Cultural Conceptualisations in Chinese English: Implications for ELT in China

Abstract

What makes a variety of English distinct from others lies not only in its phonology, lexis, syntax, discourse, and pragmatics, but also in the distinctive ways that its speakers encode their cultural conceptualisations. There has been considerable research on different varieties of English at both linguistic and cultural levels. In particular, over the last three to four decades, researchers have investigated features of Chinese English, perceptions of and attitudes towards Chinese English, as well as implications of Chinese English for English language teaching and intercultural communication involving Chinese speakers of English. However, a review of the literature reveals little research on cultural conceptualisations in Chinese English. ‘Cultural conceptualisations’ encompass cultural schemas, cultural categories, and cultural conceptual metaphors. In this chapter, we adopt a Cultural Linguistics approach to researching Chinese English, using cultural conceptualisations as a framework to analyse empirical data, including interviews, newspaper articles, textbooks, literary works by Chinese English authors, and online media articles in English about China. Towards the end of the chapter, we also explore implications of researching cultural conceptualisations in Chinese English for English language teaching (ELT) in China.