About my research

Research Interests

My interest in participating in this research comes from the phrase: “Chinese heritage language’’. This is a new phrase for me, and after learning about its meaning, I became more interested in participating in this research. As a Chinese student who grew up in China, I studied Chinese and Chinese culture significantly for 18 years and people who I interact with have similar experiences, so I am sure that my identity is constructed by Chinese and Chinese culture. However, those young people who grew up in a Chinese heritage language background in Sheffield will interact with different cultures, and also the people they interact with come from different cultures. Under this condition, will the Chinese and Chinese culture still be essential in constructing their identity? This question makes me more eager to participate in this research. 

Research Objectives

My research project links with this existing one, and it will use the same focus group data collected previously, and I will focus on the local group. However, it will analyse the data differently and aims to answer this research question: How does young people’s interaction with various interlocutors relate to their constructs of identity? To answer this question,  I will focus on three groups that these Chinese young people often get in touch with: their families; their classmates/friends and the wider Chinese community. Thus, my research objectives are: 1. To examine how young people’s interaction with their families affects their Chinese proficiency. For example, if they use Chinese to communicate with their families daily, they may become proficient Chinese speakers. 2. To investigate how their interaction with British friends/classmates influences their perceptions of Chinese and Chinese culture. For instance, if their British friends/classmates love Chinese culture, they will agree more on Chinese culture, which may help them develop their Chinese identity. 3. To discover whether young people’s interaction with Chinese communities in Sheffield helps them reinforce their Chinese identity. For example, participating in activities held by Chinese communities regularly may help them form a sense of belonging to Chinese culture.  

Research Method

I will reanalyse the data according to these three aspects by using thematic analysis to answer my research question. 

Research Output

Hoping that by doing this research, I can learn more about the importance of different interlocutors in Chinese young people’s identity construction and this research may also help these young people who want to construct the Chinese identity to think of which interlocutors they can interact with to help them construct it. More importantly, I hope that I can publish a relevant article when finish conducting this research.