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34социолингвистика 2020 No. 3 (3)
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ЯЗЫКОВАЯ ПОЛИТИКА LANGUAGE POLICY
УДК 81 272 10.37892/2713-2951-2020-3-3-55-69
CULTURAL IDENTITY PLANNING IN CHINA: A DIACHRONIC STUDY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION POLICY1
Liu Yuanyuan
School of Education, Shanghai International Studies University, People's Republic of China
Deng Fei
School of Foreign Languages, Renmin University of China, People's Republic of China
Zhao Ronghui
Institute of Linguistics, Shanghai International Studies University, People's Republic of China
This paper, by applying Discourse-Historical Approach [Wodak & Boukala, 2015], makes a diachronic analysis of 38 English Language Education Policy (ELEP) documents mandated in China since the 1980s, with the aim of generalizing the changing trajectory of cultural identity planning in China context of teaching English as a foreign language. It finds that ELEP before the year 2000 had a strong instrumentalism orientation, where a scientific planning of Chinese cultural identity is missing; then after the year 2000, cross-cultural communication ability is emphasized and learners' Chinese cultural identity has been brought to the foreground. Currently, the policy discourses are mainly on defining foreign language talents and optimizing curriculum design with an aim to cultivate "dialogical communicators" [Gao Yihong, 2014a, b]. The paper concludes that cultural identity construction through top-down policy implementation would be a prolonged and challenging endeavor.
Keywords: English language education policy (ELEP); cultural identity; language planning; diachronic study
1 Funding: Key Project of Philosophy and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education (15JZD047), General Program of China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2017M611602).
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ПЛАНИРОВАНИЕ КУЛЬТУРНОЙ ИДЕНТИЧНОСТИ В КИТАЕ: ДИАХРОНИЧЕСКОЕ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЕ ПОЛИТИКИ В ОБЛАСТИ ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ НА АНГЛИЙСКОМ ЯЗЫКЕ
Лю Юаньюань
Институт образования, Шанхайский университет иностранных языков, Китайская
Народная Республика Дэн Фэй
Институт иностранных языков, Китайский народный университет, Китайская Народная
Республика Чжао Жунхуэй
Институт лингвистики, Шанхайский университет иностранных языков, Китайская
Народная Республика
В данной статье, применяя дискурсивно-исторический подход [Wodak & Boukala, 2015], авторы проводят диахронический анализ 38 документов в области политики образования на английском языке (ELEP), утвержденных в Китае с 1980-х годов, с целью обобщения изменяющейся траектории планирования культурной идентичности в китайском контексте преподавания английского языка как иностранного. Выявлено, что до 2000 года ELEP имела сильную ориентацию на инструментализм, где отсутствует научное планирование китайской культурной идентичности; затем, после 2000 года, делается акцент на способность к межкультурной коммуникации и на первый план выдвигается китайская культурная идентичность учащихся. В настоящее время политические дискурсы сосредоточены главным образом на определении учащихся, обладающих талантами к изучению иностранного языка, и оптимизации разработки учебных программ с целью культивирования «диалогических коммуникаторов» [Gao Yihong, 2014a, b]. В статье делается вывод о том, что формирование культурной идентичности путем реализации политики «сверху вниз» будет длительным и сложным процессом.
