Study On Language Planning Of Expatriate Families In Guangzhou

As the significance of “Belt and Road initiative” is noticed by more and more countries,and China’s international status and international influence have been raised,China became one of the most popular destinations for expatriates from all over the world.The seventh national census conducted in 2020 shows that in China,there are845,697 foreigners expatriates(those who stay only for short-term,such as business travel and tourism,are not included).Language planning in family domain is one important issue in language planning.By investigating the family language planning of expatriates’ families,we can know about their attitude towards Chinese learning,and then probe into how a series of linguistic,cultural,social,and even political factors interact with each other,and then influence their family language planning.We can also detect new methods relating to the family language planning to boost their demand in Chinese learning,detect and make use of the new driving force of their Chinese learning,so as to reach the ultimate goal of promoting and popularizing Chinese language all over the world.This essay mainly studies the family language planning of expatriates whose first language is English and are living in China’s metropolises,and the research consists of a questionnaire survey and interview.The research collected data by issuing questionnaire and taking interview,and then used SPSS to analyze the 92 questionnaires collected,and uses NVivo to encode and analyze the record of the interview.It mainly investigates and analyzes the language planning of foreigners in Guangzhou from the aspects of their basic information,language competence and performance,attitude towards different languages,language learning experience,family language ideology,family language practice,family language management strategies.The analysis of the language ideology of expatriate families shows that English is of cultural value and economic value,and as for Chinese language,they value its economic value mostly.The analysis of the language practice shows that they maintain the habit of using English in family daily conversation,and expect their children to be bi-lingual or even multilingual,but most of them claim that English learning and Chinese learning are most important for now.The analysis of their family language managing strategies shows that pay a lot of attention to the development of children’s mother tongue(English),and are willing to invest in children’s multilingual competence.These three elements of family language planning not only interrelated with each other,but also influence each other,and these three element will be affected in negative or positive way by the culture and language environment of the society,family language experience,and conditions in reality.Finally,from the perspective of family language policy,this essay puts forward the following suggestions to promote the families of foreigners in China to integrate into the local society and stimulate their needs of Chinese Learning.Firstly,encouraging foreign families to walk out of small communities and increase the contact and communication with local Chinese,by participating in various activities,so that the recognition of Chinese value and the importance of Chinese learning can be improved in their family language ideology.Secondly,increasing multilingual information platforms and multilingual TV programs,which can create more Chinese using situation in their family language practice.Thirdly,more researches should investigate the family language planning of foreign families in China deeply,to understand their needs and difficulties in Chinese learning and education both for adult and children,and encourage schools and educational institutions to provide diversified,flexible,and convenient choices for expatriates’ Chinese and even multiple language learning.