Professor Martin Wolff
I have often said that when a teacher stops learning, they should stop teaching. I want to thank my SYSU Fall 2009 post grad students for introducing me to a new term, “MUTE ENGLISH.” I had never heard this before and it has piqued my interest. A Google search revealed many student comments about MUTE ENGLISH but a Google Scholar search turned up not a single scholarly paper published on the subject.
ABSTRACT
“Mute English” is a unique Chinese phenomena ignored by linguistic scholars but derided by Chinese students. It is a communicative language taught as if it were a dead language, like Latin. We explore the origins, as well as the cause and effect of this phenomenon.
Read the article on the download page.
English is an important tool to communicate with foreigners and the whole world.There’are three abilities in learning English: listening, speaking and reading. However, English teachers in China always put emphasis on listening and reading while ingnoring speaking because they think it’s not related with the CET examinations.
AS we all know,the phenomena of “Mute English” in china is very serious.Many “good student” in english cannot communicate with others in our lifes.In my opinion,this is the result of chinese education system.Most students just study hard in listening and reading in order to get high scores,for the test usually don’t need to speaking english.I really want to have a good environment which can speak english as chinese to learn english well.
Actually,a language is a system for encoding and decoding information. We exchange information through listening,speaking,reading and writing. While in our country, when we learn English or other foreign languages,we often focus on reading and writing. Because the two of these are the most important things for us to pass examinations and get a better education.
On the other hand, we have little chance to speak English, for most of us are used to speak chinese and this is instinctive for us. So unless it is necessary, we rarely talk in English. As a result of that, MUTE ENGLISH become a quite common phenomenon in China.
I think the most important reason that results in “mute English” in China is there is no oral English exam in China. As a result, no teachers and students would “waste time” practising oral English. In China, the teachers and student expend too much time on learning English grammar, but too little time on opening their mouths to speak English. So I believe that if we China education department add the oral English exam in primary school and middle school, that will be a great boost to solve this problem. Besides, most Chinese students are shy of speaking Enilish; that may because they have been maken this habite for the long time English study in the mute mode.
Honestly，I think speaking and listening English are more important then writing.Because I don’t think examination is the only intention for learning English but communicated with each other is more important.
Mute English is a special Chinese phenomena indeed.There are many reasons for its happening.
Firstly,the level of learning English is evaluated by CET in China,and there is not any requirement for oral Enlish in CET! Accordingly,the students will neglect the part of oral English.CET needs reforming!
Secondly,there are not many teachers who can speak fluent English actually,at least not enough.And many English teachers teach the students Englisn in Chinese!How can the students learn to speak fluent English from the teachers?
At last,the students sometimes are afraid of being laughed at for his or her pronunciation.
Generally,mute English has its root in China.
We began to study English since junior high school. From that time on, our English teacher often told us not to speak “mute English”.
Yes, we all know to read it loud. But in the morning when we read aloud we find it is difficult to hear our sound in a class of 90 students when everyone tries his best to shout the English words. So we get used to mute English to concentrate on the book and memorize the words.
In china, we don’t have much opportunity to practise our oral English. In the thought of some students and teachers, we learn English to pass exams, it is nothing to do with whether we speak mute English or not. If we memorize the text it is OK, nobody cares whether we sound it right. I think china has a long way to go on the way of English teaching.
Just one month ago, I am a student of ‘mute English’. Because I think that I is hard to speak English with others, not only because my pronunciation is too bad but also my terrible listening. But today I don’t care about those badly things. Now I can communicate with anybody in English without thinking about my awful pronunciation, it makes me fell so good. So I hate my experience of English studying.
Mute English is a common phenomenon among Chinese students.There are two following reasons.Firstly,the education system has not established a kind of communication model.In class,the teacher is the leader and he talks a lot and a lot.However,the students may have no chances to speak out their ideas.Moreover,exams in China pay more attention to rather the grammer than the practicality .I think it is the root why so much people in China can attain a very high score but can not speak English fluently and freely.Secondly,most of Chinese people are very focus on their face.So if they make some errors in one word or sentence grammar,they will feel a shame.But I think if you can go the first step to open your mouth to speak and practice more ,you can do better gradually.
