Jeffrey Gil

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China's Confucius Institute Project: language and soft power in world politics

(Common Ground, 2009) Gil, Jeffrey Allan

The Chinese language is an important source of soft power, and China conducts various activities to promote Chinese language learning throughout the world, the main one being the establishment of Chinese language and cultural institutions known as Confucius Institutes. This paper provides an overview of this aspect of China's soft power strategy.
English in minority areas of China : some findings and directions for further research.

(Shannon Research Press, 2006-09) Gil, Jeffrey Allan

This paper discusses a neglected aspect of English in China, its impact on ethnic minorities and their languages. It begins with an overview of the current situation of the minorities and their languages then, based on fieldwork conducted in Jilin and Guizhou Provinces, it shows two trends: English currently has a limited presence in minority areas and there is a strong desire to learn it. However, achieving additive bilingualism is made difficult by lack of minority cultural content on the curriculum and lack of educational resources. It is argued that the Context Approach can be used to help overcome these difficulties and as a guide for further research. [Author abstract]