Teaching English as a foreign

language in Chinese universities:

The present and future
Z H E N H U I R AO A N D C H U N H U A L E I

An appropriate way to teach English in China is to balance

teaching activities for elaborating linguistic details and
developing students communicative competence

Introduction the prospects for EFL teaching in Chinese univer-

sities in the 21st century.
In the past two decades, there have been two
important events in English as a Foreign
Language (hereafter, EFL) teaching in Chinese
universities throughout the country. The first
event was a gradual growth in student enrolment
in universities, and the second was the EFL teach-
ZHENHUI RAO is a
ing reform that aimed to introduce Communicative Professor at Jiangxi Normal
Language Teaching (hereafter, CLT) into the University, China. He has a
English classroom (Rao, 2010). There is an appar- PhD in applied linguistics
ent conflict between the increase in student numbers from the University of South
in each class and the use of CLT in the language Australia. His recent
classroom, thus resulting in a series of problems publications have appeared
for current EFL teaching in Chinese universities. in journals such as ELT
On the one hand, frequent contact with foreigners Journal (2007), Modern
speaking English nowadays makes it necessary for English Teachers (2009),
Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural
English teachers to develop students communica-
Development (2010), and The Language Learning
tive competence. On the other hand, some problems Journal (2012). His main research interests are in
such as large classes, high demands on English tea- English teaching methodology and language
chers and a lack of financial resources prevent tea- learning strategies. Email: rao5510@jxnu.edu.cn
chers from getting their students involved in the
communicative activities in their teaching process CHUNHUA LEI is a
(Rao, 1996; Yu, 2001; Hu, 2002). Lecturer in Jiangxi Normal
There are two types of EFL teaching at the ter- University, China. He is
tiary level in China. One is for English majors currently a PhD student in
and the other is for non-English majors. As applied linguistics in Jiangxi
non-English majors account for a great majority Normal University. He has
been teaching English for
of Chinese university students (more than 90%;
13 years, and has published
Jin & Cortazzi, 2006), we devote this paper to several articles in academic
describing EFL teaching for non-English majors journals. His main
only. Three aspects are considered here, i.e. issues research interests are in English teaching
revolving around teachers, issues revolving around methodology and second language acquisition.
students, and the English Intensive Reading Course Email: chucklei@126.com.
in Chinese universities. Following this, we explore

