English language teaching in Chinese universities in the era of the World Trade Organization: a learner perspective
Creators: name: Luo, Weihua
Publisher: name: RMIT University
Year: 2024

description: Since China's accession to the WTO in 2001, China has reformed its higher education system in order to meet the challenges of globalisation. In the era of WTO, China needs more and better English, which facilitates access to modern knowledge and technology and the possibility of communication with the outside world in the process of globalisation. To correspond with this trend, the Chinese government has prioritised reforms in the teaching of English at various levels of the education system. In this context, the change of policy in the foreign language education sector becomes an issue of concern. This research, with a view to informing the ongoing reform of English language teaching (ELT), investigates learners' perspectives of ELT in Chinese universities in the context of current process of globalisation.<br><br>This thesis argues that the adoption of various ELT curricula in various periods is heavily influenced by broader social and political policies that shape Chinese responses to the process of globalisation. The promulgation in 2004 of the College English Curriculum Requirements (For Trial Implementation) represented an immediate response in the ELT field to China's economic globalisation. It further argues that the Global English model, with its stress on communicative competence and performance should be the ELT priority in Chinese universities to meet the new communication demands of contemporary globalisation. These arguments are advanced based on a study focusing on College English education, which represents ELT in China at the tertiary level, the final as well as most important part in the hierarchy of language education. To investigate the research problem in this project, a multi-faceted methodology was applied, including surveys, classroom observation and document analysis. <br><br>The following conclusions can be drawn based on the data collected. First, English remains a priority in China's education system and globalisation of English in WTO era is to the benefit of Chinese learners. Second, there has been evident shift of the goal of ELT in China from mastery of pure linguistic knowledge to development of communicative competence and the pedagogy from single skill training, i.e. reading, to integrated development of the four macro skills. Computer-aided and competence-led curricula in English language education are recent trends that contribute to the increasing awareness of both the professionals and students that productive abilities should be the priority. From the perspective of learners, this means a switch to a learner-centred model that allows more autonomy by making the teaching and learning a computer-based process of individualized learning, collaborative learning and hyper-textual learning. Third, the 1999 Curriculum failed to address the emerging issues regarding ELT in the process of China's globalisation. This led to strong dissatisfaction from the learners and strong appeal for ELT reformation in College English education in China. Finally, the College English Curriculum Requirements (For Trial Implementation), while pinpointing the trend and model of future English education development, is confronted with serious challenges in its implementation.