Ключевые слова: политика в области образования на английском языке (ELEP); культурная идентичность; языковое планирование; диахроническое исследование
1. Introduction
In recent years, the cultural identity construction of English learners has aroused widespread social concern in China, which is reflected in the heated discussion on the phenomenon of "Chinese cultural aphasia" [Cong Cong, 2000]. Scholars argued that too much English learning hindered the acquisition of Chinese language and then eroded learners' native cultural identity, and to solve the problem, they called for educational policy reforms [Song Yiwen, Xiao Longfu 2009; Zhao Haiyan 2016; Zhu Min, Xie Hua & Gao Xiaoqian, 2016]. In fact, various regions in China have issued policies to dilute English education by reducing the proportion of English in the college entrance examination, so as to guide learners to strengthen their native language learning and enhance their native language cultural identity. "The Framework Plan for the Reform of 2014-2016 Entrance Examination for Higher Education (draft for comments)" issued by Beijing is one example of such policies. Efforts to improve Chinese learning by
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lowering English scores have not won widespread support, and criticisms abound. For example, the debate between "usefulness" and "uselessness" in English learning was regarded as a biased opinion, and it was proposed that English education has a positive influence on the cultivation of students' foreign language competence, and can also promote their mental development as well as educational equality [Cheng Xiaotang, 2014]. The idea that learning English hinders Chinese students' native language proficiency was also questioned, on the contrary, it was proposed that mastering foreign languages is conducive to the inheritance and promotion of Chinese culture [Yin Hongbo, 2014]. These controversies have now become an urgent problem for foreign language policy makers in China [Zhao Ronghui, 2014].
However, despite the different voices, some fundamental theoretical assumptions remained to be clarified: Should ELEP be responsible for the decline of learners' native cultural identity? Is there a direct cause and effect relation between ELEP and learners' cultural identity construction? The academic community has not yet reached a conclusion concerning those questions until now, yet "some policy makers hope to achieve the goal of identity construction through language teaching. This is only a hypothesis, and the real situation needs to be closely investigated." [Lian Yihui, 2016: 64]. The formulation and change of any language education policy must be based on scientific viewpoints; therefore, it is urgent to explore the correlation between ELEP and learners' cultural identity in the Chinese context. To this end, this paper makes a textual analysis of ELEP from the perspective of cultural identity, and our research questions are as follows:
(1) Is cultural identity planning a relevant factor in China's ELEP texts?
(2) If yes, what is the changing trajectory of its cultural identity planning, and what type of cultural identity is emphasized?
It is hoped that this study can shed light on the understanding of social functions of language, and language education policy from identity perspective, so as to supply reference for English language education reforms in China and similar contexts.
2. China's ELEP and Learners' Cultural Identity
Strictly speaking, ELEP mainly refers to the laws and regulations related to English education issued by the state. However, this is not the main body of ELEP in China. According to Cheng Xiaotang (2012), China's foreign language education policy (FLEP) documents are mainly issued in three forms: (1) Guidance documents issued in the form of "Notice" or "Comment". (2) The "Curriculum" or "Course Scheme" that is used to guide the course; (3) Teaching Syllabus, Course Standards, or Teaching Requirements to guide foreign language teaching. Although "Outline of ChinaS National Plan for Medium and Long-term Language Education Reform and Development (2012-2020)" takes "constructing harmonious language life" as the guideline, the current foreign language education policy research in China has continued to be mainly aimed at improving people's foreign language ability [Wen Qiufang, Su Jing & Jian Yanhong, 2011; Zhong Weihe, Wang Weiwei & Huang Enmou, 2016; Wen Qiufang 2017] and serving the national economic and political development [Cai Yongliang, 2017; Zhong Weihe & Zhang Qingda, 2017]. In contrast, few studies have been carried out from the perspective of cultural identity construction, which is essential in constructing a harmonious language life.
Cultural identity refers to a shared history and culture that holds a group of people together [Hall, 1990]. Language is its external representation and means of performance [Joseph 2004; Chen Xinren 2008], and culture is its constituent element which contains the shared beliefs and principles that distinguish a group of people from others [Festenstein 2005]. Literature
C0MM0AHHrBncrnKA 2020 No. 3 (3)
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indicates four identity prototypes related to foreign language education (especially English language education) in China Context [Gao Yihong 2014a, b]. The four identity prototypes and their cultural characteristics are shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Prototypes of English learners' identity and their cultural characteristics
Prototypes Cultural Characteristics
Faithful imitator Speak authentic Anglo-American English, assimilate into the target language culture, and accept the cultural values and life style of such a community.
