An Introduction to the Course

I. Some Concepts

1. We frequently hear the terms such as “foreign language”, “second language”, “language learning” and “language teaching”. In fact, we often interchangeably use “foreign language” and “second language” for both of them refer to a language we are learning after we have acquired our mother tongue, although the former refers to a situation in classroom and the latter mainly refers to a naturalistic situation. But on the contrary, ‘teaching’ and ‘learning’ are quite different. 

“Language learning” may contain theories of language acquisition, language input, language transfer, language learner’s difference and learning strategies, while “language teaching” on the other hand, mainly concerns about classroom teaching procedures and teaching techniques.

The course will further narrow the “language teaching” to “English language teaching”, that is, “the teaching of English”, which involves problems of teaching principles and activities as well as the teaching of specific skills, such as reading, pronunciation, grammar, etc.

2. It is not easy, even not possible for us to discuss the problem of language teaching without mentioning the history of language teaching, or specifically, the history of English language teaching. In other words, for centuries, people have tried to find out a best way to teach language and thus formed some approaches or principles for language teaching. These principles have been practiced but never proved to be fully successful and with new findings in science appearing, experts on language teaching improve their teaching methods from time to time and to some extent come nearer to truth.

One thing should be pointed out that any principle in teaching is based on learning theory in general, which is based on philosophical ideas or psychological thoughts. That is, when we study all the teaching principles or approaches we necessarily refer to some empirical achievements in psychology or philosophy. In short, the different idea of language teaching will depend on the different view on subjective and objective world.

3. This book focuses on communicative approach and therefore deals with teaching activities in a communicative way, which is popular nowadays in China. Before going through the contents in detail, we need have a brief review of teaching movements in China.

II. A Brief History of TEFL in China

1. TEFL and TESL

TEFL means Teaching English as a Foreign Language, and TESL refers to Teaching English as a Second Language. As we have discussed, in China, we teach English as a foreign language, so TEFL is the term we use to describe the activities about English teaching and learning occur in China. Of course, when we introduce books from abroad, we often have the term of TESL. In most cases we regard them as the same things.

2. TEFL in China

TEFL in China has a history of roughly one hundred years. Short as it may be, compared with the history of FLT in Western countries, it is full of twists and turns. Twice English has been ousted from the school curriculum, and twice it has been reintroduced. Such radical changes have been caused exclusively by political rather than linguistic factors. This accounts for the unsurprising phenomenon that the constant changing of the policy and programs of TEFL has led to little improvement in teaching methodology. It also accounts in part for the comparatively backward state of TEFL in China.

The history of TEFL in China can be divided into 6 periods as follows:

An Introduction to the Course

3. Prior to Liberation (1902-1949)

The history of TEFL can be traced as far back as the famous Westernization Movement of the Ching Dynasty in the later half of the 19th century. The introduction of capitalist-mode production, Western culture, and especially the expansion of trade and commerce with the Western countries influenced the educational needs of the country. In the following decades, as the result of this influence, English gained a firm foothold in the curriculum and became one of the major courses in both secondary schools and colleges and universities.

In reality, English teaching and learning first appeared in China in the year of 1862 during the Ching Dynasty. Yet it took exactly forty years for the English instruction to be formally included in the curricula of primary and secondary schools. Between 1902, when English was first listed in “His Majesty’s Teaching Standards for Primary and Secondary Institutions” of the Ching Dynasty and 1949, when the People’s Republic was founded, two periods may be roughly distinguished: 1902-1922 and 1922-1949.

During the entire period of 20 years of 1902-1922, the overall teaching in schools basically followed the model of Japan. English instruction in particular was characterized by:

a) having a considerable number of class hours, generally eight hours a week;

b)focusing on developing reading skill and the ability to do translation;

c) emphasizing the learning of grammar, and teaching it in a very traditional way --- starting with vocabulary, then moving to sentence structure, and learning a lot of definitions and rules;

d) learning pronunciation and intonation through imitation with little systematic teaching of phonetics.

The teaching materials in the beginning were mostly books used in Western countries or compiled by missionaries, and only at later stage materials written for and by Chinese made their appearance. Generally speaking, those teaching materials were difficult to learn and had large vocabularies.

