'A Plus for Our Students': The Construction of Mandarin Chinese as an Elite Language in an International School in Barcelona

Autor/inn/en	Codó, Eva; Sunyol, Andrea
Titel	'A Plus for Our Students': The Construction of Mandarin Chinese as an Elite Language in an International School in Barcelona
Quelle	In: Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 40 (2019) 5, S.436-452 (17 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Codó, Eva) ORCID (Sunyol, Andrea)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0143-4632
DOI	10.1080/01434632.2018.1543694
Schlagwörter	International Schools; Foreign Countries; Mandarin Chinese; Second Language Learning; Second Language Instruction; Institutional Characteristics; Program Descriptions; Enrollment Trends; Ethnography; Sociolinguistics; Multilingualism; Language Attitudes; Educational Benefits; Neoliberalism; Excellence in Education; Institutional Advancement; Reputation; Case Studies; Elementary Secondary Education; Preschool Education; Language Role; Administrator Attitudes; Spain (Barcelona) + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? International school; Internationale Schule; Ausland; Zweitsprachenerwerb; Fremdsprachenunterricht; Ethnografie; Soziolinguistik; Mehrsprachigkeit; Multilingualismus; Sprachverhalten; Bildungsertrag; Neo-liberalism; Neoliberalismus; Lernerfolg; nicht übertragen; Case study; Fallstudie; Case Study; Pre-school education; Vorschulerziehung
Abstract	Mandarin Chinese is the fastest growing foreign language by number of students in the world [Ding and Saunders 2006. "Talking up China: An Analysis of China's Rising Cultural Power and Global Promotion of the Chinese Language." "East Asia" 23 (2): 3-33], but little is known about how it is taking hold in compulsory education in different countries. This paper examines the institutionalisation of Mandarin in an elite school located near Barcelona, Spain, which, due to stagnant enrolment rates, was rebranded as 'international' in 2008. Data on the evolution and shifting legitimation of the Chinese programme was gathered through a two-year critical sociolinguistic ethnography. It included observations, visual materials, institutional discourses, questionnaire data and in-depth interviews with key social actors. The results show that Chinese has been highly instrumental for the process of re-elitisation of the school through multilingualisation (and internationalisation), because it allows institutional agents to mobilise both the discourse of cognitive/attitudinal benefits and forms of linguistic capitalisation "avant-la-lettre." Yet, among most families and students, there is sharp awareness of the speculative nature of Chinese as capital whose returns in the present can only be guaranteed in the logic of accumulation and as providing an index of students' embodiment of neoliberal subjectivities. For the school, Chinese symbolises its zeal to constantly search for new sources of (potential) distinction and academic excellence. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01