doi:10.1017/S026607841400039X
40 English Today 120, Vol. 30, No. 4 (December 2014). Printed in the United Kingdom 2014 Cambridge University Press
Teachers knowing that they are presenting collective knowl-
edge to their students which may eventually appear
EFL teaching in Chinese universities is conducted in the examination.
by a contingent of teachers who are indigenous Most of the English lectures in China are
Chinese and have been basically trained at home teacher-centered and book-centered (Rao, 1996;
institutions where there are only a few native Hu, 2002). Chinese teachers are unwilling to risk
speakers of English. It is estimated that there departure from the text because of the whole
are approximately 60,000 university English tea- system of teaching preparation adopted from the
chers, but only a privileged minority of teachers former Soviet Russia straight after liberation.
have the opportunity of studying in English- Teachers prepare texts and materials that:
speaking countries (Zhang, 2010). Many univer-
(1) are politically safe and sanctioned;
sity English teachers in China have not had any
(2) contain texts short enough to cover in one
formal teacher training, but have been fully occu-
lecture;
pied with a heavy teaching load because the num-
(3) have appropriate grammatical and translation
ber of university students is gradually increasing
exercises after each text which they feel are
(Borg & Liu, 2013). On the whole, English tea-
targeted to the structures the Chinese have
chers at the tertiary level are proficient in the
the most problems with;
English language, but not many of them are famil-
(4) have the important points already highlighted
iar with the current trends in EFL methodology.
for them.
Although CLT has been strongly advocated since
the early 1990s, most teachers in Chinese univer- It is also appreciated if background information
sities find it difficult and awkward to teach is included in the teachers manual. In general, tea-
English in the communicative way and still adhere chers do not endeavor to risk using new materials
to the traditional methods and technologies (Zhu, because they know that being innovative costs
2003). A study conducted by Liu & Gong (2000) them additional work and causes potential embar-
revealed that many EFL teachers in Chinese uni- rassment (Fang & Warschauer, 2004).
versities considered memorization of grammar All these factors have inevitably led to teacher-
rules and patterns of usage as an efficient way in centered classroom teaching, which is repeatedly
which to learn English. reported in the literature. Young & Lee (1985)
Teachers in China (either in middle schools or in compared teaching styles between over 500
universities) are not free to teach whatever they Chinese teachers and 40 Anglo teachers. Using a
want in the classroom. All the textbooks and teach- questionnaire designed to elicit teachers attitudes
ing materials are nationally uniform, and teachers towards teacher-directed or student-centered class-
are expected to cover the curriculum developed rooms, Young & Lee (1985) discovered a highly
by the government. Teaching groups modeled on significant and wide difference between the two
the formal Soviet system were initiated in the groups. The replies from the Chinese teachers
early 1950s when the structural reorganization showed consistently more favorable attitudes
of higher learning was taking place. Under this towards teacher-directed classroom activities than
system, teachers who teach similar courses also was the case for Western teachers. Moreover, it
prepare lectures collectively, discuss teaching pro- was found that the Chinese teachers attitudes
grams and materials, work out central or difficult were not susceptible to change by means of inter-
points in a lecture, watch demonstrations by master ventions such as in-service teacher retraining
teachers, give teaching practice to new teachers, courses designed to develop more positive attitudes
attend refresher training courses, and collect towards student-centered learning and communica-
and study questions or opinions raised during or tive language teaching. The findings of Young &
after class. Lees (1985) study were later supported by
Class assignments are carefully allocated to each Paines (1992) fieldwork.
member of a teaching group. Each teacher looks up To make university English teachers in China
background information, does research on the topic follow trends in modern EFL teaching and to
of the text, examines difficult points and deter- meet the challenges of the new century, administra-
mines what is important to emphasize. A weekly tors and researchers in the Ministry of Education
group meeting is then held where all this informa- and universities have taken a series of measures
tion is mutually shared and discussed. After each to develop EFL teacher education, and many lead-
teachers report is reviewed by the group, teachers ing linguistics and applied linguistics programs
write their own lectures. Teachers feel secure in have been involved in organizing teacher training

TEACHIN G ENG LIS H AS A FOREIGN LAN GUAG E IN C HINESE UNIVERSI TI ES 41

programs (Wu, 2001). However, as there is a modern teaching equipment. In contrast, middle
severe lack of EFL teachers and a variety of schools in small towns and rural areas are poorly
needs for teacher training, there are no suitable funded. Teachers there do not have much training
models of teacher development in China (Borg & in English because they have learnt a limited
Liu, 2013). How can we reconcile traditional amount of English themselves, either by self-study
Chinese EFL teaching with modern Western teach- or by attending a short English training course (Hu,
ing methods? What can we do to meet the chal- 2003). Undoubtedly, such a striking difference in
lenges we face? These are urgent questions that English teaching among various types of middle
need to be answered before the efficiency of teach- schools will result in students different learning
er training programs can be greatly improved. habits and strategies.
Students admitted to universities continue to
have another two years of English learning.
Students During these two years, they receive about 300
Since 1977, educational institutes at the tertiary classroom hours of English instruction. The
level in China have been enrolling students by College English Syllabus issued in 2002 included
national matriculation. At the beginning of the 5,109 vocabulary items, not including phrases,
1980s, competition to be admitted to a tertiary insti- derivations and proper nouns. Also stressed in
tute was extremely fierce, and only a very small this syllabus is the training of four language skills
number of graduates (about 12%) from senior mid- (listening, speaking, reading and reading), as well
dle schools could enter university. In 1999, the as traditional grammatical requirements. Since
number of graduates from senior middle schools English is one of the compulsory courses in univer-
admitted by Chinese universities and colleges was sities, all the students are required to pass the
2 million, but it rose to 20 million in 2004 (Jin & College English Test (CET) Band 4, a nationwide
Cortazzi, 2006). However, in 2010 the number standard English test. This is the minimum require-
was as high as 30 million (Xinhua, 2011). ment for graduates in Chinese universities.
Upon admission to tertiary institutes, students
will have acquired some primary English vocabu-
lary ranging from 2,000 to 2,500 words and a The English Intensive Reading Course
basic knowledge of English grammar with accept- in Chinese universities
able English pronunciation and intonation (Jin &
The Intensive Reading Course is the premier lan-
Cortazzi, 2006). On average, these students can
guage course carried out in almost all Chinese uni-
read some simple English texts without too much
versities. There is a uniform syllabus, textbooks
difficulty, but they are quite weak at writing, and
and corresponding examination system for the
even weaker at listening and speaking. There are
course. Four hours per week are allocated to this
some students who have attended key middle
course during the first two years of students uni-
schools in large cities and therefore use English
versity study. Students learn one text per week
well above average. There are also some other stu-
from a textbook such as the widely used New
dents, particularly those from small towns and rural
College English (Dong, 2010), a course of four
areas, whose English proficiency lags far behind
levels which prepares students for the compulsory
that of their classmates.
examinations, CET Band 1 through to CET
Not only is there a gap in English proficiency
Band 4.
among students from various types of middle
The Intensive Reading Course is not designed
schools, but there is also a great difference in the
primarily to improve reading comprehension.
use of language learning strategies, which is main-
Rather, it is a multi-purpose comprehensive course
ly caused by their different English learning experi-
embodying the following characteristics:
ences in middle schools. In general, middle schools
in large cities are privileged in terms of teachers (1) It is text based: each lesson consists of a model
qualifications and teaching facilities. Key provin- text followed by exercises on phonetics, gram-
cial middle schools enjoy even more privileges. mar, vocabulary, translation and supplemen-
Almost all the teachers in these schools are well tary material. In fact, the text serves as the
trained in both the English language and English basis for both oral English practice (pronunci-
language teaching. Some of these key schools ation, dialogues, questions and answers, retell-
can even employ teachers from English-speaking ing and paraphrasing) and written work
countries. Besides, these schools can afford highly (spelling, sentence-making, translation, sum-
sophisticated language laboratories and other mary and abstracts).