With the “Outlines for School Syllabuses of the New Teaching System” (1922) going into effect, the entire teaching structure, from teaching system and syllabus to teaching materials and methods took a drastic turn from copying the Japanese model to following the western models, chiefly those of Britain and America. The major characteristics of English instruction were as follows:

A. Having fewer class hours than the previous period, generally five hours a week;

B. All-round training of listening, speaking, reading and writing began to receive attention in some schools at the junior high level of learning, but in senior high schools stress remained on the teaching of reading ability;

C. An initial endeavor was being made to introduce and study the science of language and language teaching developed in the West; in some schools the International Phonetic Alphabet was recommended to take the place of the Webster and Oxford Phonetic Alphabets; and the direct method of teaching had been proposed and supported by some experts on teaching;

D. Students had more exposure to the living English language through mass media, publications and advertisements, and in some schools students used the English version of textbooks in math, physics, chemistry, etc.;

E. The teaching materials and levels of learning, however, varied from place to place and school to school. Graduates of missionary schools and highly academic schools might well use English skillfully whereas those graduated from non-religious and ordinary private and public schools could hardly read and write.

To summarize, TEFL in China during the long period of the pre-liberation years was far from systematic and scientific, and its methodology was no more than a derivative of the traditional teaching approaches in Japan and in the Western countries.

4. Shortly after Liberation (1949-1952)

The founding of new China brought enormous changes to the field of English teaching. These changes were seen in the new “Scheme for English Instruction in Secondary School ” published by the Ministry of Education in 1951. A description of the goals, curriculum, teaching material and teaching methods was given in the new scheme. Its most notable feature was in clear identification of the general goal of TEFL --- learning English to serve the New Republic. There was not, however, much change in teaching material and teaching methods.

5. “The Russian Years” (1953-1957)

The period of “Russian Years”, as the name suggests, was characterized by the political bias towards learning from the Soviet Union and rejecting the United States. Starting I 1952, there was a mass movement to criticize the mentality of favoring the US, worshiping the US. Its immediate effect was a shadow of doubt that fell over English instruction. It became somehow unpatriotic to study the language of our enemies. English gradually disappeared from the curriculum with Russian taking its place. By 1954, Russian had literally become the only foreign language taught in both secondary schools and colleges and universities. Teachers of English were told either to teach Russian or other subjects, if they could and would.

A chance for TEFL came in 1955. The gradual awareness of the fact that complete rejection of English and other foreign languages was a short-sighted view, and that to communicate in other languages not just in Russian alone was absolutely necessary for the progress of the country. The Ministry of Education made a decision to resume English teaching in senior schools. Nevertheless, the influence of Russia was still there, deep-rooted and well secured. The senior-high textbooks published in the autumn of 1956 were exact copies of the Russian models --- even the illustrations were taken form their Russian counter-parts.

The methodological theory on which this set of books was based was also the traditional approach, which laid much emphasis on grammatical rules but paid little attention to practice. The Russian methodological principles which were then applied to actual teaching practice in all Chinese schools could be summarized as “three-centered” teaching, i.e. classroom-centered, teacher-centered, and textbook-centered. According to these principles, in the classroom the teachers were imparting knowledge, which the students passively took in. The notorious “spoon-feeding” method or the “stuffed duck” method characterized classrooms in all subjects.

In 1961 the new “English Textbooks for a Ten-year Instruction Program” were put into use in all schools. This set of books stressed an all-round development of the four basic skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing, with a vocabulary of 2,200 words for the five years of secondary instruction. Also in that year, the Ministry of Education issued “A Program Teaching and Learning” which set the tenor for compiling new English textbooks. One of the prominent features of the program was that it asserted that texts should include material on the customs, life, culture, and history of the English-speaking countries. It also suggested that more fables, short stories, myths and extract of works in the original be included.

In 1962 English became a formal requirement for the entrance examination, and began to appear in the curriculum of the fourth and fifth year of the primary schools. In 1963 the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of CCP issued “The Seven-Year Plan for Foreign Language Teaching” to reinforce the teaching of foreign languages in the schools. The textbooks English for Full-time secondary Schools” were then published, which were developed according to the 1961 Program of the Ministry of Education, and English class hours for junior high students were increased to seven or eight hours per week, though they were later dropped back to six or seven hours.