Legitimate speaker Holds the opinion that learning English is not copying the native language variety, cultural behavior or its value systems, but regard English learning and speaking as effective way of communication and identity performance.
Playful creator Different language and cultural elements are combined and juxtaposed to form unconventional or anti-conventional language fragments, which then are used as ways of self-expression.
Dialogical communicators Respect the integrity and wholeness of each culture. On the one hand, native language and cultural identity are deepened in the learning process of the target language. On the other hand, successfully achieve the learning goals of the target language and identify with the target imagined community.
The above table indicates that "Faithful imitators" identify with English culture in their English learning and using to a great extent, while "Legitimate speakers" and "Playful creators" still retain their native cultural identity, and their language use is to some extent bilingual and bicultural. "Dialogical communicators" not only maintain stable native cultural identity, but also treat different cultures critically and have great intercultural communication ability, and is considered as an ideal model for Chinese English learners' in the new era [Gao Yihong, 2014b].
In exploring the correlation between ELEP and the construction of learners' cultural identity, a common practice among Chinese scholars is to presume ELEP as a significant causing factor in the construction and transformation of learners' cultural identity, and conduct policy analysis along such a presumption. For instance, Xiao Longfu, Xiao Di, and Li Lan (2010) found that the lack of clear and detailed requirements on the teaching objectives of Chinese culture in college English curriculum is one of the main causes for Chinese cultural aphasia; Li Guiling (2014) examined college English syllabus from two aspects: the instilling of Sino-English cultures and the assimilation strategy of local culture, and found that cultural teaching orientation is not clearly set. To instill Chinese culture in English teaching, the syllabus, textbook, teachers' quality, and teaching methods should all be modified. Gao Yihong (2015) conducted a diachronic study which combines the discourses of national ELEP, the discourses of educational institutions with the discourses of learners on English learning in the past 30 years since the 1980s, and found out that the discourses at all three levels were deeply imprinted with the fear and anxiety on the loss of Chinese cultural identity. Zhao Haiyan (2016), through an analysis of college English curriculum, found that China's college English teaching was set solely to learn and absorb British and American cultures, thus, a gap existed between students' Chinese cultural identity construction and English language education.
The above literature review indicates that cultural identity anxiety prevails relevant studies, and in probing into the causes of Chinese culture aphasia among English learners, ELEP inevitably takes the blame. However, existing studies mainly examined curriculum or syllabus of English education in a certain period time, i.e. policy in forms of (2) and (3) according to
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Cheng Xiaotang (2012), while policy in form (1), the official policy texts, has been largely ignored. In China context, the guidance documents issued in the form of "Notice" or "Comment" (Form 1) represent official policy discourses and have the highest authority, while curriculum and syllabus are more of interpretation and implementation of such official discourses. Thus, ignoring official policy discourses would definitely reduce the validity of the above-mentioned findings. In addition, focusing on a certain period of time also fails in revealing the changing trajectory of policy, which may result in lopsided opinions. According to Tollefson (2011), language education policy is closely connected with social-psychology, and is historically and culturally motivated. Thus, historical analysis is essential to the scientific formulation and implementation of language policy in any society.
By 2018, China had gone through 40 years of social reform and opening-up to the world, and China's English craze [Gao Yihong, 2015] has also continued for nearly 40 years. We believe it is now an appropriate time to make a comprehensive review and evaluation of ELEPs in China from the perspective of identity construction. Consequently, this study, focusing on ELEP texts in the past 40 years, aims to examine identity planning in those policy texts to trace its changing trajectory, so as to provide reference for the subsequent empirical research on the relation between ELEP and learners' cultural identity.
