CRCLLE Research

A comprehensive and up-to-date bibliography and links to existing published research and will soon be posted on the CRCLLE website. The inaugural research project currently being undertaken by our UBC CRCLLE Research Group (led by Patsy Duff) is a multiple case study of language and literacy development in Chinese as an additional language. The group meets weekly or biweekly and plans to publish articles and a book about the project. The study draws on the long-term Chinese language/literacy learning experiences and proficiency development of five of the group’s members who have learned both naturalistically and/or in formal instructional contexts in Taiwan, Mainland China, Singapore, the United States, and Canada. Few such in-depth longitudinal case studies or autobiographical narratives exist about the acquisition of Mandarin language and/or literacy. The study, informed by narrative inquiry and sociocultural theory, will offer original insights into the challenges and achievements of English-speaking adults attempting to learn Mandarin under diverse learning conditions. The individual cases and cross-case analysis will reveal both unique and shared aspects of the participants’ learning trajectories, intriguing affective dimensions of their Mandarin second-language acquisition, the interconnectedness between language learning and identity, and the strategies used and, often, difficulties encountered when trying to maintain or further develop and use their Chinese language/literacy skills and to participate in Chinese-mediated communities, especially when living in an English-dominant context.