ELF and ELT in China 1
English as A Lingua Franca And Relevant
Issues of English Language Teaching in
China
Course: APLNG 482Y
Name: Wenli Zhang
Instructor: Celeste Kinginger
Time: 2012.12.11
ELF and ELT in China 2
Introduction
With the development of globalization, the world is turning into a “global
village”. In order to make effective communication with people from other countries, a
common spoken language is needed for people with different native languages. English,
as a most commonly spoken and worldwide language, has become the language acting as
a lingua franca, and it is playing an increasingly role around the whole world. China, a
country with the largest number of people learning English as a foreign language, is also
under the influence of English’s triumph. However, it seems that English language
learners in China have lower English proficiency compared to others. After going over
twelve teaching plans (three for middle school, three for high school, and six for college)
of English in China, some interesting issues that might be plausible reasons causing lower
English proficiency of English language learners in China are revealed. Some effective
suggestions will be given afterwards in order to lessen those issues.
English as A Lingua Franca (ELF)
Lingua franca, as defined, is a language systematically used by people not sharing
the same mother language in order to make communication possible. Particularly, lingua
franca is a third language, distinct from both mother languages. Since lingua franca is
used as a bridge connecting people with different native languages, it is also called a
bridge language or vehicular language.
Some plausible reasons are provided for why English could be the world lingua
franca. On one hand, English is the primary language of people who control the majority
of resources and maintain a strong power of the global economy. On the other hand, with
ELF and ELT in China 3
the rapidly development of globalization, English has become the dominant language not
only in business, information, international travel, but also in Internet, cultural
entertainment and environment. People need English in order to be able to communicate
and collaborate with people from different cultures. Generally speaking, English, as a
commonly spoken worldwide language, once was the strongest candidate and now has
become the world lingua franca.
As of 2003, English was spoken as a first or official second language in
approximately 75 territories (Jenkins, 2003, cited by Allison, English as Lingua Franca,
2010). As showed in Kachru’s three-circle model, basically, English was mainly spoken
by people from the inner circle and outer circle before. However, with the spread of
English, native speakers of the inner circle are far outnumbered by people from
expanding circle. Interestingly, over 80% of interactions in English worldwide are now
estimated to be between non-native speakers (Graddol, 2006, cited by Weil and Pullin,
English as a lingua franca - Internationalisation speaks English, 2011).
Kachru’s Three-Circle Model
A typical ELF conversation usually involves people with different native
languages and cultural backgrounds. With widely spread around the world, English is
ELF and ELT in China 4
changed and added different feature of one’s own by people from different cultures and
communities (basically, the majority of those changes lays on grammar features and
pronunciations). As a result, English has developed a number of varieties, which is quite
acceptable for English as a lingua franca. Even though not standard anymore, as long as
people could be able to make oneself understood by others, accuracy will not be the
barrier for communication. As a conclusion, ELF interactions concentrate on function
rather than form, which means communicative efficiency is more important than
correctness (Cogo, 2008).
Since ELF is referred to people using English with different native languages, it is
easily got confused with English as a foreign language (EFL). Table following shows the
comparison between EFL and ELF (Jenkins, 2006):
English as A Lingua Franca
English as A Foreign Language
Part of world Englishes
Part of modern foreign languages
Differences perspective
Deficit perspective
Metaphors of contact/ evlolution
Metaphors of transfer/ interference/
fossilization
Code-mixing and switching are bilingual
Cold-mixing and switching are seems as
resources
interferences errors.
However, the biggest difference between ELF and EFL is learners of EFL often have an
integrative motivation for learning and using English for they wish to identify with the
culture and values of English native speakers (Breiteneder, 2005). Consequently, norms
of native speakers are highly valued by EFL; however, for ELF, the notion of speakers of
ELF and ELT in China 5
ELF being active language users in their own right, and they do not need to adhere to
native speaker norms. Instead, people use ELF to meet their communicative needs.
English Language Teaching (ELT) in China
In order to let its people meet the needs of globalization, China, no exception,
emphazes much on English language teaching (ELT). As of 2004, 90 percent of foreign
language classes in schools in China are English classes. There were more than
100,000,000 English language learners from schools all over the country. Added by
adults learners and learners from various English institutions, the total number of English
language learners in China surpassed 200,000,000, which made China the country with
the largest number of English language learners.
As believed by many people in China, the longer people learn English, the better
result they will get. Here is a table showing the total time a person spends in studying
English from primary school to college (中国教育现状(English Language Teaching in
China), 2005):
School
Length of Courses
NO. of Week
(Year)
Time per
Total Number of
week
lessons
Primary
4
136
4
544
Junior High
3
102
5
510
Senior High 3
102
5
510
College
68
5
340
(basic)
2
ELF and ELT in China 6
College
2
68
14
476
2
136
(improve)
Total
2040
Even though people spend such a long time in studying English, most of them gain low
English proficiency after decades of years study. Some people cannot understand English,
some cannot speak, and some cannot write one’s own resume or letters in English.
What’s worse, some even have to spend more money to make up their English after
graduating from college. Thus, this learning effect is questioned by the whole society.
People point that learning time, cost and learning effect don’t match with each other.
Data
In order to discover plausible reasons causing this unmatched result, I went over
twelve teaching plans of English courses (for junior high school, teaching plans are based
on individual lessons, while those for senior high school and college are based on whole
unit):
Total number
3
Lessons or
Units
Junior high
Senior High
First year
Second year
school
School
college
college
3
3
3
1st grade: lesson 1st grade: Unit
Unit 1: Writing
Unit 1: Ways of
89 Mainly
11 The sounds
for myself
learning
Revision
of the world
Unit 6: Animal
Unit 3: The
2nd grade:
2nd grade: Unit
intelligence
generation gap
lesson 93 What
17 Life in the
Unit 8: Coping
Unit 5:
ELF and ELT in China 7
were they
future
with an
Overcoming
doing?
