English Language Education in China Progress, Prob

Journal of Literature and Art Studies, July 2017, Vol. 7, No. 7, 935-938

doi: 10.17265/2159-5836/2017.07.011

D

DAVID PUBLISHING

English Language Education in China:

Progress, Problems and Reflections



SHI Jia-lin

Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Chongqing, PRC

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The thesis is aimed at putting forward to some problems existing in contemporary China’s English teaching by

showing progress made in recent years. Reflections have formed by contemplating the gaps of English teaching

with that of Asian & European countries. This thesis, through a general perspective, outlines what English teachers

will do to push Chinese English learning to a new level.

Keywords: China, English language, education, reflections

Historical Background of English Education and Learning in China

Since 1978, with the end of “Cultural Revolution”, China was beginning its economic, political as well as

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educational liberation & reforms, so was English education. As foreign exchange is gaining strength in recent

years, China has been launching and conducting an impressive English education innovation with the ultimate

goal of creating a bilingual schooling in Chinese and English. 2008 Beijing Olympiad was a crucial moment for

us to promote the external image & influence by building strong atmosphere of learning English. Although a

large number of educated people in ordinary jobs and circumstances speak relatively fluent English, many

grassroots civilians without better education cannot accept English as a yardstick because they tend to be

conservative or less desirous to enhance their comprehensive competitiveness in the job-hunting market. As

globalization is sweeping every corner and every country, how China faces the trend and urges its people to learn

English in a fruitful manner will be on high agenda. Through several decades’ learning English, Chinese people

have improved a lot in English understanding and acquisition. In retrospect, costs are still huge and problems are

still looming, though progress has been conspicuous, however, reflections are necessary for us to contemplate

how we could intensify English language teaching and learning in China by borrowing advanced experience from

other countries, especially the neighboring ones in the future.

Contemporary English Education Reforms

For long, Chinese students have to take numerous tests and examinations at different levels. Besides quizzes

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Acknowledgements: This paper , with the subject “Thoughts and Methodologies on Cultivating the Critical Thinking Ablities

for English-major Students”, is Funded by Educational Sciences Planning Office of Chongqing Municipality, Project Code:

2015-GX-054.

SHI Jia-lin, Doctor of American Studies, Associate Professor of Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications,

Visiting Scholar with Department of History, University of Texas at Austin.

Research Interests: American Studies, Latin American Studies & Intercultural Communication.

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ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION IN CHINA: PROGRESS, PROBLEMS AND REFLECTIONS

and tests at school, they have to pass unified English examinations administered by local education committees or

the National Education Examination Authority (generally Ministry of Education in China or MoE), in order to

enter senior high school, university and graduate school. Furthermore, when people apply for a job position

which requires certain knowledge of the English language, a test called PETS (Public English Test System) came

into being, in which scores of applicants may be taken into consideration by employers. With things continuing

this way, MoE issued unified the normal syllabuses, testing guidelines and English examinations, and meanwhile,

the local educational institutes must have tried to improve English language education so that students or adults

have to acquire related skills to communicated with people from other countries in English. Therefore, there are

still some problems to be solved.

First, we should pay more attention to teachers’ qualification and standards. Chinese learners lack the

English language environment, and teaching resources and facilities are inadequate or inadvertently evenly

distributed, which has been leading to expanding disparity in English learning results among different areas.

Moreover, except the traditional foreign language institutes, the class sizes are not reasonably designed. Some

classes are too crowded, which makes it almost impossible for an English teacher to take care of each student.

Therefore, highly-qualified English teachers could make up for the lack of English language input. Second, the

implementation of English Curriculum Standards should be effectively assessed and investigated because goals

differ and students’ learning capabilities diverge. Schools, parents and students pay most of their attention to

being successful in examinations and pin much hope on grasping English. Behind the grievous anxiety, how

could we measure our students’ learning motivation, learning strategies, cultural awareness and communicative

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abilities through unified English courses and tests? Third, the merits and demerits of English tests should be fully

realized. A test is not an end, but a means of assessing the efficiency of English teaching and learning. English

language assessment is an important part of English language education in China. Students spend a lot of money

and time on learning English in order to get high scores in various English tests. Many families facilitate their

children to learn English from kindergarten. With hard work for more than ten years, students’ English

proficiency has been highly developed, but many students have obtained experiences and techniques of taking

tests. The functions of culturally transmitting and intercultural communication have been neglected. Therefore,

numerous tests in China have greatly negative backwash on teaching and learning.

As an English practitioner as well as a cultural historian, I strongly suggest that we need to remold and

reflect on Chinese English teaching and learning. Initially, Students with overburdened English tests should

instead take extra activities or seminars to whet their appetites to learn English, change the current situation of

teaching to test, but veer to develop students communicative competence; meanwhile, meaning speaking

activities require communication between to solve a problem and to complete a task, thereby teamwork spirit as

well as cooperative abilities accrue. In addition, we should give students time and space for experiencing and

enjoying the charm of English learning. Usually, students spend much time in doing English test books and

exercise books, and have no time to read English newspapers and books or enjoy listening to English songs,

novels and real conversations. MoE, as the supreme authority in formulating national syllabuses and teaching

guidelines, should be decentralized and execute more flexible and efficacious policies to boost English learning.

By borrowing the advanced experience in launching English education from Asia neighboring countries such as

Japan, ROK, Singapore, Chinese central government ought to take responsibilities for seeking adequate remedy

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION IN CHINA: PROGRESS, PROBLEMS AND REFLECTIONS

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for dealing with the poorly-performing status quo of English learning, namely, nationwide learning with

regressive effect.

As an globally international association, TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages)

introduces the notion of a principles-based approach (PBA) for English language policies and practices. PBA

identifies six principles aimed at helping policymakers, researchers and practitioners build effect and successful

practices within varied contexts while identifying and engaging with the challenges that the implementation of

these practices will encounter. The six principles are collaboration, relevance, evidence, alignment, transparency

and empowerment (CREATE). In order to meet the demands of globalization and the interests of the local

populations of different countries, the proposal of PBA is having major impact on global English education. By

investigating PBA principles, I totally consent to the context-appropriate standards, which connects

socio-cultural, political, economic and historical aspects of each individual country or setting. Besides, the

political and ideological orientations of language policy and planning are closely related to dominant and

powerful languages. Language becomes a power, suggesting that language policies serve the interests of

dominant groups in maintaining their power and prestige while marginalizing, excluding, and even exploiting

minority groups and speakers of other languages.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, now that English is given a privileged position, as an English educator and a councilor to my

university and my local government, the road to English education will be long and prospective. On the one hand,

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we need to understand about language itself, design and deliver rational education programs to motivate students’

learning enthusiasm and adopt the scientific alternatives to arrange English teaching and learning. On the other

hand, we must have the notion of “language ecology” in an education setting by taking the diverse

“socio-political settings” into account, where the processes of language use create, reflect and challenge

particular hierarchies and hegemony. As a soft-power tool, my research first accentuates the effect and influence

of English learning with view to a variety of local areas, and meanwhile work with Professor Tania will be based

on empirical and field studies to accomplish the cross-cultural communication and pursue the most suitable and

tenable solutions to help China draw up doable and sustainable English education policies, further promoting

Chinese English education.

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