A critical ethnography of 'Westerners' teaching English in China: Shanghaied in Shanghai

Stanley, Phiona

Abstract

Tens of thousands of Western ‘teachers’, many of whom would not be considered teachers elsewhere, are employed to teach English in public and private education in China. Little has previously been known, except anecdotally, about their experiences, about the effect they have on education in the context, or on students’ perceptions of ‘the West’ that result from this contact. This book is an ethnographic study of Westerners’ lived experiences teaching English in Shanghai, China. It is based on three years of groundbreaking research into the pre-service training, classroom practices, personal identities and motives, and local socially constructed roles of a group of ‘backpacker teachers’ from the UK, the USA and Canada. It is a study that goes beyond the classroom, addressing broader questions about the sociology, and politics, of transnational education and China’s evolving relationship with the outside world.

Citation

Stanley, P. (2013). A critical ethnography of 'Westerners' teaching English in China: Shanghaied in Shanghai. London: Routledge

• Book Type: Authored Book
• Acceptance Date: Feb 1, 2013
• Publication Date: 2013
• Deposit Date: Feb 19, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 21, 2019
• Publisher: Routledge
• ISBN: 9780415656221
• Keywords: English language teaching, oral English, China, Shanghai, foreign teachers, Westerners in China, transnationalism, intercultural competence.
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/1556865