I have learnt english for more than ten years and i have already passed the CET-6,but when i am comunicating with foreigners, i stii can not understand them very well. Why!? That’s ‘mute English’. Our chinese english teachers let us pay too much attention to english grammar. But we all know language came earier than the grammar.So if we learn grammar instead of language,there will be some difficults in undestanding whant foreigners say.
I think there are three reasons.
1） It is well known that both teachers and students ignore the orall taining.The direct consequence is that our pronounciation is not pure;our expression is not proper and we always consider speaking English as writing an essay therefore we think again and again before speaking.
2） It may be a hidden reason. The character and traits of the person who speaks English.For instance, some students are obstuse, introverted and even don’t express themself in Chinese.So when it comes to English,it will be more difficult.
3） We always complain the lack of language enviorenment.But beyond the language enviorenment is our intention and view.We study English just for passing the variety of exams and speaking English in foreign countries.We thought it is not necessary to speak English in China.Maybe that’s why we only complain but don’t take action.
“Mute English”,it sounds interesting but exsists indeed among us.English is a language to communiacate with each other ,but sometimes it is only a subject,we recite it only to pass the exam and ignore its real use at the same time.Maybe we are able to get good marks in the examination,but can’t speak it fluently.Maybe this is a failure of our English education.And maybe it is highly time for each of us to chang the situation for the better.Great enphasises should be placed on lisening and speaking.After all ,English is a real language than a subject.
It’s true that“Mute English”is a common phenomenon in China currently, I think the problems are as follows:
To begin with, there lacks the English–speaking environment. We all know that the best way to improve our English is using it frequently, but if people around you all speak Chinese, when you insist on speaking English, I think that needs courage.
Furthermore, it is decided by the teaching style in our country. Teachers play a vital role in the process of our study, but we have few opportunity to speak out in the class, most of the time is just the teacher is speaking. Have been taught in this teaching style for so many years, we have gradually lost the initiative of speaking.
More importantly, most of the English exams in our country are not contain oral English. In order to pass the exam smoothly, we may pay more attention on English grammar and other things which are needed in the exam, and the time we spend on oral English are accordingly reduced.
Learning english contains five parts:listening,speaking,reading,writing and translations.We can do some exercise to improve our listening,reading,writing and translations.but we can not exercise our oral english in the tests.as a matter of fact,English is a communication tool,so we should try our best to speak english to avoid learning mute English.
The teachers in China play more attention on teaching grammar. They think before you use a language the first thing you should do is understand it. I still remember that my English teacher taught me how to spell and use the right English words and what orders the sentences are at the beginning of learning English. But they still neglect the importance of listening and talking. Our English teachers before always emphasize on using right words and grammar. These reasons may make the unique phenomena “Mute English” appear in China. As we known, in really communication grammars and right words are beside the point. If you can make others understand what you mean, you are right. Most of English teachers in china misunderstand what is primary and what is secondary.
Each teacher has his own way of teaching method,I think I can’t find any way to realize it good or bad.
I still remembered that when i came to the english class in my first time,i could hardly no what the teacher said,althoug she only gave me some simply words.after all,it is my first time to touch with english.my first english concentraed on the holding of the words.
with the process of the study,grmmar have come to my sight.it seems so dull and difficult.which even made me lost the intrest.fourtunately,i did’t give up,and with my hard work and others’help,i held up.
when my college began,every thing has changed.i foud i had a aim,which encourage me to make my speaking,listenning,writting and reading skill better.most importantly,with the help of the professor,i am bound to make a big progress for i am in a well english speaking environment.
Today English is more and more important in our life. Although we lived in China. Because the world is getting smaller and smaller and people, from different country, communicate more frequent than before. If we want to find a good gob in a big city, English became open.
Everyone knows that English is useful in our life and work. More of them can write it and listen it but not speak it. So “Mute English” is a universal phenomena in China. In our daily life we have not more chances to speak English, because our parents and many friends can not speak it. So more people study it through listen it and write it even do more practice items. I think that is way our English is “Mute English”.
