Impact of Textbook on Chinese Heritage Language Learners’ Identity Formation

 

Wu Xiaohui

University of South Carolina

 

Through critical discourse analysis approach, this study discusses the functions of textbooks in Chinese heritage language learning, cultural maintenance, and learners’ identity formation.

 

Critical discourse analysis (CDA) is an analytical technique used to study the textual practice and language use in social and cultural practices (Fairclough, 1992). This approach originated from three broad theoretical frameworks. Firstly, it views that texts play constructive role in forming and shaping individuals’ identities and actions, which is rooted in poststructuralism. In addition, CDA comes from Bourdieu’s sociological concept “cultural capital, which consists of symbolic forms of knowledge and possessions. The textual content and interactions with texts thus become symbolic forms of “cultural capital” with exchange value in particular social fields. Furthermore, CDA was influenced by neo-Marxist cultural theory supposition that certain discourses are produced and utilized within certain political economic systems, and that they thus function to articulate certain ideological interests and contribute to individual identity formation (Hall, 1996). In the context of Chinese heritage language school, CDA can be used to examine how knowledge and identity are constructed across a range of texts.

 

Through detailed analysis of several passages from the a series of textbooks Zhongwen (Mandarin Chinese Language), which have been widely used by K-12 heritage language teachers in the U.S., I found that the content of the textbooks plays significant roles in Chinese heritage language learning, heritage culture maintenance, and identity formation among Chinese heritage language learners. As a form of cultural capital, these textbooks and the accompanied learning materials are valuable assets for Chinese heritage language learners in their academic, social and career success; and Chinese language schools function to facilitate the formation of social capital with numerous resources embedded within the social networks established in the school.  However, a critical analysis of the textbook also indicates that the discourse within the textbooks serves political and ideological means for Chinese government to impose certain norms, values, and ideology upon the heritage language learners, which in turn causes the phenomenon of “identity confusion” among the heritage language learners.

 

Therefore, this study is important for heritage language teachers in planning and conducting instructions. They should critically think about the discourse in the textbook and the related pedagogical practices and outcomes of the practice. Teachers are also suggested to encourage learners to critically think about the texts rather than completely accepting everything written in the textbooks. For textbook writers, they are suggested to take an objective stance in composing the texts rather than aiming to impose certain political values or norms on the learners.