Language ideologies and practices of Chinese PhD students at a UK university: a Bourdieusian perspective

Internationalisation of UK higher education (HE) has increased linguistic diversity in UK universities, yet English language practices remain shaped by established monolingual, native-speaker and Standard English ideologies. This thesis explores the language ideologies and practices of 32 Chinese PhD students at a UK university, examining what ideologies they hold, how these develop, and how they relate to their linguistic practices in UK academic settings.
Drawing on Bourdieu’s (1991) linguistic production and circulation model, the study examines how language ideologies are situated within participants’ experiences across different social contexts and how linguistic practices are shaped by relations between habitus, capital and the linguistic market. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, document analysis and a research journal, and analysed using qualitative content analysis, discourse analysis and a Bourdieusian approach.
The findings show that participants generally preferred ‘British and/or American English’, reflecting their long-term exposure to English education in China and UK academia, while often taking the legitimacy of these varieties for granted. Correctness and standardised English were particularly valued in academic writing and formal contexts, whereas linguistic diversity was more readily accepted in informal communication. Over the course of their PhD study, however, participants increasingly recognised the importance of intelligibility, content and communicative effectiveness. Mandarin Chinese was also used in some academic and social interactions with interlocutors’ consent. Document analysis further indicates that university policies and support provision continue to reproduce implicit expectations associated with standardised and native-speaker English.
The study contributes an ELF-informed perspective on language ideologies in internationalised higher education and demonstrates the value of combining language policy and Bourdieusian perspectives. It highlights the diversity of Chinese PhD students’ linguistic experiences and calls for UK universities to reconsider tacit assumptions about legitimate English and support more inclusive multilingual academic practices.