hui du school of education university of south australia

How far is it from the reality How far is it from the reality to the goal? Reflections on to the goal? Reflections on the goal of College English the goal of College English teaching in Chinateaching in China

Hui DU

School of Education

University of South Australia

Part I: IntroductionPart I: Introduction

College English: an English

course offered to non-English major students in Chinese universities

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Document shiftDocument shift

College English Syllabus (CES): Reading

College English Curriculum Requirements (CECR): Listening & speaking

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Change of primary goal of Change of primary goal of teachingteaching

College English aims to develop in students a relatively high level of competence in reading, an intermediate level of competence in listening, speaking, writing and translating, so that they could exchange information in English (CES, 1999: 1).

The objective of College English is to develop students’ ability to use English in a well-rounded way, especially in listening and speaking, so that in their future studies and careers as well as social interactions they will be able to communicate effectively… (CECR, 2007: 18).

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Part II: Research Part II: Research questionsquestions

(1)What is the English speaking environment in China?

(2) What is the situation of College English teachers?

(3) What is classroom interaction like in College English classrooms?

(4) What are the students’ opinions on the shift of teaching goal?

(5) What are the teachers’ opinions on the shift of teaching

goal?

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Research questions Data sources and methods(1) What is the English speaking environment in China?

Documentary analysis

(2) What is the situation of College English teachers?

InterviewAudio recordingOfficial documents

(3) What is classroom interaction like in College English classrooms?

Classroom observationAudio recordingField notes

(4) What are the students’ opinions on the shift of teaching goal?

InterviewAudio recording

(5) What are the teachers’ opinions on the shift of teaching goal?

InterviewAudio recording

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Table 1: Research questions and data sources and methods

Part III: Methods Part III: Methods

This research is based on (a) documentary analysis; (b) classroom observation; and (c) interview, focusing on the reality of College English classroom teaching in relation to the goals of teaching: (a) English speaking environment; (b) teachers; (c) classroom interaction; and (d) teachers and students’ opinions on the goals.

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A qualitative study, an “‘exploratory-interpretive’ one which utilises a non-experimental method, yields qualitative data, and provides an interpretive analysis of that data” (Nunan, 1992:4).

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A case study approach, which “aims to understand social phenomena within a single or small number of naturally occurring settings” (Bloor & Wood, 2006:27).

“We gain better understanding of the whole by focusing on a key part”(Gerring, 2007:1).

case: “a phenomenon of some sort occurring in a bounded context”(Miles & Huberman, 1994:25)

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Research sites: three Chinese national universities.

- U1: pharmacy - U2: hydro-electricity - U3: agriculture Critical sampling (Patton, 2002:236)

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This study adopts Gumperz’s (1999) methods of observation and interview used in “Interactional Sociolinguistics (IS)”

IS “has its origin in the search for replicable methods of qualitative sociolinguistic analysis” (op.cit.:453)

IS “applicable to communicative situations of all kinds” (op.cit.:469).

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Documentary analysis: “the collection and analysis of documents at a research site as part of the process of building a ground theory” (Richards, 2002:168).

Sources of documents - China Scholarship Council of P.R.

China - Ministry of Education of P.R. China - Ministry of Commerce of P.R. China

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Observation Interview

SitesClass types

Teachers ClassesField notes

Teachers Students Dean

U1IRC 2 4 4 2 20

1LC 2 4 4 2 20

U2IRC 2 4 4 2 20

1LC 2 2 2 2 20

U3IRC 2 4 4 2 20

1LC 2 4 4 2 20

Total 2 types 12 22 22 12 120 3

Table 2: Data collected in three Chinese national universities

Part IV: Data collectionPart IV: Data collection

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Key to Column 3: IRC: Intensive Reading Class; LC: Listening Class

Interview with the dean

Situation of College English teachers

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Documentary dataDocumentary dataNovember 2007:the number of international students

in Chinese universities;the number of investment programs

in China by other countries or regions;

the number of Chinese universities, College English teachers, students;

information about the reform in College English teaching in China

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Part V: Data Part V: Data presentationpresentationEnglish speaking environment in ChinaInterviews with 3 deans on the

situation of teachers in 3 Chinese national universities

Full transcript of classroom interaction in two classrooms

Interviews with 12 teachers and 120 students on their opinions on the change of teaching goal

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V-1: English speaking V-1: English speaking environment in Chinaenvironment in ChinaLanguage is both personal and

sociocultural (Emmitt & Pollock, 1997:7).

