As part of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a series of large-scale projects have been launched in the Arab Gulf due to its geopolitically strategic position. We examine the influence of Chinese as a third player, in addition to Arabic and English, in a UAE university educationscape together with Emirati students' attitudes towards its…

As China is building closer economic and geopolitical relations with oil-rich Arabian Gulf Cooperation Council countries, enthusiasm for learning and teaching Chinese is surging in the region. In Kuwait, whereas Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) education is emerging, research into this topical domain remains scarce, particularly on issues such…

Increasing numbers of Chinese students are pursuing graduate degrees in Catalonia. Although highly proficient in both Castilian and English when they arrive, they find themselves in a bilingual society where Catalan, not Castilian, predominates both at universities and in the broader social context. Acquiring Catalan is hence important for both…

This study investigated motivation in the context of L2 Chinese in the USA. A total of 120 college students took the survey and 27 of them participated in post-survey interviews. Through a mixed-methods design, the study captured interactions between motivation and the learning environment in the learning process. The results revealed six…

This paper explores the intersection of neoliberal ideologies and language policy in the context of Chinese language education in Oman's higher education system. Drawing on critical discourse analysis and theoretical frameworks of neoliberalism, the study investigates the introduction of Chinese language programmes within Omani universities, with…

This article examines Vietnamese students' motivation for learning Mandarin Chinese during their study abroad in Taiwan and their construction of self in relation to this language learning motivation. A combination of several concepts of ideal L2 self, ought-to L2 self, instrumental motive, integrative motive, linguistic capital, and multiple…

Speech listeners focus on a speaker's face to acquire different information in social communication. Fixation on the mouth associates with language processing and attention to the eyes is mainly driven by social/emotional cues. Here, we investigated how selective attention to the eyes and mouth would vary with language-emotion interaction during…

The growth of the Chinese language in African countries and African students' consequent flocking into Chinese higher education are both emergent phenomena. This partly explains the lack of empirical research on this body of student migrants and their Chinese language learning. This paper applies Watkins' theorisation on pedagogic affect to…

A growing number of international doctoral students choose to study in China, a non-traditional learning destination. However, relatively few studies have investigated these students' academic writing practices while undertaking their studies in China. This study draws upon Bourdieu's concepts of field, habitus, and capital, and the notion of…

This article offers a decolonial reading of professional development for English-medium instruction (EMI). The article zooms into the context of Taiwan, where the promotion of EMI has intensified since the 2030 Bilingual Policy was introduced. It is unclear, however, what constitutes EMI professional development, and to what extent the…

In light of Chinese language diversity, it is important for Mandarin teachers to demonstrate an accurate understanding of language variation and critical pedagogy, empowering and embracing all emergent bilingual students and incorporating recognition of those learners whose heritage languages are alternative Chinese varieties. While Standard…

Foreign language teachers' recognition of their identity is essential to their professional development. Drawing on bicultural theories, this study investigated two American teachers who recounted their experiences of teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) at a university in China. This study leverages the Two-directional Extension Model as…

This study investigated English first language (L1) speakers' motivation for learning Chinese as a second language (L2) in Australia and the links of underlying motivational components to learner sociobiographical (e.g. gender and reasons for learning) and language learning variables (i.e. experience abroad, hours of self-study, and speaking with…

With English hegemony sustained in 'multicultural' Anglophone universities, non-English speaking research students often develop diverse strategies to improve their English. While such strategies demonstrate a form of resilience, the symbolic power of English remains intact. To grapple with this paradox, we draw on the work of Pierre Bourdieu to…

Scholarly attention to foreign language learning boredom (FLLB) has surged in recent years. However, little is known about L2 learners' online FLLB experience prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic. To fill this gap, the present mixed-methods study explores the conceptual structure and sources of FLLB in an online learning environment. A corpus of 348…