Multilingualism, Identities and Language Hegemony: A Case Study of Five Ethnic Minority Students in China

SWF University

Yunnan is a multi-ethnic province in Southwestern China. Of the 55 officially identified ethnic minority groups in China, 25 inhabit the region and “22 of them speak 28 languages” (Tsang, 2005). Located in the capital city (Kunming) of Yunnan Province, SWFU is a local university with more than 16,000 registered undergraduate and graduate students coming from 31 provinces of China. Approximately 30%¹ of the whole student population is composed of ethnic minorities from 27 minority groups. Within this group of 30%, more than half are identified as ethnic language speakers. These ethnic minority students have a complex pattern of language use. They speak an ethnic language at home and in the local communities, use both Mandarin and the ethnic language in schools, and study and practice English, a third language, at school and university. However, as Wang, Tsung and Ki’s (2012) case study has shown, ethnic multilingual students at postsecondary level in Yunnan struggle in their academic performances and social inclusion because of the challenges caused by social and linguistic differences. Hu (2007) also reports that many ethnic minority students have a sense of inferiority which prevents them from building up strong confidence in academic study.