ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I reconstruct narratives of Chinese speakers of English regarding their learning and use of English in varying circumstances and contexts, adopting the pentagram framework of habitus, field, capital, ti and yong. Over the past decade since I embarked on this book project, I have been interviewing Chinese speakers of English whom I know through different channels, e.g., work, personal and professional contacts, and social media. Most of the interviews were semi-structured, in informal or formal contexts, through face to face and/or written communication. For this chapter, I include interview data analysis of 16 participants. The topics for the interviews varied with the participants and the contexts in which the interviews were conducted, but they centred primarily on how the participants have learned or acquired English, how they use English for intra- and international communication, and what their perceptions and attitudes are regarding Chinese English. The main purpose of this chapter is to unpack the collective narratives and experiences of Chinese speakers of English in order to have an emic understanding of Chinese English in relation to the habitus, field, capital, ti and yong of the users and use of Chinese English in various contexts.