Taken as a whole, speech is many-sided and heterogeneous; straddling several areas simultaneously – physical, physiological, and psychological – it belongs both to the individual and to society (Saussure, 1983:11).

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(a) Inside campus(a) Inside campus

“Abstract of statistics of international students in Chinese universities”:

2004: 110,844, 85,112 Asian students 76.78%2003: 77,715 63,672 Asian students 81.3% (China Scholarship Council, 2003;

2004)18

Country TotalPhD

StudentsMaster

StudentsUndergraduat

es

2-year (or 3-year)

University Students

Australia 103 9 31 60 3Canada 298 45 54 198 1

U.K. 80 9 6 63 2U.S.A. 387 75 78 219 15Total 868 138 169 540 21

Table 3: Diploma Students from English speaking countries in Chinese universities in 2004

Source: http://csc.edu.cn/gb/downloaddoc/2004/2003lhtj.doc

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Country Total Senior Scholars General ScholarsShort-term (less than 6 months)

StudentsAustralia 1,056 3 404 649Canada 907 8 323 576

U.K. 966 4 399 563U.S.A. 8,093 94 2,584 5,415Total 11,022 109 3,710 7,203

Table 4: Non-diploma students and scholars from English speaking countries in Chinese universities in 2004

Source: http://csc.edu.cn/gb/downloaddoc/2004/2003lhtj.doc

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2004 diploma students, non-diploma students and scholars

- Australia 1,159 - Canada 1,205 - U.K. 1,046 - U.S.A. 8,480

Total: 11,890 10.72% (of the total 110,844 international students in Chinese

universities)

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Country TotalPhD

StudentsMaster

StudentsUndergraduat

es

2-year (or 3-year)University

StudentsAustralia 98 14 39 45 0Canada 203 31 41 131 0

U.K. 74 4 7 63 0USA 273 68 48 148 9Total 648 117 135 387 9

Table 5: Diploma Students from English speaking countries in Chinese universities in 2003

Source: http://csc.edu.cn/gb/downloaddoc/2004/2003lhtj.doc

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Table 6: Non-diploma students and scholars from English speaking countries in Chinese universities in 2003

Source: http://csc.edu.cn/gb/downloaddoc/2004/2003lhtj.doc

Country Total Senior Scholars General ScholarsShort-term (less than 6

months) StudentsAustralia 820 2 374 444Canada 354 6 264 84

U.K. 583 5 380 198U.S.A. 3,420 113 2,278 1,029Total 5,177 126 3,296 1,755

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2003 diploma students, non-diploma students and scholars

- Australia: 918 - Canada: 557 - U.K.: 657 - U.S.A.: 3,693Total: 5,825 7.49% (of the total 77,715 international students in

Chinese universities)

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If we exclude the short-term students and scholars from English speaking countries coming and going only within six months,

2004: 868

2003: 648

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In May 2008:

- U1: 2 (8,982 undergraduates) - U2: 2 (11,072 undergraduates) - U3: 3 (12,900 undergraduates)

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The above situation shows that it is hard for both learners and teachers to have access to English speaking environment outside classrooms on campus.

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(b) Outside campus(b) Outside campus

of the 44,001 programs (for example, enterprises) invested by other countries and regions until 2005, 38,016.71 programs were from the top ten investment countries/regions, which actually accounted for 86.41% of the total.

(Ministry of Commerce of P. R. China, 2005)

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Table 8: Programs from the top ten investment countries/regions until 2005

Source: http://info.feno.cn/2007/1108/c000040463.shtml

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Countries/Regions Programs %

Total 44,001 100

Hong Kong16,128.0

036.65

Taiwan 6 ,121.00 13.91

Singapore 5, 424.00 12.33

Korea 3,943.75 8.96

Japan 3,281.00 7.46

U.S.A. 1,293.07 2.94

Germany 667.13 1.52

U.K. 567.57 1.29

France 351.02 0.80

Netherlands 240.17 0.55

79.31%

Documentary analysis shows that whether inside or outside university campus, English speaking environment outside classrooms is very limited.

