SWOT Analysis
on Chinese EFL
Teaching & Learning
Lecturer: Li Jing Associate Professor
Foreign Language Institute of
Nankai University in China
SWOT: (TOWS Analysis or Matrix)
which is widely used in Business Administration
S = strength, competence
 W= weakness, inefficiency
 O = opportunity, challenge
 T = threats, plight

Weihrich
SWOT Matrix
Strengths:
Weakness:
1.Policy-makers
2.Teachers
3.Students
1.Teaching resources
2.Teaching methods
Opportunities:
Threats:
1.Teacher
2.Student
1.Cultural perspective
2.Chinese ESL ways
3.Identity of the students
General Look on EFL in China

300 million English Learners
Dewey

Change puts a definite responsibility
upon the schools to sustain our true
national democratic spirit. The virtues of
mutual esteem, human forbearance and
well-wishing, which in our earlier days
were unconscious root of an education
which forms the deepest springs of
character.
Strengths
1.Government launched lots of
policies to sponsor the educational
reform and projects in EFL.
Strengths
2. More and more teachers are aware of the
emergency of educational reform, so they
brought some new concepts into classroom
practice. (project-based learning, website
resources sharing, multimedia
teaching,entrepreneur encouraging, etc.)
Strengths

3. Students are more competent and active in
the presentation of intellectual English
potentilities.
Weakness
1. Teaching resources
1)Teaching resources are short. Technology is
not made full play in EFL teaching and
learning.
2) Majority of EFL teachers are lack of training.
Weakness
2.Teaching Method
1)Test-oriented approach is outstanding.
2)Unable to integrate language and content in
language classroom
3)Inability in producing integrative students who
are professionally competent
4) Assessment approach is still single.
Opportunity




1. China is in the transitional period, not only
on economy, but on education.
a)From nationalism to internationalism
b) From foreign language education to
eduaction for intercultural citizenship
c) From centered to decentered
Opportunities

2. Students have more creativity and insight
in doing things.
a)From linguistic competence to intercultural
competence
b)From closed-minded to open-minded
c)From instrumental to integrative
Threat



1. Cultural awareness in the modern world is
still the weakness of EFL teaching and
learning in China.
2. China hasn’t got its own systematic
theories in EFL teaching and learning.
3. Misposition of identity is the potential
danger for Chinese students.
The Transforming Role of Teacher
at Transitional Period
One of the
policy-maker
practioner
witness
Source: edited by the speaker
Schools can be a vehicle for social change, but
let us not overestimate the strength, actual or
potential, of that impact. Far more powerful is
the impact of society on schools, an impact
that in recent decades has been as fruitless as
it has been powerful.
(Seymour B.Sarason 1990)
The Socialization Process
identification
reorientation
changing one’s citizenship
changing direction of one’s life
Re-evaluation
giving up of certain values for new ones
appreciation
perception
process of changing one’s values
Coming to know and to like
Source:edited by the speaker from
Paulston, 1992:124
There is a joke:
It is about a man who in the dead of winter was ill
and went to his physician. After a through
examination he was told to go home, take off all his
clothes, open all the windows, stand in front of them,
and breathe deeply and long. To which the man
responded in amazement: “But, doctor, if I do that I
will get pneumonia!” And the doctor replied: “That is
something I know how to deal with.” Educational
reformers take note.
Strategies on EFL Teaching and Learning



Cultural awareness should be the first lesson
to learn.
Integrate our Chinese culture into the EFL
teaching and learning. Such as
Buddhism,Taosim,etc.
The tertiary position: not replace national
identity with an international identity.
EFL reform is at the transitional period
Teaching Form
teacher-centered
student-centered
Classroom environment passive
active
Language Content
grammar-oriented
content-oriented
Learners’ motivation
instrumental
integrative
Psychological factor
externalized
internalized
Course design
text-based
Content based
/project-based
Source: compiled by the speaker
Tactics on EFL Teaching and Learning
(refer to some of the paras. of Stephen B. & Betty
Leaver, 1997)




Learning by doing should be the main theme
of the classroom tactic.
Total integration of language and content
learning.
From top-down to buttom-up in organization
of classroom activities.
Affective factors(students’feeling and
emotional reactions) should play more
important role in students’ motivation.


Classroom goals are focused on all of the
components of communicative competence
and not restricted to grammatical or linguistic
competence.
Language techniques are designed to
engage learners in the pragmatic, authentic,
functional use of language for meaningful
purposes.




Fluency and accuracy are seen as
complementary principles underlying
communicative techniques.
In the communicative classroom, students
ultimately have to use the language,
productively and receptively, in unrehearsed
contexts.
Varify the check for students’ performance
Link to some websites: such as
Computer Chronicles Newswire; TED
Conclusion
My understanding on “teach”
effective
tolerant
academic
human
cooperative
All Roads Lead to Rome
Dewey
Democracy and Education
Human
&
Nature
Should
Coexist
Maslow
Confucius
Humanism
Source:edited by the speaker
the Analects
of Confucius
As a Chinese minister said:
For English language teaching in China, we
need a method that is Chinese.
Acknowledgement
Raymond: CRLC Organizer
Carol Fraser: My wise mentor and true friend during my
Glendon trip
Brain Morgan: My enlightner on research road
Ian Martin: My model to be a qualified teacher
Linda Steinman: My respected professor
Ron Sheese: My leader to Dewey
Sunny: My workmate
Lanxia Zhang: My workmate
xbz91@yahoo.com.cn
jianadalijing@gmail.com