A New Representation of Chinese Learners: Experiences of Chinese Learners of English in Tertiary Sino-Australian Programs in China (Cultural Studies and Transdisciplinarity in Education, 13)

This book examines Chinese tertiary students' experiences of learning English in Sino-Australian programs in China. Using an institutional ethnography, the book examines one well-established Sino-Australian program based at a Chinese university. The book explores the ways that participant students used the Chinese words, tropes and their meanings to describe their English learning experiences with both local Chinese and foreign English teachers. This book introduces an innovative theoretical framework, “representation theory with a multilingual perspective”, to analyse how Chinese students' everyday experiences are constructed and mediated through language, discourse and identity. This framework also highlights graphic examples of how concepts are created in both Chinese and English, and thus serves as a powerful tool for deconstructing dichotomies between China and the West. The aim of this book is, then, two-fold: to show how a novel theoretical lens can help us to develop more nuanced understandings of Chinese students, and to propose a new methodological and theoretical framework through which one can challenge the monolingual subjectivity and parochial views of both Chinese and Western conceptions. Acknowledgements Contents List of Abbreviations List of Figures List of Tables Chapter 1: Is This Your Idea of English Teaching? 1.1 The Beginnings of the Study: From My Insider Perspective 1.2 Representations of Chinese Students 1.2.1 “Large Culture” Versus “Small Culture” Approach 1.2.2 Representation Theory with a Multilingual Perspective: A Nuanced Approach 1.3 Western TESOL in Non-Western Contexts 1.4 Foreign Teachers of English in China 1.4.1 The Role and Status of English Education in China 1.4.2 Foreign Teachers of English in China 1.5 Experiences of Chinese Learners in Transnational Higher Education Programs in China 1.5.1 The Rise of Transnational Higher Education in China 1.5.2 Intercultural Learning Experiences of Chinese Learners in Transnational Programs 1.6 Overview of This Study 1.7 Structure of the Book References Chapter 2: Setting the Scene: The Qunxi Program 2.1 Introducing English Language Education to the Qunxi Program 2.2 Chinese Students 2.2.1 Chuan—a Privileged Boy and His “Ideal” English Classes 2.2.2 Fang—A Highly-Motivated Young Woman and Her “Waste of Time” English Lessons 2.2.3 Lessons From Fang and Chuan—Changing Motivations of Learning English 2.3 English Teachers 2.3.1 Local English Teachers Versus Foreign English Teachers Appendix: Participating Student Profiles References Chapter 3: Headless Flies 3.1 Representation Theory—The Overarching Theoretical Framework 3.1.1 Language and Culture in Representation 3.1.2 Discursive Approaches to Representation 3.2 Culture: Orderly and Exam-Oriented Education in China 3.3 Discourse of English Language Pedagogy 3.3.1 shí zhì xìng de zhī shi, 实质性的知识 (Substantive Knowledge) 3.3.2 yīng yǔ kè táng luó jí, 英语课堂逻辑 (Logic of English Lessons) 3.4 Students’ Learning Experiences in Foreign English Teachers’ Lessons 3.4.1 Foreign English Teachers: “Students as Whole Persons” 3.4.2 Students: Disoriented Lessons 3.5 Students’ Learning Experiences in Local English Teachers’ Lessons 3.5.1 Local English Teachers: jiāo kè bě, 教课本 (Teaching of the Textbook) 3.5.2 Students: zhēn zhèng de xué, 真正的学 (Real Learning) References Chapter 4: Foreign Friends 4.1 Identity and Representation 4.1.1 Stereotyping—“the Spectacle of the Other” 4.1.2 Identity in Representational Practices 4.2 The “Foreign Teachers as Foreign Friends” Discourse 4.3 Students’ Learning Experiences in Foreign English Teachers’ Classes 4.3.1 Foreign English Teachers: “Teachers as Facilitators” 4.3.2 Students: wán, 玩 (Play) 4.3.3 Students’ Negotiation of Foreign Others 4.4 Students’ Learning Experiences in Local English Teachers’ Classes 4.4.1 Local English Teachers: “the Learner as a Whole Person” and “Teachers as Facilitators” 4.4.2 Students: wēng wēng xiǎng de kè tang huó dòng, 嗡嗡响的课堂活动 (Buzzing Class Activities) References Chapter 5: Precious Golden Sentences 5.1 Habitus 5.2 Discourse of English Writing 5.3 Students’ Learning Experiences in Academic Writing Lessons 5.3.1 Foreign English Teachers: Procedural Teaching of the Textbook 5.3.2 Students’ Negotiation of the Academic Writing Lessons References Chapter 6: Confined Lively Butterflies 6.1 Representation with a Multilingual Perspective 6.1.1 Multilingual Perspectives 6.1.2 Post-Monolingual Methodology 6.2 Discursive Construction of Chinese Students’ English Learning Experiences 6.3 “We Are Similar to Western Youngsters” 6.3.1 The Concept of bèi dòng xué xí, 被动学习 (Passive Learning) 6.3.2 The Concept of chén mò, 沉默 (Silence) 6.3.3 The Concept of pī pàn sī wéi néng lì, 批判思维能力 (Critical Thinking Skills) References Chapter 7: “Making Biscuits or Milkshakes”: Towards More Nuanced Understandings of Chinese Learners 7.1 My Multilingual Journey 7.2 “We Are Not the So-called Obedient Boys and Girls” 7.2.1 Students’ Negotiation Between Local Teachers and Western Teachers 7.2.2 Students’ Negotiations of English Learning in the Qunxi Program 7.2.3 The Underlying Discourses of Students’ Learning Experiences 7.3 Moving Beyond the China/West Dichotomy in Theory and Knowledge Construction 7.4 Significance and Policy Implications 7.5 Towards a More Profound View References