Oral English in China

Abstract

Many Chinese students begin to learn English as a main subject in primary schools. They focus on the written English while ignore the oral part, because a long-term exploration of traditional teaching makes them believe that test paper score is the ultimate goal. Students have few opportunities to practice their oral English. The situation leads to stagnant, even receded, oral English skills. Therefore, it is a challenge that how to help students to develop their oral English. This paper aims to analyze this situation and put forward some suggestions. The findings reveal that three factors affect oral English: Mother-tongue Interference, Discouraged Atmosphere and Unsatisfying Teacher Qualification. For most Chinese learners, native language will influence their oral English unconsciously in terms of segmental and suprasegmental aspects. Discouraged Atmosphere including the neglect of education system, insufficient education fund and tense relationship between teachers and students are also urgent problems. Furthermore, the average teachers' quality is low, especially in rural areas. For these situations, recommendations are provided in this paper. Firstly, it is important to create a real English environment for learners and it is an effective way to improve learners' oral ability by encouraging them to practice oral expression and imitate native speakers' tone. Secondly, schools should carry out preservice training programs for teachers and teachers should look for high-quality educational resources online to improve their levels. Thirdly, the teaching system should be reformed, including putting the oral English in the formal examinations to stimulate learners' learning motivation.

Influencing Factors and Countermeasures of Chinese Students' Oral English Proficiency

“…The majority of English teachers' oral English proficiency is at a lower level than what level they should be [3]. A number of teachers even indicated that they can neither express themselves accurately in English, nor communicate with English speakers in daily dialogues [6]. On the one hand, phonetic errors might challenge these teachers.…”

“…Shan suggested that organizing effective oral interaction activities is beneficial to creating positive English communication environments, which could possibly reduce the anxiety of students while speaking English and encourage students to actively participate in the activities [5]. Nevertheless, the ability to conduct efficient activities is precisely what the majority of Chinese English teachers lacked [6].…”

“…Such a teaching model is probably due to China's English education system. Chang and Zhang both indicated that oral English competence is not assessed as a mandatory skill in China's examination system, though China's Standards of English Language Ability launched by the Ministry of Education have acknowledged the importance of oral communication competence [3,6]. In other words, the existing assessment and examination system in China may fail to match the changed demand for students' English competence.…”

“…As previously mentioned, the professional quality of Chinese English teachers may not have attained the expected level. However, this problem might not need to be considered in a large number of regions, instead, the lack of English teachers is mostly a concerned, particularly in rural areas [6]. The causes of the dearth of English teachers varied, such as huge job stress, large-scale lectures, adverse teaching conditions and low salaries which might be the primary reason [8].…”

“…Additionally, limited educational resources may lead to fewer opportunities for in-service teachers to obtain further professional training. In terms of teaching facilities, a number of schools in certain areas may lack smart teaching devices, but a few regions do not even have basic facilities to support students such as audio devices to practice English listening or spacious classrooms to conduct English communication [6].…”