Three concentric circles: Young Chinese English learners’ perceptions of purposeful audiences

English learners have more access to communicate with different purposeful audiences across the Three Concentric Circles of English (Kachu, 1985): the Inner Circle, the Outer Circle and the Expanding Circle. However, young language learners’ purposeful audience as a focus of communication has not been emphasized as much as other linguistic features in English language learning and teaching methodology. This study examines young Chinese English learners’ perceptions of purposeful audiences in the context of English native speakers and non-native speakers. Data for the study were collected through a questionnaire that was sent to students (N = 120) at a public senior high school in China. The study found that Chinese English learners’ perceptions of purposeful audiences were influenced by public English education, private language training school, and English language media. This article concludes with some recommendations for young EFL learners across a variety of native languages in their English education development.