From ‘Born’ Bilinguals to Monolinguals: Understanding Korean-Chinese Bilingual Family Language Policy in China

Abstract

In recent years, China has implemented a national language policy promoting the use of Putonghua (Standard Chinese) in ethnic minority schools. This study investigates how mesolevel institutions (i.e., schools) have responded to this macro-level national language policy change, and how the institutional policy changes have affected Korean-Chinese bilingual family language policies in Yanbian, China. Based on an analysis of the teaching and learning materials used in schools and data gathered through interviews with and observations of 16 Korean-Chinese bilingual families, this study finds that schools have actively responded to macro-level policy changes with organised, large-scale language practice activities. As a result of factors such as educational pressure and broader societal ideologies, families have been pressured to align with the meso-level language policy despite their desire to maintain their heritage language and culture. Consequently, it is likely that future generations of Korean-Chinese individuals, who would previously have been ‘born’ bilinguals, may become monolinguals. This study contends that in countries with a unified language ideology and a dominant language, the impact of macro-level policy reforms can restrict or promote micro-level family language policies through the mediating influence of meso-level institutions. Family language policy researchers may need to recognise that there is a one-way, rather than two-way, relationship between the aims of the state and the desires of families in such contexts.