ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the information in response to the question of how Chinese English-language teachers’ learning experiences in Western countries impact and challenge their teaching in China. It focuses in particular on the impact of communicative language teaching (CLT), which has emerged as a preferred approach in many Asian countries. The unified textbooks and teaching plan affect one’s beliefs of good teaching, as at the administrative level, the teachers’ status as Western-trained educators did not always grant them the authority to make changes. Western education empowered teacher’s pedagogy and practice but complicated the teacher’s lives by providing a comparative lens through which they could critically reflect on its utility in the Chinese context. The chapter discusses these complexities and the various aspects of the teachers’ knowledge in which they were grounded. Like the activity of volcanoes, the process of collaboration generates light and heat for the collaborators, but in the end it brings about fertile grounds for new growth.
