Associate Professor Rita Elaine Silver publishes a research article in the Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development

Assoc Prof Rita Elaine Silver, Associate Dean of Research Design & Integrity at the Office of Education Research (OER), and Associate Professor at NIE’s English Language & Literature Academic Group (ELL SG), published a research article titled “Minority language testing: the social impact of the Zhuang language proficiency test in China” in the Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. The research article was co-authored by Dr Guangwei Hu, Professor at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University for the Department of English and Communication, as well as Dr Wu Ying, former PhD student under the supervision of Assoc Prof Rita Silver. 

In the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Zhuang is one of the officially recognised regional, minority language. The Zhuang language test (Vahcuengh Sawcuengh Suijbingz Gaujsi, VSSG) is the first minority language test in the PRC, which was designed with multiple goals including improving Zhuang language teaching, recruiting students for relevant majors of tertiary study, identifying proficiency for work-related applications, and piloting the standardisation of national minority languages. The research article examines stakeholders’ attitudes (i.e. testers in an official capacity and testees) toward the test and consider how well the VSSG meets its goals. Drawing on documents and interviews, the study suggests that the test falls short of its primary goals due to a mismatch between stakeholder attitudes, the social functions of the tested language, and the value attached to the minority language. As a result, the test is an ineffective agent for promoting the status of the Zhuang language in the ways intended by its designers and policymakers.