China and English: Globalisation and the Dilemmas of Identity (6) (Critical Language and Literacy Studies (6))

It has been said there are more Chinese learning English than there are Americans. What is less well realised is the critical role which China's decisions about English will play in the world's communication profile. This volume explores this question looking at the debates on identity, cultural values and communication practices. Western dreams, Chinese quests: habitus and encounter. Intercultural encounters and deep cultural beliefs / Joseph Lo Bianco -- Sociocultural contests and English in China: retaining and reforming the cultural habitus / Gao Yihong -- English and the Chinese quest / Jane Orton -- learners, identities, purposes. Language and identity: state of the art and a debate of legitimacy / Gao Yihong -- Beautiful English vs. the multilingual self / Li Zhanzi -- "Just a tool": the role of English in the curriculum / Jane Orton -- The more I learned, the less I found my self / Bian Yongwei -- Landscapes and mindscapes. Language, ethnicity and identity in China / Zhou Qingsheng -- Ethnic minorities, bilingual education and globalization / Xu Hongshen -- English at home in China: how far does the the bond extend? / Joseph Lo Bianco -- Motivational force imagined community in crazy English / Li Jingyan -- Understanding ourselves through "teacher man" / Li Zhanzi -- Narratives. Negotiated (non- )participation of "unsuccessful" learners / Li Yuxia -- Teachers' identities in personal narratives / Liu Yi -- English for China in the world. East goes West / Jane Orton -- Being Chinese, speaking English / Joseph Lo Bianco

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.

China has become the world's largest English learning society, and China's decisions in relation to English will directly affect its fortunes into the future. This volume explores the prospects of English in relation to the debates on identity and cultural values that mass English teaching in China have stimulated