China and English

Joseph Lo Bianco is Professor of Language and Literacy Education and Associate Dean (Global Relations) at the Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne. He is author of Australia’s first comprehensive language policy, the National Policy on Languages, 1987. In 2007 he produced a Special Issue of the journal Language Policy entitled The Emergence of Chinese.Jane Orton is an Honorary Senior Fellow in the Graduate School of Education at the University of Melbourne, where she has researched, taught and supervised for many years in the area of international English, language teaching and culture, and nonverbal communication.Gao Yihong is a professor in the English Department, School of Foreign Languages, Peking University, and Director of The Association of Chinese Sociolinguistics. Her major research interest lies in the social psychology and social context of language learning.

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.

• PART I Western Dreams, Chinese Quests: Habitus and Encounter1. Intercultural Encounters and Deep Cultural Beliefs – Joseph Lo Bianco2. Sociocultural Contexts and English in China: Retaining and Reforming the Cultural Habitus – Gao Yihong3. English and the Chinese Quest – Jane OrtonPART II Learners, Identities, Purposes4. Language and Identity: State of the Art and a Debate of Legitimacy – Gao Yihong5. Beautiful English vs. the Multilingual Self – Li Zhanzi6. “Just a Tool”: The Role of English in the Curriculum – Jane Orton7. The More I Learned, the Less I Found My Self – Bian YongweiPART III Landscapes and Mindscapes8. Language, Ethnicity and Identity in China – Zhou Qingsheng9. Ethnic Minorities, Bilingual Education and Glocalization – Xu Hongchen10. English at Home in China: How Far Does the Bond Extend? – Joseph Lo Bianco11. Motivational Force-Imagined Community in Crazy English – Li Jingyan12. Understanding Ourselves Through ‘Teacher Man’ – Li ZhanziPART IV Narratives13. Negotiated (Non-)Participation of ‘Unsuccessful’ Learners – Li Yuxia14. Teachers’ Identities in Personal Narratives – Liu YiPART V English for China in the World15. East Goes West – Jane Orton16. Being Chinese, Speaking English – Joseph Lo Bianco