The purpose of this essay is to assist early childhood EFL teachers in China to evaluate and reflect their teaching practices. There are an increasing number of children in China who are exposed to English before the school age, which arouses a debate whose key point is whether it is effective to teach English to children in their early childhood. This essay reviews and analyses the supportive and opposing opinions in the debate and draws a conclusion that EFL in Chinese early childhood education should be successful theoretically but it is ineffective because of some problems in the implementation. The problems pointed out by the opponents, including unreasonable teaching purpose, contents and methods are exactly the reasons for its ineffectiveness. The causes of the unsuccessful EFL teaching in Chinese early childhood education will be discussed in detail.

Worldwide travel restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic abruptly changed the norms of conducting qualitative research. Online interviews, long regarded as a second choice to their offline counterparts, are no longer seen as supplementary since they emerged as the dominant mode of data collection during the pandemic. This study employs an autoethnographic approach to investigate the authors’ experiences of adjusting to alternative methodological approaches. The investigation critically reflects on how the author’s agencies in allocating and gathering instructional, social, and economic resources led to a researcher identity reconfigured by choices in making ethical commitment in data collection. This article also sheds light on how the authors, constrained by limited resources, gained better understanding of ethics in practice through negotiation with participants and obtained rich data by exercising their agencies. The article argues that researchers need to place both online and offline methods on equal footing to facilitate a more ethically sensitive approach to data collection.

English is taught as a compulsory course in Chinese universities and it is necessary to find feasible ways to improve students’ English ability to communicate. Role-play is believed as an effective way to enhance second language learners’ communicative competence and it is also supposed to be able to be effective in Chinese universities EFL classes. The real effect, however, relies on the actual implementation in classes. If the teachers inappropriately adopt role-play, it is hard to be useful. Due to the lack of research paying attention to this issue, it is not clear how Chinese university English teachers use role-play and whether it is effective. For this reason, a case study was conducted, with a Chinese university EFL teacher taking part in the interviews. The results show that participants attempt to maximise the effectiveness of role-play to improve students’ English communicative competence by practising comprehensive language skills, linguistic knowledge, and workplace topics. Nonetheless, some issues, namely script preparation, students’ proficiency difference and class size are identified. These may challenge the actual effectiveness of role-play. Possible solutions, including selecting role-play according to students’ ability, considering individuals’ condition, mixed-ability grouping and small class size, are suggested thereafter.

China released two new policies in 2021, the ‘double reduction’ and a Gaokao (National College Entrance Examination) regulation, which have significantly impacted English learning and Languages other than English (LOTEs) learning respectively. This has intensified the existing dispute over ‘English fever’ and made people question whether the ‘winter’ of English education in China has come. In this article, findings from a multiple‐case study exploring teachers' and students' opinions on the value of English learning in Chinese higher education are discussed under the circumstances of such new policies. This study employs the Bourdieusian approach and involves English major, non‐English major learners as well as their teachers in Yunnan and Shanghai, two socio‐economically different areas, to see diversity. The participants reported a cooling down of the ‘English fever’ in the universities and the wider society, yet an increasing demand for a higher level of English proficiency in particular industries or disciplines. The findings also demonstrate the tension between the standardised national curriculum and regionally different language needs along with the influence of an incoherent national curricula for different educational stages regarding foreign language education. This paper concludes with suggestions to modify the curriculum and teaching practices for multilingual and English for Specific Purposes (ESP) education in China as well as other English as a Foreign Language contexts. Context and implications Rationale for this study The ‘double reduction’ and the new Gaokao regulation have a top‐down effect on English learning and the learning of LOTEs in China, while individual stakeholders' opinions have drawn little attention. Why the new findings matter This study provides a timely insight into English teachers' and learners' changes in thinking against the backdrop of recent policy changes. Implications for English teachers and policy makers This research revealed a trend away from the English‐only approach towards multilingual learning along with an increasing demand for ESP teaching and learning. English teachers can draw on the findings to design ESP pedagogical activities to accommodate their students' demands. This study also presents a refreshing new perspective on the curriculum by identifying the inconsistency in the national curriculum about foreign language subjects and the tension between the standardised national curriculum and regionally different language needs. Policy makers are suggested to use the findings to improve the curriculum for the greater continuity of language learning and the greater satisfaction of learners' demands.