English Language Ideologies Reflected in Teachers’ and Students’ Discourse

Abstract

To probe whether the formally planned language policies have achieved their objectives in implementation, I will investigate in this chapter, the discourse of teachers and students. By examining the status of English, it is found that coherent with the FLEPs, China English is viewed without much controversy at the institutional level as an international, universal and global language. An inquiry into the objectives of English teaching and learning suggests a combination of this instrumental ideology and the notion that ‘examinations are the priority’ at the institutional level. When it comes to the standard for English teaching and learning, FLEPs in China seem to distance itself from a particular cultural model and present ELT in China as natural (unrelated to colonialism), neutral (unconnected to cultural and political issues) and benefi cial (to people’s personal development and the country’s opening up). The idea that ‘teaching language is teaching culture’ is recognised and promoted in the FLEPs as a result of the state’s need for modernisation and internationalisation. Finally, it is found that the promulgated implementation of compulsory English education has generated problems of inequality in Chinese society.