3. Materials and Methodology 3.1. Sources of policy texts
In 1982, Chinese Ministry of Education mandated "Opinions on Strengthening Foreign Language Education in Middle Schools''. From then on, English was taught in middle school and became a subject of the college entrance examination in 1983, "English Craze" in China [Gao Yihong 2015] thus began. Considering this, we took the year 1982 as the starting point for data collection. In order to ensure the authenticity and authority of the corpus, this paper mainly obtained policy texts from the official website of Ministry of Education2, the official website of the National Library of China3 and some published compilation of policy literatures. In addition, there are some policy documents, which are not named as policy but include statements of educating objectives and professional curriculum design, such as the "Catalogue of Undergraduate Majors in Social Science in Ordinary Institutions of Higher Education (draft for comments) - 1987 Version". We include these types of documents in our source of texts as well. We also collected the speeches and talks on foreign language education given by some policy makers. Although these ideas may not yet become official policy, nonetheless, they did influence policy implementation dramatically as they reflected the idea of "people with power" [Zhao & Baldauf, 2012]. Eventually, 29 policy texts and 9 speeches, a total number of 38 policy documents were obtained to ensure the essential adequacy and representativeness of the corpus.
3.2. Text Analysis
We applied the Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA) proposed by Wodak and Boukala (2015) in our text analysis. DHA is a methodology to analyze, understand and explain the intricate complexities of identity constructions in policy texts. In this study, we mainly analyzed and understood cultural identity in policy texts, thus, we only focused on the first dimension of DHA: the contents or topics of specific discourses. The triangulation principle of DHA
2 See: http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_sjzl
3 See: http://www.nlc.en/0
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was observed by a careful coding of the policy discourses, the analysis of social-historical background of the policy documents, and also the analysis of the position of the speaker or organization that gave or issued the policy documents.
Firstly, we put policies issued in the same decade in a group, the 38 policy documents were divided into four groups, those issued in 1980s, 1990s and 2000s and 2010s respectively. China has a tradition of implementing five-year plans in its economic and social development, thus, this grouping takes the possible economic and social changes caused by the five-year plan on ELEP into account as well. Then the three researchers coded the policy texts manually. After initial coding [Saldana, 2013], we categorized the coding results into different themes, including purpose of English teaching, relationship between English and Chinese culture, and definition of English talents, and abstracted them into different prototypes of identity summarized by Gao Yihong (2014a, b). Finally, we input the results of the second-cycle coding into an excel sheet in yearly order, and the typical characteristics and diachronic changing trajectory of cultural identity planning in different periods of time were demonstrated.
4. Research Findings and Discussion 4.1. General Analysis of Policy Corpus
In order to fully demonstrate the distribution of 38 policy texts and the typical characteristics of cultural identity planning in different eras, the overall distribution and general analysis of policy corpus are presented as follows.
Table 2. Text quantity and cultural identity planning in each era
Time period Text Quantity Cultural Identity Planning
The 1980s 4 The instrumental nature of English was emphasized, one side input of English culture and lack of scientific cultural identity planning
The 1990s 7 Cultural identity was mentioned, but there existed neither a clear planning nor distinction between native culture and foreign culture
The 2000s 15 (3 N/A<?>) scientific planning of cultural identity started with special emphasis on protecting native cultural identity
The 2010s 12 Cultural identity planning became increasingly clear, students' awareness of multiculturalism was proposed and their ability to treat different cultures critically with the objective of protecting Chinese cultural identity was required
The above table demonstrates that the year 2000 is a changing point of China's ELEP from the perspective of cultural identity planning. Before the year 2000, China's ELEP advocated language instrumentalism by emphasizing the unilateral input of English language and culture, and policies with regard to Chinese cultural identity remained to be either absent or vague. Since the year 2000, political discourses on Chinese cultural identity and the relationship between native language culture and foreign language culture emerged. Those discourses mainly focus on defining foreign language talents and curriculum design, which indicates that a scientific planning of cultural identity started. The diachronic change of the cultural identity planning of ELEPs in China since 1982 is presented in the following timeline figure (see Figure 1 and Figure 2).
