Affluent in semiotic resources and containing great communicability, Chinese university emblems have yet to attract much academic research. Drawing on studies of social semiotics, typographic landscaping and multimodal concepts, this paper explores the linguistic and social dimension of meaning-making practice and the entanglement of Chinese and…

China has had an ambivalent policy for the learning and teaching of English as a foreign language (EFL) over much of its history. The explicit and implicit implementation of language policy has had a significant impact on the content of EFL textbooks and the ideologies underlying them. However, studies exploring such ideologies remain sensitive…

Technology-mediated communication has become ubiquitous and digital multimodal learning has been increasingly integrated into second language education. Drawing on the concepts of transmediation and interpretant in social semiotic theories, this study explores the potential of digital storytelling (DST) in promoting EFL learners' willingness to…

Focusing on how a world of possibilities is opened up by language learners themselves, imagination has been regarded as an elusive but indispensable element in second language (L2) education. Drawing on notions of international posture (Yashima 2002), Ideal L2 Self (Dörnyei 2009), and imagined communities (Norton 2001), we theorised imagination…

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…

Although recent years have witnessed increasing interest in learning Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) in China and around the world, there seems to be a paucity of research into the medium of instruction in the CFL classroom. This paper describes a study of the practice of MoI choice in the CFL classroom, situated within the framework of…

Informed by Foucault's (1988) notion of ethics and the four axes of ethical self-formation (Clark 2009. 'The Ethico-politics of Teacher Identity'. "Educational Philosophy and Theory" 41 (2): 185-200), this study explores how native-speaking English teachers (NETs) constructed their identities in relation to their lived experiences and…

In view of the rapid growth of English-medium instruction (EMI) in higher education institutions (HEIs), we observe the need to account for the educational and linguistic consequences of HEIs' decision to 'Englishise' their curricula. Especially, EMI in Asian countries (e.g. China) are fuelled by state-level initiatives to internationalise the…

In light of China's 'Belt and Road' initiative, many mainland Chinese universities have been promoting non-English foreign language degree programs at the undergraduate level. This study examines the growth of these non-English foreign language programs by collecting and analysing a variety of data on curriculum design, teachers and learners…

This paper examines Tibetan ethnicity by studying the language ideologies among Tibetan students and their persistent roles in shaping ethnic boundaries at a Minzu University (MU). MU attracts the highest achieving ethnic minority students throughout China and explicitly aims to turn them into patriotic minority cadres. Hosting extremely…

Language teachers' motivation and self is essential to their long-term commitment and professional development. Drawing on Language Teacher Self theory, the study reports on the professional experiences of seven teachers teaching languages other than English (LOTEs) in a Chinese university with shifting teacher appraisal policy. The findings…

When China liberalised its economy and opened up to the (Western) world, it actively promoted the English language at schools and universities on a massive scale. This learn-English movement, riding on the back of English as the dominant international language, has powered English into China's education reforms. We outline the movement and discuss…

Internationalising higher education (HE) shows tensions between recruiting international students as a means of securing income and meeting their particular educational needs towards practices of caring for their social, psychological, intercultural and educational well-being. This paper briefly outlines the extent of current HE…