UNESCO Chair in Regional Education Development and Lifelong Learning, The Education University of Hong Kong

Ningbo Symposium, 2014

The International Symposium on Multilingualism and Multilingual Education in China was held at the School of Education, University of Nottingham Ningbo, China, on 28-30 November 2014.

This symposium drew more than 40 researchers and scholars from mainland China (including 11 regions where minority groups dominate or live in mixed communities in China) and other countries and territories such as Nepal, the UK, Thailand, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Also present were about 20 researchers and doctorate students at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China where the symposium was hosted. These researchers, scholars and doctorate students came together to discuss theories, issues, models, research methodology and contextual factors influencing multilingual education in China and beyond.

The symposium was co-sponsored by the Department of International Education & Lifelong Learning and the Centre for Lifelong Learning Research & Development, Hong Kong Institute of Education, and by the General Research Fund 840012 of the Hong Kong Research Grants Council.

At the start of the symposium, a highly anticipated book edited by Anwei Feng and Bob Adamson with the title Trilingualism in Education in China: Models and Challenges by Springer was launched. The book is the result of 5 years of in-depth empirical research in nine regions in China where minority groups dominate or live in mixed communities.

During the Presentation Sessions, discussions focused on how China has become increasingly multicultural, and how multilingual education can serve as a key to inclusive development. Recently, there has been a rapid increase in research and literature about various aspects of bilingualism, trilingualism, and multilingualism, and their relevance for education. In ethnic minority-dominated regions of China, there has been increasing attention to research and scholarship in trilingual education and trilingualism in the ethnic minority home language, Mandarin Chinese, and English. Many of the symposium participants have been at the vanguard of this movement, and the exchange of research findings was rich and thought-provoking. Methodological issues and contextual factors affecting multilingual education were also discussed.

At the symposium, scholars and researchers from outside China took the audience to a wider world. They presented research on multimodality and funds of knowledge, concepts hugely relevant to multilingualism and multilingual education research, and discussed multilingual education practices in neighbouring countries such as Nepal, Thailand, the Philippines and Malaysia. One talk went to as far as Kenya. All these discussions helped widen the horizons of the research network.    

All the presentations were very well attended. The first day sessions were attended by about 60 on average. Even the last session on the second day was attended by about 50 enthusiastic audience members.

The last event was the launch of the Chinese Society for Multilingualism and Multilingual Education. During the session, the leadership of the Society was elected, the Constitution passed and next steps discussed.     

On reflection, all participants felt that the symposium was a huge success!

Anwei Feng

Chair of the Organising Committee

 

(Our thanks to Anwei Feng, Helen Zhang, Mike Chen and the School of Education, University of Nottingham Ningbo for their wonderful hospitality.)

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Presentations

Trilingual Education in Context: Towards a Comprehensive Framework for Research Anwei Feng

The Ethnic Identity and Language Attitude of Rural Migrant Workers of Zhuang Nationality in China Binlan Huang

Trilingualism in education and social equity Bob Adamson

 

Book launch

Localisation and Globalisation in Family Language Choice in Taiwan: Reflections of Wider Discourses Yi-Ling (Rene) Chen

Constructing Effective Mental Models in Essay Writing: Strategies for Training
Bilingual Chinese-English Majors
Luo Mingli

 

The Attitude towards the Bilingual Class of Chinese Students---A case analysis Jindong Li, Shen Jiayan, Wu Shuangshuang

A surfeit of –isms: Languages in Kenyan education John Lowe

 

A Corpus-based Study on English Writing of Miao Nationality High School Students Li Fei

Trilingualism and Cognition: Evidence from Liangshan Liu Chengyu

Tibetan Learners' Attitude Towards Tibetan-Chinese Bilingual Education in TAR: A Positive Research Liu Quanguo

Reviewing Multilingual Education in Nepal Pushker Kadel

A Critical Analysis of  the English Translation of “The Secret History of the Mongols” Siqinbatu

English in the Linguistic Landscape of Suzhou and its Implications for Multilingual Education in China Songqing Li

Trilingual education circumstance in China and the acquisition of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) Godwin A. Ioratim-Uba

Re-looking at the THREE EXAMPLES from Xinjiang:  what do you think? Wang Ping 

On Eco-Linguistic Evaluation and Foreign Language Policy of Trilingual Education in Yunnan Tibetan Areas 云南藏区三语教育语言生态评估 与外语政策研究  原一川 Yuan Yichuan

Developing trilingual teacher training in Xinjiang, in China--status quo, issues and challenges Ping Zhang

Exploration on the Development of Multilingual and Multicultural Education in Yanbian University Zhang Zhen'ai,  Li Guanghe