Naming practices in Chinese private language schools: insights into English language Ideologies and teaching approaches

While private English language schools have emerged as a significant arena for research on English language teaching in China, there is a paucity of studies that take private English language schools' names on signage as a starting point. In fact, the signage function as a critical way to convey language ideological beliefs and pedagogical choices. Informed by Trumper-Hecht's three-dimensional spatial practice, this study elucidates the ideological beliefs about English and pedagogical orientations of private English language schools and other stakeholders. To this end, 52 signboards from private language schools in Chengdu have been analysed, complemented by on-site interviews. The findings reveal Western political, economic, and cultural influence has imbued English with considerable symbolic value, prompting private language schools to use bilingual signage in Chinese and English as a marketing strategy to attract potential clients, catering to their aspirations for enhanced social status. While these private schools deliberately incorporated white Anglophone names on their signage, emphasising foreign teachers and American English, stakeholders also espoused the superiority of native English varieties and marginalised local teachers. The findings indicate a preference for the native-speaker oriented pedagogy, where classrooms are led by native English-speaking teachers in a monolingual way.