Multilingual academics in China and language choice as a publication strategy

Academic publication helps structure individual  careers and high-ranking publications contribute to strengthening institutional rankings. International publishing in many disciplines has privileged English, and previous work... [ view full abstract ]

Academic publication helps structure individual  careers and high-ranking publications contribute to strengthening institutional rankings. International publishing in many disciplines has privileged English, and previous work has noted the tensions inherent in the unequal access of academic English. Lecturers of foreign languages other than English may, however, haves strong professional justification to publish in their language of specialization, in addition to their L1 or English. Their choice of language may depend on a variety of factors which include the type of readership community targeted, career progression requirements, and their participation in academic networks.

This study employs the notion of ‘Community of Practice’ (CoP) to explore issues related to language choice in academic publishing from the perspective of foreign language lecturers in China. As members of different academic CoPs concurrently, our participants may engage with colleagues at local, regional, national and international levels. We examine how they perceive language choice of publication as mediating their engagement in different CoPs, and as shaping their professional trajectories.

The study encompasses five regions in China; however, this presentation will focus on one particular location, Jilin province. Our analysis employs qualitative data from a variety of sources(questionnaire, narrative frames and text-based interviews).