Campus vitality of languages in a Chinese university: evaluation, comparison and reflection

ABSTRACT

This paper proposes a concept of campus vitality of languages: the ability of a language to maintain its prestige, visibility and continuity on university campuses. A seven-factor framework is developed for on-the-ground investigation of the relevant languages in a given campus context. These indexical factors are the number, distribution, and proportion of users; usage and visibility in campus domains; and institutional and user attitudes toward the languages. The application of this framework in a second-tier university in China reveals some sociolinguistic information: the presence of more languages on campus does not necessarily increase students’ diversity experiences; English supremacy in higher education in China is posing a threat to the status of the national language in the academic domain, an issue that has drawn administrative attention from the government; a more balanced ecology is not only desirable but also achievable if the seven-factor framework is followed by government and by university management.

KEYWORDS:

• Campus vitality
• linguistic diversity
• higher education
• language planning
• China

Acknowledgements

The author’s interests include language planning, language policy, media, and communication. He is enlisted in Qinglan Project of Jiangsu, China.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 MOE website, http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/gzdt_gzdt/s5987/201904/t20190412_377692.html, visited on 2020-03-05.

2 Website of Beijing Foreign Studies University, https://news.bfsu.edu.cn/archives/248752, and https://news.bfsu.edu.cn/article/275553/cate/4, visited on 2020-03-05.

3 Project 985 was first announced on 1998-5-4 by the Chinese government; its intention is to allocate large amounts of funding to certain universities so that they can grow into world-class universities.

4 Project 211 is another Chinese government endeavor, aimed at strengthening about 100 universities and colleges as a national priority for the twenty-first century.

5 Academic Ranking of Chinese Universities, website: https://www.shanghairanking.cn/rankings/bcur/202011

6 The data in this and next paragraph are from the university’s admission officer.

7 YZU Programs for International Students 2020, http://coe.yzu.edu.cn/art/2020/1/30/art_41098_735505.html

8 Anonymous, Chief-Editor of The New England Journal of Medicine clarifies, China News Week, 2020.02.01. https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1657317307365995439&wfr=spider&for=pc

9 Website of the Ministry of Science and Technology, http://www.most.gov.cn/kjbgz/202001/t20200130_151267.htm, visited on 2020-0310.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by The National Social Science Fund of China [grant number 17CYY012].