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Advocating patriotism and collectivism in education, absorbing the essence of world cultures critically, promoting excellent Chinese cultural tradition and setting up certain number of Chinese courses to make up for students' deficiency of Chinese writing ability
Cultivating world vision and cross-cultural communication ability. Promoting humanistic education and students' awareness of multi-culture
Enriching students' knowledge of different cultures, and enhancing their sensitivity about cultural differences
Enhancing students' sensitivity and awareness of cultural differences. Optional course: Introduction of Chinese Culture. Cultural competence: students should have a good comprehension of Chinese culture and a comparatively good command of Chinese
Figure 1. Diachronie change of ELEP in China from the perspective of cultural identity (For English
majors)
Figure 2. Diachronic change of ELEP in China from the perspective of cultural identity (For non-English
majors)
By comparing Figures 1 and 2, it is found that ELEP in China makes different planning of cultural identity between English majors and non-English majors. For English majors, more attention is paid to the cultivation of students' cross-cultural communicative competence, while for non-English majors, the emphasis is still on the instrumental function of English. The requirement for the teaching of cultural content is embedded in a certain language competence, such as reading comprehension and translation. Can this kind of FLEP which values instrumentalism while embellishing it with pieces of humanistic content [Shen Qi 2017] solve the widespread "cultural aphasia" problem among Chinese English learners? It is a question still remained to be carefully explored.
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4.2. Analysis of policy corpus in each decade 4.2.1. The 1980s: English instrumentalism and the absence of cultural identity planning
After the reform and "opening-up" in the year 1978, China's ELEP began the development stage of "depoliticization/market economy". During this period, the foreign language education mainly served to enhance the country's social reform and the promotion of market economy, thus, the orientation was on the improvement of students' foreign language ability. For example, "The 1985 College English Syllabus (for undergraduates in science and engineering)" clearly stated that English teachers should aim at "enabling students to use English as a tool to obtain information necessary for their subject learning and to lay a solid foundation for further improvement of their English ability." Such policy discourses had a strong instrumental tendency, they emphasized the one-way input of target language and culture while ignoring the possible impact of the imbalanced input of English language and culture on the native cultural identity of learners. What's more, native cultural identity considerations were completely absent. The implicit identity positioning of learners in such policy discourses was "faithful imitator", and the result of such policy implementation may have led to the erosion of native cultural identity of learners.
In addition, even though some policy discourses mentioned Chinese culture, there was absence of clear and detailed requirements for the teaching objectives of Chinese culture, and the policy discourses themselves were ambiguous in meaning. For example, in 1983, The Seminar on Basic English Curriculum" was held in Shanghai. In the meeting, courses such as "Introduction to European Culture", "World History", "A General Introduction to British and American History", "Chinese History and Culture" were listed as optional courses. Although "Chinese History and Culture" was included in the optional courses, there was no clear statement on the teaching objectives nor specific teaching hours for this course. In addition, policy discourses on Chinese culture were not only scarce but also poor in continuity. The course "Chinese History and Culture" appeared in 1983 was removed from the list of optional courses in the 1987 "Pilot Program of Teaching English Majors in Colleges and Universities' and this pilot program made requirement for cultural knowledge acquisition as "have a basic understanding of the history, culture and modern society of Britain and the United States." This suggests that the acquisition of cultural knowledge still targeted at English language and culture, and Chinese culture disappeared from ELEP discourses.
4.2.2. The 1990s: Cultural identity emerged
During this period, the social and economic context of foreign language education in China did not change significantly from that of the 1980s, and the teaching of foreign languages still predominantly served the country's opening up to the world and market economy. In this period, there were 7 policy documents on English education issued, among which 4 were about English level tests. Cultural identity began to emerge in these policy texts though policy discourses still showed strong instrumentalism, as the emphasis was still focused on the cultivation of students' foreign language ability. This indicates that scientific planning of learners' cultural identity remained vague during this period. In the 1994 "College English Test Band 4 Syllabus and Sample Questions (revised version)" and "College English Test Band 6 Syllabus and Sample Questions (revisedversion)", the purpose of college English teaching was set to "enable students to use English as a tool to obtain subject-related information, and at the same time lay a solid foundation for making further improvement in their English." In the principle of selecting
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materials for reading comprehension, it was proposed that "the subject matter should be broad and cultural topics may be included". However, the policy discourse was vague about what kind of culture to be involved. Furthermore, in the 1999 "College English Syllabus (revised edition) (for undergraduate students in colleges and universities)", it was proposed that students should "learn from and absorb the essence of foreign cultures and improve their cultural competence". The above analysis indicates that in terms of improving students' cultural competence, policy discourses still showed a foreign-culture orientation, and the input of Chinese culture was still neglected.
