Chinese Language Ideologies Reflected in African Students’ Discourses

As the first of three data chapters, this chapter responds to the one of the primary themes thrown up by the data itself—that is the Chinese language ideologies articulated and performed by African international students and their families in decision-making about study destination language choice. Section 5.2 offers a brief account of China as a rising global superpower so as to set a context for a further investigation of language ideologies. Section 5.3 explains China’s role in the global political economy in relation to African nation-states has implications for participants’ Chinese language ideologies, that is, the standing and importance of Chinese.