Reported by Dongkun (Ludwig) Lyu
On May 5, 2022, Third Space Lab launched their Guest Speaker Series sharing a discussion focused on Language and culture in the form of an online forum. This forum was mainly composed of two sessions, the talk and Q & A. Two distinguished speakers, Prof. Anwei Feng and Prof. Bob Adamson from UNNC, discussed multi-lingual China realities, key policies and multi-lingual education models based on two of their edited volumes on this topic.
The first section was titled: Trilingualism in education in China: Models and Challenges. The second section was Multilingual China national minority and foreign languages. Indeed, Prof. Feng’s presentation was based on the books they have published and detailed the topics they focus on and some essential concepts.
Professor Feng first introduced the ‘facts’ about language variation in China. Second, he analyzed and highlighted the Importance/benefits of multilingualism. Furthermore, he mentioned key (state) policies that govern/guide the multilingual realities. Finally, he elaborated on major models adopted in education to address multilingual needs.
After that, Prof. Adamson responded and added the questions left over from the presentation, expounding in what ways is the China multilingual situation different from elsewhere.
In the question-and-answer session that followed, students put forward relevant questions based on the cases of multilingualism in the border areas of China mentioned by the professors. The two professors responded by adding more relevant research findings.
Finally, the online forum ended with a summary by Prof. Don Snow and appreciation to prof. Anwei Feng and Prof. Bob Adamson.
