Thursday “Brown Bag”: Dr. Patricia Duff

November 5, 2015

12:00–1:15 p.m.

Researching Chinese as a Global Language: Trends, Issues, and Opportunities

Presenter:
Patricia A. Duff, Professor
Language and Literacy Education, University of British Columbia

Photo Credit: “Creative Commons Chinesische Mauer” by Bernd Thaller is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

November 5, 2015

12:00–1:15 p.m.

Researching Chinese as a Global Language: Trends, Issues, and Opportunities

Presenter:
Patricia A. Duff, Professor
Language and Literacy Education, University of British Columbia

 

Tens of millions of people are learning Chinese worldwide in diaspora (heritage-language), foreign-language and second-language contexts, a number expected to rise dramatically over the next decade or two. Yet surprisingly little applied linguistic research has examined the learning of Chinese as an additional language (CAL)—the purposes for which people are learning Chinese (Mandarin, in particular), their learning experiences and trajectories, and the (changing) ideologies, identities, transnational migration, and literacies associated with CAL. In this presentation, I discuss research on the teaching, learning, and use of Chinese from social, cultural, and discursive perspectives. I describe recent studies (including my own) examining: (1) changing media discourses related to the teaching and learning of Chinese, (2) issues of learner agency (and exceptionalism), and (3) the negotiation of learners’ identities and literacies in CAL. I conclude by discussing current issues and gaps in the existing research and possible future directions.

 

duff-photo

Patricia (Patsy) Duff is Professor of Language and Literacy Education at the University of British Columbia, working in the graduate programs in Teaching English as a Second Language and Modern Language Education primarily. She is also Co-director of the Centre for Research in Chinese Language and Literacy Education. Patsy’s main scholarly interests are related to language socialization across bilingual and multilingual settings; qualitative research methods in applied linguistics (especially case study and ethnography and complementary approaches to classroom research); issues in the teaching, learning, and use of English, Mandarin, and other international languages in transnational contexts; the integration of second-language learners in schools, universities, and society; multilingualism and work; and sociocultural, sociolinguistic, and sociopolitical aspects of language(s) in education. She has published and lectured widely on these topics. Her books and edited volumes include Teaching and Learning English Grammar: Research Findings and Future Directions (2015, co-edited); Learning Chinese: Linguistic, Sociocultural, and Narrative Perspectives (2013, co-authored), Case Study Research in Applied Linguistics (2008), Language Socialization (2008, co-edited, with a revised edition in preparation), Issues in Chinese Language Education and Teacher Development (2008, co-edited); and Inference and Generalizability in Applied Linguistics (2006, co-edited).