Unequal Englishes in a Chinese College English Textbook: A Critical Discourse Analysis

The phenomenon of Unequal Englishes pervades Chinese contexts; however, more can be done to find out how it is embedded in Chinese college English textbooks. A study of Chinese college English listening and speaking textbooks shows that there are only few surface manifestations of Unequal Englishes in these textbooks which might be explained by the Chinese government’s deliberate ideological control of English learning, thus confirming profound political influences on the production of English textbooks in China to a certain degree. This study, however, conducts a Critical Discourse Analysis which surfaces manifestations of Unequal Englishes in a specific lesson of a Chinese college English listening and speaking textbook published by a prestigious press in China. Keywords: Unequal Englishes, Chinese college English textbooks, Critical Discourse Analysis