Exploring the Emerging Language Ideologies of Chinese Preservice Teachers Through an Ecological Lens

• In Event: Multicultural Competence of Preservice Teachers/Teacher Candidates and Curriculum

Abstract

In the United States, one-way Chinese Immersion (CI) programs that mainly teach Chinese as a foreign language have outnumbered two-way CI programs (Lü, 2020). As language ideologies influence teachers’ approaches in creating pluralist learning (Henderson, 2017), understanding how Chinese pre-service teachers (PSTs) develop their language ideologies becomes crucial. This study focuses on three PSTs in a one-way CI program, exploring their emerging language ideologies and their interactions with influences at micro, meso, and macro levels. Findings suggest that PSTs develop emerging pluralist and assimilationist language ideologies due to multi-level influences, ideological tensions between advocacy for multilingualism and the dual monolingual settings at school, and their agency for supporting an inclusive classroom environment.

Author

• Chenlu Jin, Michigan State University