A longitudinal study in the making! ☺️ Can’t wait for the sequel to this article!

So great to see how your research is inspiring the next generation, Li Jia! Such powerful impact 🙌🏼

Thanks for your comments, Wang Zhiying. Yes, I agree that a more inclusive and diversified foreign language policy should be implemented in China’s border regions such as Yunnan!

Thanks for your comments Ni Zhijuan. Yes, we might internalize certain norms without relating to specific contexts. It’s good to add your living experiences at Ruili where multilingual practices are quite diversified and dynamic. Your proposed study on a group of Burmese migrants working at a massage salon at Ruili is very promising and highly relevant to the wider contexts of social and political transformations between China and its neighouring countries. Looking forward to working with you.

Excellent comments! As a teacher working in Yunnan, one of the most peripheral regions in China, I completely understand what you mean by the inferiority complexity caused by learning English for ages. Very delighted to see your willingness to take a great courage to reveal the myths of learning English as your proposed research. Let’s work together for the equal access to social resources and the empowerment of linguistic diversity.

Thanks, He Bin, for sharing with your language learning experiences in English and Korean. Yes, the propaganda on the supremacy of English tends to delude ourselves into an illusion that English is the only way to success whereas other languages do not deserve similar investment. However, your investment in learning Korean language out of class might demonstrate a brand-new experience from English. Looking forward to reading your work in future!

Thank you Bai Qiongfang for your excellent work! Let’s keep reading on LOTM and exploring how cross-border minorities might empower their life trajectories in future. Very exciting project!

Thanks, Guo Haiyan, for raising a very important question for Chinese kids from Aba, a minority-centered area, in Sichuan. Instead of blaming them for their poor English proficiency, we shall relate their learning experiences to their access to the social resources. The policy of offering extra points may seem to bridge the social barrier and increase their opportunity for going to university, but what’s the proportion of those minorities who have successfully obtained the admission ticket when both English and Putonghua are safeguarding as the gate-keeping power?

Thanks, Yang Hongli, for sharing with us a wonderful story on how a Chinese student gets empowered in learning Burmese language in Yunnan. Let’s keep in touch and see how this student fulfills her employment prospect in the coming two years.

Thanks for your comments, Ge Tingjiang! Your proposed study on Laotian students’ language learning experiences in Yunnan will definitely contribute to this topic. Very much expecting to read your study in the near future!

Because of the special location, Yunnan is rich in language resources. Local students also face a lot of language confusion in their education: English learning greatly affects their study, life, and even employment. As EMI is implemented in minority areas, English learning in minority areas is generally inefficient.
It reminds me of my undergraduate roommate’s experience of supporting education in Aba, she said that it was really difficult for children in minority areas to learn English, and suddenly she understood the policy of extra points for minority students in English during the college entrance examination.
I am puzzled: although extra points for students’ English make up for their weak position in the college entrance examination due to their English scores to some extent, they have not substantially improved their language ability. After going to college, they still face the English confusion. What linguistic significance does such EMI have for minority students?