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Becoming Bilingual in School and Home in Tibetan Areas of China: Stories of Struggle

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Becoming Bilingual in School and Home in Tibetan Areas of China: Stories of Struggle Becoming Bilingual in School and Home in Tibetan Areas of China: Stories of Struggle By Yi XiLaMuCuo Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Leeds School of Education February 2015 i The candidate confirms that the work submitted is her own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. © 2015 “The University of Leeds” Yi XiLaMuCuo ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This research initially grew in my heart through many people’s inspiration in my life. My father was a Tibetan poet. He told me as a Tibetan we need to love our nation like we love our mother. He said: we need to put a piece of butter into our mother’s tea. If not, what sort of children are we? (Tibetans love to drink butter tea.) Father did not get the chance to learn written Tibetan in school but he realized the importance of protecting the mother tongue for Tibetans. He regarded it as the way for us to love our nation. I consider my PhD research as the opportunity for me to put a piece of butter into my mother’s tea. I would like to thank my two supervisors Dr Jean Conteh and Dr Martin Wedell without whose tremendous support and encouragement I would not have been able to complete this dissertation. I cannot remember how many supervision meetings I had with them in the long journey of PhD, but I know my initial thought of researching Tibetan individuals’ bilingualism took shape through numerous comments I got from them and through many academic discussions I had with them during supervision meetings. Their support was an inspiration which encouraged me to complete this thesis. I feel privileged to have worked under their supervision. I also want to thank Dr Jean Conteh for being supportive, both academically and personally. She helped me greatly when I had difficulty in my field work. I would not have been able to complete this research without the support and cooperation of my five participants. I will never forget them in my life. Their stories will forever be an inspiration for me. My special thanks go to my friend Sue Lonergan for her support, encouragement and her helps in English. Thanks also are due to my dear friend Sharon Getter, who came to Lhasa to teach Tibetans English, thus she became my English teacher. Without her inspiration I would never reach here doing a PhD in my third language. I need to extend my special thanks to my mother and my sister for their continuous love and support over the past years. I owe very special thanks to my dearest daughter Hwang mo. She inspired me so much during the long PhD study. iii ABSTRACT This study analyses the stories of five Tibetan individual journeys of becoming bilingual in the Tibetan areas of China at four different points in time from 1950 to the present. The data consists of the narratives of their bilingual experiences. They talked about their experiences of using language in family, in village and in school. Their narratives show that their opportunities to develop bilingualism were intimately linked with historical and political events in the wider layers of experiences, which reveals the complexity of bilingualism. Moreover, my five participants struggled to become bilingual. They struggled because they wanted to keep two languages in their lives. It illustrates their relationship with society. They are Tibetans, L1 is not the official language of their country, but it is the tie with their ethnicity. It addresses bilingualism linked with the formation of identity. A narrative method within an ethnographic research approach was used in this research. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory was used to explain how the layers of experiences fundamentally influenced the development of bilingualism. Holland et al.’s concept of history in person was used to explain why an individual’s formation of identity is affected by their experience of developing bilingualism. Furthermore, the view of language as repertoire also used to explain why Tibetans need two languages in their lives, thus emphasising the importance of understanding bilingualism from a social-cultural perspective. These three theoretical frames together provide tools to better understand the complexity of bilingualism. This study found that my five participants’ opportunities to become bilingual were heavily affected by the transition of society and change of policies towards the Tibetan language. Moreover, their stories show that bilingualism is a social phenomenon, which happened because my five participants interacted with two languages in their daily life. Therefore we need to see bilingualism from a social-cultural perspective and understand the complexity of bilingualism for education policy and practice. In addition, this study found that my five participants’ experiences of developing bilingualism led the path of developing identity. It shows that language played a very important role in the formation of identity for my five participants. Moreover, their experiences demonstrate the relationship between identity and education; education may either facilitate or impede an individual’s identity development. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................... ii ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................... iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................ iv LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................ viii LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................ ix Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................ 1 1.1 Background of stories: Myself in the study ............................................. 1 1.2 Context .................................................................................................. 4 1.2.1 Tibetans in China .......................................................................... 4 1.2.2 Tibetan religion and education ...................................................... 4 1.3 My five participants ................................................................................ 9 Chapter 2: The knowledge of stories: Literature Review ................................. 11 2.1 Introduction .......................................................................................... 11 2.2 Bilingualism ......................................................................................... 12 2.2.1 Definition of bilingualism ............................................................. 12 2.2.2 Different types of bilingualism ..................................................... 13 2.2.3 Necessity of bilingualism for speakers of minority language ........ 14 2.3 The development of identity ................................................................. 15 2.3.1 Identity as a representation ......................................................... 16 2.3.2 The role of language in developing identity ................................. 17 2.4 Bilingualism and education .................................................................. 19 2.4.1 Educational policy towards bilingual education and minority children 19 2.4.2 Bilingual education for minority children ...................................... 24 2.5 Brief review of the implementation of the minority education policy in the Tibetan context since 1959 .................................................................. 27 2.5.1 Tibetan language treasured ........................................................ 27 2.5.2 Tibetan language disappears from school curriculums ................ 27 2.5.3 The period of revival of the Tibetan language in school curriculum28 2.5.4 Minority education policy focuses on ‘diversity in unity’ ............... 29 2.5.5 Education policy focuses on ‘xi zang ban’ in Tibetan Autonomous Region ........................................................................................ 30 2.5.6 The gap between Tibetan identity and ethnic minority under the patriotic education in schools in Tibetan areas ............................ 33 2.6 Theoretical frames to understand bilingualism ..................................... 35 2.6.1 Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory ............................................. 36 2.6.2 History in person ......................................................................... 37 2.6.3 Language as a ‘repertoire’........................................................... 38 2.7 Summary ............................................................................................. 39 v Chapter 3: Methodology: Finding stories ......................................................... 41 3.1 Introduction .......................................................................................... 41 3.2 Research design .................................................................................. 41 3.2.1 Participants ................................................................................. 42 3.2.2 The reason for choosing these five participants .......................... 42 3.3 The research approach I am using in my study ...................................
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