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V-2: Situation of College English V-2: Situation of College English teachersteachersBy interviewing three deans in three

Chinese national universities, I collected the data of College English teachers in these universities in terms of their (a) workload, (b) class sizes, (c) academic ranks, (d) academic qualifications, (e) age, (f) gender, and (g) experiences of studying or working in English speaking countries.

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Universities

TeachersRated

periods/week

Actual periods/week

TETTET’s

Periods/week

U1 24 11 12-16 2 12U2 37 11 10-18 0 0U3 33 9 9-12 9 8

Total 94 31 9-18 11 8-12

Table 8: Teachers’ Rated and Actual Workload

TET: Temporarily employed teachers

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Universities Students Teachers Teacher-

student ratioClass sizes

U1 4,491 24 1:187 30-60U2 6,450 37 1:174 40-90U3 5,536 33 1:167 35-60

Total 16,477 94 1:175 30-90

Table 9: Teacher- Student Ratio and Class Size

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Actual class sizes: 46-90

Universities

Professors

Associate professors

Lecturers

Assistants

Total

U1 1 4 12 7 24U2 1 8 26 2 37U3 0 4 16 13 33

Total 2 16 54 22 94

Table 10: College English Teachers in Academic Ranks

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Universities

Bachelor Master PhD Teachers

U1 8 16 0 24U2 18 19 0 37U3 16 17 0 33

Total 42 52 0 94

Table 11: Academic qualifications of College English teachers

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Universities

50 & over 40-49 30-39 Under 30 Teachers

U1 4 3 8 9 24U2 1 12 18 6 37U3 2 5 21 5 33

Total 7 20 47 20 94

Table 12: College English teachers by age

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Universities Male Female Teachers U1 6 18 24U2 10 27 37U3 5 28 33

Total 21 73 94

Table 13: College English teachers by gender

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Teachers

Experiences Country Length Number

U1: 24

StudyingBachelorMaster Australia 2 months* 1PhD

WorkingVisiting Scholar

Teaching Chinese

U2: 37

StudyingBachelorMasterPhD

WorkingVisiting Scholar

Canada 1.5 months 1Canada 1.5 months 1U.S.A. 1 year 1

Teaching Chinese

U3: 33

StudyingBachelorMaster U.K. 1 year 1PhD

WorkingVisiting Scholar

Canada 3 months 3UK 6 months 1

Teaching ChineseTotal:

942 experiences 4 38 months 9

Table 14: Teachers with experiences of studying or working in English speaking countries

*As a part of the collaborative program of master of education between an Australian university and a Chinese university, this teacher spent two months in Australia before completing her master studies.

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0.9% of the 94 teachers had such an experience.

All the 9 teachers’ time spent in English speaking countries added up to 38 months.

99% of the teachers have never had the experience.

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V-3: Classroom interaction V-3: Classroom interaction

Full transcript of classroom interaction in two classrooms

- IRC - LC

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Terms and definitionsTerms and definitionsClassroom interaction: the pattern of verbal

communication (Richards, 2002:74). Classroom discourse: the type of language

used in classroom interactions (op. cit.:73).Move: the basic semantic unit in interactive

talk – it is the smallest unit of potential interaction (Thornbury & Slade, 2006:117)

Turn: everything the current speaker says before the next speaker takes over; it consists of one or more moves” (Stenström, 1994:30).

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T1 (IRC) T2 (LC) Functions Moves Functions Moves 1. Seeking/Questioning 57 Confirming 62 (OK:40) 2. Presenting 37 1. Presenting 73 3. Encouraging 19 (OK:11) Ending 50 (OK:48) 4. Organising 18 2. Seeking/Questioning 45 5. Evaluating 13 3. Repeating 37 6. Commenting 12 4. Organising 30 7. Confirming 12 Encouraging 31 (OK:29) 8. Repeating 12 5. Evaluating 20 9. Nominating 10 6. Scaffolding 16 10. Contributing 9 7. Summarising 10 11. Scaffolding 9 8. Nominating 10 12. Ending 9 (OK:6) 9. Rephrasing 8 13. Retelling 7 10. Recasting 6 14. Identifying 5 11. Appreciating 5 15. Summarising 5 12. Add. face (Comforting ) 3 16. Joking 3 13. Self-Correcting 3 17. Showing interest 2 14. Requesting 1 18. Checking 2 19. Addressing face 2 20. Accepting request 1