I have been studying English for twelve years,but I admit that my English is still”Mute English”
Why Mute English exists in China for so long?First,the situation of China should be an important reason.As we know,English is very important if you want to receive a higher education,or go abroad,or look for a good job.But it is your written English will help you.So most of students can do a good job in exams,but can’t listen or speak English well.Second,there is no appropriate envionment of learning English in China.Although we want to improve our English,but we often give in since no one will speak English with you in daily life.English lessons does help,but just help a little.Third,the character of Chinese maybe a reason.We consider English important,but we don’t take out motivity to learn it well.Sometimes it is necessary to have good spoken English,but we just practice it ahead of the time.After that,we forget all.
Frankly speaking,if you want to learn English,that’s one thing you have to do,that is ,you should cultivate your interest in English.
Actually, the phenomenon of “Mute English” in China is quite a serious problem. Someone who does well in CET-6 may not speak English well. Many English Corners are also ridiculous that some people talk with each other in Chinese. Tracing it to its cause, we have little chance to speak English, and we often use English to pass the examination. So, we should try our best to build up the environment to learn English and make Mute English gone.
We all disdain it but we have to admit its existing; we want to change it but we seldom abandon it successfully. That’s ours dilemmas when faced with MUTE ENGLISH.
I don’t think there’s any wrong for teachers focusing on the reading, listening and writing practices rather than speaking, because these parts are relevant to our examinations directly and scores remain in a decisive state at present. And the teachers would like us to speak more too in case of mute english too, however it hardly comes ture for no teachers would have their classes in pure english and their words seems powerless.
Besides, we seems too shy to speak english in public that we prefer to prepare our speaking in mind and repeat it from memory. Maybe we would give a fluent speech but the meaning of speaking may be lost. So I appreciate the way to acquire english in campaigns of CRAZY ENGLISH. It states a totally enclosed environment and you must live with english all day long when eating, sleeping, schooling…it proves to succeed and gives us the way to go.
We live in China and it’s ridiculous to live without Chinese but English. But we could try to seize every chance to speaking english if you like. And it’s up to us to choose the attitude to mute english: keep silence or open mouth.
Mute English is very common in China,especially in the backland.Most of the students study English for passing the exam,not for using it.Perhaps this is because the system in China.However,more and more people aware that if one person wants to master English,he has to read,write,listen and speak.All of them are very important.
I always hear that we are Chinese,why we study English.One sentence maybe a little intersting for the question.That we study English hard will make others study Chinese in the future.Anyway,no matter what purpose is,to learn English well is our responsibility.
It is part of my opinion that “Mute Enlish” is probably derived from the demand of people to get the information in English. I mean, people prefer getting message from reading English magazine ,watching the English channels,or listening to the radio rather than speaking. People think that understanding the message expressed by English is important which will help us get close to the development of the world, expectially the western countries.Speaking is the way of comunnication, and regarded as less important because of lack of language environment.Frankly I don’t stand up for the Mute Enlish due to the strong feeling that the speaking is the real existent of a language，but “Existence is possible”.
Mute English is a special Chinese phenomenon. Indeed, people may be afraid to speak English or seldom communicate with others by English for that they are afraid to make a mistake, especially 1970’s and 1980’s generation. English is a language tool for communication, but in China, people learn it just for learning, not for communication. That’s really a joke to satirize Chinese themselves.
Well, in China, people are good at a certain skill cause that it’s important and a certain skill is important cause that it is needed. For a common student who only wants to pass the exams, English is important, of cause. If one can’t pass English, he will not graduate. How can a student pass an English exam? The answer is good at reading and writing in English. The oral English is no needed. So the phenomena called “Mute English” turns up. But there are some students who want to go abroad or work with the foreigners. They know that speaking English is very important for them because that they really need it in future. That is why you can still find some Chinese who speak English fluently. If every student and teacher can figure out that English speaking is needed for everyone, there will be no “Mute English” in China.
Mute English is a common phenomenon among Chinese students. For that educational system in China, it has been a mindset to get a high score . So ,all of us are taught to focus on grammar or writing, while speaking skill was ignored. After so many years , though some of us can write beautiful English essays , most of us can not speak English out of mouth fluently or freely.
Every oral English , I am so nervous for that I am afraid to open my mouth, and I am afraid I can not express my opinions correctly. Though I have faced this problem for many years , I can not improve it no matter how hard I have tried.
So , what can I do about “MUTE ENGLISH”, help me !!
