This paper reports on our inquiry into how language teachers' identities relate to their efforts to teach intercultural communicative competence. In the study, we collected data through in-depth interviews with and observations of 16 Chinese language teachers in Hong Kong's international schools. The analysis revealed that the participants simultaneously embraced multiple professional and sociocultural identities related to intercultural communicative competence teaching. Specifically, the professional identities included a Chinese language teacher identity and a school staff member identity, while the sociocultural identity comprised a Chinese culture bearer identity, a multicultural identity, a cultural transmitter identity, a culture learner identity, and a cultural bridge identity. These identities were found to compete with or reinforce each other in mediating the participants' efforts in relation to teaching intercultural communicative competence; different identities were often associated with different understandings of and approaches to teaching intercultural communicative competence. The findings suggest that language teacher educators need to recognise teacher identities as an important pedagogical resource when preparing language teachers for teaching in cross-cultural contexts. Copyright ©2021 Routledge.

The English language curricula in Hong Kong and mainland China place emphasis on ‘culture learning’. This study seeks to examine cultural depictions in two series of primary English language textbooks published in mainland China and Hong Kong. The study adopted Kachru’s three-circle model and Moran’s 4P framework (referring to products, practices, perspectives and persons) to investigate the breadth and depth of cultural presentation. The findings indicate that both series encompass content on the local culture as well as on foreign cultures. While the mainland textbooks focus on British culture in the inner circle through the cultural aspects of products and persons, insufficient attention is paid to other foreign cultures and the cultural aspect of perspectives. In contrast, Hong Kong textbooks include a wider range of foreign cultures and a more balanced presentation of various cultural aspects. However, both series contain mainly static and congratulatory cultural topics, and neglect the underlying value orientations. Copyright © 2019 Pedagogy, Culture & Society.