20 244 17 410(ok:117+3)

Table 15: Pedagogical functions of the moves of teacher talk in two classrooms

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Table 16: Basic patterns of interactions in two classrooms

T 1 (IRC) T 2 (LC)

TalkTurns

T: 62 T: 37S: 60 S: 39

Moves T: 246 T: 411

S: 80 S: 44

Media useRecording-Playing 2 times 31 times

Video-Playing 2 times

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T 1 (IRC) T 2 (LC)

Talk Turns

T: 62 T: 37 S: 60 S: 39

Moves T: 246 T: 411 S: 80 S: 44

Media use

Recording-Playing

2 times 31 times

Video-Playing 2 times

Table 16: Basic patterns of interactions in two classrooms

Key: T: teacher; S: students; IRC: Intensive Reading Class; LC: Listening Class

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V-4: Data of interviewV-4: Data of interviewInterview question: There is a change

in the primary goal of the teaching of College English: from a focus on reading in CES to a focus on listening and speaking in CECR. What do you think of the change?

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Case Teachers’ responses Students’ responses Notes

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Against: listening and speaking resulted from the accumulation of vocabulary and structures. Listening and speaking only for the sake of listening and speaking would not work.

For, but the teacher talks too much. We spend much more time listening [to the teacher] than speaking…

2For, but class sizes are large. For, but classroom does not

help.T ≈ S

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Against: the new goal was beyond the reality and reading should be the priority

Against: the goal should be based on the different needs of students. What is stipulated is too rigid.It is hard to carry out.For: It is nice.

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For: As the order of listening, speaking, reading, and writing indicates, listening and speaking should come first.

For: [I support] the second.Language is used for communication.Against: what we need is to use things from other countries for reference…This needs reading ability.

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For, but class sizes are large. For: the ultimate purpose of learning language is to apply it rather than just to read and write

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For, but class sizes are large. For: If you learn a language, but cannot speak it, it would be meaninglessAgainst: …reading should not be neglected…we should be practical.

Table 18: Comparison of that teachers and their students’ opinions

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For: Good for students. With the improvement of listening and speaking, other abilities can be improved.

For: Although you can read, to communicate, you have to speak.

T = S

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For: I think to improve students’ abilities is just to make them understand when English is spoken, and speak in English. In this way, we can improve students’ English. Their reading ability in turn will be improved.

For: it is very difficult to speak… Against: The first one is more practical, for we will be in the area of engineering, [what we need is reading]….

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For: If we believe that English is a means of communication, the priority should be listening and speaking…

Against: we do not have opportunity to speak…in the environment of Chinese culture, we speak in Chinese unconsciously…

T ↔ S

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For: This is the choice conforming to the tendency of the day… the new goal required that teachers should have high linguistic proficiency

For: If you have the abilities in listening and speaking, your abilities in reading and writing will naturally be improved…Against: To learn English well, it doesn’t mean that you can only speak…If you can only say something, but cannot write about it, there will also be problems in communicating with people…

11For: afraid of communicating with native English speaker

For: In the interviews by foreign enterprise, listening and speaking abilities are very important.

T = S

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For, but it takes time because of the difficulties… With much hesitation, too indirect

For: Just as we learn our mother tongue: listening comes first. …the new goal of teaching follows the natural law of language learning… `

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Against : Reading was what the students would be needed most in their future For, but …: For the change, but they suspected that some problems may prevent the goal from being achieved

For Language learning is a process of listening, speaking, reading, and writing;

(2) Listening and speaking rather than reading and writing should act as key criteria of knowing a language; (3)Without listening & speaking, without communication; (4) Improvement in listening and speaking can lead to that in reading and writing.

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Discussion Discussion Are there any great needs for all College English students to

have strong abilities in listening and speaking? Needs analysis, “the process of determining the

needs for which a learner or group of learners requires a language and arranging the needs according to priorities” (Richards & Schmidt, 2002:353)

In a foreign language environment there is no fossilization (Han, 2008), “the relatively permanent incorporation of incorrect linguistic forms into a person’s second language competence; also referred to as stabilization” (Brown, 2007:382).

