Comments on: What Does Reform Mean?

By: Rand Herz

Rand Herz — Sun, 23 May 2010 03:25:48 +0000

In answer to your question: How can TEFL in China be reformed to graduate students who can produce comprehensible oral and written English?
I have identified seven key areas where the Chinese academic sector is severely lacking:
Lack of consistency in foreign teachers
Lack of standardization and quality control
Lack of regulatory oversight
Lack of accountability
Lack of public awareness
Lack of educational activities fostering creative thinking and problem solving
Lack of coordination
It has been pointed out that foreign teachers are often temporary workers, given the fact that a high percentage of them are guitar-touting, illegal drug-consuming recent college graduates finding a cure for wanderlust and discovering themselves. Troubadours rather than teachers. This greatly hampers any ability to promote tenured professionals who can carryover curriculums and build on past experience. There are several applicable solutions to this problem: First, recruiting agencies require higher standards of excellence and face-to-face contact to ensure the professionalism of prospective employees. An idea with potential is for agencies to tour top Universities in English-speaking countries giving presentations on the benefits of taking a job as English language tutors in China. This can feasibly be for-profit. Second, institutions hiring foreign teachers and incoming foreign teachers both require an increase in awareness concerning the ideas of “cultural differences” and “hospitality” – culture shock goes both ways and Chinese employers need to be able to professionally accommodate a foreigner. Finally, standards of foreign teacher training need to be increased and reinforced to ensure that teachers with absolutely zero experience and training are not immediately given responsibility for language learning.
One of the difficulties of China’s political structure is a widespread lack of standardization and quality control. This manifests in discrepancy between education levels, application and effectiveness of the law, and levels of corporate and academic social responsibility across administrative regions. While drastic nation-wide standardization may be directly against Beijing’s interests in its current policy agenda, it remains an option. The other, more attractive, solution is to encourage the spread of information among industry peers through regularly scheduled local, regional and national conferences and events – both for Chinese English Teachers and Foreign English Teachers. These would be excellent grounds for spreading new methods of standardization and quality control.
Touching briefly back upon regulatory oversight: while the benefits of promoting a socially harmonious society through the local application of law have been noted, this opens the door for corruption at the local level. Cases in point are the acceptability of poor performance, misallocation of finances and resources, and bribery. One effective method of dealing with social issues on a societal level is through cinema. National blockbusters could be manufactured that specifically demonize these traits in positions of responsibility. Financial accountability is a far more difficult situation, as much of the financing is given by higher levels of government. The solution here would require stipulations to be attached to how government financial assistance will be utilized, followed by sustained oversight to assure capital is allocated as intended (and not on the latest BMW luxury models). Perhaps this is the most difficult to achieve, given existing cultural norms.
Lines of communication and the flow of information, despite the level of technology in the country, remain blocked or closed. This is both a social and a government phenomenon. Social in that the majority of the Chinese population remains largely immobile; government in that the state effectively censors domestic information distribution networks and often information is contained regionally. The result is a lack of public awareness in many key issues resulting in “uncomfortable truths”. In the context of developing an overarching policy to improve education levels, this can be circumvented easily to spread information pertaining to English education once a network of necessary lines of communication is realized. This should include national, regional and local government institutions; primary, secondary and tertiary school English departments and student union officials; and the private sector.
Traditional education practices in China discourage critical, independent thinking and creativity. While this serves very well for social cohesion, a balance can be struck where individuals are capable of problem solving while still maintaining the Confucian social philosophies that form the foundation of China’s respectable ability to maintain a stable social order given its size. Critical reasoning, problem solving and creative thinking can all be fostered through an application of teambuilding games and activities that depend on these attributes for success. A database of such activities is readily available: The United States Scouting Service Project. This group of Boy Scouts associations across the US has compiled a deep database of games and activities that can directly meet our needs: http://www.macscouter.com/Games/. These activities can be implemented through existing English Clubs, which exist at most schools or can be readily developed. ESEs (as per your description) in these endeavors are a must.
Finally, many Universities across China operate independently. They fail to participate in any unified provincial, regional or national activity. In the United States, one example of such an overarching body is the NCAA, which coordinates collegiate athletics and provides excellent organization to foster competition and success. Most Universities in China that have English programs also have an English club. It would be practical to connect these clubs and encourage Universities to develop their English communities across cities and regions through quarterly conferences and monthly inter-collegiate English club meetings (accomplished in the setting of an ESE). This would provide an excellent networking opportunity for students, as well as a forum for English language development.
Conclusively, the academic English language industry in China has great potential. An overarching plan combining disparate teaching methods and ideas into an applicable framework of ideas is the first step towards a solution. Holistic English provides such a platform, but it needs to be expanded from Spoken English and Business English into other fields, including Film & Cinema, Western Cultures (broken into American cultures, European cultures, African cultures, Pacific cultures and South African cultures), and specialized fields (law, sport, economics, politics, the arts, the sciences, etc.). Dr. Martin Wolff’s application of Holistic English at Sun Yat-sen is a phenomenal starting block, as it legitimizes a method that can be carried as the flag for this initiative.
Moving forward, central nodes of information for foreign teachers to draw on are required. Dave’s ESL Café is one very informal example. An unrelated model is the aforementioned United States Scouts Service Project (USSSP), which can be applied to English Language teaching in China (and, perhaps, globally). These nodes can potentially be constructed as several competing web portals operated independently, on national and regional levels and used to assemble information, distribute information pertaining to industry meetings, establish newswires and provide a forum for the exchange of ideas. A blogosphere or social network may also have potential, similar to SeekingAlpha’s contributor platform combined with an integration of an instant messaging program similar to or with the support of QQ (or a competitor).
Chinese students of English must also be encouraged further to study abroad, in order to provide them with language immersion. This is crucial for language development, as well as cultural development, and many Universities in China lack semester- or year-long study abroad programs. Hand-in-hand with Study Abroad is the opening of lines of communication between Universities within China – as very few Universities cooperate in forums together. More needs to be done to encourage city-wide consortium programs – a prime example of this can be seen in the DC Consortium, an effort by 14 Universities in the District of Columbia to compile resources to foster learning and education. This can be used as an excellent model.
A unification of purpose is mandatory. All state-run English-related regulatory institutions, the Universities, national-level private organizations (Web, New Oriental, New Concept, English First, Aston English, New Dynamic), foreign universities working in concert with Chinese universities, and capable foreign experts need to be brought together with a common vision. A yearly conference with representatives of these institutions can be a starting point for this initiative, complete with guest speakers and hosts to direct thought and banquets and forums to encourage dynamic thought. The World Economic Forum provides an example of such a meeting in its annual Davos summit – a prime example of forward-thinking decision-making by industry leaders.
In closing, note that this website’s detailed documentation of University teaching in China leaves out a hugely important factor: the private sector. This industry is teeming with growth and development and the market is still nacsent.
Also note that my information is incomplete – my apologies for any redundancy in suggesting these ideas as many of them may already have been implemented in some form or another.

