Table Of ContentMultilingual Education
YiXi LaMuCuo
Becoming Bilingual in
School and Home in
Tibetan Areas of China:
Stories of Struggle
Multilingual Education
Volume 34
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YiXi LaMuCuo
Becoming Bilingual
in School and Home
in Tibetan Areas of China:
Stories of Struggle
YiXi LaMuCuo
School of Tibetan Culture & Language
Northwest Minzu University
Lanzhou, Gansu, China
ISSN 2213-3208 ISSN 2213-3216 (electronic)
Multilingual Education
ISBN 978-3-030-14667-2 ISBN 978-3-030-14668-9 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14668-9
Library of Congress Control Number: 2019934771
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Foreword
This is a fascinating study of the experiences of bilingualism. It is both informed by
deep autobiographical perspectives and a narrative study of great sophistication.
With regard to the autobiographical side of the work, there is a poignancy and great
importance to the study which highlights the sheer pain of losing one’s original
language and identity, as she says “I gradually lost my Tibetan language and I
always felt ashamed to be the only Tibetan in my school.” She goes on to say “I can
still remember my peers laughing at me because of my name.” Finally, “it was only
as I grew older that I came to understand just how acute the loss of my identity and
language was.” These personal experiences lead to a study of how bilingualism has
affected other people.
The rich tapestry of five “thick descriptions” (Geertz) provides us with a moving
testimony to the complexity of this phenomenon. What is particularly memorable
about the study is the way that historical and political context provide the basis for
understanding each personal experience. It is to use a phrase I have evoked many
times “a story of action with a theory in context.”
My sense of the study is as an emotionally moving experience, particularly so
because of the clever way which it expulsed the relationship between language and
identity.
I recommend the book to wider audiences because of its sophisticated use of nar-
rative methods within an ethnographic approach and for its much more generaliz-
able illuminations about issues of identity and education.
University of Brighton Professor Ivor Goodson
Brighton, UK
19th October 2017
v
Abstract
This study analyses the stories of five individual Tibetan journeys towards becom-
ing bilingual in the Tibetan areas of China at four different points in time from 1950
to the present. The data consists of the narratives of their bilingual experiences as
they used language at home, in their villages and in school. Their narratives, detail-
ing their wide layers of experience and the intimate links between their opportuni-
ties to develop bilingualism and the broader historical and political context, reveal
the complexities of bilingualism. Moreover, these narratives show how my five par-
ticipants struggled to become bilingual in a society that required two languages, one
for their ethnic identities as Tibetans and the other for survival in a social context
that demanded a second language. They are Tibetans living in a predominately
Chinese-speaking country. Their L1 is not the official language of their country, but
it is tied to their ethnicity. Their stories thus address the link between bilingualism
and the formation of identity.
A narrative method within an ethnographic research approach was used in this
research. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theories were used to explain how the layers
of experience fundamentally influenced the development of bilingualism. Holland
et al.’s (2001) concept of “History in Person” was used to explain why an individu-
al’s formation of identity is affected by personal experience of developing bilingual-
ism. Furthermore, the view of language as repertoire is also used to explain why
Tibetans need two languages in their lives, thus emphasizing the importance of
understanding bilingualism from a sociocultural perspective. These three theoreti-
cal frames together provide tools to better understand the complexity of bilingual-
ism in the context of minority languages in China.
This study found that my five participants’ opportunities to become bilingual
were heavily affected by the transition of society and change of policies towards the
Tibetan language. Moreover, their stories show that bilingualism is a social phe-
nomenon which happened because my five participants interacted with two lan-
guages in their daily lives. Therefore, we need to see bilingualism from a sociocultural
perspective and understand the complexity of bilingualism for education policy and
vii
viii Abstract
practice. In addition, this study found that my five participants’ experiences of
developing bilingualism led the path of developing identity. It shows that language
played a very important role in the formation of identity for my five participants.
Moreover, their experiences demonstrate the relationship between identity and edu-
cation; education may either facilitate or impede an individual’s identity
development.
Acknowledgements
This research initially grew in my heart through the inspiration of many in my life,
most significantly that of my father. My father, an accomplished Tibetan poet,
taught me to treasure our Tibetan identity. He told me that as Tibetans, we need to
love our ethnicity like we love our own mother. He said: “We need to put a piece of
butter into our mother’s tea. If not, what sort of children are we?” (Tibetans love to
drink butter tea.) My father did not get the chance to learn written Tibetan in school,
but he realized the importance of protecting the mother tongue for Tibetans. He
regarded it as the way for us to love our ethnicity. I consider my PhD research as the
opportunity for me to put a piece of butter into my mother’s tea.
I would like to thank my two supervisors Dr. Jean Conteh and Dr. Martin Wedell
without whose tremendous support and encouragement I would not have been able
to complete this dissertation. I cannot remember how many supervisory meetings I
had with them on the long journey of achieving my PhD, but I do know that my
initial thought of researching Tibetan individuals’ bilingualism took shape through
the numerous comments I got from them and the many academic discussions I had
with them during our meetings. Their support was an inspiration which encouraged
me to complete this thesis. I feel privileged to have worked under their supervision.
I also want to thank Dr Jean Conteh for being supportive, both academically and
personally. She helped me greatly whenever I encountered difficulty in my field
work.
I would not have been able to complete this research without the support and
cooperation of my five participants. I will never forget them. Their stories will for-
ever inspire me to reach higher and stretch farther for my dreams.
My special thanks go to my friend Sue Lonergan for her support, encouragement
and invaluable help in English. Thanks also to my dear friend and teacher Sharon
Getter, who came to Lhasa to teach Tibetans English. Without her inspiration, I
would never have reached the impossible goal of conducting research in my third
language. My heartfelt thanks also go to Judy Chamberlain for her constant support
and friendship.
ix
x Acknowledgements
Finally, my special thanks go to my family, to my mother and sister for their
continuous love and support over the past years and to my dearest daughter Hwang
Mo who inspired me so much during the long PhD study.
