New Women identity constructed in language learning narratives in early-twentieth-century China
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.31138Keywords:
Language Learning, Gender Identity, New Women, Narrative AnalysisAbstract
Previous studies of Chinese learners' language learning and identity construction have overlooked the gender factor. This study investigates the language learning narratives of two Chinese 'New Women', the aim being to reveal the connection between their language learning and gender identity construction, where national identity is the prominent variable. The theoretical framework applied is Darvin and Norton's 'model of investment', and the narrative analysisrevealed there are intra-dimensional differences under the general label of New Women. The English learner displayed better strategic use of language in resisting disadvantaged positions and in constructing her 'ideal woman' identity. The analysis also revealed that language plays its role in generating differences through the soft and invisible power of ideology and shifting capital, both of which are embedded in the daily use of language.
References
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Davin, R. and Norton, B. (2015) Identity and a model of investment in applied linguistics. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 35: 36–56. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0267190514000191
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Gao, Y., Cheng, Y., Xiao, Y. and Zhou, Y. (2005) Self-identity changes and English learning among Chinese undergraduates. World Englishes 24(1): 39–51. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0883-2919.2005.00386.x
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Gu, M. (2010) Identities constructed in difference: English language learners in China. Journal of Pragmatics 42(1): 139–52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2009.06.006
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Lewis, I. B. (1919) The Education of Girls in China. New York: Columbia University.
Lo Bianco, J. (2009) English at home in China: how far does the bond extent? In J. Lo Bianco, J. Orton and Y. Gao (eds) China and English: Globalization and the Dilemmas of Identity 192–210. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Lu, H. and Luk, J. (2014) ‘I would study harder if I was a girl’: gendered narratives of low-achieving male and high-achieving female EFL learners. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education 13: 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2013.835571
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Norton, B. and Gao, Y. (2008) Identity, investment, and Chinese learners of English. Journal of Asian Pacific Commutation 18(1): 109–20. https://doi.org/10.1075/japc.18.1.07nor
Norton, B. and Pavlenko, A. (2004) Addressing gender in the ESL/EFL classroom. TESOL Quarterly 38: 504–14. https://doi.org/10.2307/3588351
Pavlenko, A. (2007) Autobiographic narratives as data in applied linguistics. Applied Linguistics 28(2): 163–88. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amm008
Pavlenko, A. (2008) Narrative analysis in the study of bi- and multilingualism. In M. Moyer and Li Wei (eds) The Blackwell Guide to Research Methods in Bilingualism 311–25. Oxford: Blackwell.
Skilton-Sylvester, E. (2002) Should I stay or should I go? Investigating Cambodian women’s participation and investment in adult ESL programs. Adult Education Quarterly 53(1): 9–26. https://doi.org/10.1177/074171302237201
Skutnabb-Kangas, T. (2000) Linguistic Genocide in Education: Or worldwide Diversity and Human Rights? Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Song, Y. and Xiao, L. (2009) The present situation of Chinese cultural aphasia in college English teaching in China. Foreign Languages in China 6(6): 88–92.
Tollefson, J. W. (2016) Directions in language policy research and practice. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher 25(5): 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-016-0319-9
Waelchi, J. M. (2002) Abundant Life: Matilda Thurston, Wu Yifang and Ginling College, 1915–1951. Columbus, OH: Ohio State University.
Wang, Z. (1999) Women in the Chinese Enlightenment: Oral and Textual Histories. Berkley, CA: University of California Press.
Wu, Z. J. and Han, C. Y. (2010) Cultural transformation of educational discourse in China: perspectives of multiculturalism/interculturalism. In C. A. Grant and A. Portera (eds) Intercultural and Multicultural Education: Enhancing Global Interconnectedness 225–44. New York: Routledge.
Xu, H. and Gao, Y. (2014) The development of English learning motivation and learners’ identities: a structural equation modeling analysis of longitudinal data from Chinese universities. System 47: 102–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2014.09.020
Yang, L. (2012) New ethics and old roles: the identity dilemma of May Fourth new women. Social Sciences in China 28(1): 71–91.
Yu, H. (2016) Between the national and the international: ethnography of language ideologies in a middle-class community in China. The Asia Pacific Education Researcher 25(5): 703–11. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-016-0314-1
Zhu, Youxian (???) (1989) Historical Documents of Modern Educational System in China (????????). Shanghai: East China Normal University Press.
