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In this opening commentary we highlight the tension surrounding the emergence and development of bilingual education programs in mainland China, which has attracted much attention in research. Scholars have contradictory views about efforts aimed at promoting and sustaining bilingualism/multilingualism through education in different parts of China. To contribute to this ongoing discussion, this special issue contains the collective efforts of scholars holding different views and examining three types of bilingual education initiatives in mainland China: bilingual education programs for ethnic minority students, the rise of Chinese-English bilingual education, and the vitality of regional Chinese varieties or dialects in major coastal cities. We contend that all the efforts to promote and sustain bilingualism in the aforementioned aspects are to some extent double-edged and require critical examination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although there has been a steady rise of empirical studies investigating pragmatic strategies in oral communication using English as a lingua franca (ELF), there have been relatively few published studies about pragmatic strategies in written ELF communication. Email, despite its current popularity, has scarcely been examined in ELF communication. To extend the existing research on ELF into email discourse, this study investigates Chinese-English bilingual professionals' real-life emails in ELF communication. Email data were collected from 15 Chinese-English bilingual professionals in Mainland China. The paper analyzes and discusses the pragmatic strategies employed by these Chinese bilingual professionals both to solve and to avoid problems of understanding when writing their emails in ELF communication. The results reveal no evidence of non-understanding and only a few misunderstandings. The Chinese bilingual professionals employed various pragmatic strategies to prevent and resolve problems of understanding in ELF communication and to facilitate understanding and ensure communicative effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although research on Global Englishes (GE) has demonstrated the potential for a new perspective of ELT, studies of GE in an Asian ELT context are relatively rare. As current mainstream ELT practice in China still largely emphasizes 'native English', university courses related to GE are scarce. This paper aims to unpack the influence of a course on English as a World Language in Chinese university students' awareness of their own English and GE. Data were collected from students taking the optional course at a university in southeast China. After reporting the findings, the paper further discusses the pedagogical implications of integrating GE into English learning and teaching. It also argues for raising students' GE awareness and applying critical pedagogy in ELT for GE-oriented instruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined mainland Chinese and Taiwanese students' perceptions of two aspects of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF): phonology and lexico-grammar. The researchers surveyed a total of 400 students at two universities in mainland China and at two universities in Taiwan (200 in each area). The results indicated that although students in both groups were aware that they could not speak English as native speakers did, they still preferred to achieve a native speaker accent. They admitted that they spoke with Chinese accents, but they believed that their accents were intelligible and acceptable. Nevertheless, the students in both groups tended to not maintain their local accents in English. With respect to ELF lexico-grammar, both groups considered some features incorrect, but they were uncertain about others. However, they could understand and tended to accept all the ELF sentences. The present study also revealed variations between the two groups with respect to their perceptions of ELF phonology and lexico-grammar. Given that little research has compared ELF users' perceptions across different geographical areas, this study addresses an important research gap by investigating the interaction of ELF perceptions and local contexts. Findings of the study may have important implications for ELF researchers and practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the effect of learning environment (study abroad vs. at home) on the pragmatic development of Chinese speakers’ L2 English refusals. A total of 20 Chinese Study Abroad (SA) students participated in the study and their L2 refusals were examined over the course of one academic year. These refusals were compared with those of 20 Chinese At Home (AH) students. Data were collected three times by an 8-situation Multimedia Elicitation Task. The results revealed that the SA students’ overall frequency of opt-outs remained consistent throughout a year’s stay in the L2 community but the study abroad experience influenced their choices sociopragmatically. Regarding repertoire of refusal strategies and that of refusal adjuncts, both groups demonstrated significant development, thus indicating no significant benefit of study abroad in these respects. The findings reveal the complexity of L2 pragmatic development and the importance of longitudinal investigations in such research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]