Purpose: This study sought to 1) identify linguistic features important for Chinese text complexity with a theory-based and systematic approach, and 2) address how feature sets and algorithms affect the performance of Chinese text complexity models. Method: Texts from Chinese language arts textbooks from Grades 1 to 6 (N = 1,478) in Mainland China…

The aim of this study is to shed light on the learnability regarding usages of three English articles ("a," "the" and zero) among Chinese EFL learners. To this end, three tasks were administered in a pool of 107 participants to examine the extent to which learners can accurately use articles across different semantic contexts…

The spread of English as a global language has sparked debate over how language should be taught and learned and the optimal connection between traditional and Global Englishes (GE) approaches to teaching English as a second/foreign language. According to the GE approach, teaching and learning English might focus more on different contexts than…

This corpus-based study investigates lexical richness in English writing by Chinese senior high school students. Lexical uses in 303 compositions were compared across three grades in terms of lexical sophistication, variation, density and errors. Timed compositions were sampled from Writing Corpus of English Learners, and the sample sizes of three…

Despite much research on how multilingual learners view the linguistic properties of language, how they perceive languages as cultural capital has been far less investigated. Drawing on the theories of social cognition, this study explores how multiple foreign language learners' impressions, as a lens to observe their multilingual awareness, are…

This qualitative research explores 10 Chinese middle school teachers' perceptions of English and English teaching concerning Global Englishes (GE) and the feasibility of incorporating GE into English language education. Through semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis within the framework of 2018 Global English Language Teaching (GELT),…

Since the 1990s, the emphasis on intelligibility as a goal in pronunciation teaching rather than near-native or nativelike competence has been reinforced by the increasing use of English as a lingua franca. The insight of the intelligibility principle has greatly impressed researchers in China's English education, but has "very limited and…

A number of studies have reported the cultural representations in English textbooks in many contexts, especially those in Asia. However, these studies relied on a small data set and the findings suffered severe limitations. To overcome such shortcomings, we self-built a corpus that has 40 volumes/books of over one million words to examine the…

The prominent increase in English medium instruction (EMI) in higher education has triggered the need for investigating EMI in practice in various contexts. Studies focusing on linguistic attitudes of EMI practitioners and learners are beginning to emerge but there are few studies exploring language-related issues in EMI practice. In response to…

This article reports on an experimental study on the acquisition of prepositional relative clauses in second language European Portuguese by Chinese native speakers. It focuses on the role of resumption, mandatory in prepositional relative clauses in Chinese (the native language of the learners) and non-conventional in European Portuguese (the…

This paper addresses the complexity of the linguistic situation in China by examining the language policy and language categorisation in the People's Republic of China (PRC), which has implications for how multilingual speakers conceptualise and practice 'language'. In addition, this paper examines the conceptual framework of translanguaging and…

With the expanding use of English around the world, it is important to understand various stakeholders' attitudes towards it from a Global Englishes (GE) perspective. The GE perspective has challenged native speakerism and recognized the multilingual nature of the English language. In particular, a GE perspective leads to the sustainable…

Basil Bernstein argues that speech events bear class characteristics, and different social classes exhibit different linguistic typologies, coding and meaning. Although working-class language is characterized as a closed code in terms of its language structure, it possesses unique educational power, specifically manifesting as its unique meanings…

A major challenge for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) professionals is how to address the learning needs of diverse learners for whom a monolithic, native-normed version of English is no longer always useful or appropriate. Research in Global Englishes (GE) has noted many teachers' resistance to the adoption of a more…

According to previous studies, Japanese learners of English (JLEs) have a negative perception of their own variety of English along with a strong desire to sound native-like. Language attitudes toward L2 (second language) English accents may affect their active participation in English communication situations. The present study is cross-national…