The State of EFLTESOL Education in China

何晓彤

【Abstract】In the past forty years， English language teaching and learning have played a quite important role in China， which is closely related to the nations modernization and development of economy. The policies and programs of expanding English language teaching in China have varied according to the different periods. They are typically affected by various elements such as the economic， political and social development of China in the past four decades. This paper mainly discusses the state of TESOL/EFL education in China and also illustrates some typical problems and solutions of EFL Teaching in China.

【Key words】EFL teaching（English as a foreign language）； TESOL （Teaching English to speakers of other languages）； Communicative language teaching； Task-based methodology

The background of EFL Education in China

During the ten years from 1966 to 1976， when the Cultural Revolution was carried out， there was not any development and expansion of English teaching in China. During this period， the English language is regarded as the enemy and nearly all the programs of English teaching have been destroyed in the education system. Although some English curriculums appeared in the 1970s in schools， however， there were not actual teaching and learning applied and they existed only in forms. Afterwards， as the second leadership of China， Deng Xiaoping was supported by the majority of people； he stressed the importance of second language learning to the science and technology development and the utilitarian orientation. Therefore， in the 1980s， a dramatic reform of the English teaching system was issued. English was seen as the modernization of China and teachers and educators were encouraged to attempt to use new and various teaching approaches such as functional and situational approaches， communicative approaches instead of the solely traditional ones. At the beginning of the new century， Chinese people continue to have an increasingly enthusiasm and scale to learn English.

The Problems and solutions of EFL Teaching in China

As the English language has been taught in China so many years， the English language teaching in China has its own specific features and problems. The following paragraphs are reviews of the previous researches， and problems and solutions EFL teaching would be presented as well.

The primary problem existed in English language teaching is teaching approaches which the ESL teachers used in classrooms. The English teachers in China firstly and normally adopt the traditional language teaching methods. However， the traditional language method pays more attention to the sentence structures and ignores the essence of language. The second main problem is that the corresponding teaching materials are not adequate as well. Hu （2004） asserted the textbooks are really essential for EFL teaching in China， for they provide input for language learners and guidance to the curriculum. However， according to his study， the limitations to material writing are lack of sources and better understanding of Chinese language learners learning process.

In order to alter this situation， firstly， the government and Ministry of Education may prescribe the appropriate and efficient curriculum and syllabuses according to the nowadays requirement and demanding of society and readjust the assessment of English ability， such as giving priority to the language speaking and communicative skills. Secondly， the ESL teachers applications of teaching methodologies are incredibly essential with this regard. Teachers may attempt to adopt the other approaches in their classrooms， such as the communicative language teaching approach and task-based methodology. They can also carry out some communicative activities like group discussion， role-play， games， etc. which enable students to join the class initiatively and actively. Only language learners take part in the classroom learning activities completely can they be responsible for their own learning.

Conclusion

According to the analysis on the state of EFL/ TESOL education in China， this paper identified the major characteristics of EFL teaching and a number of problems existed in the process of English teaching in China and reviewed the related previous studies on this issue. It can be seen that as the economies and cultures of world are more and more interconnected with each other， people in these days really need to use English for different purposes. It is high time to Chinese educators and learners to realize the importance of communicative skills and transfer their teaching and learning strategies.

References：

[1]Hu，G.（2002）.Potential cultural resistance to pedagogical imports：The case of communicative language teaching in China.Language，Culture and Curriculum，15（2），93-105.

[2]Hu，G.W.（2004）.English language education in China： Policies，progress，and problems.English Language and Literature， 5-24.