Resumen de Examining Chinese university students’ multilingual practices and critical reflections through cosmopolitan learning
In recent years, university students have experienced substantial cosmopolitan learning in multilingual and international contexts, through which they become reflective of language-related inequity and inequality. This qualitative study employed interviews to examine how cosmopolitan learning has influenced 28 Chinese university students’ multilingual practices, as well as their reflections on critical issues regarding multilingualism and on potential improvements in teaching and learning. The findings showed that participants increasingly engaged in cosmopolitan learning through curricular and extracurricular programme and activities at home and abroad, influencing their multilingual perspectives and practices. Through this process, they reflected on key issues in multilingualism related to the critical influences of global neoliberalism, unbalanced geo-power relations, and other socioeconomic factors. Participants’ reflections advocate for university policymakers, administrators and international and local teachers and students to work together to create inclusive and egalitarian cosmopolitan, multilingual learning environments that counter the narrow neoliberal rationales and geo-power dynamics in knowledge distribution through standard English. Thereby, university students may become dedicated cosmopolitan learners with passion and curiosity. They may make efforts to use their multilingual repertoire to explore the world; fight for justice in the position of knowledge, people, and places; and benefit from cross-regional learning and sharing.
