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2009
Within a global trend of the anglicization of academic publishing, in the humanities and social sciences (HSS) publication in indigenous languages, nevertheless, in many contexts, continues to thrive. Given that the overall anglicization of academic publishing tends to be negotiated at the local level, this study seeks to discover how a potentially competing relationship between English and Chinese might be manifested in the context of China. Focused on the praxis of Chinese HSS academics writing for scholarly publication, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 academics across a range of HSS disciplines at an elite research-based university in China. The study sought to find out, firstly, how and to what extent English is used among these participants, and, secondly, what their attitudes are towards the official policy of encouraging more international publication (in English). The findings, based on this limited sample, suggest that Chinese will most likely retain its dominant position as the language of research and publication for Chinese HSS scholars, but that international publication in English will nevertheless increase. The paper concludes by suggesting that, to facilitate visibility of peripheral scholarship on the part of scholars such as the participants in this study, efforts can be made from both the periphery and the center.
Chinese university faculty’s motivation and language choice for scholarly publishing
2019
espanolLa investigacion sobre la publicacion academica se ha centrado principalmente en las experiencias y practicas de investigadores bilingues y multilingues al publicar en ingles. Apenas se ha prestado atencion especificamente a su motivacion y su eleccion de lengua para la publicacion bilingue o multilingue. Con base en los datos recopilados de 318 profesores de diferentes facultades chinas, en este trabajo se examina la motivacion de investigadores bilingues (valor de interes, valor de utilidad, coste, autoconcepto de capacidad) y su eleccion de lengua (solo la primera lengua, solo ingles, ambas lenguas) a la hora de publicar articulos de investigacion, asi como los factores que pueden influir en ello. Por medio de anovas de diseno mixto se han detectado claras diferencias relacionadas con la lengua, la disciplina y la experiencia en el extranjero en lo que respecta a la motivacion, y tambien se ha identificado una compleja interaccion entre la lengua, la disciplina y la experi...
International academics in mainland China: what do we know and what do we need to know
European Journal of Higher Education, 2022
This article examines the trend of academic migration to mainland China. Notably, the most recent literature identified a new cohort of international academics in China, who are non-Chinese academics with long-term and full-time positions. Despite growing research interests, there is a lack of critical and synthesised reviews about the extant studies regarding this group of international academics, in terms of theoretical frameworks, methodologies and empirical findings. This article addresses this research gap by drawing on a critical review of existing scholarship, in combination with three empirical research projects conducted by the authors of this article. The article unpacks conceptual and methodological ambiguities in the existing research and reveals major findings with regards to the profiles, motivations, challenges and work roles related to international academics in China. It also proposes a new typology to define international academics in mainland China and future research agendas in this area.
Chinese Scholars Abroad: Changes in Perceived Academia Needs
Esp Journal, 1984
Since 1978, increasing numbers of scholars from the People's Republic of China have been going abroad for advanced training and research. To prepare them to function in English-medium universities, institutes offering various forms of cultural orientation and language training have been set up in many locations throughout China. The training programs at some of these institutes are based on needs assessments which include the scholars' own perceptions of what they will need in order to succeed in an English-speaking environment. In this paper, we report on an investigation of perceived academic needs of two groups of scholars: students entering the Graduate School English Language Center in Beijing, and visiting scholars who have been in American universities for at least six months. The latter, initiated group attached different degrees of importance to certain academic activities or skills than the former, uninitiated group. The findings have implications for curriculum planners, particularly those involved with language training in China, but also for those undertaking ESP projects elsewhere.
Linguistic Tolerance in the Process of Internationalization of China Higher Education in the New Era
Research in Pedagogy, 2019
This paper contends that China higher education has become one of the most attractive academic hubs for citizens of developing and developed nations. Empirical evidences show that the opening up policy and the spread of Confucius institutes in the world support China higher education breakthrough. More importantly linguistic tolerance that is practiced during the selection process of international students and officials to undertake short or long exchange programs in Chinese institutions may account for the rapid internationalization of China higher education. The researcher has used content analysis of grants and scholarship offers to Chinese universities, related policy papers and statements to discover that the Chinese government gives a place of choice to students and workers of developing countries through the medium of many English-taught programs at bachelor's, master's and doctoral levels. In addition, the researcher has used the interview to collect some data from scholarship awardees. This was done in a bid to find out their impressions about English language requirements to be fulfilled by candidates for the award of various scholarships and short training programs in Chinese universities. The analysis of interviewees' verbatim strongly supports the claim that China higher education attracts more talents thanks to more tolerant and flexible linguistic requirements applied during the selection process. Owing to this new vision of higher education in China, it is recommended that more top ranking universities in the West, which use English as foreign or second language, must emulate China example and offer more flexible linguistic requirements for Englishtaught programs to talents from developing nations. This will undoubtedly foster academic mobility and inclusive development of the world in this new era.
English in the era of internationalized Asian universities
The international success of universities in the Asia Pacific region is affected by their students’ command of English. Internationalization through the increasing use of English as a means to boost institutional revenues, or “academic capitalism” (Choi 2011:234) as it has been termed, is central to a long-term commitment to improving the international standing of universities in the Asia Pacific region (Ishikawa, 2009). The internationalization of tertiary education in the developed countries of Asia is in part a reflection of the requirements of international institutions tasked with ranking establishments of higher education. The use of English for international outreach is part of the murky metrics that lie at the heart of these rankings. Long ranked below European and North American institutions, the use of English for ‘internationalization’ is being targeted as a method of boosting the public profile of Asian universities (Kuwamura, 2009; Huang, 2009). In an effort to improve the standing of their universities in international rankings, the Republic of Korea implemented measures that would increase the number of English-medium courses in their universities (Cho, 2011). Japan has also moved to increase English use and foreign recruitment of students with its Global 30 initiative (MEXT, 2010).
Internationalization of Business English communication at university: A three- fold needs analysis
This paper provides an example of a thorough needs analysis previous to the syllabus planning of a Business English (BE) course at a Catalan university. Three types of sources for linguistic needs are considered. Firstly, the institutional foreign language (FL) policy of the university, which requires a CEFR level B1 for all graduates. Secondly, students' needs, collected through an entry test and a self-report questionnaire, which provide statistical evidence of the effect of experience abroad and number of years studying English on results of the entry test and perceptions of their own reading skills. Lastly, the opinions of six local business people representing the main sectors with international activity in the area of influence of the university. These business representatives, gathered in a focus-group discussion session, emphasize the importance of comprehension skills and accuracy in BE lexical selection for international business. The triangulation of these data reveals the need to enhance communicative efficiency in business routine tasks in the BE syllabus, instead of promoting approaches oriented towards native-speaker models. Finally, inconsistencies are revealed between institutional and business representatives' expectations regarding students' FL target level.