Foreign English teachers’ intercultural reactions to China's “Double Reduction” policy

Abstract

The Chinese government's 2021 “Double Reduction” policy decimated the online language tutoring industry. Beyond erasing billions of dollars of value, hundreds of thousands of foreign-based online English teachers lost their jobs as a result of the policy. This article examines online English teachers’ responses to the Double Reduction policy. Drawing on analyses of YouTube videos about the ban uploaded by 13 Inner Circle English teachers, I argue that online teachers’ videos about the ban fulfill two overlapping purposes. On the one hand, the videos serve as a space for both uploaders and their audience of other teachers to emotionally process the national ban, including the loss of both their livelihoods and the intercultural connections they had formed with students in China. On the other hand, the videos help uploaders to build their own brand—often by encouraging other teachers to exploit their self-entrepreneurial potential. Limitations, implications, and avenues for future research are discussed.