In collaboration with Dr. Chung-Hui Liang of Taiwan's National
Chiao Tung University, and funded by the Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation,
we will investigate mother tongue education in two contexts, Taiwan and the United States.

In Taiwan, since 2001 elementary school children are required to study a mother tongue
(Hokkien, Hakka, Aboriginal language) one hour per week. In the US, since the 1840s
ethnic Chinese (from Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia) have established
Chinese schools in 47 of 50 states to teach Chinese language (most often Mandarin) and
culture to their children. Our goals are not only to understand how these languages are
taught, but to also understand what meanings and ideologies parents, grandparents,
and educators attach to these languages.

Click here to see a more complete description of the research project.