Abstract
This chapter provides macro-level insights into the key issues and challenges in the development of Chinese-language education in two English-speaking countries in the Asia-Pacific region. With the massive demographic shifts since the 1990s, residents of Chinese heritage have become one of the largest and fastest-growing non-Indigenous ethnic groups in New Zealand and Australia. Within the first two decades of the twenty-first century, China has grown rapidly into the largest Asia-Pacific economy and the largest trade partner for the two Anglophone countries in the region. Due to China’s increasing economic influence, the Australian and New Zealand governments have repeatedly identified Chinese as key for building regional strategic cooperation and one of the most important languages for school students to learn. Despite increases in population and potential impacts in the region, Chinese remains a medium-sized program in most educational institutions in the two oceanic countries. Informed by the notion of the transdisciplinary framework, this chapter discusses the macro-level factors that promote or impede the development of Chinese-language programs in the two countries. It concludes that Chinese-language learning will continue to be a side story to larger ideological and geopolitical interests that have shaped Anglocentric views of language learning. Future research should take a decolonial perspective to transform Chinese-language education in the Asia Pacific.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
ABC. (2019). Are there only 130 Australians of non-Chinese heritage who can speak Mandarin proficiently? https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-24/fact-checka-are-there-only-130-people-who-can-speak-mandarin/11235484
Akoorie, M. E., Ding, Q., & Li, Y. (2011). A passion for learning Chinese? Investigating a community-based Chinese cultural education school in Hamilton. New Zealand Chinese Management Studies, 5(4), 460–479.
Chik, A. (2019). Bilingualism and multilingualism in primary education (Australia). In Bloomsbury education and childhood studies. Bloomsbury Academic.
de Burgh-Hirabe, R. (2019). Motivation to learn Japanese as a foreign language in an English-speaking country: An exploratory case study in New Zealand. System, 80, 95–106.
De Swaan, A. (2004). Endangered languages, sociolinguistics, and linguistic sentimentalism. European Review, 12(4), 567–580.
Douglas Fir Group. (2016). A transdisciplinary framework for SLA in a multilingual world. The Modern Language Journal, 100(S1), 19–47.
Dovchin, S., & Dryden, S. (2022). Translingual discrimination: Skilled transnational migrants in the labour market of Australia. Applied Linguistics, 43(2), 365–388.
Duff, P., Anderson, T., Doherty, L., & Wang, R. (2015). Representations of Chinese language learning in contemporary English-language news media: Hope, hype, and fear. Global Chinese, 1(1), 139–168.
East, M. (2009). Promoting positive attitudes towards foreign language learning: A New Zealand initiative. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 30(6), 493–507.
East, M. (2018). Teaching languages in schools: Rationale, potential, constraints and recommendations with particular relevance to Mandarin Chinese. https://nzchinacouncil.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Teaching-Languages-in-Schools-.pdf
East, M., Chung, H., & Arkinstall, C. (2013). A fair go for all: A contribution to the call for a national languages policy in Aotearoa New Zealand. The New Zealand Language Teacher, 39, 44–59.
Education Counts. (2021a). School subject enrolments (Primary school languages 2000–2017, Year 1–8; Secondary school subjects 2006–2020, Year 9 and above). https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/statistics/subject-enrolment
Education Counts. (2021b). Student rolls by schools (2010–2020). https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/statistics/6028
Education Counts. (2021c). The field of study of the courses studied at tertiary education providers. https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/statistics/tertiary-education/participation
Eriksen, L. (2018). Review of the Mandarin Language Assistant Programme at the Confucius Institute in Auckland: Enhancing New Zealand’s capacity to teach additional languages. The University of Auckland.
Guo, S. (2022). Reimagining Chinese diasporas in a transnational world: toward a new research agenda. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 48(4), 847–872.
Hennebry-Leung, M. (2021). Is your kid studying a second language at school? How much they learn will depend on where you live. https://theconversation.com/is-your-kid-studying-a-second-language-at-school-how-muchthey-learn-will-depend-on-where-you-live-155219
Johnson, H., & Moloughney, B. (Eds.). (2006). Asia in the making of New Zealand. Auckland University Press.
Kane, D. (2006). The Chinese language: Its history and current usage. Tuttle Publishing.
Kennedy, J. (2020). Intercultural pedagogies in Chinese as a foreign language (CFL). Intercultural Education, 31(4), 1–20.