By: Tina Class 11C

Tina Class 11C — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 12:55:23 +0000

Reform of China attached so much importance means that state place high attention to English and school education. The government is making efforts to improve the hardware facilities of the school, in order to create a good environment for students. I think we should treasure the resources and make full use of teaching resources to learn English seriously.

By: chester class2

chester class2 — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:58:02 +0000

In fact, we know the reforming is very necessary. When we see that China’s universities to train students with the knowledge staynng on paper, but can not speak. we will be able to fully experience it. Perhaps the key of the problem is implementation. Despite the Government’s education in English has spent considerable resources, but little effective. This is a very worthwhile review. English as a universal language, master it is very necessary. We are carrying out reforms should have this belief, in order to get things more better and it can be a more efficient use of existing resources. Of course, China as a developing country, the economy is not very good. The reforming can be properly upgrade ourself.

By: Betty5

Betty5 — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:27:18 +0000

I heard a story about some history study on some aspect about Qing dynasty from one of my undergraduate professors whose major is history of Qing dynasty. He praised a foreign researcher whose mayor is also history of Qing dynasty to be very empirical. One of a problem in the research realm of Qing dynasty has been rounded by many Chinese researchers, because to address this problem a researcher has to dig himself in to mountains like files and may come out without finding the answer. But this problem is solve by a foreign researcher on Qing dynasty history. Reform should be empirical if we want to have a happy ending.

