be at. Second, in Chapter 5, I explore how the four focal students perform their uncooperative language behaviors in the IRF pattern, how they other-correct their teacher’s English in the student-initiated IRFs, and how they express convergent (accommodative) and divergent language behaviors through code-switching. Third, I investigate the relationship between language ideology and ethnic identity as well as the link between their language behaviors and their self-identification and language ideologies. In Chapter 4, the findings show that Arthur, Paul, and Jack seem to be at Stage 2 - Ethnic Ambivalence / Evasion (EAE), and Bill appears to be between Stage 2 and Stage 3 – Ethnic Emergence. In Chapter 5, the results indicate that the students expressed uncooperative language behaviors; it seems that they “miscommunicate” and try to be “bad” communicators (Ladegaard, 2009, p. 650). Their corrective actions can be regarded as a favor from the native speakers (Paul and Jack) to the nonnative speaker (the teacher Lily). Additionally, when arguing with their teacher, they used both strategies of convergence and divergence to show their resistance to learning and speaking Mandarin Chinese. The findings support the conclusions that language ideology may be connected to ethnic identity. The students’ language ideologies may reflect how they are aware of their heritage language and ethnic group. Their self-identification and language ideologies also appear to affect their language behaviors. For instance, in Chapter 4, Arthur expressed his ideological resistance to studying Mandarin Chinese, which may cause him to display uncooperative language behaviors in the classroom. As native English speakers, Paul and Jack other-corrected their teacher’s nonnative English in an attempt to offer a friendly help, and simultaneously, their American identity is embedded in the corrections, echoing their ideological affiliation with English. Through code-switching, Arthur and Bill used both strategies of convergence and divergence to show their resistance to learning and speaking Mandarin Chinese. They also converged toward the language preference of their teacher and accommodated toward her ingroup language – Mandarin Chinese and Taiwanese. As a result, their group identities are fluid and group memberships are negotiated during an interaction through the processes of convergence and divergence.
Leslie Moore (Advisor)
Keiko Samimy (Committee Member)
Donald Winford (Committee Member)
259 p.
Asian American Studies; Bilingual Education; Communication; Language
heritage language; ethnic identity; language ideology; ideological becoming; language behavior; language choice; code-switching; convergence; divergence; accommodation; other-correction; Chinese; Taiwanese; bilingual; education

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Yang, C.-T. (2016). Student Ethnic Identity and Language Behaviors in the Chinese Heritage Language Classroom [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1462865990

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Yang, Chun-Ting. Student Ethnic Identity and Language Behaviors in the Chinese Heritage Language Classroom . 2016. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1462865990.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Yang, Chun-Ting. "Student Ethnic Identity and Language Behaviors in the Chinese Heritage Language Classroom ." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1462865990

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1462865990
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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.