Zurndorfer, H. T. (2005) Gender, higher education, and the ‘New Women’: the experience of female graduates in Republic China. In M. Leutner and N. Spakowski (eds) Women in China: The Republic Period in Historical Perspective 450–81. Munster: Lit Verlag.
Barkhuizen, G., Benson, P. and Chik, A. (2014) Narrative Inquiry in Language Teaching and Learning Research. New York: Routledge.
Beijaard, D., Meijer, P. C. and Vweloop, N. (2004) Reconsidering research on teachers’ professional identity. Teaching and Teacher Education 20: 107–28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2003.07.001
Beijing News (2014) ????????????????? [President Xi Jinping talking about education at Beijing Normal University: de-Sinicising is grievous]. Beijing News, 10 September. Retrieved on 15 March 2016 from http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2014-09-10/023930816145.shtml.
Block, D. (2007) Second Language Identities. New York: Continuum.
Block, D. and Corona, V. (2016) Intersectionality in language and identity research. In S. Preece (ed.) The Routledge Handbook of Language and Identity 507–22. London: Routledge.
Bourdieu, P. (1977) The economics of linguistic exchanges (trans. R. Nice). Social Science Information 16(6): 645–68. https://doi.org/10.1177/053901847701600601
Bourdieu, P. (1986) The forms of capital. In J. G. Richardson (ed.) Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education 241–58. New York: Greenwood Press.
Bourdieu, P. (1991) Language and Symbolic Power. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Bourdieu, P. (2000) Pascalian Meditations (trans. R. Nice). Cambridge: Polity.
Cai, Yuanpei (???) (1919) The future of Mandarin (?????). New Education (???) 2(2).
Chen, X. (2008) Foreign Language Education and National Identity Construction in Global Context. Beijing: Higher Education Press.
Cheng, S. (2007) Mother tongue education and national cultural acknowledgement. Educational Review 2: 22–5.
Chin, C. C. (2006) Translating the New Woman: Chinese feminists view the West, 1905–15. Gender and History 18(3): 490–518. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0424.2006.00453.x
Davin, R. and Norton, B. (2015) Identity and a model of investment in applied linguistics. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 35: 36–56. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0267190514000191
De Costa, P. I. (2016) The Power of Identity and Ideology in Language Learning: Designer Immigrants Learning English in Singapore. Dordrecht: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30211-9
Duchêne, A., Moyer, M. and Roberts, C. (eds) (2013) Language, Migration and Social Inequalities: A Critical Sociolinguistic Perspective on Institutions and Work. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781783091010
Eckert, P. (1990) Cooperative competition in adolescent ‘girl talk’. Discourse Processes 13: 91–122. https://doi.org/10.1080/01638539009544748
Eckert, P. (1998) Gender and sociolinguistic variation. In J. Coats (ed.) Language and Gender: A Reader 42–54. Oxford: Blackwell.
Gao, X. (2012) The study of English in China as a patriotic enterprise. World Englishes 31(3): 351–65. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-971X.2012.01762.x
Gao, Y. (2013) English learning and education in the context of globalization: challenges and opportunities. Foreign Language Education in China 6(3): 4–10.
Gao, Y. (2015) A mirror for reflection vs. a screen for projection: a critical reflection of changing emotions in China’s English education for the past 3 decades. Foreign Language Learning Theory and Practice 1: 1–7.
Gao, Y., Cheng, Y., Xiao, Y. and Zhou, Y. (2005) Self-identity changes and English learning among Chinese undergraduates. World Englishes 24(1): 39–51. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0883-2919.2005.00386.x
Gu, M. (2008) Identity construction and investment transformation: college students from non-urban area in China. Journal of Asian Pacific Communication 18(1): 49–70. https://doi.org/10.1075/japc.18.1.04gu
Gu, M. (2010) Identities constructed in difference: English language learners in China. Journal of Pragmatics 42(1): 139–52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2009.06.006
He, L. (2007) New Education, New Women. Beijing: China Social Sciences Press.
Huang, Yanpei (???) (1930) Historical Documents of Education in China (??????). Shanghai: The Commercial Press.
Jia, Y. (2013) Chinese English education in 21 century: educating world citizens. Lecture at School of Foreign Languages, Ha’erbin Institute of Technology. Retrieved on 10 March 2016 from http://today.hit.edu.cn/news/2013/04-15/4721436140RL0.htm
Jones, L. (2016) Language and gender identities. In S. Preece (ed.) The Routledge Handbook of Language and Identity 210–24. Abingdon: Routledge.
