Glocalisation and English language education in Chinese context

Abstract

With the frequent interaction between China and the world, glocalisation, the combination of globalisation and localisation, is an unavoidable trend. This paper argues that the association of local situation with global awareness is one of the ways to assimilate English for daily use in Chinese context. The fundamental idea is that the use of activities and materials with both local and global situations can bring more awareness and interest within learners than materials that merely reflect unfamiliar global context because the latter is beyond learners' experience. The initial sections of this paper uses qualitative data derived from purposive sampling to explain the notion of glocal English and reasons of its importance. The final part analyses sample learning materials and provides implication for textbook development.

Keywords:

• glocalisation
• English
• China
• education
• languages