Chinese Students on Campus: Challenges to Inclusion (Book Discussion)

Chinese international students have long been associated with the ‘deficit narrative’, which includes critiques on their language competence. They are, for example, framed as ‘silent’ or ‘passive’ learners who struggle with speaking fluent English in class discussions or other on-campus activities. Such critiques can also be found within English education or training in China, the IELTS test, English for Academic Purposes (EAP) programmes and language entry requirements for an overseas degree (i.e. UK in our context). However, the English language is not one size fits all, having been exported throughout the world where it has, predictably, undergone change from one variety to the other. From this background, we analysed the essays of Chinese MA students, followed by online surveys and focus groups. In our book, we investigate the ways in which people around the world have made English their own - here, China English - and how can we, as educators, acclimatise both student and teacher to better understand this, so that an international English is not being disparaged in the context of academic essay writing. This has implications for both internationalisation of higher education, as well as decolonisation of the curriculum, with language, often overlooked, a tangible way to begin to address both.

Book details:

- Reader in Language and Education, University of Manchester

- Lecturer in Education, University of Manchester

- Lecturer in Education, University of Manchester

Sol Stappard & Vivian Wang - Students at the University of Manchester

(Moderator) - Senior Lecturer in International Education, University of Manchester

promotes multidisciplinary research, teaching and programming with impact beyond academia, seeking to remedy class, racial, gender, and other inequalities, and to improve mutual understanding in UK-China relations. The MCI is based at the University of Manchester.

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Host or Publisher The Manchester China Institute