The above two quoted policy documents were about non-English majors, and we found that policy related to English major was very similar to that of non-English majors. The "TEM-4 Syllabus (revisedversion)" of1997 aimed at testing "students' ability to use basic language skills and their mastery of grammatical structure and vocabulary", in which no assessment of cultural competence was mentioned. The principle for selecting reading comprehension materials was to include "a wide range of subjects, including social, cultural, common knowledge, general knowledge of popular science, biographies of people, and etc.", but the culture origin was not specified. In the same year, the "General Provisions of TEM 8 Syllabus (revised version)" claimed in its "General Principles" that "the task for English teaching of seniors is to "continue to improve students' basic language skills, to further expand their scope of knowledge, and to focus on the improvement of their comprehensive English ability, cultural knowledge, and communicative competence". Although cultural competence was mentioned, but specific instructions on how to improve, and to improve what kind of culture were absent. This suggests that foreign language education policy in this period still took the instrumentalism ideology and a scientific planning of cultural identity was still about to appear.
4.2.3. The 2000s: Make scientific planning to protect native cultural identity
The first decade of the 21 century witnessed a rapid rising in China's economy, and the instrumental function of English was still in the country's modernization and internationalization. At the same time, there was a growing concern of the negative effects of years of sustained, large-scale investment in English learning, and the anxiety about Chinese cultural identity insecurity became pervasive. In addition, the large-scale migration of population and wide spread use of English brought about by globalization have transformed the language pool of people worldwide. This led to an increased awareness of social functions of language. Language is no longer treated simply as a tool for the exchange of ideas, nor as a symbolic system that has been studied in classical linguists. Its essential characteristics are now understood from the perspective of its functions in carrying, inheriting and constructing a specific culture [Dong Xiaobo, 2017]. This brand-new age asked for new type of foreign language talents, and the cultivation of cultural communication competence was particularly important. Policy discourses in this period of time showed an active protection of the native cultural identity. In the "English Teaching Syllabus for English Majors of Colleges and Universities in the Year of 2000", "An Introduction to Chinese Culture" became an optional course again. The "2004 College English Curriculum Requirements (trial)" also called for cultivating students' cross-cultural communication ability, and comprehensive cultural competence. Such discourses showed that the cultivation of foreign language talents in China started to transform from "faithful imitator" to "dialogical communicator".
In addition to the formal policy texts, education officials also spoke more intensively about traditional Chinese culture and the proper handling of the relationship between native language
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and foreign languages. Zhao Qinping, former vice Minister of Education and former director of the National Language Commission, said in 2007 that "we should handle the relationship between Chinese and foreign languages properly and guide the public to establish proper self-esteem and native language identity actively."4 This was the first time that "native language identity" appeared in policy discourses. In 2008, National Language Commission held a symposium on the use of foreign languages, the participants suggested that the administrative departments of education should strengthen Chinese and foreign language teaching in primary and secondary schools so as to not only establish national self-esteem, but also give reasonable space for the use of foreign languages.5
However, a close reading of the policy texts reveals that although the planning of learners' cultural identity became scientific in this period, specific policy provisions were still missing. Systematic guidance with regard to learners' cultural identity cultivation was missing both in the syllabus and the curriculum requirements. It seems that in the long-term dominant "instrumental value" in foreign language teaching, pieces of cross-cultural content or Chinese culture elements added are just accessories to language forms but not the main content of learning, and this will neither promote cross-cultural communication nor the fusion of different civilizations [Shen Qi, 2017]. Therefore, from the perspective of cultural identity planning, China's ELEP needed to be further improved in this era.
