On The Economic Perspective Of Bilingual Education In China

Language is a complex product of human society. It is shaped in different ways depending on a variety of social and other factors. The study of the human behavior related to language issues requires us to go beyond many of the concepts and analytical techniques presently used within linguistic theories. Bilingual education, a field of specialization in its own right, has been in controversial for decades. It is not a unitary language phenomenon and usually displays an essentially economic concern for the languages to be used. Hence, economics can be of service and offer insights and information in the study of language issues that other approaches do not provide so far. In the survey of the alleged complexity involved in bilingual education, this thesis ventures out to apply economic concepts and tools to the study of bilingual education in China with the reference to the existing studies on the economics of language. The economic cost-benefit framework is applied to the evaluation of bilingual education in China, the economic marginal analysis and the concept of production possibilities are employed to explain tentatively the proficiency level of the second language. In presenting the interdisciplinary nature of the study of bilingualism, the thesis advocates the idea that theories from different disciplines must work together to offer innovative insights and enquiries into the systematic study of language issues. It presents to the readers that no discipline alone can provide an integrative perspective on bilingual education.