Xuesong Gao

Shifting motivational discourses among mainland Chinese students in an English medium tertiary institution in Hong Kong: a longitudinal inquiry

This article draws on a longitudinal study of a group of mainland Chinese students’ English learning experiences in an English medium university in Hong Kong, and explores the dynamic nature of their language learning motivation prior to and after their arrival in Hong Kong. The study identified context‐mediated and self‐determined elements in the participants’ learning motivational discourses. The context‐mediated motivational discourses echoed the societal discourses of learning, and were shaped by the contextual conditions on the Chinese mainland and in Hong Kong, including the roles of English, academic competition and medium of instruction. Through an extended socialization process, mediated by various social agents, some of these context‐mediated motivational discourses became internalized and transformed into self‐determined ones among many participants in later stages of their learning. The article argues for an integrated perspective, viewing learner motivation as a dynamic construct emerging from learners’ interaction with contextual conditions.

English Language Education in China: A Review of Selected Research

Abstract This paper reviews the research output on English language education in China published in 24 international journals from 2001 to 2006 and delineates the nature of this corpus of research. The review covers research in the following areas: the linguistic situations and culture of learning in China in relation to English language education, language policy and planning, developments in English curricula and teaching methodologies and the impact of these developments on the learning of English in bilingual and multilingual circumstances, as well as the professional development of English teachers in China. The paper also identifies the gaps that future research needs to address, such as the dynamic nature of the Chinese culture of learning, the recognition of Chinese English as a variety of English, and teaching and learning in settings including non-elite colleges, secondary and primary schools, and schools for ethnic minorities. It is hoped that this stock of research informs the efforts in similar contexts to adjust national policies and curricula to contextual complexity at a macro level and encourage practitioners to have ingenious responses to their given curricula at a local level.

‘Nowadays, teachers are relatively obedient’: Understanding primary school English teachers’ conceptions of and drives for research in China:

Research engagement has been widely considered crucial in transforming teachers into ‘expert knowers about their students and classrooms’ (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1999, p. 16). This article reports on a mixed-method study of the research engagement of a group of primary school teachers in China’s Guangdong province, focusing particularly on their conceptions of teacher research and the contextual factors driving them to do research. The study revealed that the majority of these teachers opted for the type of research involving experimental use of particular teaching methods or approaches in their classrooms with the intention of improving their teaching and their students’ learning. While sharing research findings through publication is an integral part of academic research, these teachers did not place much emphasis on writing for publication, although they reported alternative forms of research dissemination. The study also revealed that research has been promoted through a top-down performance review process for schools and teachers, which has research activity and outcomes structured into it. This mechanism may be effective in promoting research activity among schools and teachers, but it is far less effective in actually supporting teachers’ research efforts. We conclude that further research on primary school English teachers’ research experiences is needed in order to provide relevant and useful knowledge to teacher educators and policymakers on the Chinese mainland, making research a sustainable path to professional excellence for teachers.

‘Cantonese is not a dialect’: Chinese netizens’ defence of Cantonese as a regional lingua franca

This article reports on an inquiry into Chinese netizens’ online discussions related to the ‘Protecting Cantonese Movement’ in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, on the Chinese mainland. It interprets the ideological discourses used by Chinese netizens in online discussions to protect the status of Cantonese, a regional variety of the Chinese language. These netizens were found to have drawn on the international prestige and traditional heritage of Cantonese in arguing for maintaining its status as a regional lingua franca. Drawing on research on the individualisation of society in China, this article contends that these netizens may be seen to be recontextualising the political establishments discourses and appropriating them as powerful weapons in defence of their linguistic rights. It was also found in the inquiry that non-Cantonese-speaking migrants were problematised by the netizens as a cause of the predicament of Cantonese, creating a significant challenge for policymakers and language educators in their efforts to create a ‘harmonious’ society on the Chinese mainland. One may argue that harmony can be achieved through respecting individuals’ linguistic rights.

'Unruly pupils' in pre-service English language teachers’ teaching practicum experiences

The teaching practicum is a pivotal event for pre-service teachers to experience the transition from being students to being teachers. This paper examines the emergence of ‘unruly pupils’ as a central concern for pre-service English language teachers in their teaching practicum. The inquiry relates the pre-service teachers’ perceived challenge of ‘unruly pupils’ to the mediation of contextual conditions and processes as well as the marginal positions in which they found themselves during the teaching practicum. The article also reports on the efforts that they undertook to address this perceived challenge. The findings suggest that pre-service teachers are encouraged to interrogate the contextual conditions and processes underlying the perceived challenge of ‘unruly pupils’ in their transition to being teachers, rather than treat it merely as a relationship challenge.

