Communicative Competence and Critical

Thinking: a Crosscultural View of Chinese

EFL Learners and Teachers
In a University Context

Lixin Xiao
BA, MA, Cert, of Furth. Edu.

A thesis submitted for the qualification of Doctor of Philosophy

Dublin City University, Ireland

Supervisor: Dr. Aileen Pearson-Evans

School of Applied Language and Intercultural Studies

December 2004
Declaration

I hereby certify that th is m aterial, w hich I now su b m it for assessm ent on the

p rogram m e o f stu d y leading to the aw ard o f the D egree o f D o cto r o f P h ilo so p h y is

entirely m y ow n w ork and has not been taken from the w ork o f others save and to

the extent that such w ork has been cited and ack n o w led g ed w ithin the text o f m y

work.

ID N o: 50162756

C andidate

Date: 3 /tf
 Table of Contents

T able o f contents i

A cknow ledgem ents ix

A bstract x

List o f A bbreviations xi

List o f T ab les xii

L ist o f F igures xiv

Introduction 1

Chapter 1. A historical overview of EFL education in China 6

Introduction 6

1.1. A b rie f h istory o f E nglish language education in C h in a 6

1.2. O verview o f the p resent state o f E nglish language

education for E nglish m ajors at tertiary level 11

1.2.1. D ifference b etw een E nglish education for E nglish

m ajors and that for non-E nglish m ajors 12

1.2.2. English ed u cation for E nglish m ajors: context

and problem s 13

1.3. N ew challenges c o n fro n tin g E FL education in C h in a

at tertiary level 16

1.3.1. T he N P G su rv ey report 16

1.3.2. T he Z hang & Y ang stu d y 19

1.4. C om m ents on the stu d ies o f N PG and Z h an g & Y ang 20

C hapter sum m ary 25

Chapter 2. Literature review: communicative

competence and CLT 27

i
In troduction 27

2.1. T he concept o f co m m unicative com petence 27

2.2. H istorical rev iew o f C o m m u n icativ e L anguage

T eaching (C L T ) 31

2.3. C ritiques o f C L T 34

2.4. T he com m unicative co m p eten ce o f C hinese E F L m ajors:

T he status quo 40

2.4.1 .Inadequate co m m u n icativ e com petence 40

2 .4 .2 .C auses o f p o o r co m m u n icativ e com petence o f

C hinese E F L learn ers 41

2.4.3. T he B u ck et m o d e l 45

2.5. A pplying C L T in C hina: the source o f great d ebate 47

C hapter su m m ary 53

Chapter 3. Cultural Impacts on the EFL education in the

Chinese context 54

Introduction 54

3.1. C onfucianism 56

3.2. H ofstede's 4 -D im en so n al M odel o f C ultural D ifferen ce 57

3.3. T he C hinese culture o f learn in g and its in flu en ce on

EFL E d u catio n in C h in a 60

3.4. T he role o f th e tea c h e r in class 62

3.5. T he n o tio n o f a 'g o o d te a c h e r'h e ld b y C h inese students 64

3.6. T raditional attitudes tow ards learning 65

3.7. T he concept o f 'fa c e ' 66

C hapter sum m ary 68

Chapter 4. Research M ethodology 69

In troduction 69

4.1. R esearch D esign: quan titativ e and q u alitativ e ap proach 70

4.2. R esearch aim o f th is stu d y 71

4.3. D ata C o llection 72

ii
4.4. P ilo t study: q u estio n n aire design 72

4.5. L earning fro m th e p ilo t study 74

4.6. F orm al field survey: student questionnaire design 75

4.7. T each er q u estio n n aire d e sig n 77

4.8. C hoosing the u n iv ersity for this study 80

4.9. Interview D esig n 81

4.10. C lassroom ob serv atio n 83

4.11. A pproaches to D a ta p resen tatio n and analysis 84

4.12. A ssessm ent o f rese a rc h m eth o d o lo g y 86

4.13. L im itations 87

C hapter su m m ary 88

Chapter 5. Quantitative Data analysis: student

questionnaire (Part I) 89

Introduction 89

5.1. D efinitions o f com m u n icativ e and n o n -co m m u n icativ e

classroom learn in g activities 90

5.2. S tu d en ts attitudes tow ard s w orking in group 90

5.3. S tu d en ts attitudes tow ard s speaking o ut in class 92

5.4. S tu d en ts fu n ctio n -b ased strategy 95

5.5. N ature and strength o f m otivation am ong students 96

5.6. S tu d en ts attitudes tow ard s T C A 97

5.7. Students' attitudes tow ards SC A 99

5.8. S tu d e n ts attitudes to co m m unicative activities 99

5.9. S tu d e n ts attitudes tow ard s non -co m m u n icativ e activities 100

5.10. S tu d en ts attitudes to w ard s culture learning in E F L 102

5.11. S tu d en ts attitudes tow ard s co m p en satio n strateg y 103

5.12. S tu d en ts attitudes tow ard s social strateg y 104

5.13. S tu d e n ts attitudes tow ards au thority in class 105

5.14. M ajo r d ifficulties enco u n tered in students' learn in g p ro cesses 106

5.15. S tu d e n ts attitudes to w ard s m eta-cognitive strategies 109

5.16. S tu d e n ts attitudes tow ard s form -based strategies 110

5.17. S tu d en ts attitudes tow ard s function-based strateg y 111

5.18. S tu d en ts attitudes tow ard s dependence on L I . Ill

5.19. Interim S u m m ary 112

5.20. Data comparison: students vs, teachers (Part II) 114

5.21. A reas o f co rrespondence 114

5.21.1. W o rk in g in a sm all group 114

5.21.2. S peaking out in class 115

5.21.3. C ultu re teach in g and learning in class 115

5 .2 1 .4. A ttitu d es tow ards T C A 115

5.21.5. N o n -co m m u n icativ e learn in g activities in class 115

5.21.6 . D ep en d en ce o n L I 116

5.21.7. S tu d e n ts learning styles 116

5.21.8 . M e ta-co g n itiv e strategies 116

5.21.9. F o rm -b ased strategies 116

5.21.10. F u n ctio n -b ased strategies 116

5.21.11. Im pact o f E M T -4 & E M T -8 on students 117

5.22. A reas o f d isp arity 117

5.22.1. W o rk in g in a sm all group in class 118

5.22.2. P re-p rep ared n ew s reading or oral p rese n tatio n 119

5.22.3. C ulture teach in g and learning in E n g lish class 119

5.22.4. S tudent-centred approach 120

5.22.5. W atch in g E n g lish videos and film s 121

5.22.6. D o in g un assessed tests and p lan n in g ex am answ ers 121

5.22.7. T h o u g h t-p ro v o k in g questions in E n g lish class 122

5.22.8. D epen d en ce on L I 122

5.22.9. U se o f co m p en satio n strateg y 123

5.22.10. U se o f social strategy 123

5.22.11. L o n g -term goal and m o tiv atio n 124

5.22.12. F ew o p p o rtunities for oral p rac tic e in class 124

5.22.13. Lack o f authentic E n g lish rea d in g & listening

m aterials 124

5.22.14. P ressure fro m jo b m arket c o m p e titio n 125

5.22.15. T oo m u ch em phasis on g ram m ar & structure 125

5.22.16. T e x tb o o k not suitable for c o m m u n icativ e

activities in class 125

 5.22.17. M eta-co g n itiv e language learning stra te g y 126

C hapter su m m ary 127

Chapter 6. Qualitative data analysis: interviews

and open-ended questions 130

Introduction 130

6.1. D esign o f open -en d ed questions and in terview s 130

6.2. T he M ethods u sed to p rese n t and analyse the q u a lita tiv e data 131

6.3. T he qualitative d a ta p resen tatio n and d iscu ssio n 132

6.3.1. S tudents' p o sitiv e com m ents on T C A 132

6.3.2. S tudents' neg ativ e com m ents o n T C A 134

6.3.3. S tudents' n eu tral com m ents on T C A 137

6.3.4. S tudents' com m ents on S C A 138

6.3.5. S tudents' p o sitiv e com m ents on S C A 138

6.3.6. S tudents' n e g a tiv e com m ents on S C A 139

6.3.7. Students' neu tral com m ents on S C A 142

6.4. Students' com m ents on the m ajo r p ro b lem s en countered

in their learning p ro cess 143

6.5. T eachers' com m ents on T C A and SC A 148

6.5.1. T e a c h e rs 'p o s itiv e com m ents on T C A 149

6.5.2. T e a c h e rs 'n e g a tiv e com m ents o n T C A 151

6.5.3. T e a c h e rs 'p o s itiv e com m ents S C A 153

6.5.4. T e a c h e rs 's n egative com m ents S C A 154

6.5.5. T e a c h e rs 'n e u tra l com m ents on S C A and T C A 158

6 .6 . T eachers' co m m en ts on the m ajor co n strain ts o f adopting

SC A in th eir teach in g p ractice 159

6.7. D iscu ssio n o f findings 164

6 .8 . Interim su m m ary 164

C hapter su m m ary 166

Chapter 7. Classroom Observation 168

Introduction 168
7.1. Procedures u se d for classro o m ob serv atio n 168

7.2. T each ers attitudes tow ards classroom ob serv atio n 169

7.3. T eacher p articip an ts' teach in g beh av io u rs in th eir classes 170

7.4. C om parison b etw een L an's and Shan's classes 174

7.4.1. D iscrep an cy 175

7.4.2. S im ilarities 176

7.5. C om m ents on L an's and Shan's classes 178

7.6. Interi m su m m ary 181

7.7. G eneral d iscu ssio n o f classro o m ob serv atio n 185

7.7.1. T raditional m eth o d s in R ead in g class 185

7.7.2. B ottom -up and to p -d o w n in fo rm atio n p ro ce ssin g 187

7.8. P ositive scenario: a light at the end o f th e tu n n el 190

7.9. A nalysis o f the m ism atch b etw een w h a t teach ers claim ed

to do and w h a t th e y actually did in E nglish classes 191

7.9.1. Ignorance o f learners' needs 191

7.9.2. T he trad itio n al ro le o f the teacher 192

7.9.3. M isco n cep tio n o f C L T 193

7.9.4. T each in g cu ltu re in E nglish class 194

7.10. F u rth er d isc u ssio n 198

C hapter su m m ary 200

Chapter 8. General discussion of the survey findings in this

study: An eclectic approach 202

Introduction 202

8.1. T he ratio n ale fo r an eclectic approach fo r E F L ed u catio n

in C hina 202

8.2. A dequate atten tio n given to b alan cin g fo rm and m ea n in g 207

8.3. S ynthesizing th e p ro g ressio n o f classro o m activities 209

8.4. P re-reading stage 214

8.5. W h ile-read in g stage 216

8 .6 . P o st-read in g stage 218

8.7. C hallenges in v o lv ed in the in teg ratio n p ro ce ss 222

C hapter su m m ary 226

vi
Chapter 9. Cultivating critical thinking ability in EFL
Education 227

Introduction 227

9.1. W hat is critical thinking? 227

9.2. C urrent state o f critical th in k in g co m p eten ce o f

students: the status quo in C hina 228

9.3. R o o t causes o f deficien cy in critical th in k in g 230

9.4. A n ew ho p e in th e situation: social changes u n d e r w a y 233

9.5. R ationale for in co rp o ratin g the n o tio n o f critical th in k in g

into E F L ed u catio n at u n iv ersity level in C h in a 235

9.5.1. C ritical cu ltu ral aw areness 235

9.5.2. S ociocultural com petence: 'cultural flexibility' 238

9.5.3. C ritical com petence 239

9.6. Is critical th inking teach ab le? 240

9.7. H o w to teach critical thinking in E F L education? 242

9.8. C ontent-based teach in g in the E F L class 244

9.9. H ow to assess critical thinking 245

9.10.C om m ents on th is m odel 249

9.11.T he relationship b etw een critical th in k in g com p eten ce and

other com p o n en ts o f the co m m unicative com p eten ce m o d el 251

9.12. C ritical th in k in g culture and th e C hinese E F L ed u catio n 253

C hapter su m m ary 257

Chapter 10. Implications and conclusion 258

Introduction 258

10.1. T eacher train in g 258

10.2. O rganizational culture and its im p licatio n s for adm inistrators 262

10.3. C urriculum d esig n 264

10.4. Im plications fo r nativ e E n g lish -sp eak er teach ers 266

10.5. Q uestions for fu rth er research 268

10.6. C o n clu sio n 268

V I1
Bibliography 275

A p p e n d ic e s A -E

A ppendix A - l A -l

A pp en d ix A -2 3

A ppendix A -3 7

A pp en d ix A -4 8

A ppendix B - l B -l

A pp en d ix B -2 2

A ppendix B -3 3

A ppendix B -4 4

A ppendix B -5 5

A ppendix B -6 6

A ppendix B -7 7

A ppendix C - l C -l

A ppendix C-2 1

A ppendix C-3 2

A p p endix D - l D -l

A ppendix D -2 3

A ppendix D -3 4

viii
 Acknowledgements

This thesis w as com pleted in the S chool o f A pplied L anguage and Intercultural Studies
(SA L IS), D u b lin C ity U n iv ersity (D C U ), Ireland. It w ould not h av e been com pleted
successfully w ith o u t m an y d edicated in d iv id u als w ho have offered m e great support and
assistance, both personal and professional.

F irst o f all, I w o u ld like to express m y deep est perso n al and p ro fe ssio n a l g ratitude to m y
supervisor, D r. A ilee n P earson-E vans, w ho th ro u g h o u t th e w h o le p ro cess h as provided
m e w ith p ro fessio n al and p erso n al assistance. It is im p o rtan t to ack n o w led g e th at at the
onset o f the academ ic year 2002/3, she p a id for m y tu itio n fee o ut o f h e r ow n personal
research funding (D C U A lbert C ollege R esearch A w ard, 2002). I feel ex trem ely indebted
to her for h er in cred ib le un d erstan d in g o f international students w ith C o nfucian cultural
backgrounds. H e r insightful advice on and su pervision o f th is th esis have b een
invaluable to m e thro u g h o u t the course o f th is study.

I w o uld also like to express m y p a rticu la r p ro fessio n al g ratitude to the present, and
previous, SA L IS rese a rc h com m ittee for the scholarship th ey aw ard ed to m e, w hich
m ade it p o ssib le for m e to carry out m y P h D research over th e p a st 3 Vi years. M y deepest
gratitude is also ex tended to M s. M a m ie H o lb o ro w w ho, th ro u g h o u t m y w ritin g o f the
thesis, has h elp ed m e refine m y E nglish, and o ffered m e insig h tfu l advice on th e thesis. I
also feel g reatly in d ebted to m y co lleague V e ra S heridan w ho also has p ro v id e d m e w ith
valuable advice.

I w o u ld like to th a n k th e num erous teach ers and students in N a n k a i U n iversity, P.R.

C hina, in the A m erican C ollege D ublin, and in the L an g u ag e S ervices, D C U for their
cooperation d u ring m y field surveys in 2 0 0 2 .

I w ould like to express m y deepest thanks to m y p arents w ho h av e alw ays supported and
encouraged m e thro u g h o u t m y career. I w ould also like to express m y deep est thanks to
m y dear w ife, L uo R o n g H u a and our lo v ely son, X iao Y ue w h o m I h a v e left b eh in d m e
and w ho b o th h a v e been w o rk in g and studying v e ry h ard in C hina. T h eir love, unfailing
support and en couragem ent h av e alw ays b e e n a h u g e source o f in sp iratio n in overco m ing
the difficult m o m en ts o f m y research here, e sp ecially d u rin g the final stage o f m y PhD
study in late 2004.

F in ally this thesis is dedicated to m y paren ts, m y w ife and m y son.

ix
 Abstract

L ix in X iao - Communicative Competence and Critical Thinking: A Cross-cultural

View o f Chinese EFL learners and Teachers in a University Context

T his study explores a ped ag o g ical fram ew o rk for te rtia ry level learn ers w h ich takes
full account o f the traditions and co n tex t o f C hinese E n g lish lan g u ag e teaching. It aim s
to adapt th e w estern -b ased co m m u n icativ e language tea c h in g approach and
com m unicative com petence m odel to the C hinese settin g at u n iv ersity level so that
b o th learner and teachers can benefit.

T he research m eth o d o lo g y consists o f a qu an titativ e su rv ey and a qualitative study

w h ich includes in-depth in terview s and classro o m observations. T he aim is to com pile
first-hand in form ation on learn er/teach er attitudes tow ard s tea c h e r-c en tred and student-
centred teach in g approaches, culture learn in g in E F L p rogram s, and the m ajo r
difficulties faced b y b o th students and teachers in the tea c h in g /lea rn in g process w h en
C L T is introduced into E nglish classes.

Q uantitative D ata are analysed u sin g th e statistics p a c k ag e fo r social science (SPSS ),

and q u alitativ e data is c ateg o rized to id en tify p o ssib le p attern s for analysis and
discussion. A com parison b etw een stu d e n ts and te a c h e rs d a ta reveals perceptual
m atches and m ism atches b etw een th e tw o groups. S u rv ey findings are ev aluated in
relation to th e th eo retical foundations o f co m m u n icativ e co m p eten ce (C anale & Sw ain,
1980; C anale, 1983). O n a p ractical level, so m e effective strateg y for teach in g E F L to
C hinese E nglish m ajors at third level are suggested. O n a theo retical level, a
synthesized approach fo r integrating com m u n icativ e lan g u ag e teach in g into current
C hinese traditional teach in g m eth o d s is p ro p o sed w h o se aim is to enhance C hinese
E nglish m ajo rs' co m m unicative com petence.
 List of Abbreviations

ACD: A m erican C ollege D u b lin

BEC : C am bridge B u sin ess E n g lish C ertificate

CA: C om m u n icativ e A ctivities

CC: C om m u n icativ e C om petence

CID A: C an ad ian International D ev elo p m en t A g e n c y

CLT: C om m u n icativ e L anguage T each in g

CR: C o m p reh en siv e R ead in g C ourse

CT: C ritical T h inking

DCU: D u b lin C ity U n iv ersity

D C U LS: D u b lin C ity U n iv e rsity L an g u ag e S ervices

EFL: E n g lish as a F o reig n L anguage

EM G s: E n g lish -M ajo r G raduates

ESL: E n g lish as a S econd L anguage

EU: E u ro p e an U nion

FL: F o reig n L anguage

GRE: G raduate R e c o rd E xam s

IELTS In tern atio n al E n g lish L anguage T estin g S ystem

IR: In ten siv e R e a d in g C ourse

L I: F irst L an g u ag e

L2: S eco n d L an g u ag e

LLS: L an g u ag e learn in g strategy

NCA: N o n -C o m m u n icativ e A ctivities

NK: N ankai U n iv ersity

N PG : [The] N o rth P ro ject G roup

SCA: S tu d en t-C en tred A pproach

SPSS: S tatistic P ackage for S ocial S cience

TC A : T each er-C en tred A pproach

TEFL: T each in g E n g lish as a F oreign L anguage

TN U: T ian jin N o rm al U niversity

TO EFL: T est o f E n g lish as a F oreign L an g u ag e

xi
 List of Tables

T able 1.1. H isto rical P erio d O ne 7

T able 1.2. H isto rical P erio d T w o 7

T able 2.1. T he C L T A p p ro ach vs. the C o ntext A p p ro a c h 36

T able 3.1. D ifferences in the P ow er D istan ce D im en sio n 59

T able 3.2. D ifferences in the U n certain ty A v o id an ce D im en sio n 60

T able 4.1. 5-point L ik ert S cale 74

T able 4.2. S tudent sam ple p o p u latio n 76

T able 4.3. T each er sam ple pop u latio n age ran g e 79

T able 4.4. T each er sam ple courses 79

T able 4.5. C lassro o m ob serv atio n details 83

T able 5.1. S tu d e n ts attitudes tow ards g ro u p -w o rk 91

T able 5.2. S tu d e n ts attitudes tow ards sp eak in g out in class 92

Table 5.3. S tu d e n ts fu n ction-based strategies 95

T able 5.4. N ature and stren g th o f m o tiv atio n am ong students 96

T able 5.5. T each er-cen tred (T C ) ap proach in class 97

T able 5.6. S tu d e n ts'a ttitu d e s tow ards stu d en t-cen tred approach 99

T able 5.7. S tu d e n ts attitudes to co m m u n icativ e activities in class 99

T able 5.8. S tu d e n ts attitudes tow ards n o n -co m m u n icativ e activities 100

T able 5.9. C ulture learning in E FL teaching 102

Table 5.10. S tu d e n ts attitudes tow ards c o m p en satio n strategies 103

Table 5.11. S tu d e n ts attitudes tow ards so cial strategies 104

Table 5.12. S tu d e n ts attitu des tow ards a u th o rity in class 105

Table 5.13. M ajo r d ifficulties encountered in students' learn in g p ro cess 107

Table 5.14. M eta-co g n itiv e strategies 109.

Table 5.15. S tu d e n ts attitu des tow ards fo rm -b ased strategies 110

Table 5.16. S tu d e n ts attitudes tow ards fu n ctio n -b ased strategies 111

T able 5.17. S tu d e n ts attitudes tow ards dep en d en ce on L I 112.

T able 5.18. C o m p ariso n b etw een students and. T each ers 118

T able 7.1. T eachers' teach in g pattern in th e class 172

T able 7.2. T ypes o f class events 173

T able 7.3. S im ilarities and D iscrepancies 175

xiii
 List of Figures

F igure 2.1: C om ponents o f L anguage C o m p eten ce 30

F igure 2.2: 'T he B u ck et M o del' 46

F igure 8.1: T he E clectic M o del: A T h eo retical Synthesis 211

F igure 8.2: T h e E clectic M o d e l A p p lied to R ead in g in E n g lish C lass 212

xiv
 Introduction

The reason why teaching is so difficult to talk about is not because it is so unfamiliar,
but because it is too familiar.
Kramsch (1993: 104)

Development of personal interest

T w enty five years ago, w hen I w as still an E n g lish lan g u ag e u n iv ersity student,

learning E n g lish m eant little m ore th an acquiring a th o ro u g h kno w led g e o f

gram m atical rules and v o c a b u la ry and read in g litera ry m asterp ieces. T he fact th at the

p rim ary goal o f any language is co m m u n icatio n did n o t seem to h av e any bearing on

how it w as taught. A s long as students could rep ro d u ce gram m atical rules and apply

them to the m o st intricate tran slatio n exercises, th e te a c h e r w as h a p p y and convinced

that s/he w as doing a good jo b . T he trad itio n al do m in an t m o d el o f E F L teaching in

C hina today still p resen ts language as a system o f c o g n itiv e pattern s and referen ce

item s to b e learned and m astered, in a fashion n ot d issim ila r to m athem atical and

physical laws.

A lth o u g h the revised natio n al E n g lish cu rricu lu m fo r E n g lish -m a jo r students at

tertiary level claim s the cu ltiv atio n o f lea rn ers c o m m u n icativ e com petence as a goal

o f E F L ed u cation and calls for a further reform , in reality w ith this teach in g approach

little intercultural sen sitiv ity o r co m m unicative co m p eten ce has b e e n achieved. A s a

univ ersity teach er o f th e E n g lish language in C h in a for 20 years, I h av e realized the

m erits and dem erits o f th e traditional language teach in g approach. H ow ever, given

the situation o f E F L teach in g in C hina, a fundam ental shift can n o t tak e p lace w ith o u t

a fundam ental ped ag o g ical change b o th at a th eo retical and a p ractical level. F rom

the C hinese p erspective, this shift is o f great sig n ifican ce b e c au se C hina h as the

largest national pop u latio n o f E nglish language learners in the w orld, and at p resen t

enthusiasm for E n g lish language learning is u n p reced en ted in her history.

1
Significance of this study

T his thesis explores h o w to enhance C hinese E n g lish m a jo r students' com m unicative

com petence b y exam ining the specific pro b lem s e n c o u n te re d in C hinese E n g lish

language classroom s in a u n iv ersity context, nam ely, N a n k a i U n iv ersity , C h in a (See

C h apter 4 for further details). C o m m unicative lan g u ag e tea c h in g (C L T ) w as

introduced to C h in a in the early 1980s, b u t the ch an g es it h as b ro u g h t about have

b e e n m o re on the theo retical level rath er th an affectin g w h a t actu ally goes on in

E n g lish classroom s. A s a result, the outcom e o f E F L tea c h in g o f college-level

E nglish m ajors has n o t b e e n satisfactory. In C hina, the d o m in a n t teach in g practices

are trad itio n al g ram m ar-tran slatio n and audio-lingual te a c h in g m eth o d s w h ich do not

prove help fu l in dev elo p in g lea rn ers co m m u n icativ e co m p eten ce as students

b ecam e alm ost stru ctu rally co m p eten t but c o m m u n ic a tiv e ly in co m p e te n t (Jo h n so n

& M orrow : 1981:1). T he results o f this study w ill b e o f sig n ifican ce to current E F L

refo rm at tertia ry lev el in C h in a and to n ativ e speakers o f E n g lish w ho teach C hinese

students in m u lticu ltu ral classroom s outside C hina, the latter hav in g ex perienced an

ex traordinary rise in recen t tim es. F o r instance, in Irelan d th e p ast 7 years have

w itn essed a substantial increase fro m a few h u n d red C h in ese students to an estim ated

4 0 ,000 n o w arriving to stu d y E n g lish o r p u rsu e an a d v an ced d eg ree at tertiary level.

Focus of this study

T his research falls into tw o p arts, as it involves b o th teach ers and learners. A s

teach in g and learning are interlinked, the enh an cem en t o f C hinese learners'

com m unicative com petence w ill p ro ceed from change in th e classro o m involving

b o th teachers and learners. T h e questions th is thesis seeks to answ er are the

follow ing:

1. W hat are th e attitudes o f C hinese E n g lish -m ajo r students and th eir teachers

tow ards: a), com m u n icativ e language teach in g (C L T ), b). the traditional

C hinese teach in g ap proach in E n g lish class? D o es any m ajo r p ercep tu al

m atch or m ism atch on these subjects e x ist b e tw e en students and teachers?

2
 2. W hat are th e m ajo r d ifficulties that C hinese E F L stu d en ts and teachers m ight

have encountered in th eir attem pts to adopt C L T in th e C hinese context?

3. H ow can C hinese E n g lish learners' com m u n icativ e co m p eten ce be enhanced

w ithin the E F L p ro g ram m es at tertiary level?

4. H ow can C h in ese E n g lish lea rn ers critical th in k in g skills b e developed?

It should be em phasized th at these concerns h av e arisen from m y direct experience as

a lecturer at u n iv ersity level and this thesis draw s from the teach in g o f E n g lish for

E nglish m ajors at N an k ai U n iv e rsity as the em pirical re se a rc h in this stu d y bears

w itness. U nless specified otherw ise, the C hinese E F L learners in this thesis are

referred to as u n iversity-level E nglish m ajor students.

Organization of the thesis

T his thesis consists o f 10 chapters detailed below :

C hapter 1 p resen ts a h isto ry o f E F L education in C h in a o v er th e p ast century. It also

] _ *
gives a description o f the v ario u s challenges co n fro n tin g E F L ed u cation for E nglish

m ajors at university level in C hina.

C hapter 2 presents a rev ie w o f the related literature, and is divided into tw o sections.

T he first section begins w ith an overview o f the n o tio n o f com m unicative

com petence. It exam ines its ap p lication in C L T and p resen ts a review o f the various

critiques o f CLT. T he second section exam ines th e current state o f the

com m unicative co m p eten ce o f C hinese E F L m ajors, and the debate over the

application o f C L T in C h in ese E F L education at u n iv ersity level.

C hapter 3 outlines a rev iew o f cultural factors affecting th e E F L education in C hina

b y discussing th e concepts o f 'individualism vs. collectivism ', 'high vs. low p o w er

distance' and 'strong vs. w eak un certain ty avoidance' and th e 'C hinese culture o f

learning'.
C hapter 4 describes th e research design used in this stu d y and includes a d etailed

description o f b o th th e quantitative and q u alitativ e research m eth o d o lo g ical

procedures used in data collection, p resen tatio n and analysis.

C hapter 5 focuses on the p resen tatio n and d iscu ssio n o f th e q u an titative data. T he

first section b eg in s w ith quantitative data findings o f th e student group in clu d in g

C hinese E FL students' attitudes tow ards C L T, the tra d itio n al approach, au th o rity in

class, and learning fo reig n cultures in E nglish lan g u ag e p rogram m es. T he second

section provides a c o m p ariso n b etw een q u an titative d a ta o f stu d e n ts and te a c h e rs

perceptions o f th e abo v e-m en tio n ed item s in the first section.

C hapter 6 p resen ts an analysis o f qualitative d ata c o lle cte d th ro u g h in terview s and

questionnaires from b o th students and teachers. A d e ta ile d account o f b o th groups'

com m ents is given, focu sin g on w h y th ey m ight fav o u r or disfav o u r C L T or

traditional teaching m ethods. T he problem s they e n c o u n te r in the process o f their

learning and tea c h in g are explored.

C hapter 7 focuses on an analysis o f q u alitativ e d a ta arising from classroom

observations o f five tea c h e r participants. S im ilarities and differen ces in term s o f th eir

classroom instru ctio n p attern s are p resen ted and discussed. C on trib u to ry factors,

such as those w h ich lead to th e d iscrepancy b e tw e en w h a t m o st teachers claim ed to

do and w hat th ey actu ally did in class, are also exam ined.

C hapter 8 proposes a p e d a g o g ic a l m odel for an eclectic ap proach w h ich integrates

com m unicative com p o n en ts into the traditional ap p ro ach in ord er to suit the C hinese

E F L context.

C hapter 9 focuses on w ays o f addressing a m a jo r p ro b le m identified in this study:

nam ely, learners' in ab ility to think critically in E F L p ro g ram s at tertiary level in

China. I suggest suitable ped ag o g ical strategies fo r the d ev elo p m en t and assessm ent

o f critical th in k in g in stru ctio n in E nglish class.

4
F in ally in C hapter 10, I discuss the significant im p licatio n s o f this thesis in th e area

o f E n g lish lan g u ag e ed u catio n for E nglish m ajo rs at te rtia ry level w ith in and ou tside
China.

5
 Chapter 1

A historical overview of EFL education in China

Introduction

T his ch ap ter b egins w ith a ch ro nological overview o f E n g lish language teach in g in

China. T his is follow ed b y an ov erv iew o f th e p resen t state o f E n g lish teach in g at

tertiary level, in clu d in g the d ifferences b e tw e en E n g lish ed u catio n fo r E n g lish m ajors

and for non-m ajors. N e w challenges facin g E n g lish teach in g for E n g lish m ajors in

the C hinese co n tex t are also ex am ined and discu ssed in o rd er to p ro v id e the

b ack g ro u n d and context for the research.

1 .1 . A brief history of EFL education in China

O ver the last 150 years, C hina has experien ced trem en d o u s ch an g es in its foreign

language teach in g policies, esp ecially in the area o f E n g lish as a foreign language

(EFL). T he ev o lu tio n and d ev elo p m en t o f fo re ig n lan g u ag e ed u catio n in C h in a has

u ndergone v a rio u s tw ists and turns. It is g en erally ag reed th at tw o b ro a d historical

periods are significant: old China (1759 -1949) and new China (1949 to p rese n t day)

w ith the fo u n d in g o f the P e o p le s R ep u b lic o f C h in a (1st O ctober, 1949) as a

d em arcatio n line (Fu, 1986; L i et al, 1988; R oss, 1993; A d am son, 2002; L am , 2002).

(See T able 1.1 and 1.2)

6
Table - 1 Historical Period One: Old China (1759-1949)

Period Role and status English language

Education
1759- English perceived as a 'barbarian' Private study

1860 tongue, low official status

English as a vehicle for gaining On the curriculum o f
Later Qing access to W estern science and newly established
1861-
Dynasty technology; helpful to the secondary schools
1911 development o f Chinas
international diplomacy
English as a vehicle for exploring O n the curricula of
W estern philosophy and other secondary and tertiary
1911-
The ideas; opportunities for study institutions
1923 abroad; high official status
Republican
English as a vehicle for diplomatic, On the curricula o f
Era
military and intercultural secondary and tertiary
1924-
interaction with the West; institutions
1949 resistance from nationalistic
scholars and politicians fearing
unwanted cultural transfer

Source: F u (1986), A d am so n (2002), L am (2002)

Table -1.2. Historical Period Two: New China (1949 to present day)

Historical Period Phase in FL education Time

R u ssian as the first foreign 1949 -1950s

B efore the C ultural language in C h in a
R evolution E n g lish as th e first foreign 1957-65
language in C h in a
R ep u d iatio n o f F oreign 1966-70
D uring the C ultural language learning
R ev olution E nglish for ren ew in g ties 1971-76
w ith th e W est
E n g lish learn in g for 1977 -1 9 9 0
A fter the C ultural m o d ern izatio n
R ev olution E n g lish learning for F ro m 1991 onw ards
in tern atio n al relations

Source: (ibid.)

A t different tim es th roughout the history, the E n g lish lan g u ag e has b e e n p erceived

vario u sly as a th reat to n ational in teg rity o r as a co n d u it for stren g th en in g C h in a s

p o sitio n in th e w orld co m m u n ity (L am , 2002). F ro m 1759 to 1860, u n d e r the

7
influence o f C hinese rulers' p aro ch ial arrogance and c lo se d -d o o r p o licy , E n g lish w as

regarded as the language o f a tec h n ica lly p o w erfu l e n e m y w h o se culture appeared

to the C hinese as essen tially b a rb a ric (A dam son, 2002: 231). In th is p erio d there

w as little n e e d for learning or teach in g E n g lish and, as a resu lt, little to o k place.

H o w ever, C h in a s d efeat in the o p iu m w ar against G reat B rita in (1 8 3 9 -1 8 4 2 )

signalled th e end o f the C hinese ru lers' delusions. It re v e a le d the tech n o lo g ical

in ferio rity o f C hinese w e a p o n ry and th e sta te s in ab ility to p ro te c t its territo rial

integrity. T his had far-reach in g im p lications on the n a tio n s cu ltu ral and p o litical

w ell-b ein g and finally led to the b irth o f a strategy o f synthesis - Ti-Yong Dichotomy

- p u t forw ard b y Z hang Z h id o n g (1837-1909), a statesm an and reform er, w ho

p ro m o ted m o d ern izatio n in C h in a d u ring the last years o f th e Q in g dynasty. T he

p rinciple w as stu d y C h in a fo r essence, stu d y the W est fo r utility [zhongxue wei ti,

xi xue wei yong\. In o ther w ords, trad itio n al C hinese p h ilo so p h y w as studied fo r its
fundam ental principles ti_ and W e ste rn civilizatio n w as stu d ied for p ra c tic a l

ap p lic atio n s vone. (R oss, 1993; F eng, 2000). C hinese scholars and rulers reco g n ized

that this p rin cip le necessitated the stu d y o f E n g lish and o th er lan g u ag es to gain

access to W estern technology. T hey b eliev ed that o n ce access to such skills w as

obtained, fo reign ag g ressio n co u ld b e challenged, leav in g th e spiritual core o f

C hinese cultural traditions - C o n fu cian ism - intact (A dam son, 2002: 234; R oss, 1993;

H e, 2000).

Thus in 1861, the C hinese go v ern m en t set up the first fo reign language school

Jingshi Tongwen Guan (literally S chool o f C o m b in ed L earning) in B eijin g w ith

B ritish m issionary, J. C. B urdon, as its first E n g lish in stru cto r (H e, 2002). T w o years

later, a sim ilar establishm ent w as established in Shanghai. B y th e late 1870s,

graduates from the Jingshi Tongwen Guan began to g a in ap pointm ents w ith in the

civil service and diplom atic p o stin g s overseas. T he status o f th e school, and o f

studying E nglish, rose accordingly. In th e fo llow ing years, m o re schools b ased on the

m o d el o f the Tongwen Guan w ere estab lish ed a n d E n g lish w as tau g h t in schools set

up b y fo reign m issio n ary o rganizations and becam e a w a y o f cap tu rin g the hearts and

m inds o f the C hinese p e o p le and a m ean s o f peacefu l transform ation. H ow ever, it

8
w as the econom ic b en efits o f learn in g E nglish th at attracted m o st C hinese students

(A dam son, 2002).

T he rev o lu tio n o f 1911 [j] o verthrew o f the Q ing D y n a sty an d u sh ered in the

R ep u b lican e ra in 1911. E n g lish w as one o f the th ree core su b jects (along w ith

C hinese and M athem atics) in th e seco n d ary school c u rricu lu m (R ose, 1993). B u t the

w id er function o f E n g lish lan g u ag e teach in g and learn in g as a m e d iu m fo r accessing

philosophical, econom ic, social and p o litical ideas w as resiste d b y trad itio n alists w ho

view ed E n g lish as a th re a t to C h in ese traditional values. (Fu, 1986; Li et al, 1988;

R oss, 1993; A dam son, 2002). M oreover, at th at tim e the g o v e rn m e n ts bud g et for

education w as curtailed due to econom ic difficulties. A ll th is h a d a v e ry n egative

im pact on form al E nglish language teaching. D u rin g th e y ears o f Japanese invasion

(1937-1945) follow ed by th e civil w a r (1946-1949), th e co u n try w as left

e conom ically devastated and p sy ch o lo g ically scarred. G iv en the desperate situ atio n

in C hina, it w as ex trem ely h a rd to c arry o n no rm al schooling.

T he N e w C hina p h a se b e g a n a fter th e founding o f th e P eo p le's R ep u b lic o f C hina on

O ctober 1st 1949 (S ee T able-1.2). In the N e w C h in a p h ase, learn in g a foreign

language becam e a c o m p u lso ry subject n o t ju s t in h ig h schools b u t also in

universities u n d er th e ord er o f th e M in istry o f E ducation. B u t fro m 1949 till the m id-

1950s, E n g lish w as rarely found in th e school curriculum , as R u ssian w as th e m ain

foreign language due to C h in a s ex trem ely close econom ic and diplom atic

relationship w ith the S oviet U n io n (X u, 1990; Scovel, 1995 cited in Lam , 2002: 246).

M eanw hile, a n u m b er o f E n g lish -sp eak in g countries refu sed to recognize the

P eople's R epublic o f C h in a an d im posed an econom ic blockade.

U n d er th is h o stile intern atio n al en v iro n m en t and th e an tag o n istic relations b etw een

C h in a and W estern E n g lish -sp eak in g countries, C h in a k e p t th e d o o r o f the co u n try

tig h tly clo sed to the W estern w orld. E n g lish and o th er m o d e m languages w ere

alm ost stam ped out at th a t tim e and it becam e som ehow u n p atrio tic to study the

language o f ou r enem ies (T ang, 1986).

H ow ever, as S ino-S oviet relatio n s becam e strained, C h in a b e g a n to look to the W est

for econom ic ties in th e late 1950s and m id 1960s and th e teach in g o f foreign
languages other th an R u ssian w as resum ed. F ro m 1957-1965, th e C hinese

governm ent's foreign language p o lic y p en d u lu m sw ung from R u ssian to W estern

m o d em languages, esp ecially E nglish. In 1962, the M in istry o f E d u catio n

p rom ulgated the 'E nglish L anguage T each in g S yllabus fo r M id d le S chool S tudents

(A T rial D raft) (Feng, 2000; L am , 2002 : 246) and great efforts w e re m ad e in the

area o f syllabus p lan n in g and E n g lish tex tb o o k w ritin g fo r m id d le school students

and th ird -lev el students o f social science and h um anities in clu d in g E nglish-m ajors.

In O ctober 1964, th e M in istry o f E d u catio n p ro m u lg a te d th e 'S ev en -y ear P lan for

F oreign L an g u ag e E d u catio n in C hina'. Its purpose w as to estab lish E n g lish as the

m ain foreign language to b e taught in C h in a and to im prove the q u a lity o f fo reign

language tea c h in g at vario u s levels (Feng, 2000). H o w ev er, from 1966 to 1976, the

C ultural R e v o lu tio n [2] sw ept th ro u g h C hina and it disap p ro v ed co n seq u en tly the

teaching o r learning o f anything foreign since W estern p o w ers w ere once again

v iew ed as enem ies o f com m unist C hina. T he im p act o f th e C ultu ral R e v o lu tio n on

foreign lan g u ag e education w as such that fo reign lan g u ag es in g en eral w ere lab elled

as an op en in g to capitalism , W estern isatio n or rev isio n ism (Feng, 2000). E n g lish

learning in C h in a at that tim e w as in fact n o t foreign lan g u ag e learn in g in its real

sense, but a k in d o f sym bolic learn in g o f p olitical slo g a n s or q u o tatio n s o f M ao,

Z edong (the top lead er o f th e P eople's R ep u b lic o f C hina). It w as n o t unusual to find

C hina-specific contents w ritten in E nglish in E n g lish tex tb o o k s, w ith little in p u t o f

real life context, let alone authentic m aterials. B eg in n ers u su a lly started th eir first

lesso n w ith a slogan, such as L ong L ive C h airm an M a o ' (Fu, 1986: 85) and L ong

L ive the C o m m u n ist P arty o f C h in a . A n d som e W e ste m -c u ltu re -fre e tex ts w ere

selected ex clu siv ely from C hinese perio d icals such Beijing Review [Beijing
ZhouBao ] and China Reconstructs [ZhongGuo JianShe] (D ong, 1986). A ccording to
Scott (1980):

C h in a p ro d u ces its o w n m aterials w h ich are c le a rly m o d elle d on B ritish E F L

texts o f th e 1960s w ith one m a jo r v ariatio n - a th o ro u g h ly tran sfo rm ed cultural
co n ten t th at aim s at reinforcing C hinese cultural n o rm s and v alues (p. 14 cited in
A lp tek in & A lp tek in 1984: 16).

This p eriod o f the C ultural R e v o lu tio n (1966-1976) in clu d ed an inten siv e ideological

or p o litical o rien tatio n for all E n g lish teaching. In 1977, one year after th e end o f the

10
C ultural R ev o lu tio n , the co u n try fo r the first tim e rev iv e d its an nual college-entrance

exam in atio n in w h ich E n g lish becam e a co m p u lso ry su b ject fo r all types o f

u n iv ersities and colleges. T h e w ritten p a rt o f th e E n g lish exam in atio n covered

E nglish vocab u lary , gram m ar, read in g and w riting. (L iste n in g com p reh en sio n w as

added to th e exam in 2001). C hina's tertia ry ed u cation w as claim ed to b e b a c k o n a

n orm al track. W ith the an n o uncem ent o f C hina's c a m p a ig n o f F o u r M odernizations

(i.e. to m o d ern ize the sectors o f A griculture, Industry, S cien ce & T echnology, and

N ational D efen ce) and its p o lic y o f op en in g to th e o u tsid e w o rld , th e enthusiasm o f

C hinese p e o p le fo r learn in g E n g lish d eveloped at an u n p rec e d e n te d rate.

A s the co u n try b ecam e m o re and m o re exposed to th e o u tsid e w orld, especially to

W estern countries, its aw areness o f th e im portance o f E n g lish as th e language o f

international com m erce and co m m u n icatio n s in creased. In th e late 1970s,

D epartm ents o f E n g lish L iterature, an d D ep artm en ts o f E n g lish for Science and

T ech n o lo g y [Ke j i yingyu xi] sprang up in m an y u n iv ersities and colleges. T he

C hinese g overnm ent accelerated its efforts to im p o rt E n g lish teach in g and learning

m aterials from W estern countries, esp ecially from E n g lish -n a tiv e speaking countries.

(Fu, 1986: 91). F ro m 1990s onw ards, the C hinese g o v ern m en t has attached even

m ore im p o rtan ce to im p ro v in g the teach in g and learn in g o f E n g lish at various levels

in C hina and h as claim ed th a t E n g lish ed u catio n is n o t m e re ly an educational issue

per se, b u t an issue asso ciated w ith th e effective rea liz a tio n o f th e m o d ern izatio n
cam paign o f the co u n try as a w h o le (P ang et al, 2002).

1.2. Overview of the present state of English language education for

English majors at tertiary level

H av in g o u tlin ed a b r ie f h isto ry o f E n g lish language e d u c atio n in C hina, this section

focuses o n the differences b e tw e en E n g lish ed u catio n fo r E n g lish m ajors and th at for

n o n -E n g lish m ajors. It w ill also give a d etailed account o f th e ch allen g es facing E FL

teach in g fo r E n g lish m ajors at tertia ry level.

11
1.2.1. D ifferences betw een English education for E nglish m ajors and that for

non-English m ajors

C h in a s E n g lish ed u catio n at tertiary level is d iv id e d into tw o distin ct groups:

E nglish m ajors and n o n -E n g lish m ajors. E ach group is co n c ern e d w ith a d ifferent

em phasis and different criteria fo r attain in g target lan g u a g e co m p eten ce w ith in each

curriculum . T he core differen ce lies in the fact th a t fo r E n g lish m ajors, E nglish

constitutes the to tality o f th eir training and expertise in th e ir fo u r-y ear u n d ergraduate

program m es. T hese lead to a B A degree in the E n g lish L an g u ag e and L iterature. F o r

n on-m ajors E n g lish is ju s t one req u ired 2 -y ear course in th eir core curriculum . N o n

m ajors h av e to pass vario u s E nglish courses to co m p lete th e ir college education

(Feng, 2000; C heng, 2002: 263; Lin, 2002; H e, 2002). A cco rd in g to the E n g lish

Syllabus for non -m ajo rs at u n iv ersity level,

T he teach in g o f E n g lish for non -m ajo rs aim s at d e v elo p in g in students a

rela tiv e ly high level o f com petence in reading, and an interm ed iate level o f
com petence in listening, speaking, w riting and tra n sla tin g so th at th ey can
exchange in fo rm atio n in E n g lish (C ollege E n g lish S yllabus R ev isio n T eam ,
1999: 1).

A t in stitu tio n al level, the teach in g o f E n g lish for E n g lish m ajo rs and n on-m ajors are

separate in term s o f tex tb o o k w riting, curricu lu m design, adm in istratio n and s ta ff

training. A ccording to the m o st recen t statistics, in 2 0 0 2 th ere w ere a total o f 2,003

universities and colleges w ith m o re th an 6 m illio n en rolm ents in C hina. H ow ever,

o nly 400 o f th ese third-level in stitutions offered a fo u r-y ear b a c h e lo rs p rogram in

the E n g lish language (H e, 2002). A ll n o n -E n g lish m ajo rs at th ird level institutions in

C h in a are required to take E n g lish courses fo r at least tw o years in th eir

u n d ergraduate p rogram s. B e fo re graduation, th e y m u st p a ss a natio n -w id e E nglish

p ro fic ie n c y test fo r non -m ajo rs - C E T -4 (C ollege E n g lish T est, B and-4) - in ord er to

achieve a B A degree, w h ile th e h ig h er level test C E T -6 is optional. G iven the large

p o p u latio n and large class size to g eth er w ith a tig h t syllabus, the teach in g and

learning o f E n g lish for n o n -m ajo rs focuses on th e rea d in g co m p reh en sio n n ecessary

to prep are learners to p a ss v ario u s E n g lish tests rath e r th an on th eir p ractical ability

to use th e language for com m unication. E F L m ajors, b y contrast, aim to be pro ficien t

in co m m unicative com petence.

12
1.2.2. English education for English majors: context and problem s

E n g lish language ed u cation for E n g lish m ajo rs in C h in a aim s at tra in in g interpreters,

translators, teachers, research ers and adm inistrators fo r in stitu tio n s o f h ig h er

learning, pu b lic o r priv ate organisations, b u sin ess an d tra d in g com panies, and

research institutions. T hese pro fessio n als are req u ired to h a v e co m m unicative

com petence including fluent co m m an d o f w ritten and oral E n g lish , as w ell as som e

specific k n ow ledge in th e hu m an ities and social sciences (E n g lish D iv isio n o f the

A d v iso ry C om m ittee for the T e a ch in g o f F o reig n L an g u ag es fo r F o re ig n L an g u ag e

M ajors, 2 0 0 0 )1. D u rin g th e fo u r years o f the u n d erg rad u ate p ro g ram m es fo r E n g lish

m ajors, language train in g is p a rt o f th e curriculum , a lth o u g h an essen tial p art during

the first tw o years. L an g u ag e train in g for E n g lish m ajo rs includes train in g in

listening, speaking, reading, w riting, in terp retin g and translating.

