China and English

Globalisation and the Dilemmas of Identity

Edited by Prof. Joseph LoBianco, Jane Orton, Prof. Gao Yihong

Publication date:

26 November 2009

Publisher

Multilingual Matters

Dimensions:

210x148mm
6x8"

ISBN-13: 9781847692290

It has been said there are more Chinese learning English than there are Americans. We all have a sense that the first decades of the third millennium, including the effects of the global financial recession, signal dramatic changes to the shape of the world to come. China’s emergence as a superpower is one of the few certainties in this rapidly changing world. What is less well realised is the critical role which China’s decisions about English will play in the world’s communication profile. This unique volume explores this question looking at the debates on identity, cultural values and communication practices. Taking a wide-ranging view and uniquely blending both Chinese and Western perspectives the volume explores the critically important cultural consequences of mass English learning in today’s world.

PART I Western Dreams, Chinese Quests: Habitus and Encounter

1. Intercultural Encounters and Deep Cultural Beliefs – Joseph Lo Bianco

2. Sociocultural Contexts and English in China: Retaining and Reforming the Cultural Habitus – Gao Yihong

3. English and the Chinese Quest – Jane Orton

PART II Learners, Identities, Purposes

4. Language and Identity: State of the Art and a Debate of Legitimacy – Gao Yihong

5. Beautiful English vs. the Multilingual Self – Li Zhanzi

6. “Just a Tool”: The Role of English in the Curriculum – Jane Orton

7. The More I Learned, the Less I Found My Self – Bian Yongwei

PART III Landscapes and Mindscapes

8. Language, Ethnicity and Identity in China – Zhou Qingsheng

9. Ethnic Minorities, Bilingual Education and Glocalization – Xu Hongchen

10. English at Home in China: How Far Does the Bond Extend? –Joseph Lo Bianco

11. Motivational Force-Imagined Community in Crazy English – Li Jingyan

12. Understanding Ourselves Through ‘Teacher Man’ – Li Zhanzi PART IV Narratives

13. Negotiated (Non-)Participation of ‘Unsuccessful’ Learners – Li Yuxia

14. Teachers’ Identities in Personal Narratives – Liu Yi PART V English for China in the World

15. East Goes West – Jane Orton 16. Being Chinese, Speaking English – Joseph Lo Bianco

What is remarkable in this volume is not only the ways in which the discourses of this dichotomy resonate in the early twenty-first century, but also the ways in which new discourses, new problems and new opportunities emerge in the present. The editors are to be congratulated on this book, which offers an insightful blend of theory and empirical research. The fascinating and wide-ranging account of the status and functions of English in China today provided by Lo Bianco, Orton and Gao in China and English is essential reading for everyone interested in English in the Chinese context and in the wide range of educational and intercultural issues associated with the continuing story of English in China.