Writing in the Devil's Tongue: A History of English Composition in China

Abstract

for not only Chinese composition scholars and educators who work to improve English composition pedagogy in China, but also scholars and educators who come from other English-‐teaching communities across the world. The book title—a witty translation of a traditional Chinese expression—is indicative of the author’s sense of humor. The author, Xiaoye You, takes a transnational perspective in examining the historical progression of mainstream English composition in the contexts of local sociopolitical changes in China. You showcases the modifications in scholars and educators’ “rhetorical assumptions, pedagogical approaches and writing practices ” (p. 9). Therefore, by looking through extensive historical data, the author explicitly claims that the English language in China has shifted from “the foreign devil’s tongue ” (p. 13) to our own tongue in accomplishing important social, political and cultural reforms. The book comprises six chapters primarily in chronological order presenting the history of China. In Chapter 1, “Encountering the Devil’s Writing, ” the author depicts a vivid picture of English composition development since its emergence in China in the TESL-EJ 15.2, September 2011 You/Zhong 1early 1900s. From You’s interpretation of history, English emerged to serve political

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 191 citations exist upstream.