Resumen de English in China: Creativity and commodification Capital, commodity, and English language teaching
In a neoliberal era with intensified globalization, English’s political and economic value as a lingua franca has been noted and underscored. The use of English is naturalized to showcase global competitiveness and gain advantages in the world market (Piller and Cho 2013). The English language has been treated as a commodity and a powerful symbolic capital (Heller 2010). This increasing worldwide favour for the use and learning of English stimulates a spectacular growth of the ELT industry, which encourages academic discussions on the commodification of the English language from the political and economic perspective. Two recent books by young and enterprising scholars contribute significantly to this field of study. English in China: Creativity and commodification (2022), edited by Songqing Li, discusses, based on empirical data, the possible interrelation and interplay between creative use and the commodification of English in mainland China. Capital, commodity, and English language teaching (2023) by William Simpson focalizes the working lives of English teachers in the Japanese commercial ELT industry and addresses how late capitalism exerts its influence in the terrain of language education.