T he m o st recen tly rev ise d n a tio n a l E n g lish language c u rricu lu m for E nglish m ajors

(E nglish D ivision, 2000) em p h asizes th e stu d e n ts c o m m u n icativ e co m p eten ce and

intercultural sensitivity, a n e w feature in E n g lish lan g u a g e ed u catio n for E n g lish

m ajors in co m p ariso n w ith the p rev io u s curriculum . T o p rese n t a general p ictu re o f

the p ro fic ie n c y level o f E n g lish m ajo rs in C hinese u n iv ersities, it is w o rth

m en tio n in g the req u irem en ts o f e ach language skill w h ic h E n g lish m ajo rs should

m ee t u p o n g raduation acco rd in g to criteria stipulated in th e rev ise d natio n al E n g lish

C urriculum for E n g lish M ajo rs at tertia ry level (E n g lish D iv isio n , 2000; H e, 2002).

I. Listening Comprehension : S tudents sh o u ld b e able to u n d erstan d radio or

telev isio n pro g ram s o f E n g lish -sp eak in g countries (fo r in stance, C N N ) and political,

econom ic, cultural, ed u catio n al and scientific issues, sp ecial rep o rts and lectures on

sim ilar subjects.

1 In the rest o f the thesis, English Division o f the Advisory Committee for the Teaching of
Foreign Languages for Foreign Language Majors (2000) is referred to as English Division
(2000) hereafter.

13
II. S p e a k in g A b ility . Students are required to exch an g e id eas w ith p e o p le from

E nglish-speaking countries on m ajo r international o r d o m estic issues, to be ab le to

engage in len g th y and in -d ep th discussions on sim ila r subjects, and to express

them selves clearly, assertiv ely and coherently.

III. R e a d in g C o m p r e h e n s io n : S tudents m u st b e able to read editorials and critical

essays o n political issu es from B ritish and A m erican n e w sp ap ers and m ag azin es (for

instance, Times, New York Times), to understand literatu re p u b lish ed in E nglish-

speaking countries, and to be able to analyse th e argum ent, the structure, the

language and the style o f the above w ritings.

IV . W r itin g A b ilit y : Students are required to w rite descrip tiv e, n arrative, ex p o sito ry

and opinion essays, ex p ressin g them selves effectively, flu en tly and correctly. T he

required w ritin g speed is 300 to 400 w ords p e r 30 m in u tes. A th esis o f 3,000 to 5,000

w ords in length is p art o f th e req u irem en t for a b a c h e lo rs degree.

V. T r a n s la t in g A b ilit y . S tudents should be able to ren d e r into C hinese literary w orks

and new spaper o r m ag a z in e articles p u b lish ed in E n g lish -sp ea k in g countries, an d to

translate C hinese literature or n ew sp ap er articles into E nglish. T h e y are req u ired to

translate 2 5 0 -3 0 0 E n g lish w o rd s p e r hour. T h ey are also asked to serve as

interpreters at pu b lic functions involving p eo p le from E n g lish -sp eak in g countries

(E nglish D ivision, 2000; H e, 2002).

To guarantee the p ro p er tra in in g o f stu d e n ts language skills and co m m unicative

ability, at p resen t three ty p es o f courses are d esig n ed for E n g lish m ajors d u ring the

four-year underg rad u ate p rogram : skill courses, co n ten t courses, and courses on

other subjects relev an t to th e jo b s th at the students m ig h t h a v e after graduation.

S k ill c o u rs e s are aim ed at train in g th e students in th e five lan g u ag e skills (i.e.

Speaking, L istening, R ead in g , W riting and T ran slatin g ) b y w a y o f co m p u lso ry

courses offered d u ring the first tw o years o f th e u n d erg rad u ate program m e. Som e

schools offer elective courses d u ring the last tw o years, such as F o reig n N ew sp ap er

R eading, and R ead in g o n th e Internet.

14
Content courses refer to courses o n literature, lin g u istics a n d cultural studies.
C o m p u lso ry courses inclu d e In tro d u ctio n to L inguistics, A S u rv ey o f E n g lish and

A m erican L iterature, T hesis W ritin g and In tro d u ctio n to E n g lish -sp eak in g C o u n try

Studies.

Elective courses : a w id e ran g e o f elective courses are o ffered in the E n g lish

D epartm ents o f differen t th ird -lev el in stitutions, in clu d in g in tro d u c to ry courses to

subjects such as W estern civilization, A m erican studies, B ritish studies, E n g lish and

A m erican litera ry h istory, p h o netics, lexicology, E n g lish gram m ar, teach in g

m eth o d o lo g y and rhetoric. W h ile the content o f elective courses v aries from school

to school, th e y all aim at p rep a rin g students for a p a rtic u la r jo b m arket.

B ased on th e ab o v e-m en tio n ed requirem ents, it is e v id en t th at the C hinese ed u cation

officials have envisioned th e im p o rtan ce for C hinese E F L learn ers to achieve an

E n g lish language com petence, w h ic h involves b o th w id e -ra n g in g kn o w led g e o f

general and culture specific to p ics a n d a critical th in k in g a b ility in ord er to b e in a

p o sitio n to to engage w ith E n g lish n ativ e speakers in len g th y and in-depth

d iscu ssio n on various subjects, and to express th em selv es clearly, assertiv ely and

coherently' and to w rite a g rad u atio n th esis o f 3,000 - 5,000 w o rd s in length' (P oints

II and IV above). A lth o u g h n o t e x actly u sin g the term critical th in k in g a b ility , the

E nglish C u rricu lu m for E n g lish M ajo rs at tertia ry lev e l (E n g lish D ivision, 2000; H e,

2002) im p lies th at C h in ese E F L learners should dev elo p th eir critical th inking

abilities th ro u g h the stu d y o f the fo reig n language an d th e level o f com petence

achieved should reflec t this. T he findings o f th is th esis also p o in t to the

im p o rtan ce/d esirab ility o f d e v elo p in g th e le a rn e rs critical th in k in g a b ility in

foreign language learning and the m o d el suggested in C h a p te r 9 explores this

concept in detail.

G iven th e various co n strain ts co n fro n tin g E F L tea c h in g in th e C hinese context,

w h ich w ill b e discussed in detail in fo llow ing chapters, th e id eal lev el o f com petence

aim ed at in the n ew E n g lish C u rricu lu m above is h a rd to achieve. It is crucial to p o in t

o ut th at n eith er the req u irem en ts fo r stu d e n ts lan g u ag e skills n o r the course

offerings m en tio n ed above in d icate th e p rese n t p ro fic ie n c y level o f the m ajo rity o f

E n g lish -m ajo r graduates fro m C hinese u n iv ersities and colleges, n o r the courses

15
offered in ev e ry E n g lish departm ent. T hese language sk ill and course requirem ents

are in clu d ed in th e rev ised natio n al teaching p ro g ra m fo r E n g lish m ajors, as a

guideline fo r all in stitu tio n s offering a fou r-y ear b a c h e lo rs p ro g ra m in E nglish.

H ow ever, the real situ atio n o f E F L education does n o t m atch th e requirem ents

stipulated in the rev ised curricu lu m for E n g lish m ajo rs. T he actual situation o f

teach in g E n g lish as a fo reign language (T E F L ) fo r E n g lish -m ajo rs in C h in a is

inadequate and faces serious challenges o r even 'crises' (N o rth P ro ject G roup, 1998;

Z hang & Y ang, 2000).

A s w ill b e d iscu ssed in C h ap ter 6, students su rv ey ed d u rin g th e rese a rc h for this

thesis rep o rted a p erceiv ed d eficien cy in th eir critical th in k in g com petence, w hich

th ey th o u g h t fell far short o f an o ptim um level fo r u n iv e rsity students. In addition,

teachers surveyed also fo u n d out that students lack ed critical thinking, m anifested

thro u g h o u t th eir group d iscussions, w ritten assig n m en ts and grad u atio n theses.

C ritical th in k in g is a fundam ental issue in E F L ed u catio n at u n iv ersity level and

deserves sufficien t atten tio n from C hinese E F L p ro fessio n als. T his issue w ill be

ad dressed in d ep th in C h ap ter 9. T he n e x t sectio n focuses on various crises

co n fronting E n g lish m ajo rs to set th e scene o f d eep er in v estig a tio n into these various

challenges that C hinese E F L students and teach ers face.

1.3. New challenges confronting TEFL for English majors in China

at institutional level

This section discusses n ew ch allen g es co n fronting E F L tea c h in g for E n g lish m ajors

as rev ealed b y C hinese E F L research ers in tw o sep arate surveys in C hina. C om m ents

are th en m ad e on th eir pro p o sed 'm ix ed talents' m o d el fo r E F L ed u cation for E n g lish

m ajors.

1.3.1. The N orth Project G roup (NPG) survey report

T hese new challenges are b est discussed b y th e in v estig atio n s co nducted b y the

Foreign L anguage E d u c a tio n D ep artm en t o f th e State E d u c a tio n C om m ission (now

ren am ed M in istry o f E ducation). A p ro je c t group w as set up in 1996-1997 fo r in-

dep th surveys on a large n u m b er o f E n g lish -m ajo r u n iv ersity graduates and their

16
current em ployers. Q uestionnaires w ere u sed to co llect in fo rm a tio n from th e student

and em ployer resp o n d en ts (N o rth P ro ject G roup, 1998).

T he student subjects w ere fo rm er E n g lish -m ajo r stu d en ts o f five w e ll-k n o w n

u niversities in C h in a U n iv e rsity o f In tern atio n al B u sin e ss and E conom ics (U IB E ),

U n iv ersity o f F o reig n A ffairs, B eijin g U n iversity, B e ijin g N o rm al U n iv ersity and

N an jin g U niversity. T h e first fo u r u niversities are lo ca ted in B eijing, and th e final

one in S outheast C hina. T he q uestionnaire for em p lo y ers co v ered the fo llow ing

areas:

1. C om m ents on th e targ et language skills ex h ib ite d b y the E n g lish -m ajo r

graduates (h ereafter refers to as E M G s) w ho are e m p lo y e d there;

2. C om m ents on the ab ility o f the E M G s to u se th e E n g lish language for the

p urpose o f in teraction, com m unication and m an ag em en t;

3. C om m ent on the E M G s' k n ow ledge about th e re la te d fields o f h u m an ities

pertain in g to th eir w ork.

T he questionnaire for student resp o n d en ts w as sent to th o se w ho g rad u ated fro m the

above-m entioned five un iv ersities in Ju ly 1993. It co n sisted o f th eir self-assessm ent

o f their language skills, com m ents on syllabus d esign a n d th e course schem e th e y

covered w h e n th ey w e re in university, and co m m en ts on th e adm in istratio n o f the

E nglish language tea c h in g p rogram m e. T he fin d in g s rev e a le d steps w h ic h m o st

n eeded to be tak e n in o rd er to im prove the q u a lity o f T E F L fo r E n g lish m ajors. F o r

instance, the su rv ey sh o w ed th at em ployers w ere not satisfied w ith the

com m unicative co m p eten ce ex h ib ited b y the E n g lish -m a jo r graduates em ployed in

their com panies or o rganizations. T he em ployers w e re n o t c o n ten t w ith E nglish-

m ajo r graduates w ho p o ssesse d o n ly m ed io cre targ e t lan g u ag e skills. T hey req u ired

E nglish-m ajor graduates w ith b o th co m m u n icativ e co m p eten ce in the targ et language

and k n ow ledge o f o th er fields o f th e hu m an ities as w ell.

T he results o f the self-ev alu atio n o f th eir o w n lev el o f E n g lish p ro fic ie n c y b y

em ployees (form er E n g lish m ajo rs) sh o w ed th at 60% o f th em rated th eir ow n

E nglish skills to b e 'satisfactory' w h ereas 21% fo u n d th eir E n g lish p ro ficien cy 'poor'.

H ow ever, the evalu atio n figures given b y th eir em ployers w ere different, b e in g 50%

and 29% respectively. In term s o f skills m o st n e e d ed fo r im provem ent, the form er

17
E nglish m ajors, in general, rate d th e skill o f speaking, listen in g an d w ritin g as the

w eakest, in d icatin g an u rg en t call for im provem ent.

H ere it is w o rth w h ile citin g th e p relim in ary c o n c lu sio n o f the N P G su rv ey (N P G

1998):

F oreign language ed u cation at te rtia ry lev el in C h in a (m ain ly E n g lish

education) w as a success in general. O f th e five b a s ic lan g u ag e skills, listening
and read in g p ro v ed to b e b e tte r th a n in te rp re tin g and tra n sla tin g skills w h ereas
p o o r speaking skills w ere reported. H ow ever, fo re ig n -lan g u ag e-m ajo rs w ho
graduated from fo reig n languages u n iv ersities o r in stitu tes w ith only one talent,
i.e. targ et-lan g u ag e kno w led g e / skills w e re no lo n g er w e lc o m e d b y em ployers
(p. 3, m y tra n sla tio n 2).

It is w o rth n o tin g th at th e situ atio n m ay b e w o rse th a n stated above given th e fact

th a t the E nglish lan g u ag e p ro ficien cy o f E n g lish -m a jo r graduates d id n o t m atc h th e

requirem ents specified in the curriculum . T he N P G (1998) research ers assert that:

F oreig n -lan g u ag e-m ajo rs are req u ired to p o ssess at least a sp ecialized
kno w led g e o f h u m an ities in addition to a targ e t language so as to m ee t the
challenge o f th eir fu tu re career d ev elo p m en t (p .3).

T he N P G research ers conclude:

E F L ed u catio n fo r E n g lish m ajors, w ith its obvious in adequacies and

w eaknesses is n o t able to m eet the req u irem en ts in th e n e w m illennium . A n d in
the jo b m ark et the dem an d fo r E n g lish m ajo rs w ith o n ly p u re linguistic skills
has dropped d o w n alm o st to zero (N PG , 1998: 5).

T herefore, th e research ers suggest that u n iv e rsity leaders and teachers sh o u ld update

th eir view s on fo reign language education, an d p a y m ore atten tio n to training

u niv ersity students o f th e co m posite ty p e , th a t is, stu d en ts w ith m ix e d talents. T he

N P G researchers also call fo r im proving E F L syllabus d e sig n and refo rm in g teach in g

b o th in co n ten t and m ethodology. T he fin d in g s o f th eir re p o rt co n trib u ted to th e b irth

o f the R ev ised N a tio n a l C urriculum o f E n g lish L anguage E d u catio n for E n g lish

M ajors at T e rtiary L evel (E nglish D iv isio n , 2000). H ow ever, n e ith e r th e N P G

researchers n o r th e rev ise d curriculum p ro v id e s a d etailed outline o f th e refo rm

2U nless specified otherw ise, all the quotations fro m C hinese sources, in terv iew s and
open-ended qu estio n s are translated into E n g lish b y th e author o f this thesis.

18
p ed ag o g ically or m e th o d o lo g ic a lly a lth o u g h th e y b e lie v e 'refo rm in g is the o n ly w a y

out for the su rvival and d ev elo p m en t o f E n g lish lan g u a g e te a c h in g p ro g ra m s for

E nglish m ajors in the 2 1 st century' (N P G , 1998: 9). T h e y rea liz e th at 'the ch allen g es

confronting E F L teach in g is m u ch greater th a n a n y o th er acad em ic discip lin es'

(N PG , 1998: 9).

1.3.2. The Zhang and Y ang study

In a later separate study, th e N G P research ers' claim s are e ch o ed b y Z h a n g an d Y a n g

(2000). T h e y co n ten d th a t i f the issue o f 'co m p o site ty p e' is n o t p ro p e rly h an d led , the

consequences w ill be 'disastrous' fo r C hina's T E F L fo r E n g lish m ajo rs (2000: 4).

T hey p o in t o u t th e p ro b lem s in h erent in E F L ed u catio n fo r E n g lish m ajo rs b o th at

societal and in stitu tio n al levels. A c c o rd in g to Z h a n g and Y a n g (2000), these

problem s can b e su m m arized as follow s:

F irst, for decades E F L h as b e e n a p ro b le m -rid d e n d isc ip lin a ry field or d isastro u s

a re a in C h in a (p.4): th e p a tte rn o f c u ltiv a tio n o f E F L m ajo rs h as n o t ch a n g ed for

decades, th at is, literatu re-o rien ted syllabus design, b asic lan g u ag e skills plus

literature plu s linguistics. T h e tea c h in g m e th o d o lo g y has b e e n v e ry rig id an d teacher-

centred. T he co llege o r dep artm en tal h ead s do n o t p a y e n o u g h a tte n tio n to this. It is

the p ro d u ct o f a p re v io u sly cen tralized p la n n e d e c o n o m y and is ab so lu te ly o ut o f

tune w ith current m o d e m econom ic and social thinking.

Second, th e ad v an tag e o f th e sp ecialized d iscip lin e (targ et lan g u ag e) is shrinking.

E nglish m ajo rs u se d to b e h ire d b y such g o v ern m en t org an izatio n s as M in istry o f

F oreign A ffairs, fo re ig n trade com panies, fo reig n -fu n d ed v en tu res, jo in t v en tu res and

o ther E n g lish -lan g u ag e-related in stitutions. B u t n o w the dem an d s fro m these

institutions and b u sin e sse s h a v e ch anged fro m graduates w ith lan g u ag e skills alone

to those w ith m ix e d ta le n ts . T he adv an tag e E n g lish m ajo rs u sed to e n jo y h a s b e e n

w h ittled aw ay and su p ersed ed b y u n iv e rsity g rad u ates o f o ther academ ic discip lin es

w ith relativ ely g o o d E n g lish language skills. O n e o f the co n trib u to ry facto rs is the

fact that th e c o m m u n icativ e co m p eten ce o f E n g lish m ajo rs is n o t u p to the

expectations o f p o ten tia l or current em ployers.

19
corresponding teach in g p e d a g o g y in th e C hinese E F L c o n te x t ra th e r th an set it

hastily as a goal o f E F L education for E n g lish m ajo rs at tertia ry level.

First, although b o th N P G experts and Z h an g & Y a n g p o in t o u t th e p ro b lem s in h eren t

in E F L ed u cation o f E n g lish m ajors in their reports, th e y fail to ex p lain the causal

relations reg a rd in g th e current d ifficulties fo r E n g lish -m ajo rs. It w o u ld b e easier for

po licy m akers and curriculum designers i f th e y co u ld id en tify the reaso n s fo r this

social phenom enon. F o r instance, does the falling d em an d for E n g lish -m ajo rs in the

jo b m arket reflect th eir co m m unicative in com petence? A s m en tio n ed earlier, since

C hina has o p en ed to the outside w orld and b e c o m e m o re d eep ly in v o lv ed in the

process o f g lobalisation, there is a greater n e e d for E n g lish language p e rso n n el w ith a

good co m m an d o f E nglish, th a t is, a large n u m b er o f com petent, first-class bilinguals

w ho are able to in terp ret and translate for im p o rtan t in tern atio n al p o litical, econom ic

and cultural events as w ell as for d a ily b u sin ess-related com m unications.

The crux lies in w h e th e r E n g lish m ajors can m eet such req u irem en ts u p o n their

university graduation. T he above m en tio n ed in v estig atio n s show the short-com ings

o f E n g lish m ajors, b u t th e o th er side is th e fact th at th e co u n try is ex p eriencing a

shortage o f w e ll-q u a lifie d E n g lish m ajo rs w ho p o ssess good cross-cultural

com m unicative co m p eten ce as req u ired in the n atio n al curriculum . V ario u s studies

show that no n -m ajo rs, w ho o n ly stu d y the targ et language fo r tw o years thro u g h o u t

their u n iv ersity o r co llege pro g ram , can h a rd ly m atc h E n g lish m ajo rs in term s o f the

four basic language skills (Li, 1984; B u rn a b y & Sun, 1989; Li 1997; H e et al, 1999;

Feng, 2000; P a n g et al, 2002). T he k e y p o in t is to u p g rad e the q u a lity o f th e E FL

program m e and p rep are E n g lish m ajo rs to m ee t the social dem ands and requirem ents

n ot only in term s o f linguistic b u t also cro ss-cu ltu ral abilities. F o r instance, in a

recent study, P a n g et al (2002) claim th at the obvious w eak n ess o f th e p rese n t E F L

education is th e in ad eq u ate ability o f E n g lish m ajo r g raduates to com m unicate

effectively in E nglish, and th eir lack o f cro ss-cu ltu ral aw areness. E v e n E n g lish

m ajors w ith a h ig h T O E F L score are w e a k in speaking and w riting. P ang et al

rem ind us th at in an age o f globalisation, E F L ed u catio n at tertia ry level should be

aim ed at train in g learners to b eco m e b o th lin g u istically p ro fic ie n t and cu ltu rally

literate (ibid).

21
Second, b o th studies fail to address c learly the fact th at cro ss-cu ltu ral co m m unicative

com petence is the aim o f E F L ed u catio n for E n g lish m ajo rs at u n iv ersity level. T his

m ay lead a sw itch in g o f focus from fostering E F L m ajo rs' co m m u n icativ e

com petence. It is u n d erstandable th at th e p ro p o n en ts o f the 'm ixed talents' m odel

(E nglish plu s b u sin ess and so on) b a sed th eir p ro p o sa ls o n th e rec e n t tren d s in jo b

m arket and social dem ands fo r E n g lish m ajors. H o w ev er, this sim ple solution

ex clu siv ely focuses on th e issue o f dev elo p in g E F L learners' 'm ix ed talen ts' as i f their

lack o f cro ss-cu ltu ral co m m unicative com petence, w h ic h is stip u lated as a goal o f

E F L tea c h in g in th e rev ised curriculum , co u ld b e c o m p en sated b y so -called 'm ixed

talents' - som e o th er k n ow ledge o f h u m an ities ad d ed to th e E n g lish teach in g

program m e. It is im p lied that this n e w so lu tio n can help E F L learn ers w ith 'm ixed

talents' m e e t th e social dem and in the country. W h ile b e in g o v erw h elm ed b y the

im m ediate n eed s o f the jo b m arket, E n g lish lan g u ag e ed u catio n for E n g lish m ajors

should n o t ig n o re th e ultim ate goal o f E F L education: d e v elo p in g learners'

com m unicative com petence, - a good u n d e rsta n d in g o f th e w a y in w h ic h 'E nglish-

speaking peo p les structure th eir kn o w led g e, th eir literary, po litical, econom ic

thinking, as w ell as a com parative stu d y b e tw e en C h in ese and E n g lish structure o f

know ledge, apart fro m the targ et language skills' (C heng, 2002: 257).

Judging fro m th is aspect, b o th Z h an g & Y a n g (2000) and the N P G (1998) reports

fail to address th e core roots o f the issue o f 'crisis' facing E F L ed u cation o f E nglish-

m ajors, that is, lac k o f com m unicative co m p eten ce am o n g E n g lish -m a jo r graduates.

This indicates th a t in E F L teaching, the d ev elo p m en t o f th e ab ility to u se th e target

language in real co m m unicative situations in C hinese E F L learners' fu tu re w o rk

environm ent sh o u ld b e prioritised. W h atev er o th er skills E n g lish -m ajo rs possess,

th ey h av e to, first o f all, learn to develop th e ir co m m u n icativ e co m p eten ce during

their fou r-y ear form al B A u n d erg rad u ate p ro g ram m es. O therw ise, refo rm o f E F L

education in term s o f syllabus design, c o n te n t a n d m e th o d o lo g y is ju s t lip service and

o f no real p rac tic a l value.

Third, there is o n ly vag u e m en tio n o f the tea c h in g and learn in g o f cu ltu re - th e core

aspect o f so cio -lin g u istic com petence (C anale & Sw ain, 1980; C anale, 1983) -

throughout th e w h o le E nglish p ro g ram m es in th eir reports. B o th studies give the

im pression th at as long as E n g lish -m ajo rs b e c o m e 'm ix ed talen ted ', th ey w ill

22
auto m atically attain a good com m and o f E nglish, b o th oral and w ritten , fo r th eir

career p u rp o ses. T he fact th a t co m m u n icativ e co m petence, a goal o f E F L

program m es fo r E n g lish m ajors, is seen as seco n d ary to 'm ix ed talents' developm ent,

further supports this assum ption. It can b e seen th at the lac k o f a cultural dim en sio n

in the E n g lish teach in g pro g ram m e at tertia ry lev el is an o b v io u s w eakness. S om e

C hinese E F L p rofessionals p o in t o u t th e shortcom ings o f o v er-em p h asizin g 'm ixed

talents' w h ile ig n o rin g the ultim ate goal o f E F L ed u catio n fo r E n g lish m ajors. F o r

instance, C h eng (2002) argues th a t 'the academ ic tra in in g o f an E n g lish m ajo r is thus

n ot o n ly th e tra in in g o f a po ten tial sp ecialist [in E n g lish language]; it is also the

training o f a p o ten tia lly in terd iscip lin ary scholar. A n d th is training, again is training

o f a resp o n sib le citizen, a citizen w h o gains an insig h t into th e im p o rtan t issues o f his

or h er so ciety and w ho responds to all the dem ands o f th at society' (p. 263).

A s part o f th e train in g to b e c o m e 'resp o n sib le citizens', E F L ed u catio n fo r E n g lish

m ajors should b e aim ed at h elp in g th em to b e 'cu ltu rally literate' (P ang et al, 2002),

that is, th e y sh o u ld b e lib eral-m in d ed th ro u g h ex posure to stu d y in g cultures w ith

different v a lu e system s. 'T hey w ill u n d erstan d the w ays o f th in k in g o f different

peoples and th u s avoid condescension, in sularity, n arro w -m in d ed n ess, self-

centeredness, and p arochialism ' (C heng 2002: 262). T h ro u g h form al learn in g in E F L

program s, apart from d evelopm ent in lin guistic com petence, E n g lish m ajo rs are also

expected to develop o ther relev an t abilities. F o r instance, th e y 'sh o u ld contribute to

th eir o w n culture [understanding] b y in jectin g fo reign elem ents into it, and shaking it

out o f a ru t' (p. 262). T herefore, w e c a n say th a t i f such aspects in the E F L p rogram s

rem ain vag u e in the curriculum design, E F L refo rm w ill h a rd ly b rin g satisfacto ry

outcom es.

Fourth, an o th er b arrier to the successful im p lem en tatio n o f th e 'm ixed talents'

curriculum lies in the com petence o f E F L teach ers to u n d ertak e the task required. A n

E nglish dep artm en t is n o t qu alified to tea c h E conom ics, B u siness, F inance, L aw or

Journalism , and does n o t h av e lecturers sp ecialized in these disciplines. C heng

(2002) asserts th at the 'm ixed talents' m o d e l for E F L ed u catio n in an E n g lish

D epartm ent 'w ould com prom ise its in teg rity and its ow n w o rk , in its o w n academ ic

discipline' (p. 264). T herefore, h e cautions E F L tea c h in g against 'venturing into

23
disciplines in which it is only an amateur and a dilettante (C heng, 2002: 264, m y
em phasis).

M oreover, m a n y researchers and d ep artm ental h ead s also cast doubts on the

leg itim acy o f such a 'm ixed talents' m o d el (P ang et al, 2002). T h e y v iew changes like

this as ed ucational utilitarian ism and th in k th at the settin g up o f specialized courses

o f a u tilita ria n nature affects the stu d e n ts study o f E n g lish , w ith th e resu lt that

E n g lish m ajo rs are n o t w ell specialized eith er in c o m m u n icativ e co m p eten ce or the

in terd iscip lin ary subjects. E F L students en d up learning b its and p iec e s o f everything

and kno w in g n o th in g in depth. A lo w er co m m o n d e n o m in a to r ap p ro ach to subject

expertise, in o th er w ords, m a y be co u n ter-productive from a learn in g p o in t o f view .

D udley-E vans et al (1996 cited in P a n g et al, 2002: 204) stress th at the

in terd iscip lin ary natu re o f 'm ixed talents' m o d el is b o th a stim u latin g an d challenging

dem and for teachers. P an g et al (2002) directly address th e p ro b le m o f non-

system ality and im m atu rity in h eren t in th is m o d el at present. 'T he teach in g o f

B usiness E n g lish in th e E F L p ro g ram is still at th e stage o f an intuition- or

ex perience-led academ ic activity' (P ang et al, 2002: 204).

A s is evident above, it can b e seen th a t the train in g o f sp ecialists in E n g lish language

and other disciplines w ill n e v e r b e th e sam e, n o r as sim ple as it som etim es seem s.

H ow ever, this does n o t m ea n th at E F L students should n o t b e engaged in learning o f

other subjects b e y o n d th e d o m ain o f E n g lish studies. E n g lish m ajo rs are able to study

other subjects in the relev an t d epartm ents c learly m ark ed as th eir m in o rs in stead o f

beco m in g so-called 'm ixed talents' w h o ju s t k n o w b its a n d p ieces o f th ese hum anities

subjects, b u t are p o o r at co m m u n icativ e com petence. E n g lish te a c h in g for E nglish

m ajors should aim to develop learn ers' co m m u n icativ e co m p eten ce in clu d in g their

ability to use th e target language ap p ro p riately for th e p u rp o se o f re a l com m unication

in various social, w o rk and cu ltu ral situations.

24
Chapter Summary

In this chapter, I h av e given a ch ro nological account o f th e h isto ry o f E F L education

in C h in a and th e rad ical changes in fo reign language te a c h in g p o lic y over the p ast

century. I h av e also o u tlin ed th e differences b etw een E n g lish e d u c atio n for E ng lish

m ajors and th at for n o n-m ajors. T his is follow ed b y a d e ta ile d d e scrip tio n o f recent

changes in the E n g lish lan guage curriculum as w e ll as ch allen g es facing E F L

education for E n g lish m ajo rs, in clu d in g th e 'm ixed tale n ts' m o d el p ro p o se d b y N P G

researchers, and Z hang & Y a n g in tw o separate studies. F o llo w in g this, I have

analysed the w eak n esses in h eren t in th e 'm ixed talents' m o d el, w h ich , in significant

w ays, deviates from the goal o f fo sterin g E F L learners' com m u n ica tiv e com petence

in th e E F L program m e. F in a lly I su g g est th at m o re rese a rc h is n ecessary to

investigate the natu re o f th e 'm ixed talents' m o d el and th e co rresp o n d in g teach in g

p e d a g o g y in the C hinese E F L co n tex t ra th e r th an set it o v e r h a s tily as a goal o f E F L

education fo r E n g lish m ajo rs at u n iv ersity level. H a v in g o u tlin ed th e h isto rical and

con tem p o rary co n tex t o f E n g lish as a fo reign language (E F L ) e d u c atio n in C hina, the

fo llow ing ch ap ter w ill introduce a th eoretical o v e rv ie w o f th e com m unicative

com petence m odel and th e co m m u n icativ e language tea c h in g approach, and w ill

exam ine the co m m u n icativ e com petence o f E n g lish m ajo rs at te rtia ry lev el in China.

25
Notes:

[1]. T he 1911 R e v o lu tio n

T h e rev o lu tio n re a lly b e g a n w ith th e u p risin g in S ich u an p ro v in c e . A n g ered at the

n a tio n a liz atio n o f th e railw ay, students to o k to th e streets o n A u g u st 24, 1911,
d em anding a d e la y in th e p ro p o se d natio n alizatio n . W h e n th e leaders o f the
m o v em en t w e re arrested, c o n flict b ro k e out b e tw e e n tro o p s a n d th e protestors.
W h e n th e rev o lu tio n aries seized W u ch an g , a series o f p ro v in ces d eclared
independence fro m th e em peror. B y the end o f N o v e m b e r, tw o -th ird s o f C h in a h a d
seceded fro m th e Q in g E m pire. In D ecem b er, a d e le g a tio n o f p ro v in c ial delegates
from central and n o rth e rn C h in a d eclared C h in a a rep u b lic an d elected S un Y a t-sen
(1866-1925) as th e pro v isio n al p resid e n t o f the R e p u b lic o f C hina.

[2] T he C ultural R e v o lu tio n

In 1966 M ao Z hedong, the top leader o f C hina, launched the C ultural R evolution to
rem ove his political rivals and co n seq u en tly set the co u n try back on a rigid
co m m unist course. T he C ultural R ev olution ended in 1976 after M ao's death.

26
 Chapter 2

Literature review: communicative

competence and CLT

Introduction

T his ch ap ter b eg in s w ith an overview o f th e n o tio n o f co m m u n icativ e com petence

and a p e d a g o g ic a l ov erv iew o f c o m m u n icativ e lan g u ag e tea c h in g (C L T ). T his is

follow ed b y a su m m ary o f th e m ajo r critiq u es o f C L T. D etails are given o f the

current state o f th e co m m unicative co m p eten ce o f C h in ese E F L m ajo rs and w h y their

achievem ent levels are so low. F in ally , th e debate o v e r the a p p licatio n of, and

resistance to C L T in C h in a is presented.

2.1. The concept of communicative competence

T he co ncept o f co m m unicative com petence w as first p ro p o se d b y H y m es (1972) as

an ex p an sio n o f C h o m sk y s linguistic com p eten ce (1965). In light o f C h o m sk y s

theory, lin g u istic com petence refers to th e le a rn e rs a b ility to u n d e rsta n d and create

unheard / u n se en sentences (1965:40). T his ab ility can b e view ed in term o f

linguistic k n o w led g e or lin g u istic skills. L in g u istic kno w led g e refers to th e le a rn e rs

com m and o f th e p h onological, gram m atical and lex ical system s o f a language.

L inguistic co m p eten ce is m an ifested in the accu racy o f th e language form s produced.

C h o m sk y s d efin itio n o f linguistic c o m p e ten c e has b e e n criticized since it has com e

to be asso ciated w ith a rig id and n a rro w ly defined co ncept o f gram m atical

com petence, and has failed to inclu d e th e social aspects o f language (H ym es, 1972;

H alliday, 1979). H ym es (1972, 1974) in tro d u ces a b ro ad e r n o tio n o f com petence,

that is th e id ea o f 'com m unicative c o m p e te n c e . T his has b e c o m e g en erally defined

27
as 'the so cially appropriate use o f language' (H ym es, 1972). T he c o n cep t o f

c o m m u n icativ e com petence, therefore, is a b ro ad e r co m p eten ce th an strictly

linguistic com petence, as lan g u ag e is u se d for c o m m u n ic a tiv e p u rp o ses, and

co m m u n icatio n involves m o re than k n o w in g accurate lan g u a g e form s. T here is som e

difference o f em phasis am o n g p ro p o n en ts o f th is co n cep t, esp ecially in their

classifications o f the com p o n en ts in co m m u n icativ e com p eten ce. It is c o m m o n ly

h eld th at co m m u n icativ e co m petence, in H y m e s orig in al fo rm ulation, has four

com ponents: 1. possibility o r g ram m aticality; 2 . feasibility, o r the c o m p le x ity o f the

speech relativ e to m a n s co g n itiv e ability; 3. appropriateness, o r th e correct choice

o f the sp eech relativ e to a specific co n tex t; 4. done, o r th e actual rea liz a tio n o f the

speech (H ym es, 1972).

H ym es argues th a t w h ile a p e rso n acq u ires c o m m u n icativ e com p eten ce, h e or she

acquires b o th k n ow ledge o f th e lan g u ag e as w ell as ab ility to u se the language for

real com m u n icativ e pu rp o ses (H ym es, 1972: 281).

Since then, m a n y research ers h a v e m ad e efforts to elab o rate on and develop the

concept o f co m m u n icativ e com petence. F o r exam ple, W id d o w so n (1978) p o in ts out

th at 'the n o tio n o f co m p eten ce has to do w ith a language user's k n o w le d g e o f abstract

linguistic rules, a n d this k n o w le d g e h a s to b e p u t into effect as b eh av io u r; it has to be

rev ealed th ro u g h perfo rm an ce.' (p.3). H e then d escrib es the relatio n sh ip betw een

linguistic system s and th eir c o m m u n icativ e v alu es in te x t and d isco u rse and p roposes

the d istin ctio n o f language 'usage' and 'use' (ibid.). A c c o rd in g to W id d o w so n (1978),

u sa g e m ean s m an ifestatio n o f th e k n o w le d g e o f a lan g u ag e sy stem and u s e refers

to realizatio n o f the language sy stem as m ean in g fu l c o m m u n icativ e b e h av io u r, and

b o th are the aspects o f 'p erfo rm an ce' since in n o rm a l circu m stan ces, 'linguistic

perfo rm an ce in volves th e sim u ltan eo u s m an ifestatio n o f the lan g u ag e system as

usage and its rea liz a tio n as use' (p. 3).

Tw o C an ad ian linguists, C anale and S w ain (1980) and late r on C an ale (1983) further

developed and enriched the co n cep t o f com m u n icativ e co m petence. T h e y p ro p o sed a

four-d im en sio n al m o d el w h ic h is th e m o st freq u en tly cited m o d el o f com m unicative

com petence. C anale and S w ain (1980) an d C anale (1983) assert th at th e theoretical

fram ew ork for co m m u n icativ e co m p cten ce includes fo u r areas o f k n o w led g e and

skills as follow s:

28
B achm an (1990) puts forw ard new view s and pro p o ses sc h m a tisatio n o f w h a t he

calls language competence. A cco rd in g to B ach m an (1 9 9 0 ), c o m m u n icativ e language

ability (C L A ) can be d escrib ed as consisting o f both knowledge or competence, and

the capacity fo r implementing or executing that competence in appropriate,

contextualised communicative language use (p. 84, m y e m p h a s is / H e states that
language com petence consists o f tw o com ponents: 1) o rg an iz atio n al com petence,

and 2) p rag m atic com petence (p. 87) an d each c o m p o n en t co m p rises its ow n su b

com ponents. T he form er is com posed o f g ram m atical co m p eten ce and textual

com petence (equal to d isc o u rse com petence in C a n a le s m odel). P ragm atic

com petence is focused on functional aspects o f language a n d c o n sists o f illocutionary

com petence and sociolinguistic com petence. T he fo rm er p e rta in s to sending and

receiv in g in tended m ean in g s and the latter concerns p o liten ess, form ality, m etaphor,

register, and cu ltu rally rela te d aspects o f language (see F ig u re 2.1). It is w o rth n o ting

that B a c h m a n s prag m atic co m p eten ce is m ore o r less equal to th e d efinition o f

sociolinguistic com petence in C anale and S w ain s (1980) and C anale's (1983) four-

d im ensional m odel o f co m m u n icativ e com petence (S ee F ig u re-2 .1 ).

Figure-2.1. C om ponents o f language com petence

L a n g u a g e C o m p eten ce

O rganizational Com petence P ragm atic Com petence

/X /X
Ciram m atical T extual Illocutionary S o cio lin gu istic
C om petence C om petence C om petence C om petence

F igure 2.1. Com ponents o f lan g u age com petence (B ach m an , 1990: 87)

F rom the rev ie w o f notio n s o f co m m u n icativ e co m p eten ce o u tlin ed above, it is clear

that p ro p o n en ts o f co m m u n icativ e co m p eten ce (C C ) h o ld th a t C C is th e ability to use

the language system ap p ro p riately in cross-cultural circum stances, w ith regard to the

functions and the v arieties o f language, as w ell as shared so cio cu ltu ral suppositions.

It is b y no m eans enough for a foreign language (FL) or seco n d language (L2) learner

30
to k n o w ju s t the ru les o f the language, that is, th e u sag e, w ith o u t acquiring the

practical ab ility to use the language for a real c o m m u n icativ e purpose.

2.2. Historical review of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)

C om m unicative language teach in g (C L T ) starts fro m a th eo ry o f language as

com m unication. T he goal o f language teach in g is to dev elo p w h a t H ym es (1972)

referred to as 'co m m u n icativ e com petence'. C L T is n o t re a lly a co herent and

cohesive th eo ry aim ed at supporting a set o f tech n iq u es for fo reign o r second

language (L 2) teach in g in a clear-cu t w ay. R a th e r it is m o re an eclectic collectio n o f

em phases in th e teach in g o f language th at are d raw n fro m m a n y sources, w h ic h ten d

to prom ote or lead to th e teach in g and learn in g o f F L or L2 as and for

com m unication (W iddow son, 1978; L ittlew ood, 1981). It stresses th e im portance o f

u sin g the language in in teractio n rath er th an m asterin g the ru les o f usage. T he goal o f

the approach is to increase learners' co m m unicative co m petence. L ittlew o o d (1981)

p oints out th at one o f the m o st characteristic featu res o f C L T is th at 'it pays

system atic attention to functional as w ell as stru ctu ral aspects o f language,

com bining th ese into a m o re fully co m m unicative v iew ' (p. 1). C L T advocates go

bey o n d teach in g g ram m atical rules o f the targ e t language, and p ro p o se that, b y u sin g

the target language in a m ean in g fu l w ay, learners w ill develop com m unicative

com petence.

Since its intro d u ctio n in the early 1970s, C L T h a s b e e n a to p ic o f d iscu ssio n am ong

m an y scholars in the field o f language teaching. T here h a v e b e e n num ero u s papers

and boo k s p u b lish e d in an attem pt to define and capture the ch aracteristics o f C L T

(R ivers, 1968, 1981; L ittlew ood, 1981; C anale, 1983; R ichards & S chm idt, 1983;

Savignon, 1983, 1997; H ow att, 1984; R ichards & R o d g ers, 1986, 2001; W iddow son,

1978, 1990; S carcella & O xford, 1992; P ica, 1994, 2000; B ax 2003). O ther

researchers and p ractitio n ers h a v e w ritten v a rio u s articles and rep o rts on C L T and

the m ain elem ents o f co m m unicative com p eten ce (R ivers, 1968; H y m es, 1972;

C anale & Sw ain, 1980; Li, 1984; M cG roarty, 1984; L arsen -F reem an , 1986; N unan,

1991; Savignon, 1991, 2002; C elce-M urcia et al, 1997).

31
T here is co n sid erab le d ebate as to appropriate w ay s o f d efin in g C L T , and no single

m o d el o f C L T is u n iv ersa lly accepted as au th o ritativ e (M cG roarty, 1984; M arkee,

1997). M a n y research ers give various in terp retatio n s o f w h a t C L T actu ally m eans

and involves. A lth o u g h L 2 and E F L experts h av e p re se n te d d ifferen t versio n s o f

w h at C L T is and h o w it functions, there are a few g en eral concepts that are agreed

upon. A cco rd in g to R ich ard s and R odgers (1986), C L T starts w ith a th eo ry o f

language as co m m u n icatio n , and its goal is to d ev elo p learners' co m m u n icativ e

com petence. In fact, th e co m m unicative ap p ro ach h a s ex p an d ed on th e goal o f

creating 'co m m u n icativ e com petence' b e y o n d its o rig in al definitions. T each in g

students h o w to use th e language is co n sid ered to b e at least as im p o rtan t as learning

the language itself. N u n a n (1991) lists five b a sic characteristics o f C LT:

1. A n em phasis o n learning to co m m u n icate th ro u g h in teractio n in the target

language.

2. T he in tro d u c tio n o f authentic tex ts into th e learn in g situation.

3. T he p ro v isio n o f opportunities for learners to focus, n o t o n ly o n th e language

b u t also o n th e learning process itself.

4. A n en h an cem en t o f the learner's o w n p e rso n a l ex p erien ces as im portant

co n trib u tin g elem en ts to classroom learning.

5. A n attem p t to lin k classroom language learn in g w ith language activation

ou tside the classro o m (p.279).

T he m o st obvious characteristic o f C L T w h ic h differs from the traditional

gram m atical approach, acco rd in g to L a rse n -F ree m an (1986: 132), is th a t 'alm ost

everything th at is done is done w ith a c o m m u n icativ e intent'. In C L T, m ea n in g is

param ount. T here are a v a rie ty o f co m m u n icativ e activ ities (e.g. gam es, ro le plays,

sim ulations, and p ro b le m -so lv in g tasks), w h ic h give students an o p p o rtu n ity to

practise co m m u n icatin g m ea n in g fu lly in d ifferen t co n tex ts and in d ifferent roles. In

the process o f th e p erfo rm a n c e o f these activities, students' n ativ e lan g u ag e is

avoided and erro r co rre c tio n m ay be infreq u en t or absent.

A n o th er characteristic o f C L T is that 'activities in th e C om m u n icativ e A p p ro ach are

often carried out b y students in sm all g roups' (L arsen-F reem an, 1986, p. 132).

Students are exp ected to interact w ith each o th er in o rd er to m ax im iz e the tim e

32
allotted to each student for learning to neg o tiate m ean in g . T h ro u g h th ese sm all group

activities, the students are engaged in m ean in g fu l a n d authentic language u se ra th e r

th an in the m ere ly m ech an ical p ractice o f lan g u ag e p atterns. F urtherm ore, C L T

favours the in tro d u ctio n o f authentic m aterials (L arsen -F reem an , 1986, 1990; D u bin,

1995; W iddow son, 1996). It is considered desirab le to give learn ers th e o p p o rtu n ity

to develop strategies fo r un d erstan d in g lan g u ag e as it is actu ally u sed b y n ativ e

speakers (C anale & Sw ain, 1980).

O ther aspects o f C L T are given b y S av ig n o n (1991) w h o states that:

C o m m u n icativ e language teach in g has b eco m e a term for m ethods and

curricu la th a t em b race b o th the goals an d th e p ro ce sse s o f classro o m learning,
for teach in g p rac tic e th at v iew s co m p eten ce in term s o f social in teractio n (p.
263).

T he final ch aracteristic o f C L T is 'its learn er-cen tred an d ex p erien ce-b ased v iew o f

second language teaching' (R ichards & R o d g ers, 1986: 69), in o th er w ords, C L T

requires a ch an g e in teachers' roles in th e classroom . In C L T , classro o m p erfo rm an ce

is m anaged n o t ju s t b y th e teacher, b u t also b y all present. T eachers are n o t seen o n ly

as teachers, or learn ers sim p ly as learners, b e c au se b o th are, fo r good or ill, m anagers

o f learning (A llw right, 1984). In stead o f b e in g th e d o m in atin g au th o rity in the

classroom , one p rim a ry ro le fo r the teach er is to facilitate th e co m m u n icativ e process

in the classro o m w h ere students feel secure, u n th re a te n e d and n on-defensive.

L earners are d escrib ed as active p articip an ts in the language learn in g process. A s a

result, C L T alters th e ro le o f the teacher. A c c o rd in g to B re e n and C an d lin (1980), the

teacher h as tw o m a in roles: the first role is to facilitate th e co m m u n icatio n p ro cess

b etw een all p a rticip a n ts in th e classroom , a n d b e tw e en these p articip an ts and the

various activities and texts. T he second ro le is to act as an in d ep en d en t p articip an t

w ith in the learn in g -teach in g group (p. 99). T h erefo re, due to the d ifferen t roles o f the

teacher, w h e n teach ers consider im p lem en tin g C L T , it is im p o rtan t to co n sid er the

different teach in g environm ents. R ich ard s and R odgers (1986, 2001) also explain

that 'the em phasis in com m unicative lan g u ag e teach in g on th e p ro cesses o f

com m unication, ra th e r th an m astery o f lan g u ag e form s, leads to d ifferent roles for

learners from th o se fo u n d in m ore tra d itio n al seco n d language classroom s' (p. 166).

33
In addition, C L T consists o f a strong v e rsio n and a weak v ersio n (H ow att, 1984).

A cco rd in g to H ow att:

T here is, in a sense, a 'strong' v e rsio n o f th e c o m m u n icativ e ap proach and a

'w eak' version. T he 'w eak' v e rs io n ...s tre ss e s th e im p o rtan ce o f pro v id in g
learners w ith opportunities to use th eir E n g lish for com m u n icativ e p urposes
and, characteristically, attem pts to in teg rate such activities into a w id er
pro g ram o f lan g u ag e teaching.

T he 'strong' v e rsio n o f co m m u n icativ e teach in g , on th e o th er h and, advances

the claim th at language is acq u ired th ro u g h co m m u n icatio n , so th at it is not
m ere ly a q u estio n o f activating an ex istin g b u t in ert k n o w le d g e o f the
language, b u t o f stim ulating the d ev elo p m en t o f th e language sy stem itself. I f
th e fo rm er could b e d escribed as 'learning to u se' E nglish, th e latter entails
'using E n g lish to learn it.' (H ow att, 1984: 279).

In C hina, E n g lish language is tau g h t and learn ed in a n o n -n ativ e E n g lish

environm ent in w h ic h the E n g lish language classro o m is th e o n ly form al p lac e w h ere

learners are ex p o sed to the target lan g u ag e and able to p ractise it, esp ecially oral

E nglish. O utside th e classroom , C hinese E F L learners h a v e no access to an E nglish-

speaking en v iro n m en t in w h ich th ey can rein fo rc e th eir classro o m learn in g as can

their E n g lish as a second language (E S L ) counterparts. A c c o rd in g to H ow att's

classification, E n g lish teach in g in C h in a is ap p ro p riate to adopt the weak v e rsio n o f

C LT, th at is, teach ers n e e d to engage students in m ean in g fu l activities u sin g E n g lish

in class.

