Regional Inequities in English Pronunciation Development in Mainland China: Social Discourses and Classroom Practices

• In Event: Investigating World and Foreign Language Teaching and Learning in Higher Educational Settings

Abstract

We investigated social complexities in English pronunciation development in two socio-economically differentiated high schools mainland China, focusing on social discourses and classroom practices around pronunciation development. We employed an ethnographic case study approach and collected data through participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and document analysis. The ethnographic data were examined through discourse analysis illuminated by Bourdieu’s theory of practice. The analysis revealed that social inequities in English pronunciation development were reproduced and negotiated in complex, nuanced ways, as English teachers and students in the two school fields divergently 1) addressed tensions between the discourses of test orientation and quality education in education reform that largely shaped the discursive constructions of English pronunciation, and 2) reproduced native English hegemony in pronunciation development.

Authors

• Yilu Nie, The Chinese University of Hong Kong - Shenzhen

• Margaret M. Lo, University of Hong Kong