What english I have learend for ten years is mute english in fact.When I talk with people in english ,I can’t open my mouth and feel very nervous.I think most students have the same problem as me.Environment is very important for learning a language.There are no environmental pressures for us to speak english,but if we want to improve our english ,we can creat a environment for learn english.Many student learn english to get a high score in the exam,to have a CET,but not to communicate with people.So,we must correct our attitudes,only in this way,we can learn english much better.
Mute English is not new for me who come from the inland of China .In the inland of china ,English stduy is not for commumication ,but for score. Every student study hard day by day from the book. “If you have a high score,you do well in Enlish.” The English teacher is evaluated on the Englih score of study.So “Mute English” is not suprise for me.If we want to change it, I think first we should transform our concept . We should consider the English as L-TWO,in stead of score.
“Mute English” is a phenomenon that is common in many college students in China.Some students can read and write well but lack the ability to speak.
In my opinion ,there are several reasons:
Firstly,most of us study English mainly to pass the graduation tests and College English Tests rather than to communicate with English speakers.Usually,the oral english is not contained in an english test,as a result ,both the teachers and students will not spend their time on oral english.
Secondly,the English–speaking environment is very important .We can improve our oral english only if we practise speaking english as much as possible. But we are just too shy to speak english in public.
Well,it is high time that some measures should be taken to elimate the “Mute English”.
Nowadays,”Mute English” has become a serious problem among us.We have learned English for a long time, but most of us can’t communicate well with others in English. In addition, there are still many other students who can understand every word of a article, but fail to read them out fluently and correctly.I think it is high time that we paid more attention to this “Mute English”.Nobody but we ourselves could change this situation.Firstly,we should practise the pronunciation more and more. Secondly, we should not be afraid of losing face. Last but not least, we also should pay attention to the difference between oral language and written language. Only through these ways can we avoid “Mute English” and speak English fluently.
In china,mute English has been very common,many teachers just focused on lisening English,writting English,but,Ignored the importance of spoken language.at the same time ,students all have urgent wish to speak out what they have learned.then English corner comes up.it is a pity that only students themselves do something to change this embarrassing reality.Educational institutions may be aware of this problem,They began to hire foreign teachers from abroad.i hope this new force could bring a second spring to our chinese students.meanwhile, our own efforts also play a importance.
Mute English is a common phenomenon in China. Many Chinese students who have learned English for over 10 years can’t express themselves clearly. This surprises many foreigners. What do you learn a language for if you can’t use it to communicate with others? What makes them learn mute English?
Chinese teachers emphasis too much on grammars and ignore the practicability of English when they teach their students, so when the Chinese students want to express themselves in English, the first thing they worry about is whether they use the correct grammars. In their mind, the grammars come first, rather than the practicability. This makes it more diffcult to speak out in English.
Of course ,Chinese students themselves are also to blame for their mute English. They dare not to make mistakes and they think they will be laughed by others. So, they choose to shut up and listen to others. Little by little , they can just reading , listenning and writing. So it is not surprising that so many Chinese students learn mute English.
The phenomena like “Mute English” is not the only one.
We usually learn English words and grammars by heart. We usually learn oral English just by reading aloud. Those cause the phenomena of “Mute English”. However, “mute”, the phenomena exists in most classes in China. Not only in English class, but also in Chinese class and mathesmatics class and so on, Chinese students dislike comunicating with teachers. When the teacher asked a question, then “Any volunteer?” said again and again, but seldom or never student would answer questions initiatively. So the atmosphere of the class fell to the freezing point until the teacher called the roll.
As one of Chinese students, I have deeply impression on the upper saying. “Mute English” is just one part of reflection of Chinese education. Education in China has a long way to go.
It’s complex!
At first, people heared english they didn’t understand what the meaning it was. They thought it was noisy and funny, so they called it “Mute english” to compared to some birds sing song.
As china put forward her process of english for english all citizens,someone use it to express his terrible feeling of learning english and the hate feelings of without learning english it also goes well in her(his) life. Sometimes it uses this word to laught at he himself learned english so bad.
give or take, i think they are the using of this word.
Mute English is not only common in China but in other non-spoken English countries it is also a common failing.
There are many reasons to the phenomenon.
1.The traditional teaching method fails in the goal that a language is used to communicate but not only to value a student in the exam emphasizing the grammar.