2.3. Critiques of CLT

H ow ever, C L T is n o t w ith o u t its critics. T he E n g lish language tea c h in g (ELT)

p ro fessio n is u n d e rg o in g w h at h as b e e n lab e lle d b y som e as a m a jo r p a ra d ig m shift

(W oodw ard 1996). S tartin g as far b a c k as the m id 1980's, som e research ers b e g a n to

question m an y aspects o f C L T (S w an 1985). S ince then, m a n y m o re h av e jo in e d in

expressing co n cern w ith the d irection th at C L T h as taken.

O ne difficu lty h as b e e n the in ab ility to d efin e e x actly w h a t is m ea n t b y 'CLT'

(H adley, 2003). Jen n in g s and D o y le (1996) state th at C L T as an ap p ro ach has often

b ecom e the p latfo rm for 'unprincipled eclecticism , v ary in g from teach er to teacher'

34
(p. 169). Shortall (1996:31) p o in ts out th at the failure to c la rify C L T has allo w ed for a

w id e range o f approaches (P resen tatio n -P ractice-P ro d u ctio n , T ask-based L earning,

N otional-F unctional, S ilent W ay, and so on) to b e c a lled 'com m unicative'. H e also

reports that p o p u lar applications o f m an y o f these ap p ro ach es h a v e ten d ed to red u ce

or reje ct the ex p licit teach in g o f gram m ar. S kehan (1996: 30) states th at this tren d in

C L T to focus o n verb al flu e n c y over form al a c cu ra cy 'runs th e risk o f learners

b eco m in g confined to th e strategic solutions th ey dev elo p , w ith o u t sufficient focus

for structural change o r accuracy'. B atsto n e (1995: 2 2 9 ) also w arns th at such an

u nbalanced ap proach to lan g u ag e teaching can lea d to th e e a rly fo ssilizatio n o f the

learners' language skills. W h itle y (1993) po in ts out th at co n fu sio n about C L T in the

research co m m u n ity h as h am p ered the tran sm issio n o f C L T from scholars to

teachers. H e suggests th at fu rth er p ro g ress o f C L T relies on o vercom ing these

obstacles and tran slatin g consensus into standard co u rse m aterials appropriate to

local teach in g co n ditions w ith em phasis on linking re se a rc h w ith practice.

It is w o rth n o tin g th at th ere are generic d isadvantages in v o lv e d in adopting C L T in

the classroom -based setting, such as, h e a v y dem ands u p o n n o n -n ativ e teach ers o f

E n g lish in term s o f co m m u n icativ e com petence, a p o ssib le sense o f in secu rity due to

deprivation o f dep en d en ce on a textbook, h ig h er skills in classro o m m anagem ent,

po ten tial in clin atio n to m eetin g w ith resistance, an d greater costs (cf. W iddow son,

1978; C anale & Sw ain, 1980; Savignon, 1983; M aley ,1 9 8 4 ; R ich ard s & R odgers,

1986; S tem , 1992). H o w ev er, som e research ers tak e a m u c h d eep er and m ore

insightful look at C L T as the do m in an t ap proach in L 2 or th e E F L teaching. The

latest critical com m ents com e fro m B ax (2003) w ho argues th at the d om inance o f

C L T has led to the n e g le c t o f one crucial aspect o f lan g u ag e ped ag o g y , n a m e ly the

context in w h ich th a t p e d a g o g y takes place, fo r in stan ce, co n tex tu al factors such as

students' attitudes, cu ltu ral expectations and so on. B a x argues th at it is tim e to

rep lace C L T as the central p a ra d ig m in language te a c h in g w ith a Context Approach

w h ich places co n tex t at th e h e a rt o f the profession. B ax (2003) argues th a t although

C L T has served a usefu l fu n ctio n in th e pro fessio n , p a rticu la rly as a corrective to

shortcom ings in p rev io u s m ethodologies,

CLT has alw ays n e g le c te d one k e y asp ect o f lan g u ag e teaching, n a m e ly the
context in w h ic h it takes place, and the co n seq u en ces o f this are serious - to the
extent th at w e n e e d to dem ote CLT as ou r m a in p a ra d ig m and adopt w h at I shall

35
 call a Context Approach (Bax, 2003: 278).

T he C ontext A pproach, in B ax's term , diverges w ith th e C L T ten ets fu n d am en tally

b y arguing th at m eth o d o lo g y is not the m agic so lu tio n , and that there are m an y

different w ays o f learning languages, b u t that th e c o n te x t is a crucial factor in the

success or failure o f learners. H e has devised the fo llo w in g ch art w h ich com pares the

tw o approaches as follow s:

Table-2.1. CLT A pproach vs. C ontext A pproach

CLT Approach Context Approach

CLT is the co m plete answ er W e m u st c o n sid e r the w h o le context

I f w e don't h av e C L T th en w e can't M e th o d o lo g y (in c lu d in g C L T ) is ju st

learn a language. one factor in learn in g a language

N o other factors count in learning a

language - o n ly teach in g O th er factors m a y b e m o re im portant
m ethodology.
I f you don't have C L T , you are O th er m eth o d s and approaches m ay be
backw ard e q u ally v alid

Source: B ax (2003)

A ccording to B ax, a Context Approach w o u ld in sist th a t w hile m eth o d o lo g y is

im portant, it is ju s t one factor in successful lan g u ag e learning. It is beco m in g clearer

th at contextual factors h u g e ly influence learners' a b ility to effectiv ely learn a second

o r foreign language.

M any aspects o f th e co n tex t - such as students' attitudes, cultural expectations

and so o n - are clearly at least as im p o rtan t as teach in g m ethod. A n y training
course sh o u ld th erefo re m ak e it a p rio rity to tea c h n o t o n ly m eth o d o lo g y b ut
also a heig h ten ed aw areness o f co n tex tu al factors and an ability to deal w ith
them , in fact to put consideration o f the context first and only then consider the
teaching approach (B ax, 2003: 278-87, m y em phasis).

36
B ax (2003) asserts th at in the context approach, th e first p rio rity is the learning

context. T hat is, th e first step is to id en tify k e y aspects o f th a t co n tex t b efore

deciding w h a t and h o w to teach in any g iv en class. T his w ill inclu d e an

u n d erstanding o f in d iv id u al students and th eir lea rn in g needs, w ants, styles, and

strategies as w e ll as th e course-book, local conditions, th e classroom culture, school

culture, natio n al culture and so on, as far as p o ssib le at th e tim e o f teaching. W ith all

these factors accorded th e ir full im portance in each tea c h in g and learning situation,

th e teacher w ill b e able to id en tify a su itable ap p ro ach and lan g u ag e focus. H e

em phasizes th at the decisio n w ill depend on th e 'c o n te x t analysis'.

It m ay b e th at an em phasis on gram m ar is u se fu l to start w ith , o r an em phasis

on oral com m unication. It m ay b e th at lexis w ill com e first. It m a y b e that
group w o rk is suitable, or a m o re fo rm al lectu re m ode. T he ap p ro ach w ill
p ro b ab ly be eclectic, in ord er to m ee t v a rie d learn er needs. A ll this w ill take
place w ith in a fram ew ork o f gen eratin g co m m u n icatio n - CLT w ill n o t be
forgotten. B u t it w ill not b e allow ed to overru le c o n te x t (B ax 2003:280).

B ax's argum ent serves as a tim ely rem in d er to u s th at th e social and cultural context

in w hich L2 o r E F L learn in g takes p lace is o f v ital im p o rtan ce to the success o f L2 /

F L acquisition. T he w h o lesale adoption o f tea c h in g p ractices from one c o n tex t to

another one is not appropriate. In ad o p tin g CLT, C h in ese teach ers m u st treat b o th

context and methodology as equally im p o rtan t in o rd er to in teg rate th em in an

appropriate way. O therw ise, a cu ltu rally in sen sitiv e in sistence o n an im ported

m eth o d o lo g y in the E F L classroom ig n o rin g th e teach in g and learn in g realities in

C hina w ill n o t achieve satisfactory results.

A s early as th e m id 1980s, S w an (1985) ex p ressed h is critical th o ughts on CLT.

S w an (1985) argued:

A long w ith its m an y virtues, th e C om m u n icativ e A p p ro ach (C A )

u n fo rtu n ately o ver-generalizes valid b u t lim ited insights; it m akes exaggerated
claim s for the p o w e r and n o v elty o f its d o ctrin es; it m isrep resen ts th e currents
o f thought it h a s replaced; it is often c h aracterized b y serious intellectual
confusion; it is choked w ith ja rg o n (p. 2).

H e points out that C L T ignores the k n o w led g e and skills w h ich language students

b rin g w ith th em from th eir m o th er tongue a n d th eir ex p erien ce o f the w orld. In m an y

37
cases, students 'know w h a t th e y w a n t to say m o re often th an th e y k n o w how to say it'

(p. 11). R u le s o f u se are n o t often relev an t to the tea c h in g o f E nglish. H e argues:

A lth o u g h the C A m ay h av e som e new in fo rm a tio n and in sig h t to co n trib u te

(for instance, about th e lan g u ag e o f social in teractio n ), th ere is no th in g h e re to
ju s tify the an n o uncem ent th at w e n e e d to adopt a w h o le n ew ap p ro ach to the
teach in g o f m eaning. T he argum ent about 'usage and 'use', w h atev er valu e is,
m a y have for p h ilo so p h ers, has little relevance to fo reig n language teaching.
(P. 5).

S w an also objects to the id ea that 'appropriacy' o f lan g u ag e is th e real goal o f

language teach in g and he claim s th at 'appropriacy' is 'one aspect am ong m an y - an

im portant c o m e r o f linguistic description, b u t n o t b y an y m ean s o f feature o f the

language as a w hole' (p.6). H e th en po in ts out h o w th e d iscu ssio n o f ap p ro p riacy

often obscures a p e rfe c tly valid p o in t about the n e e d fo r in cre ase d attention to the

teaching o f lexis (p. 7).

I f w e are n o w ad o p tin g a m ore info rm ed an d sy stem atic approach to

v o cab u lary teaching, th at is all to the good. B u t w e sh o u ld und erstan d clearly
th at this is w h at w e are doing. Inappropriate referen ces to app ro p riacy m erely
confuse the issue. (S w an 1985:8)

S w an also looks critically at notio n s reg ard in g skills an d strategies in C LT w h ich

takes fo r granted th at lan g u ag e learners can n o t tra n sfe r co m m u n icatio n skills from

their m o th er tongue, and th at th ese m u st b e tau g h t an ew i f the learners are to solve

the 'problem s o f code and c o n tex t correction w h ic h lie at the h eart o f the

co m m unicative ability' (W iddow son, 1979: 87-8 c ite d in S w an, 1985: 8). Sw an

claim s th at language learn ers alread y know g en erally how to p red ict, guess and

n eg otiate m ean in g w h ile th ey le a m th eir m o th e r tongue. W h at th e y lack or w h a t th ey

do not k n o w is w h a t w ords to use o r h o w to do it in fo reign language. In other

w ords, w h a t th ey n e e d is lex ical item s rath er th an skills or strategies. (S w an 1985:

11).

In addition, S w an also takes a v e ry critical look at som e o f th e p ed ag o g ical aspects o f

CLT, in clu d in g the id ea o f a 'sem antic syllabus' and the q u estio n o f 'authenticity' in

m aterials and m ethodology. H e argues th a t th e C L T g e n erally presents an o v er

sim plified and m islead in g acco u n t o f these issues and th at a sen sib le approach to

38
language teaching, in h is opinion, involves in te g ratin g sem antic and form al

syllabuses and co m b in in g authentic w ith sp ecially -w ritten m aterials. W h ile

m en tio n in g som e ty p ical d raw b ack s o f trad itio n al lan g u a g e courses, S w an argues

th at 'it is quite false to rep re sen t o ld er courses as co n c en tra tin g th ro u g h o u t o n fo rm at

the expense o f m eaning, o r as failing to teach p e o p le to do things w ith language'

(S w an 1985:77). S w an goes on w ith stating th at th e core o f C L T is th at o f a

'sem antic syllabus'. In a course b a sed on a sem antic syllabus it is m ea n in g ra th e r than

structures th at are given priority. B u t the fact is g ram m ar h a s n o t b een an y e asier to

learn since th e co m m u n icativ e revolution:

L anguage is n o t o n ly a set o f form al system s, b u t also it is a set o f system s. It

is p erverse n o t to focus on questions o f form w h e n th is is desirable. Som e
po in ts o f gram m ar are d ifficult to learn, and n e e d to b e stu d ied in iso lation
b efore students c a n do in terestin g things w ith them . It is no u se m ak in g
m ean in g tid y i f gram m ar th en b eco m es so u n tid y th a t it cannot b e learnt
p ro p erly (S w an 1985: 78).

S w an suggests th at a sensible ap proach to lan g u ag e te a c h in g in volves in teg ratin g

sem antic and form al syllabuses. S om e gram m ar p o in ts c a n b e tau g h t sim u ltan eo u sly

w ith w o rk on a rele v an t n o tio n o r fu n ctio n o f the targ e t language. B y a sim ilar token,

som e functions a n d n o tio n s m a y b e expressible en tirely th ro u g h structures w h ic h are

already k n o w n w h ile o th er functio n s and n o tio n s are ex p ressed m ain ly th ro u g h lexis.

S w an is, no doubt, quite rig h t in em p h asizin g th a t k n o w in g w h a t students alread y

k n o w is a v e ry im p o rtan t elem en t in co n ducting a n e e d s analysis, and th en teach in g

th em w h a t th ey do n o t know , ra th e r th an th e o th er w a y round. M ore attention

should b e p aid to the ro le th at th e m o th er to n g u e p lay s in th e L2 o r F L learning

process. B u t he ignores the fact th a t earlier studies p ro v e th at m o th e r to n g u e p lay s a

m ore im portant ro le in the ea rly stages o f L2 o r F L lea rn in g an d its ro le d ecreases as

the learn er pro g resses in h is o r h e r learning p ro cess (cf. L i, 1997: 69). M a n y other

researchers argue th at C L T p roponents, w h ile tak in g into p ro p e r account no tio n al

and socio-functional aspects o f language, n e g le c t lin g u istic co m p eten ce and accept

the prem ise that lin guistic fo rm em erges on its o w n as a re su lt o f learners' engaging

in com m unicative activities (L ong, 1983, 1991; L o n g & C rookes, 1992). T hey

reco m m en d th at som e am endm ents and refo rm s b e m ad e reg a rd in g the C L T

approach. O ther research ers p ro p o se th at C L T n eed s to focus o n the linguistic

39
co n ten t as w ell and form al in stru ctio n (L arsen-F reem an, 1990; Savignon, 1990;

W iddow son, 1990; C elce-M urcia, 1991; 1991; S ch m id t, 1991; D o m y ei & T hrurell,

1991, 1992; K u m aravadivelu, 1992; S carcella & O xford, 1992).

2.4. The communicative competence of Chinese EFL majors: the

status quo

H av in g o utlined the th eo retical fram ew ork o f c o m m u n icativ e co m p eten ce and C L T ,

the follow ing sections exam ine the com m unicative c o m p e ten c e o f C hinese E F L

m ajors at tertiary level.

2.4.1. Inadequate com m unicative com petence

F or m an y years, C hinese students h av e b een found to score h ig h in E n g lish tests

focused on read in g and listen in g (T O FE L and G R E ) b u t to score low in E n g lish tests

focused on the p rac tic a l u se o f language for co m m u n icatio n p u rposes, for instance,

the C am bridge B usiness E n g lish C ertificate T est. In spite o f th e fact th at the

com m unicative co m p eten ce m o d el (C anale & Sw ain, 1980; C anale, 1983) is m o st

often cited b y C hinese E F L scholars and m ade a goal o f T E F L for E n g lish m ajors at

tertiary level in C h in a (E n g lish D ivision, 2000: 12), C h in ese E F L learners fall w ell

short o f the stated aim s o f co m m unicative co m p eten ce as a w hole, and the real

situation is far from adequate. T he dev elo p m en t o f th e v ario u s com ponents o f

com m unicative co m p eten ce are quite w eak and u n b a la n c e d am ong C hinese E F L

learners. 'S tudents ten d to b ecom e alm ost stru c tu ra lly co m petent but

c o m m unicatively inco m p eten t' (Johnson & M orro w , 1 9 8 1 :1). A ll th e evidence is that

the com m unicative goal is seldom achieved, and little u se is m ad e o f interactive-

oriented teach in g m eth o d s in the classroom .

W ang (1994), a senior C h inese E F L researcher, claim s th at C hinese students have

low er socio-cultural ab ilities in com parison w ith th eir lin guistic com petence o f the

target language and he argues th at special atten tio n sh o u ld b e given to these cultural

elem ents in E F L teach in g in C h in a (W ang, 1994: 108-118). L ack o f research o n the

practical application o f sociocultural theo ries into E F L p ro g ram s in C h in a has

40
resu lted in this situ atio n rem ain in g u n ch an g ed fo r a lo n g tim e. T he selection o f

socio-cultural item s fo r cultural learning in E F L p ro g ra m s is still pro b lem atic at

tertiary level across th e b o a rd (S ee A ppendix D -2 fo r te x tb o o k sam ples).

2.4.2. Causes o f poor com m unicative com petence o f C hinese EFL learners

T he w eaknesses or d eficien cies o f C hinese E n g lish m a jo rs at tertia ry level show n in

previous studies m a in ly centre on tw o b ro a d aspects o f E F L tea c h in g and learning:

one relating to linguistic issues and the o th er cultural (N P G , 1998; E n g lish D iv isio n

o f the A d v iso ry C om m ittee, 1999; H e et al, 1999; H e, 2001; Y ao, 2001). T he

p roblem s relatin g to lin g u istic issues are su m m arized b y N P G experts (1998: 6-7).

T hey argue th a t the p ro b lem s in h eren t in E F L e d u c atio n fo r E ng lish -m ajo rs at

tertiary level fall into 7 categories as follow s.

1. O ut-of-date m en ta lity and concepts o f E F L teach ers

2. S hortage o f c o m p eten t E F L teachers

3. L ack o f c o m b in in g language skill-o rien ted courses an d co n ten t-b ased courses

4. In adequate kno w led g e structure o f E n g lish m ajo rs

5. R ig id teach in g m eth o d o lo g y and in ad e q u a te te a c h in g content

6 . E nglish m ajo r graduates' w eak lin guistic ab ilities and deficient critical and

creative th in k in g abilities

7. P roblem s in the E n g lish language tea c h in g a d m in istratio n at te rtia ry level

T he problem s p e rta in in g to cu ltu ral issues in th e E F L p ro g ram m es at tertia ry level

are h ig h lig h ted by Hu (1994), a lo n g -stan d in g C hinese EFL scholar. H is

q uestionnaire w as d istrib u ted to 36 E n g lish n ativ e speakers w ho tau g h t E nglish-

m ajors at tertia ry level in C hina. O f 36 fo reig n teach ers, 28 responded. A cco rd in g to

H u, these E n g lish -n ativ e sp eaker teachers a rg u ed th a t w h ile co m m u n icatin g w ith

C hinese E F L learners, th e y found th eir students' cu ltu ral m istak es m o re in to lerab le

th an linguistic m istak e s (H u, 1994:127). H u 's stu d y supports W olfson's (1983)

argum ent:

In in teractin g w ith foreigners, n ativ e speakers ten d to b e rath e r to leran t o f

errors in p ro n u n cia tio n o r syntax. In contrast, vio latio n s o f rules o f speaking

41
 are o ften in te rp re te d as b a d m an n ers since th e n a tiv e speakers are u n lik e ly to
be aw are o f so cio lin g u istic rela tiv ity (p. 62).

H u also co nducted an in v estig a tio n o f E n g lish m ajors o n th e subject o f th eir ab ilities

in cro ss-cultural co m m unication. B ased o n h is findings, H u (1994) m ad e a su m m ary

o f th e causes o f 'cultural m istak es' th at C h inese stu d en ts are p ro n e to m ak e in th eir

E F L learning process. H e stratified th ese cultural m istak e s into fo u r kin d s as follow s:

1. In ap p ro p riaten ess fro m a so cio -lin g u istic persp ectiv e

E.g. ad d ressin g som eone b y surnam e w ith o u t a n y prefix . T ak in g leave in a social

g athering is also found p ro b lem atic fo r C hinese students. 'W h ere are you going?' (ni

qu nor?) is a co m m o n greetin g in C h in a and is n o th in g m o re th a n a C h inese w a y o f

say ing 'H ello' o r 'Hi'. B u t i f th e p h rase is tra n sla ted litera lly into E n g lish a n d is

m istak e n for a g reeting b y C h inese students w h e n th e y m e e t th eir fo reig n er teachers,

it w o u ld so u n d rath er strange and u n n e c essa rily direct. A ll this evidence rev e a ls the

degrees o f linguistic in terferen ce fro m C h in ese n o rm s w h e n C h in ese E F L learners

u se the targ et language fo r a co m m u n icatio n purpose.

2. C ultu ral in appropriateness

A n exam ple o f th is is self-effacem en t an d so u nding e x tre m e ly m o d est w h e n b e in g

co m p lim en ted b y n ativ e-sp eak ers o f E nglish. In C hina, m o d e sty is c o n sid ered as a

v irtu e and it is c o m m o n fo r C h in ese p eo p le to m u rm u r so m e re p ly about n o t b e in g

w o rth y o f th e p raise w h e n th e y rec e iv e a com plim ent. H o w ev er, the re p ly co u ld be

m isin terp reted b y W estern ers as 'you are saying th a t to b e po lite; you m a y n o t rea lly

m ea n that'.

3. C ultu ral co nflict in v alu es and p a tte rn s o f th in k in g

C hinese students are n o t too m u ch con cern ed w ith the privacy o f others, sh o w in g too

m u ch c o n cern to foreigners and g iv in g too m u c h u n n e c essa ry ad vice to the extent

th at foreigners m a y feel th at th eir p riv a c y is in frin g ed upon. In C hina, p e o p le think

42
(1996) recounts th e fo llo w in g true sto ry illu stratin g a ty p ic a l cu ltu ral m istak e m ade

by a C hinese E F L learner:

A C hinese u n iv ersity student approached h is A m e ric an ex patriate te a c h e r for

consultation. T h e A m erican teach er h e lp e d the stu d en t so lv e th e pro b lem . Just
b efore leaving, th e student ex p ressed h is a p p re c ia tio n b y saying, I am sorry to
have wasted a lot o f your valuable time. Now I am leaving. T h e A m erican
teach er felt a little an noyed at w h a t he said.

T he p roblem in this sto ry lies in th e utterance I am sorry to have wasted you a lot o f

your valuable time w h ic h is p e rfe c tly acceptable in C h in ese culture in this situation
as a w a y to express one's appreciatio n o f the tim e, a tte n tio n and help ex ten d ed b y

another person. H o w ev er, literal tran slatio n o f th is C h in ese leav in g -tak in g ex p ressio n

sounds v ery aw kw ard to E nglish nativ e speakers. In th e above case, the A m erican

teacher did n o t see help in g his student as a w aste o f tim e at all. O n the contrary, he

w ould see it as h is resp o n sib ility . T he teacher felt a little an noyed b ecau se h e m ay

have th o u g h t that 'he gave h is student an im p ressio n th at tim e w as b e in g w asted'

(Zhao, 1996: 63).

T he ro o t cause o f C hinese E F L learners' d e ficien cy in cro ss-cu ltu ral co m m unicative

com petence is m ulti-faceted. S cattered discussions o f th e tea c h in g o f targ et cu ltu re in

E nglish-m ajor p ro g ram s at tertia ry level started in early 1980s and w e re en couraged

b y a few sem inars h eld in C h in a on intercultural co m m u n ic a tio n in m id-1990s. T he

consequence o f this d e v elo p in g tren d is the p u b lic a tio n o f several collections o f

papers on this subject. H ow ever, although th ese pu b licatio n s and discussions o f the

issue are beg in n in g to shed light on the teach in g o f cu ltu re in E F L p ro g ram s at

tertiary level in C hina, and efforts h a v e b e e n m ad e to attem p t to p u t the th eo ry into

practice, any d iscu ssio n o f cu ltu re rem ains at a v ery g en eral level. It seem s th at there

is a lack o f ped ag o g ical directio n tow ard s the issu e o f in teg ratin g culture teaching

into th e E nglish lan g u ag e teaching. E v e n the rev ise d national curricu lu m o f E nglish

teaching for E n g lish m ajors, w h ic h has specified th at a goal o f E F L ed u catio n is to

foster learners' in tercu ltu ral co m m unicative co m petence, fails to advise h o w to

integrate culture teach in g into the E F L pro g ram m es (E n g lish D ivision, 2000). The

p resen t status o f culture teach in g in E F L pro g ram s as so m eth in g su b o rdinated to the

44
teach in g o f E n g lish 'has m ad e the teaching o f th e ta rg e t culture in the E n g lish

classroom d ifficult to m an ag e' (X iao, 2001: 132).

Cao (1998) p o in ts o ut th at one o f the m ain co n v en tio n s in foreign language tea c h in g

in tertia ry institu tio n s is th at culture courses are tau g h t so lely as im parting

know ledge or facts. It seem s th a t as long as learners get to k n o w the facts, th e y are

assum ed to be eq u ipped w ith com petence for in tercu ltu ral co m m unication. T his view

is dom inant in E F L tea c h in g for E n g lish m ajo rs in C h in a and m y classro o m

observations in this stu d y confirm s this assum ption (S ee C h a p te r 7 for details).

D esp ite the fact th a t som e in tro d u cto ry courses on W e ste rn cultures are offered for

E n g lish m ajors eith er as an optional o r required course, th e issu e o f teach in g culture

linked to the teach in g m eth o d o lo g y is m u ch less d iscussed. C o n seq u en tly it is not

unco m m o n th at in such culture classes teachers follow th e traditional w a y o f

approaching the lan g u ag e w h ile the so ciocultural c o n te x t p e r se is ignored.

M oreover, E F L teach ers' o w n intercultural sen sitiv ity a n d co m p eten ce casts d o u b t on

the effectiveness and q u a lity o f teaching culture in the E F L program s.

2.4.3. The 'Bucket M odel'

To illustrate the im p o rtan ce of eq uilibrating th e d ifferen t com ponents of

com m unicative co m p eten ce in the E F L p ro g ram , it is u sefu l to refe r to C hinese

sociologist, X u 's (1991) 'bucket m odel' (see F ig u re-2 .2 ) to describe th e relatio n sh ip

b etw een the com m u n icativ e com petence m o d el and its four com ponents:

gram m atical, so ciolinguistic, discourse and strategic co m p eten cies (C anale & Sw ain,

1980; C anale, 1983).

Figure 2.2. T he Bucket M odel

45
 The Bucket Model

Source: X u (1991)

In F ig u re 2.2. A: stands fo r c o m m u n icativ e co m p eten ce (C C ) w h ic h consists o f 4

com ponents:

B: L inguistic com petence

C : D isco u rse com petence

D: S ociolinguistic com petence

E : Strategic com petence

T he 'bucket' illustrates th e rela tio n s b e tw e en th e vario u s com ponents of

co m m u n icativ e co m p eten ce w h ic h E n g lish m ajo rs m u st lea rn d u rin g th eir fo u r-y ear

form al stu d y in the E n g lish D e p a rtm en t o f a C hinese u n iv e rsity or college. A s can be

seen, th e total c ap acity o f th e b u c k e t stands fo r c o m m u n icativ e com petence (C C ) -

the outcom e o f E F L learn in g and h o w w e ll one c a n com m u n icate in the targ et

language fo r a re a l c o m m u n icativ e purpose, in o th er w ords, how m u ch

c o m m unicative co m p eten ce one p o ssesse s depends o n th e len g th o f the 'w o oden

b oards' th at m ak e up th e w h o le w a te r bu ck et. O bviously, o f all th ese w o o d en b oards,

w h ich stan d fo r the fo u r d ifferen t co m p o n en ts o f c o m m u n icativ e com petence, the

w a te r lev el th at th e b u c k e t can h o ld depends o n A , B , C, D ra th e r th an the lo n g est

w o o d en bo ard s B or E alone. Instead, the 'w ater cap acity ' is in ev ita b ly dow n to the

level o f the shortest w o o d e n board. T h at m eans th a t ev en i f a learn er acquires

linguistic com petence or disco u rse com petence, it still m a y b e im p o ssib le fo r him or

46
B ased o n this experience, L i claim s th at C L T can and sh o u ld b e im p lem en ted in the

C hinese context. She also argues th at E F L e d u c atio n in C h in a m u st change

p ed a g o g ic a lly to fit th e co m m unicative language te a c h in g approach. T here h as b e e n

a to p -d o w n m o v em en t to refo rm E F L teach in g in C h in a since th e late 1980s, and an

im p o rtan t co m ponent o f th is refo rm h as b e e n an effo rt to im p o rt C L T and tra n sfe r it

into the C hinese co n tex t (H u 2002b: 94). In o rd er to p ro m o te C L T , a great deal o f

effort and resources h av e b e e n ex pended on rev am p in g c u rricu la for various levels o f

education, and u p d atin g E n g lish syllabuses to in clu d e p rin c ip le s and practices th at

are advocated b y CLT. T h ese efforts also in clu d e v ario u s attem pts aim ed at

p ro d u cin g co m m u n icatio n -o rien ted E n g lish tex tb o o k s, dev elo p in g skill-oriented

exam inations, and u p g rad in g teachers' k n o w led g e o f n e w lan g u ag e learning theories

and p ed agogies (A dam son & M orris 1997; H u, 2002b).

In addition, there are a n u m b er o f g o v ern m en t-sp o n so red p ro je c ts in co llaboration

w ith foreign organizations, such as B ritish C o u n cil (U .K .) and C an ad ian

In tern atio n al D ev elo p m en t A g e n c y (C ID A ). T h e p u rp o se o f th e collab o ratio n is to

in tro d u ce C L T to C h in a th ro u g h jo in t efforts b e tw e en n a tiv e E n g lish -sp eak er experts

and th eir C hinese counterparts at tertia ry level. In spite o f th e efforts and reso u rces

expended, m an y C hinese teachers and learners o f E n g lish do n o t seem to h av e

u n d erg o n e an y fundam ental changes either in th eir c o n c ep tio n o f effective language

instru ctio n o r in th eir d aily p ractices (H u, 2002b: 94). In o th er w ords, C L T has not

receiv ed w id esp read sup p o rt and the trad itio n al ap p ro ach is still dom inant in m an y

classroom s (H u, 2002b). A lth o u g h m a n y teach ers claim to b e follow ers o f C L T and

claim to use the com m u n icativ e language tea c h in g a p p ro ach in th eir class, a closer

look at E F L teachers' tea c h in g p ractices show s th at it tu rn s o u t to b e n o t the case and

'this is o ften a m atte r o f p a y in g lip -serv ice' to th e n e w m e th o d (H u, 2002: 94b). M o st

E F L teachers still stick to the co n ventional tea c h e r-c en tred m eth o d s, focu sin g on

gram m ar and structure w h ereas th e core aim o f E F L ed u catio n is ignored: to enable

learners to use the targ e t language ap p ro p riately fo r re a l com m u n icativ e purposes.

T he C L T approach, in reality , h as en countered en orm ous resistan ce in C hina, a n d it

has stim ulated m u ch d ebate fro m b o th C hinese and W e ste rn E F L or L2 specialists on

the appropriateness and effectiveness o f adopting C L T in C h in a (M aley, 1982, 1984;

48
Li, 1984; H arvey, 1985, W ang, 1985; B urnaby & S un, 1989; L i, 1989; A nderson,

1993; R ao, 1996; C ortazzi & Jin, 1996; Leng, 1997; R ao, 2002).

A n outcom e o f this debate h a d b e e n the 'iden tificatio n o f a h o st o f constraints on the

adoption o f C L T in the C hinese context' (H u 2002b: 94). T h ese constraints are quite

com plex and m u lti-d im en sio n al and include lack o f n e c e ssa ry resources, lim ited

instructional tim e, lack o f teach er train in g in clu d in g lan g u ag e p ro ficien cy and

sociolinguistic co m petence, e x am in atio n p ressu re, poor E n g lish -sp eak in g

environm ent, and cultural factors. A n o th er resu lt o f th is d ebate is th at there h a s b een

grow ing scepticism about:

1. In troducing drastic changes into the E n g lish classro o m and

2. A dop tin g u n c ritic a lly pedagogies w h ich h a v e b e e n d e v elo p ed in to tally

different social, cultural and econom ic co n d itio n s (C hen, 1988; C olem an,

1996 cited in H u 2002: 94b).

G en erally speaking, there are th re e p o sitio n s co n cern in g im p lan tin g C L T in C hina,

nam ely, 1. a pro -C L T approach, 2. a m o re b alan ced approach, a n d 3. a pro-trad itio n al

approach. A t one end o f the co n tin u u m (1), th ere are research ers and E F L /E S L

professionals w ho call for a com plete adoption o f C L T (M aley, 1982, 1984; Li,

1984; C otton 1990). Li, X iao ju (1984), a w e ll-k n o w n E F L scholar o f pro-C L T

approach in C hina, in sists on the u se o f authentic, app ro p riate language, and stresses

th e n ecessity o f sufficien t in p u t in the E n g lish class. She m ak es critical com m ents on

the traditional teach in g approach:

In C hina ev ery th in g the tea c h e r w ants to te a c h is tau g h t th ro u g h a w ritte n text

and the w a y the Intensive [English] Reading course is co m m o n ly tau g h t in
C hina n o t o n ly does n o t help to pro m o te ex ten siv e rea d in g skills, b u t it m ay
actually fossilize the read in g style o f students so th a t th e y are h in d ered from
even read in g e fficien tly (p. 8-9).

M a le y (1984), b a se d on h is ex perience o f tea c h in g E n g lish in C hina, also supports

the adoption o f C L T in C hina. H e concludes th at in tro d u cin g C L T into C h in a is n ot

o nly desirable b u t also feasible and inevitable (1984).

49
A t the other end o f the continuum (3), there are p e o p le w ho stress the n e c e ssity and

im portance o f trad itio n al teach in g m ethods as w ell as th e p ro g re ss and achievem ents

th at these m eth o d s h av e b ro u g h t to E F L teach in g in C h in a (S am p so n 1984; H arvey,

1985; W ang, 1985; W ei 1997; W an g 1997; H a n 2001; H u , 2002b). F o r instance, W ei

(1997: 86) strongly d efends trad itio n al teach in g m eth o d s and argues th at th e real

q u estion is not to ab an d o n traditional teach in g m eth o d s b u t how to u se them

effectively and c reativ ely (1997: 86).

H arv ey (1985), for instance, b ased on his ow n tea c h in g exp erien ce in C hina, finds

th e constructive side o f g ram m ar in struction and lea rn in g in th e classroom , and he

points out th at C hinese learners n o t o n ly m em o rize g ram m atical points tau g h t and

learned in class b u t th ey also u se them . H e claim s th at C h inese learning m ethods

cannot sim ply be d ism issed as 'prim itive, o ld fash io n ed o r m isg u id ed ' (p. 186).

T here are a n u m b er o f obvious h isto rical, p ed a g o g ic a l and p sy ch o lo g ical

reasons fo r them . W h at m ig h t b e called 'traditional' m eth o d s and skills are not
fu n d am en tally or n e c essa rily un w o rk ab le alongside m o d e m E F L teach in g
m ethods. T he id ea th at the tw o are m u tu a lly ex clu siv e is absurd. E F L in C hina
needs W estern exp erien ce and expertise, n o t W estern dogm a. A balan ced
approach and th e p o ten tial use o f b o th h av e a fu n d am en tal p art to p lay in the
developm ent o f lan g u ag e teach in g in C h in a (H arv ey 1985: 186).

In the m id d le o f the co n tin u u m (2), stand the m ajo rity o f E F L pro fessio n als w ho are

in favour o f a m o re in clu siv e position and ad o p t a b a la n c e d ap proach (Jia, 1989; Li,

1989; W hite 1989; F ei & D u a n 1993; S u & Z h u an g 1996; L i, 1997; R ao, 1996, 2002;

W ang, 1999; W u & L a n 2002; X iao, 2002). T h ese 'pro -b alan ce' or 'pro-eclectic'

com m entators are aw are o f the inadequacies o f trad itio n al teach in g m eth o d s and

problem s in the p ro cess o f th e E n g lish language teach in g and learn in g in C hina. O n

the other hand, th e y also see th e po ten tial o f adopting C L T as a m eans o f o vercom ing

som e o f the p roblem s in h eren t in traditional teach in g m ethods. T h e y thus call for the

rig h t m ix o f trad itio n al and com m unicative m eth o d s app licab le to the C hinese E FL

situation. F o r instance, F ei & D u an (1993) rem in d u s th a t i f w e can successfully

com bine b o th the traditional ap p ro ach and C L T , th e resu lt w ill b e p o sitiv e and serve

to p u t E F L tea c h in g in C h in a on a b e tte r track. R ao (1996, 2002) no tes the

50
im portance o f co n sid erin g th e learning styles and th e actu al needs o f C hinese E F L

learners w h e n d eciding w h ic h m ethod(s) to use.

'Pro-balance' research ers are also aw are o f th e vario u s co n strain ts co n fronting

C hinese E F L teach ers and learners w ho attem pt to im p o rt C L T w holesale. A n d erso n

(1993) points to th e lack o f p ro p erly trained E F L teach ers in C hina, lack o f

appropriate tex t m aterials and difficulties in ev a lu a tio n in C L T. W hite (1989)

rem inds us:

B y ackn o w led g in g th e expectations o f the students in term s o f w h a t th e y w an ted

to learn and h o w th ey w ere u sed to learn in g lan g u ag e, and b y m ak in g careful
compromises, it w as p o ssib le to m eet th eir needs, to expose th em to n ew w ays o f
learning E n g lish and to encourage th em to p u t th eir lan g u ag e to w o rk in
m ean in g fu l w ay s (p. 213, m y em phasis).

Som e studies seek to understand and e x p lain th e sources o f constraints facing

C hinese E F L teach ers and learners in u sin g C L T fro m an intercultural perspective.

S am pson (1984) cautions th at C L T is lad e n w ith cu ltu ral and p o litical v alu es and

cannot b e ex p o rted e a sily to other dissim ilar cultures. P e n n e r (1995) em phasizes that

classroom culture, beliefs, and p e d a g o g y in C h in a set lim its on th e ped ag o g ical

change required b y C L T p rinciples. H ird (1995) e x am in es and com pares th e culture-

specific factors em bodied in C L T and C h in ese trad itio n al teach in g m ethods

regarding learn in g pro cesses, language learn in g m o d es, teach in g styles and

classroom relationships. H e thus concludes th at C L T d oes h av e a ro le in E nglish

language teach in g in C hina. H ow ever, due to the v e ry n a tu re o f C L T and the past

traditions and current circum stances o f E n g lish lan g u ag e teach in g and learn in g in

C hina, aspects o f th e C L T ap proach n e e d to b e ap p lied selectiv ely and w ith caution

in the C hinese co n tex t w h ic h is 'vastly d ifferen t from the one th at sp aw n ed and

n urtured the c o m m u n icativ e [language teach in g ] ap p ro ach (H ird 1995: 21).

'Im ported, alleg ed ly u n iv ersal, W estern tea c h in g m eth o d o lo g ies th at d ism iss th e local

context are unlik ely to flourish' (p. 26).

T he above rev iew serves to h ig h lig h t the issu es u n d e r stu d y in this thesis. H ow ever,

it is im portant to n o te tw o features o f th e above literature in light o f further research

in the related areas.

51
First, in th eir com m ents on in troducing C L T into C hina, m o st o f th e research ers cited

above b ased th eir opin io n s on their perso n al tea c h in g experience, o b serv atio n s and

th eir u n d erstan d in g o f the differences b e tw e en C h inese and W estern cultures. S uch

com m ents are often p e rcep tiv e b u t th ey lack the m o re ob jectiv e findings o f data. It is

also n ot clear h o w w ell th eir com m ents can b e a r the w e ig h t o f h a rd em p irical data.

So m ore objective studies are required to test th e v a lid ity o f th eir conclusions.

Second, W estern E S L specialists, often tea c h in g a sh o rt-term in C h in a m a y be

generalizing from th eir ow n personal teach in g p rac tic e in C hina, an d o b se rv in g the

im m ed iately obvious obstacles to adopting C L T in C hina. P erhaps th e y do n o t h a v e a

full grasp o f all aspects o f E nglish language tea c h in g in C hina, and esp ecially E F L

for E n g lish m ajo rs at tertia ry level. V e ry little o f the literatu re focuses on this group

o f E nglish learners. M uch w ork needs to be d e v o te d to th e research in th is area.

M oreover, th eir su g g estio n o f in co rp o ratin g a co m m u n icativ e c o m p o n e n t into

traditional m eth o d s m ay b e too v ag u e to b e u seful. T hey ten d to focus on

m ethodological issu es ra th e r than the socio -cu ltu ral aspects o f E n g lish teach in g and

learning. M oreover, v e ry little has b een w ritte n on th e relationship b etw een E F L

teaching and critical th in k in g instru ctio n in E n g lish language classroom s, n o r the

ped ag o g y o f critical th in k in g instru ctio n th ro u g h E n g lish language teach in g and

learning at u n iv ersity level - one o f the v e ry im p o rtan t areas in w h ic h C hinese

E nglish m ajors h av e b e e n found to be deficient. T his is also one o f the m ain research

questions, w h ich th is p rese n t study explores in order to construct a theo retical and

practical p e d a g o g y fo r effective teach in g o f E n g lish at u n iv ersity level in th e C hinese

context.

In sum , teach in g m eth o d s are cu ltu rally laden, and n o t easily tran sferab le fro m one

culture to an o th er w ith o u t p ro p er adjustm ent. T he th ree d ifferent stances p resen ted

above: 1. P ro-C L T approach, 2. B alanced approach, and 3. P ro -traditional approach,

represent the state o f cu rren t E nglish lan g u ag e tea c h in g and learn in g in C h in a at

tertiary level. T he b alan ced approach o f c o m b in in g trad itio n al m eth o d s w ith C L T is

gaining p o p u larity in C hina. A s p eo p le b e g in to in v estig ate the conflicts in the

transfer o f C L T into the C hinese context, th ey rea liz e th at in n o v atio n in E FL

52
teaching in C h in a w ill succeed o n ly i f th ere is 'cultural c o n tin u ity b etw een C L T and

m ore traditional form s' (E llis 1996).

Chapter summary

In this chapter, I h av e given a p ed ag o g ical o v erv iew o f dev elo p m en t in th e n o tio n o f

com m unicative co m p eten ce in the W est. T he p e d a g o g ic a l rev iew started w ith

C hom sky's linguistic com petence, w h ich w as critiq u ed a n d d eveloped b y H y m es into

a concept o f co m m u n icativ e com petence. H ym es' o rig in al id ea w as that speakers o f a

language m u st h av e m o re th an g ram m atical co m p eten ce in o rd er to b e able to

com m unicate e ffectiv ely in a language. L ater o n the co ncept o f co m m u n icativ e

com petence has b e e n furth er refined b y a n u m b er o f research ers such as C anale and

Sw ain, C anale, S avignon, W iddow son, and B achm an. I also o u tlin ed a ped ag o g ical

review o f co m m u n icativ e language teaching. T his is fo llo w ed b y critical com m ents

o f C L T m ad e b y L2 researchers. F in a lly I p rese n ted th e debate in C h in a o v er the

application o f C L T to th e C hinese context and p o in te d out the im p o rtan ce o f

identifying various challenges facing C hinese E F L tea c h e rs in th eir attem pts to adopt

C L T into th eir E n g lish classes.

53
 Chapter 3

Cultural Impacts on EFL teaching in the

Chinese context

Introduction

In this chapter, I exam in e th e cultural im pacts on E F L tea c h in g at te rtia ry level in th e

C hinese context. F irst I discuss the C o n fu cian ph ilo so p h ies. F o llo w in g this, I p rese n t

H ofstede's 4 -D im en sio n al M o d el o f C ultu ral D iffe ren c e s and its relev an ce to the

culture-related issues o f this thesis. F in ally , I d iscu ss th e C hinese culture o f learning.

A s stated in C h ap ter 2, the prin cip les u n d e rp in n in g C L T are c u ltu rally specific and

not easily tra n sfe ra b le from W estern cu ltu re to th e su b stan tially d ifferen t C hinese

cultural context. In th e ir attem pts to adopt C L T into th e C hinese context, conflicts

arise b etw een th e p rin cip les un d erp in n in g C L T and in v eterate b eliefs and value

system s h e ld by C hinese teachers and students. T each in g approaches and

m ethodologies, despite appearances, are n o t value-free.

A s cultural b ein g s, w e tak e fo r granted o u r a ssu m p tio n s and v alu e system s reg ard in g

w hat m akes good teach ers and good students. In th is sense, b o th teach ers and students

need to have a th o ro u g h u n d erstan d in g o f th e cu ltu ral differences in h eren t in th e tw o

above-m entioned approaches b efo re th e y v en tu re in to applying C L T into th eir ow n

teaching p ractices. In addressing th is issue, we need to be cautions about

overgeneralizing. H u (2002b) w arns us th a t it is dangerous to g eneralize about the

cultural b e h av io u rs o f a social group as h u g e and com plex as th e C hinese one.

N onetheless, th ere are som e c u ltu rally ro o te d assum ptions ab o u t social and

54
educational p rac tic e s w h ich und erp in th e m o d els o f tea c h in g and lea rn in g w ith in each

society. In ad d ressin g th is issue, H o fsted e's (1991, 1994) 4 -D im e n sio n a l M o d e l o f

C ultural D ifferen ces is v e ry p ertin en t w h e n it com es to ex p lain in g the cultu re-related

constraints in v o lv ed in adopting C L T in th e C hinese context.

U nim portant to n o te th at m an y o th er research ers also d iscuss cultural v ariations

relevant to d ifferences b etw een E ast and W est cultures, fo r in stance, T rom pennaars'

concept o f 'ach iev ed status' and 'ascribed status' (T rom pennaars, 1993, 1997) and

H all's co ncept o f 'h ig h context' and 'low c o n tex t' (1976). S co llo n and S co llo n (1995)

also, for exam ple, suggest th at the C o n fu cian cu ltu ral tra d itio n p laces a v e ry h ig h

value on th e co m m u n icatio n o f subtle aspects o f feeling and relatio n sh ip an d a m u ch

low er value o n th e co m m u n icatio n o f in fo rm atio n , w h ereas th e A n g lo -A m erican

cultural trad itio n p laces a h ig h er p rem iu m o n clear ex p o sitio n o f facts.

A s this p rese n t stu d y focuses o n vario u s facto rs affecting th e effective teach in g and

learning o f E n g lish at u n iv ersity lev el w ith in th e C hinese cu ltu ral context, I refer

exclusively to H o fsted e's 4-D im en sio n al M o d e l o f C ultu ral D ifferen ces in analysis,

since I find it m u c h m o re rele v an t to m y rese a rc h data analysis and d isc u ssio n than

m odels/concepts p ro p o se d b y o th er researchers. H o fsted e's m u lti-d im en sio n al m odel

looks at the effects o f culture o n the ex p ectatio n s o f student and te a c h e r ro les in

classroom interaction. H o fsted e (1986) claim s th at the v alu es rep re sen te d b y these

dim ensions resu lt in different u n d erstan d in g s o f h o w teach ers and students are

supposed to b e h a v e in the classroom context. 'T h ey lead to feelin g s o f good and evil,

rig h t and w rong, ratio n al and irrational, p ro p e r and im proper; feelings o f w h ich w e

seldom reco g n ize th e cultural relativ ity ' (P. 305). H o fsted e (1986, 1994) draw s our

attention to the cu ltu ral p h en o m en a th at th e p e rv a siv e in flu en ce th a t o u r cultural

m odels h av e o n o u r behaviors, ju d g m e n ts and feelin g s is often tak e n fo r granted; w e

m ay consider ou r ju d g m e n ts, feelings and rea c tio n s sim p ly to b e 'norm al' o r b a se d on

'com m on sense' w h e n th ey are actu ally en tirely relativ e to our p articu la r cultural

inheritance.