Vocabulary learning and teaching beliefs of pre-service and in-service teachers in Hong Kong and mainland China

Language learners and teachers’ cognition in respect of learning and teaching plays a critical role in mediating their actual behaviour and decisions in the process. This study investigates the vocabulary learning and teaching beliefs held by pre-service and in-service teachers in Hong Kong and on the Chinese mainland so that teacher education programmes can better equip teachers with appropriate knowledge concerning the vital task of vocabulary teaching. A mixed approach was adopted in inquiring into the nature of vocabulary learning and teaching beliefs held by these participants. Statistical tests (factor analysis, multi-variate analysis, and Chi-square test) were employed in conjunction with qualitative analysis of the data collected. The analyses revealed variations in the beliefs held by the participants in the two contexts. The identified variations in the beliefs held by pre-service and in-service participants both in Hong Kong and on the Chinese mainland were less significant than those that emerged when comparing Hong Kong participants’ beliefs with those of their mainland Chinese counterparts. The findings are indicative of profound contextual mediation on the participants’ vocabulary teaching and learning beliefs. They also confirm the importance of raising and strengthening language teachers’ strategy and language awareness in teacher development programmes.

The Dilemma of Being English Language Teachers: Interpreting Teachers' Motivation to Teach, and Professional Commitment in China's Hinterland Regions.

This article reports on an inquiry into a group of English language teachers’ professional experiences that interpreted their motivation to teach and their shifting professional commitment with reference to representations and visions that they had and did not have about themselves in rural secondary schools in China’s hinterland regions. It revealed that the association between the participants’ social mobility and English competence and their visions of the ‘ideal self’ pushed them to join the teaching profession, which they disliked at the very start. Their subsequent association of teaching with their visions of the ‘ideal self’ in teaching paradoxically caused fluctuations in their commitment to teaching, as the pursuit of English competence and idealized professional roles were constrained by contextual realities. Due to the significant roles that these teachers have in improving English language education in China’s hinterland areas, it has become imperative for teacher educators and educational administrators to take measures for retention of English teachers while supporting their professional development efforts.

Research engagement and educational decentralisation: problematising primary school English teachers’ research experiences in China

Teachers are encouraged to enhance professional competence through reflective practice and they are also asked to undertake research to generate evidence for their professional practices. This paper reports on an inquiry into a group of primary school English language teachers’ research engagement in the province of Guangdong on the Chinese mainland. The inquiry explored the effect of educational reforms on the participants’ research engagement through the use of an open‐ended questionnaire and group interviews. The inquiry revealed that research engagement had become an important part of the teachers’ professional lives. Emerging findings from the inquiry also problematised their research engagement as it was found to have been undermined by a competitive promotion mechanism, the teachers’ conceptualisations of research and challenges in the knowledge dissemination process. The paper ends with reflections on how to make teacher research “educational” for teachers and serve as an effective way for professional development.

Empirical studies on foreign language learning and teaching in China (2008-2011): A review of selected research

In this review, we highlight 60 articles from 1,120 empirical studies in leading language learning and teaching journals published on the Chinese mainland during the years 2008–2011. In preparing the review, we have found Chinese researchers addressing a wide range of topics including language learners’ cognitive processes, their language performance, and language teachers’ professional development. The selected studies document a variety of approaches to improving the teaching of the English language and meeting the demand for proficient English graduates in China. In addition, we have observed that leading Chinese journals have become more receptive to empirical studies and have published an increasing number of qualitative and mixed method studies. However, we also note that research scholarship in those journals is still beset with problems and there is a pressing need for our Chinese colleagues to become ‘discerning’ producers of scholarship. For this reason, we conclude this review with recommendations to Chinese journals, to help them play an even more significant role in promoting high quality empirical research in the future.

Parental strategies in supporting Chinese children’s learning of English vocabulary

This paper reports on parental involvement as experienced by a group of elite secondary school pupils in learning English vocabulary on the Chinese mainland. It highlights the variety of strategies that Chinese parents adopted to support, sustain and enhance these pupils’ efforts to learn English vocabulary. They functioned as critical agents regulating and controlling their children’s learning process and provided social opportunities for them to deepen/widen their engagements with English. These parents also mediated the pupils’ motivational discourses, beliefs and knowledge. In addition, they supported their learning with enormous material investment. Further research into parental involvement in children’s learning of additional languages is believed to generate important findings for the development of teacher–parent collaboration that can help equalise the effects of unequal familial resources that different learners can access in respect of their achievements in learning languages.