In 1961 the new “English Textbooks for a Ten-year Instruction Program” were put into use in all schools. This set of books stressed an all-round development of the four basic skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing, with a vocabulary of 2,200 words for the five years of secondary instruction. Also in that year, the Ministry of Education issued “A Program Teaching and Learning” which set the tenor for compiling new English textbooks. One of the prominent features of the program was that it asserted that texts should include material on the customs, life, culture, and history of the English-speaking countries. It also suggested that more fables, short stories, myths and extract of works in the original be included.

In 1962 English became a formal requirement for the entrance examination, and began to appear in the curriculum of the fourth and fifth year of the primary schools. In 1963 the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of CCP issued “The Seven-Year Plan for Foreign Language Teaching” to reinforce the teaching of foreign languages in the schools. The textbooks English for Full-time secondary Schools” were then published, which were developed according to the 1961 Program of the Ministry of Education, and English class hours for junior high students were increased to seven or eight hours per week, though they were later dropped back to six or seven hours.

In 1964 there came the call from the top to criticize the revisionist educational line and start socialist educational reform. In the latter half of the year the then educational system, the new teaching materials, and the teaching methods, which stressed basic knowledge and basic training came under criticism. Debates began in the fields of philosophy and education.

During 1965 the Shanghai Foreign Language School gave demonstration lessons to teachers from foreign language schools throughout the country and to primary and secondary school teachers and teachers from college foreign language departments in Shanghai. The aim was to popularize the teaching methods of giving priority to listening and speaking in an all-round development of the four basic skills.

Debates continued centered upon the objectives, goals, and methods of teaching until 1966 when the Cultural Revolution began.

6. The Cultural Revolution Years (1966-1977)

With the advent of the Cultural Revolution, English was ousted from the school curriculum for the second time. The effects of the political movement and nationalist sentiment upon foreign language teaching were almost disastrous. All the textbooks were banned and criticized. Foreign language teachers were falsely accused of being spies of foreign courtiers or flunkeys of imperialism or worshippers of everything foreign.

7. The Second “Renaissance” (1977- today)

Since 1977, English has regained its popularity, and English instruction today is better than it was ever before. Obvious endeavor and delightful improvement can be seen in a great number of ways. English has become a requirement for entrance examinations. In 1978, the score of the English examination was taken 100% into the total score of the junior high entrance examination, and used as a reference for senior high and college exams.

English learning has become a mania (a crazy thing) for the nation.

Television courses, radio lessons, part-time or night schools have offered an almost unlimited variety of educational opportunities for people to learn English or further their education. (even e-schools)

With the rise of their social status, English teachers are more enthusiastic, and more committed than ever before. There has been a thirst for improvement, innovation, and further education among teachers of English. To meet their needs, teachers’ further-education colleges have been set up in districts, towns, and cities. In-service teacher training courses, lectures, and seminars are given to broaden people’s views and polish up their rusty English. Steadily and promisingly, the number of competent teachers is increasing with every passing day.

With the entire TEFL being directed to more comprehensive objectives --- all four skills, plus translation and culture --- more and more importance has been attached to communicative skills.

TEFL research has been active. Innovations, experiments, and debates have been carried out in schools all over the country. New approaches, methods, and techniques have been developed to improve teaching and learning within the various curricula. Everywhere, people go to lectures on the current trends in TEFL, demonstration classes of new methods, or seminars probing into a new teaching procedure. The development of ESP (English for Special Purposes) teaching and learning is another characteristic that marks TEFL in this period. With the focus of the nation’s main effort shifted to the economic development of the country, and with the introduction of modern science and technology from other countries, a big contingent of scientific and technological workers who can understand and read English becomes an urgent need. To meet this need, ESP studies have been initiated, ESP textbooks compiled, ESP training courses started, and even ESP departments have been set up in some scientific and technical institutions. English is no longer a subject exclusively for professional interpreters and teachers only.

The application of audio-visual aids in classroom teaching is another point worth mentioning. Years ago teachers of English had for aids no more than a blackboard and some chalks, or a heavy reel-to-reel recorder.

Entering 21st century, international situation, technology and science have changed quite a lot, which greatly affect the development of English teaching and learning in all aspects.