A s w ill b e seen b elow , b o th teach ers and stu d en ts in the C hinese E F L c o n te x t n e e d to

b ecom e aw are o f th e fact that the cu ltu ral differen ce in the p ro cess o f radical

55
ped ag o g ical in n o v atio n is a stro n g factor, and should b e h a n d le d p roperly. A good

u n d erstan d in g o f these differences is a v e ry n e c essa ry first step.

3.1 Confucianism

T he teachings o f C onfucius (551-479, B . C ) h a v e b e e n tran sm itted fo r o v er tw o

th ousand years o f C hinese civilization. C o n fu cian ism h a s b e c o m e d e e p ly ro o ted in

C hinese culture and has m o u ld ed C hinese thinking. C h in a is a c o m m u n ist country

w ith C onfucian ethics perm eatin g all levels and spheres o f C h in ese society. T he

official rein fo rcem en t o f the d o m in an t p o sitio n o f C o n fu cian ism in C h in ese culture

has an esp ecially strong im pact on ed u catio n at various levels; it in flu en ces th e beliefs

and value system s underp in n in g the tea c h in g and lea rn in g o f a fo re ig n language in

China.

A s a system o f social n o rm s and v alu es, the fo u r C o n fu cian virtu es o f [zhong\ loyalty,

[.xiao] resp ect fo r elders, [ren] b en ev o len ce and \y i\ rig h teo u sn ess p ro v id e the

foundation o f m o d el b ehaviours in v a rio u s u n equal relationships. It h in g es on

reciprocal duties and obligations. T hese m o ra l im peratives, n a m e ly righteousness

b etw een the ru le r and subject, p ro p er rap p o rt b e tw e en fath er and son, sep aratio n o f

functions b e tw e en h u sb an d and w ife, p ro p er rec o g n itio n o f the seq u en ce o f birth

b etw een elder and yo u n g er b ro th ers and faithfulness b e tw e en friends are the p rin cip al

guidelines for in terpersonal relatio n sh ip s (H o fsted e 1994; L ew is, 1999). O ne o f the

fam ous sayings o f C onfucius is 'L et em p ero r b e an em peror, th e su b ject a subject, the

father a fath e r and th e son a son' \jun jun chen chen, fu fu zi zi], T h e im p licatio n is

that w ith in the fam ily as w ith in th e natio n , p e rso n a l desires are b e st su b ju g ated to the

w ills o f th e patriarch. E ach p e rso n in th e h iera rc h y sh o u ld b e in v o lv e d in activity

w h ich is appropriate to his or h e r social status.

F o r over tw o th o u san d years, C hinese so c ie ty h a s attached ex trem e im p o rtan ce to

collectivistic rath e r th an p erso n al interests. E m p h asis is p lac e d on m ain tain in g

harm onious in teractio n from group m em b ers at all levels. C h in a is k n ow n as a

country o f C o n fu cian culture, and on th e w hole, C hinese p h ilo so p h y is b a sed on

ethics o r m o ral p rinciples - the core o f C o n fu cian ism - ra th e r th a n on logical,

56
 analytical and ratio n al d ialectics as in th e W est (Jin, 1992). W h en th is cultural tra it is

reflected in classroom , 'C hin ese students are found q u ite rea d y to accept authority',

and 'm ost students are too sh y to challenge teach ers o r b o o k s' (M ao, 1996: 15). T h is is

ty p ically reflec ted in th e relationship b etw een tea c h e rs and students and the teach in g

and learn in g styles in class. T eachers tran sm it k n o w le d g e and students e x p ect the

rig h t answ ers from teachers. T his is in stark contrast w ith th e p rin cip les u n d e rp in n in g

CLT, w h ic h em p h asize en g ag in g students in c o m m u n icativ e activities and learn in g a

target language b y u sin g it. In the C L T approach, teach ers are n o t k n o w led g e

transm itters b u t facilitators; students are n o t passiv e learn ers b u t active participants.

To analyse in detail th e com plex natu re o f cu ltu ral d ifferences, H o fsted e's 4-

D im ensional M o d e l o f C ultural D ifferences enables u s to exam ine various culture-

related aspects in v o lv ed in th e process o f ap p ly in g C L T into the C hinese context.

3.2. Hofstede 4-Dimensonal Model of Cultural Differences

H ofstede (1991, 1994), a w ell-k n o w n D u tch so ciologist, c o n d u cted studies o n cultural

differences in w o rk -re late d values as th e y ap p lied to d iffe re n t p eo p les and created a 4-

D im ensional M o d el o f C ultu ral D ifferences. H o fste d e outlin es cu ltu ral aspects that

differentiate 1. Individualism vs. Collectivism, 2. Power Distance (h ig h o r low ),

3. Uncertainty Avoidance (strong or w eak), and 4. Masculinity vs. Femininity. L ater

on, H ofstede has ad d ed M ich ael B ond's Confucian dynamism as a fifth d im en sio n to

this m odel (1994). A cco rd in g to H ofstede (1991, 1994):

Individualism p ertain s to societies in w h ic h ties b e tw e en in d iv id u als are loose;

everyone is ex p ected to look after h im s e lf o r h e rs e lf and his or h e r im m ed iate
fam ily. Collectivism p e rta in s to societies in w h ic h p e o p le fro m b irth o nw ards are
integrated into strong, cohesive in -g ro u p s w h ic h thro u g h o u t p eo p le's lifetim es
continue to p ro te c t th e m in exchange fo r u n q u e stio n e d loyalty. (1994: 51).

H ofstede dem o n strates th at the co llectiv ism vs. in d iv id u alism d istin ctio n is an

effective m ean s o f fin d in g differential p a tte rn s in the responses o f m em b ers o f

different cultures. H e p o in ts out the differen ces b e tw e en in d iv id u alist and co llectiv ist

societies in term s o f th e teach er-stu d en t relatio n sh ip s. H e uses the term 'pow er

d istan ce w h ic h refers to 'the extent to w h ic h th e less p o w erfu l m em b ers o f

institutions and o rganizations w ith in a co u n try ex pect and accep t th at p o w e r is

57
 d istributed un eq u ally ' (H ofstede, 1991: 28). H e n o tes th at in eq u a lity exists w ith in

any culture, b u t th e degree to w h ich it is to le rate d v aries b e tw e en one culture and

another. H e stresses th at the larger th e p o w e r d istan ce, the m o re students beco m e

dependent on teach ers; the sm aller the p o w e r d istance, the m o re students b eco m e

in dependent o f teachers. C h in a is on th e co n tin u u m o f co llectiv ist so c ie ty in w h ich

there is large p o w e r distance, and th ere exists a tea c h e r-stu d e n t in eq u ality w h ic h

'caters to the n e e d fo r dependence w ell estab lish ed in th e student's m in d ' (H ofstede,

1991:34). In su ch a situation, the teach er-cen tered n ess in the lan g u ag e classro o m is

v iew ed as th e n o rm al and core p ractice in th e e d u catio n al p ro cess and students do not

hesitate to fo llo w directions given b y teach ers. T h is p ro ce ss in ev ita b ly leads to an

educational e n v iro n m en t in w h ich 'the q u a lity o f one's learn in g is ex clu siv ely

dependent o n the excellence o f one's teach ers' (H ofstede, 1991: 35). A n o ld C hinese

proverb says: an accom plished discip le ow es h is acco m p lish m en ts to his great

tea c h e r (ming shi chu gao tu). T herefore, th e te a c h e r v iew s it as h is o r h e r role to

tran sm it k n o w led g e to the students.

T his assu m p tio n is in line w ith w h a t M a le y (1982) h a s called Pint-pot m o d el o f

teaching, b y w h ic h h e m eans a teach er sim p ly em pties h is o r h er b a rre l o f kn o w led g e

into the p in t p o t o f h is o r h e r students. 'T here is no organic interchange. It is the

stu d e n ts jo b to absorb as m u ch o f th e elix ir as h e can contain and n o t to spill any.

Intake is said to equal input' (M aley, 1982: 43). T his is c learly re flec ted in a C hinese

m axim th at 'to give students a b o w l o f w a te r (yi wan shui), the tea c h e r m u st h av e a

full b u ck et o f w a te r to dispense' (yi tong shui).

In contrast, in sm all p o w e r distance situations, teach ers a n d students are expected and

encouraged to assum e an equal p osition. W h e n th is is reflected in th e education

process, acco rd in g to H o fsted e (1991), it is c h aracterized b y student-centeredn ess,

'w ith a p rem iu m o n student initiative; students are exp ected to fin d th eir ow n

intellectual p ath s' (p. 34). S tudents' in d ep en d en ce is h ig h ly v alu ed as th e core and the

norm o f the e d u catio n al system . T his reflects M aley' s (1982) Home Brewery Kit

Model, w h ich m ean s th a t teachers are seen as a p ro v id e r o f raw m aterials (a k it w ith

ingredients) and in stru ctio n o n h o w to u se them . T h e learn er th en w o rk s o n th em at

his ow n in d iv id u al p a c e and in his o w n style. H ow ever, input is id en tical for all.

Intake and ou tp u t are d ifferent for ev eryone (M aley, 1982: 43).

58
A n o th er d im en sio n o f his 4-D im en sio n al M o d el is Uncertainty Avoidance. W ithin

cultures w ith strong u n c e rtain ty avoidance, p eo p le feel n e rv o u s in situ atio n s w h ich

they p erc e iv e as unstructured, u n c le a r o r un p red ictab le, th ere fo re th e y try to seek

security rath e r th an tak e p ersonal risks. In cultures w ith a w e a k u n c e rtain ty avoidance,

p eo p le are contem plative, relaxed, accep tin g p erso n al risk , and re la tiv e ly to leran t. In

applying th is 4-D im en sio n al M odel to a c lassro o m -b ased setting, H ofstede

sum m arizes the fo llo w in g cultural aspects o f teach er-stu d en t and stu d en t-stu d en t

in teractio n rela te d to Power Distance d im en sio n an d Uncertainty Avoidance

d im ension (S ee T ab le 2.1 and 2.2).

D ifferences in teacher-student and student-student interaction related to the

Pow er D istance D im ension

Table-3.1

Small Power Distance society Large Power Distance society

Stress on im p erso n al truth obtained S tress on p erso n al w isd o m h an d ed

from an y co m p eten t p erso n d o w n b y a teach er

T eacher should resp e c t the T e a ch e r m erits the resp ect o f his o r h er

independence o f students students

Student-centred tea c h in g m eth o d o lo g y T ea ch e r-c e n tre d teach in g m e th o d o lo g y

T eacher expects students to initiate S tudents ex pect tea c h e r to initiate

com m unication co m m u n icatio n

Students speak up sp o n taneously in S tu d en ts speak up o n ly w h e n in v ited b y

class te a c h e r in class

Students co n trad ict teach er T e a ch e r is n o t c o n trad icted p u b lic ly in

class

E ffectiveness o f lea rn in g depends on 2- E ffectiv en ess o f learning depends on

w a y co m m u n icatio n in class ex cellen ce o f tea c h e r in class

Y ounger teachers are m ore liked th an O ld er teachers are m o re lik ed than

older teachers y o u n g e r teachers

59
Source: Hofstede, (1986:313)

D ifferences in teacher-student and student-student interaction related to the

U ncertainty A voidance D im ension
Table-3.2

Weak Uncertainty Avoidance Strong Uncertainty Avoidance

Students like u n stru ctu red learning S tudents like stru ctu red learning
situations, b ro a d assignm ents situations, d etailed assignm ents

T eachers are allo w ed to say 'I don't T eachers are exp ected to p ro v id e all
know ' in class correct answ ers

Students are aw ard ed fo r in n o vative S tudents are aw ard ed fo r a c cu ra cy in

approaches to p ro b le m solving p ro b lem solving

T eachers in terp ret intellectual T eachers in te rp re t intellectu al

disagreem ent as stim ulating exercise d isag reem en t as p erso n a l d islo y a lty

S o u rce: H o fsted e, (1986:314)

T hree out of H ofstede's 4 -D im en sito n al M odel, nam ely: Individualism vs.

Collectivism, Power Distance and Uncertainty Avoidance are p a rtic u la rly relev an t to
this thesis and th erefo re I u se th ese fram ew o rk s in d isc u ssin g som e o f the survey

findings. I su b seq u en tly exclude th e fo u rth dim ension, nam ely , Masculinity and

Femininity fro m the d iscu ssio n as it is n o t closely rela te d to th e current thesis.

H ofstede's fifth d im ension Confucian dynamism has b e e n d isc u sse d in S ection 3.1 o f

this C hapter. T he fo llow ing sectio n focuses o n C hinese culture o f learning, a typical

rep resen tatio n in the C hinese co llectiv istic culture.

3.3. The Chinese culture of learning and its influence on EFL

Education in China

H aving o u tlin ed a general scenario o f H o fsted e's 4 -D im en sio n al M o d e l o f C ultural

D ifferences, w e n e e d to delve into th e p a rtic u la r ch aracteristics o f C h in ese culture in

60
order to k n o w h o w to adapt C L T to th e C hinese co n tex t fo r the p u rp o se o f enhancing

E F L m ajors' co m m u n icativ e com petence. C ortazzi and Jin (1996) u se th e term

C hinese 'culture o f learning' to describe a w h o le set o f ex p ectatio n s, attitudes, beliefs,

values, p erceptions, p references, experiences, and b e h a v io u rs th a t are characteristic o f

C hinese so ciety w ith reg a rd to teach in g and learning (C o rtazzi & Jin, 1996: 74).

A nother C hinese E F L researcher, C h en g (2000) gives a m o re d etailed account o f the

C hinese culture o f learning:

1. T eachers h av e absolute au th o rity in the classroom . S tudents show great

resp ect to teachers, b u t th ey also expect teachers to h a v e th o ro u g h know ledge
o f the subjects th ey teach. T he central aim o f e d u c atio n is to distribute
know ledge. In ord er to avoid loss o f face, open c h a llen g e to w h a t teach ers say
is n o t encouraged.

2. T he C hinese language is n o n -ro m an alphabetic lan g u ag e and th ere b y the rote

learn in g m eth o d is used in th e early stages o f learn in g to m em o rize the
C hinese characters. T herefore this m eth o d c o n tin u es to ex ist at later
ed u cation stages.

3. T he C hinese p eo p le h av e a lo n g tra d itio n o f diligence. T h ey tru st w orking

h a rd m o re than w o rk in g efficiently. B o th teachers and students b e lie v e that it
is h ard w o rk in g efforts th at count.

4. A strong cen tralized ed ucational system h as b e e n p red o m in atin g fo r a v ery

lo n g tim e in C hina. E d u catio n al in stitu tio n s h a v e b e e n u n d e r p ressu re from
N a tio n a l C urriculum and m atric u la tio n system s th a t are u su a lly exam -centred
o r know ledge-oriented.

5. D u e to th e C hinese m o d esty o r face-sav in g p h ilo so p h y , to re m a in reticent

about o n e s stren g th is a virtue. In addition, to rem a in q u iet about o n e s
ig n o ran ce can av o id losin g face. F o r b o th th ese reaso n s, m a n y C hinese
students do n o t consider a sk in g questions in p u b lic a g o o d h a b it (C heng,
2000: 47-48).

U n d er th e in flu en ce o f this culture o f learning, the E F L classroom s in C h in a often

take th e fo rm o f 'know ledge tran sm issio n ' fro m tea c h e r to students. M u c h o f this

k n ow ledge is gram m ar, structure, and v o cabulary. T herefore, it is n o t surprising that

in E F L classroom s in the C hinese context, there is lac k o f active and dynam ic

interaction, indiv id u alizatio n , c re a tiv ity and self-ex p ressio n - m any of the

p rereq u isites o f C LT. I f students are p rese n ted w ith stu d en t-cen tred activities, they

often c o m p lain th at th e y h a v e n o t in d eed learn ed as m u ch as th e y expected (see

C hapter 6 for discussion). T each er-cen tred m ethods to w h ic h students are exposed

from early childhood, m ak e use o f re p e titio n and g rad u a lly b eco m e fixed into

61
routines. I f students feel a teach er is 'kn o w led g eab le, q u alified and eloquent', th ey

feel th ey learn a lot from the teach er desp ite th eir ap p a re n t in activ ity in E n g lish class.

If, on th e o th er h an d , they find a tea c h e r 'u n qualified', th eir in d ifferen ce to a

m onotonous teach in g m ethod is m an ifested , to v a ry in g degrees, b y silence, absent-

m indedness o r div id ed attention, in ac tiv ity in in itia tin g o r asking and an sw erin g

questions in class, as the classroom o b serv atio n s rev e a le d in th is stu d y (S ee C hapter

7 for details).

3.4. The Role of the Teacher in class

The roles o f tea c h e r and student h a v e to b e ex am in ed in lig h t o f th is pattern o f

hierarchical or u n e q u a l relationships. Its im p licatio n s fo r E F L ed u catio n are obvious:

the teacher is seen as a 'fount o f k n o w led g e' (Liu: 1998) w ho is the m ean s w h e re b y

the receiv ed w isd o m is p assed on to students. In C hina, the teach er-stu d en t

interaction is n o t 'lubricated w ith th e dem o cratic oil o f w arm th and first n am es, but

w ith the oil o f respect' (B iggs, 1998:730). T h e latter can serve as a m o re effective

lubricant in a collectiv e society like C hina.

O ne o f the favourite m etaphors in C h in a lik en s a te a c h e r to a 'gardener' ( Yuan ding).

It im plies th at a successful C hinese te a c h e r h a s tra d itio n ally b e e n h o n o u red for

pro d u cin g 'a w o rld o f peaches and p lu m s' ( Tao li man tian xia) w h o se far-flung

goodness is a m e n to rs g reatest trib u te (R oss, 1993). A n o th e r m eta p h o r u se d alm ost

as frequently is to describe teach ers as 'en g in eers o f h u m an soul' ( ren lei ling hun

gong cheng shi), th at is, 'being m o d els fo r stu d en ts to follow ' ( Wei ren shi biao). T he
teacher sh o u ld im p art h is kno w led g e to stu d en ts and at the sam e tim e cultivate

students' good m o ra lity [Jiao shu yu ren\.

T herefore, it is n o t surprising that tea c h e rs are reg ard ed as au th o rities in the

classroom . G iv en th e elevated status o f teach ers, it is n o t considered p ro p e r for

students to ch allen g e or o p en ly disag ree w ith w h a t the tea c h e r says in public. I f a

teacher is sh o w n to b e w ro n g b y a stu d en t in th e classroom , this w o u ld in d icate a

grave face-th reaten in g act. It is not u n c o m m o n that 'C hinese students are m ore

accustom ed to a h ig h ly directed, tea c h e r-c en tred system th an n o n -stru ctu red and

62
class is th o u g h t to have an im pact o n th e d ev elo p m en t o f th e stu d en ts' ow n

personality. I f students like a te a c h e rs perso n ality , th e y are v e ry likely, in m an y

cases, to find his or h er lecture in te restin g and v ice versa. T his is refe rre d to as a

P y g m alio n effect [i] (K e, 2003).

3.6. Traditional attitudes towards learning

T he im portance, as w ell as the b enefits, o f learn in g c a n b e b e st re flec ted in som e

C hinese sayings: 'T housands o f p ro fe ssio n s and activities are at the lo w er level

w h ile stu d y is considered to b e at the h ig h est' ( Wan ban jie xiapin, wei you dushu

gao ) and 'It is in learning th at there are gold ho u ses and b e a u tifu l girls' (shu zhong zi
you huang jin wu, shu zhong zi you yan ru yu ). A s rev ealed in th ese sayings,
learning is a k e y th at opens m an y doors to m o st p eople, and th e o n ly w a y to find

prestige, m aterial rew ard, a h ap p y m arria g e and su ccessfu l careers. M o reo v er

teachers ten d to assum e th at C hinese students cannot to lerate a course th a t is to tally

student-centred, w ith no specific tex tb o o k since th ey are u se d to a teacher-

dom inated class in w h ich 'listening atten tiv ely to the tea c h e r' is c o n sid ered to b e the

m o st appropriate behaviour. In addition, th is also im plies th a t it w ould b e u n u su al i f

students w ere asked to learn E n g lish b y 'p lay in g gam es'.

To illu strate C hinese E F L teachers' attitudes tow ards the lea rn in g o f E n g lish , it is

useful at th is stage to quote a p a ra g ra p h fro m an E n g lish n ew sletter Bell in the

E n g lish D e p a rtm en t w h ere the em pirical stu d y for this thesis w as conducted. T he

Bell (2000) w h ich is edited b y the s ta ff and students to g eth e r in th e E nglish

D epartm ent, carried a short article w ritte n b y a senior E F L teacher, g iv in g freshm en

som e advice o f h o w to study E nglish:

Y ou [students] cannot ex pect to b e a good and fluent sp eak er o f E nglish

overnight. T he first th in g you h a v e to do is to try to learn by heart as many
English words as you can. Feed your head with thousands o f new words.
K eep d o in g th a t every day. T h e n e x t th in g [to do] is p u t your h e a rt into
learn in g it - b e hardw orking. In so doing, you w ill su cceed as a g o o d foreign
language learner, ju s t as a C hinese p ro v erb says practice makes perfect (Bell,
2001: 3, m y em phasis).

65
F rom th e above quotation, w e can see th at it is qu ite c o m m o n th at p e o p le view

learning as th e accum ulation o f k n o w le d g e and the rea d in g o f books. A cco rd in g to

C onfucius, th in g s are learn ed little b y little, and one b y one. A s one o f the m ost

freq u en tly cited sayings p u ts it, 'stu d y as i f you w ere n e v e r to m a ste r it' ( Xue wu zhi

jing) and 'w h en th e tim e com es to u se y o u r know ledge, you w ill re g re t h o w little you
have read' (Shu dao yong shi fang hen shad). In C o n fu cian teach in g , k n ow ledge

bein g acquired n o w m a y n o t b e o f im m ed iate use, h o w ev er, as lo n g as you have

m astered it, it is y our o w n [asset] and it w ill b e at y o u r disp o sal late r o n w h e n you

m ight h av e to u se it (R ao, 1996: 460).

It is n o t u n co m m o n fo r teach ers to in stil in students th e m o rals o f diligence since

E nglish learn in g is often v iew ed as a p ro cess o f learning vocabulary plus grammar

plus practice plus industriousness. A s such, the m o st e fficien t w a y o f teach in g is to

transm it as m u ch as p o ssib le o f th e kn o w led g e about the language in class.

C on seq u en tly recitatio n is c o n sid ered to b e one o f m o st effectiv e w ay s fo r learning a

foreign lan g u ag e and it is v iew ed as 'a basic acquisition tech n iq u e' (R ao, 1996: 461).

A n old C hinese saying in d icates rec ita tio n as a w a y o f a co n so lid atio n o f k n ow ledge

and a deep en in g o f u n d erstan d in g o f w h a t has b e e n learned: 'w hen one can m em o rize

300 T an g -d y n asty poem s, one is sure to b e able to co m p o se p o em s o f one's o w n even

though one is n o t a p o e t at all' (shu du tang shi san bai shou, bu hui zou shi ye hui

yin).

3.7 The concept of 'face*

'Face' is d efin ed as the pu b lic self-im ag e th a t every m em b e r in a so ciety w ants to

claim for h im s e lf (B row n & L evinson, 1987: 61). A C h in ese adage illustrates the

im portance o f 'face' in a d a ily life: 'a p e rso n n eed s face ju s t like a tree n eed s bark'

(ren yao lian, shu yao pi). A cco rd in g to B ro w n and L ev in so n (1987), th ere are tw o
types o f face. O ne is n eg ativ e face th a t is 'the w ant to h av e his freedom o f action

unhin d ered an d his attention u n im p e d e d (p. 129). T h e o th er is p o sitiv e face, w hich

is the w an t o f every m em b e r th at h is w a n t [should] b e desirab le to a t least som e

oth ers (p. 62) as w ell as th e p ere n n ial desire th a t his w an ts or th e actions,

acquisitions or v alues resu ltin g from th em sh o u ld be c o n sid ered as desirab le (p. 101).

66
O ne o f th e k e y characteristics o f C h inese face is th a t th e o v e ra ll co m p o sitio n o f 'face'

does n o t p lace o n e s e lf in th e m o st im p o rtan t p o sitio n (M ao, 1994: 460 cited in Liu,

2002). R ath er, C h in ese face encodes a rep u tab le im a g e th at in d iv id u als c a n claim

fo r th em selv es as th e y in te rac t w ith others in a given c o m m u n ity (ibid). T herefore,

C hinese face is w ith in th e co n sid eratio n o f th e c o m m u n ity in a given context, and

h o w an ind iv id u al th in k s h is or h e r ch aracter o r b e h a v io u r is b e in g ju d g e d or

p erceiv ed b y the p eo p le aro u n d h im or h e r in th at c o m m u n ity (M ao, 1994 cited in

L iu, 2002). To u se th is face-sav in g v iew to lo o k into th e c lassro o m b eh av io u rs o f

b o th C h in ese students a n d teach ers in this stu d y is b e n e fic ia l as 'face-saving

strategies are w id e ly p rac tise d in C h in ese society' (L iu & L ittle w o o d , 1997).

C h in a is a h ierarch ical so ciety w ith its culture score ra tin g 80 o n th e P o w er D istan ce

Index (PD I) scale (H osfede, 2001: 502). T his p ro v id es an ex p la n a tio n as to w h y

C hinese learners do n o t like to o p e n ly ch allenge a u th o rity in class and air their

opinions in pu b lic. T he rea so n is o b vious th at th e y do n o t w a n t to m ak e th eir teach er

lo se fa c e , th at is, n o t to em barrass th e ir tea c h e r in class. A t th e sam e tim e, such an

act tends to p reserv e th eir o w n face, b y n o t asking 'stu p id ' q u estio n s w h ic h w o u ld

show th eir ignorance.

In the p ilo t stu d y c o n d u cted for th is rese a rc h (S ee S e c tio n 4.4-4.5 in C h ap ter 4) I w as

to ld b y an Irish E S L tea c h e r w ho tau g h t C hinese stu d en ts E n g lish in a language

college in Ire lan d th at h e w a s o ften su rro u n d ed b y h is C h in e se students w ho k ep t

asking h im questions after class in stead o f in class. T h e tea c h e r w as surprised w h y

these questions w e re n o t raise d d u rin g class. T he k e y p o in t is th at C h inese students

ten d to th in k o f 'asking to k n o w ra th e r th an k n o w in g b y asking' (C o rtazzi & Jin,

1996). I f one asks a q u estio n it w o u ld in d icate th at one d oes n o t learn as q u ick ly as

others o r is slow to u n d e rsta n d and th is am ounts to a fac e -th rea te n in g act. T herefore

students do n o t ten d to raise qu estio n s u n less th ey are su re th at th ey h a v e u n d ersto o d

w h a t th e tea c h e r h as said. O n th e co n trary , in lo w p o w e r d ista n c e societies, students

ten d to acquire n e w in fo rm a tio n b y a sk in g a n d th ey ta k e it fo r gran ted th at it is a

good w a y o f learn in g and d isc o v e rin g rath e r th a n a lo ss o f face.

In C hinese E F L class, i f som eone is ask ed to give an im p ro m p tu speech, it is not

u n co m m o n to see h e r or him b e g in n in g th e sp eech b y saying, I am n o t w e ll p rep ared

67
 Chapter 4

Research M ethodology

Introduction

A s b rie fly stated in the In troduction, this stu d y explores C h in ese E F L lea rn ers and

tea c h e rs view s o f C L T, th e trad itio n al approach, th e te a c h in g and learning o f the

target culture in E n g lish classes, and the m ain ch allenges co n fro n tin g them in th eir

learning and teach in g p rocess. T his stu d y also exam ines students' attitudes tow ards

au thority in class and the real causes fo r th e ir ap parent retice n c e in E n g lish classes as

w ell as th eir perceiv ed d eficien cy in critical th in k in g skills. T he final research

qu estio n addressed is h o w to develop alternative p e d a g o g ic a l m odels th at can

e ffectiv ely com bine the strengths o f b o th C L T and the C h inese trad itio n al approach

[i] in ord er to m o st effectiv ely develop C hinese E F L learn ers' co m m unicative

com petence including th eir critical th in k in g ability.

E x p lo ratio n o f these research questions n eed s to tak e full acco u n t o f the cultural

context and traditions o f E n g lish language teach in g and learn in g in C hina. A s stated

in C hapter 2, although C L T b e g a n to b e in tro d u ced into C h in a in early 1980s,

n um erous C hinese teachers and learners o f E n g lish do n o t seem to h a v e gone th ro u g h

any fundam ental changes in th eir co n cep tio n o f effective lan g u ag e instru ctio n and in

th eir d a ily practice. T h e trad itio n al ap p ro ach is still do m in an t in m an y E nglish

classroom s. E v en i f m an y teach ers claim to b e follow ers o f C L T , this is o ften a

m atter o f o n ly p ay in g lip se rv ic e to the concept. In reality , 'there has b e e n

resistance deep dow n to C L T since its v e ry in troduction' (H u, 2002b: 94). A s such, a

vigorous stu d y on an effective p ed ag o g ical so lu tio n to th e above pro b lem in E F L

education in th e C hinese co n tex t is o f great significance.

69
T his ch ap ter w ill describe th e research d esign o f th is th esis a n d give a detailed

account o f the research p ro ced u res u tilized in th is study. It includes q uestionnaire

design, interview and classro o m observation. T he q u e stio n n a ire su rv ey is d esig n ed to

elicit resp o n d en ts' attitudes to w ard s and percep tio n s o n C L T (S C A ), T C A , culture

learning, respect for auth o rity in class, u se o f language lea rn in g strategy, m o tiv atio n

in learning E nglish, and m a in challenges co n fronting them . T he in terv iew d e sig n is

to elicit in -depth info rm atio n fro m inform ants on w h y th e y fav o r o r d isfav o r T C A

and SC A , the m a in p ro b lem s or challenges e n co u n tered and students' attitudes

tow ards au th o rity in class. C lassro o m ob serv atio n is co n d u c te d to id en tify w h e th e r

b o th teachers' and students' resp o n ses to C L T (SC A ), T C A and students' attitudes

tow ards authority and tow ard s speaking out in E n g lish classes are re a lly reflec ted in

their classroom practices and behaviours. T his c h ap ter also explains w h y b o th

quantitative and q u alitative research m ethods are u se d as w e ll as h o w the data is

collected, p resen ted and analysed.

4.1. Research Design: combined quantitative and qualitative

approach

T his stu d y com bines b o th a quan titativ e and a q u alitativ e research m ethodology,

rep resen tin g the tw o m a jo r k in d s o f in v estig ativ e m eth o d s fo r em pirical studies used

b y research ers in the social sciences. B o th approaches h a v e th eir advantages and

disadvantages. G riffee (1999) p o in ts o u t th at one p o p u la r w a y o f carry in g out

classroom -based research is to use qu an titativ e data g en erated from questionnaires. It

is easier, m ore m an ag eab le and less expensive th an o th er form s o f d a ta collection

and large am ounts o f data c a n b e collected in a fairly short tim e. Q uestionnaires can

also b e u sed to rese a rc h alm o st any aspect o f teach in g or learn in g and th e y can be

e asily u sed in field settings such as classroom s (B row n, 1988; N unan, 1989, 1992;

S eliger & Shoham y, 1989). T he quantitative ap p ro ach h as the m erits o f b eing

rep licab le and easy to u se for large sam ples. It also seem s to enable studies to be

scientific and objective.

70
D espite these advantages, the quan titativ e ap p ro ach h as lim itations. T h e q u an titativ e

approach treats com plex data in a frag m en ted and iso lated m an n e r and in ad e q u a te ly

dem onstrates h o w these variables u n d e r in v estig a tio n are in terrelated in real h u m an

lives. A s a resu lt, it does n o t allow th e rese a rc h e r to rea c h deep and w id e into the

p ro b lem u n d er in v estig atio n and cap tu re the ric h and th ic k s tu f f (G ao, 2001: 67).

M oreover, the strict control conditions req u ired fo r such m eth o d s fre q u e n tly re stric t a

researcher's a b ility to deal w ith m a n y im p o rta n t issu es co n cern in g actu al h u m a n and

subjective factors. Q uantitative research m eth o d s n e e d to b e in fo rm ed and in terp reted

b y qualitative m eth o d s in order to shed greater light o n th e co m p lex n atu re o f the

variables u n d e r investigation.

Q ualitative m eth o d s, on the other hand, can b e u se d for in -d e p th in v estigations. T h ey

are p articu la rly good in soliciting d etailed in fo rm a tio n co n cern in g c o g n itiv e and

m ental factors w h ic h the quantitative ap p ro ach p a sse s over. Q u an titative m eth o d s

p rovide p recise evidence for o r against a th eo re tic al pro p o sitio n , and can rev eal

detailed sp ecificatio n o f its ap p licab ility in v ario u s dom ains. O ne rese a rc h m eth o d

com plem ents th e other since each approaches th e su b ject from d ifferen t angles.

4.2. Research aim of this study

T his em pirical stu d y aim s to o b tain first-h an d in fo rm atio n fo r a p ed ag o g ical

fram ew ork to enhance C hinese E n g lish lan g u ag e learners' co m m u n icativ e

com petence. In ord er to b e able to access the o p inions o f 210 u n iv ersity students and

50 teachers, I chose to u se tw o sets o f qu estio n n aires as a p rim a ry rese a rc h

instrum ent in th is study: one for students and th e o th er for teachers. A q uestionnaire

can explore in fo rm an ts' attitudes to w ard s tea c h e r-c en tred and stu d en t-cen tred

teaching m ethodology. It can also ex p lo re attitudes tow ards culture learn in g and

difficulties enco u n tered b y b o th students and teach ers respectively. A specific reaso n

for adopting such an approach is th at a lea rn er-ce n tre d ap proach in ev ita b ly leads to a

g reater em phasis o n stu d e n ts in v o lv em en t, attitudes and p ercep tio n s o f classroom

aim s and events. A learn er-cen tred ap p ro ach also im plies th at teach ers sh o u ld study

students' p ercep tio n s and needs. Y e t v ario u s studies h av e show n th a t th ere can be

considerable discrep an cies o f op in io n b e tw e en learn ers and th eir teach ers in relatio n

71
to w h at learners need, w h at th ey prefer, and h o w lan g u ag e learn in g tak es p lace

(B rindley, 1984; N u n an , 1988; K u m aravadivelu, 1991; K ern, 1995; P eacock, 1997).

4.3. Data Collection

F o r the fo rm al field survey in N a n k a i U n iv e rsity and T ia n jin N o rm al U n iv ersity ,

C hina, tw o questionnaires w ere desig n ed and adm in istered to tw o groups o f

respondents: one to 210 underg rad u ate and p o stg rad u ate students and th e o th er to 50

teachers. T he research d ata w as co llected p rim a rily th ro u g h a quan titativ e survey

analysed b y u sin g a softw are p ack ag e, n am ely, th e S tatistical P a c k a g e fo r Social

Science (S P S S ). T he findings o f th e q u estio n n aire data w e re su p p lem en ted by

qualitative d a ta collected th ro u g h open -en d ed q u estions, in terv iew s and classroom

observations. Q ualitative m eth o d s w ere u sed to elicit resp o n ses w h ic h the

questionnaire did n o t address. S uch resp o n ses w o u ld p ro v id e a b e tte r un d erstan d in g

o f the com plex natu re o f the cognitive, affective, p e d a g o g ic a n d p sy ch o lo g ical

aspects o f th e d a ta collected. F u rth erm o re, classro o m observ atio n s w e re also carried

out as the m o st d irect m eans o f gaining insights into classro o m teach in g and learning

activities in ord er to assess the c o n sisten cy b e tw e en w h a t the info rm an ts surveyed

claim ed to do and w h a t th ey actu ally d id in th eir E n g lish classes.

4.4. Pilot study: questionnaire design

First, a p ilo t stu d y w as co nducted to test th e effectiveness o f the questionnaire.

N u n an (1992) stresses the im p o rtan ce o f a p ilo t stu d y w h e n u sin g qu estio n n aire in

academ ic research:

[The] c reatio n o f v a lid and reliab le qu estio n n aires is a sp ecialized business. A

teacher cannot sim p ly m ak e a qu estio n n aire, ad m inister it and rep o rt the results.
B efore a q u estio n n aire can b e u se d for research p u rp o ses, it m u st b e reported
h o w th e q uestionnaire w as co n structed, h o w it w as p ilo ted , w h a t the results o f
the p ilo t w ere, and w hat, i f any, rev isio n s w ere m ad e b a sed o n th e p ilot
qu estio n n aire results (N unan, 1992:143).

In the p ilo t study, the co m bined m eth o d s o f q u estionnaire, in terview s and classroom

observations w e re conducted in the A m e ric an C ollege D u b lin (A C D ) and in

L anguage Services, D u b lin C ity U n iv e rsity (D C U L S ). B o th lan g u ag e schools had a

72
relativ ely large n u m b er o f C hinese stu d en ts learning E n g lish at in te rm e d ia te level

and student atten d an ce w as rep o rted to b e m u ch b e tte r th a n in o th er p riv a te language

schools. In analysing the data, special attention w as p a id to the q u estio n n aire item s

that n eeded clarificatio n and am en d m en t fo r d e v elo p in g th e field su rv e y to b e carried

o ut at N an k ai U n iv e rsity and T ian jin N o rm al U niversity, C hina. A q u estio n n aire w as

designed fo r elicitin g in fo rm a tio n from C hinese stu d en ts in th e p ilo t stu d y (See

A p p endix A - l) . T he q u estio n n aire c o n sisted o f 41 q u e stio n s g ro u p ed into the

follow ing categories:

1. S tudents' attitudes to w ard s sp eak in g out in class

2. T he natu re o f students' m o tiv atio n in learn in g E n g lish

3. S tudents' attitudes tow ards c o m m u n icativ e activ ities in class

4. S tudents' attitudes tow ards a u th o rity in class

5. S tudents' use o f lan g u ag e learn in g strategies

6. S tudents' attitudes tow ards a m o n o -c u ltu ral class (co n sistin g o f all C hinese

students) and a m u lti-cu ltu ral class (stu d en ts w ith d ifferen t cultural

back g ro u n d s), and class size

7. F u n ctio n -b ased strategies

8. F o rm -b ased strategies (S ee A p p e n d ix A - l for details).

T his qu estio n n aire w as w ritte n in C h in ese and the q u e stio n n a ire item s w e re draw n

from three sources: firstly fro m som e p re-a rra n g ed class o b serv atio n s and inform al

talks w ith teachers w ho w e re n ativ e speakers o f E n g lish and w ho tau g h t E n g lish to

C hinese students in D C U L S . S econdly, th e w ell-estab lish ed q u estio n n aire S trategy

In v en to ry fo r L an g u ag e L earn in g (S .I.L .L .) (O xford, 1990) w a s c o n su lted as w ell as

the q u estio n n aire item s used in earlier studies (L ittlew ood, 2001, S pratt, 1999, W en,

2000). F in ally , I d rew on m y o w n p ro fe ssio n a l e x p erien ce as a u n iv ersity tea c h e r o f

E nglish in C h in a fo r 20 years.

T he q u estio n n aire u sed a 5 -p o in t L ik e rt S cale illu strated in T able-3.1. Student

inform ants w e re asked to resp o n d to e ach statem en t b y tic k in g o f f the n u m b er that

co rresponded to his or h er opinion. F o r exam ple, each stu d en t w as asked to indicate

the extent o f th eir ag reem ent or d isa g re em e n t w ith statem ents such as in the

follow ing exam ple:

73
 T he ad v isab ility o f d esigning th e questionnaire in th e C hinese language for the

co n v en ien ce o f the inform ants. T his w o u ld m a k e it easier for students to

u n d erstan d and avoid p o ssib le m isu n d erstan d in g due to p o ssib ly u nfam iliar

E n g lish w o rd s in the questionnaire.

4.6. Formal field survey: student questionnaire design

Som e changes w ere m ade to the qu estio n n aires fo r th e form al em pirical survey

w hich co n sisted o f fo u r n ew additional item categories and an open -en d ed section,

m ak in g a final total o f 86 q uestionnaire item s. A s the form al q u estio n n aire survey

w as desig n ed fo r u n d ergraduate and p o stg rad u ate stu d en ts at N ankai U niversity,

C hina, the q uestionnaire item s h ad to b e revised to suit th e E n g lish m ajors at

u n iv ersity level. T h ey w ere o b v io u sly d ifferent subjects from th o se in the p ilo t study

w ho w e re m ain ly fresh from h ig h schools and w ho w e re stu dying E n g lish in an

E n g lish -sp eak in g country. T h ese fo u r n e w item categ o ries w e re designed to elicit

inform ation on the current situ atio n o f E nglish lan g u ag e teach in g and learning at

univ ersity level in C hina. T hese item s concerned students':

1. A ttitu d es tow ards learning the targ e t culture in E F L class

2. A ttitu d es tow ards non -co m m u n icativ e activities in class

3. O p inions on the difficulties co n fro n tin g C hinese learn ers o f E n g lish at tertiary

level in adopting co m m unicative activities

4. A ttitu d es tow ards dependence on th eir n ativ e lan g u ag e

F urtherm ore, 6 o p en-ended qu estio n s w e re also included. T h ese qu estio n s concerned

students' opinions o n the teach in g m e th o d o lo g y cu rren tly u sed b y E nglish language

teachers, and o n the learning o f culture (S ee A pp en d ix A -2 and A -3 for the student

questionnaire and categorization). T he second a m en d m en t w as to delete an item

categ o ry that d id n o t suit E n g lish language teach in g an d learn in g in the C hinese

context. Since th e form al survey w as carried out in C hina, w h ere all students w ere

C hinese, and class w a s an average size o f 18 to 20 students, an item categ o ry in the

p ilo t stu d y 'A ttitudes to type o f m o n o -cu ltu ral or m u lti-cu ltu ral class, and class size'

w as ex cluded from the survey.

75
Student sam ple population

T he sam ple p o p u latio n co n sisted o f 210 E n g lish lan g u ag e m ajo rs and details o f the

student p o p u latio n are p rese n ted in T able-4.2 below .

Table 4.2. Student sam ple population

U n iv ersity y ear o f study at N a n k a i U niv. N u m b e r o f students

2nd year un d erg rad u ates 34

3rd y e a r u ndergraduates 24

4 y e a r u ndergraduates 81

1st y ear graduates (M .A ) 39

2nd y ear graduates (M .A ) 32

T otal 210

T he q u estio n n aire data w e re g ath ered in th e last 20 m in u tes o f th e students' class

tim e, v ia p rio r agreem ent w ith th e teachers. T h e selectio n o f student inform ants w as

co m pletely ran d o m w ith a v iew to accessin g a large n u m b er o f students from

different levels. T hese students h a d b e e n exposed to d ifferent k in d s o f teach in g

m ethods in vario u s E n g lish courses, in clu d in g b o th sk ill-o rien ted a n d content-based

courses.

I d ecided to su rv ey 39 n e w ly en ro lled p o stg rad u ate students in th e E n g lish

D ep artm en t d u ring the first w eek o f th e ir g raduate p ro g ra m in N a n k a i U n iv ersity in

S eptem ber, 2002. O f th ese 39 students, 18, th at is, 46% h a d ju s t fin ish ed their

u nd erg rad u ate stu d y in th e E n g lish D e p a rtm en t o f N a n k a i U n iv e rsity and w ere

continuing w ith their graduate stu d y in th e sam e departm ent. T h e rest o f th e 21

students, th at is, 54% h a d grad u ated fro m 19 in stitu tio n s and u n iv ersities in 14

different cities and m un icip alities across th e country, stretch in g fro m N o rth ea st to

Southeast C hina. Since th ey h a d ju s t fin ish ed th eir u n d erg rad u ate stu d y in their

ind iv id u al in stitutions and p a sse d th e v e ry com p etitiv e grad u ate-en tran ce exam s,

th ey w ere rep resen tativ e o f above average E n g lish lan g u ag e students. T h eir view s

w o u ld reveal th eir ow n learning ex p erien ces and attitudes to th e w a y the target

language h a d b een learned and tau g h t w h ile th e y w ere u n d erg rad u ates in their ow n

76
institutions. T his w o u ld p rovide m e w ith m o re in fo rm a tio n about th e com m u n icativ e

language tea c h in g (C L T ) approach in institu tio n s at u n iv ersity level, b e y o n d th a t o f

N ankai U niversity. L ikew ise, m ore th an 50% o f the seco n d -y ear M .A stu d en ts in the

E nglish D ep artm en t h ad finished th e ir u n d e rg ra d u a te p ro g ra m m e in d ifferen t

universities in C h in a and th eir responses w o u ld b e also in fo rm ativ e in th e sam e w ay.

T herefore, although th is study focused on ju s t one u n iv ersity , d a ta co llected w ere

inform ative o f a m u c h w id er sam ple o f tea c h in g styles in China.

4.7. Teacher questionnaire design

T he tea c h e r q u estio n n aire consisted o f 39 item s and 6 o p en -en d ed q u estio n s (See

A ppendix A -3 for details). In fact, it w as a trim m e d d o w n v ersio n o f th e student

q uestionnaire w ith th ree m ark ed differences. T he first m ajo r differen ce w as th a t each

teacher in fo rm an t w as asked to in d icate h o w m u c h h e o r she agreed o r disag reed

w ith 39 q u estio n n aire item s taken from th e stu d en t questionnaire. In o th er w o rd s, to

w hat extent each tea c h e r inform ant su rv ey ed th o u g h t th at the statem en t w as tru e o f

the students in h is o r h e r E n g lish class. F o r exam ple, th e teach er in fo rm a n t w a s asked

to answ er:

In English class, I think th a t _________

Students like language learning activities in which there are group discussions
with peers.

T he second m a jo r d ifferen ce reflected th e red u c e d n u m b e r o f item s co n tain ed in the

teacher questionnaire. T his w as due to th e fact th a t som e item s th a t ap p eared o n the

stu d en ts qu estio n n aire related to co g n itiv e an d p sy c h o lo g ic al factors, w h ic h w as n ot

relevant to teachers. F o r instance, th e item s reg a rd in g stu d e n ts use o f a m eta-

cognitive language learn in g strategy, th e n a tu re o f th eir m o tiv atio n to w ard s th eir

E F L learning p ro cesses, and th eir attitudes to w ard s au th o rity in class. In this case, b y

using intuitive ju d g m e n t, it w o u ld n o t b e p o ssib le fo r teach ers to accu rately assess

w h eth er stu d e n ts reticen ce in the class w as attrib u tab le to th e ir shyness, to th eir

reverence for the authority, b o rin g lessons or in d ee d all o f these. T hese item s w ere

excluded from th e te a c h e rs questionnaire.

77
Finally, 6 o p e n -en d ed questions w e re desig n ed to elicit teach ers' attitudes and

opinions o f co m m u n icativ e language teaching, tra d itio n al tea c h in g m eth o d s, th e

teaching o f cu ltu re a n d their o w n p e rc e iv e d ro les in class.

T hese 39 item s served as a basis fo r co m p ariso n w ith ex actly th e sam e quan titativ e

data tak en fro m the student questionnaire. T he rea so n fo r adopting su ch an ap p ro ach

is th at a learn in g -cen tred ap p ro ach to lesso n m aterials and syllabus d e sig n advocates

the in v o lv em en t o f learners in co n trib u tin g to th is d esig n (S pratt, 1999). It is v ery

im portant for teach ers to co n fid en tly assum e th at th ey k n o w w h a t th eir learners'

preferences are in o rd er to activ ely engage stu d en ts in com m u n icativ e lan g u ag e

learning activities in class. C onsequently, I w ish e d to in v estig ate w ith w h a t a c cu ra cy

teachers co u ld cap tu re learners' activ ity p referen ces b e c au se students' p ercep tio n s

w ere often at v a rian ce w ith th o se o f teachers' (B ark h u izen , 1998: 87). G o o d tea c h in g

or learning outcom es co u ld h a rd ly b e ach iev ed i f p e rc e p tu a l m ism atch es w e re n o t

bridged. In o th er w ords, te a c h e rs edu catio n al attitudes and th eo ries, alth o u g h in

m an y cases h e ld u nconsciously, w o u ld h av e an effect on th eir classro o m instruction.

T his, in turn, w o u ld influ en ce w h at students a c tu a lly learn ed in class. T his h a s b e e n

recognized b y L2 an d E F L research ers (K arav as-D o u k as, 1996). T herefore, an

in v estigation o f te a c h e rs attitudes can help to id en tify th e relatio n sh ip b e tw e en th eir

perceptions and b eliefs and th e ir classro o m in stru ctio n practice. T he teach er

questionnaire c o n sisted o f the follow ing categories:

1. C L T ap p ro ach in the classro o m -b ased setting

2. T arget cu ltu re learning in E F L ed u catio n

3. T e a ch e rs p ercep tio n s o f stu d e n ts p refe rre d tea c h in g m eth o d s in E n g lish

class

4. T each er tra in in g and teach in g m ate ria ls (S ee A p p en d ix A -4. for teach er

questionnaire).

