Abstract
Anxieties about Chinese-Mongolian-English trilingual program in Inner Mongolia reflect three linguistic ideologies, that is, the instrumental and the essentialist among Mongolian elites and the assimilationist among Han elites. Mongolian ethnicity is on trial in front of an upsurge of Chinese nationalism. Both pro and con trilingual education elites agree that the Mongolian language should be maintained, but they differ over the ways it is taught. In China, the nationwide drive to go back to “basics” has also encouraged national minorities to keep their traditional culture alive. Such surviving efforts demand a great measure of artful negotiating skills, necessary compromise, and strategic thinking. The trilingual education program in Inner Mongolia serves as a platform on which contending linguistic ideologies confront each other.
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The authors conducted interviews and surveys on the subject of Inner Mongolian trilingual education in different areas and at multiple times. Prof. Naran Bilik did his surveys and interviews in the middle school attached to the Inner Mongolia Normal University in the summer of 1993, in the winter of 2001, and again in the summer of 2013. Dr. Has Erdene has participated in the China Ministry of Education Project of Humanities and Social Sciences, entitled “Theoretic Reflections on Minority Policies and Regulations in Social Transformations and Their Implementation: Inner Mongolian Case.” He went to the Xilinhot City of the Xilingol League of Inner Mongolia to conduct fieldwork in the Mongolian primary school in December 2011 and April 2012; he made a survey with questionnaires in the Manduh-bulag Primary School (the only primary school at the Somon level) in December 2012.
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Bilik, N., Erdene, H. Trilingual Education and Mongolian Ethnicity. Front Educ China 11, 435–454 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03397135
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03397135