The 2010s: Bottom-up planning of Chinese cultural identity
In the year 2010, China surpassed Japan to become the world's second largest economic entity, and its influence in the global economy, politics and other fields became increasingly evident, also increased was the people's national dignity and confidence. In this period of time, the national language policy6 began to value the social function of language: "Language, as a crucial composing element and marker of our culture and society is eventually recognized" [Zhao Ronghui, 2016]; Building a harmonious language life also became one of the goals of the national language policy. In this new economic and policy context, universities and local education authorities showed keen insight and quick reaction to meet the new need of new time, and thus appeared the bottom-up driving effect of cultural identity planning. Schools' agency in policy making became obvious, as the policy texts corpus in this decade is mainly composed of policies issued by universities. The following are two cases of university taking initiative in policy making.
In the year 2015, the homepage of Beijing International Studies University reported their construction of the traditional culture teaching system which was a model of "compulsory course + elective course + forum". The school defined foreign language talents as "talents with Chinese identity and international vision, with national patriotism and world care, who can speak foreign languages and tell stories about China to the world"7. In addition, Prof. Jin Limin from Beijing Foreign Studies University defined the University's version of foreign language talents in the "2017 Beijing Foreign Studies University international Talent Training
4 See also: http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_zzjg/moe_187/moe_410/moe_528/tnull_26344.html.
5 See also: http://www.moe.gov.cn/s78/A18/moe_807/tnull_42977.html.
6 See also: Medium- and Long-term Planning for the Reform and Development of the National Language
http://old.moe.gov.cn/publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/moe/s7246/201301/146511.html.
7 See also: http://old.moe.gov.cn//publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/moe/moe_1732/201504/186091.html
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Summit Forum and School Work Conference of the Source Base". The university aimed to cultivate "multi-disciplinary, multi-lingual and high-level international talents with excellent foreign language skills and cross-cultural empathy", the talents should also have "Chinese patriotism, international vision, high sense of social responsibility, critical thinking ability and cross-cultural competence". In particular, Jin emphasized that intercultural communication competence referred to the ability to talk about China in a foreign language8. The foreign language education policies of the two universities both show that Chinese cultural identity became the focus of foreign language talent cultivation in this era, and the curriculum was becoming relatively systematic. Although no policy text explicitly used the term "dialogical communicator", the emphasis on "intercultural communication competence", and the emphasis on "critical thinking ability" all conformed to the typical characteristics of the identification of "intercultural communicator". Those policy discourses showed that cultural identity planning in this period was taking a step further from being scientific to systematic.
At government level, in the year 2014, the Committee of Higher Education, which is a subsidy of Ministry of Education, issued "The Guidance of Promoting Reform and Development of Professional English Teaching in Higher Education Institutes'". This guideline called for the cultivation of talents who have international vision and intercultural communication competence, and at the same time are familiar with international practices and can participate in international competition and cooperation. They should have high sense of social responsibility and innovative spirit, and be able to shoulder social, economic responsibilities in the new era where China is "going global". Definitely, these talents must own multi-competence and Chinese cultural identity is fundamental. In terms of college English, the revised "2016 National College English Test Syllabus for CET-4 and CET-6' required that content of Chinese culture, history and society should be included in the passage translation section. In both the documents, the use of expressions such as "multiculturalism" and "Chinese culture" showed that the relationship between native language culture and foreign language culture has been better handled. However, compared with policies for English majors where the emphasis was on the cultivation of intercultural communication competence, non-English majors were still trained to gain foreign language skills (such as translation skills), hence instrumentalism was still valued in those policy discourses.
