A research on Finnish-Chinese children’s bilingual identity through multiliteracies : a case study of Chinese heritage learners in Central Finland
Authors
Date
2019Copyright
This publication is copyrighted. You may download, display and print it for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.
Research on the bilingual identity of heritage language learners is a field emerging at the turn of
the 21st century. This study explored the Chinese identity and Finnish identity of a group of
Chinese heritage learners aged from 5 to 16 from the perspective of identity-as-narrative. The
main goal was to find out how Chinese heritage learners identify themselves with the Chinese
language and Finnish language by taking photos and other story-telling. The research design is
based on visual methods for meaning-making and on the concept design in the field of pedagogy
of multiliteracies. Contents analysis and narrative analysis were employed to analyze the visual
identity narratives produced by participants, which yielded several findings regarding 1) the
common resources used for Chinese-Finnish identity construction, 2) the multidimensional and
individualized characteristics of the construct of heritage learners’ language identity, 3) the
specialness of Chinese identity in compared to Finnish identity, and 4) bilingual identity as both
experienced lives and imagined possibilities. These results are to some extent similar to the
expertise, inheritance and affiliation meanings of language identity articulated in previous
research, but also bring about some new meanings that are attached by heritage learners to the
Chinese and Finnish language. At last, this study concludes that visual methods are young-learner
friendly because it facilitates expression and communication with minors and it prompts
researchers to explain meaning-making of identity from young learners’ points of view. The
research project is also of pedagogical importance because it serves to scaffold learners’ learning
of Chinese literacy.
...
Keywords
Metadata
Show full item recordCollections
- Pro gradu -tutkielmat [29105]
Related items
Showing items with similar title or keywords.
-
"Are you Swedish?" : the heterogeneous identity of Finland-Swedish students
Hildén, Linda (2024)This study aims to shed light on how Finland-Swedish students perceive and understand their identity and the Swedish-speaking minority. According to the Finnish Constitution, the national languages of Finland are Finnish ... -
“Sit mulla ois ollut jotain niinku personality issues” : linguistic identities of plurilinguals
Habte, Yohana Tewelde (2021)Vuoteen 2030 mennessä joka viides lapsi Helsingissä puhuu suomea toisena kielenään. Monikieliset lapset ovat jo usean vuoden ajan vaatineet huomiota, joka nostaisi heidän rikkaan ja moninaisen kielenkäyttönsä negatiivisen ... -
Maintaining the heritage language : young adults from immigrant backgrounds in Finland
Nevaranta, Maria (2023)Monilla maahanmuuttajataustaisilla nuorilla aikuisilla on vaikeuksia säilyttää perintökieltään, mutta perintökielen ylläpitäminen tarjoaa kannustimia kuten sosiaalista integraatiota, kulttuuriperinnön säilyttämistä ja ... -
Viittomakielisten nuorten aikuisten käsityksiä kaksikielisyydestään
Lätti, Janita (2017)Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli selvittää, kuinka viittomakielisten nuorten aikuisten kaksikielisyyttä on heidän lapsuudessaan ja nuoruudessaan tuettu (vai onko tuettu lainkaan?) ja minkälaisia vaikutuksia tällä on heidän ... -
“It is a part of my identity that I see myself as a language person” : Language identities of students of English
Rajala, Emilia (2022)Identiteettien tutkiminen on ollut suosittua jo jonkin aikaa, ja niitä on tutkittu eri aloilla psykologiasta kielitieteeseen. Identiteetit eivät voi esiintyä ilman kieltä, ja tästä syystä tämä tutkielma yhdistää kielen ja ...