English in China: Language, Identity and Culture

✍ Scribed by Emily Tsz Yan Fong

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 198
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This volume explores Chinese identity through the lens of both the Chinese and English languages.

Until the twentieth century, English was a language associated with capitalists and military aggressors in China. However, the massive progression of globalisation in China following the 1980s has transformed the language into an important tool for China's modernisation. Regardless of the role English plays in China, there has always been a fear there that the spread of culture(s) associated with English would lead to weakening of the Chinese identity. This fear resulted in the development of the ti-yong principle: Chinese learning for essence (ti), Western learning for utility (yong).

Fong's book aims to enhance understanding of the ti-yong dichotomy in relation to people's sense of being Chinese in China, the penetration of English into non-English speaking societies, the resultant tensions in people's sense of personal and national identity, and their place in the world. Using Q methodology, the book presents observations based on data collected from four participant groups, namely high school and university students, teachers and parents in China, to investigate their perspectives on the status and roles of English, as well as those of Chinese.

Considering the growing international interest in China, this volume will appeal to readers interested in China's contemporary society in general, its language, culture and identity. It will be a useful resource for academics, researchers and students in the field of applied linguistics, language education and Chinese cultural studies and can also be adopted as a reference book for undergraduate courses relating to language, identity and culture.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Table of Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter 1: China and “being Chinese”
1.1 “Being Chinese”: Chinese perspectives on relations with the “world”
1.2 “Being Chinese”: Language and culture
1.2.1 National unity (within China)
Standard language ideology
Mother tongue ideology
1.2.2 Promotion of Chinese identity (Outside China)
Notes
Chapter 2: English in China: Education policies, changing roles and Chinese identity
2.1 History of English in China
2.1.1 Self-isolated “middle kingdom” 2 (eighteenth century–1940s): From English as a “barbarian’s” tongue to English for utility
2.1.2 “Isolated” kingdom (1940s–1960s): Access to science and technology, and protection against the West
2.1.3 Internal cultural and identity crisis (1960s–late 1970s): English as a “capitalist” language
2.1.4 Chinese identity revisited (reform and opening up era, late 1970s–1990s): English is essential for modernisation
2.1.5 Bilingual Chinese (late 1990s–early twenty-first century): English as medium of instruction
Notes
Chapter 3: “English learning with Chinese characteristics” or “ ti-yong dilemma”?
3.1 “English learning with Chinese characteristics”
3.1.1 Education and job markets
3.1.2 Disruption of Chinese language and cultural ideas
3.1.3 Social status
3.2 Ti (Chinese identity) vs. yong (English utility)
3.2.1 Official discourse of Chinese ti
3.2.2 Popular discourse of ti : “ Ti-yong dilemma” ( Gao 2009 :58)
3.3 Theoretical framework for the analysis of the impacts of English on Chinese identity
3.3.1 On “global English”: “Global” and “English”
3.3.2 On learning English and “being Chinese”
Notes
Chapter 4: Q methodology: A semi-quantitative approach to discourse analysis
4.1 Q methodology as a form of discourse analysis
4.2 Q methodology procedures
Phase One: Q-sorting
Phase Two: face-to-face interviews
Note
Chapter 5: Q sort results: An overview of existing discourses about English and “being Chinese”
5.1 Q sort results
5.1.1 University students
5.1.2 High school students
5.1.3 Teachers
5.1.4 Parents
5.2 Discussion
Note
Chapter 6: Grounded theory, keywords approach and critical discourse analysis
6.1 Grounded theory and the keywords approach as the first step of CDA
Open coding
Axial/Theoretical coding
Selective coding
6.2 “Texts” as units of analysis: “dialogism” and “intertextuality” (Halliday; Bakhtin; Kristeva)
6.3 Critical Discourse Analysis
Discourse as social structure and a site of power struggle
Voice and agency
The CDA paradigms in the current study
Chapter 7: “ When we see a foreigner in the streets, we are no longer too surprised as if we see a monster. It’s all commonplace now, they are like us as people” : Development of a Chinese plus global identity
High school students
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q5
Q6
Q7
Q8
Q9
Q10
Q11
University students
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q5
Q6
Q7
Q8
Q9
Q10
Q11
Teachers
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q5
Q6
Q7
Q8
Q9
Q10
Q11
Parents
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q5
Q6
Q7
Q8
Q9
Q10
Q11
Chapter 8: “ There used to be a thinking that all countries in the world were very hostile towards China, but after you understand more, it turns out that they are not that hostile ”: “Multiple worlds” and “English-speaking self”
8.1 English dimension of self in a “glocalising” world
8.2 Emphasis on English over Chinese
Chapter 9: Mandarin and the plurality of “being Chinese”
9.1 “ If one was born in China, raised in China, as for myself, the mother tongue is more important because everyone around you uses your mother tongue ”: Mandarin as the mother tongue and a tool for convenience
9.2 “ But those farmers on the farm, they don’t need English and still lead a good life. Different people also have different levels” : “Being Chinese” as multifaceted
Chapter 10: “Being Chinese” in the global world
Epilogue
English in China
English for self and the country
English for all
Impacts of English
Chinese in China
Chinese in the world
References
Index