Kramsch, C. (2019). Between globalization and decolonization: Foreign languages in the crossfire. In D. Macedo (Ed.), Decolonizing foreign language education: The misteaching of English and other colonial languages (pp. 50–72). Routledge.
Lanvers, U., Thompson, A., & East, M. (Eds.). (2021). Language learning in Anglophone countries: Challenges, practices, ways forward. Palgrave Macmillan.
Leung, C., & Valdés, G. (2019). Translanguaging and the transdisciplinary framework for language teaching and learning in a multilingual world. The Modern Language Journal, 103(2), 348–370.
Liu, L. (2018). Chinese transnational migration in New Zealand: The case of Oceania. Routledge.
Liu, G., & Lo Bianco, J. (2007). Teaching Chinese, teaching in Chinese, and teaching the Chinese. Language Policy, 6(1), 95–117.
Lo Bianco, J. (2011). Chinese: The gigantic up-and-comer. In L. Tsung & K. Cruickshank (Eds.), Teaching and learning Chinese in global contexts: CFL Worldwide (pp. xiii–xxiv). Continuum.
Lo Bianco, J., & Slaughter, Y. (2016). The Australia Asia Project. In G. Leitner, A. Hashim, & H. G. Wolf (Eds.), Communicating with Asia: The future of English as a global language (pp. 296–612). Cambridge University Press.
Macedo, D. (Ed.). (2019). Decolonizing foreign language education: The misteaching of English and other colonial languages. Routledge.
Major, J. (2018). Bilingual identities in monolingual classrooms: Challenging the hegemony of English. New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies, 53(2), 193–208.
Martín, M. D., Jansen, L., & Beckmann, E. (2016). The doubters’ dilemma: Exploring student attrition and retention in university Language & Culture programs. ANU Press.
McDonald, E. (2011). Learning Chinese, turning Chinese: Challenges to becoming Sinophone in a globalised world. Routledge.
McGee, A., Ashton, K., Dunn, K., & Taniwaki, T. (2013). Japanese language education in New Zealand: An evaluative literature review of the decline in students since 2005. IPC Tertiary Institution.
Moloney, R., & Saltmarsh, D. (2016). ‘Knowing your students’ in the culturally and linguistically diverse classroom. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 41(4), 79–93.
Moloney, R., & Wang, D. (2016). Limiting professional trajectories: A dual narrative study in Chinese language education. Asia-Pacific Journal of Second and Foreign Language Education, 1(1), 1–15.
Moloney, R., & Xu, H. (2015a). Transitioning beliefs in teachers of Chinese as a foreign language: An Australian case study. Cogent Education, 2(1).
Moloney, R., & Xu, H. (Eds.). (2015b). Exploring innovative pedagogy in the teaching and learning of Chinese as a foreign language. Springer.
New Zealand China Council. (2014). A crisis of complacency: Chinese language learning in New Zealand. https://nzchinacouncil.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/A-Crisis-of-Complacency.pdf
New Zealand China Council. (2022). Statistics: NZ China Dashboard. https://nzchinacouncil.org.nz/statistics/
New Zealand Ministry of Education. (1995). Chinese in the New Zealand Curriculum (1995). https://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/content/download/88097/680767/file/Chinese%20in%20the%20New%20Zealand%20Curriculum.pdf
New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. (2012). Opening doors to China: New Zealand’s 2015 vision. https://www.tpk.govt.nz/_documents/nz-inc-china-strategy.pdf
Ngan, W. (1987). The maintenance of Chinese languages in New Zealand. In W. Hirsh (Ed.), Living Languages: Bilingualism and community languages in New Zealand (pp. 125–130). Heinemann.
Orton, J. (1995). Becoming “Asia-literate”: From rhetoric to reality. Asian Studies Review, 19(2), 73–84.
Orton, J. (2016a). Building Chinese language capacity in Australia. The University of Melbourne: The Australia-China Relations Institute.
Orton, J. (2016b). Issues in Chinese language teaching in Australian schools. Chinese Education & Society, 49(6), 369–375.
Orton, J., & Scrimgeour, A. (2019). Teaching Chinese as a second language: The way of the learner. Routledge.
Parliament of Australia. (2012). Australia in the Asian Century White Paper: Australia’s roadmap for navigating the Asian century. https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id:%22media/pressrel/2010380%22
Reisch, M. (2017). Why macro practice matters. Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership and Governance, 41(1), 6–9.
