The challenge of academic writing for Chinese students within ...

English language education within the Chinese education system
English language education is important in all levels of education in China. Starting from the
Grade 3 of primary school 7 , English language learning continues throughout primary and
secondary levels of schooling, and also higher education level. English is a compulsory
subject in the entrance examination for institutions of higher education. China‘s attitudes
towards English language have changed over the course of history. Perceived as a ‗barbarian
language‘ in the late Qing Dynasty, spoken only by the despised ‗rascals and loafers‘ of
Chinese society (Feng Guai-fen, 1860), English language is now assured a prominent role
and status in today‘s China, being the most spoken foreign language of the nation. English
language is being taught in schools, colleges and universities in all parts of China. English
learning starts as early as in kindergartens in some coastal cities. Government attitudes and
policies towards English education have been shaped by China‘s relations with Western
countries and by the political, social and economic development of China. Historically
English language learning has been regarded as a ‗barometer of modernization‘ (Ross, 1982).
Bob Adamson (2004, 2002) has assessed English education in China by dividing Chinese
history into three periods – the Qing Dynasty, the Republican era and the People‘s Republic
of China. It is clear and neat to discuss China‘s English education in this way since English in
China has been shaped by dominant policy makers of the day and fluctuations of Chinese
history. Drawing on Adamson (2002)‘s periodisation of China‘s English education this
section is to introduce briefly English education in China in an historical perspective. Much
attention will be given to the development of English language education in relation to
English language teaching (ELT) approaches and students‘ learning experiences, in modern
China since the initial announcement of the Deng Xiaoping‘s Open Door policy through to
the 21 st Century and the present day.
Contact between China and English language has a long history, which dated back to Qing
Dynasty China in the early seventeenth century. Despised as a ‗barbarian language‘, English
was spoken in various forms of ‗pidgin English‘ by compradores in the trading port Canton
(Guangzhou) solely serving the purpose of communicating with foreign nations for trading
during the mid-eighteenth century to the early 1860s. The term ‗pidgin English‘ was also
7 According to the new national curriculum for school English issued by the Ministry of Education in September
2001, English should be taught from Grade 3 onward in primary schools at municipal and county level.
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