A tale of two performativities: When performative learning meets performative technologies in a private language school in China

There is growing evidence to support the normalisation of performativity. However, what has been less remarked on are the tensions that emerge when teachers seek to implement performative learning in a post-performative teaching context. This paper draws on interviews with 9 Chinese teachers undertaking Cambridge’s Professional Development Qualification (PDQ) within the context of private language schooling in China to nuance the notion of performativity. Findings show that tensions can still emerge when differing performative modalities intersect. In this instance, the modalities refer to teachers’ performative learning and their teaching context (a private language school that deploys performative technologies). This finding suggests that performativity does not take on a global form, but might be seen as a loose assemblage of technologies that are often in tension. This paper also shows that even when a programme focuses on critical reflection, the focus can still be on neoliberal notions of performativity, with critical reflection being given a new meaning in the neoliberal agenda to mean something different from its customary transformative meaning. Copyright © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.