Kanno, Y. (2003) Negotiating bilingual and Bicultural Identities: Japanese Returnees between Two Worlds. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Kiesling, S. (2011) The interactional construction of desire as gender. Gender and Language 5(2): 213–39. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.v5i2.213
Lewis, I. B. (1919) The Education of Girls in China. New York: Columbia University.
Lo Bianco, J. (2009) English at home in China: how far does the bond extent? In J. Lo Bianco, J. Orton and Y. Gao (eds) China and English: Globalization and the Dilemmas of Identity 192–210. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Lu, H. and Luk, J. (2014) ‘I would study harder if I was a girl’: gendered narratives of low-achieving male and high-achieving female EFL learners. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education 13: 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2013.835571
McMahill, C. (1997) Communities of resistance: a case study of two feminist English classes in Japan. TESOL Quarterly 31(4): 612–22. https://doi.org/10.2307/3587845
Norton, B. (2000) Identity and Language Learning. London: Longman.
Norton, B. (2010) Language and identity. In N. H. Hornberger and S. L. Mckay (eds) Sociolinguistics and Language Education 349–69. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781847692849-015
Norton, B. and Gao, Y. (2008) Identity, investment, and Chinese learners of English. Journal of Asian Pacific Commutation 18(1): 109–20. https://doi.org/10.1075/japc.18.1.07nor
Norton, B. and Pavlenko, A. (2004) Addressing gender in the ESL/EFL classroom. TESOL Quarterly 38: 504–14. https://doi.org/10.2307/3588351
Pavlenko, A. (2007) Autobiographic narratives as data in applied linguistics. Applied Linguistics 28(2): 163–88. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amm008
Pavlenko, A. (2008) Narrative analysis in the study of bi- and multilingualism. In M. Moyer and Li Wei (eds) The Blackwell Guide to Research Methods in Bilingualism 311–25. Oxford: Blackwell.
Skilton-Sylvester, E. (2002) Should I stay or should I go? Investigating Cambodian women’s participation and investment in adult ESL programs. Adult Education Quarterly 53(1): 9–26. https://doi.org/10.1177/074171302237201
Skutnabb-Kangas, T. (2000) Linguistic Genocide in Education: Or worldwide Diversity and Human Rights? Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Song, Y. and Xiao, L. (2009) The present situation of Chinese cultural aphasia in college English teaching in China. Foreign Languages in China 6(6): 88–92.
Tollefson, J. W. (2016) Directions in language policy research and practice. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher 25(5): 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-016-0319-9
Waelchi, J. M. (2002) Abundant Life: Matilda Thurston, Wu Yifang and Ginling College, 1915–1951. Columbus, OH: Ohio State University.
Wang, Z. (1999) Women in the Chinese Enlightenment: Oral and Textual Histories. Berkley, CA: University of California Press.
Wu, Z. J. and Han, C. Y. (2010) Cultural transformation of educational discourse in China: perspectives of multiculturalism/interculturalism. In C. A. Grant and A. Portera (eds) Intercultural and Multicultural Education: Enhancing Global Interconnectedness 225–44. New York: Routledge.
Xu, H. and Gao, Y. (2014) The development of English learning motivation and learners’ identities: a structural equation modeling analysis of longitudinal data from Chinese universities. System 47: 102–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2014.09.020
Yang, L. (2012) New ethics and old roles: the identity dilemma of May Fourth new women. Social Sciences in China 28(1): 71–91.
Yu, H. (2016) Between the national and the international: ethnography of language ideologies in a middle-class community in China. The Asia Pacific Education Researcher 25(5): 703–11. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-016-0314-1
Zhu, Youxian (???) (1989) Historical Documents of Modern Educational System in China (????????). Shanghai: East China Normal University Press.
Zurndorfer, H. T. (2005) Gender, higher education, and the ‘New Women’: the experience of female graduates in Republic China. In M. Leutner and N. Spakowski (eds) Women in China: The Republic Period in Historical Perspective 450–81. Munster: Lit Verlag.
Published
2019-04-08
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Liu, Y., & Shen, Y. (2019). New Women identity constructed in language learning narratives in early-twentieth-century China. Gender and Language, 13(1), 48-71. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.31138