Salter, P. (2013). The problem in policy: Representations of Asia literacy in Australian education for the Asian century. Asian Studies Review, 37(1), 3–23.
Salter, P. (2015). A reconceptualisation of ‘knowing Asia’ in Australian education. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 36(6), 781–794.
SBS. (2019). Australia ‘missing out’ as students continue to shun learning Chinese. https://www.sbs.com.au/chinese/english/australia-missing-out-as-students-continue-to-shun-learning-chinese
Scrimgeour, A. (2014). Dealing with ‘Chinese Fever’: The challenge of Chinese teaching in the Australian classroom. In N. Murray & A. Scarino (Eds.), Dynamic Ecologies: A relational perspective on languages education in the Asia-Pacific region (pp. 151–167). Springer.
Scrimgeour, A. (2015). Responding to the diversity of Chinese language learners in Australian schools. Babel, 49(3), 26–37.
Singh, M. (1995). Edward Said’s critique of orientalism and Australia’s ‘Asia Literacy’ curriculum. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 27(6), 599–620.
Singh, M., & Nguyễn, T. H. N. (2018). Localising Chinese: Educating teachers through service-learning. Palgrave Macmillan.
Spoonley, P. (2020). The new New Zealand: Facing demographic disruption. Massey University Press.
Statistics of New Zealand. (2019). New Zealand’s population reflects growing diversity. https://www.stats.govt.nz/news/new-zealands-population-reflects-growing-diversity
Sun, D. (2012). “Everything goes smoothly”: A case study of an immigrant Chinese language teacher’s personal practical knowledge. Teaching and Teacher Education, 28(5), 760–767.
Tan, L. (2015). Fewer pupils learning languages. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11438943
Wang, D. (2018). Motivating students to talk: TED conference in university-based Chinese language classrooms. Chinese Language Teaching Methodology and Technology, 1(4), 1–10.
Wang, D. (2020). Studying Chinese language in higher education: The translanguaging reality through learners’ eyes. System, 95.
Wang, D. (2021a). A decolonial perspective on language life in New Zealand. Chinese Journal of Language Policy and Planning, 6(5), 38–48.
Wang, D. (2021b). Seventy years of Chinese language education in New Zealand: A transdisciplinary overview. In Y. Zhang & X. Gao (Eds.), Frontiers in the teaching and learning of Chinese as a second language (pp. 170–184). Routledge.
Wang, D. (2022). ‘They say my Job is propaganda’: Professional identities of pre-service Chinese language teachers in overseas schools. In G. Barkhuizen (Ed.), Language teachers studying abroad: Identities, emotions and disruptions (pp. 71–84). Multilingual Matters.
Wang, D., Moloney, R., & Li, Z. (2013). Towards internationalising the curriculum: A case study of Chinese language teacher education programs in China and Australia. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 38(9), 116–135.
Weinmann, M., Neilsen, R., & Slavich, S. (2020). Politicisation of teaching Chinese language in Australian classrooms today. https://www.aare.edu.au/blog/?p=7595
Weinmann, M., Slavich, S., & Neilsen, R. (2021). Civic multiculturalism and the “broken” discourses of Chinese language education. In C. Halse & J. Kennedy (Eds.), Multiculturalism in Turbulent Times (pp. 57–75). Routledge.
Zhu, H., & Li, W. (2014). Geopolitics and the changing hierarchies of the Chinese language: Implications for policy and practice of Chinese language teaching in Britain. The Modern Language Journal, 98(1), 326–339.
Acknowledgments
This publication was supported by the Marsden Fund Council with New Zealand Government funding, managed by Royal Society Te Apārangi. The project number is UOA1925.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this entry
Cite this entry
Wang, D., Chik, A. (2022). Chinese-Language Education in Australia and New Zealand. In: Lee, W.O., Brown, P., Goodwin, A.L., Green, A. (eds) International Handbook on Education Development in Asia-Pacific. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-2327-1_33-2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-2327-1_33-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-16-2327-1
Online ISBN: 978-981-16-2327-1
eBook Packages: Springer Reference EducationReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Education
Publish with us
Chapter history
-
Latest
Chinese-Language Education in Australia and New Zealand- Published:
- 16 September 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-2327-1_33-2
-
Original
Chinese-Language Education in Australia and New Zealand- Published:
- 30 July 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-2327-1_33-1