2.Some students focus too much on their grammar and pronunciation, they are afraid about something wrong with their grammar and pronunciation. So they keep silent.
3.The environment is not good for students to speak English, because everyone around us speaks Chinese.
4.The most important reason is we not think in English, and some students think in Chinese and translate it into English before they speak English, so it’s difficult for them to understand the long sentences spoken at a normal speed and to communicate with foreigners. I think the premise we use a language to communicate is that we must learn to use the language to think, otherwise we will never master it.
Here I am talking about my own experience about communicating with foreigners in English. I find that the foreigners talk more than us. Every time I expressed myself in one sentence, they might say about five sentences. In effect, we can get the meaning what they want to express easily, but we can’t express ourselves fluently. Therefore we choose to listen to them carefully and talk little during the communication. It is of great importance that our poor oral English should be improved imminently.
“Mute English” is a very common phenomenon for our Chinese students who learn English,their writing can be very good,they can read many kinds of things written in English,and may good at listening,but their spoken English may not be so.All these happens for several reasons,among them ,I think the most important one is that our purpose of learning English is to get a higher point in many examinations,because these examinations are so important for us all,and in these examinations,we only need to write,read and listen,so many of us and our teachers ignore the ability of speaking ,in this way,we always learn English in the “Mute English” way.
The phenomenon of Mute English is very common in China.It roots in the English education system for a long time.It seems that we have accepted the fact and we are reluctant to change the situation.Though the teacher keep urging us to study English hard,the oral English doesn’t take an important role in our study.The teachers just intent to help us pass the exam,such as CET-4 and CET-6.But the exam haven’t even included the part of oral English.It causes that our English education can not focus on practicing our tongue,because no one will take the level of oral English into account.There is no need to create english-speaking environment.We are calling for reform of our education system which bases on the scores of examination.
It is a strange phenomenon that most people in China who have high scores in the English tests could not speak English. In their opinions, learning English is the way to pass the English test. So the skills of listening, reading and writing is more important than speaking. However, in my point of view, English is a tool for communicating. I agree that listening, reading and writing is important. But I think speaking is no less important than the other three skills above for the simple reason that we can not communicate with others without speaking. So, DO NOT KEEP MUTE ANY MORE.
It’s quite common that chinese students learn “mute english”.They are good at listening,reading,writting,but poor in speaking.Some of my friends attended the TOEFL test last year,they all got 30or 29 points in Reading and listening parts but lots of them got only 20 or so in speaking part.
And some of the students think that ALL the reasons to learn english are they are forced to and have to pass the test like CET,TOEFL,GRE as to get a good job.
The community-driven and the sense of worth of learning english should be corrected in order to change this no-so-good situation.
It is not strange to see the phenomenon of Mute English is in China.We were taught English by a Chinese teacher just for English examination when we were young.Unfortunately,oral English is not required in English exams,so we were foced to study mute English and we had to study it for exams so that we can spend time on other subjects such as maths,chemistry and so on.It is our educatian system that forced us to study mute English,but we can realize this problem and find the solution under Martin’s direction,I wish we can use real English.
As a useful tool, language should be studied by different methods and every skill should be practiced. But in China, English study is just a task that we everybody must learn from the day we were little boys and girls while English is regarded as maths, physics and other science subject. As a result, English just becomes the written English without sound. As we realize the importance of English, speaking English practice is the major obstacle we should step across. In my opinion, psychological barrier is the real problem, in order to overcome it, only one method can be useful, that is speaking English more and more. The more we practice, the less shy we would be!
Mute English means a person who can read english but cannot speak english smoothly . This is a common phenomenon in the colleage in china . I am also a really mute english student.
In my opinion ,there are several reasons: Firstly, In order to get test scores and test grades,
chinese teachers emphasize on grammars and ignore the oral English .Secondly, there are no environment for us to speak English.pelpole around us all speak chinese,we have no chance to speak english well. At last ,this is importance reason that we are very shy to speak english in the public. I think only if we truly overcome the psychological fear of speaking English, we can get rid of the mute english
When I read the “Mute English”,I quite agree to their views.Yes,Mute English is a common phenomenon in China.Many students study English only for pass the CET tests or graduation tests.So we read and write English but not speak.Our English teacher are all Chinese people,sometimes they did not speak English in our class,not to mention the students.We have not environment where we can speak English.In our daily life,if we try to speak English with a Chinese people ,they may think we are not normal.I think this is the root of “Mute English”.
