Heritage Language Theory And Redefine Overseas Chinese Education

The term"Heritage Language" originated in the 1990s in Canada.Then,it gradually became popular in the United States(US),and started to be increasingly valued by the US government officials and academics.The research and practice of heritage language users or learners is in the ascendance,and now heritage language research has become an independent emerging professional research field.It has produced a large number of academic achievements and practical results.Since the American heritage language research focus on immigrant languages,including the study of Chinese heritage language,this is highly similar to the overseas Chinese education research in the Chinese academia,which focuses on the mandarin learning by the overseas Chinese and its cultural acquisition.Considerable problems and controversies exist in the study of Chinese education.Therefore,in recent years,some scholars in China have begun to pay attention to the American heritage language research,and tried to apply the theory to overseas Chinese education research.Since the heritage language is a new term in China and the related research is relatively limited,the academic achievements of applying the theory of heritage language to overseas Chinese education research is even more limited.The existing literature on overseas Chinese education,which draws insight from the theory of heritage language is both theoretically and empirically in the initial phase.In an attempt to make further contribution to the existing body of literature in this field,the present thesis uses the heritage language theory to research Indonesia's Chinese education.However,the empirical study of Indonesian experience fails to substantiate American heritage language theory.The central puzzle of the paper is inspired by this failed experimental investigation.The central research questions of this investigation are the following:Does the American heritage language theory really apply to overseas Chinese education research?What is the difference between the theories?How to define China's overseas Chinese education?In order to answer the above-mentioned questions,this paper first reviews the American heritage language theory,including the rise of the theory,the core concepts,the research history,and the problems existing in the current research.Secondly,comparing heritage language theory with China's overseas Chinese education research,from citizenship of object to the nature of research,there are eight differences between the two theories.It is concluded that the heritage language theory cannot be applied to overseas Chinese education.At the same time,the article further analyzes the reasons why the academic circle misuses the theory of heritage language.Finally,the overseas Chinese education has been redefined from a cultural perspective.Under the premise of pointing out the dilemma of Chinese education,the article focuses on the analysis of the object,core and types of Chinese education.Finally,it points out that "the greatest common denominator" of Chinese education is"Chineseness"and defines overseas Chinese education as a dynamic continuum with"Chineseness"and"minimum Creolized"are two poles.