A Brief History of English Teaching in China.doc

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1、A Brief History of English Teaching in ChinaPart I. IntroductionThe learning of English in China, however, has a longer history and now occupies the attention of millions of it s people. How many million is hard to say, since much depends on the level of proficiency one takes as the norm. But there

2、are probably three hundred million actively engaged in the job of learning English.This paper includes four big parts, the beginning is a brief introduction for china English learning. Part two is the actuality of English learning in china. Part three is the reason that English introduction and lear

3、ning widely in china. Last one part is a brief introduction of English teaching in china from Ching dynasty until now.Part II. The Actuality of English Learning in Resent China2.1 China Originally Felt No Need of The WestChina originally felt no need of the West, in fact deliberately avoided all con

4、tact, for fear of cultural contamination. The bombing of the Chinese embassy during the Kosovo war was a terrible setback in relations which had been steadily improving.2.2 Formal Training in Interpretation Began as the Desire for Joining WTOHowever, despite this, partly because of its desire to joi

5、n the World Trade Organization (WTO),China has welcomed and listened politely to leaders of Western countries as they gave their views on democracy and human rights. The language in which President Clinton spoke, during his Visit to China, was of course English. President Jiang Zemin made his replie

6、s in Chinese. But each was backed up by a team of first-class interpreters, who made smooth communication possible. Formal training in interpretation is comparatively recent in China. It was only in 1978 that the first object for Translators and Interpreters started at the Beijing Foreign Language I

7、nstitute. The object subsequently developed into the prestigious school of translation in the Beijing Foreign Studies University. Part III. The Reason that Why We Learn English Chinas reasons for learning English were well summed up twenty years ago by a team from the U.S. International Communicatio

8、n Agency after visiting five cities and many educational institutions in China: The Chinese view English primarily as an ecessary tool which can facilitate access to modem scientific and technological advances, and secondarily as a vehicle to promote commerce and understanding between the Peoples Re

9、public of China and countries where English is a major language.This basic motivation has not changed, as can be seen from the report of the English 2000 Conference in Beijing, sponsored jointly by the British Council and the State Education Commission of the Peoples Republic of China, in which reas

10、ons for the learning of English by Chinese were summarised:They learn English because it is the language of science, specifically perhaps of the majority of research journals. They learn it because it is the neutral language of commerce, the standard currency of international travel and communicatio

11、n. They learn it because you find more software in English than in all other languages put together.Part IV. Brief Introduction of English Teaching in China from Ching Dynasty until Now.4.1 English Language Learning Is Not Uniform Throughout ChinaThe story of English language learning is not uniform

12、 throughout China. Maley warns anyone embarking on a study of contemporary China about the difficulty of making sensible generalisation about it, since China is not one place geographically, But many. The learning of English in the Mountain ousprovinces near Tibet is very different from the way it i

13、s studied in the cities of Nanjing, Shanghai or Beijing. Nevertheless, there are sufficient general characteristics about the history of the learning of English in different parts of China to justify a brief review, if only to remind us of the pendulum swings of Chinas history this century. Those wh

14、o wish to find the story more fully told may consult Dzau and Cortazzi and Jin. 4.2 English Teaching First Figured in 1902 and Learned from JapanAlthough there is mention of English language teaching (ELT) in China in the mid nineteenth century during the Ching Dynasty, it first figured in the sylla

15、bus of schools in 1902 in His Majestys Teaching Standards for Primary and Secondary Institutions .In those early days the model for education in China was that of Japan. The method of ELT was traditional, with emphasis on reading and translation. There was much grammar and vocabulary learning, with

16、pronunciation learned by imitation and repetition. This was the norm for about the first twenty years of the century.4.3 Change of Direction and More towards Western ModelsIn 1922 there was a change of direction, with a swing away from the Japanese system of education, and towards more Western model

17、s. Schools were obliged to follow the Outlines for School Syllabuses of the New Teaching System. These put more emphasis on listening and speaking skills. There was more use of the target language and of the new teaching resources offered by the mass media. The best schools tended to be Christian mi

18、ssionary schools, which gave more class-hours to English than other schools.4.3 China-the Founding Stop English Teaching in There1949 was a crucial date in the history of China-the founding of the Peoples Republic of China. Education had now to serve the proletarian purpose. All textbooks became veh

