Abstract
This qualitative case study investigates how Chinese students at Fuzhou Lakeside International School negotiate their cultural identities within the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme (MYP). Situated at the intersection of the MYP’s Western-centric pedagogical framework and the students’ indigenous Chinese cultural backgrounds, the research illuminates the dynamic strategies students employ to interpret, adapt, and localize the curriculum. Framed by postcolonial theory, this study positions students not as passive recipients but as active agents in their identity construction. Data were gathered through in-depth interviews with 20 Chinese MYP students, classroom observations, and analysis of student artifacts, including their Personal Projects. Thematic analysis revealed that students engage in sophisticated “cultural negotiation,” manifesting in three key findings: (1) They demonstrate emergent critical literacy by challenging and deconstructing Western textual representations of China in subjects like Language and Literature; (2) They perform a strategic hybrid identity, acting as cultural “chameleons” in global contexts while maintaining a core Chinese cultural “anchor” in familial and local settings; (3) They adeptly utilize the MYP’s “Global Contexts” as a conceptual scaffold to bridge global perspectives with local realities. The study concludes that the MYP experience fosters the development of a fluid and dual cultural identity, which students strategically leverage as a form of cultural capital. This research underscores the imperative for IB World Schools to move beyond a tokenistic multi-culturalism and instead implement consciously designed, culturally sustaining pedagogies that support students’ complex identity work.
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How to cite this paper
Negotiating Cultural Identity: A Study on Localized Interpretation and Identity Construction of Chinese Students in an International School’s IB MYP Curriculum
How to cite this paper: Dongyu Chi. (2025). Negotiating Cultural Identity: A Study on Localized Interpretation and Identity Construction of Chinese Students in an International School’s IB MYP Curriculum. The Educational Review, USA, 9(11), 911-916.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/er.2025.11.005