Blurb:

In this chapter I introduce the Special English Stream (SES), a short-term study and residence abroad programme for English majors at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. After briefly describing the elements of this programme, I discuss the methodological framework for my investigation of the language and cultural learning and identity reconstruction of SES students at home and abroad. Focusing on the third cohort, I outline the central research questions that guided my ethnographic study and discuss the roles that I played. The remainder of the chapter provides a detailed description of the procedures and modes of analysis that I employed, as well as the rationale for focusing on four of the participants. I conclude the chapter by providing an overview of the structure and content of the illustrative case studies that are presented in Chapters 5 to 8.