Beliefs of EFL Learners towards Pedagogical Values of Linguistic Landscape in China: A Case Study Carried Out in Three Schools

Abstract

Numerous research in linguistic landscape (LL) have shown that the languages exhibited on signage in city space can offer an abundant resource enabling language learning in “real-life” situations. However, there are rare studies investigate the pedagogical value from the perspective of the learners. Taking English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners in China as research subjects, a qualitative and quantitative combined method was adopted in this study to survey three groups of students’ beliefs about the pedagogical value of LL (classified as senior high school students, undergraduate students, and postgraduate students). The findings show that almost students hold a positive attitude toward English in LL, but with the different knowledge base, learning methods and ideology of “standard” English usage, the learners show different perceptions towards the specific issues on to what extent the English in LL can help them to learn English.