Language policy and practice in a Chinese junior high school from global Englishes perspective

Abstract

Along with globalization, English as a lingua franca (ELF) has played a more and more important role in international settings. Among English users, the number of English nonnative speakers (NNS) has reached more than 2 billion which has already overtaken the number of English native speakers (NS). However, the fact of using ELF has not been fully recognized, especially in China where there is a huge population of English users and learners who still take English as a foreign language (EFL). Since junior high school education in China affects the largest population of English learners and users and their language beliefs and language behaviours, it is very necessary to investigate the influences of global Englishes on language policy and practice or the compatibility that language policy and practice has had with global Englishes in junior high school in China.

The research was a predominantly qualitative study with a quasi-ethnographic approach. The fieldwork took place over a three month period in a public junior high school in China. Questionnaires, interviews and observation were all explored as research instruments for a thick and full description of the research context. With qualitative content analysis approach and from global Englishes perspective, the thesis compares, analyses and integrates how English is stated in English national curriculum (NEC), how it is performed in classroom teaching performance, and how it is perceived by teachers and students. Findings show many inconsistencies and contradictions on English, English using and English teaching/learning among NEC statements, classroom performance and participants’ perception. Importantly, testing, which was Standard English ideology oriented, turned out to have a great wash-back on English learning and teaching, and was found to be one of the most significant factors for the inconsistencies and contradictions. The thesis also shows data for the forthcoming test reform in China. Implications for English pedagogy in China are also given.

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ORCID for Will Baker: orcid.org/0000-0003-0533-2795

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