Chinese Teachers' Views of Western Language Teaching: Context Informs Paradigms

Abstract

This article reports the views of 24 Chinese (People's Republic of China) teachers of English on the appropriateness and effectiveness of “Western” language‐teaching methods (here defined according to Canale & Swain, 1980) for use in Chinese situations. The Chinese teachers believed that the communicative approach was mainly applicable in China only for those students who planned to go to an English‐speaking country, and, as nonnative speakers, they noted their limitations with respect to the sociolinguistic and strategic competence in English that is required for using this approach effectively. The teachers also cited various constraints on implementing Western language‐teaching methods, including the context of the wider curriculum, traditional teaching methods, class sizes and schedules, resources and equipment, and the low status of teachers who teach communicative rather than analytic skills. An examination of these views in light of the context and theory of Western language teaching demonstrates that the Chinese teachers' concerns have considerable justification. Various suggestions are made as possible means of adapting Western language‐teaching methods to the situation in China.

Factors Affecting the Implementation of Communicative Language Teaching in Taiwanese College English Classes

“…Various research studies reported that instruction in EFL classrooms was still based on the traditional approach (Littlewood, 2007;Nunan, 2003;Savignon and Wang, 2003). The ideas of CLT are different from the educational values and traditions of many EFL settings (Burnaby & Sun, 1989;Li, 1998). In addition, situational factors such as large class sizes, test-oriented instruction, and students' low proficiency also influenced CLT practices.…”

Traditional Chinese Language Teaching Revisited: The Example of Recitation

“…ELT in China over the past decades is 'undoubtedly successful in its own terms' (Burnaby & Sun, 1989, p. 229) given that China is culturally and geographically distant from the English-speaking world and that the Chinese language is typologically distant from English language; as we have seen, ELT has a very short history in China, which has been disrupted by political events or upheavals and decades of isolation from western countries. An English major who has only studied within China, as observed by an American expert (Nida, 1984; cited in Ding, 1987), often has a better command of the language than the average American college graduate has of a foreign language which he or she has majored in and studied only in America.…”

“…constantly composing poems, verses or prose) was not neglected. So 'read plenty and write plenty' 5 became an established maxim in traditional language teaching. Quite obviously, the Chinese ancestral scholars' insistence on the command of a rich linguistic resource through abundant exposure (either through wide reading or intensive recitation) and on the engagement with output (writing) has considerable justification even examined under modern theories of language and literacy development.…”

Improving Second Language Speaking Proficiency via Interactional Feedback

“…For several decades there has been reference to communicative language teaching from around the world (Burnaby & Sun, 1989;Nunan, 1987; DOI: 10.4018/javet.2010100102 18 International Journal of Adult Vocational Education and Technology, 1(4), 17-30, October-December 2010 Copyright © 2010, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.…”