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By Niu Qiang, PhD and Martin Wolff, J.D
At the end of WWII the leadership of China's communism perceived that
Russia's socialism would be the most significant economic super-power
of the world and China's most important trading partner. To prepare China's
economic infrastructure for this trade alliance, Russian language was
taught in every major university throughout China.
With the dismantling of the Russian federation, the Chinese leadership
now gazes into the 21st century with increasing globalization having a
new perception that major economic powers from predominately English speaking
nations like the United States of America and the European Block will
evolve to become China's most important trading partners.
In the past twenty years English language has reached fever pitch in some
economic free zones of China and has spread across the vast continent
of China impacting on primary schools, middle schools, universities and
colleges of higher education. Everyone in China is being exposed to the
English language in one form or another. At any given moment at least
600 million Chinese citizens are studying English, which is more than
twice the number of people living in the United States of America.
Since 1980, the pre-adult Chinese students learnt English by rote memorization
of rules and vocabulary. As a result, after twelve to fifteen years of
education, a preponderance of the students still claim that they experience
great difficulty in formulating a coherent written English sentence that
is acceptable by business English requirements and international standards.
There has been a quantum of second language acquisition knowledge discovered
over the past twenty years by researchers in Europe and America.
However, the resulting new teaching methodology and pedagogy currently
dominating Western countries is facing resistance from the mainstream
Chinese educational system. Whether this resistance is a forerunner to
a 'clash of cultures' is yet to be realized.
This book is a compilation of articles arising from the authors' five
years of personal experiences, study, research and analysis of EFL teaching
in China between 1999 and 2004. It is an attempt to document deficiencies
and suggest improvements for EFL teaching in China.
The authors realize that some readers will nod their heads in agreement
while others will receive this book with hostility and will adeptly challenge
the author's findings through debating the numerous issues raised and
conclusions reached. The controversies generated and the debates that
will ensue will give rise to a more open and intellectually honest discourse.
Scientific freedom and methods will have gained a greater foothold and
maybe, just maybe, EFL teaching in China may experience the major methodology
and pedagogy overhaul that is long overdue. The result for China will
be that much closer to achieving its stated goal of a better off society
through modernization.
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