Chinese is a highly complex language with internal variation unprecedented in most other languages. Yet, that does not mean Chinese is unique in the sense that it cannot be compared to other languages and new concepts need to be introduced for the description of it. This paper is dedicated to the question of how to apply the notion of…

While English as a medium of instruction (EMI) is becoming a widespread institutional practice across the world, how and by what strategies students whose first language is not English cope with EMI is under-represented. Drawing on data gathered through semi-structured interviews and reflective journals from 14 Mainland Chinese EMI learners in a…

With the globalization of higher education, the tertiary institutions in Macao have adopted English as the main medium of instruction in order to strengthen their competitiveness, having attracted a large number of Mainland Chinese students. However, little has been known about their experiences and perceptions of English use in Macao, especially…

Education research is increasingly paying attention to students' cross-cultural adaption in Mainland China. As a special administrative region of China, educational systems and language of instruction of Macao are different from those of Mainland China. This study analyzes the cross-cultural adaptation of Macao students in Mainland China by using…

This qualitative study analyzes the use of translanguaging in co-learning activities involving four junior-one students in an English remedial class. The school advocates a policy of English immersion in the regular English class, although students may have difficulty understanding the teachers and interacting with them during the classes. In the…

Recently there has been an increase in the number of students learning Mandarin Chinese (in mainland China and internationally). This increase has led to speculation that Mandarin Chinese is becoming a mainstream global language to the point of becoming a "lingua franca." This paper utilizes research findings from different regions and…

This study investigates Macao tertiary students' language attitudes under the dynamic interplay of local, national, and global forces. The Portuguese established their settlement at Macao during the mid-sixteenth century and their colonial rule over Macao during the mid-nineteenth century. Macao's sovereignty was transferred to China at midnight…

This case study explored the institutional, programmatic, and classroom literacy curricula of a Canadian offshore school in Macau (school pseudonym: MCS). Undergirded by the conceptual tool of cosmopolitan literacies, this study specifically examined the network effects that influenced the forms of cosmopolitan literacies in MCS's three levels of…

This dissertation explores the identity enactments (Bucholtz & Hall, 2005) of 14 multilingual university writing center tutors and multilingual student writers who use English and Putonghua to negotiate their interactions. The study is situated within sociocultural theory (Vygotsky, 1978) and uses ethnographic methods such as observation,…

Macau is a small Special Autonomous Region (SAR) of China, located on the Pearl River Delta, adjacent to Hong Kong. Unlike Hong Kong, its colonial heritage is Portuguese, rather than British. Macau's official languages are Portuguese and Standard Chinese and the most widely spoken local language is Cantonese. With the influx of gaming finance into…

This paper focuses on the current use of the three written languages (Chinese, Portuguese and English) and the four spoken languages (Chinese-Cantonese, Chinese-Putonghua, Portuguese and English) in Macao, a former Portuguese colony (1557-1999) which is now a Special Administrative Region of China. Chinese and Portuguese are official languages,…

The literature on postcolonialism covers a diverse set of geographic areas, cultures, timeframes, and economic and political circumstances. Within the context of this literature, this article focuses on two territories which underwent colonial transition right at the end of the twentieth century, and moved not to sovereignty but to reintegration…

Discussion of the role of languages in Macau focuses on three areas: forces in determination of language policy; actual language use in Macau; and prospects beyond 1999. Four main forces for language policy are identified: emergence of a middle class due to economic progress and access to higher education; arrival of well-educated, liberal…