Teacher sam ple population

T here w ere 50 C h in ese u n iv ersity teach er p a rticip a n ts in this study: 30 teach ers from

the E nglish D e p a rtm en t o f N ankai U n iv ersity , T iianjin, and 20 teach ers fro m the

78
E nglish D ep artm en t o f T ian jin N o rm al U n iversity. T h ese tea c h e r info rm an ts had

teaching ex perience ran g in g from 4 and 25 years as illu strate d in T ab le 4.3. M o st o f

the teachers su rveyed lectured on differen t courses to u n d erg rad u ates and graduates

in bo th u n iv ersities (S ee T able 4.4).

Table 4.3. Teacher sam ple population age range

N an k ai U n iv ersity T ian jin N o rm al U n iv e rsity

A ge ran g e N u m b e r = 30 A g e ran g e N u m b e r = 20

26-30 2 (7% ) 26-30 7 (35% )

31-40 13 (43% ) 31-40 10(50%)

41-50 13 (43% ) 41-50 3 (15% )

51 - 58 2 (7% ) 0 0

Table 4.4. T eacher sam ple courses

Courses Nankai. TNU
Level No. Level No.
L istening U 3 U 9
W riting U 2 0 0
E xtensive R eading U 7 U 4

Intensive R ead in g u 12 U 13
T ranslation U&P 4 U 1
B usiness E n g lish u 4 0 0
L iterature p 4 U 1
W estern C ulture u 2 0 0
L inguistics U&P 3 0 0
O thers u 4 0 0
Spoken E n g lish 0 0 U 2
T eaching m eth o d o lo g y 0 0 U 1

N ote: U = u n d erg rad u ate students; P = P ostg rad u ate students

79
As is evident in Table 4.4, the courses taught are very varied and therefore their
points o f views would be widely representative in terms o f teaching methodology.

4.8. Choosing the university for this study

I realized that choosing only one tertiary institution in one city would certainly limit
the representativeness o f the target subjects which, in turn, would affect the validity
and reliability o f this survey. Chinese teachers o f English in different institutions
might have different ideas about EFL education based on their own school-specific
environment. Collecting data from more institutions would increase the range of
information to serve the general aims o f the research. However, due to limitations o f
time, financial resources and manpower, a practical decision was made to carry out a
major intensive investigation at Nankai University and a similar minor investigation
at Tianjin Normal University. Both universities were located in the same city. The
reasons for choosing Nankai University as a major site o f investigation were as
follows:

1. It is both m y alma mater and the university where I have taught English for
20 years as a full-time faculty member for the English Department. Since I
was familiar with the faculty staff, I had the advantage o f being more likely to
obtain friendly cooperation from the informants. However, I realized that the
teachers would not like to be tape-recorded during interviews for fear of
having any potentially critical comments about this institution or the
administration recorded.

2. Nankai University is one o f the main multi-faculty universities in China and

its English Department was founded in 1931. It is one o f the few English
departments in China with over 70 years o f history. M any teachers have
learning, research or working experiences in major English speaking
countries, such as the U.S.A, Canada, the U.K, Australia, New Zealand, and
Ireland. It has undergraduate and postgraduate degree programs in English-
related studies. The quality o f English language teaching would reflect the
current level o f English language teaching at university level in China.

80
The second site chosen for the research survey was Tianjin Normal University
(TNU), another main multi-faculty university with about 45 years o f history. 20
teachers from TNU completed the questionnaires. The purpose o f choosing to
conduct a supplementary survey in TNU was that having two universities involved in
the empirical survey would improve the validity and representativeness o f the data.

4.9. Interview Design

The purpose o f using interviews in this study was mainly to supplement the findings
o f data collected through questionnaires by eliciting responses not dealt with in the
questionnaire. Interviewees were selected in a random manner which would help
enhance the reliability o f the research data.

Conducting the interviews: the teacher interviewees

Interviews were carried out with 15 teachers o f Nankai University, 5 teachers of

TNU. The interviews were open and questions were semi-structured but when it was
necessary to obtain in-depth information, I probed the interviewees with specific
questions. In interviews, interviewees were requested to give opinions on the
following topics.

1. Attitudes to student-centred or teacher-centred methods in the classroom, and

reasons for such attitudes.
2. Problems encountered or problems that might confront them in adopting CLT
in their classroom instruction
3 Perceptions o f their teaching role in the classroom
4. Attitudes to culture learning in EFL in the classroom

5. Ways o f improving English language teaching in English class

As previously mentioned, many teacher interviewees did not want to be recorded, so

no tape recording was used in order to keep the conversation relaxed. I also realized
that the presence o f a tape recorder during interview might change the behaviour,

81
frankness, and openness o f respondents, especially when they intended to make some
critical remarks. As Seliger and Shohamy (1989) note, measures taken to make data
more representative may conflict with measures taken to make data retrievable
(p.104). Therefore, as interviewer, I took notes while listening. N unan (1992) points
out the advantage o f note-taking: it can record central issues or facts and context can
be recorded (Nunan, 1992: 153).

The interviews were carried out in Chinese, as it was easier to keep the conversation
going more smoothly. The length o f each interview varied, lasting from 30 minutes
to l lA hours. On the whole, the interviews were carried out in an informal manner.
About two thirds o f the interviews took place in the English department office and
classrooms. Two interviews took place in the interviewees houses. In another two
cases, the interviews were carried out while the participants were having a walk, a
chat or having meals. On such an occasion, note taking was done immediately after
the interview. Supplementary data also came from talks in the informal gatherings.

Conducting the interviews: the student interviewees

Two ways were used to conduct interviews with student respondents. One was by
pre-arrangement with students through phone calls in advance to obtain their
agreement. The other was by going into classroom usually in the afternoon when few
tutorials or lectures took place. In most o f these classrooms, there were usually a few
students doing self-study. A friendly greeting and a b rief but persuasive explanation
o f the survey in most cases gained their agreement to take part in an informal
interview. In total, 26 students were interviewed. Among those interviewees, 9 were
4th-year students, 5 from 3,d-year, 7 from 2nd-year undergraduates and 5 were 2nd-
year M A students. The interviews were not recorded and again I took notes with the
date and time for the interviews or immediately following the interview as Lincoln
and Guba (1985) stressed, when note taking could not be done during the talk. Most
interviews lasted half an hour but pre-arranged interviews on the weekends with
more than one individual lasted much longer depending on interviewees interests
and time arrangements.

82
4.10. Classroom observation

Classroom observation was, no doubt, the most direct means o f gaining insight into
teachers' English language instruction as well as learners' classroom behaviour. It
also enabled me to find a match or mismatch between what informants claimed to do
in the survey and what they actually did in their class. Lincoln and Guba (1985) point
out the importance o f detailed observation as 'prolonged engagement provides scope
and persistent observation provides depth (P. 302). Kleinsasser and Savignon (1991)
also note that there is a difference between information about teaching practice and
the reality o f that practice. They claim that 'observation can mirror what they
[informants] do rather than what they profess to be [do] (p. 293). Consequently,
observations were carried out on 5 teacher participants in their English classes. Each
participant was observed for between 2 and 4 class hours to gain understanding of
the way each teacher participant handled his or her classroom instruction o f an
English lesson from the textbook. The details o f the teachers and the courses
observed are in Table-4.5.

During the classroom observations, I focused on the whole proceedings o f the class
events which were observable: setting, participants, events, acts and gestures (Glesne
& Peshkin, 1992). This enabled me to capture an overall view o f class events rather
than determining in advance what to look for in the observed context.

Table 4.5. Classroom observation details

Teacher Course Years of Academic Class Student

Teaching Degree Hours Level
observed
Lan Comprehensive Reading 8 MA 4 2nd U

Shan Comprehensive Reading 14 MA 4 2nd U

Ming Introduction to Western 21 PhD 4 2nd U

Cultures
x:

Chang Linguistics 5 MA 2
1

Cai Selected Readings from 20 MA 2 3rd-U

Western Business
Journals and Magazines

83
 Note: U = undergraduate students

The classroom observation took place in the English Department, Nankai University.
In order not to make the teacher feel uncomfortable or nervous, I did not use a tape-
recorder. I took notes on the events that were going on in the class, such as types o f
practice, and types o f interactions and classroom activities. In addition, immediately
following the observations, I 'reviewed and expanded all notes to include further
information and detail' (Glesne & Peshkin, 1992).

I chose two o f the teachers observed (Ms.Lan and Ms.Shan) for detailed comparison
and analysis since these two teachers, during the interviews, expressed their strong
support o f the communicative language teaching approach which they also claimed to
have used respectively in their own instructional practice. In addition, Lan had
received the Dean's Award for her impressive efforts in initiating communicative
teaching methods in the English Department, Nankai University for the academic
year o f 2001/2002. The teaching methods she used in class were the most liked by the
students. This further aroused my interest in observing her class to see if there were
any discrepancies or similarities between the two teachers who taught the same
course with the same textbook.

In general, the process o f data collection was smoothly conducted. For classroom
observation, however, it transpired that many teacher informants did not like to have
their classes observed (See Chapter 7 for further details).

4.11. Approaches to Data presentation and analysis

The empirical survey resulted in a considerable amount o f quantitative and

qualitative data for analysis, comparison and interpretation including 260 valid
returns o f 2 different sets o f questionnaires and over 89 pages o f notes. To analyse
different types o f data, I selected various methods drawn from the standard practices
for social science research.

Statistical techniques

84
The quantitative data collected from questionnaires were entered into the computer
and then analysed by using the computer software package Statistical Package for
Social Sciences (SPSS 11.0). Student data were grouped into 5 different
subcategories based on their university year at undergraduate and postgraduate level,
namely, l st-year, 2nd-year, 3rd-year, 4th-year undergraduates, l st-year MA and 2nd-year
M A students (See Table 3.3). In analysing the 5 subgroups, a statistical technique -
the analysis o f variance or one-way ANOVA Test - was used to identify whether the
mean scores on a variable differed significantly from one group to another by taking
into account variation within groups as well as between groups (SPSS-X User's
Guide, 1988). Following this, questionnaire data collected from teachers were used
as a basis for a comparison w ith the whole student group in order to ascertain if there
was any perceptual match or mismatch between the two groups. Although a
comparison o f Likert mean scores for each item gives some indication o f similarities
and differences between the two groups, it cannot differentiate what apparent
differences are statistically significant. Therefore the M ann W hitney Test was used
because this test can identify which differences were statistically significant and
which were not, thus providing m ore detailed and reliable information than the Likert
score.

Categorization

The data collected from the open-ended section and interviews were analysed by
hand, and then categorized according to the same headings o f the research questions
under study. Then classifications were developed using the constant comparative
method suggested by Glaser and Strauss (1967), and other similar procedure
descriptions or analysis suggestions from various publications (Gao, 2001; Feng,
2000; Sato & Kleinsasser, 1999; Spratt, 1999; Jin, 1993). Key words and interview
accounts from both teachers and students were cited to supplement the findings o f
data collected through questionnaires, especially concerning their feelings, attitudes,
experiences, evaluations o f different teaching methods and the main problems
encountered. After the questionnaire items were presented and interpreted, evaluative
comments were made to discuss the properties and dimensions o f the categories, and
the circumstances under which they were interrelated. This interpretation o f the
phenomena under investigation provided the main basis for the suggestions made in

85
the final chapters o f this thesis. Both interviewees and teacher participants whose
lessons were observed for this study were given pseudonyms to protect their privacy
and anonymity. Teacher and student interviewees in this thesis were referred to as:

FT: female teacher MT: male teacher

FM1: female teacher 1 MT1: male teacher 1

In a similar fashion, students were referred to as:

FS: female student MS: male student

FS1: female student 1 M SI: male student 1

4.12. Assessment of research methodology

Reliability and validity are always viewed as two important criteria for assuring the
quality o f the data collection procedures in an empirical survey in a social science
project. They are also the standards that I have to meet for this study. According to
Nunan (1992), reliability is defined as the consistency o f the results obtained from a
research. Validity refers to the extent to which a piece o f research actually
investigates what a researcher purports to investigate (p. 14). Similar definitions can
be found in works by other social science researchers such as Seliger and Shohamy
(1989).

As Chapters 5, 6 and 7 will show, the quantitative data collected through

questionnaires were triangulated with comments from open-ended questions and also
with the interview accounts analysed qualitatively in order to ascertain the reliability
o f the findings o f quantitative data. Triangulation is a term used to describe the use
o f a number o f different research methods in a single research study in the belief that
variety will increase the validity o f findings (Riley et al., 2000). Mathison (1988)
also notes the value of triangulation in which the researcher would construct
meaningful explanations from multiple data sources - sources that m ay appear
inconsistent or contradictory rather than cohering round a single proposition (cited in
Sato & Kleinsasser, 1999: 499). Therefore, the above findings were re-checked

86
against the classroom observation analysis. I also examined the quality o f
questionnaire items in order to find out whether the questions were too easy or too
difficult, how relevant they were to the information that was designed to be elicited,
and whether the questions were correctly phrased and easily understood by the
respondents. I adopted the reclassification o f categorizations o f the informants
attitudes and opinions from their open-ended comments and interview data in order
to re-check 'whether the study actually is investigating what it is supposed to be
investigating' (Seliger & Shohamy, 1989: 189).

After comparing the questionnaire items and responses from the respondents, I was
confident that the data collection procedure measured what needed to be measured
and served the purpose o f this empirical study. There were only a very few
exceptions where the questionnaire items were not as useful for the in-depth analysis
o f informants cognitive, behavioural and psychological factors in the learning
process. W ith regard to interviews, when the informants were asked to describe their
favourite or ideal teaching methods in the EFL classroom, some interviewees said
something that added little value to the qualitative data analysis. This was then
excluded from the analysis. In this study, the above-mentioned measures were taken
whenever possible so as to increase the credibility o f the findings and interpretation
o f the data.

4.13. Limitations

The limitations inherent in this research involve the scope and number o f informants
being observed. The research gathering would have benefited from incorporating
English major students in Tianjin Normal University in order to increase the range o f
information to serve the general aims o f this study. But in this study only TNU
teachers were included. W ith respect to qualitative data, it equally would have been
better to incorporate long-term classroom observations into this research, if sufficient
time and resources had been available. Both o f these additions would, no doubt,
constitute fruitful avenues o f research in the future. Fortunately this limitation
mentioned above was compensated, to some extent, by the information elicited from

87
the extensive contacts with the students and teachers in both universities where the
empirical survey was conducted.

Chapter summary

In this chapter, I have given an account o f the w ay I proceeded to design this

research project. I have described the criteria o f data-gathering instruments, and o f
interviewing and classroom observation. Finally I have given an account o f the data
analysis process and included the assessment o f research methodology. I have also
suggested limitations concerning this research, which in themselves may lay the
foundation for further research in the future. The following Chapters, 5, 6, and 7 will
present the data analysis and discussions, starting with the analysis o f the student
questionnaire in Chapter 5.

N ote:

[1]. The Chinese traditional approach:

A combination of grammar-translation and audio-lingual teaching methods
characterized by a very detailed study o f grammar, extensive use o f paraphrases,
translation, and memorization o f structural patterns and vocabulary. The emphasis is
placed on English reading skills and written language with a very high degree o f
teacher dominance in class.

88
 Chapter 5

Quantitative data analysis: student questionnaire

(Part I)

Introduction

This chapter focuses on the quantitative data analysis o f the student questionnaire, hi
the first part o f this chapter, the results o f 77 out o f 80 structured questionnaire items
are presented and discussed. Three items (Questions 30, 38, 39) were found to have
little value to the main research questions in this study and were subsequently
excluded from this analysis. The whole student group is categorised into 5
subgroups, namely, 2nd-year, 3ld-year, 4th-year undergraduates; l st-year M A and 2nd-
year MA students, based on their study year at the university. The advantage o f this
categorization is to find out whether there is any significant difference between the
subgroups and subsequently the causes o f the variation can be explored.

The quantitative data questions cover 17 categories, each o f which is presented and
discussed in detail below (See Table-4.1 to 4.17). The main categories include
students' attitudes towards: 1. the CLT approach, 2. the traditional approach, 3.
authority in class; 4. nature o f their motivation for learning target language, 5. culture
learning in EFL programmes; 6. problems encountered in their learning process; 7.
use o f language learning strategies (See Appendix A-3 for details). The second part
o f this chapter addresses a 39-item quantitative data comparison and analysis
between students and teachers to find out where the perceptual match or mismatch
lies. The Mann Whitney Test is used to find out if there are any significant
differences between the two groups. As will be discussed in the final section o f this

89
chapter, the findings can help to improve teachers' understanding o f learners and
learning variables, meet learners' needs and possibly revise their teaching practices.

5.1. Definitions of communicative and non-communicative

classroom learning activities

Prior to the data analysis, it is important to define the communicative (or student-
centred) and non-communicative (or teacher-centred) classroom learning activities in
this thesis. Communicative activities (CA) or SCA are defined as those which
involve students in using the language for communicative purposes, (e.g. work in
pairs or group discussion or even role plays as a setting for a communicative task),
and which focus more on fluency than accuracy (Cf. Candlin, 1982; Wong-Fillmore,
1985; Nunan, 1988; Garrett & Shortall: 2002). Wong-Fillmore (1985) defines
communicative activities (CA) as those that are open in structure and in which
students work in groups cooperatively without much teacher involvement. Garrett
and Shortall (2002) contend that CA is characterized by having very little explicit
teacher control or with the teacher not playing a central participatory role. It is
important to note that in this study the term student-centred is used only in relation
to classroom learning activities.

The non-communicative activities (NCA) or teacher-centred activities refer to the

language classroom activities where the teacher is very much the focal point o f the
class work, exercising considerable control over the activity and the language which
is elicited from the students (Garrett & Shortall, 2002: 26). Thus NCA are
characterized 'by a high level o f explicit teacher control in the classroom' (Wong-
Fillmore, 1985).

Having outlined the definitions o f communicative and non-communicative activities

in English class, the following sections focus on a detailed analysis o f preliminary
findings arising out o f the data collected through student questionnaire.

5.2. Students attitudes towards group work in class

(Items 1, 2, 3, 4)

90
Table-5.1
^ncT
2nd' 3 4th-year l st-year 2nd-year Total Items
year year M.A MA No.

%
OO
O
N = 35 N = 24 N = 39 N = 32 N = 210

II
Mean 4.09 4. 00 3. 77 3.95 4.41 3.98 Ite m l* 1
Stdev .89 .88 . 97 .76 .61 .88
M ean 4.46 4.46 4.22 4.28 4.59 4.36 Item2
S td ev
.78 .51 .78 .79 .61 .74
Mean 4.03 3.67 3.80 3.92 4.19 3.90 Item3
Stdev .95 1.17 .97 .81 .82 .95
Mean 3.86 4.12 3.64 3.59 3.78 3.74 Item4
Stdev 1.03 .99 1.17 1.12 1.21 1.13

* Note: Each questionnaire item number in the tables o f this chapter corresponds
with its ordinal order in the student questionnaire.

These four items measure students attitudes towards group work in class (See
Appendix A-2.for student questionnaire). The findings show that the students
approach group-work positively. The results indicate that students like small
discussion groups and working in pairs in English class. Taking this categorization as
a whole, the ANOVA Test finds that Item 1 to be statistically significant (P 0 .0 1 3 ).
The difference m ainly exists between 2nd-year M A graduates and 4th-year
undergraduates. The former is much more interested in group-work than the latter.
These differences might be explained by the fact that M A students have a smaller
class with teacher directed or initiated discussions. Given their advanced English
proficiency and their specialized area o f their study, there is more group work in
which students and teachers, and students among themselves interact. This positive
experience reinforces, in turn, their own positive attitudes towards working in a small
group in class.

For 4th-year undergraduates, both the larger class size and the nature o f courses
taught resulted in a less positive attitude towards group work. Job placement was
their major concern and m any o f them were busy preparing for graduate-study
entrance exams or TOEFL, ITESL, or GRE. Some were hoping English would be a
springboard to further study in other departments, e.g. Finance, International Trade

91
English than a situation in which they were forced to speak in front o f the whole
class. The results indicate the following:

1. Their attitudes reflect their own perceptions o f student role in class, that is,
learning from the teacher and not challenging what teachers said. Asking
questions for clarification in class would indicate that the student has not
grasped a good understanding o f what the teacher said. In this case, asking
questions would expose one's ignorance, thus a loss o f face.
2. The way the questions which were raised by the teacher m ight be the cause o f
their reticence. Perhaps these questions did not stimulate a response,
adequately arouse their interest or seemingly did not challenge the students
enough.

The interview data supported the second assumption as the following comment given
by students shows: 'some teachers just asked questions whose answers were quite
obvious or questions that focused on grammar and vocabulary'. (MS-1, my
t o
translation). The classroom observations carried out in this study also confirm these
comments (See Chapter 7 for details).

A preliminary analysis o f Item 75 (2.93/1.02) indicates that this result, to certain

degree, seems to support the claims reported in earlier studies that Chinese students
were reticent in class and did not answer questions unless asked to (Burnaby & Sun,
1989), or 'Chinese students are expected to show total obedience or submission to their
teachers (Song, 1995: 35-36). However, what the interview data reveals is that the
reasons for their apparent reticence in the English language class was more closely
related with teaching performance than cultural or psychological traits. In other
words, what really matters in class is multi-faceted and includes many factors:
teaching methodology, the ways the questions were asked and whether answers were
specifically elicited, the topics chosen for group discussion, and the students' own
perceptions o f being active in class.

2
Unless specified otherwise, all the quotations of interviews in this thesis are translated
verbatim from Chinese into English by the author of this thesis.

93
When asked if they would like to outperform their peers or maintain harmony in
class or in group work, students' responses to Item 7[3; revealed their mixed feelings
about this: about 32% o f the students were concerned about group harmony in class
and tended to avoid showing o ff whereas 35% o f them showed their intent to be
very active in group-work. Another 32% o f the students remained neutral (See
Appendix B-7 for Student Questionnaire Frequency Table). The findings indicated
that more students seemed to feel comfortable speaking English in a small group and
they tended to view a small group (2-4 students) as a m ore protective environment
than speaking in front o f the whole class. Linking Item 7 to Item 6, we can find that
the majority o f students were concerned with maintaining group harmony, and some
o f them were willing to be more active than others in group activities. This finding
supports some other studies o f Chinese students' behaviours, which reveal collective-
oriented national cultural traits in the classroom (Cortazzi & Jin, 1996; Littlewood,
2001 ).

Students responses to Item 9 revealed that students often thought carefully before
speaking English in class. The Frequency Table (See Appendix B-7) indicated that
about 60% o f students surveyed tended to focus more on accuracy than on fluency as
this would help them avoid making mistakes or experiencing loss o f face (Bond,
1991; Mao, 1994). The implication o f this finding is that teachers should give
students enough time to think before they speak while also encouraging quick and
impromptu replies from the students. In Chinese culture, being active in class does
not necessarily mean getting physically involved in the classroom activities. Being
mentally active also means being co-operative with the teacher and actively listening
to the teacher (Cortazzi & Jin, 1996). Students are often concerned about their own
linguistic accuracy or fearful o f losing face, and therefore actually speak very little
in English class. This goes against communicative English language teaching
principles, which emphasizes fluency over accuracy and focuses on students
involvement in classroom activities. The classroom observations in this study
confirmed the above findings: students read their oral presentation in class rather
than talked it through, recited rather than using notes as a prop (See Chapter 7 for
details).

3 Questionnaire Item 7 was different from other items in that it was unfavourably
phrased.
On Item 8, the ANOYA Test shows that significant difference exists between the 2nd-
year M A students and 2nd-year undergraduate (P<0.002). The findings remind
teachers that language learning strategies (LLS) need to be taught explicitly rather
than leave it to learners themselves to cope unconsciously in their EFL learning
process. The gap between 2nd-year undergraduates and 2-year M A students might
derive from the different language skills acquired b y the two groups. This also
indicates that the improvement o f language skills, in the case o f 2nd-year M A
students boosted their confidence with the result that their anxiety is lower than 2nd-
year undergraduates. This assumption is supported by earlier studies. For instance,
insecurity and anxiety tend to diminish if learners gain more linguistic proficiency
and more positive experience (MacIntyre & Gardner, 1989).

The implication o f this finding for teachers is that they should be aware o f the fact
that student anxiety created by, among other things, a tense classroom environm ent
might be one o f the most potent factors undermining students classroom behaviour.
On the other hand, explicit explanation o f language learning strategies and frequent
engagement o f students in interactive classroom activities are very important and
necessary in class. In short, teachers need to create a pleasant, relaxed atmosphere in
the classroom (Garret & Shortall, 2002: 30) and provide more opportunities for
learners to practise in interactive group activities in order to reinforce the positive
experience. Less practice will lead to less confidence and therefore less actual ability
to use the target language, especially orally.

5.4. Students function-based strategy (Items 77, 78)

Table-5.3
2nd-year 3rd-year 4th-year l st-year 2rid-year Total Item
MA MA No.
Mean 2.74 2.63 2.49 2.69 2.56 2.60 Item77
Stdev .98 .92 .97 .89 1.19 .98
Mean 2.69 2.92 2.79 3.03 2.94 2.85 Item78
Stdev .96 1.14 1.10 .87 1.11 1.04

Items 77 and 78 revealed students' attitudes towards practising their oral English
outside class. Their responses showed that students did not often practise their

95
spoken English with their peers or teachers outside class. Clearly a healthy
environment in which both teachers and students use the target language outside
class has not yet come into being. Conversely, however, the students need for
communication in English outside class is problematic since the classroom appears to
be the only environment in which the target language is required. Outside class,
students seem to have little need or desire to use it among themselves.

5. 5. Nature and strength of motivation among students

(Item 1 0 ,1 2 ,1 3 ,1 4 ,1 5 ,1 6 ,1 7 )
Table- 5.4.
2nd-year 3rd-year 4th-year l SL-year 2nd-year Total Items
M.A MA No.

Mean 4.37 4.33 4.41 4.21 4.09 4.31 ItemlO

oo
oo
Stdev 1.03 .87 .88 .77 .86
Mean 4.06 4.25 4.16 4.49 4.13 4.21 Item 12
Stdev 1.14 .85 .86 .76 1.01 .92
Mean 4.49 4.33 4.13 4.49 4.19 4.29 Iteml3
Stdev .66 1.01 .95 .68 .90 .87
Mean 4.20 4.42 3.91 4.10 3.94 4.06 Item 14
Stdev .87 .72 1.00 .88 .95 .93
Mean 4.57 4.46 4.56 4.49 4.19 4.48 Iteml5
Stdev .95 1.18 .87 .82 .93 .92
Mean 3.57 3.50 3.84 4.31 4.22 3.97 Item 16
Stdev 1.07 1.64 1.51 1.20 1.31 1.39
Mean 3.63 3.25 3.15 3.28 3.03 3.25 Item l7
Stdev 1.24 1.39 1.36 1.07 1.28 1.29
Mean 3.34 3.46 3.51 3.18 3.50 3.41 Item47
Stdev 1.21 1.28 1.10 1.05 1.08 1.13

The results of Items 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 47 showed students liked learning
English and were interested in learning about major English-speaking countries Their
interest focused on the culture, science and technology o f English-speaking
countries. The findings also indicated that students had an instrumental motivation in
learning English which encompassed their desire to work very hard towards a goal
which would benefit their families as well as themselves. This finding supports
similar assumptions made by some earlier studies (Littlewood, 2001; Bond, 1991).
Littlewood described Chinese college students in Hong Kong as having a typical
social achievement motivation, characterized in a collectivist-oriented culture, that is,

96
they are motivated to succeed because success would bring prestige and other
benefits to their families. In China, it is a virtue to involve the value and interest o f
family with what one is pursuing (Littlewood, 2001, Bond, 1991).

However, the findings o f Item 47 revealed that sustaining strong motivation

exclusively through a long-term goal is, to certain extent, problematic. This situation
possibly derives from the fact that most students were not clear what they would do
after graduation. Neither were they content w ith EFL teaching in the university since
teaching and learning have reciprocal effects. This assumption is confirmed by the
qualitative data findings (see Chapter 6 and 7 for further details).

5.6. Students attitudes towards TCA in class (Item 18)

Table-5.5
/-.nd
2nd- 3rd- 4th-year l st-year 2nd-year Total Items
year year M.A MA No.

Mean 2.71 2.38 3.05 3.00 2.34 2.80 Item

Stdv 1.20 1.13 1.14 1.12 1.00 1.15 18*

The results showed that the student group as a whole held a mildly negative attitude
towards teacher-centred approach (TCA). The Frequency Table (See Appendix B-7)
showed that 19% (40) and 8.1% (17) o f students chose 4 (agree) and 5 (strongly
agree) respectively whereas 25.7% (54) and 14.8% (31) selected 2 (disagree) and
1 (strongly disagree). There are 32.4% (68) respondents remaining neutral. This
indicates that students found TCA to be effective on some occasions but ineffective
on others. The perceived effectiveness seemed to depend on different variables, such
as the teacher's competence, the textbook, and the nature o f the course taught. (See
Chapter 6 for further discussion).

The results o f the ANOVA test shows that the difference between 2nd-year MA
graduates and 4th-year undergraduates is statistically significant (P<0.008). This
result reveals that different classroom activities carried out between the two groups
could reinforce their disposition to their different favoured activities in class. As
mentioned earlier, a smaller class size and more teacher-initiated or directed

97
5.7. Students' attitudes towards SC A in class (Item 19)

Table-5.6
o tld
2nd- 3rd- 4 th .
l st-year 2nd-year Total Items No.
year year year MA MA

Mean 3.77 3.63 3.44 3.38 3.78 3.56 Item 19

Stdev .97 1.10 1.02 .75 .94 .97

In contrast to Item 18, the findings o f Item 19 showed that the students surveyed
liked a student-centred approach. 17.1% (36) o f the students selected 5 (strongly
agree) and 35.7% (75) chose 4 (agree), 2.9% (6) students chose 1 (strongly
disagree), and 18 (8.6%) select 2 (disagree). Moreover, 75 (35.7%) students
acknowledged that they had mixed feelings about SCA, i.e. they considered student-
centred methods to be efficient in some ways but unhelpful in others. O f the students
surveyed as a whole, it seems that the pendulum o f their favoured teaching methods
swings from TCA to SCA although they consider both approaches to be useful in
their own way.

This reveals that a pure student- or teacher-centred approach falls wide o f the mark
regarding English classes; both need to be used in combination to suit the Chinese
EFL context. A Chinese saying sums up the need for synthesis thus, extracting the
essence while discarding the dross (qu chu qu jin g ) and 'making foreign things
serve China' (yang wei zhong yong), indicating that the strengths inherent in both
approaches need to be maintained and synthesised to make EFL teaching effective.

5.8. Students attitudes to communicative activities in class (Items

21, 22, 25)
Table - 5.7
2nd- 3rd- 4 th .
1 s t- 2nd-year Total Items
year year year year M.A. No.
M.A
Mean 4.06 4.08 3.93 3.90 4.06 3.98 Item21
Stdev .94 .72 .94 .94 1.01 .95
Mean 4.03 4.08 4.21 4.18 4.03 4.13 Item22
Stdev 1.07 .83 .82 .79 1.06 .90
Mean 4.40 4.46 4.09 4.10 4.09 4.19 ltem25
Stdev .81 .66 .92 .82 .86 .85

99
The findings o f these 3 items showed that students liked class discussions and
enjoyed seeing English films or watching video shows. If students found that they
had something to talk about after seeing a film or a video show, they would like to
participate in a group discussion with the teachers guidance and facilitation which
would help them increase their understanding o f the films / video shows. They also
expressed their strong desires that in their English class they would expect teachers
to stimulate their interest and analytical thinking ability through thought-provoking
questions. Such findings are not surprising. The classroom observations in this study
revealed that the ways teachers elicited answers or responses were found to be quite
ill thought out. The teachers concerned very often asked only display question
(questions that had obvious right answers) (Long & Sato, 1983 cited in Walsh, 2002:
6). As Walsh argues display questions are possibly appropriate to geography or
maths classes, but in L2 or EFL classes they seem to deny language learners access
to critical thinking and real language use (Walsh, 2002). The implications o f these
findings are clear. Teachers need to initiate questions at a discourse level which
allow the students' judgement, reasoning and critical thinking to be brought into play.

5.9. Students attitudes towards non-communicative activities in

class (Item 20, 24, 42)
Table - 5.8
2nd- 3rd- 4th. 1st- 2nd-year Total Items No.
year year year year M.A.
M.A
Mean 3.66 2.96 3.05 2.69 2.81 3.04 Item20*
Stdev 1.08 1.43 1.27 1.06 1.03 1.22
Mean 3.31 2.46 2.79 2.51 2.31 2.71 Item24*
Stdev 1.13 1.14 1.14 1.14 1.09 1.17
Mean 2.63 2.29 2.89 2.74 2.09 2.63 Item42*
Stdev 1.19 1.16 1.23 1.12 .96 1.18

The findings o f Item 20 showed that students expressed mixed attitudes towards the
traditional Intensive Reading method - a kind o f teaching method in which the
English text materials are dealt with in over-meticulous detail and a sentence-by-
sentence way. The Frequency Table (See Appendix B-7) showed that 36.2% (76) o f

100
the students favoured this teaching method whereas 34.2% (72) did not favour it and
30% (62) remained neutral.

The results indicate that many students still think the Intensive Reading (now
renamed comprehensive reading) method is a very important way o f teaching and
learning English in class, and that grammatical structures need to be emphasised. It
was clear that teacher-centeredness was commonly found to be a dominant teaching
method in the classroom. The ANOVA test showed that the results o f Item 20 were
significantly different between the 2nd-year undergraduates and the M A students'
(P<0.008). As described in Section 5.2 o f this chapter, given the M A students'
advanced English proficiency and their positive experience in small group activities
in class, they responded to this meticulous teaching method negatively whereas the
2nd-year undergraduates seemed to feel comfortable with this traditional teaching
method which they had been exposed to since their pre-college schooling.

The results o f Item 24 revealed that the students as a whole responded negatively to
simulation test exercises in which teachers explained the answers to students in class.
The ANOVA test showed that a significant difference existed between the 2nd-year
undergraduates and the other groups, except the 4th-year undergraduates (P<0.003).
The findings indicated that the 2nd-year students seemed to be exam-oriented and
were under pressure to pass English tests, especially the EMT-4. This was confirmed
by their responses to Item 53: the EMT-4 test was found to exert heavy pressure on
th
them. Although the 4 -year students had to take EMT-8 test, they seemed to be less
pressurised than the 2nd-year students because the passing o f MET-8, unlike EMT-4,
has not been linked to the awarding o f a BA degree in the EFL programme.

On Item 42, Al% (99) o f the students surveyed did not consider that the main task of
students in class was to receive knowledge from the teacher whereas 25% (52)
students thought that the students' role in class was to listen to the teacher. 28% (59)
students were neutral, believing in the mixed roles for students to play in class. The
findings o f this item support the results o f Item 18: students showed a mildly
negative attitude to TCA in class. The ANOVA test showed that a significant
difference existed between the 4th-year undergraduates and the 2r,d-year MA students

101
regarding Item 42 (P<0.012). The difference may be explained by the fact that the
tVi
4 -year students were busy looking for jobs and were less committed to their English
learning. Therefore they regarded teacher-centred methods 'secure' and relaxing'
whereas the 2nd-year M A students were susceptible to participating in small group
activities in which students were expected to take more initiatives in class (See
Section 5.2 o f this chapter).

In sum, the findings o f Item 42 reveal that, about h alf o f the students in this survey
hold positive attitudes towards learning whereas the other half o f students surveyed
still stick to the traditional roles o f students in class or have unclear perceptions o f
different roles which students are expected to play in class. The findings also
demonstrate the necessity o f making explicit what roles both students and teachers
are supposed to play in the classroom-based setting. However, it would be inaccurate
to deduce that Chinese students are mere passive learners as reported in some
earlier studies (Oxford & Anderson, 1995; Stefani, 1997)' We need to know the real
cause o f their apparent passivity.

5.10. Culture learning in EFL (Items 11,36,37, 23)

Table- 5.9
2nd- 3rd- 4lh-year 1st- 2nd-year Total Items
year year year MA No.
M.A
Mean 4.60 4.67 4.52 4.59 4.47 4.56 Item 11
Stdev .60 .56 .73 .55 .72 .66
Mean 3.60 3.50 3.54 3.79 3.69 3.61 Item23
Stdev .91 1.02 1.01 .89 1.06 .98
Mean 3.06 3.42 2.95 2.90 2.78 2.99 Item36
Stdev 1.16 .93 1.17 .97 1.10 1.10
Mean 4.60 4.29 4.21 4.41 4.06 4.30 Item37
Stdev .60 .69 .98 .55 .88 .82

Students responses to Items 11 and 37 indicated that in English class they liked to
learn about target cultures, including the Western peoples way o f life, social
customs and so on. They expressed a strong desire for a synthesised pedagogy that
could properly combine learning English and learning target cultures in EFL
programmes. At the same time, students indicated that although they had learned a
little about target cultures in English class, they would like to learn more [Q23, Q36].

102
This finding indicates the need to develop a pedagogy which can integrate the
teaching o f culture into EFL education in order to 'enhance students' sociocultural
competence' (Savignon, 2001).

5.11. Students attitudes towards compensation strategies

(Item 29, 31, 32)
Table-5.10 i__ ^
2nd-year 3rd'year 4th-year l st-year 2nd-year Total Items
M .A MA No.
Mean 3.69 2.92 2.94 2.62 2.75 2.97 Item29
Stdev .87 1.35 1.16 .78 1.11 1.11 *
Mean 3.26 2.88 3.44 3.13 3.19 3.25 Item 31
Stdev 1.04 1.03 1.10 1.03 .90 1.05
Mean 3.60 4.00 3.95 3.85 4.03 3.89 Item32
Stdev .88 .88 .87 .74 .93 .87

On Item 29, the results o f the ANOVA Test showed a significant difference between
the 2nd-year undergraduates and other groups (P<0.000). The 2nd-year undergraduates
tended to refer to LI when they found it hard to express themselves orally in English
whereas the other groups responded negatively (See Table-5.10 above). The results
reveal that their dependence on LI is closely related to their target language skills
and awareness o f use o f language learning strategies (LLS). The dependence on LI
tends to drop with improvement in target language skills and awareness o f LLS use
in the EFL learning process.

The results o f Item 31 showed that students did not often use gestures to enhance
their communication, indicating the need to learn and use LLS on their part. The
findings of Item 32 showed that students preferred to use paraphrases to 'get
meanings across when they could not think o f a word during a conversation in
English. By linking Item 32 to Item 29, we find that even if most students tended to
use paraphrases in English conversations, about 30% o f the students were not
content with their own ability to get meanings across. This could be due to their
inadequate target language proficiency and lack o f conscious use o f LLS. The
findings alerted teachers to the importance o f the explicit teaching o f communication
and language learning strategies in English class. It is misplaced to assume that
students can automatically make use o f the skills o f their native language when

103
communicating in the target language. These communicative skills are not
transferred automatically without explicit teaching or learning. Teachers need to raise
students' consciousness and provide them with more opportunities to use these
strategies (O'Malley & Chamot, 1990; Oxford 1990). This reflects the necessity o f
integrating communicative components o f CLT into current traditional teaching
methods in order to develop learners' communicative competence.

5.12. Students attitudes towards social strategies (Item 33, 34, 35)
Table-5.11
2ud-year 3rd l st-year 2nd-year Total
4 tn. Items No.
year year M.A MA

Mean 2.97 2.46 2.25 2.54 2.16 2.43 Item33*

Stdev 1.29 1.35 1.16 1.17 1.17 1.23
Mean 3.03 2.54 2.65 2.95 2.78 2.78 Item34
Stdev 1.25 1.28 1.18 1.05 1.31 1.20
Mean 3.09 2.96 2.90 2.77 2.78 2.90 Item35
Stdev 1.25 1.20 1.12 1.04 1.07 1.12

The findings o f Item 33 clearly revealed that most students did not have a peer with
whom they often practised oral English on a regular basis. The results o f the
ANOVA Test showed a significant difference between 2nd-ycar and 4th-year
undergraduates (P<0.032). This finding reveals that the 4th-year students who are
taken up with job seeking spend even less time than 2nd-year students practising their
oral English with peers outside class. The 2lld-year undergraduates need to take EMT-
4 oral test along with its written test, and therefore they have to pay more attention to
oral practice. Once the EMT-4 test is behind them, it seems that practising English
outside class recedes and students do not seek opportunities to speak English with
peers.

Item 34 and 35 also revealed that students surveyed are not interested in taking part
in after-class activities in which English was practised, for example, in an English
comer |i]s drama group or newspaper group. Their reasons for not being interested in
this might be that they thought such activities did not provide them with authentic
English input and that they could not learn idiomatic or 'real' English by practising
spoken English with their peers. The findings show that it is vital to create a teacher-

104
initiated environment in which students feel relaxed and confident to practise their
spoken English in the Chinese EFL context.

5.13. Students attitudes towards authority in class (Items 43, 44,45,

46)
Table-5.12
/>nd
2nd-year 3rd-year 4lh-year l st-year 2nd-year Total Items
M.A MA No.

Mean 3.03 2.50 2.85 2.74 2.81 2.81 Item43

Stdev 1.07 .83 1.10 .82 .90 .99
Mean 2.23 2.00 2.29 2.23 2.47 2.26 Item44
Stdev .91 .83 .93 .81 .98 .90
Mean 1.74 2.12 2.01 1.82 1.78 1.91 Item45
Stdev .51 1.03 .91 .64 .87 .82
Mean 4.17 4.17 4.06 4.23 3.97 4.11 Item46
Stdev

OO
.92 .87 1.12 .90 .98

The findings o f Item 44 indicated that students did not rate teacher authority very
highly (See Table 5.12 above). This finding is supported by the results o f Items 43
and 45 which reveal that most students want to be active rather than passive learners
in the process o f acquiring knowledge. The findings o f these items are incongruent
with the reports in earlier studies which claim that teachers are perceived as a fount
o f knowledge from whom the knowledge is transmitted to students (M aley 1984;
Liu, 1998; Song, 1995) and Asian students including Chinese are expected to show
total obedience or submission to their teachers, to be passive receivers o f knowledge
and that they offer Tittle input to the class (Song, 1995: 35-36). Generalizations such as
these are often expressed not only by outsiders but also by Chinese researchers as well
(Littlewood, 2001). It is usually claimed that differences in power and authority are
accepted most readily in more collectivist cultures (Hofstede, 1994: 54-57; Smith &
Bond, 1993: Triandis, 1995). In a classroom-based setting, a general orientation
towards (or dependence on) the group is also likely to lead students to accepting
roles which are defined in terms o f their position within that group, from the teacher
at the top o f the hierarchy to the students at the bottom (Littlewood, 2001).

The findings o f Item 44 (See Table 5.12) seem to indicate that a change in concepts
of learning and teaching has been taking place, especially among young people who
now are exposed increasingly to the foreign cultures via TV, films, multimedia,

105
personal contacts, and Internet. This change will, in principle, certainly have an
impact on their English language learning and classroom behaviours. However, it is
worth noting that the results o f Item 44 are not backed up by the findings in the
follow-up interviews and classroom observations in this study.

When they were asked to comment on their attitudes towards teachers authority in
class during the interviews, many students said that they were reluctant to challenge
teachers authority in class. W hen asked to elaborate on perceptual mismatch
between the interview accounts and questionnaire data, some students' comments are
very informative. They said that they certainly held teacher's authority high in class
and showed their respect to the teacher. They thought that it was the basic thing they
should do in class, but they emphasized that only good teachers would deserve a
heart-felt respect from students whereas those teachers whose lectures were found to
be boring, would not receive the real respect from students. This indicates that while
teacher authority is important to them, it also has to be won, not taken as given. Good
teachers are really respected while incompetent teachers are not, even though they
are perceived to have 'authority' in the classroom. Consequently, when students find
the courses they have been taking are not up to their expectations, they will
inevitably notch down the teachers' authority accordingly, at least in their minds.

This is similar to the Chinese equivalent o f the English word respect - Zun Jing.
Each o f these two Chinese words has a separate meaning although, used in
combination, they equate to respect in English. Zun means showing respect in action
(body language or facial expressions) but this is at surface level. The real respect
derives from Jing which means a kind o f admiration from the bottom o f one's heart.
Therefore we can say that the justification o f real respect is based on good quality of
teaching performance and teacher's being a moral example to students (Jiao shu yu
ren) rather than a perceived unequal relationship between Chinese teachers and
students in the classroom. Moreover, the results clearly point to the necessity in using
different research procedures to triangulate the validity o f research findings in this
thesis.

5.14. Major difficulties encountered in students' learning process

106
(Items 40, 41, 47, 48, 49, 50*, 51, 52, 53, 54*, 55, 56)
Table-5.13
2nd-year 3rd- 4th-year l sl-year 2Jld-year Total Items
year M.A MA No.

Mean 3.37 3.75 3.36 3.56 3.34 3.44 Item40

Stdev .94 .99 1.13 .91 1.21 1.06
Mean 2.94 2.92 2.89 2.74 2.97 2.89 Item41
Stdev 1.06 1.32 1.15 1.07 1.09 1.12
Mean 3.54 3.46 3.49 3.33 3.53 3.47 Item48
Stdev 1.04 1.14 .97 1.01 1.05 1.01
Mean 4.29 4.42 4.20 4.15 3.84 4.18 Item49
Stdev .93 .78 .85 .93 1.11 .92
Mean 3.83 3.79 3.50 3.33 2.94 3.47 Item50
Stdev 1.10 1.18 1.24 1.11 1.22 1.21 *
Mean 3.74 3.75 3.93 3.26 3.63 3.70 Item 51
Stdev 1.01 1.19 1.03 1.12 1.13 1.09
Mean 3.71 4.04 4.11 3.74 3.62 3.90 Item52
Stdev 1.02 .91 .83 .85 .98 .91
Mean 3.20 2.88 3.49 2.62 3.22 3.17 Item53
Stdev 1.11 1.08 1.17 .94 1.26 1.16
Mean 3.03 3.79 3.66 3.36 3.44 3.48 Item54
Stdev .98 .98 .99 .99 1.05 1.02 *
Mean 3.74 4.21 3.74 3.74 3.69 3.79 Item55
Stdev .95 .59 .90 .75 .97 .87
Mean 3.80 4.17 3.59 3.64 3.56 3.70 Item56
OO
o

Stdev .76 1.00 .84 1.08 .94

The findings o f Item 48 indicated that over half o f the students surveyed did consider
their own learning styles to be rigid and not very efficient, and needed improving.
The follow-up interviews with students revealed that they considered their learning
styles, to a considerable degree, had been influenced by teachers' teaching styles in
the classroom. Their learning experience reinforced their learning habits. The
findings o f this item are supported by Item 54, which shows that the current teaching
methods focus too much on grammar and structure but ignore oral English practice.
The results o f the ANOVA Test show that Item 54 proves to be significantly
different between 2nd-year and 3rd-year students (P 0 .0 1 4 ). A possible explanation o f
these differences is that some teachers who taught 2nd-year English majors have
attempted to use different methods in their classes to offer students more
opportunities to practise their oral English. Therefore the 2nd-year students remained
neutral on Item 54 whereas the 3rd-year students gave it the highest score.

107
This finding supports some earlier studies by W estern researchers in the related
areas. Pintrich and Schunk (1996) point out that teachers and students have
reciprocal effects on each other. Teacher classroom instruction affects students
learning orientation (Zubir, 1988 cited in Gow et al, 1996), and in turn teacher
instruction is affected by the w ay students respond to classroom activities (Salili,
2001). Linking Items 40, 41 with Item 48, we can see that the problems inherent in
students learning styles are mainly related to memory strategies, that is, while
students memorize the vocabulary, they often ignore the context in which these
words are used. In most cases, they separated vocabulary from its context. They
listed all the new words in a notebook and tried to memorize as many as they could
whenever and wherever it was possible (See Item 41 in Table 5.13 above).