By: Aline-class3

Aline-class3 — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:26:23 +0000

I do think it is true that China invests to much in the English Teaching but gains little.In China,children begin to study English from their primary school hood.Their are so many English teacher in Chinese.What’s more,parents want their children learn English well may invite family teacher to teach their children English.In words,Chinese people do whatever they can to learn English.However,all of this seems don’t work,and their English still very poor.Here,in this article,the author told us how to change our circumstance.Yes,we should create an English speaking environment..Only speak English in English class is not enough.We should say English as more as we can.Only learn written English is also not enough,we should speak more other than listening our teacher said.In summary,Chinese Ministry of Education should give some more reforms in EFL education.Maybe the reduction in Mute English should be considered.

By: selina5

selina5 — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:08:14 +0000

Yes ,you are right. There are so many things in China that needs to be reformed. Although the Chinese government has made great effort to improve our educational facilities, it can not be changed over night. For China is such a big country with so many colleges and students. And I think the ENGLISH SPEAKING ENVIRONMENT is the biggest failure of our educational reform. There is little English speaking atmosphere in most universities of China. So most students who have learned English for more than 10 years cannot even speak or write English comprehensively.

By: Kathy5

Kathy5 — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:58:14 +0000

I’ve grown up in Kunming. It’s a city in western China. For Western China, Kunming is a kind of ‘rich city’. But I still remember when I was in middle school we listen the English type which was paired of out text book from an old recorder. By the way, my middle school was the best one in the city. But in Kunming we had so many foreigners, some of them were businessmen, some were teachers, most common were visitors. So for me, I didn’t learned much in my school time, I learned English in church beside my home and a teahouse near my school (the boss of the teahouse was an American, he taught me how to enjoy the country music). In Western China, people are really poorer than other places, so is the government. Sometimes we can’t blame that we do not have good environment to study. Especially English, in my opinion, we can learn it anywhere and with anyone at anytime. It’s an attitude and interest problem.

By: Betty5

Betty5 — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:47:28 +0000

I like this empirical style. I wonder whether the Ministry of Education which launched the new campaign to reform EFL education at the turn of the 21st century has done such a survey by going to the colleges and using the equipments to check whether they operate properly. Our Chinese government keeps emphasizing the importance of education while the money putting into educational reformation is still a small proportion of governmental expenditure. There are indeed some advances in our language acquisition pedagogy and methodology, multi-media classrooms, computer labs and sound labs, English acquisition libraries and the creation of English speaking environments, but there are more things we can do to improve our English educational environment when we acknowledge what is the real state of the English educational environment in china.

By: Eason class 6

Eason class 6 — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:17:33 +0000

From the article, I also agreed that it was a complete failure of the Ministry of Education’s mandate to “modernize” the teaching of English as a foreign language in China. Take my own experiences in the SYSU for example, the facilities is only used in class. Students rarely used them after class. In south China, if the students need it, they claimed for, maybe they can allowed to used them. But many students have no passion to learn English. They learned English only to pass the exam. They rarely used in the daily life. Take myself for example, I learned English only to pass the exam. I rarely learns English after class except that there will be a exam. That may be the other reason why the mandate failed.

By: Sunny Class Three

Sunny Class Three — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 12:26:40 +0000

I am luck because these modern and better technology equipments are all existed in my university–multi-media classrooms, computer labs and sound labs, English acquisition libraries and English corner. However, unluckily, few students use this high-ranking implementation frequently. The fact is that our multi-media classrooms are used to show PPT, there are only approximate ten available computers linking to internet in our computer labs, our English teachers use sound labs as ordinary classrooms, the books and journals in English acquisition libraries are boring and old, most students never go to English corner…
I have to admit that we only waste money on the modern technology. Reform cannot be only the full scale implementation. The more important is that we should put more wisdom and energy to change our education system, but not only the equipment.