Progressive practice and translanguaging: Supporting multilingualism in a Hong Kong preschool

ABSTRACT

As an officially trilingual special administrative region of China and an economic powerhouse in Asia, Hong Kong has invested heavily in dual language schools that emphasize learning English alongside of Cantonese or Mandarin at all levels of education. Little research has explored how learning and language use takes shape within these schools, particularly within early childhood educational contexts. This article analyzes how young learners in Hong Kong early childhood program that adheres to an emergent curriculum and inquiry-based pedagogy develop trilingualism though translingual communicative practices. Specifically, we showcase conditions for trilingual participation within one classroom, as well as how children within it negotiated peer relationships through linguistic improvisation and accommodation.

Notes

1. A capital “P” is used when spelling Progressive to identify Deweyan Progressivism and not progressive education broadly.

2. All names are pseudonyms.

3. Chinese and Western are terms used by ISHK to identify Chinese and English-speaking faculty members.

4. The children referred to all Western teachers as Mr./Ms. [First Name] and to all Chinese teachers as [Surname] 老師. The phonetic spelling of this title, when pronounced in Cantonese, is lou⁵si¹ (superscript numerals to the tone used to pronounce each syllable) We will use this title when referring to the Chinese teacher in this study, Yuen 老師.

5. In all examples of English text, English appears in plain text, Cantonese in italics, and Mandarin underlined. Any clarifications are in brackets.