42 E N G L I S H TO D AY 1 2 0 D ec e mbe r 2 0 14
(2) It is grammar-vocabulary based: texts are dictionaries for unknown words. They try hard to
compiled in a morphology-syntax sequence understand the text. Many students memorize the
such as verb tenses and types of sentences, grammatical examples. Some will memorize the
which are dealt with one by one. Meanwhile, whole text.
active words are selected for sentence-making. The classroom teaching begins with the teacher
(3) It is teacher centered: the teacher dominates asking students to read aloud. The teacher will
the course by explaining the text in great detail check pronunciation and intonation and ask some
and telling students what they should learn general comprehension questions. The teacher
from the text. Students, on the other hand, then explains new words in the text. These are
do what the teacher asks them to do. practiced in word study exercises involving pronun-
ciation, translation, use of synonyms and paraphras-
A typical unit in College English begins with a ing. Then there are comprehensive explanations of
two-page text followed by a list of new words, selected grammatical points and their functions in
phrases and expressions with the pronunciations the text. These points are practiced by drills, transla-
given and meanings indicated by English syno- tions, sentence manipulation and blank-filling exer-
nyms and Chinese translations. This is followed cises. Further practice includes paraphrasing,
by explanatory notes on the historical background summarizing and retelling the content of the text.
and idioms. There is then a sequence of multiple- The assessment of whether the text has been under-
choice comprehension questions, more general dis- stood depends largely on how well students can
cussion points, blank-filling exercises for word remember the new words and grammar and how
building and sentence structure, a cloze passage, well they are able to use this knowledge to complete
and sentences for translation. Finally, there is a exercises and pass regular tests.
further reading text with more multiple-choice The Intensive Reading Course has been the target
questions and a writing exercise which usually of much criticism in recent years (Jin & Cortazzi,
focuses on a grammatical point. 2006), and a number of researchers and teachers
Based on our observation and experience and have been endeavoring to teach this course in innova-
comments by Wu (1990), the Intensive Reading tive ways. Fang & Warschauer (2004) reported on a
Course enables students: 5-year (19982003) longitudinal case study of a
(1) to read the text aloud (or recite or paraphrase technology-enhanced educational reform initiative
it) with fairly good pronunciation; at a university in east China. A faculty team incorpo-
(2) to learn hundreds, if not thousands, of new rated technology into this traditional English course
vocabulary items with detailed explanations to better prepare English students to use new tech-
of meanings and to use these new words in nologies for communication. The findings of the
exercises through blank filling, paraphrasing, study showed that such technology-enhanced
word formation and other methods; English teaching greatly improved the students com-
(3) to learn and to practice certain grammatical municative competence. However, few teachers
points exemplified in the text; were willing to teach this course because such
(4) to speak on a limited range of subjects related instruction is time-consuming and because student-
to the texts; centered learning goes against traditional norms
(5) to write generally correct sentences, short and incentives in Chinese higher education. In add-
compositions and do translations based on ition, Chinese EFL teachers find it difficult to change
the content and language of the texts. this course because it is closely tied to the national
system of examinations (Li, 1984). All these find-
The teaching of this course is usually carried out ings tell us that the Intensive Reading Course is a
in two stages: teachers and students preparation product of particular cultural, social and economic
for the new unit before the class. As noted above, circumstances which have strongly influenced the
teachers prepare their lessons extensively before ways in which English has been taught and learnt
they start teaching. They go over each text in in China since the 1950s.
meticulous detail. Teachers own copies of the text-
book are full of penciled margin notes which
enable them to expound on every likely grammat-
Prospects for EFL teaching in Chinese
ical point or word meaning which may arise. The
teachers believe that they should have authoritative
universities in the 21st century
knowledge of all aspects of the text. Students also All the aforementioned information proves that
prepare for the new unit extensively. They refer to EFL teaching at the tertiary level in China is still