4.3. Other policy factors that may affect cultural identity
The above analysis shows that current policy discourses of cultural identity planning mainly focus on talent orientation and curriculum design. However, literature shows that there are some other policy factors that affect the construction oflearners'cultural identity. Research from foreign language teaching shows that choice of instructing medium [Joseph, 2016], textbook content [Zhu Min, et al., 2016], family language policy [Fishman, 1991; Li Xiujin & Liu Yuanyuan, 2016] and learning motivation [Gao Yihong, 2013] all make influences on the construction of learners' cultural identity. Among them, curriculum, instructing medium, teaching materials, teaching objectives are directly described in education policy, and family language policy and learning motivation are indirectly influenced by foreign language education policies. Therefore, it is a long-term and systematic project to cultivate "dialogical communicators" with solid Chinese cultural identity, strong critical thinking ability and intercultural communication competence through policy adjustment. When language life becomes increasingly complex and frequent
8 http://www.unischool.cn/c/2017-11-18/149623.shtml
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conflicts become major characteristics of the world, constructing a harmonious language life to provide a nourishing environment for the cultivation of "dialogical communicators" becomes essential [Gao Yihong, 2014b]. Considering the complexity of cultural identity construction, much needs to be done to provide theoretical and empirical references for language education policy adjustment in the future.
5. Conclusion
This paper, by applying Discourse-Historical Approach [Wodak & Boukala, 2015], makes a diachronic analysis of 38 FLEP texts in the past 4 decades from the perspective of "cultural identity" in the change of Chinese social and economic contexts. It is found that relevant policy discourses mainly focus on talent cultivation and curriculum design. ELEPs before the year 2000 showed strong instrumentalism and scientific cultural identity planning was absent. After the new millennium, the education policy began to take "dialogical communicators" as an ideal identity model. Learners' native language cultural identity was gradually protected and the relationship between native language culture and foreign language culture was carefully handled. In addition, this paper also discusses other policy factors that may affect the construction of learners' cultural identity, and it points out that the management of learners' cultural identity construction through policy reform is a long-term and complex project.
In January of 2017, the general office of the Communist Party of China's central committee and the general office of the state council issued "The Opinions on the Implementation of the Project of Inheritance and Development of Fine Traditional Chinese Culture", and proposed to integrate traditional Chinese culture into all levels of education and all subjects in an all-round way, and to build a system of Chinese culture courses and textbooks9. We have reasons to believe that Chinese culture will be more significant in foreign language education policies in the future. However, if such an educational reform can help realize the goal of cultivating "cross-cultural communicators" with Chinese patriotism and international vision should still be tested by practice and time.
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Zhao Ronghui - Professor of Institute of Linguistics, Shanghai International Studies University, People's Republic of China. Address: 201620, China, Shaghai, 1550 Wenxiang Road E-mail: zrh@shisu.edu.cn
Liu Yuanyuan - lecturer at School of Education, Shanghai International Studies University, People's Republic of China. Address: 201620, China, Shaghai, 1550 Wenxiang Road
E-mail: liuyuanyuan@shisu.edu.cn
Deng Fei - post graduate at School of Foreign Languages, Renmin University of China, People's Republic of China. Address: 100872, China, Beijing, No. 59, Zhongguancun Street, Haidian Dist. E-mail: feideng1218@163.com
Для цитирования: Лю Юаньюань, Дэн Фэй, Чжао Жунхуэй. Планирование культурной идентичности в Китае: диахроническое исследование политики в области образования на английском языке. [Электронный ресурс]. Социолингвистика. 2020, № 3(3). C. 55-69. DOI: 10.37892/2713-2951-2020-3-3-55-69
For citation: Liu Yuanyuan, Deng Fei, Zhao Ronghui. Cultural identity planning in China: a diachronic study of the English language education policy. Sociolinguistic Studies, 2020, no. 3(3) [online], pp. 55-69. DOI: 10.37892/2713-2951-2020-3-3-55-69