“Limited opportunity for L2 practice is the most salient characteristic of FL contexts” (Dekeyser, 2007:186).

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Situation of teachersSituation of teachers

Teachers are “a key factor in the successful implementation of curriculum changes” (Richards, 2001:99).

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Young and lacking in teaching experiences: Teachers aged 30-39 accounted for 50%, and aged under 30 accounted for 21.2 %;

Imbalance in gender: 73% were female;Low in academic qualifications: 44.68% were with

Bachelor degree, and 55.31% with master degree;Low in academic ranks: lecturers and assistants

accounted for 80%;Lacking in experiences in English speaking countries:

99% of teachers have never had an experience of working or studying in English speaking countries;

Working under a heavy workload: All teachers overwork;

Teaching large class sizes: In most cases, their class sizes were 60-90.

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Teachers with low academic ranks and qualifications taught large class sizes. All of them overworked. Most of them were lacking in teaching experiences.

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[L]anguage is rooted in culture (Emmitt & Pollock (1997:41).

…language learning is culture learning and consequently language teaching is culture teaching (Byram:42).

As language teachers we must be interested in the study of culture …not because we necessarily want to teach the culture of the other country but because we have to teach it. If we teach language without teaching at the same time the culture in which it operates, we are teaching meaningless symbols …(Politzer, 1959: 100-1)

99% teachers without an experience of immersing in cultures of English speaking countries

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T10: This is the choice conforming to the tendency of the day…It is also demanding to teachers. … teachers, first of all, should have a high level of oral proficiency in English…

T11: In terms of reading, I have no problem. But, if you ask me to buy milk with a native English speaker, or to ring him/her, I am scared. I do not understand when the foreigner speaks to me…En…this issue is finally paid attention to. I think it is right to focus on listening and speaking. It is a matter of course.

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College English teachers’ workload is too heavy. It is quite common for them to over work…Over 90% of them teach over 10 class periods (45-50 minutes/period) each week. Their workload in many universities is 16-20 class periods per week…They seldom have opportunities for further studies or in-service training …many teachers need improving in pronunciation, grammar, culture studies, and methodology. (Wu, 2004).

College English teaching faces the problem of “lacking in teachers seriously in terms of both quality and quantity” (Zhang, 2002:4)

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Class sizeClass sizeLarge class sizes 20 (NCTE, 1998:7), 25 (Broughton, et al., 1980:175) 33.5 (Takanashi, 2004:5) 45 (Hubbard, et al., 1983:303)

46-90 in U1, U2, U3Large class sizes are found common in College English

teaching:

60 (Du, 2002:74; Watkins & Biggs, 2001:13; Shu, 2004:289),

80 (Wu, 2004)

over 100 (Cortazzi & Jin, 1996:181; 2001:115). 56

Academic competence Interpersonal competence

1. Reading 1. Listening2. Listening 2. Speaking3. Writing 3. Reading4. Speaking 4. Writing

Table 19: Priorities for L2 activities

Source: Saville-Troike, 2006:135

Teaching for academic purpose or Teaching for academic purpose or interpersonal purpose?interpersonal purpose?

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If the teacher is not a native speaker of the language being taught, and his teaching does not occur in a country where the language is widely spoken, it is very hard to create an authentic communicative context. (Hu, et al., 1988:329).

Reading should be the priority of teaching English as a foreign language (Dong, 2003; Ge, 1988; Hu, 2002; Huang, 2002; Li, 2003; Zhao, 2002).

Without reading, listening and speaking would be like water without a source, or a tree without roots” (Dong, 2003).

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Conclusion Conclusion

College English teaching in China is characterised by:

English as a foreign language; Chinese teachers of English who still

have some problems in their English proficiency and are under heavy workload;

large class sizes;classroom is dominated by teacher

talk. 59

“listening and speaking, reading and writing”

a confusion of a foreign language learning with the first language learning

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It would be desirable if every English learner could speak perfect English and understand English as easily as they understand their first language.

However, it cannot be done just as we cannot make everyone a billionaire in this world.

It would be more useful and realistic to teach College English for academic purpose than for interpersonal purpose.

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