3rd grade: Unit
educational
obstacles
3rd grade:
2 English
problem
lesson 65 The
around the
missing
world
necklace
Issues
After being viewed, some interesting issues are found from those teaching plans:
1. Junior High School:
To begin with, it is really interesting to find that grammar knowledge is seldom
mentioned in the textbook for first grade English language learners. In order to help
learners form a sense of English, the textbook mainly focuses on vocabulary and lexical
level, such us sentence structures. Secondly, compared with textbooks for second and
third graders, the textbook for first graders provides more opportunities for learners to
practice their speaking skills, even though most of those speaking exercises are based on
reading or listening comprehension from the textbook. Thirdly, starting from second
grade, textbooks focus more on grammar knowledge, and most of the exercises from
textbooks are about grammar, such as multiple-choices, translation, and so on, while
speaking exercises become fewer and optional. However, even though with various
differences, all textbooks from first grade to third grade concentrate on vocabulary and
phrases, since most of English language teachers in China believe that the main reason
ELF and ELT in China 8
why students are afraid of speaking in public is lacking of vocabulary. Besides, it is
interesting to find that audio-lingual method runs through three-year junior high school.
Reading and grammar skills are the ones that junior high schools try to concentrate on.
To be added, all the teaching plans, from first grade to third grade, are all textbookoriented.
2. Senior High School:
First of all, because of the burden from College Entrance Examination, all the
textbooks, no matter for which grade, spend the majority of the space on grammar
knowledge. At the same time, vocabulary and phrases are also the targets for each lesson.
Secondly, even though textbooks try to integrate speaking exercises, most of those
exercises are based on either reading comprehension or listening comprehension from the
textbook. Even those role-plays are based on the dialogues from textbooks. Although it
seems that students have many chances to practice their speaking skills, there is no
language production needed for learners. Most of the content they are going to speak can
be easily located in textbooks. Furthermore, audio-lingual and grammar-translation
methods are two dominant methods in English classrooms.
3. College:
For one thing, language points, grammar, vocabulary and sentence structures are
still the focuses of textbooks. Secondly, among four basic English skills (reading,
speaking, listening and writing), reading is the one gets most focused on; while speaking
is the least focus. According to the time-table with the time distribution to each skill,
speaking only occupies three sixteenth of the whole. Interestingly, even though
mentioned in the course objectives that learners’ speaking skills should be enhanced, and
ELF and ELT in China 9
communicative approach will be combined with traditional strategies during teaching,
those related with speaking or communication are not revealed in teachers’ lesson plans,
neither in unit objective nor teaching methodologies. However, compared with those
teaching plans for junior high school or senior high school, more text-analysis is focused
on textbooks. Meanwhile, those textbooks for college learners start to embed cultural
elements in language teaching.
Conclusion
To sum up, even though English textbooks in China try to reform and try to
combine communicative approach with those traditional ones, it seems that grammartranslation and audio-lingual methods are still the ones that dominaate English language
teaching. English language learners in China do not have a chance to get more
opportunities to practice their English and to communicate, which, to some extent, lead to
the lower English proficiency.
Suggestions for English Language Teachers in China
Combined with the real situations in China, some suggestions are offered to
English language teachers in order to enhance English proficiency of English language
learners according to EFL.
First of all, teachers have to always keep in mind that communication is the
purpose of language teaching. More communicative strategies have to be conducted in
classroom. Role-play could be an effective way for learners to practice if not only based
on dialogue from textbooks. Language production is necessary for learners when
practicing.
ELF and ELT in China 10
Secondly, as mentioned above, for EFL, communicative efficiency is more
important than correctness. Most of the students refuse to open their mouth to speak is
because they are afraid of making mistakes and being laughed at. Teachers have to clarify
that it is acceptable to make mistakes as long as learners could get themselves understood
by others. At the same time, Chinese English should be welcomed in classroom if it can
help learners to express themselves well.
Furthermore, teacher-training is crucial in China. With the increasingly
expectation for development in communicative competence, professional knowledge is
not enough for English teachers. Language teachers have to realize that teaching
language is not only a matter of teaching grammar and vocabulary, but also a matter of
communication. Teachers who have followed the traditional teaching methods have to try
to open their mind to accept some newly developed communicative approach in order to
meet learners’ needs in developing communicative competence.
In addition, examinations in China have to be reformed. Generally speaking, most
of the English language examinations in China are paper-based, which could easily test
students’ grammar knowledge and vocabulary. However, students’ oral English
proficiency has been overlooked for such a long time. Since speaking is a significant skill,
“the exclusion of a formal oral test devalues the testing system” (Zhu, 2003). Even
though it is time-consuming, and it might not easy to be conducted, oral English should
be a necessary component in English examination, which, in turn, will act as a huge
motivation not only for teachers but also for learners in teaching or learning English
language.
ELF and ELT in China 11
Last but not least, English textbooks in China should be updated timely. Since
most of the English textbooks used in China are out-of-dated, even though including oral
speaking exercises, those exercises are not practical enough and will work little on
improving learners’ English proficiency. Consequently, an updated textbook is highly
likely to provide more practical situations that learners might encounter in their real life.
Conclusion
With the dominant status around the world, English has successfully become the
worldwide lingua franca. The most important feature of English as a lingua franca is
communicative efficiency, in terms of which English language teaching in China seems
doesn’t meet the requirement. To sum up, ELT in China needs to go beyond grammatical
and lexical limitation and should focus on strengthening learners’ communicative ability.
Faced with issues and challenges, ELT in China still has a long way to go.
ELF and ELT in China 12
Reference
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Retrieved
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