TEACHIN G ENG LIS H AS A FOREIGN LAN GUAG E IN C HINESE UNIVERSI TI ES 43

conducted in traditional ways. Although they are teaching of English grammar should be given in
encouraged to adapt themselves to the new chal- contexts which involve some basic principles of
lenges of EFL teaching and refresh their teaching appropriateness. Instead of teaching grammar as a
approaches by using CLT, most Chinese teachers means to an end, teachers should realize that gram-
of English in universities feel secure and comfort- mar is a tool to be used in the comprehension and
able in sticking to their traditional methods and creation of oral and written discourse. They should
techniques (Yu, 2001; Hu, 2002). EFL teaching make language situations and language material as
in Chinese university classrooms, such as the realistic as possible. Immediately after providing
Intensive Reading Course mentioned above, still students with adequate explanations of grammar
follows the classroom procedures employed in rules, the teacher should provide them with suitable
the 1950s. Perhaps one of the best ways to teach circumstances to practice the rules so that students
English in China in the 21st century is to reconcile can ultimately use them in real life. A good
CLT with Chinese traditional teaching methods example of this was provided by Fotos & Ellis
(Rao, 1996, 2002). Numerous studies demonstrate (1991), who integrated grammar instruction with
that traditional teaching methods can work together opportunities for meaning communication. The
with CLT, and that students English proficiency researchers presented the case for the use of a par-
can be greatly improved by such reconciliation of ticular type of language learning task to encourage
teaching methods (Roberts, 1982; Harvey, 1985; communication about grammar. The results
Rao, 2002). demonstrated that grammar tasks successfully pro-
To make some adjustments and to combine the moted L2 linguistic knowledge of a specific gram-
teaching methods used in English classrooms, EFL matical point and produced the kind of negotiated
teachers in Chinese universities should, first of all, interaction which has been assumed to facilitate
balance their teaching activities between elaborating L2 acquisition. The study proved that the grammar
linguistic details and developing students communi- task could encourage communication about gram-
cative competence. As stated earlier, EFL teachers in mar and enable EFL learners to increase their
Chinese universities devote most of their classroom knowledge of a difficult L2 rule. Similar results
time to the detailed explanation of language points, were also reported in the studies by Fotos (1994)
and then ask the students to learn them by heart. and Newton & Kennedy (1996).
There is nothing wrong in Chinese teachers organiz- The final aspect in which we can combine trad-
ing their classroom teaching like this. In China, stu- itional methods with CLT is to make appropriate
dents have little access to the English language use of the students mother tongue. Traditionally,
outside the classroom, so it is of prime importance the use of the mother tongue is closely connected
for teachers to help them understand the language with the outdated grammar-translation method.
in a text. However, while helping students under- However, for most EFL students, there is a keen
stand the linguistic details, teachers should also pro- interest in an exact understanding of every word
vide them with opportunities to learn how to use the and a low tolerance for ambiguity (Harvey,
language. They should engage students in group 1985). To cater for this requirement, EFL teachers
work, role play, games or discussion, so as to develop often turn to translation for help and attempt to
their communicative competence. One of the studies equate a target language structure item with its
that followed this teaching pattern was conducted by closest or most common correlate in the mother
Dai (2010), who explored the teaching of creative tongue. In fact, nothing is wrong in teachers
writing in English to sophomores at Sun Yat-sen using this teaching strategy, but they must ensure
University in China. The study was carried out at that the use of the mother tongue is strictly con-
two levels: the micro level and the macro level. At trolled. In teaching vocabulary, for example, the
the micro level, it addressed linguistic details in stu- teacher should not use this technique unless they
dents writing and helped them work on problematic come across a word or phrase with a complex
constructions in writing. At the macro level, it aimed and abstract meaning. They should realize that
to teach students the craft of creative writing in work- the use of the mother tongue is to help students
shops. The results indicate that such a pattern to teach have a thorough understanding of the target lan-
English writing is an effective way not only to guage so as to lay a solid foundation for improving
improve students writing skills but also to enhance their communicative competence. A recent study
their personal development in general. by Meij & Zhao (2010), for example, investigated
Another way to reconcile traditional teaching the teachers and students attitudes towards
methods with CLT is to relate grammar code-switching between Chinese (L1) and
teaching to meaning and use. In other words, the English (L2) in English courses in two universities