This is not surprising because in China vocabulary books often take the form o f
providing learners with so-called 'shortcuts'; learning b y heart new words in order to
pass the various exams, for example, TOFEL, GRE, EM T-4 and EMT-8. The
findings o f Item 41 reveal that, in most cases, new words are not learned in a
contextual or discourse manner. That is why students find it hard to retrieve these
items when they want to use them. The traditional Intensive Reading teaching
methods reinforce such learning styles (See Chapter 7 for discussion). In terms o f
vocabulary learning, rote learning, it is true, plays a major role. However, these
learning styles are not a merely cultural or psychological trait o f Chinese students,
but the result o f acquired habits in school and the w ay the target language has been
learned and practised outside class.

On Item 50, the majority o f students thought that there was lack o f authentic
materials, both audio and visual, in EFL teaching. The ANOVA test showed the
significant difference on this item between the 2nd-year M A students and the 2nd-year
undergraduates (P<0.019). A possible reason for this difference lies in the fact that
the 2nd-year MA students had a higher level o f exposure to the target language than
the 2nd-year undergraduates, and this reflected their differing views from those o f
other groups.

Item 52 indicates that majority o f the respondents think that they have very few
opportunities to practise their spoken English in Intensive Reading class. The
findings reveal that the current conventional teaching methods have to be improved
in line with students needs to improve their practical skills o f the target language,
that is, 'communicative competence' (Canale & Swain, 1980; Canale, 1983).

On Item 55, 70% (149) o f the students thought the textbooks were not suitable for
CLT in English class. In the follow-up interviews, some students said that the
textbooks covered little about target cultures, suggesting that more authentic culture
information and knowledge should be included. The students clearly indicated that
the cultural information or knowledge contained in the text materials fell well short
o f what they would like. As their English language proficiency improved, they would
become more and more interested in target cultures and their curiosity about W estern
cultures would be aroused. The findings here show that a pedagogical framework o f
culture learning in EFL syllabus at tertiary level is absolutely necessary in order to
meet learners needs and broaden their horizons - itself a key component in crossing
the threshold to 'sociocultural competence' (Savignon, 2002).

5.15. Meta-cognitive strategies: (Items 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64)
Table-5.14

2nd- 3rd- 4th- lst-year 2nd-year Total Items

year year year M.A MA No.

Mean 3.63 3.83 3.96 4.03 4.00 3.91 Item57

Stdev 1.00 .82 .93 .78 .95 .91
Mean 3.03 3.29 3.34 3.62 3.41 3.34 Item58
Stdev .82 .91 .98 .81 .91 .92
Mean 3.63 3.38 3.24 3.54 3.31 3.39 Item59
Stdev .73 .97 1.06 .82 1.03 .96
Mean 3.34 3.42 3.18 3.54 3.53 3.35 Item60
Stdev .87 .88 .99 .79 .88 .91
Mean 3.23 3.38 3.24 3.51 3.37 3.32 Item61
Stdev .91 .92 1.01 .72 .87 .91
Mean 3.37 3.58 3.53 3.62 3.75 3.56 Item62
Stdev 1.06 .88 .99 .67 .88 .92
Mean 3.60 3.58 3.73 3.62 3.81 3.68 Item63
Stdev .88 .93 1.01 .85 .90 .93
Mean 3.40 3.12 3.24 3.33 4.47 3.46 Item64
Stdev 1.19 .90 1.08 .87 .91 .99

109
The results o f these items revealed that MA graduates could make better use o f m eta
cognitive language learning strategies than undergraduates by making suitable study
plans. By linking Item 47 and 59, we can see that the students as a whole group are
not consistently goal-pursuant. They have short-term goals rather than long-term
ones regarding their English learning which consists mainly o f passing up various
exams to complete their BA degree. Another reason m ay be that they are still unclear
about perspectives for their future career.

5.16. Students attitudes towards form-based strategies (Items 65,

6 8 ,6 9 ,7 1 ,7 3 , 74)

Table-5.15
/ M id
2nd- 3rd- 4th- l st-year 2nd-year Total Items
year year year M.A MA No.

Mean 3.60 3.54 3.31 3.36 3.06 3.36 Item65

Stdev .91 1.10 1.05 .96 1.16 1.04
Mean 3.23 3.00 3.09 2.92 2.91 3.05 Item68
Stdev .97 .98 .93 1.02 1.00 .97
Mean 3.69 3.83 3.74 3.49 3.56 3.67 Item69
Stdev .87 .82 .98 1.05 .98 .96
Mean 2.14 2.33 2.61 2.72 2.72 2.54 Item71
Stdev
oo
OO

1.01 1.07 .79 1.28 1.04

Mean 3.32 3.46 3.18 3.15 2.97 3.18 Item73
Stdev 1.06 .83 1.02 .90 .93 .97
Mean 3.06 3.37 3.09 3.36 3.00 3.15 Item74
Stdev 1.33 1.35 1.09 1.01 1.27 1.18

The findings o f the Item 65 showed that 47.1% (99) o f the students were concerned
about every detail o f the text materials in reading English. This is directly related to
the prevalent Chinese traditional teaching methods: teachers going over text
materials in a sentence-by-sentence way (See Chapter 7 for further discussion).
21.9% (46) claimed to reject this method o f learning English whereas 31% (65)
remained neutral (See Appendix B-7 Frequency Table).

This finding is supported by the results o f Item 73: more students tend to concentrate
on every linguistic detail when they are listening to English or doing listening
exercises. This finding, in general, is in support o f the statement that Chinese
students were meticulous learners and intolerant o f ambiguity in learning English
(Stefani, 1997; Oxford & Anderson, 1995; Samovar & Porter, 1995). This undue

no
attention to meticulous detail o f the English text materials rather than to overall
comprehension o f the discourse context or gist reflects to a varying degree the
weaknesses inherent in traditional teaching methods in English class (See Chapter 7
for discussion).

5.17. Students attitudes towards function-based strategy (Items

66, 70, 72, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79)
Table-5.16
<->na 4th.
2nd- 3rd - lst-year 2nd-year Total Items
year year year M.A M.A. No.

Mean 3.31 3.50 3.49 3.64 3.50 3.49 Item66

Stdev 1.02 1.10 .94 .99 .98 .98
Mean 3.94 3.75 3.70 3.79 3.50 3.73 Item70
Stdev .68 .90 .85 .86 .92 .84
Mean 3.51 3.63 3.40 3.67 3.28 3.48 Item72
Stdev .98 1.01 1.01 .87 1.14 1.00
Mean 2.77 2.83 2.86 2.92 3.34 2.93 Item75
Stdev 1.09 1.13 .95 .98 1.04 1.02
Mean 3.34 3.67 3.99 3.77 3.69 3.76 Item76
Stdev 1.21 1.24 .92 .87 1.03 1.04
Mean 2.74 2.63 2.49 2.69 2.56 2.60 Item77
Stdev .98 .92 .97 .89 1.19 .98
Mean 2.69 2.92 2.79 3.03 2.94 2.85 Item78
Stdev .96 1.14 1.10 .87 1.11 1.04
Mean 2.91 2.96 2.70 2.90 2.50 2.77 Item79
Stdev .92 1.20 1.14 .79 1.02 1.04

The findings o f the Items 66, 70, 72, 75, 76, 77, 78, and 79 indicated that students
were interested in reading newspapers and magazines after class, but they paid
inadequate attention to other functional activities o f the target language, such as
keeping diary or writing letters or emails in English. Their responses to Items 77 and
78 showed clearly that they took little initiative in practising their productive skills,
especially oral English, outside class. This reflects their very low level o f exposure to
the English-speaking environment which in turn leads to their weakness in
communicative competence.

5.18. Students attitudes towards dependence on LI (Items 67, 80,

81,82)

in
Table-5.17
<-nd
2nd- 3rd- 4th -year l st-year 2ntl-year Total Items
year year M.A M.A. No.

Mean 3.66 2.96 3.48 2.85 3.06 3.27 Item

Stdev 1.19 1.37 1.21 1.16 1.32 1.26 26*
Mean 2.26 2.50 2.42 2.44 2.25 2.38 Item 67
Stdev .89 1.18 .96 .94 1.02 .98
Mean 3.11 2.54 2.67 2.62 2.41 2.68 Item 80
Stdev .96 1.18 1.04 .96 1.27 1.08
Mean 2.60 2.33 2.39 2.21 2.22 2.36 Item 81
Stdev 1.14 1.24 .96 .95 1.16 1.05
Mean 3.00 2.33 2.51 2.46 2.50 2.56 Item 82
Stdev 1.11 1.05 1.09 1.19 1.34 1.16

Items 67, 80, 81, 82 revealed students attitudes towards dependence on L I. The
results showed that the majority o f students held negative attitudes towards
dependence on L I in the process o f their learning target language. The findings o f
Item 26 revealed that significant difference existed among the 5 groups as the 2nd-
year undergraduates scored more highly than the other groups (P<0.015). This
indicated that Chinese EFL learners tended to depend less on LI in their EFL
learning as their English proficiency improved. However, the score o f the 4th-year
students revealed that they would like their teachers to translate text materials into
Chinese in English class because they had to take a national English proficiency test
- EMT-8 which contained a section o f translation from English into Chinese and vice
versa.

5.19. Interim summary

The findings o f the quantitative data provide valuable insights into the development
o f effective teaching and learning o f English in classroom-based settings in the
Chinese context. These findings can offer a framework for a better understanding o f
learner needs as well as for the need for innovation in teaching methodology so as to
enhance learners' communicative competence. The following is a summary o f the
key points in the first section o f this chapter.

112
 1. The students approached the group-work with positive attitudes and they would
like to be active in speaking English while engaged in the group activities. They
also expressed reservations about asking or raising questions in class.

2. Regarding motivation, the students were very interested in learning target

cultures and called for innovative teaching methods for target culture courses.

3. While openly welcoming communicative teaching methods, the students as a

whole held mildly negative attitudes towards teacher-centred methods. However,
the students in this study were not inclined to see all activities emphasizing
formal linguistic competence as totally ineffective. Nor were they inclined to
reject indiscriminately the traditional way o f teaching and learning; they took the
competence o f teachers and the nature o f courses taught into account.
4. The findings also showed that the students in general did not regard themselves
as passive learners but their learning styles were reported to be problematic,
especially in use o f memory strategy and vocabulary learning.

5. Concerning teacher's authority in class, the students made a distinction between

real respect and apparent respect. The real respect is heart-felt admiration for
teachers whereas 'apparent or nominal respect' is a matter o f formality. This
indicates a change in the perceptions o f learning and values among the younger
generation.

6. Most students seemed to be over-meticulous learners and they tended to

concentrate on every detail o f text materials in reading English.

7. The students used function-based strategies, but they focused mainly on

receptive skills rather than productive skills. This points to, in part, their
deficiency in their communicative competence.

To sum up, in judging the findings o f this study in relation to the theoretical
foundation o f the communicative competence model (Canale & Swain, 1980, Canale,
1983), it is obvious that these learners were deficient in major aspects o f

113
communicative competence. They were not content with their current linguistic
competence and they found spoken English difficult. They called for a synthesized
pedagogy to combine culture learning and English language learning in EFL
programmes, which they see as an important step towards enhancing their
sociolinguistic competence. The findings also show that undergraduate students are
not aware o f conscious use o f language learning strategies in their learning process.
The next section o f this thesis will focus on a comparison o f quantitative data
between student and teacher groups in order to identify where perceptual match and
mismatches lie. In other words, to what degree can teachers gauge learners' preferred
classroom activities with a view to improving their own teaching practices and
enhancing these learners' communicative competence?

5.20. Data comparison: students vs. teachers (Part II)

Having examined the student questionnaire in the first part o f this chapter, the second
part focuses on discussing a comparison and analysis between the student group and
teacher group to establish whether there exists a perceptual match or mismatch
between the two groups. In other words, how much can Chinese EFL teachers gauge
their students' preferred classroom learning activities? As will be described below,
the data analysis will shed valuable insights into helping teachers to gain a better
understanding o f Chinese EFL learners in terms o f improving teachers' pedagogical
practices, meeting learners' needs, and developing their communicative competence.
The findings show that both groups match in the following areas, as detailed below.

5.21. Areas of correspondence

The results o f the comparison between the two groups generally reflect an
approximate 41% correspondence between teachers perceptions o f learners
preferred classroom activities (including learners' attitudes towards EFL learning and
language learning strategy use) and learners actual preferences and opinions (See
Table-5.18 on page 122).

5.21.1. Working in a small group (Item 1)

114
Both groups thought that students, to a lesser or greater degree, were interested in
working in a small group o f from 2 to 4 people in class.

5.21.2. Speaking out in class (Items 5, 7, 75)

Students were interested in speaking English with their peers in a small group rather
than with their teacher in class. Both groups matched concerning students' reluctance
to 'show o ff in class. In other words, students were not active in answering questions
or initiating questions to their teacher in English class.

5.21.3. Culture teaching and learning in class (Items 56, 37)

Students were interested in learning the target cultures and they called for an
integration o f culture teaching and learning into EFL programmes in order to
improve their understanding o f W estern cultures through learning English.

5.21.4. Attitudes towards TCA (Item 18)

Both students and teachers alike preferred student-centred approach (SCA) over
teacher-centred approach (TCA) in English class. This finding is supported by their
responses to the same question in the open-ended section (See Appendix C -l for
details). However, at the same time both groups considered that, to some extent, the
traditional teaching approach was necessary and effective in its own way. They felt
that traditional methods should not be totally discarded in the process o f adopting
CLT.

5.21.5. Non-communicative learning activity in class (Item 20)

The finding o f Item 18 is supported by the results o f Item 20 in which both groups
indicated that the traditional teaching methods were still found to be necessary and
effective, to a certain extent. This implied that for some knowledge-oriented courses,
especially those for advanced students teacher-centeredness was seen more

115
appropriate in that it was time-saving, easy to handle for teachers, and 'relaxed to
follow and effective for exams for students (see Chapter 6 for discussion).

5.21.6. Dependence on LI (Items 29, 67)

Both groups acknowledged some degree o f dependence on L I when students had a

difficulty in expressing themselves in English, both oral and written.

5.21.7. Students' learning styles (Item 48)

Both teachers and students acknowledged that students' learning styles needed
improvement. This result obviously reflected the dissatisfaction from the both groups
with the present target language competence that students had acquired after years o f
formal learning.

5.21.8. Meta-cognitive strategies (Item 59)

The comparison showed a consensus that the students had a short-term goal in mind
concerning how to improve their target language skills. For instance, the students
planned to take MA qualifying exams, and to obtain certain certificates by taking
some English exams (TOEFL or BEC).

5.21.9. Form-based strategies (Item 73)

Both groups disliked over-dependence on LI through translating text materials into

Chinese for comprehension purposes.

5.21.10. Function-based strategies (Items 72, 77)

Both groups acknowledged that in class students were not active in initiating
questions, nor answering questions in English. Students did not take the initiative to

116
practise, especially their spoken English either with their peers or teachers outside
the classroom. Both groups thought that the students took initiative in listening to
English on radio outside class.

5.21.11. Impact of EMT-4 and EMT-8 on students (Item 53)

Both groups acknowledged that the EMT-4 and EMT-8 tests exerted certain pressure
on learners. This inevitably would have an impact on the process o f teaching and
learning o f English which set priorities on passing the tests.

To sum up, the findings described above reflect the consensus o f both groups in
teaching methods, culture teaching and learning in EFL programmes, language
learning strategy use and students' learning styles. Awareness o f this perceptual
match between the two groups may help teachers meet learners' needs and contribute
towards teaching and learning in so far as teachers' attitudes affect their teaching
styles and influence what students actually learn. Students' attitudes also affect their
classroom behaviours and their learning styles (Pintrich & Schunk, 1996). A
perceptual match seems to be a first step towards this end. However, as described
below, the issue o f perceptual mismatch between the two groups deserves a special
reconsideration o f pedagogical practices used by Chinese EFL teachers.
Kumaravadivelu (1991) points out that the narrower the perceptual gap between
teacher intention and learner interpretation o f classroom learning activities, the
greater are the chances o f achieving desired learning outcomes, (p.98).

5.22. Areas of disparity

Proportionately the significant lack o f correspondence (59%) occurs in the areas

shown below in Table-5.18. The Mann W hitney [/T e s t results show that o f these 23
items with statistical significance, there are 11 items with P<0.001, 4 items with
P<0.003, and 8 items with P<0.05, thus indicating significant differences between
the two groups concerned (See Appendix B-5 for details). The areas o f disparity are
discussed in detail below.

117
 The Quantitative data comparison between
the students and the teachers
Table-5.18

Correspondence per area (41%) 16 Item s o f

Students attitudes towards Correspondence

Target culture learning in EFL learning 1 out o f 3

Function-based strategy in their English study 3 out o f 3
Speaking out in the class. 3 out o f 3
Working in groups in the open class 1 out o f 3
Communicative activities in the class. 1 out o f 4
Non-communicative activities in class 1 out o f 3
Compensation strategy in their communication 1 out o f 3
Social strategy in their English study. 0 out o f 2
Dependence on native language 1 out o f 1
Meta-cognitive strategies (LLS), 1 out o f 4
Difficulties in adopting communicative activities. 3 out o f 10
Significant difference per area (59%) 23 Item s showing
Students*attitudes towards significant
differences
Working in groups in the open class 2 out o f 3
Communicative activities in the class. 3 out o f 4
Non-communicative activities in class 2 out o f 3
Compensation strategy in their communication. 2 out o f 3
Social strategy in their English study. 2 out o f 2
Learning target cultures in English class 2 out o f 3
Meta-cognitive strategies 3 out o f 4
Difficulties in adopting communicative activities. 7 out o f 10

5. 22.1 Working in small groups in class: Item 3 (P<0.012)

As mentioned above, the students preferred communicative group-work to non-

communicative activities in class. The comparison showed that the students
expressed much stronger interest in group work (Items 3) than the teachers presumed
their students did. This finding revealed the need on the teachers' part to improve
their classroom instructions to meet learners needs. This was especially so in the
classroom observation o f Shan's class (See Chapter 7 for details). The qualitative
data also revealed that the students liked group activities in class, especially when the
topics for group discussion or individual presentation were closely related to their
college life experience. This experience in turn would boost their confidence, making

118
them feel that they had something solid and meaningful to talk about. It is worth
noting that for freshmen and sophomores, the potential significance o f group-work
could not be underestimated since this would lay a solid foundation for appropriate
learning styles as well as set a good guidance for them to follow. Otherwise, the
teacher-centeredness in which Chinese students have been immersed since childhood
would resist change, if not correctly guided by teachers in class.

5.22.2. Pre-prepared news reporting or oral presentation in class:

Item 4 (P<0.028)

This item showed that the students considered their peers news reporting or story
telling in English more useful than their teachers thought they did in class. The result
revealed that students thought that peer presentation that were well-prepared in
advance was viewed more helpful than teacher-dominated talk and textbook-based
patter drill exercises in class. It is important to note that through classroom
observation in Shan's class, I discovered that when the students gave a news report,
the speaker merely read the news rather than talked about it, not unlike the way
students did their oral presentation in Lan's class (See Chapter 7 for details). This
may be due to their lack o f confidence in using the target language or they were
afraid of making errors or what Hofstede termed 'uncertainty avoidance' (1991, 1994)
(See Chapter 3 for discussion). In the course o f such activities, no interaction or
negotiation of meaning took place. It became just a kind o f oral exercise and
students took turns in reading their own news to the whole class as a piece o f
homework. The reason why the students showed stronger interest in this item
perhaps revealed the students' misconception of communicative activities. The
findings also reflected the misconceptions o f CLT on the teachers' part. The teachers
tended to think that as long as students were given opportunities to practise their oral
English in class, this amounted to communicative language teaching.

5.22.3. Culture teaching and learning in English class: Items

11(P<0.038), Item 23(P<0.032)

Even though both groups came to a consensus that students were very interested in

119
cultural learning within the EFL programme, it was the students who expressed a
much stronger desire for learning about culture than teachers thought their students
did. The findings also showed that teachers needed to improve their teaching
methods to meet learners needs in this respect. Although some introductory courses
to Western cultures were offered to students, for instance, Introduction to Western
Cultures, the content o f textbook and the way the course was taught were found to be
problematic (See Chapter 7 for details). M any teachers saw the teaching o f Western
culture courses as automatically developing the learners' cross-cultural
communicative competence irrespective o f how the courses were taught. But both
quantitative and qualitative data in this study showed that this assumption could not
be made. Students complained about the way the culture course was taught (See
Chapter 6 for details). This raises a very important issue o f curriculum design and
innovation o f teaching methodology as well as further improvement o f the teachers'
own cross-cultural competence.

5.22.4. Student-centred approach (SCA): Item 19 (P<0.016)

The divergence between students and teachers on this item showed students stronger
needs for SCA in English class than teachers presumed. The findings may partially
reflect students' dissatisfaction with the prevalent teacher-centred approach in the
English classroom and their request for innovation in teaching methodology. This is
supported by the students' responses to the similar questions in the open-ended
section. 76% o f the students surveyed expressed their dissatisfaction with the current
teaching methods that their teachers employed in the English class. This was in sharp
contrast to only 22% students who rated the current teaching methods positively (See
Appendix C-2 for details).

On the other hand, the gap between the two groups revealed the teachers'
conservative mindset in that they assumed that their students still felt very
comfortable with the traditional methods in class. This was a main reason why they
still adhered to teacher-centeredness and prioritised the imparting o f knowledge to
learners. There were some other reasons, such as the nature o f courses that the
teachers were teaching (some courses were thought to be more skill-based while

120
other courses more knowledge-based), and a sense o f insecurity that teachers might
have in employing new unproven methods in their classes (See Chapter 6 for further
discussion).

5.22.5. Watching English videos and films: Item 22 (P<0.000)

On this item students scored much more highly than teachers did, showing the
former had much stronger opinions on this. Considering the fact that students have
little exposure to target language environment outside the class, watching English
videos was also thought to be a good way to combine English input and culture
information with output, that is, after-film discussion. This was considered
valuable when teachers could give extra explanations on the background and difficult
language points. The difficulty for teachers seemed to be not only related to the
availability o f sources o f audio-visual materials, but also to the teachers ability to
teach the course effectively. This pointed to the necessity o f teamwork with a native
English-speaker teacher as an advisor or mentor to help Chinese EFL teachers and
students overcome the linguistic difficulties.

5.22.6. Doing unassessed tests and planning exam answers: Item 24

(P<0.000)

A sharp contrast could be found between teachers and students on this item. Students
gave it a negative score (2.78) while teachers responded slightly positively (3.31).
The finding revealed one weakness in teachers attitudes: teachers extended teacher-
dominated methods and did text-based pattern drills to various classes regardless o f
students needs. Teachers took it for granted that preparing students for passing the
EMT-4 or EMT-8 tests would be very valuable, assuming that the pass rate o f these
nation-wide English proficiency tests would reflect indirectly the quality o f English
teaching both at an individual and institutional level. However, since the preparation
class was exam-oriented and grammar-and-structure focused, the students found it
useful only to pass these exams rather than to develop their overall practical skills in
using the target language. W hen these tests were behind them, they did not like these
learning activities any more.

121
5.22.7. Thought-provoking questions in English class: Item 25
(P<0.013)

In English classes, students rated text-based communicative activities and thought-

provoking questions raised by their teachers much higher than the teachers thought
that their students did. This revealed that teachers should refocus their classroom
instruction and be aware o f the question-making skills which should stimulate
learners interest and sensitise their analytical and problem-solving awareness. In
other words, teachers should formulate their questions at the discourse level rather
than merely paraphrasing grammatical points (See Chapter 7 for further discussion).
Long and Sato (1983) make a distinction between 'display' and 'referential' questions.
A 'display' question is a question to which the teacher who asks it already knows the
answers, and which is designed to elicit or display particular structures; whereas a
'referential' question is a question to which the teacher does not have a ready answer
but seeks information. Only when teachers encourage learners to think, to judge, to
infer and to criticise can learners improve their ability to read and to think critically.
This might prove to be a tougher and more difficult job for teachers than just asking
display questions. Needless to say, in order to change the w ay the questions are
asked, teachers have to take on the challenge o f renovating their teaching
methodology. The way the lesson is taught can affect the ways the questions are
raised and answered. Based on traditional methods o f Intensive Reading, the only
purpose behind teacher's questions is to check learners comprehension and
reproduce the correct form o f the structure. This is supported by the classroom
observation in Shan's class in this study (See Chapter 7 discussion).

5.22.8. Dependence on LI: Item 26 (P<0.000)

The findings o f this item showed that the students dependence on L I was for
different purposes and much more complex than teachers expected. Students tended
to think that the teachers correct translation might be considered helpful, especially
for comprehension and passing exams. For example, the EMT-8 Test contains a part
o f translation from English into Chinese, and vice versa. However, the teacher

122
usually paraphrased English text materials in a sentence-by-sentence way, with an
emphasis on grammatical points and structure. Teachers often left translation of
paragraphs or sentences as homework for students to do after class.

5.22.9. Use of compensation strategy: Item 31 (P<0.007), Item 32

(P<0.002)

The findings showed that when speaking English, learners used more paraphrases
and gestures than teachers predicted. The teachers opinion seemed to derive from
their own observations in the classroom rather than from their own within or out-of-
class interactive experience with the students. Lack o f experience o f active
interaction and communicative activities seemed to limit teachers expectations o f
their students.

5.22.10. Use of social strategy: Item 34 (P<0.000), Item 35 (P<0.001)

On these two items, diverging views were expressed. Teachers assumed that students
would practise after class what they had learned in the class or from the textbook. As
a Chinese proverb says, 'practice makes perfect'. But the reality turned out to be quite
disappointing, though. Most students did not wish to take part in extracurricular
activities for practice of their spoken English, as for instance, an English Comer.
Their lack o f enthusiasm for oral English practice rose, in part, from lack o f a real
need to communicate in English in their daily life and from little exposure to
English-speaking environment outside the classroom. On the other hand, the findings
indicated that poor administration or supervision from the English Departmental
head or from teachers was also a contributory factor to students' inactivity.
Departmental head or staff teachers need to develop a systematic programme to
enrich students' after-class activities and offer necessary scaffolding to encourage
such a meaningful activity to thrive. One o f the main concerns that students had was
that they would speak Chinese English (Chinglish) with their peers and no one would
correct their own errors. If not corrected, these errors, they thought, would be
reinforced and then become a habit in their learning process, and hard to shake off.

123
5.22.11. Long-term goal and motivation: Item 474 (P<0.003)

Concerning this item, an obvious difference between the two groups arose. Students
scored more highly than teachers, indicating that students often found themselves to
lack a long-term goal and poorly-motivated in their learning process. Teachers, on
the other hand, gave the opposite response to this item, presuming that students had
their own ambitions and goals for their own future. It would be unimaginable for
teachers to think that students would come to the university without a clear goal in
mind after a couple o f years o f study in the university. Yet students complained that
some courses they took or had taken were boring. They found some teachers
prepared poorly in terms o f presentation skills, specialised knowledge and expertise
in teaching methodology. They said that was w hy they found their enthusiasm for the
courses and the target language waning. Their interview accounts revealed that they
would work hard if they were genuinely interested in a certain course or found it very
useful for their present or future needs.

5.22.12. Few opportunities for oral practise in class: Item 49

(P<0.021), Item 52 (P<0.000)

On these items, students obtained much higher scores than teachers, which indicated
their negative feelings about teacher-dominance in English class. These were
stronger than teachers presumed. The findings showed the need for teachers to
provide students with opportunities in class to use English for various purposes.

5.22.13. Lack o f authentic English reading and listening

materials: Item 50 (P<0.000)

Students thought that there was a shortage o f authentic materials, especially audio
and visual varieties. Teachers assumed the opposite, believing that the Reading
Room and Language Laboratory were good places for learners to acquire an ear for

4Item 47 is unfavourably phrased.

124
the language and synthesise the knowledge they had learned. But students thought
that the materials in the labs were out o f date and, not as interesting or authentic as
they would have liked. The findings pointed to the importance o f linking modem
technology with EFL teaching, for instance, to use audio and video means to teach
English in a multi-media classroom. In this way, students could be exposed to more
authentic English input in English class for the purpose o f enhancing their
communicative competence.

5.22.14. Pressure from job market competition: Item 51(P<0.003)

Students were under greater pressure about their prospective employment upon
graduation than teachers presumed. This was due to the tight job market in China.
This concern also reflected students commitment to taking various exams aimed at
obtaining certificates which they hoped could enhance their chances in getting a
job. This was especially so in the case o f 4th-year undergraduates who said during the
interviews: the English courses they had taken in the English class were neither
relevant nor useful for their future employment' (FM-1).

5.22.15. Too much emphasis on grammar and structure: Item 54

(P<0.000)

Regarding this item, teachers did not consider the present teaching methods as
unduly grammar-structure-centred whereas students did. The students' Likert score
(3.52) showed that they thought the present teaching methods were overly grammar-
structure-centred. Consequently they found their oral English skills unsatisfactory.
Such a perceptual mismatch inevitably led students to be dissatisfied with their
learning outcomes. The findings reveal that teachers need to improve their teaching
approach in order to meet their students' needs for the development o f learners'
communicative competence.

5.22.16. Textbook not suitable for communicative activities in class:

Item 55 (P<0.003)

125
Both students and teachers suggested that the textbooks had to be revamped to
encompass communication-oriented activities in class. But the students expressed
stronger opinions about textbook innovation than did the teacher group. M any
students found that the text materials were neither authentic nor useful for their
future employment, with the result that their interest in such courses fell off. On the
other hand, constant rejigging o f text materials involved a tremendous amount o f
extra work for teachers. Some o f the teachers are involved in compiling new English
textbooks for English majors ostensibly aimed at developing students
communicative competence. It seems that teachers felt the need to revise or renew
the textbooks. But the focus should be on how and in what way. They needed to
come up with a solution which would dovetail with the new textbooks.

5.22.17. Meta-cognitive language learning strategy: Item 57

(P<0.000), Item 60 (P<0.000), Item 64 (P<0.000)

On these items, there was, again, a divergence between the two groups as their mean
values showed (See Appendix B-4 for details). The students scored higher than the
teachers, showing that students thought they could make relatively good use o f time
after class. Teachers, on the other hand, considered that learners did not work hard
enough nor show enough commitment to learning English. This might reflect the
teachers own dissatisfaction with students classroom behaviours, assignment work
and linguistic skills. During interviews, some teachers mentioned students' laziness
as one o f the causes o f their [students] poor communicative competence. However,
students complained that the boring lessons in English classes made them lose
interest in the courses they took, resulting in a weaker commitment to learning the
language. Another possible explanation for the mismatch on these items may be
derived from the fact that these activities were more mental than behavioural in
nature. Consequently it was not easy for teachers to make an accurate prediction
based merely on classroom observations, especially when there was poor
communication between teachers and learners at personal level.

126
Chapter summary

In this chapter, first I have presented an analysis o f quantitative data collected

through the student questionnaire which consisted o f 17 different themes. The
analysis o f student data shows that most students approached the group-work with
positive attitudes and they would like to be more active in speaking English while
engaged in group activities. However, they indicated a reluctance to ask or raise
questions in front o f the whole class. Another important finding is that students
preferred SC A over TCA in English class, but they were not inclined to reject
indiscriminately the traditional way o f teaching and learning. This was because o f
many factors, such as teacher competence, the nature o f courses taught and the ways
teachers elicited and raised questions in class, and how learners were encouraged to
think, to infer and to judge.

The findings also showed that students in general did not regard themselves as
passive learners but their learning styles were reported to be problematic, especially
in use o f memory strategy and vocabulary learning. W hen it comes to teacher's
authority in class, the analysis showed that students made a distinction between real
respect (respect from the bottom o f one's heart) and apparent respect (respect at
superficial level). Competent EFL teachers with wide knowledge and expertise in
choosing appropriate teaching methods can win heart-felt respect from their students.
Those teachers whom students consider to be incompetent receive only token respect
even though students seldom challenge the teachers in class. This indicates a gradual
change in perceptions o f learning and values among younger generations.

In relating the findings o f student questionnaire to the theoretical framework o f

communicative competence model (Canale & Swain, 1980; Canale, 1983), it can be
seen that learners are not content with major aspects o f their communicative
competence. They consider themselves to be weak in linguistic competence,
sociocultural competence, and discourse competence. Their use o f strategic
competence also needs improvement. Students indicate a strong desire for a
synthesised pedagogy to combine the teaching/learning o f target culture and the

127
English language in EFL programmes, which is seen as an important step towards
enhancing their sociolinguistic competence.

In the second part o f this chapter, I have presented a comparison o f quantitative data
between student group and teacher group. The findings show that there is
approximately 41% correspondence and about 59% divergence between the two
groups. The perceptual mismatch mainly lies in the areas o f communicative and non-
communicative language learning activities, attitudes towards speaking out in class,
towards learning target culture in EFL programmes, and the ways teachers elicited
questions in English classes. It is too early to say whether these results would hold
true in other third-level learning situations across or outside China. However, the
significance o f this comparison indicates strongly that teachers' perceptions o f
learners' preferences for activities as unaided intuitions cannot be fully relied upon
when used as an input to classroom management, lesson planning, textbook writing
or syllabus design for the purpose o f developing Chinese EFL learners'
communicative competence. In this sense, they, therefore, need careful support or
mediation. Some o f this support can come from surveying students' needs for the
purpose o f a better understanding o f learner variables. This is a very important step
towards integrating a student-centred approach into the prevalent traditional teaching
methods. In addition, the results o f this study show the significance o f obtaining
learners' views on activities that form part o f the learning process. For teachers, it is
essential to bear in mind that the ultimate goal o f EFL teaching is to enhance
learners communicative competence. The results o f this study show that the current
teaching approach widely used by teachers seemed to be poorly appreciated by
students. This is in part why 76% o f the students under study expressed their
disapproval o f the teaching methods used by their teachers in English classes (See
Appendix C-2 for details). The findings demonstrate the necessity for teachers to
consult learners and involve them in the EFL teaching and design process before
effective teaching and learning outcomes can be obtained.

In enhancing Chinese EFL learners' communicative competence, teachers need to

have a good understanding o f learner variables. M any studies demonstrate that
bridging the gap between teachers' and learners' perceptions plays an important role
in enabling students to authenticate and thus maximize their classroom experience

128
(Kumaravadivelu, 1991; Van Lier, 1996; Breen, 1998; Spratt, 1999). As such,
Chinese EFL teachers need to base improvement o f their classroom practice on a
proper understanding o f learners' needs.

In the next chapter, I will discuss the qualitative data collected through interviews
and open-ended questions on the student and teacher questionnaires which will
provide insightful information on the various reasons w hy both students and teachers
answered in the w ay they did.

Note:

[1]. An English comer

A college English comer is any 'comer' (appropriate place) on a university campus

for students to practise their oral English in their spare time. English comers began to
be popular in the early 1980s in China because they provided an English-speaking
environment to reinforce the oral skills learned in class. Today, English comers exist
in all universities in China, but with its function limited to only oral practice.

129
 Chapter 6

Qualitative data analysis: interviews

and open-ended questions

Introduction

For this thesis, the findings o f the quantitative data, already discussed and analyzed
in Chapter 5, are supplemented by qualitative data to be presented in this chapter.
Qualitative data were collected from the open-ended sections in the student and
teacher questionnaires, and from the interviews conducted with both groups (See
Appendix A-2 and A-4 for open-ended questions). The qualitative data mainly
concern the informants' attitudes towards teacher-centred and student-centred
approaches, and the teaching and learning o f culture in English classes. The analysis
o f the findings from qualitative data is followed by a detailed discussion o f the major
problems and constraints encountered and perceived by both groups in the process o f
their EFL learning and teaching at university level.

6.1. Design of open-ended section and interviews

As mentioned in Chapter 4, two methods were applied to complement and validate

the quantitative statistical findings. The first method was to collect written responses
to the questions in the open-ended section o f the questionnaire. The second was to
elicit oral responses through interviews. The complementary value o f eliciting
written responses from the open-ended section o f the questionnaire was that they
could reveal statements and comments which would help to inform and refine my
line o f questioning in the interviews. One o f the most important aims was to obtain

130
data that could explain, firstly, why subjects under investigation liked or disliked
communicative language teaching and non-communicative language teaching in
English class. Secondly, the findings might elucidate the major problems
encountered in the process o f their learning and teaching o f English language.

The open-ended questions were semi-structured rather than completely open. This
meant that all respondents were expected to focus their comments on the same
questions asked rather than write more freely. The interviews were open and
informal. The idea behind the format was to let informants say anything that was left
unexpressed in the questionnaire: their feelings, attitudes, experiences, evaluations o f
different teaching methods and the main problems in their English language learning
and teaching process. Their comments served not only as a resource for identifying
problems but also as a resource for suggestions and recommendations. Despite the
fact that the information provided is usually in the form o f very brief comments due
to the limited space on the questionnaire, clearly such qualitative data is an
invaluable resource as it provides personal perceptions on TCA, SCA, the learning
situation and problems encountered.

6.2. The methods used to present and analyse the qualitative data

One major method selected to present the qualitative data was to cite quotations
from both student and teacher informants in order to exam ine both sets o f
respondents attitudes to and opinions o f the topics under investigation. It is worth
noting that emphasis was placed on words and statements that expressed a
judgment, as these remarks or comments discussed in Chapter 5, would epitomize
the attitudes and perceptions o f informants. In this sense, the quotations were used
to consolidate the analysis o f the quantitative data. The written responses to the
open-ended questions and the interview data were analysed and I have placed them
into three broad categories:

1. Positive statements
2. Neutral statements
3. Negative statements

131
1. Positive category, as the name indicated, contained statements and comments that
showed appreciation o f either teacher-centred or student-centred approaches in the
EFL classrooms in terms o f overt written expressions and an appreciative tone. 2.
Neutral category brought together statements or expressions which did not seem to
explicitly display identifiable negative or positive tones but which stood somewhere
between the positive and negative comments. 3. Negative category included those
expressions that were overtly disapproving or negative.

As mentioned in Chapter 5, the majority o f students surveyed expressed their

preference for SCA over TCA in English classes, so did teachers (See Appendix C -l
for details). A detailed discussion o f these findings follows: Sections 6.3 and 6.4
present students' comments, and Sections 6.5 and 6.6 present teachers' comments.

6.3. The qualitative data presentation and discussion

6.3.1. Students' positive comments on TCA

The major elements to emerge from the analysis o f students' positive comments on
TCA are:

Learning from teachers in class

Established habits o f learning
Passing exams
Feeling relaxed in class
Suited to students introvert personality traits

More efficient use o f class hours

During interviews, students' appreciative comments m ainly reflected two common

features. The first feature was the students' perceived roles o f 'learning knowledge
from teachers' in class and a sense o f dependence on teachers for 'correct answers'.
This has been fostered by the traditional teaching methods in class, as well as by the
strong influence o f Chinese culture o f learning in which they had been immersed
(See Chapter 3 for further details). This is supported by the findings o f earlier studies

132
by other researchers, namely that Chinese students cite 'listening to and learning
from teacher' as their most frequent activity in class (Littlewood, 2000). The second
feature was students' appreciation o f lectures given by highly competent teachers.
One female MA student interviewee said:

Teachers are more knowledgeable [than us] and we can learn more from them in
TCA. Teachers can teach us something that we could not know otherwise. In
addition, teachers can emphasize the key points o f text materials, making
learning more effective. In TCA we can make a good use o f class hours to learn
more from teachers. W ith regard to oral practice, we can do it after class. We
come to the classroom to learn from teachers. [FS-1]

But some students viewed TCA effectiveness from the perspective o f helping them
pass exams:

I am used to TCA because I have been exposed to it since childhood. In addition,

TCA is effective and helpful for passing English tests, especially in the present
exam-oriented educational system. W ithout this, I wouldn't be able to get high
marks in m y exams. [MS-2]

Many students' written responses to the open-ended section in the questionnaire

revealed that they liked TCA because they found themselves much more relaxed
during class in comparison with the sort o f anxiety they experienced during the
student-centred (SC) class.

In teacher-centred class, I feel relaxed because the teacher covers the text in
great detail and this saves us all the time and effort we would need to go through
it by ourselves before or after class. [MS-4],

A female student commented in an interview that:

Most Chinese students are reserved; they dont like to show off in class. TCA is
suited to this personality trait even if TCA is boring. [FS-3]

As is evident, the positive attitude o f students is illustrated mainly by their perceived

obligation to learn from teachers in class. In Chinese, 'go to class' {ting ke), literally
means 'listen to the teacher'. Therefore it is not surprising that the most frequently
cited appreciative comments o f TCA are 'learning from teachers in class', reflecting

133
students' perceived role o f being students, and their attitudes to learning from the
teacher and passing exams. These comments consolidated the results o f quantitative
data, particularly questionnaire items 20 and 18 regarding TCA popularly used by
teachers to deal with text materials in a sentence-by-sentence way. On Item 20,
36.2% o f the students favoured this traditional w ay o f going over text materials
whereas 34.2% were against it. It is worth noting that 29.5% o f the students were still
uncertain. This could well indicate that these students were accustomed to TCA but
at the same time, found TCA boring. On Item 18, 27.1% were in favour o f TCA in
comparison with 40.5% against it. However, about 32.4% o f students were
indecisive, finding themselves somewhat supporting or disapproving o f TCA and
SCA at the same time.

6.3.2. Students' negative comments on TCA

The main critical comments listed below validate the findings o f the quantitative
data. The most frequently cited complaints about current traditional teaching
methods included teacher-domination in class and little attention paid to spoken
English practice as well as the absence o f fostering o f learners' critical thinking
ability. Negative comments on TCA are listed below.

TCA is boring and involves spoon-feeding

Oral practice is ignored
Teachers are incompetent
Text materials are not interesting
Students have little autonomy
There is too much focus on gram m atical structure
TCA makes students become lazy and dependent
TCA fails to take account o f developing learners' critical thinking ability

A 2nd-year female undergraduate student made the following remarks in an

interview:

The TCA is used [by teachers] to teach all English reading courses. Even the
course o f Introduction to the cultures o f M ajor English Speaking Countries was

134
 taught in this way. TCA is so boring that I can't help feeling sleepy in the class.
That's not way English should be taught and learned. [FS-2]

When commenting on the same topic, a third-year student interviewee explained:

We were very interested in the culture course at the outset o f the third semester.
However, after taking the culture course for one semester, m any students in the
class dropped out. In the fourth semester, they did not take this [one-academic
year] optional course again. Why? It wasn't that we lost interest in learning
about [target] culture but we didn't like the w ay the course was taught. We
thought we might as well read the textbook by ourselves. W hat is the point in
coming to the class? [FS-3]

These comments were confirmed by the classroom observation in Ming's class -

'Introduction to W estern Cultures' for the second year undergraduate students (See
Chapter 7 for details). In addition, the students' comments revealed that they were
very concerned about their own perceived deficiency in critical thinking ability.
Many students thought this was a by-product o f TCA in China. A 4th-year student
commented that:

Teachers follow the textbook very closely and their talk sticks closely to the
text with the emphasis on grammatical structures and rhetoric. Thus, we
become accustomed to depending on teachers for reading comprehension
without tapping our own analytical and critical thinking capability. In other
words, I think that TCA cannot develop students critical-thinking ability, nor
bring our potential into flxll play in English class. The focus o f the
Comprehensive reading or Advanced reading courses was on language
points, structures or rhetoric, which leaves no room for thinking, judging, or
inferring. As a result, our thinking ability is fossilized well beneath our own
expectations and beneath the optimum level we should reach as a university
student. [FS-4]

Regarding students' laziness or poor commitment to EFL learning as stated by the

teacher group, a 3rd-year female student said in an interview that:

To be honest, we dont want to be lazy; we want to acquire knowledge and to

feed our minds for our own future. M y parents have paid lots o f money for
my university education and I have to do them proud. But the present
teaching methods and testing system don't make me feel very motivated or
interested in what I am learning. Teachers are not good at stimulating us to
think. [FS-3]

135
The comments quoted above reveal three important features.

The first is that TCA may turn students into passive recipients. It is not surprising,
therefore, that many students answered the open-ended questions by stating that 'the
good things about TCA is that we feel very relaxed in class'. But this 'relaxation'
comes at the expense o f students' individual active initiative to think, to infer or to
judge, and above all to practise how to use the target language for real
communicative purposes.

The second is that teachers' instruction can play a very important role as to how
learners behave in class and how well learners are motivated throughout their
learning process. Gardener and MacIntyre (1993) argue that language learners'
attitudes to the target language group, to the target language, to learning the language
and to the language learning situation determine the level o f motivation. This in turn
leads to various linguistic and non-linguistic outcomes as a result o f acquiring
language in formal and informal contexts. One o f the non-linguistic outcomes is the
learners' attitude to the language learning situation. These are determined by many
factors such as what and how they learned and how they were taught, including
classroom activities, materials and the teacher's presentation. Garder and MacIntyre
conclude that 'teachers .. .clearly have an effect on what is learned and how students
react to the experience and non-linguistic outcomes are expected in turn to have
direct effects on language attitudes and motivation' (p.9).

Wong-Fillmore (1985) points out that 'if a teacher follows even an unimaginative
format ... day after day, it soon becomes a kind o f scenario which is familiar to the
students. Once they know what the routine is, they can follow it and play the roles
expected o f them' (Wong-Fillmore, 1985: 29 cited in O'Neill, 1991: 300). This kind
of'routine' or 'inertia' in students can affect students in two completely different ways
depending on a teacher's guidance and student expectations: one w ay is that o f the
active participant, the other the passive recipient. In TCA, teachers' dominance is
likely to lead students to passive inertia and this is backed up by the classroom
observation in this study (See Chapter 7 for discussion).

136
The third point, revealed by the students' comments quoted above, shows the
necessity o f setting up a well-defmed staff training program to help teachers to obtain
a clear understanding o f theories and principles underlying communicative language
teaching and to improve their own teaching methodology.

Having analysed both positive and negative comments, the qualitative data also
revealed that many students expressed mixed feelings about TCA. The following
section moves on to students' neutral comments.

6.3.3. Students' neutral comments on TCA

It is interesting to note that students' neutral com m ents focus on the following two
aspects:

Good TCA depends on the knowledge, competence and eloquence o f teachers

Effective TCA depends on the nature o f the course taught, fo r instance,
whether it is skill-oriented or content-based

A female 3rd-year student said in an interview that:

The key point for TCA is whether or not the teacher is competent enough
(knowledgeable and fluent). If the teacher is good, knowledgeable, fluent,
humorous and understanding, we like it. I f he or she isn't, we don't like it. The
most important point is whether the teacher is good at imparting knowledge
[to us], whether his or her classroom instruction is competent and whether he
or she stimulates our intellectual curiosity. [FM-5]

A 4th-year student added:

It depends very much on the nature o f the course taught. Some courses are
skill-oriented while some others are content-based. For the latter, TCA
obviously is more efficient and time-saving. [MS-7]

A 2nd-year M A student remarked that:

It is not fair to brand TCA as an ineffective w ay o f teaching English; nor is it

right to simply view CLT as a better teaching approach. Both traditional
teaching methods and communicative language teaching methods have their
own merits. The most important point is to figure out which aspects o f both
teaching principles suit us in the Chinese context best by combining the pluses

137
 o f both approaches. I believe that the m ost crucial factor is the competence o f
teacher. If teacher is not competent, no satisfactory teaching and learning
outcome will be achieved, regardless o f which approach to use. [FS-6]

The students' comments quoted above support the findings o f the quantitative data,
revealing their discontent with the traditional teaching approach (See Appendix C-2
for details). At the same time, they also indicate that TCA should not be totally
discarded. TCA could be useful and effective depending on the nature o f the course,
and the competence o f the teachers. Students' remarks reflect the data collected from
classroom observations in this study, which proved that students' negative comments
were not groundless. A detailed discussion o f this topic will be given in Chapter 7.

6.3.4. Students' comments on SCA

Having examined the students' comments on TCA, this section now examines the
students' comments on SCA. As the students' responses to the open-ended questions
revealed, 70% o f the students liked SCA and 25% disliked it (See Appendix C -l for
details). This showed that the majority o f the students preferred communicative over
non-communicative language teaching. Their appreciative comments on SCA listed
below reflect the students' desire for more oral English practice in class, the
development o f their communicative competence as well as their critical thinking
ability within the EFL programmes.

6.3.5. Students' positive comments on SCA

Students' positive comments on SCA are listed as follows:

Oral practice is stressed

SCA encourages us to think onour own fe e t
SCA helps us to get over shyness
SCA is interesting

One 3rd-year student interviewee said that:

138
 [In SCA] we are able to practise our spoken English. SCA can boost our
confidence [in speaking English in class] and also helpful in developing our
critical thinking faculties. I think that it is a w ay o f overcoming 'mute English'
learning. It promotes communication between teacher and students and
between students in English class. [FM-7]

Another 2nd-year student commented

SCA can lead [us] to development o f our ability to think and to speak [the
target language] and so on. It is interesting and helpful in developing students
potential and stimulating our interest and enthusiasm in the class. Students can
make use o f class time to practise oral English.

