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English-related linguistic creativity and language commodification are a constant topic of interest and analysis for scholars. This volume is intended to initiate a dialogue between these two domains of inquiry that have been abundantly addressed but rarely documented together or in relation to one another.English as used in mainland China is presented as a case study where it remains rather unclear the extent to which the language is actually used in people's lives, outside the domain of education. The volume enriches existing empirical studies by exploring the creative and innovative uses of English in people's lives and its commodification at different language-centred economic spaces within China while also providing an update of our understanding of the sociolinguistic situation of English in China, a country undergoing rapid socio-economic transformation. English in China is the first attempt to discuss the possible relationship, intersection, and tension between two seemingly inseparable research topics. The book is an important resource for students and scholars in the fields of Applied Linguistics, Bilingualism, Sociolinguistics, Translation, and Contemporary Chinese Studies.

This book is the first systematic, large-scale study of the current situation of native-speakerism in the realm of China's English Language Teaching (ELT). By extending the semantic scope of native-speakerism initially defined by Adrian Holliday, the book offers a critical examination of how this language ideology is enacted, reproduced, reinforced and legitimized in everyday ELT practice within the theoretical framework of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). Both quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted to explore and interpret the attitudes and perceptions of students, teachers and administrators as the major stakeholders engaged in ELT practice, with a primary focus on English language varieties, cultural orientations, and teaching methodologies.

This is the first book-length study of identity constructions in relation to English as a contact language in advertising of non-English-speaking countries through a critical and interpretive lens. Instead of simply presuming the role of the English language may have in constructing identities within the multimodal advertisement, this book aims to explore ethnographically the ideological underpinnings of identity constructions in the context of local politics of English. It studies the varying degrees of the contribution of the English language and its possible roles in bilingual advertising, unravels the ideological dimensions of the language as well as identity and explains the sociocultural forms and meanings of identity. To this end, it develops a new critical-cognitive approach, bringing together recent advances in English as a global language, critical sociolinguistics, multilingual studies and multimodal discourse analysis. By delving into the cognitive process of identity constructions, it provides an evidence-based account of the roles of English, and it illustrates the interconnections between identities and local politics of English. This interdisciplinary book will be of interest to scholars and students in bilingualism, multilingualism, discourse analysis, English as a global language, multimodality, advertising and marketing.