The Review of the Studies of Trilingual Education in inghai

Zhu+Xikui

This article mainly deals with the studies of trilingual education in inghai done by some scholars， pointing out the existing problems and putting forward some measures that can be taken by some concerned departments to improve the quality of trilingual education in inghai.

Review Trilingual Education inghai

Ininghai Trilingual education covers the teaching of Tibetan， Han Chinese and English since Tibetan people occupy the majority of the dwelling minorities and they are distributed in such prefectures as Yushu， Guoluo， Huangnan， Hainan， Haibei， Haixi， Haidong and three counties affiliated to Xining and the city of Ge Er Mu. In the prefectures of Yushu， Guoluo， Hainan， Huangnan， Haixi， local governments established ethic minority primary and secondary schools in which three language courses （Tibetan， Han Chinese and English） are offered. Students begin to learn both Tibetan and Han Chinese from primary grade one on and when they come to grade three， English is added. The teachers who teach Tibetan are mostly Tibetan people and the teachers teaching Han Chinese and English are both Tibetan and Han People in different proportion. In the teaching of English， most of the teachers apply both traditional and modern methods such as Grammar Translation and Task-based method.

ⅠProfessor Fengs study

The study （Feng2003） shows that due to the shortage of competent trilingual teachers， trilingual teaching is insufficiently practiced in schools that minority pupils attend. The study shows that 62.9% EFL teachers surveyed are Han， with little knowledge of minority languages. Classroom observations also indicate that most EFL teachers fail to switch their languages in EFL classrooms when necessary， and thus fail to cater to the learning. Thus， the effectiveness is unsatisfactory and the minority students usually can not get a good score at the college entrance examination due to the poor foundation of English and Han Chinese which partly lead to their failure to enter inland good universities. Most of them go to universities for nationalities or enter the pre-study period for universities.

Ⅱ Professor Mas study

In 2010，Professor Ma and his research group investigated the status quo of trilingual education of bilingual schools in inghai in order to gain an overall understanding of trilingual education in ethnic groups of inghai. In his report he summarizes the changes of trilingual education policies in inghais history， for example， in 1950， the medium of instruction in ethnic education should mainly be the native language and teaching materials were roughly compiled by local ethic teachers. In 1962， the provincial government initiated a movement for enforcing the quality promotion in ethnic minority education， proposing a report concerning the basic situation of present ethnic minority education and the proposals for future implementation. One proposal was that the native language as the media of instruction principle had to be strictly implemented and the ethnic minority students had to improve their proficiency in native language use. In 1963， the provincial education bureau proposed a report concerning opening boarding primary schools in the pastoral areas， stating that bilingual system was applied to the students in the higher grade of boarding 6 schools. They learned their ethnic mother tongue as well as Chinese （Ma p.5） In addition， their study also finds that present conditions in inghai Tibetan bilingual schools are not better enough for students to meet their desire on learning. Most students （more than 50%） are not satisfied with teachers teaching and facilities. The more serious problem is that in some primary schools there is not a single full time teacher who can teach English and schools just recruit untrained temporary teachers or part-time teachers as a way of filling up the gap. （Ma 2010）endprint

Ⅲ Professor Luos study

In 2008， Luo did the study ofBilingual Education in inghai in order to know the condition of the bilingual education of inghai Minorities Area， especially Tibetan Secondary Schools. She took Tongde as the case. Through investigations， the author lists some of the problems existing in Bilingual Education， thinking that the prominent obstacle to bilingual education in inghai is the desperate lack of qualified bilingual teachers. Teaching styles are boring with too much concentration on grammar， vocabulary and readings in addition to the rote memory of vocabulary and sentences. Such practices have dampened students interest in learning both Tibetan and Chinese. The problems are also shared in Mas study.

Ⅳ Scholar Lhundrups study

In 2012 Lhundrup published a research report on the development of bilingual education in the nomadic areas of inghai province， analyzing the current status and the trends of the school education in the Tibetan nomadic areas. In the article he pointed out the factors that prevent Tibetan students from improving the level of Han Chinese mainly lie in the following points： desperate lack of bilingual Teachers， especially in nomadic areas， unbalanced structure of Teachers group， Teachers poor ability both in profession and bilingualism， severe lack of in-service teachers training， poor welfare for Teachers and unstable teachers group， desperate lack of qualified Han Chinese teachers， teachers lack of responsibility， lack of Han Chinese environment and teaching methodology towards Tibetan students， lack of scientific understanding and correct recognition of bilingual education， and improper school teaching model （2012）. The above report is a detailed summary that gives an account of obstacles encountered by Tibetan students in the process of learning Han Chinese.

To sum up， in inghai the most prominent problems in trilingual education can be the desperate shortage of trilingual teachers and workers to which， Fan Yunlong suggests that the ethnic colleges and universities should assume the mission of training and cultivating trilingual teachers and educators for minority areas （2012） and the badly need of trilingual teaching materials and textbooks. Therefore， capital investment， improvement of facilities， research into teaching strategies and approaches， improvement of administrative levels， the compilation of teaching textbooks and materials are the issues over which concerns should be expressed by different levels including nation， province， region and schools in order to enhance the quality of trilingual education in inghai.

參考文獻：

[1]Anwei， F Impact on minority education. Bilingual education in China： practices， policy and concepts，2007.268.

[2]Chunfang， L“Bilingual Education in inghai Province， China” Save the Children， UK， China Programme， Beijing office.

[3]Fu，M.Trilingual Education of Bilingual Schools in inghai.Institute of China Studies University of Malaya，2012，4.

[4]Lhundrup， P. A Reseacrh Report on the Development of Bilingual Education in the Nomadic Areas of inghai Province. Northwest Journal of Ethnology， 2012，72（1）：14-28.

[5]Yunlong， F. The Ethnic Colleges and Universities Should Assume the Mission of Training and Educating English Teachers for Minority and Its Areas. Guizhou Ethnic Studies， 2012，33（6）：199-202.endprint