On the status of Chinese language maintenance by primary school students of Chinese ethnicity in Brisbane Australia

Starting with the two concepts of language maintenance and language shift,this study provided as background the significance for Chinese immigrants to maintain their mother tongue in Australia and the four major ways used to achieve Chinese language maintenance for the second-generation Chinese immigrants.Research design including participant selection,measurements,and data collection procedures was presented.Results in terms of Chinese use at home and school,its learning resources and the Youth Chinese Test(YCT),were presented in tables and followed by a discussion of these results.This study on the one hand presents the status of Chinese language maintenance by this cohort of participants,and on the other hand provides empirical evidence for the claim that heritage learners of Chinese should be taught in different classes according to their proficiency levels.