Critical Ethnography of 'Westerners' Teaching English in China

Phiona Stanley is a lecturer at the School of Education, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, The University of New South Wales. She holds Politics and Education Masters degrees and a PhD in Education. She has taught in six countries including China, and has trained teachers on Cambridge CELTA and MEd at various Australian universities including offshore courses in China.

• 1. Introduction 2. English teaching in China 3. Theorizing transnationals in China 4. Showing the workings 5. Teachers, training, and teaching 6. Understanding oral English 7. The pressure to be ‘fun’ 8. It’s not about English teaching 9. Gendered identities 10. Training outcomes and teacher needs 11. Constructing and maintaining identities 12. Recommendations and reflections

'This groundbreaking ethnographic study examines, in a graphic and critical manner, the lived experiences of Westerners who teach English in China. It sheds light on the tensions, contradictions, misunderstandings, and identity construction in cross-cultural encounters with complexity and texture.' -- Hu Guangwei, Associate Professor, National Institute of Education, Singapore'It's an outstanding work on a number of levels. It's a page-turner, an epic, the War and Peace of ELT in only 250-odd pages. It's mini-series material. I don't think I've ever read an academic work related to ELT as comprehensive in its effect. ... It's littered with leads for further research. In the final chapter, I imagined going to China and working at different schools, trying to find Leo so I could see what he was actually like in person! Anyone who questions the relevance of serious academic work and/or ethnography should read it. ... It's tempting to go back and start it again immediately now that I know what happens in the end! Like a good book, film, TV series, I feel like I know the characters, and I want to keep following their lives.' -- Kyle Smith, Director of Studies, Browns English Language School, Brisbane