English is important in our future,so I hope our school provied more opportunity for us to speak English.
The language environment，the poor ability of speaking English，the condition for English study……We always creat many excuses for our “mute English”.As English becomes a more and more important tool for communication and study,we should not make any excuse for upgrading ourselves unless you never want to go forward any more.So stop excuse!
What make English in China become a “Mute English”?People have discussed for
a long time. And I agree with the reason below.
No country in the world learns a second language so hard like China. And it become the main problem of learning English in China. Students learn the grammar
first and speaking second. In my opinion, speaking should go first so that one can be familiar with the language. Think about the experience of learning Chinese when we are young. We learn though talking to each other with Chinese without any grammar.
When referring to mute English , I can’t help to thinking of one of the story told by my aunti . She told me that when they began to learn English , they always didn’t know how to pronounce these English new words , so they wrote some Chinese characters whose pronunciation is similar to these English words near by them .For example , thank you ,they wrote “san ke you “near by it , and it means “3g oil “.This is really very funny.
But today , a lot of my classmates don’t like to speak what learning English . When they talk with others , the first sentence they will say is “My English is poor “.In my opinion ,if you don’t put what you learn into practice, then you will make it useless.
I still remember my teacher Li yang ,told us ,learning English is just like swimming .If you don’t go to the pool to put the coach’theory into practice ,then you can never know how to swim. So is it of learning English. So in order r to learn English well, we should yell all what we have learned out , and make ourselves to be an international person.
In China, many schools only put emphasis on listening, reading and writing in English education, English speaking is greatly ignored by English learner. Even CET which China attachs the most important to only examines English listening, reading and writing. So Mute English becomes a common phenomenon. I hope that every English learner, including me can boldly speak English with others and every Chinese gets out of the abyss of Mute English.
Mute English really is a unique phenomenon in China. The system of exam-oriented education is the root of mute English in china. As a student, we only need to learn listening, reading and writing English. Because the entrance examination doesn’t need to test your oral English. Usually, the teachers always speak and we only need to listen. Frankly, the teachers don’t have accurate pronunciation. How can we speak English good? And, my classmates are rarely speaking English, because of poor English oral ability and shy. In fact, mute English has been greatly influenced the students in China. If you want to change, still has a long way to go.
As most people know, it is widely acknowledged that the unique phenomena called “Mute English” are very common among Chinese students, even who do well in English listening, reading and writing. Many reasons may account for the phenomena, such as systems of our Chinese students’ English education and ways of English learning. Perhaps, in most people’s eyes, learning English is just to pass exams including final exam, college entrance exam, CET-4 and CET-6, not to put English in use (communicating with each other in English). Accordingly, many “excellence students” who have better abilities in listening, reading and writing are worse in speaking. However, learning English for so many years should be finally used and applied in English fields where speaking and communicating are the most important things, so it is high time that we spoke and exercised more and more to improve the ability of English speaking. To change the phenomena called “Mute English”, speaking and communicating more and more in English is the best way.
Mute English is not new to each of us, because ever since we began to study English in elementary school ,nearly every English teacher would told us it was important to speak English besides grasp the grammar knowledge. But, actually it is easier said than done.
Firstly, the students have so many subjects and homework to be finished in China, and English is only one of the basic courses, so they will not to make a special effort to practice speaking English, unless they are requested to or there have an examination. Secondly, the students themselves have not realized the importance of oral English, in their main, passing tests are the most important tings. As a student, I can keenly aware of their feelings. When I was a junior middle school student, I was great fear of speaking English, because I was unable to know and speak every words in an article accurately. Lastly, even though some English teachers realize the importance of speaking English, their ability are limited. My hometown is a small town in south of Xinjiang, some of the teacher in elementary school only have junior middle school diplomas. They can not reading English words accuracy themselves, not to mention teaching students to read accuracy. So, what we learned are just mute English.
Although mute English is universal in China, it is worth mentioning that more and more people in China begin to speak English nowadays, not only college students but also pupils, not only the young but also the old ,having the courage to speak English. I think, as graduate students, we should also have the courage to speak English, don’t be shy an afraid.