Evolution of English language education policies in the Chinese mainland in the 21st century: A corpus-based analysis of official language policy documents

Abstract

This study analyzes the evolution of China's official English language education policy from 2000 to 2021 using a self-constructed language policy database. Conducting a descriptive and corpus analysis of the database, this study identifies three stages (2000–2006, 2007–2017, 2018–2021) and describes policy changes by using three aspects of Cooper's (1989) accounting scheme as an analytic framework. Result shows that the dominant actors shifted from the Central Government to local governments. In relation to targets, the focus on different levels of school education varied, while attention to outside school education remained relatively stable. As for means, while opportunity- and incentive-oriented means were widely used through all stages, dual means (bilingual programs) were relatively less common in the third stage. With these findings, this study presents new information about developments in English language education in the Chinese Mainland. The combination of quantitative and qualitative methods may also bring insights for future research.