1st Edition
Emerging Englishes China English in Academic Writing
This book encourages further conversation on the expanding circle in World Englishes, offering a detailed look at “China English” through the academic writing of Chinese students at a British university.
The volume seeks to blur the simplistic binary of “Chinglish,” a broad term often understood to encompass grammatical or lexical errors or seemingly “unnatural” expressions, and “China English,” which the authors articulate here as its own variety, as evidenced in language use marked by predictability. The research framework begins with analyzing student essays in one program at the University of Manchester, predominantly made up of Chinese students. In highlighting recurring features and supported by online surveys of the students, the authors demonstrate how “China English” displays the systematicity in grammar and lexis observed in varieties of English. In focusing on academic writing, a genre which bears prominence in assessment, the book raises key questions about implications for teaching, what is considered appropriate language, and whether, rather than seeking to replace “standard English,” the notion of what is “standard” might be broadened to encompass other varieties. The book further promotes implications beyond pedagogies, to include learning more broadly, marking, curriculum/policy, training and identity negotiation.
This book will be of interest to students and scholars in language and education, World Englishes, sociolinguistics, and applied linguistics.
List of Tables and Figures
Chapter One: The Exportation of the English Language
Background to the spread, and variety, of English
Lexical change
Grammatical change
Is China English a reality?
Chapter Two: Internationalisation and Academic Writing
Higher Education Internationalisation – Is it on the right track?
What should successful HE internationalisation be like?
Academic writing within HE internationalisation
Grammar
Lexis
Style
Statement of aims
Chapter Three: Chinglish, Chinese English and China English
Chinglish
Chinese English
China English
Chapter Four: Chinese MA students’ attitudes toward China English
Introduction and background
Existing research on the features of China English
Aims and design of the research
The Text Analysis stage
The questionnaire stage
The Focus Group stage
Chapter Five: What does it take to see an emerging language?
Suggested features of China English
Errors versus Innovations
Linguistic equality, diversity, and inclusion in HE internationalisation
A ‘bottom-up’ approach in teaching and research
Some final notes on the emerging China English
Index
Biography
Alex Baratta is Reader in Sociolinguistics at the Manchester Institute of Education at the University of Manchester, UK.
Rui He is Lecturer in Education at the Manchester Institute of Education at the University of Manchester, UK.
Paul Vincent Smith is Lecturer in Education at the Manchester Institute of Education at the University of Manchester, UK.