Plurilingual Competence and Language Practice in English for Academic Purposes

Research in second language education has raised an overarching question regarding what kind of language practice that should be in the place to respond to the changing global landscape of higher education. Though the notion of plurlingual competence has gained increasing attention in recent years, there has been scarce literature focusing on (and comparing) educators and students perceptions of language choice/practice in academic English teaching and learning from the perspectives of plurilingualism in the Chinese context. My research will address this gap. The project aims to explore Chinese educators and students perceptions of the language choice/practice for English for Academic Purposes (EAP) teaching and learning. The research questions inquire the facts and reasons for participants choice and use of multiple languages in EAP. This qualitative research will employ interview as the main research method and content analysis as the main analytic tool for data analysis. The results of the research will provide valuable insights into the complex relationships between English and Mandarin for EAP in the specific Chinese context, as well as implications for institutional language policy making in its response to a greater diversification of languages and internationalization agenda.

Faculty Supervisor:

Shelley Taylor

Student:

Le Chen

Partner:

Discipline:

Education

Sector:

University:

Western University

Program:

Globalink