Chapter 2: Linguistic and Social Equity for Yughur and Kyrgyz National Minorities in Northwest China: Disadvantages of Either–Or Choice Between Dominant-Language Submersion and Mother Tongue Education

For linguistic minorities, language-in-education policy strongly influences perceptions of educational quality. Ranging from minority-language instruction to dominant-language instruction, the latter is often justified by officials by parental preference and its supposed educational and employment benefits. This chapter investigates these claims via two extreme cases, the Kyrgyz and Yughur minority nationalities of west China, who have experienced minority-language and dominant-language education, respectively. Using educational and occupational statistics and qualitative data on community perspectives, we present evidence that both communities desire first language maintenance and Chinese proficiency, finding little difference between models in educational attainment and occupational outcomes. However, the minority-language model is associated with low Chinese proficiency, and the dominant-language model with Yughur language loss, with clear implications for the recent introduction of experimental “bilingual education,” a dominant-language model taught by bilingual teachers, among Kyrgyz. The chapter concludes by cautioning against both monolingual approaches, calling for the investigation of alternative language-in-education models, such as dual language maintenance bilingual education, as a means to promote quality minority education through balanced learning of both minority languages and the national language. The chapter ends with an argument for increased minority community involvement in decisions affecting their children’s schooling in dialogue with researchers and policymakers.