19、icles for government propaganda, loaded with messages of service to the people and the mother land. The Ministry of Education issued a new Scheme for English Instruction in Secondary Schools in which the goal of English language learning was clearly stated as being to serve the New Republic. All cap

20、italist thinking, especially educational ideas from the United States and Britain, were condemned as unpatriotic.The place of English was taken in school syllabuses（大纲） by Russian and by 1954 Russian had become the only foreign language taught in Chinese schools. This phase did not last long, howeve

21、r, since China was already trying to extend her markets throughout the world and immediately felt its lack of English. 4.4 English Teaching Restarted in Secondary Schools.Accordingly, in 1955 the Ministry of Education announced that English teaching should be restarted in secondary schools. In big c

22、ities, like Shanghai, it was also reintroduced at primary level. Initially the textbooks were based on the former Russian models, which, like their Japanese predecessors, were very traditional. Methodology too was backward: the teacher was seen as the provider of knowledge and the students dutifully

23、 as similated the teachers words of wisdom, working their way ploddingly through the textbook. However, in the late 1950s and early 1960s,a minor revolution in education took place in China, as the need to open up to the international scene became more urgent. The importance of English was accepted

24、and a significant step was taken in 1962 when English became part of the entrance examination for colleges and universities. New teaching materials appeared, with listening and speaking again given prominence. The Ministry of Education issued guidelines for textbook writers, recommending that Englis

25、h text books should include material on the culture of the English speaking countries. It began to look as though better days had come for ELT in China. 4.5 Swept Aside by the Cultural RevolutionBut it was not to be. With distressing inevitability. The Chinese pendulum swung, and the progress made i

26、n the early 1960s was swept aside by the Cultural Revolution, which began in 1966 and lasted for ten dreadful years. English was. again banned from schools. Foreign language teachers were branded as spies. Some universities were closed, others were subjected to re-education visits. Dow describes the

27、 situation thus:During the Cultural Revolution, when workers propaganda teams for the spreading of Mao Tse-Tungs thoughts came to Chinas colleges, classes were stopped altogether, and the students travelled instead all over the country in order to take part in criticism and debate and to exchange re

28、volutionary experiences.4.6 Happier Times were Ahead for China and for ELT in China After the Cultural RevolutionBy 1977 the Cultural Revolution had exhausted itself and the country with it. There is an old York shire saying:Theres not like religion when its bent. Those who lived through the Cultura

29、l Revolution in China would challenge that saying ,maintaining that distorted political ideology can be much worse than bent religion. However, happier times were ahead for China and for ELT in China. In 1978 the Ministry of Education held an important conference on foreign language teaching. Englis

30、h was given prominence again in schools, on a par with Chinese and Maths. By the early1980s it had been restored as a compulsory subject in the college entrance exam. It has not looked back since then and the fervor for learning English has been fanned by Teach Yourself English programme on televisi

31、on, watched by hundreds of millions of people. 4.7 The Need for Both Social and Academic English Became ApparentAs China opened up more and Chinese scholars were allowed abroad, the need for both social and academic English became apparent. As markets also opened up and more foreigners were allowed

32、into the country to do business, the appetite for Business English among all levels of Chinese people has become insatiable. The Chinese are a diligent and intelligent race and are surely destined to make a significant mark on the history of the twenty-first century. Bibliography：Baidu the history o

33、f english languageBaidu the history of english language learning in chinaSogou The Actuality of English Learning in Resent China 目录摘要. .i Abstract.iiAcknowledgements. . .iiiTable of Contents. . . .ivPart I. Introduction1Part II. The Actuality of English Learning in Resent China12.1 China Originally

34、Felt No Need of The West12.2 Formal Training in Interpretation Began as the Desire for Joining WTO1Part III. The Reason that Why We Learn English2Part IV. Brief Introduction of English Teaching in China from Ching Dynasty until Now.34.1 English Language Learning Is Not Uniform Throughout China34.2 E

35、nglish Teaching First Figured in 1902 and Learned from Japan34.3 China-the Founding Stop English Teaching in There44.4 English Teaching Restarted in Secondary Schools.44.5 Swept Aside by the Cultural Revolution54.6 Happier Times were Ahead for China and for ELT in China After the Cultural Revolution54.7 The Need for Both Social and Academic English Became Apparent6Bibliography：7