44 E N G L I S H TO D AY 1 2 0 D ec e mbe r 2 0 14
in China. The findings revealed that both teachers . 2003. English language teaching in China: regional
and students expressed the view that teacher differences and contributing factors. Journal of
Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 24(4),
code-switching in English classroom teaching is
290318.
desirable and functional, and that the mother ton- Jin, L. & Cortazzi, M. 2006. Changing practice in Chinese
gue is a useful resource for facilitating the students cultures of learning. Language, Culture and Curriculum,
learning process. 19(1), 520.
Li, X. 1984. In defense of the communicative approach.
ELT Journal, 38(1), 213.
Conclusion Liu, D. & Gong, Y. 2000. Foreign language education in
Chinese schools. Paper presented at the International
In this paper, we have delineated the EFL teaching Symposium on 21st Century Foreign Language Education
in Chinese universities by focusing on three in Schools, Beijing, China.
aspects: issues revolving around teachers, issues Meij, H. D. & Zhao, X. 2010. Codeswitching in English
revolving around students, and the English courses in Chinese universities. Modern Language
Intensive Reading Course. The overview of how Journal, 90(3), 396411.
Newton, J. & Kennedy, G. 1996. Effects of communication
EFL teachers teach and how EFL students learn tasks on grammar relations marked by second language
at the tertiary level informs us of the current learners. System, 24(3), 309322.
English teaching situation in Chinese universities. Paine, L. 1992. Teaching and modernization in
Despite the fact that a variety of modern teaching contemporary China. In R. Hayhoe (ed.), Education and
methods, such as CLT, have been introduced into Modernization: The Chinese Experience. Oxford:
English classrooms since the 1980s, most Pergamon Press, pp. 78102.
Rao, Z. 1996. Reconciling communicative approaches
Chinese teachers of English encounter a number to the teaching of English with traditional Chinese
of problems, and still cling to traditional teaching methods. Research in the Teaching of English, 30(4),
methods. In addition, Chinese EFL students are 458471.
accustomed to their traditional ways of learning, . 2002. Chinese students perceptions of communicative
and find it uncomfortable to sit in a student- and non-communicative activities in the EFL classroom.
centered classroom. By exploring the prospects of System, 30(1), 85105.
. 2010. Chinese students perceptions of native
EFL teaching in the 21st century, we may come
English-speaking teachers in EFL teaching. Journal
to the conclusion that the best way to improve of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 31(1),
English teaching in the future seems to be to recon- 5568.

cile the modern methodologies with those trad- Roberts, J. L. 1982. Recent developments in ELT. In
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Wu, Z. 1990. Reading with a purpose a reassessment of the
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