China’s tryst with English: A Complex and Collective Relationship
In Conversation with Professor Donald Snow

Picture
Source: Al Jazeera
Knowledge of the English language is essential for success in the world as we know it. From the villages of South-East Asia to the heartlands of Sub-Saharan Africa, the spread of this language has been tremendous. Recent decades have also seen a rapid growth of a power that uses another language – The People’s Republic of China. In order for this Asian behemoth to compete at the global scale, it has needed to engage with the English language both within and without. What are the roots of this prophetic exchange? Has China really succeeded in providing its citizens a quality English education or is there an inadequacy that is yet to be discovered? And finally, does history have tales to tell that could help us shape a more enriching learning experience in the future?

In trying to answer some of these questions, I turned to Professor Donald Snow, Director of the Language and Writing Program at Duke Kunshan University. For over thirty years Professor Snow has been deeply immersed in tackling the challenges of English language education in Mainland China and Taiwan. His encounters with diverse academic institutions and his desire to unearth the best practices for language learning allow him to provide an experienced perspective on the key roadblocks to holistic English education in China.

I began by trying to understand the key historic drivers of English education in China. As Professor Snow points out, the introduction of English language learning in China can be dated back to the opium wars during the mid-1800s. The subsequent opening of the treaty ports and the growing international trading channels led by the British resulted in a surge in the use of English. Although there was no compulsion to learn English in the general populace, exclusive jobs and new opportunities increasingly required a working knowledge of the language.

Following the 1860s, China saw a major influx of British missionaries. Initially, the foreigners were unable to sustain an education system that used English as the primary language. Given that the prestigious jobs in the civil service only required an understanding of Chinese, parents were averse to educating their students at schools set-up by foreigners. However, as jobs at trading companies became more attractive, there was a reversal in this trend. The very same missionaries who earlier needed to pay students to study at their schools were now being requested to implement English-based curricula.

This trend continued uninterrupted until around 1949, the dawn of communism in China. The nation’s growing intimacy with Russia triggered a push towards learning Russian and for a while English was placed on the back burner. Then 1966 brought with it the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution and foreign language education came to a grinding halt. It was only in the 1970s that China started re-opening its society to foreign influence. Soon enough China saw another paradigm shift: from an aversion to English to an affinity for English. From people’s pent-up curiosity about the western world to the government’s need to engage with international economies, many factors made knowledge of English a sought after skill once again. University students were the first to be compelled to learn the language followed by high school, middle school, and primary school students. As Professor Snow aptly puts it, “the world’s largest English teaching effort kicked off very quickly in the 1980s in China.”

An important question that this history raises is, how was such rapid change organized? Where did the English teachers come from? From Professor Snow’s experience, because of the high demand, many English teachers were placed in the classrooms although they were not adept enough to teach the subject. Retired teachers who were delegitimized during the Cultural Revolution, recent college graduates, and the few available foreigners were all recruited in this effort. Furthermore, given that there was no culture of using this foreign language outside of the classroom, students found themselves poorly equipped to make use of the skills they learned. These inadequacies were masked by the introduction of the standardized testing systems, such as the College English Test (CET). By making the spoken component optional and open only to highly selective students, the CET only rewards minimal written and reading skills. Although these tests tend to pull up the students at the lower end of the spectrum, they pull back all those students who may have a deeper interest in the subject. The fundamental problem is that this system propagates the association of language learning with test passing. Understanding the depths of a well-written essay or delivering a well-researched presentation are skills that are sidelined in such a modular educational environment.

Yet another challenge that this status quo presents is its built-in inertia and resistance to change. As Professor Snow notes, after a review of the current English language education system around 2012, senior academics in China recommended the removal of the standardized test system. However, when the feasibility of this idea was studied in detail, it was deemed virtually impossible. A host of associated industries, from publishing to teacher training, depend heavily on the existing system. The uprooting of this interdependent network would have a catastrophic impact on thousands of lives.

So at a time when the existing public schools do not provide an enriching experience and private players are none the better, how can we improve the student experience?

An interesting contrast exists between teachers of different age groups; one which could be leveraged to deliver an enhanced student experience. The older teachers, who are adept at managing the teaching experience, could train the younger teachers to better deliver their lessons. The younger teachers, who better grasp the nuances of the language, could supplement the regular classes, guide students in advanced topics, and be mentors in times of stress. Although such interventions may potentially present conflicts and funding constraints, they are may be implementable with a slight readjustment of teachers’ focus, re-defining instructor responsibility, and streamlining student involvement.

Professor Snow also suggests focusing on language instructors from non-English majors. In the existing system, most teachers have spent considerable time, over four to five years, studying English. Having had the luxury of time, they have not needed to be very strategic in their learning methods. Contrast this with their students, who are most likely studying subjects ranging from Biology to Philosophy and have English as a single subject among many others. These students need to be taught in a manner that enables them to learn the language in practical contexts and learn it fast. They face a constraint that their teachers most likely never encountered. One way to bridge this gap is to incentivize more non-English majors to become language instructors. In this manner, they can not only share their diverse expertise but also relate better to the everyday challenges of their students.
​
In the over 200 years that English has been thriving in China, much has been achieved.  The increasing number of Chinese students in USA, creation of English-only joint venture universities, and rise in basic proficiency levels across the country would not have been possible without this focus on English literacy. Based on results of a nation-wide survey in the early 2000s, it was estimated that over 408 million Chinese people have studied English. However, as we seek to create a culture in which language is appreciated as a means of articulate expression, we need to strive for a more holistic system of learning. Nationally held English debates, language-themed international exchange, and English-only immersion programs are just a few ways in which holistic learning can be encouraged. Such a shift in approach and attitude will require the support and perseverance of stakeholders at every level of the administrative and learning process. With a student population striving to succeed and a government seeking to impress, I see every possibility for progressive change.

Pranav Sridhar is a graduate student in the Master of Management Studies: Duke Kunshan University program.