It seemed that the students positive comments on SCA converged in that they all
expressed their strong desire to have more opportunities to improve their oral English
and their critical thinking ability. Therefore they welcomed SCA with open arms.
However, many students did not seem to have a very clear understanding of the
principles underlying SCA, nor were they aware o f their roles as learners in SCA
class. Their negative comments on SCA demonstrate this point.

6.3.6. Students' negative comments on SCA

As already pointed out, students' negative comments revealed that students did not
have a clear understanding o f the principles or theories o f communicative language
teaching. This phenomenon was attributed to their prior experience o f so-called
student-centeredness in English classes that had led them to a misconception o f SCA.
(This also reflected the lack o f correct understanding o f principles underlying the
CLT approach on the teachers' part). The findings also revealed that their own
perceived role o f 'being students' in class contradicts the principles underlying CLA.
Their comments reflected their own perceived deficiency in their own linguistic and
critical abilities. On the other hand, the student interview accounts indicated that
teachers incompetence in adopting the innovative teaching methods led students to
be sceptical about the benefits o f SCA. The main critical comments are listed below,
and a detailed discussion follows.

We benefit little from SCA: it is a game

139
 We have unpleasant p a st experience
Discussions on the topic are at a superficial level
The teacher is not competent enough
SCA can only make teachers lazy
We lack critical thinking ability and this makes SCA more difficult

The textbooks are not suitable fo r SCA

SCA creates anxiety in class

A 4th-year undergraduate said in an interview:

I dont like SCA because a previous experience I had convinced me that SCA
was just a game and I felt we actually benefited very little from this game.
Anyway, I find that SCA is interesting in form but not in content since students
cannot learn much from each other. In addition, I have to say that the teacher
does not know clearly what SCA means. In our English class, the teacher just
asked us to come to the front o f the class one by one and explained one
paragraph in English. She [the teacher] did not fulfil her obligation as a
teacher in the class. If we can explain everything, w hy do we need to come to
the class? What is worse, what we know is emphasized in the class, what we
dont know is ignored. So I find SCA boring and a waste o f time. [FS-9]

Some student interviewees expressed their doubts about SCA because o f their stated
deficiency in critical thinking ability necessary to carry out a successful group
discussion in English class.

In SCA, when students discuss a topic, they are inclined to go astray and such
'free talk' sometimes may amount to an empty talk. I find it a w aste o f time. So I
dont like SCA. In addition, students don't become aware o f the linguistic errors
they make when they speak English in group work. We need teachers for
guidance, correction and instruction. SCA may be good for some [students] but
not good for all. [MS-9]

It is interesting to note that some comments reflected the students' perceived roles o f
a teacher in class. A 3rd-year male student remarked:

SCA cannot really show the true value o f the teacher in class. We come to class
to learn from our teacher, not to talk to our peers. I think TCA is better than SCA
in that SCA may make teachers lazy and shirk their obligations in class. [MS-10]

140
The comments above validate the findings o f the quantitative data (Q 42). About
25% o f the students surveyed took it for granted that 'the ultimate aim o f coming to
class was to learn from teachers, and 28.1% were unclear about their roles in class
and therefore uncertain about which approach was more effective (See Appendix B-7
for Frequency Table). The students' comments quoted above helped to explain why
students came to the above conclusion. The results showed that their misconceptions
mainly resulted from their previously negative experience o f a so-called student-
centred approach in English class.

Moreover, the qualitative data also revealed that m any students were sceptical about
a teachers competence and classroom management ability in employing the SCA:

Teachers are not fully prepared for this innovative method; they cannot give a
very rounded and convincing summary o f what was talked about by the
learners in the class. The organization is not good. The teacher finds it difficult
to play a facilitators role. In this case, we students feel SCA a waste o f time
unless it is well managed and organized by the teacher in the class, and
students are committed to it. Otherwise, many students tend to sit back and just
listen to others and not play an active role in the group work. If everyone thinks
like this, no real SCA will take place at all. [FS-4]

A female 2nd-year student gave the following critical comments on SCA because she
thought SCA made her feel anxious in class:

I cannot help feeling unsettled in a student-centred class because I am aware

that I cannot express m yself very well in English in front o f my teacher and my
classmates. In this case, I feel anxious and I am not interested in SCA. [FS-5]

It seems to her, that answering questions or speaking English in class is one thing,
and that answering high-quality questions and speaking good English is another.
From her words in the interview, it could be inferred that she had high expectations
o f her own performance in class which could prompt her in a feeling o f inadequacy
and anxiety when she tried to speak English in front o f her classmates. Therefore she
ended up with very limited practice in class in order to avoid 'making a fool of
herself. This typically reflects the Chinese concept o f 'face' (Brown & Levinson,
1987; Mao, 1994; Liu, 2002) (See Chapter 3 for detailed discussion).

141
This shows the necessity for teachers to make explicit to students their respective
roles in class and the benefits o f learning from one's mistakes. In addition, full
attention should be given to the students' emotional well-being as well as to their
linguistic performance. A liberal, protective and secure classroom environment needs
to be created to motivate students for their integration with the class. Consequently
students would feel less vulnerable and less nervous about practising their spoken
English in front o f their teacher and peers. As will be shown in Chapter 7, the impact
of 'face' was very pervasive in the classrooms observed for this study. When
engaged in communicative activities such as oral presentations, or information
exchange, students felt secure by 'reading' their pre-prepared written note rather than
'talking about' it freely because they did not want to make mistakes or lose face (See
Chapter 7 for details).

The comments quoted above help to explain the findings o f Item 19: why, despite
about 53% o f the students surveyed being in favour o f SCA, about 36% o f students
were still uncertain and 12% were clearly against SCA (See Appendix C-6 for
Student Frequency Table). Having presented the students' positive and negative
comments on SCA, the next section focuses on their comments which stand
somewhere between the 'positive' and the 'negative'.

6.3.7. Students' neutral comments on SCA

Their neutral comments on SCA seem to reflect the nature o f the course taught and
the teachers' competence and fluency as mentioned above. A teacher's spoken
English ability is very highly valued by students as a critical element in making his
or her lecture interesting and informative. The major elements to emerge from
students' neutral comments are:

The nature o f the course taught

The match between the group discussion topics and students interest and
background knowledge
The competence o f teachers

A female MA student said:

142
 It depends on the nature o f the courses [taught]. On the other hand it is closely
related to how much students know o f the topics to be talked about in the class.
If students know o f something about the topic, they feel confident that they have
something to say, at least. Otherwise they prefer TCA. Listening to a teacher is
better than having nothing to say or an 'empty talk'. [FS-10]

Another 4th-year student commented

All lessons are teacher-centred here. I cannot say whether I like TCA or SCA.
The only criterion is: if the teacher is understanding and knowledgeable, I like it,
if not, I dont like it. That is all [FM -11].

The comments quoted above indicate that students feel that teachers need to upgrade
their own competence and build up their own expertise before making their
classroom instruction more effective.

6.4. Students' comments on the major problems encountered in their

learning process

This section moves on to elucidate the major problems encountered by the students
in their learning processes. Students' responses revealed their disappointment at their
perceived deficiency in their critical thinking ability as a separate issue from their
deficiency in language proficiency and inadequate knowledge about western
cultures. The problems most frequently cited are listed as follows and each will be
discussed below:

Poor oral English

The learning o f culture
Vocabulary
Lack o f critical thinking ability

A 4th-year student said in an interview:

I can understand very difficult written English texts but I cannot express m yself
very clearly in simple, colloquial and correct English. I cannot retrieve the
linguistic items I have memorised when I want to use them. [FS- 12]

143
M any students were disappointed at their ability to use the target language for
communication purposes. Their disappointment was compounded by their practical
experience in August 2002 when they served as volunteer interpreters for an
International Conference on Housing held in Tianjin, China. M any 4th-year English
majors worked as volunteers for the conference, which they viewed as a good
opportunity to practise and 'test' their target language and communicative ability.
During the interviews, m any o f them said that it was through such real-world
communication that they realized the bookish English they learned in class could
not help them to cope with real communicative situations.

W ith regard to the learning o f culture in English classes, a 3rd-year student

commented:

We dont know much about Western cultures or their social customs. We have
learned something about the target cultures but we want to learn more about
them. At the same time, we find that we do not know much about our own
culture. [M S-10]

The students' comments on culture learning, in fact, backed up the findings o f the
questionnaire data (Q 36; Q37; Q13). M any respondents expressed their hope that
the teaching and learning o f culture and English language should be integrated in
English class so that these two components could be supplementary to their learning
process. As will be shown in Chapter 7, the findings revealed that although the
English Department had opened a culture course for students, it is neither sufficient
nor systematic in terms o f cultural items selected, syllabus design and teaching
methodology for the purpose o f developing learners' cross-cultural communicative
competence. There is a long way to go before students' expectations can be
adequately met. Moreover, it is by no means enough just to establish one or two
culture courses to introduce some facts and knowledge about Western cultures to
students. Without systematic curriculum design and an appropriate teaching
approach adopted by teachers in English classes, cultural knowledge or information
covered in class could seem to be 'anecdotal and fragmented' in nature, and merely
based on the instructor's own perceptions o f what is more important and what is not.
In this sense, some standard criteria for selecting cultural items and approaches to

144
culture instruction need to be established and implemented to enhance learners
cultural competence.

Concerning the development o f English vocabulary build-up, a 4th-year student

remarked:

I find that building up English vocabulary is very problematic. I think that I have
learned by heart a large amount o f English vocabulary, but I cannot retrieve
them from my memory when I try to use them. [FS-12]

These accounts support the findings o f the student quantitative data (Item 41, See
Section 5.14 in Chapter 5). M any Chinese EFL learners frequently attribute their
failure to put their ideas into [correct] English to their small repertoire o f English
vocabulary which does not provide much o f a selection for practical use, especially
in oral conversation / communication. Some students even assumed that spoken
English was simply a matter o f vocabulary plus grammar plus practice. To them, a
large vocabulary would be a marker o f high proficiency in the target language. In
other words, a larger vocabulary stock serves as an indicator o f being more
knowledgeable in English (Wang, 1999). M any learners think that a large repertoire
o f English vocabulary is a shortcut to improving their English proficiency. It is not
unusual for Chinese EFL teachers and native-English-speaking teachers to find that
most Chinese students use words in the wrong context. They often use complex
words in a context where a simple one will do. One can easily find that 'there are far
more books in many Chinese bookstores on learning English vocabulary and
guidance for preparing English tests than on current English teaching approaches and
methods' (Cortazzi & Jin, 1996: 70).

Consequently, the outcome o f such short-cut learning proves unsatisfactory. For

instance, one student informant wrote in the open-ended section:

I can comprehend English texts with a very complex grammar structure but I
cannot express m yself correctly in colloquial English. I am very worried about
it as it makes me feel less confident when I know that I speak 'Chinese

145
 English'1. It does worry me. I am about to graduate, but still I do not know what
to do about it. [FS-13]

It is true that a large vocabulary may be o f great help in making one's ideas clear in
English. However, the best and most effective way o f building up a sound repertoire
o f vocabulary that is applicable in one's actual use o f the target language is 'by
learning words in the context o f text, if not context o f situation' (Niu, 2001: 11). It is
critical for teachers to help students to realize that reading a wide range o f up-to-date
materials written in authentic English is a good w ay o f facilitating vocabulary
building. In addition, teachers should make students aware that the so-called short
cut vocabulary build-up method is very harmful, and that repeated wrong use o f
words leads to fossilisation, if not identified and corrected either by the teacher or by
the students themselves. Teachers should demonstrate the appropriate ways o f
building up vocabulary in their classroom instruction b y focusing on both language
form and discourse meaning rather than focusing on over-meticulous unlocking o f
the meaning o f language items in the text as revealed in the classroom observation
(See Chapter 7).

Finally, when it comes to the deficiency in learners' critical thinking ability, a 4th-
year female student said in an interview:

Many teachers do not know what we [students] really need. I dont think that I
have made much progress in my English learning. To tell you the truth, in
comparison with students o f other departments, I feel that English majors have
an obvious disadvantage. This is especially manifested in the area o f critical
thinking and problem solving abilities. Another area we have not learned much
about is subject-related specialized knowledge apart from knowledge about the
English language. Non-English majors have made progress in their English
learning and it puts us in a disadvantageous condition for job competition.
Since I minor in Law, I have to take some courses in Law School in which my
learning experience made me reflect and then compare the way the teachers in
English class teach their lessons. I think that TCA is to blame for the
deficiencies in our analytical and critical thinking ability (FS-12).

The comments quoted above revealed that students were not satisfied with the
progress they made in learning English and the deficiency in their critical thinking

1Chinese English here means that Chinese EFL learners speak English words by following
Chinese thought patterns.

146
ability seemed to restrict their active engagement in student-centred learning
activities, such as group discussions in English class. As one student wrote:

We must have SCA not only in form but also in essence. We must be sure
that we can benefit from it. At the same time, we need to have something
reasonable to talk about in a group discussion. Otherwise, SCA amounts to
waste o f time. [FS-13]

From a pedagogical perspective, many researchers point out that a student's

competence in critical thinking is essential not only to enhance his or her
communicative competence, but also to foster his or her individuality as well as
general development as a whole person, a person with dignity and insight into the
modem human condition (Meyers, 1986; Byram, 1997; Chen, 2000; Gao, 2000;
Wen, 2000). It should be noted that learning at universal level is not merely a
collection o f information or facts to be remembered and then regurgitated on exams,
but learners learn in order to 'apply their knowledge towards making a better world'
(Jacobs & Farrell, 2001). It is very important for EFL teachers to be aware that
English language teaching is also teaching learners another w ay o f looking at the
world in tandem with the development o f their language abilities as, otherwise, there
is no real development o f cross-cultural communicative competence on the part o f
students.

However, as this study revealed, the impact o f TCA and the traditional roles o f a
student and a teacher in class encourage students to depend too much on teachers
without thinking independently. As a result, the long-term practice o f teacher-
centeredness in EFL education 'has actually lessened the opportunities for students to
analyse and judge things themselves, and possibly encouraged their laziness in
thinking' (Huang, 1996: 249). This would harm students' initiatives and reduce their
enthusiasm for study. These comments support the findings o f the quantitative data
(Q 47), that students did not find themselves well-motivated in their English
language learning. As classroom observation revealed, the traditional teaching
approach failed to cultivate student spontaneity. Consequently, learners frequently
fail when they are faced with the need to use the target language for real
communicative purposes as illustrated above. Such a traditional approach has a great
impact on the formation o f students' study habits. For instance, they leam to focus

147
their attention on every word instead o f on the meaning o f the whole text in a holistic
manner when they read English. This is confirmed by the findings o f quantitative
data (Item 65 and 73, See Section 5.16 in Chapter 5). As Huang (1996) points out,
this would interfere with their reasoning power and impede the cultivation as well as
the development o f their communicative competence within EFL education (p. 252).

It is obvious that teachers should try to modify the traditional teaching methods in
which English text material is covered more at a lexical level than at a discourse
level, leading learners to heavy dependence on the teacher for correct answers and
explanations. As such, it is worthwhile to cite Candlin's suggestions to illustrate the
importance o f developing learners' critical and creative thinking ability in class.
Candlin (1982) suggests that

English language teachers can profitably go outside o f their English classes and
see what happens in the classes o f mathematics and natural sciences in which
teachers encourage variety on the basis o f learners different backgrounds,
aptitudes and interests, and offer them different ways o f achieving their
objectives while ensuring that there is a basic knowledge that they all have (p.
41).

Obviously this issue is a complex one and further theoretical clarification and
appropriate pedagogical strategies in this regard are discussed in Chapter 9.

6.5. Teachers' comments on TCA and SCA

Having presented and discussed students' comments on both TCA and SCA as well
as on the major problems encountered in their learning process, this section focuses
on teachers' comments on TCA and SCA as well as difficulties involved in adopting
SCA in their own classroom instruction. The teachers' responses to the open-ended
questions revealed that 61% o f them were against TCA compared with 32% in
favour. 59% were in favour o f SCA with 33% against it (see Appendix C -l for
details). Despite their apparent preference o f SCA over TCA, teachers still had
misconceptions about communicative language teaching which were reflected in
their classroom instruction, and deep concerns about adopting CLT successfully in

148
their English classes. The major elements to emerge from teachers' comments are
listed below. This is followed by discussion.

6.5.1. Teachers' positive comments on TCA

Imparting o f knowledge to learners

Easy control o f the class

Established way o f teaching

Time-saving

Students' preference

Mastery o f English grammar and structure

Apart from the claims that TCA was a well-established w ay o f imparting knowledge
to learners and an easy way o f controlling students and saving time in class, many
teachers pointed out that students were accustomed to this teaching style to which
they have been exposed since childhood. Moreover, teachers felt that TCA would
enable them to make best use o f class hours to finish their teaching plan, stress the
key points and thus make the outcome o f teaching and learning more effective.
Equally, students could also make the best use o f class hours to obtain knowledge
from their teachers. One teacher informant metaphorically described the positive
effect of TCA as 'killing more than two birds with one stone'. This was clearly a
reflection o f their perceived role o f the teacher as a knowledge provider and their
feelings that the teaching process is a one-way transmission in class from teacher to
learners (See Chapter 3 for discussion).

It is useful to reflect at this stage upon the interview data that reveals a belief
popularly held by the teachers surveyed, namely teaching Shao er jin g which means
'teach [the target language or text material] sparsely [in quantity] but in extremely
great detail'. This idea is manifest in a number o f teachers' interview accounts and
comments on teaching methods they have been using in the English class. For
instance, a middle-aged male teacher with a Ph.D. in Linguistics said that he viewed
reading comprehension as the focus o f his classroom instruction. It was his

149
obligation to improve students appreciation o f the literary value o f the text being
covered in class. His remarks are quoted below:

In my class, I focus on helping students command basic skills but also on

instructing students how to analyse complicated structures, rhetoric and implied
meanings o f the texts. In other words, I teach my students how to appreciate the
literary value o f text materials being learned. I think that it is with this goal that
the text materials for intensive reading or advanced English reading should be
selected as the term Intensive reading (Jing Du) indicates. As you know, Jing
in Chinese language is equivalent to Intensive, which means doing something
in great detail or do it very well. In other words, it is the quality rather than
quantity that matters (MT-1).

He also said that:

The Intensive Reading or traditional teaching methods are far better than other
teaching methods such as the communicative method since the latter is only an
effective way to facilitate students' listening and speaking skills. Such methods
alone can lead to an imbalance in the development o f language abilities. In a
word, I think the traditional approach is a m ore effective way o f helping
students master the ability to conduct literature and linguistic studies. (MT-1)

His remarks revealed his misconceptions o f CLT. Some students in his class said in
an interview that this teacher seemed to go to extremes spending lots o f time
explaining obscure grammar points and rhetoric devices, and expounded on less
useful [in a sense that is not often used in oral and written form] but difficult words.
In his class, the emphasis was placed on memorizing chunks o f text rather than on
listening and speaking skills, which he thought were beyond his domain o f
responsibility. One o f his students commented:

Too much focus on meticulous details o f the text makes his lesson very boring
even if he sounds quite knowledgeable and is well-prepared. (MS-14)

The teachers' comments quoted above are clearly a reflection o f their perceived role
o f the teacher as a knowledge provider and the teaching process as a one-way
transmission in class from teacher to learners. Most o f the classes observed also
reflected the teachers' inveterate belief o f 'teaching sparsely but well', and viewing
themselves as providers o f knowledge. They unquestioningly assumed that the
purpose o f English reading courses was to feed various pieces o f knowledge about
English into students minds, regardless o f students' interest or needs, let alone

150
students' practical ability to use the target language appropriately for real
communicative purposes. Undoubtedly, such a teacher-centred method provides little
chance for students to take charge o f their own learning and consequently would
inhibit the improvement o f students communicative competence as well as critical
thinking ability.

Some Chinese researchers point out the weakness inherent in such traditional
teaching methods. For example, Wang (2001) asserts that the greatest obstacle
Chinese students face in understanding an English text is the loss o f its overall
meaning, that is, only seeing the 'trees rather than the wood'. She points out that
although learners have all the meanings o f new words and the grammatical rules,
they are still at a loss to reach what the writer is trying to get across (Wang, 2001:
55). It can be seen that such a traditional teaching method contributes little to
developing learners' ability to see 'both the wood and the trees'.

Moreover, the study also indicated that some teachers surveyed tended to believe that
the major difference between the two languages, nam ely Chinese and English, which
posed the greatest difficulty for Chinese students, could lie at the lexical and
syntactic level, rather than at the textual level. They contended that greater efforts
should be made to give students a solid foundation in the target language, for
instance, by focusing on its vocabulary, grammar, idiomatic usages, sentence
structure, and so on. As such, the traditional teaching method would be the right
teaching approach to fit into the Chinese EFL context. W ith regard to various kinds
o f communicative classroom learning activities aimed at facilitating learners' ability
to use the target language for real communicative purposes, those teachers argued
that 'students can practise these activities after or before class by themselves'.

6.5.2. Teachers' negative comments on TCA

Having discussed teachers' positive comments on TCA, this section moves on to

their negative remarks. The major elements to emerge from teachers' negative
comments provide a strong critique o f this traditional teaching approach:

It encourages spoon-feeding and is too exam-oriented

151
teachers' experience as L2 or FL learners can inform cognition about teaching and
learning which continue to exert an influence on teachers throughout their career
(Holt-Reynolds, 1992 cited in Borg, 2003: 81).

The teachers' comments cited above indicate that TCA is likely to lead students to
become passive recipients, to varying degrees in class. This assumption is supported
by students' written responses: 'the good things about TCA are that we feel very
relaxed in class'. The most important point at this stage is that both teachers and
students should become aware o f the price paid for such 'relaxation'.

It is worth noting that the teachers' neutral comments on TCA and SCA overlapped.
Consequently their neutral comments on the both approaches were presented and
discussed together in Section 6.5.5 in order to avoid repetition.

6.5.3. Teachers' positive comments on SCA

The m ajor elem ents to em erge from positive com m ents are listed below.

SCA emphasizes listening and speaking skills

SCA stimulates the learners interest
SCA cultivates learners analytical thinking ability
SCA is required in the revised National Curriculum fo r English majors

For instance, a teacher mentioned that:

SCA is interesting and can stimulate learners' potential enthusiasm. Therefore, I

think that SCA is a good way for improving learners' language skills, especially
spoken English skills. In addition, in an SC class, the atmosphere is much more
lively than in a TC class. Students have more time to practise using the target
language to communicate. [FT-6],

Another teacher added in an interview that:

Group activities or interaction can help students realize their own strengths and
weaknesses in their learning process. [MT-7]

153
Some teachers firmly believed that:

SC A is a good w ay o f cultivating learners thinking, problem-solving ability, and

teamwork. Furthermore the revised national curriculum [for EFL teaching]
requires us to teach English language in a communicative way. [MT-8]

Despite teachers' apparently advocating CLT, they still expressed their doubts. They
argue that CLT is not easy to be adopted in China because it is too demanding for
Chinese teachers o f English. This will be discussed in the following section.

6.5.4. Teachers' s negative comments on SCA

The major elements emerging from teachers' negative comments are listed below,
followed by discussion:

Difficult classroom management

Teachers' lack o f confidence in adopting SCA
Students' limited linguistic competence and divided commitment
Students' lack o f real needs
Students' lack o f critical and analytical abilities

Cultural influence

Some o f these elements have more to do with students while others are more closely
related to teachers. For instance, some teachers stressed the challenges facing them in
adopting SCA, such as difficulty in classroom management. This inevitably gives
them a sense o f insecurity. One teacher said in an interview:

It is hard for teachers to control the class for the purpose o f communicative
activities. If the class is thrown into chaos, teachers cannot fulfil their
teaching schedule [FT-8],

Another teacher added:

It makes us feel less confident in organizing and managing the class since I
do not have enough time to prepare and answer all the questions the students

154
 may ask in class and sometimes I have no idea whether m y answers are right
or not. Anyway, we are not native speakers o f English. [FT-9]

It can be seen from the comments cited above that teachers are not sure o f their
ability to successfully adopt an SCA in their classes. Some teachers pointed out that
students' limited linguistic competence and divided dedication to team w ork hindered
the implementation o f SCA in class:

Students cannot express themselves very well. Advanced-level students may

find an SCA interesting and suitable but freshmen and sophomores may not,
since they are at the stage o f gaining intermediary linguistic competence.
When they are asked to do 'interaction', more often than not, they keep quiet
or they cannot express themselves appropriately. As such, it is hard to engage
them in meaningful group activities. [MT-10]

Another middle-aged female teacher gave an example to illustrate the current

situation which contradicts the notion o f CLT:

Many o f us [teachers] have such an experience that in an SC classroom, the

whole class seemed to be quite lively and dynamic. Students talked and
laughed. But next time when you talked to the students, they complained that
they benefited little from such activities. If you made students work too hard
after or before the class for the purpose o f teamwork, they would think that
we were not fulfilling our own obligations as a teacher. Above all, students
are not interested in learning for the pure purpose o f gaining knowledge or
ability. They seem to fix their sights on the job market. They are more
interested in passing exams to obtain certificates, such as BEC (Cambridge
Business English Certificate), computer skills certificate and so on, which
they think will improve their chances for getting a job. They also have limited
cultural or intercultural awareness. But it seems that they [the students] are
not so worried about it since the testing system focuses on language structure
rather than on their practical competence o f using the language. [FT-11]

Another practical obstacle confronting EFL teachers in China lies in students' lack
o f real needs to communicate in English, which is reflected in learners' behaviours
both inside and outside classroom. A teacher pointed out:

Lack o f real communication needs among students makes it difficult to keep

the communicative activities proceeding smoothly, however well intentioned
students may be. It takes more tim e and is o f less benefit than a TCA.
Learners are learning English in a Chinese EFL context, which is
significantly different from L2 environment in which students have

155
 opportunities to use the target language for real communicative purposes
outside the classroom. In China, the reverse is true. It is not surprising that
students are interested in learning English language for a perceived future use
rather than for immediate use. They believe that as long as they have
mastered it [the English language], it is theirs, and will be at their disposal
later when they need to use it for various purposes. This is, in part, why they
are so interested in learning knowledge about the target language rather than
the ability to use it. [FM-12]

This reveals why teachers should link EFL teaching w ith learners' real needs in order
to ensure effective outcomes o f teaching and learning. M any teachers also thought
that students' lack o f critical thinking abilities was also very problematic in initiating
a meaningful class discussion.

When students have a class discussion, they tend to touch on only the surface
o f the topic with few fresh and creative ideas. If it goes on like this, students
may find it not helpful and will lose interest in SCA. [MT- 13]

Another teacher added:

They [the students] do not have much interesting to say in class discussions
since they have little exposure to the target culture and the target language. It
will do them good if they just concentrate on listening to the teachers and do
all the practice after class. Teachers are much more knowledgeable than
students. [MT-14]

Last but not least, many teachers mentioned the impact o f Chinese traditional Culture
on EFL education and on learners' classroom behaviours, which they thought were
more resistant to than supportive o f the implementation o f SCA. One female teacher
commented:

1 don' think SCA suits English language teaching and learning in the Chinese
EFL context very well. M ost Chinese students tend to keep quiet in class. I
personally find such silence in class very embarrassing. They do not like to sit
in a circle, work in pairs and speak English to each other. They prefer to listen
to teachers. In addition, Confucianism teaches Chinese people to be reserved
in speech and in manners. All this contradicts the principles underlying
student-centred approach. I f students do not actively cooperate [with the
teacher], how can we engage them in meaningful activities in class? How can
we carry out our teaching plan as required by the syllabus? [FM-15]

Regarding the appropriateness and applicability o f SCA in the Chinese context, the
teacher describes it in a metaphorical way. CLT or SCA is just like a piece of

156
fashionable furniture which looks pleasing in a showroom . But it may turn out to be
unpleasant if it is not compatible with the space, interior or other existing materials
o f a particular living-room.

It is undeniable that Chinese traditional culture exerts a great influence on the roles
for students to play in classrooms. W ith the influence o f the Confucian tradition,
Chinese learners see themselves as an inseparable part o f the whole class and are
concerned to maintain harmony within their group. Therefore, in class they are
reluctant to 'stand out' by expressing their views or raising questions, particularly if
this might be perceived as expressing public disagreement. However, the greatest
challenge confronting Chinese EFL teachers is not only to identify problems, but also
to work out practical solutions in order to make EFL teaching and learning more
effective.

The comments cited above cast doubts upon the appropriateness, practicality and
applicability o f CLT in China. However, the survey findings in this study reveal that
although student reticence in English class is seen as problematic for teachers in the
process o f adopting the CLT approach, m any teachers fail to identify the real cause
o f this apparent reticence. The crux lies in identifying the root cause o f learners'
reticence in English classes rather than arriving at an overgeneralization to attribute
their reticence to the cultural and psychological traits on the learners' part. As Cheng
(2000) points out: 'overemphasis on the cultural attributes as a cause o f language
learners' reticence and passivity is groundless and detrimental to cross-culture
studies' (p. 440). Stephens (1997) asserts that over-generalizations about culture may
have 'a surface appeal, but may not be supported by strong research evidence'
(p. 123). What then are the causes for the reticence that has been observed and
reported by the teacher informants? As students' interview accounts revealed above,
one o f the root causes may be closely related to the ways the English lessons were
taught in English class. This finding is supported by earlier studies. For instance,
Cheng (2000) argues that many reticence-related causes are 'situation specific', and
teaching methodological practices and language proficiency are the two most
common causes (p.441). The classroom observations proved that learners' reticence
was indeed closely related to teachers' instruction practice in the classroom (See
Chapter 7 for further discussion).

157
6.5.5. Teachers' neutral comments on SCA and TCA

Having mentioned both positive and negative comments on SCA, this section focuses
on teachers' neutral comments. The major elements emerging from neutral comments
mainly concern two factors. The first focuses on the nature o f different courses,
whether it is knowledge/content-based or skill-oriented. The former requires much
more teacher-centeredness than the latter. The second argues for combining the good
values o f the traditional teaching approach with SCA in order to suit the Chinese
English language teaching and learning context. The two elements are listed below.

Dependence on the pedagogic nature o f each course taught

Blend o f the strengths from both TCA and SCA teaching

In interviews, some teachers also pointed out the strengths and weaknesses inherent
in both the TCA and SCA. Some teachers argued against blindly discarding TCA.

It is not fair to be blindly in favour o f TCA or SCA. It should take into account
o f the nature o f courses taught. Some courses are more suitable to TCA while
other courses to SCA. It varies from course to course, from person to person.
Some teachers are not welcomed by students not because they use TCA rather
than SCA. The key point is that they are not competent enough. [MT-16]

Another teacher said:

The objective judgement o f good or effective teaching in class is based on the

students feedback. If your students are interested in your class, in the content
as well as in the way you present it, if you challenge your students with
thought-provoking questions, if students think actively in the direction which
you show in the lecture, in a word, if your students do not passively accept what
you say and just imitate what you do, then I do not think this is the so-called
TCA although the class is teacher-centred. [MF-17]

Teachers' comments cited above revealed that they called for a combination o f the
strengths inherent in both traditional and communicative approaches to suit the nature
of different courses being taught as well as the needs o f students with different levels
o f linguistic proficiency. From the remarks quoted above, it can be seen that SCA
currently does not produce a desired result. At the same time, there seems to be much

158
misunderstanding about it on the part o f both learners and teachers. Teachers and
students should better be made aware that learning and applying a new teaching
methodology does not mean embracing it blindly, nor does it mean losing the
strengths inherent in the traditional approach to teaching. To encourage more
effective teaching in class, a blend o f the strengths from the two approaches is
possible. This topic will be discussed in further detail in Chapter 8.

6.6. Teachers comments on the major constraints of adopting SCA

in their teaching practice

Further to the teachers' comments o f the three categories above, this section centres
on teachers' comments on the problems they have encountered or they perceive to be
confronted with while they try to employ SCA in their classroom instruction. Some
o f their comments overlap with those already mentioned above. Due to the limited
space o f this thesis and also to avoid repetition, the major elements emerging from
the teachers' comments are listed below and followed by discussion.

CLT: too demanding for Chinese teachers o f English

CLT is too demanding for non-native teachers o f English. It makes Chinese EFL
teachers feel less confident in organizing and managing the class since they do not
have enough time to prepare and answer all the questions students may ask in
English class. Sometimes they are not sure whether answers they offer are correct or
not. They argue that it is very difficult for non-native speakers to know which forms
are appropriate to which context because they have not been trained in such matters.
So they conclude that CLT makes too many demands on non-native teachers of
English. This unpredictability or demand for good linguistic competence would give
teachers a sense o f insecurity and lead them to lose confidence.

Poor English Language environment

Great differences exist between the natural English language environment (e.g. L2)
and the classroom environm ent, (e.g. FL). The classroom environment is not suitable

159
for students to simulate real-life situations in which the target language is used and
communicative competence is developed. Outside the classroom, they have few
opportunities for communicating with native speakers o f English to practise their
spoken English.

Assessment

As mentioned above, it is hard for non-native teachers o f English to tell which is the
most appropriate expression to use because o f the different social contexts and
different ways o f expressing the same function in English. It is hard to evaluate fairly
and objectively not only students accuracy but also their fluency. In addition,
teachers cannot supervise every group as the communicative activity progresses.
Therefore, errors cannot be observed or corrected. Teachers are worried that errors
may become reinforced or even fossilized, that is, errors w ill stay forever with a
learner. Actually both teachers and students find it hard to tolerate errors. If errors
are not corrected, students might think that the teacher is not able, or knowledgeable
enough to detect the error in student speech. So teachers think that it is teacher's
responsibility to correct the errors in class. These factors m ean it is still difficult to
judge whether the learners output (oral production) is appropriate or inappropriate,
and it is hard to judge whether students are communicating successfully.

Students' limited linguistic competence and weak commitment

Students cannot express themselves well and in this sense it is hard to engage them in
interactive activities. W hen they are asked to 'interact', they tend to keep quiet or they
find it difficult to express themselves appropriately. In most cases, they just say what
they can rather than what they want to say. This would inevitably lead to students'
weak commitment to or even loss o f interest in group work.

Limited critical thinking ability

Students have limited critical thinking ability. They share similar views about the
outside world (although individual differences exist) and their comments or points o f
views about the topics in group-work or pair work are quite similar on the surface.

160
As such, students feel that learning from the teacher is far more effective than
learning from peers in class.

Textbooks

Most texts for Comprehensive (Intensive) Reading are extracts from literary works,
especially the text materials for junior and senior students. Some are more or less
adapted, some are original. These texts are good for analysing subtle meanings o f
words, the character's psychology, use o f rhetorical devices, narrative modes o f
organization, and so on. They are less suited for CLT in English class. Such content
as reading materials might help students to develop their ability to appreciate literary
works. However, an obvious disadvantage is that a content dominated by literary
works does not reflect the language o f day-to-day use, nor can it meet the needs o f
communicative activities in class. Actually the teachers' comments are supported by
the personal experiences o f many 4th-year respondents who participated in an
international conference in Tianjin as volunteer interpreters as mentioned above in
Section 6.4 of this chapter.

Limited formal training

Although CLT is widely promoted in L2 programs, little, in fact, is known about what
teachers understand by CLT and how they implement it in English classes in China at
tertiary level. M ost teachers receive little or limited formal training in how to
implement communicative teaching on a regular basis in various skill areas. Some
universities have sponsored some short training programs on communicative
language teaching in the summer workshops in joint efforts with one or two
publishing houses. The real aim o f such gatherings focuses more on marketing the
textbooks than on academic training. These programs are usually very short (about 3
or 4 days) and focus on classroom teaching techniques for using the new textbook
they are marketing rather than on helping teachers to understand systematically the
theoretical framework underlying the CLT approach. As a result, many EFL teachers
in China are not well informed about recent developments in the field o f teaching
methodology. Finally many teachers are not well motivated or are reluctant to find
time from their daily commitments to prepare themselves for communicative

161
instruction. Furthermore, CLT is obviously more demanding in terms o f classroom
management and sociolinguistic competence on teacher's part (such as pair and group
work, use o f task-based learning and teaching methods, use o f authentic materials).

Inadequate attention paid to teaching methodology

Most English language teachers did not take methodology courses when they were
university students many years ago. Another reason was the misconception held by
the leadership o f the English departments: courses such as Literature and Translation
or Linguistics are viewed as more important in terms o f providing learners with
knowledge about the language. However, teaching methodology is regarded as a
mere accumulation of teaching experience or mastery o f techniques rather than a
specific academic subject that deserves thorough theoretical as well as classroom-
based study. Teachers' linguistic knowledge and lecturing ability (fluency,
pronunciation, humour) are viewed as the cornerstones o f good teaching. The
departmental heads prioritised linguistic knowledge over pedagogical knowledge.
When it comes to annual promotion, publications by faculty staff on linguistics,
translation studies and literature carry more weight than teaching performance and
areas o f TEFL. This is supported by some other studies (cf. Fang & Warschauer,
2004). Moreover, with regard to the evaluation o f teachers' teaching performance, the
focus is on how well they speak English, how well they demonstrate the language
points, how well they use language teaching materials. Innovation o f teaching
methodology is not on the agenda since it is likely to invite student complaints.
Consequently many teachers disregard the need to improve their teaching methods in
class.

Teachers' workload

Many teachers surveyed mentioned the adverse impact o f a heavy teaching

workload, which consists o f two parts: the required workload and the actual
workload. The former refers to how many class hours one teacher should teach each
week. W ithout finishing the required teaching hours, a teacher cannot expect to

162
receive his or her full salary. The latter is how many class hours one teacher actually
teaches on a weekly basis.

Theoretically, once teachers finish their required workload, they have completed
their teaching duty. However, nobody seems to stop at his / her required workload.
As the interview data and written responses revealed, almost every teacher actually
overworks, ranging on average from 50 to 100 percent each week. This situation
does not necessarily mean that the colleges are understaffed: it is a process of
earning extra pay' by doing extra hours o f teaching inside or outside college.

Although the past two decades have witnessed rapid social and economic
development in China, teachers in China as a whole are still relatively underpaid. In
order to supplement their income, m any English teachers do a second or even a third
extra teaching job. Such a heavy workload constrains teachers from carrying out
classroom research, which obviously takes time and energy without bringing them
immediate financial rewards. Consequently, few teachers will spend time analysing
learners' needs or designing their own syllabi, nor will they collect suitable materials
to create communicative tasks and activities. Overall, as a full-time university
teacher o f English for 20 years, I am well aware that such a heavy workload means
the quality o f teaching suffers. Teachers frequently lecture to students using much
used printed texts and repeating the same language points, which makes their
teaching easy and safe but proves to be non-communicative and not very effective.

Economic constraints

For the teachers who desire to develop and use their own materials for
communicative activities, there are economic constraints, too. For instance, teachers
have to pay for photocopying supplementary handouts for the whole class. In many
cases, money needs to be collected from the students. But if the students are reluctant
to pay, teachers have to make do without the necessary handouts. University
libraries do not contain enough authentic English books, newspapers and magazines
for teacher and student use. Overhead projectors, data projectors and computers are
not available for teachers in classrooms. The unavailability o f resources takes up
much o f the teachers' energy and time, making teaching preparation a painstaking

163
process. Consequently, all this discourages teachers from appreciating the deserved
value o f CLT. It is worth noting that this phenomenon is not unique to English
Departments where the empirical survey was conducted but can be found everywhere
across institutions at various levels in China.

6.7. Discussion of findings

These comments reveal that EFL education innovation entails reform right across the
board, and it does not just require a radical change in teaching methodology. It
involves other areas o f the EFL education reform, which cover more subtle aspects
o f education in China, such as, educational philosophies, the testing system,
curriculum design, textbook writing, staff training, design and selection o f classroom
activities, and so on. W ithout a well-defined theoretical framework and practical
suggestions as a guideline, EFL innovation o f teaching methodology will not
succeed. On the other hand, the major elements listed above also reveal the need for
teachers to upgrade their own professional competence and to pursue higher-level
classroom-based research. Teachers need to have an opportunity to re-evaluate their
beliefs and practices, and become aware o f how to avoid dull repetition o f the same
predictable set o f materials, and activities, year in year out. These views may sound
too optimistic to some teachers, but as the findings o f this study show, there seems
no reason to assume that the majority o f teachers would not welcome such
opportunities along with the reform o f EFL teaching in China.

6.8. Interim summary

In general, the informants comments shed light on the major findings o f the
quantitative data regarding why both student and teacher groups favoured or
disfavoured the traditional teaching approach or the communicative approach, and
the possible reasons for the perceived mismatch between the groups as revealed in
Chapter 5. The qualitative data supplement and validate the findings o f quantitative
data in the following ways:

164
Student group

Students' comments both supplement and validate the findings o f many questionnaire
items in the quantitative survey (Q48, Q41, Q47. Q18, Q19, Q36, Q37). For instance,
students' comments shed light on why they found their learning styles sort o f
problematic (Q48, Q41). It seems that many Chinese EFL learners mistakenly see a
large repertoire o f English vocabulary as a shortcut to improving their English
proficiency. They learn English vocabulary by heart in an isolated w ay rather than by
learning words in the context o f a text or a situation.

The qualitative data also showed that students' poor motivation was closely
connected with teachers' classroom instruction practice (Q47, Q18, See Appendix C-
2 for further information). This finding is congruent with an earlier study by Garder
and MacIntyre (1993). They argue that learner's motivation and attitudes to the
language learning situation are determined by such factors as: what and how they
learned and how they were taught, including classroom activities, materials and the
teacher's presentation, and learners' comments. W ith regard to the learning and
teaching o f culture (Q 36, Q37), learners' comments validated their choices on the
questionnaire. They expressed a strong desire for a pedagogical integration o f culture
teaching / learning into English language learning since they found a deficiency in
their knowledge about W estern cultures. The students' comments on TCA and SCA
were most informative and consolidated and validated their choices made in the
questionnaire as to why they favoured or disfavoured TCA and SCA. However, it is
worth noting that the students did not tend to discard TCA totally, nor embrace SCA
without any hesitation, even though they expressed their strong preference o f SCA
over TCA (Q18, 19). It is very important to point out that an unexpected finding
from the qualitative data is the students' repeated complaints about their perceived
deficiency in critical thinking competence, which, they believe, prevents them from
conducting meaningful interactive learning activities in class as well as from further
developing in their future career.

Teacher group

165
The teachers' comments helped validate and elucidate why they favoured TCA in
their classes and why they did not like SCA and vice versa. Their oral and written
responses showed that they were more in favour o f SCA than TCA and they all
realized the importance o f culture teaching and learning in EFL education at tertiary
level (See Appendix C-3). Their detailed accounts o f constraints confronting them in
their effort to use communicative teaching methods revealed that the challenge was
daunting for Chinese EFL teachers. This also consolidated the opinions o f blending
the best o f TCA and SCA rather than a radical importation o f CLT principles
wholesale into China. Although many teachers surveyed favoured SCA, and sounded
positive about a blend o f the traditional and communicative approaches, their views
were not reflected in their teaching practice (See Chapter 7 for further discussion).

However, like any other classroom-based EFL research, this qualitative survey still
has its weaknesses. For instance, little detailed valuable information was elicited
concerning how teachers themselves thought their beliefs about EFL influenced their
conceptions o f CLT, and to what extent teachers wanted to implement CLT in their
own teaching practice. Perhaps, these questions would be closely related to one's
own linguistic and intercultural competence which are needed to implement
communicative teaching. W hen asked, some teachers surveyed just gave a short
reply that 'it is still in the stage o f experiment and I am accumulating knowledge and
experience in this regard'. It also seems that there is a tendency for teachers to blame
the constraints that are beyond their own control rather than admitting that they have
insufficient knowledge o f CLT. However, I feel that these weaknesses can be
compensated by the findings in the classroom observations, presented and discussed
in Chapter 7.

Chapter summary

In this chapter, I have given an account o f both students' and teachers' comments on
TCA and SCA as well as the major problems and constraints in their process o f
learning and teaching English. This was followed by relevant discussion and
analysis. Details were also given concerning why they liked or disliked TCA or SCA

166
to shed light on the choices they m ade in the questionnaires. Finally I have given an
account o f how this qualitative survey in this study supplemented or validated the
findings o f the quantitative research. In the next chapter, I w ill present the findings o f
classroom observation.

167
 Chapter 7

Classroom observation

Introduction

This chapter presents the procedures used for classroom observation and the teachers'
attitudes towards it. Details are given concerning classroom observations o f 5
English language teacher participants in the English Department, Nankai University
to see whether the generally favourable attitudes held by teachers towards the
communicative teaching approach were reflected in their classroom practice. Two o f
the five participants, Ms. Lan and Ms. Shan are selected for detailed comparison and
analysis. Following this, I discuss the four interrelated contributory factors which
have led to the discrepancy between what the teachers claimed to do and what they
actually did in class. Finally, some pedagogical suggestions are given concerning the
improvement o f teachers' instructional practice in English class.

7.1. Procedures used for classroom observation

As mentioned in Chapter 4.10, the procedure used for classroom observation was
semi-structured in the sense that I focused on the proceedings o f the class events as
a whole instead o f specific activities in the classroom. This enabled me to 'capture
more meaningful class events than determining in advance what to look for in the
observed context' (Seliger & Shohamy, 1989). In other words, I paid great attention
to three dimensions at the procedural level - classroom instruction, practice and
interaction as emphasized by Richards and Rodgers (1986). Instruction here means
the way the teacher delivers the course in the class. Practice is defined as the
language or language-related activities assigned by teachers for the students to do

168
during the class. Interaction refers to the exchange o f information between the
teacher and the students or between the students, according to unequal information
distribution or the 'information gap' (Richards & Rodgers, 1986). These three
dimensions provide guidelines for the following discussion o f the participants'
teaching behaviours during the class in this study.

When observing the class, I sat at the back o f the classroom because all the classes
observed were teacher-fronted. In order not to make the teacher feel uncomfortable
and at the same time to make the class observation as authentic and natural as
possible, I did not tape-record the classroom process. I took notes on the events that
were going on in the class (types o f practice, types o f interactions and class events
and so on). Altogether 16 hours o f English classes were observed. (See Table-4.5 in
Chapter 4 for the details o f teacher participants, class hours and the courses
observed). Prior to discussion o f participants' teaching behaviours, it is worthwhile
giving brief background information on teachers' general attitudes towards classroom
observation so that readers may have a clear idea as to w hy the classroom
observation proved to be a most sensitive aspect o f this study.

7.2. Teachers attitudes towards classroom observation

Classroom observation proved to be quite unpopular as far as the teachers were

concerned. Some teachers, especially senior ones in their early or mid fifties, whom I
contacted in person or by telephone, tactfully declined the request, declaring that
they would feel quite uncomfortable having their lessons observed. One teacher in
his mid 50's who taught the course Introduction to Cultural Backgrounds fo r major
English-speaking countries declined bluntly when I approached him with my request
to observe his class. The teacher just said very modestly this lesson is not very
interesting and not worth observing. Please do not waste your tim e. I was very
surprised to hear that the teacher thought his own lecturing was 'not interesting'. If
this was the case, I wondered, what would his students think o f his lecture? This
seemed to justify Lius (1997) remarks about the role o f observing classes and its
implications in the Chinese EFL context. According to Liu (1997), classroom
observation was viewed negatively by teachers as it was always regarded as a means

169
o f assessing teaching. No matter what other purposes observation might have, the
professional reputation o f the observed teacher's 'face' was at stake. (Scollon &
Scollon, 1995; Ting-Toomey, 1999).

Their reluctance to accept classroom observation was derived from their deep-rooted
misunderstanding o f the purpose o f the research project and also previous negative
experiences. Some teachers thought classroom observation was fruitless, amounted
to faultfinding and even counter-productive, since it made the observed teacher feel
nervous and threatened and was therefore not representative o f a normal lesson.
Managing to convince them that I was coming to the class as an individual
researcher, not in any official capacity, I finally got five teachers to agree to be
observed.

7.3. Teacher participants' teaching behaviours in their classes

A close examination o f the data collected through class observations shows

remarkable similarities in the types o f instructional activities, class practices and
teacher-student or student-student 'interactions' observed in all 5 participants' classes.
Some striking differences are also revealed between Lan and the other teachers in the
way communicative activities were carried out in the class. It is important to note
that class practices can be further divided into two categories: text-based and non
text based. The former is invariably non-communicative in the sense that there is no
information gap between the speaker and listeners. For instance, in Shan's class, she
asked one student to read the paragraph aloud before she went through the text in a
traditional sentence-by-sentence way. She sometimes asked the whole class a few
questions which were listed on the right-hand side o f the textbook or some
grammatical questions, including paraphrasing some new words or verbal phrases.
For example, when she came across the following sentence in the text:

... I did a 30-feet-long mural for which I laboriously copied hieroglyphics onto
the sheet o f brown paper. But no one ever told me w hat they stood for?

170
She asked the whole class, what does the verbal phrase stand fo r m ean? and then
asked a male student to give a synonym o f the word mural. The student answered:
fresco, but no difference or similarities was explained between the two words.

Non-text-based activities were somewhat communicative although at times they

could be non-communicative as well. For instance, in Lan's class, students were
divided into groups o f 3-4 to discuss the topic 'ethnic m inority discrimination' in
relation to the text materials. This reflected the communicative nature o f the class
observed. However, also in Lan's class, when students were required to take turns
doing an oral presentation in front o f the class, almost all o f them just read their pre
prepared notes rather than talked about the topic freely. There were no questions and
answers after each presentation. Their activity was useful only in so far as speakers
had to make themselves understood by the whole class. No communicating or
exchanging ideas with each other took place.

The teachers' patterns o f classroom instruction and class activities are summarized in
Table-7.1 and 7.2 respectively. The similarities and differences between what
teachers said and actually did in their classes are listed in Appendix D -l.

As can be seen from Table-7.1 and 7.2 below, despite the differences in the types o f
courses and teaching materials taught, the five participants were extremely similar in
the two key aspects o f teaching: instruction and practice. During instruction, they
mainly focused on language structure and grammatical points and followed the
textbook very closely. Students were under tight control when they did text-based
exercises which covered sentence structure, text-related questions and answers.
Another common characteristic was that the content o f instruction was determined by
text materials used in class, reflecting heavy dependence on the teaching materials
(See Table 7.1 and 7.2).

171
 Table7.1. Teachers' teaching patterns in the class

Name Course Pattern of Teaching

Steps followed in class by the teachers

1. Asking students to give oral presentation

Lan Comprehensive 2. Briefly recapping the main points
Reading 3. Going over the text sentence by sentence
4. Doing text-related exercises
2nd-year U 5. Putting students in groups for discussion

1. Asking students to give 'news report'

Shan Comprehensive 2. English dictation
Reading 3. Going over the text sentence by sentence
4. Asking students to paraphrase new words
2Tld-year U 5. Doing text-related exercises

Introduction to 1. Asking student to read a paragraph aloud

M ing Western 2. Going over the text sentence by sentence
Cultures 3 explaining new words, cultural information
4 Doing text-related exercises by asking or
2nd-year U answering questions

International 1. Asking students to read a paragraph aloud

Cai Business 2. Going over the text sentence by sentence
Reading 3. Explaining some business terms
3rd-year U 4. Offering some background information

1. Going over the text materials by listing key

Chang Linguistics points and terms
2. Going over the text materials closely
4th-year U 3. Explaining terms and key words

Notes:

U stands for undergraduate students majored in English language

Italics refer to the similarities among the teachers observed.

172
 Table-7.2. Types of class events

Name C lassroom C lass Events

Instruction
T ext-based N on-text-based
1Explaining new Asking students A sking students to
words in text; questions listed on discuss a topic in
demonstrating usage. the textbook and sm all groups;
Lan Providing cultural asking them to Asking students to
information. paraphrase new do a presentation
Going over a text words. (pre-prepared
sentence by sentence. written speech)

Explaining new words Asking students to Asking students to

in the text; paraphrase new come to the front
Shan demonstrating usage. words in the text. and give news
Going over the text report (pre-prepared
sentence by sentence. written speech)
Explaining new Asking students to
words, places o f answer the text- None
M ing historical interest in based questions
the text listed on the
Going over the texts textbook.
sentence by sentence
Explaining the new Asking students to
Cai words and business paraphrase new None
terms in a text. words / terms.
Going over the text
sentence by sentence
Explaining definitions Occasionally asking
Chang o f linguistics and then some text-based None
referring back to the questions
text materials

Although different sub-types o f practice could be distinguished under both text-based

and non-text-based activities, the teachers' classroom practice was characterized by
two features when they engaged students in text-based activities. First, the students
had to be familiar with the text before they were able to complete the exercises in the
class. Second, the classroom activities provided very few opportunities for the
students to engage in genuine communication because these activities did not
generally require information gaps, nor did they require efforts to work towards the

1Italics in Tables 7.1, 7.2. and 7.3 indicate the similarities of teaching patterns observed in
the classes of teacher participants.
173
communicative goals with the exception o f group discussions on a designated topic
in Lan's class. Students merely answered the questions based on the text content
which had just been closely analysed in the class (See Appendix D -l for further
information).

However, it was worth noting that there existed striking difference between the
communicative group discussion in Lan's class and those non-communicative
activities in the other four participants' classes. Lan was the only teacher among these
participants to engage students in a communicative group discussion on a designated
topic relating to the text. Regarding oral practice activities, only Lan and Shan
required students, in turns, to go to the front o f the class and give an oral
presentation. Both Lan's and Shan's classrooms shared common approaches to the
way the oral practice was carried out. As was evident in the observation, the real
problem was not o f the oral practice per se, but the way students did their oral
practice. During the presentation each speaker actually read his or her pre-prepared
written note rather than talked about the topic freely. Consequently, there was no
interaction between speaker and listeners. No questions and answers were elicited
based on the content presented. Everyone took turns, one after another. It was more
like students doing individual homework than engaging in communication with
peers. Further discussion and analysis o f this is continued in the following section.

7.4. Comparison of interaction between Lan's and Shan's classes:

communicative plus traditional methods

As mentioned above in 7.1, three dimensions at the procedural level were the focus o f
classroom observations. The results o f observation showed that the instruction style
o f 5 teacher participants was remarkably similar: a traditional approach in which text
content was dealt with very closely with emphasis placed on structure and
grammatical points. The following discussion focuses on the other two dimensions:
class practice and interaction, which should indicate how well communicative or non-
communicative activities were taking place. As shown in Table-7.3 below, the main
similarities and discrepancies lay in the ways in which communicative activities were

174
organized and conducted in the class. Table 7.3 highlights the similarities and
differences between Lan and Shan in their teaching styles.

T able 7.3. Sim ilarities and D iscrepancies

Similarities Discrepancies
Teacher
Oral practice Interaction Communicative Interaction
students T and S activities S and S
Lan Reading Oral Very Limited Group discussion Yes
presentation on a given topic
Shan Reading news Very Limited None None
report

Note: S: standing for students; T: standing for Teachers.

7.4.1. D iscrepancies

As shown above, the discrepancy between Lan and Shan was that Lan's class was
more communicative in nature than Shan's class because Lan engaged her students in
the communicative activities via group discussions which seemed to be favoured by
students (as shown in Q l, 2, 3, 5 in the questionnaire survey). Students could practise
their spoken English by communicating with one another in a group. It was Lan's
class which the students liked most. In Lan's class, when students were doing
communicative activities (small group discussion on a designated topic), the whole
class was divided into 5-6 groups with 3 or 4 students in one group. The students
started discussing the topic and some o f them looked up new words in the dictionary
for their talk. Other students took notes while listening to their peers. It seemed that
the discussion went well and students were active in the group work. After the group
discussion, one student from each group gave a short summary to the whole class. It
was interesting to point out that the report-back speakers from each group talked
about the summary with only an occasional reference to a written note. This was
because they did not have enough time to complete their summary in written form
and had to list some key points which they needed to present.

Judging from the spontaneity and fluency o f their fre e talk, it seemed that their oral
presentation mentioned above in the Section 7.3 would be more communicative if the

175
students had done it in this free-style manner rather than reading written notes. After
the group summary, the teacher finally gave a brief comment by supplementing the
topic with some further information. It is worth mentioning that students' summary
reports reflected their limited knowledge about the topic under discussion as they had
little experience or knowledge o f ethnic minority discrimination in China. They
mainly talked about the cultural differences among different nationalities in China
rather than ethnic minority discrimination. This points to the necessity o f selecting a
discussion topic that can match the students' understanding and experience o f the
outside world to ensure a more fruitful group discussion. But in Shan's class, there
was no such communicative group work. Students were given opportunities to
practise their oral English without genuine interaction either between teacher and
students or between students themselves.

7.4.2. Sim ilarities

As shown in Table 7.1, 7.2, and 7.3, the similarities between the two teachers were
mainly in the following two aspects: 1. going over the text content in a sentence-by-
sentence way (See Section 7.3), and 2. oral practice. Apart from the similar ways
both teachers dealt with the text materials, both teachers also showed one common
feature in the way they engaged their students in oral English practice in class:
teachers had inadequate expectation o f their students in terms o f their [the students']
classroom behaviours. The students in both classes, when giving oral presentation or
news report, read the pre-prepared written notes instead o f talking about the topic
spontaneously in front o f the class. Consequently no real interaction took place
between the teacher and the students or among the students themselves.

Shan's class

In Shan's class, the students were required to take turns to come to the front o f the
class to tell the whole class 4 pieces o f news in English. As revealed in the
observation, a student came to the front and began reading her pre-prepared note.

The teacher did not see her role as one o f guiding her students to talk about rather
than to read their presentation. There was no interaction involved between speaker
and listeners. The classroom atmosphere was not active and some students paid
divided attention to the speaker. While the 'news reporter' was reading, I noticed from
my position o f seat in the class, a girl sitting in front o f me was reading a novel Gone
with the wind, and two male students on the right side were either looking up new
words in an electronic dictionary or doing something else. The teacher, Shan, made
corrections every now and then and offered extra information while a student was
reading her news report.

Lan's class

In Lan's class, the students were asked to give an oral presentation individually on
the topic what makes a good teacher or a good student in the 21st century? Students
had almost a week to prepare a presentation on this topic. In the class students took
turns to give a 4-minute oral presentation. Not unlike in Shan's class, the striking
feature o f this oral practice was that speakers also read their pre-prepared written
speech rather than talked about it. The teacher noted the key points out o f each
speech and then wrote them down on the blackboard after each individual speaker
finished his or her speech.

I observed that, at least half o f the speakers had no direct eye contact with the
audience and seldom used gestures to enhance her or his speech. A male speaker,
with his hands behind his back, just stared at his note while reading his presentation.
It was amazing to find in this model teacher's class, neither atmosphere nor effort
was made to get her students to talk about rather than read their presentation. After
the observation, I discussed this with Lan and asked her for her comment on students'
'reading presentation'. It was clear that she did not consider reading out the
presentation to be a problem at all. According to Lan, each student's presentation
performance was given a mark which would count towards his or her total end o f
semester mark. Students took it very seriously and spent a lot o f time on preparing
the topic. Lan explained that her students wanted to do a good presentation in front
o f the class. Therefore they tended to believe 'reading out' obviously was a safe way
to reflect the time and effort they devoted to their preparation. Explicitly asking them
not to refer to their notes when they did their oral presentation might have been
counter productive, she claimed. They m ay feel very nervous and would not have

177
been able to express themselves fluently. Many students would try to memorize their
pre-prepared notes and it would be very likely that some o f them might forget their
'lines' during their presentation. Students were worried that such a poor performance
would not do justice to the work that they had done as part o f their presentation.
They felt safer referring to their notes. Lan concluded that her students' proficiency
in English was not yet good enough and teachers could not expect too much at this
stage. 'More haste, less speed'.

Her remarks showed clearly why she did not even expect her students to talk about
rather than read the topic in her class. She thought reading out would reflect how
much effort each o f her students put into preparing the topic, and consequently lead
to a good performance. It seemed that Lan was not clear o f what difference it would
make by explaining to students explicitly the beneficial functions o f talking freely
during the oral practice. Referring back to the summary talk by report-back speakers
at the end o f group discussion in Lan' class, it can be seen that although students did
not speak English very fluently or in other words, they talked less fluently than they
read, their efforts would pay off. Through doing this, students would gradually
overcome their nervousness and shyness.

7.5. Comments on Lan's and Shan's classes

As is evident, a complex mix o f affective, sociocultural, and educational factors were

at work in determining the w ay students behaved in class, such as fear o f negative
evaluation (Horwitz el al, 1986) by teacher and peers, anxiety, fear o f losing face,
their lack o f self-confidence in their proficiency in English and the habits they had
acquired unconsciously over the their school experience. Apart from the cultural
influence on language learning and teaching as mentioned in Chapter 3, the
following 3 points relating to the students' classroom behaviour and teachers'
instruction practice are worth making clear. 1. students' oral presentation assessment,
2. students' anxiety about speaking English, 3. teacher's inadequate feedback

Assessment

178
The students were told that the presentation they were required to do would count
towards the end o f the semester course grade. Students cared about scores very
much. They viewed them as a vital part o f their credibility vis--vis their classmates.
Moreover, for students to receive the annual Nankai University Academic Merit
Award, the average score o f their total course grade is taken into account. It is not
surprising that their 'free-talk' style would be negatively affected by their concern
about the score they obtained in their oral presentation. They believed that a high
score was a reflection o f knowledge and ability. Prom pted by this belief, students
would tend to evaluate the outcome o f the presentation solely in terms o f the score
they got rather than how much communicative work they did in class.

So the students cared more about scores than the communicative nature o f the oral
practice. They rated the score as a strong indicator o f competence and credibility
(face) in the eyes o f their classmates. This is in contrast to the educational philosophy
in the Western countries underlying CLT principles, in which interactive activities
were emphasised, fluency was viewed more important than accuracy and 'students
are encouraged not only to develop academic competence, but also to demonstrate
communicative competence in a social setting in order to do well in school'
(Gilmore, 1985: 139 cited in Liu, 2002:512).

Anxiety in relation to speaking English in class

During a free talk after the class, many students mentioned that they would feel very
anxious and nervous without referring to notes when they spoke English in front o f
the whole class. This issue is not new. Earlier studies suggest that anxiety matters to
students o f all abilities and high language anxiety is related to students' negative
concepts o f themselves as language learners, and negative expectations for their
language learning talents (Bailey, 1983; Horwitz et al. 1986; Price 1991). This is
especially the case when there is heavy ego-involvement (Bailey 1983; Horwitz et al.
1986; Price 1991; Young 1990; MacIntyre & Gardner, 1989, 1994). MacIntyre &
Gardner (1994) stress that learn er-perceptions are important in the matter o f reducing
language anxiety, and studies o f students' negative correlations between anxiety and
output quality indicate that anxious students have more difficulty expressing

179
themselves and tend to underestimate their level o f ability (self-derogation)
compared with more relaxed students (self-enhancement) (MacIntyre & Gardner
1994). Anxious students are capable o f showing high levels o f achievement, given
sufficient time to study and practice (MacIntyre & Gardner 1994: 298). It is
important for teachers to identify anxious students and any elements o f the classroom
environment which produce this reaction (Horwitz et al, 1986). In addition, teachers
should study how learners' anxiety interacts with different teaching methods and
personality variables such as learning styles, motivation, and personality types, and
what techniques are effective in coping with it. In addition, making explicit to
learners the beneficial functions o f practice for real communicative purposes could
help them to reduce the level o f anxiety 'along w ith their development o f EFL
language skills' (MacIntyre & Gardner, 1994).

Teacher's inadequate feedback

Another common feature which was identified in both teachers' classes was
inadequate feedback by the teachers. Some typical linguistic and lexical errors made
by student speakers escaped their attention which could lead to students' fossilization
o f these errors. For instance, in Lan's class, while reading her written presentation on
the topic o f 'the qualities o f being a good teacher', a female student began her speech
with

During the journey o f my study, there are some teachers who I respect very
m uch.. .1 dreamed o f being a teacher in my childhood because a teacher can
control a large group o f students.. .But later on I know that to be a teacher is
easy, but to be a good teacher is not easy (Italics: my emphasis).

Her speech exposed a typical problem that Chinese students had in learning English -
Chinese English or Chinglish as it is often called. Speakers express their ideas in
English but with a typical Chinese lexical variation which sounds awkward to native
English speakers. In her speech, during the journey o f my study is a word for word
translation from the Chinese which would be in English in the course o f my English
study or simply during the years o f my English study. Yet this escaped the
teacher's attention. Uncorrected Chinglish expressions would be fossilized in the

180
classroom, which is very often the only place Chinese students can be exposed to the
target language, especially spoken English. In this study, Chinglish or Chinese
English is used to refer to 'English sentences that are grammatically correct but they
make either no sense or mean something very different from speakers' intentions'
(Shi 1994 cited in Kent, 1999: 198). The main reason w hy students had this problem
was that they used English words but still thought in Chinese - something very
difficult to spot because Chinese speakers are influenced by their mother tongue (Shi,
1994 cited in Kent, 1999: 198). Unfortunately, this typical error escaped Lan' s
attention and was totally ignored.

In addition, none o f the speakers said thank you at the end o f their speech. There was
an obvious lack o f eye contact, gestures, and facial expressions - the indicators o f
communication skills in their speech. They were concerned only about reading their
speech and being understood in class. There was virtually no interaction. No elements
of strategic competence were emphasized, or even pointed out in class by either
teacher or students. This reflected students' deficiency in communication skills. On
the other hand, it also revealed that teachers needed to correct their own
misconceptions o f communicative language teaching. They should have a clear
understanding o f the nature and aim o f providing students with oral English practice
in the class. Karavas-doukas (1996:188) has stressed the significance o f correct
attitudes and perceptions teachers hold on classroom instruction. He notes that
teachers educational attitudes and theories, although in m any cases held
unconsciously, would have an effect on their classroom behaviour, and could
influence what students actually learn.

7.6. Interim summary

As is evident above, the comparison shows that both teachers adopted the traditional
teaching method to deal with the text materials. At the same time, they stressed the
importance o f students' oral practice in class. However, the striking difference was
that Lan's class consisted o f two parts: communicative and non-communicative
activities. During the communicative activities, students were engaged in
communicative group discussions while in Shan's class, there were no such a

181
communicative aspect o f learning activities. As for non-communicative activities, the
teacher dealt with the text content in the traditional way.

From m y observation, it can be seen that in Lan' class the students were more
actively engaged in communicative activities than those in the rest o f the classes
observed. The students' feedback in Lan's class indicated that they enjoyed the
combination o f traditional ways o f dealing with the text content and communicative
group activities in the class because the crossover blend helped them both acquire
new language items and be given an opportunity to improve their oral English.
Students would feel much safer to speak English in a small group rather than do it in
front o f the whole class. The results supported the findings o f the questionnaire data
that the 2nd-year students favoured the traditional way o f dealing with the text content
(Q20) and at the same time, they liked group work, too (Q1, Q3). They would like to
be active in group work but would be afraid o f speaking English in front o f the whole
class (Q5, Q75). When asked to comment on the class, some students in Lan's class
remarked that 'we like it' because 'we feel that we have learned something from the
teacher and in the meantime, we have practised our own spoken English in the class'.

In Shan's class, on the other hand, the class atmosphere was not lively and students
paid scant attention to the 'news-reporter' and to the teacher. The observation showed
that Lan had made an effort to include some communicative activities in her
instruction and the result was positive based on students' responses. But the other
teachers seemed unprepared for change in this direction. It should be noted that even
Lan, as a model teacher in the English D epartm ent, Nankai University for her effort
in initiating CLT in her class, still had much to learn about English language
teaching and learning. She needed to revise her views o f the roles o f being a teacher
and a student in her efforts to integrate both traditional and communicative
approaches. The way her students read out their oral presentation showed that she
had not fully understood the implications o f interactive communicative work.

Despite the merits and demerits, an obvious problem worth addressing relates to oral
practice activities identified in both classes. As mentioned above, the results of
classroom observation revealed a deep-seated misconception about CLT on the part
o f the teachers. Their misplaced expectations o f students' oral work led to students

182
dependence on reading prior-prepared notes as they did their oral presentation. They
should have been talking about it or engaging in a spontaneous exchange o f ideas
among their peers. In fact, this misconception was not an isolated case. In the eyes o f
many teachers, CLT meant less teacher talk and m ore 'student talk' regardless o f
nature and spontaneity o f the talk per se. W hen asked w hy she did not encourage
her students to talk about rather than to read their presentation in class as mentioned
above, Lan replied that 'students lacked confidence for free talk in class. The pre
prepared speech would give students more time to organize their ideas, and therefore
would make them think deeply. She claimed that it would lead to accuracy in terms
of content and form. Last but not least, she argued that 'reading' would boost their
confidence and minimize the number o f errors, and thus reflect the real effort
students had put into the task. It was obvious that it was the teacher's attitudes that
set the scene for the learners' heavy dependence on accuracy rather than fluency.

However, since there was no information gap nor interaction between speaker and
listeners, the audience would, in all likelihood, become bored or lose interest or
even become distracted while their peers were 'reading' as was shown in the
observation. It was hard to deny that a well-prepared presentation would allow
students to draw upon their L2 or even LI lexical, phonological, and structural
resources to polish their individual speech with clarity and precision. However, it
must be pointed out that by 'reading their notes', the underlying aim o f the learning
task would be side-stepped and the question o f cultivation o f their ability to use the
language appropriately for real communicative purposes avoided.

It can be seen that both teachers and students were focused more on 'accuracy' than
'fluency'. (Here, 'fluency' does not refer to 'reading fluently', o f course, but to overall
proficient spoken and spontaneous language). Such a 'reading' practice seemed to be
more relevant to the evaluation o f their production skills (pronunciation, intonation,
and content) than producing comprehensible output through interaction and
meaningful exchange o f information in the class, even i f the topic per se was very
interesting.

183
This highlights the need for teachers to change their deeply-ingrained attitudes and
perceptions o f the nature o f communicative learning activities and their teaching
practice. Karavas-doukas (1996) points out that teachers can play a crucial role in
determining the implementation o f an approach, which, in turn, influences student
learning behaviour in class.

Consequently, both teachers and students should be aware that classroom activity o f
this kind alone was not sufficient for developing learners' communicative
competence as there was little interaction or negotiation o f meaningful content in its
real sense. It should be noted that it would be a completely different scenario if the
teachers had explained explicitly to the whole class the beneficial functions of
talking about their ideas rather than reading their written notes during the
presentation so that on-the-spot feedback (questions and answers from the teacher
and the students) could be exchanged. In so doing, the students' potential would be
aroused and brought into play. This phenomenon revealed the teachers' lack o f
proper understanding o f CLT and therefore led them to have low expectation o f their
students.

Howe (1993) stresses the significance o f the teacher's role in influencing learners'
classroom behaviours. He asserts that irrespective o f cultural traits inherent in
learners' learning styles, teachers expectations o f their students are a vital factor in
determining students' classroom behaviours. The observation revealed in most o f the
classes observed for this study, the teachers had inadequate expectations o f their
students in terms o f stimulating students' interest in and enthusiasm for
communicative activities.

It can be seen that teachers perceptions and expectations influenced significantly

their classroom teaching, as well as the w ay students behaved in the class. In our
study, neither the teacher nor the students considered this fact as a problem. The
common conception was that the painstaking accumulation o f incremental language
items alone would equip learners to use the language in the future. Practice makes
perfect and 'strenuous effort would lead automatically to success in the end', as the
Chinese proverbs have it.

184
On the learners' part, it was interesting to note that the above reading-not-talking
presentation also revealed that the students were subjected to what Hofstede (1991)
terms 'high degree o f uncertainty avoidance' which is characterized by avoiding
taking risks in the classroom for fear o f 'making errors or losing face' (See Chapter 3
for discussion). If, however, the teachers could think differently and make explicit to
the students value o f 'free talking', the students would feel more confident and be
equipped to engage in communicative interaction. Then the classroom could become
the lively and cooperative environment in which students were encouraged to
participate. Such a strategy requires enormous effort from both teachers and students
alike for the communicative approach to work. This assumption is supported by the
students' positive responses to Q3 and Q5 regarding small group activities in this
study (See Chapter 5 for details).

7.7. General discussion of classroom observation

As shown above, Lan's class was relatively communicative in nature while the
classes of the other 4 participants were not. M y classroom observation brought to
light the evident weaknesses o f their teaching methods. This finding contradicted the
teachers' positive responses to the communicative approach in the questionnaire
survey. However, it is encouraging to note that there is light at the end o f this
communicative teaching tunnel. M y observation o f Lan's class revealed that the
combination o f both traditional and communicative approach could be more effective
in offering learners more opportunities to speak English and engaging them in
communicative activities. The following sections (7.7.1. and 7.7.2) focus on the
teaching methods used by the teacher participants as revealed in their classes. The
Section 7.8 addresses the new hope in the current situation o f combining CLT with
the traditional approach in China. Section 7.9 focuses on the analysis o f mismatch
between what teachers claimed to be or to do and what they actually did in class.

7.7.1. T raditional m ethods in reading class: not seeing the w ood for the trees

M y classroom observation revealed that the w ay in which the teachers dealt with the
text materials was problematic. They used a traditional grammar-translation method

185
in which the teachers explained in detail the word's meaning and usage, sentence
formation, and English grammar. This method failed to promote extensive reading
skills, thus hindering students from ever reading fluently (Li, 1984) because, in
Dzau's (1990) words, 'students were taught to focus on each word in a text and to
examine the text carefully for any unknown grammatical phenomenon' (p. 83). Using
this method, they would often 'miss the thread o f the argument, the relationship
between parts o f a text and the text's main idea' (ibid.). The exclusive use o f such
methods would result in English reading courses that are mere extension o f
supplementary exercises for vocabulary building and grammar learning.
Consequently the logical meaning and cultural content inherent in the text would be
lost 'in a jum ble o f words and structures' (Zhang, 2003:51).

If Chinese students' reading skills remain poor, their listening and speaking skills are
usually weaker, and their writing skills are the weakest because they do not use the
target language for real communicative purposes (Fang & Warschauer, 2004: 302).
The findings in this study support this. M any 3rd-year and 4th-year students in this
study frequently complained about what they saw as their own weakness in critical
thinking competence (See Chapter 6 for details). It should be noted that the different
components of communicative competence are interrelated and the development o f
one competence will affect that o f another (Savignon, 2002).

In spite o f teachers' positive responses to communicative approach in the

questionnaire survey, the classroom observation showed that the teachers mainly
focused on the traditional teaching methods. This reflects the Chinese traditional
notion o f foreign language learning which involves a progression from a quantitative
accumulation o f knowledge to the final qualitative improvement. Dzau (1990) points
out that the Chinese traditional value o f learning suggests that memorizing the target
language's vocabulary and studying its grammar will automatically foster fluency,
flexibility and appropriate use o f language. It is believed that creativity will flow
naturally in time, from discipline to proficiency in rote memorization, there is no
need for the teacher to encourage fluency per se (Fang & Warschauer, 2004).

As is evident in the survey findings, this traditional teaching method is a root cause
o f students' dependence on teachers and the holding up o f their lack o f critical
thinking competence. It teaches learners to see 'only the trees, not the wood' in
reading an English text.

7.7.2. Bottom -up and top-dow n inform ation processing in reading English

Rumelhart (1980) points out that a reading text only provides directions for readers
as to how they should retrieve or construct meaning from their own previously
acquired knowledge and this previously acquired knowledge structure is called
schema theory. According to this, comprehending words, sentences and entire texts
involves more than just relying on one's linguistic theory. Efficient comprehension
requires the ability to relate the textual materials to one's own knowledge (ibid.).
Clark and Silberstein (1977) point out that there exist two information processing
approaches, namely, bottom-up processing and top-down processing. Bottom-up
processing is triggered by the incoming data and is also called data-driven because
the data enters the system through the best-fitting, bottom level schemata. It focuses
learners on the individual components o f spoken and written message, that is, the
phonetics, graphemes, individual words and grammatical elements which need to be
comprehended in order to understand these messages (Nunan, 1991). Top-down
processing takes place as the system makes general predictions based on higher level,
i.e. general schema, which means background knowledge in reading comprehension
(Clark & Silberstein 1977: 136). It focuses learners on macro-features o f text such
as the w riters or speakers purpose, the topic o f the message, the overall structure o f
the text and so on (Nunan 1991: 4).

Wang (2001) points out that the traditional teaching method o f covering the text in a
sentence-by-sentence manner is a focus on bottom-up processing strategy at the
expense o f seeking the macro-features o f the text covered. It tends to rely too much
on bottom-up processing on individual words and analysing sentence structure. It
ignores the importance o f applying top-down processing for the overall view of the
text. This omission can hinder the development o f good reading skills by failing to
furnish the necessary background information and by leaving dormant any critical or
analytical thought processes.

187
Needless to say, readers must understand the individual parts o f the text as part o f
grasping the overall meaning o f the text materials. But early studies report that top-
down thinking is crucial in processing the information. For instance, Nuttal (1983,
1996) suggests that in practice, 'effective readers continually adopt a top-down
approach to predict the probable theme and then move to the bottom-up approach to
check their assumption by reading details. They are 'two simultaneous and
complementary ways o f processing a text' (Chia, 2001). This implies that in teaching
reading, 'teachers should instruct students to start their reading by using a top-down
approach and later switch between the two approaches, as each kind o f interpretation
supports the other.' (Chia, 2001). In other words, teachers should help students to see
both 'the wood and the trees' in English reading class.

Following a bottom-up processing approach, teachers view reading as a mechanical

process, and tend to concentrate on the surface-level features o f reading rather than
the whole unit o f discourse. There is no doubt, that surface and cohesive elements are
important markers o f meaning. However, if considered as ends in themselves and not
in relation to more holistic or global markers o f organization in the discourse, they
will not lead to efficient production and interpretation o f a text. This is supported by
the students' interview accounts in that students considered this bottom-up approach
used by their teachers in teaching English reading as a cause o f their poor critical
thinking ability (See Chapter 6 for details).

On the other hand, as the classroom observation revealed, most o f the comprehension
questions and practice exercises are designed at the lexical or grammatical level
while skills for obtaining logical meaning are seldom taught in a systematic way.
Consequently, students m ay be able to identify a large number o f words in isolation
and explain their grammatical functions, but they are unable to assign appropriate
meaning to these words with regard to how they are used properly in context. This is
supported by the findings o f questionnaire data (Q 41). W hen asked whether students
used new words to make a sentence so as to remember new vocabulary more
effectively in a context, only 29.4% gave a positive response while 43.3% answered
negatively. 28% o f the students remained uncertain, indicating that they were not
aware o f the importance o f such memory strategy (See Chapter 5 for discussion).
The habit o f vocabulary building was reinforced by the traditional teaching approach.

188
It is not surprising that students frequently complained that their own sense o f logical
relationships was very weak and they often felt at a loss when asked to answer 'why'
or 'how' questions which obviously require logical reasoning or inference from the
context in a holistic manner rather than just literal information from the text.
Therefore, innovative teaching methodology which helps students comprehend
overall textual meaning, over and above lexical and grammatical meaning, is what is
required. 'Innovative' here means moving beyond the traditional way o f teaching
English reading towards some sort o f communicative-oriented group discussions in
class by picking up a text-related topic.

Following this line o f reasoning, we can see that the words and sentences are reliable
landmarks but they do not constitute the total picture. A text is a communicative
occurrence involving textuality (Halliday & Hasan, 1976), without which the text
does not stand up from a communicative perspective. Halliday and Hasan (1976)
note that:

A text is best regarded as a semantic unit: a unit not o f form but o f meaning.
Thus it is related to a clause or sentence not by size but by realization, the
coding o f one symbolic system in another. A text does not consist o f sentences;
it is realized by, or encoded in, sentences (p. 2).

According to Halliday and Hasan (1976), the basic glue o f a text is cohesion which
concerns the ways in which surface components o f the text are constituted or the
relationship o f one linguistic item to another in a text. These components cohere with
one another by various grammatical dependences. Obviously, this dependence
operates at surface level o f the text and constitutes major signals for sorting out
meanings and uses. However, the surface text alone is not enough. There must be
interaction between cohesion and other standards o f textuality to make
communication efficient (Savignon, 1983). Another standard is coherence which
concerns ideas within a text and the relation o f all sentences or utterances in a text to
a single 'global proposition' (Savignon, 1983: 39). Global proposition here refers to
the structure o f concepts and relations underlying the surface text. Savignon stresses
that the establishment o f a global meaning for a whole passage is an integral part of
both expression and interpretation and makes possible the understanding o f the
individual sentences or utterances included in a text (Savignon, 1983: 39). A text

189
does not make sense by itself, but rather by the interaction o f text-presented
knowledge with readers' stored knowledge o f the world. Thus, awareness o f the
notions o f both cohesion and coherence would help students realize the underlying
meaning o f a passage and improve their reading efficiency.

7.8. Positive scenario: a light at the end of the tunnel

In spite o f the shortcomings mentioned above, the findings o f classroom observation

suggest a positive outcome. For instance, Lan's efforts to integrate CLT into her
teaching, although underdeveloped, is a positive contribution to methodological
innovation and contributes much towards a long-term process o f educational reform.
M y classroom observation revealed that Lan had two distinct components in her
instruction: the first was traditional teaching aspect, and the second was the
communicative aspect. It was the communicative aspect that made her class different
from the other 4 teacher participants.

However, the traditional methods she used left a weak residue which reinforced a
bad reading habit as mentioned above in the Section 7.6.1. This raises other
questions: how do teachers evolve from a grammar-oriented classroom to a
communicative one? What CLT activities most support language learning from a
teacher's perspective in the existing EFL situations in China? How would teachers
clarify the role o f grammar in CLT? All these questions deserve further research in
the future.

It is hoped that favourable feedback in Lan's class together with the praises she had
received for her innovative efforts, would encourage other faculty staff to increase
their commitment to methodological innovation. She shows how communicative
methods can be integrated into existing teaching practice. In addition, to diffuse such
a reform more broadly, the college administrators will need to introduce greater
incentives by providing faculty staff with adequate in-service training programmes at
home and abroad, and helping teachers to pursue a deeper understanding o f CLT.
The future development o f CLT depends on 'correcting teachers' misconceptions o f
the communicative approach' (Thompson, 1996). This will significantly advance

190
their own professional competence. In order to help more teachers and students
realize and accept the deserved values o f methodological innovation, administrators
should also encourage teachers and learners to express and discuss their own beliefs
about language teaching and learning so that they can extend and deepen their
knowledge about CLT (Fox, 1993).

7.9. Analysis of the mismatch between what teachers claimed to do

and what they actually did in English classes

As mentioned above, m y classroom observation also illustrates a mismatch between

the teachers' positive responses to communicative approach in the questionnaire
survey and their actual teaching practice in their classes. A careful examination of
teacher participants' teaching behaviours and their explanations sheds light on the
factors causing this gap (See Appendix D -l). There are four interrelated contributory
factors that lead to the discrepancy between what m ost teachers said and what they
actually did in class. They are discussed below.

7.9.1. Ignorance o f learners' needs

Firstly, the findings o f the classroom observation revealed that despite teachers'
general positive attitudes towards a student-centred approach, most teachers do not
have a clear idea o f what their students want to do with English, either in class or in
the future. This is backed up by the findings in this study that the teachers have
merely gauged 49% o f their students preferred classroom activities and language
learning strategy use (See Chapter 5 for details). Moreover, teachers are not certain
about how to achieve the objectives o f SC A in their classroom instruction. Their
ignorance o f students' needs leads to vagueness o f teaching goals, which in turn
makes it inevitable that teachers rely heavily or solely on designated textbook
materials to achieve the course objectives. This can result in teachers' slowness to
innovate and a persistent failure to create a classroom environment conducive to
learners' active participation in communicative activities. Ross (1993) argues that
'hesitant teachers see the text as their most reliable model for correct language use.
Such a position is defensible primarily because their role is to reproduce in their

191
students the knowledge in which they themselves have been grounded (p. 108). The
gap between what most teachers claimed to be doing and what they actually did in
class supported the findings o f an earlier study that many teachers trained in a
traditional way find that it is a painful step to adjust themselves to different
innovative teaching methods, and are usually unprepared when difficulties crop up.
They often give up and resort to using conventional methods in their teaching (Chen,
1996: 7).

As shown in the classroom observation, this leads to the substantial amount o f time
spent on going over the text sentence by sentence and doing text-based exercises and
activities that are mostly teacher-controlled and non-communicative in nature.
Although they claimed to be in support o f and adopted some features o f SCA or
CLT, most o f them actually still use the traditional approach.

7.9.2. T raditional role o f the teacher

Secondly, the heavy dependence on the text materials inevitably places the teacher in
the position of'know ledge provider'. The Chinese teachers perceived obligation as a
transmitter o f received knowledge m ay help us understand why the act o f learning
English for millions o f Chinese students and teachers is basically the detailed study
o f textbook materials.

Such a role as a knowledge provider fits well with traditional Chinese views on
teaching and the teacher-student relationship, which is lubricated by respect and
hierarchy. 'The teacher is viewed as a knowledge provider and students as the
receivers o f knowledge, and the teaching as a process o f transmitting knowledge
from teacher to students.' (Wu & Fang, 2002: 156). One might also call this the
'empty vessel' view o f learning. This reflects the tradition o f language teaching in
China which has been characterized by 'teacher-centeredness, structure-based
instruction and drill repetition' (Sun & Cheng, 2002: 75). With such a tradition it is
not surprising that teachers surveyed have their own version or interpretation o f CLT.
Li (1997) reports that many Chinese teachers understand CLT as merely a
concentration on listening and speaking or language games to attract students'
attention. Some think that CLT is m erely a method for teaching spoken English but

192
not reading and writing. Other researchers point out that it is more difficult to
persuade teachers than students in China to accept CLT (Anderson, 1993; Burnaby &
Sun, 1989).

Although the teachers observed formally agreed with the idea that the teacher should
play the role o f facilitator in a communicative class, judging from their instructional
behaviours, it was clear that the teachers were much more comfortable with their role
as the dominant figure in class. It seems that they do not have a clear idea o f how to
integrate CLT into traditional language teaching or vice versa. As Maley (1982)
points out:

It is a sad observation that many teachers who exercise rigid control do so

[TCA] from a sense o f insecurity. They are worried about their inability to
operate in a situation where everything is not in their control. This is a natural
enough fear but one which experience usually proves unjustified when they try
a more relaxed approach. It is a fear o f the unknown more than anything else
(p. 47).

Following this line o f reasoning, teachers treat the classroom as the venue for
imparting to students linguistic items as specified in the designated teaching
materials. The role o f teachers as 'knowledge provider' is further strengthened by the
existing assessment system which emphasizes knowledge about the target language
rather than ability to use it for a communicative purpose (Wu & Fang, 2002). As one
teacher interviewee said, 'the current teaching trends are essentially unchanged. Most
teachers are teaching the old way even if they use a new textbook'.

7.9.3. Misconception of CLT

Thirdly, although the CLT approach is widely recognized and promoted by the
revised curriculum at tertiary level in China (English Division, 2000:13), little is
actually known about what teachers understand by CLT and how to implement it in
the classroom. Regardless o f the rich theoretical base for CLT, 'different
interpretations and variations exist at the level o f design and procedure (Richards &
Rogers 1986). As a result, many Chinese EFL teachers have become very confused.
The results o f this survey revealed that some teachers equated CLT with the teaching
o f spoken English. Others regarded CLT simply as a teaching method that did not

193
require grammar teaching. M any teachers simply view CLT as increasing student
talk time and decreasing teacher talk time in class as shown in Shan's and Lan's
classes. This reflected that the fact that although teachers expressed their favourable
attitudes towards the communicative approach, very few classes under observation
are actually communicative in nature. Teachers have a partial knowledge o f CLT and
their beliefs about language teaching and learning are based on their own EFL
learning and teaching experience. Johnson (1994) points out that the prior beliefs
based on formal language learning experiences were so powerful that teachers could
not alter their beliefs without explicit alternative instructional practices (p. 451). This
reveals that teachers' misconceptions m ust be corrected before the communicative
approach can be applied in its real sense in class.

On the other hand, many teachers do not know how to set about improving their
teaching and consequently cannot modify their own teaching style, nor incorporate
related communicative activities in their class. The inevitable result is that they omit
the communicative activities suggested in the textbooks and use the time saved for
text-based pattern drill exercises or teaching supplementary materials which are not
communicative-oriented in nature. For instance, in Shan's class, students were given
a dictation in which the teacher read a short passage four times at a tempo much
slower than normal speed.

7.9.4. Teaching culture in English class

Last but not least, a comparison between teachers' views on culture teaching and
learning and the teaching behaviour during the Culture course showed clear
discrepancies between what was said and what was done (See Appendix C-3). The
traditional method o f going over the text in a sentence-by-sentence way dominated
the culture course as Ming's class revealed. The teaching and learning outcome of
this course was not satisfactory as the interview data revealed that many student
informants complained about the w ay the course was delivered.

My classroom observation showed that the culture teaching in the EFL domain
amounted to treating foreign cultures as a collection o f knowledge items. The teacher
merely provided learners with a great deal o f cultural information. In response to the

194
call for culture teaching and learning in EFL programmes, some target culture
introduction courses are offered for English majors in many English departments as
an optional course for English majors at university level. However, due to the deep-
rooted traditional teaching methods prevalent in English language classrooms, these
culture courses follow almost exactly the same teaching methods as used in the
'intensive reading' class. The usual process o f the teaching was merely text-reading,
explaining grammar, structure, language points, and translation o f terms, names and
places whereas more meaningful methods, such as comparison and contrast from an
intercultural perspective, class discussion, and interaction between teachers and
students, were seldom attempted. The traditional teaching methods employed by the
teacher in the culture courses also downplayed the effectiveness o f the teaching o f
culture regardless of the hours instructed or new courses introduced into the EFL
programmes.

As Cao (1998) recounts, one o f the main conventions in foreign language teaching in
Chinese tertiary institutions is that culture teaching is done solely as imparting
knowledge or facts. As long as learners get to know the facts, they are assumed to be
equipped with competence for intercultural communications. This is reflected in
Ming's culture class. It seems that teachers tend to think if culture courses are offered
in the EFL programmes, Chinese EFL learners' crosscultural ability will be increased
along with their EFL linguistic development. Needless to say, such a point o f view is
very misleading in the process o f EFL teaching and learning.

Some Chinese EFL researchers propose a different approach to culture teaching in

English class. Zhang (2000) suggests a task-based approach to teaching culture.
Unlike the knowledge-transmission methods, this approach encourages an
interactional, experiential learning concerned with the learners own interest, and
cultural knowledge is considered as 'the ability to organise thought, to interpret facts
and act on them appropriately' (Zhang, 2000). Learners will be provided with the
opportunities, instead o f mere facts, to explore new ideas and new knowledge for
themselves, and consequently they will learn more effectively and enthusiastically.

The task-based learning and teaching views cultures as something always in the
making, and being dynamic. Teacher should give sufficient consideration to
teaching learners how cultural assimilation and differences have been formed and
how cultural conflicts have occurred and have been dealt with in real situation. Such
a comparative method would encourage students to reflect upon their own culture,
and at the same time to discover new knowledge about another. Therefore it would
be a useful and necessary means towards understanding a new culture, which will
finally help learners enhance their communicative competence.

Some Western researchers note the importance o f integrating culture and language
learning and contend that language set in a meaningful communicative environment
is discourse and not an artificial construct (Widdowson, 1978; Snow et al, 1989).
Learners who are taught to treat language learning and content learning as
independent processes need to be constantly reminded that without real meaning
language functions and structures are likely to be learned as abstractions with little
conceptual or cognitive value. Content provides a motivational basis for language
learning. When learners find content interesting and informative they will have a
strong desire to learn. 'Language then will be learned because it provides access to
content' (Xiao et al 1996). A closer examination o f this issue reveals three main sub
factors that have contributed to this situation in China.

Teachers' competence

As revealed in Ming's class, the teaches' own levels o f intercultural sensitivity and
competence cast doubt on the effectiveness and quality o f the teaching o f culture in
EFL programmes. Given the lack o f adequate intercultural competence and expertise
required in the teaching o f culture, the desired aim can be hardly achieved. This
reveals the necessity that EFL teachers themselves should become interculturally
sensitive and at the same time improve their own understanding and practice o f
teaching methodology. This also shows the urgency and necessity to set up a
systematic staff training program with a clear theoretical and pedagogical guideline
for teaching culture in English classroom. As shown in interview accounts, given the
situation, it is not surprising that students feel that in culture class the aim o f
developing learners' cultural awareness is subordinated to improving language
knowledge and cultural information. Cultivation o f sociocultural competence is

196
ignored and jusl left open to individual interest rather than being incorporated as an
integral part o f the English language teaching and learning.

Textbooks

The selection o f socio-cultural items for culture learning in EFL is still problematic
as revealed in the classroom observation. The culture textbooks were more
concerned about presenting facts and history and gave insufficient consideration to
help teachers to teach learners such knowledge and skills as how cultural
assimilation and differences had been formed and how cultural conflicts had
occurred and had been dealt with in real situation. In China, there are a few cultural
textbooks that introduce, in general, the cultures o f major English speaking
countries and these books are widely used by EFL teachers for their teaching of
culture courses. I have carefully read two culture textbooks widely used by English
departments at university level in China, including Nankai University. The content
o f these culture textbooks revealed much simplification and many stereotypes. The
compilers probably are not consciously aware o f this in the process o f compilation.
Furthermore, rarely are the sources o f information or the background o f the authors
given in the textbooks, hence, the reader does not know whether the cultural
information is from a cultural insider or outsider. For m ost Chinese students who
have no direct exposure to the target cultures or the outside world, they are very
likely to conceptualise the information contained in the textbooks as authoritative
information or knowledge. It is not unlikely that they would have an impression:
Englishmen are [all] conservative and Americans are [all] materialistic. Obviously,
it is very simplistic and stereotyped to come to such a conclusion. Appendices D-2
and D-3 contain an example o f two passages from two widely used culture
textbooks which reveal stereotypical description o f British and American cultures
(See Appendix D-2 and D-3 for details).

The testing system in China

In two nation-wide English proficiency tests for English-majors at university level,

namely, EMT-4 and EMT-8, culture does not have an explicit place as the tests focus
on the knowledge about the target language. This undoubtedly discourages the
teaching and learning o f culture studies. Wang (1999) points out that many teachers
in China adopt a teach-whatever-is-tested attitude and learners also learn
whatever-is-tested. Therefore, Wang calls for the inclusion o f testing o f cultural
competence in these tests because 'it would be the major means to attract the
attention from teachers and students (p. 15).

Moreover, the lack o f proper and effective teaching o f culture in class is reflected in
the topics that students chose for their graduation dissertations. I have examined the
undergraduates' graduation theses which were submitted as required for BA degree
in the English Department, Nankai University. The small number o f cultural topics
chosen by English majors, after almost four years o f formal EFL learning is very
revealing. For two academic years (2001 & 2002) alone, among 153 fmal-year
English majors who graduated in the year o f 2001, there were only 5 students (3.3%)
who chose cultural topics for their dissertation. The following year, 2002, sees no
major improvement: 7 (4.8%) out o f 145 students. In other words, among the total o f
298 students, only 12 students chose to write about cultural topics, or 4% o f the total.
However, even those students who chose cultural topics just gave overall
descriptions or comments without a comprehensive comparison and contrast, nor any
theoretical framework cited or reviewed. This phenomenon was not congruent with
the findings o f the questionnaire data that students expressed their strong desire to
learn about Western cultures and peoples.

From a pedagogical perspective, it can be seen there is a long way to go before the
teaching and learning o f culture can be integrated not just added into the EFL
programmes for English majors at university level since it requires radical innovation
both in curriculum design and in teaching methodology. Further research effort is
needed in this area to seek the proper integration o f culture teaching into English
language education.

7.10. Further discussion

M y classroom observation shows that despite the shortcomings exposed in Lan's

class, she tried strenuously to integrate the communicative components o f CLT into
her instruction. As for the rest o f teachers observed in this study, it is clear that they
still mainly adhere to the traditional approach. The gap between what they claimed to
be doing and what they actually did reflects not only their misconceptions about
CLT, but also manifests the various challenges confronting them in adopting CLT in
their English classes (See Chapter 6 for discussion). To integrate CLT into their
teaching practice requires teachers to adopt attitudes in their classes which may
contradict their established beliefs, educational philosophies, and classroom
instruction practice. As revealed in Lan's class, neither the traditional nor the
communicative approach will, on its own, be the panacea for the problem o f EFL
education at tertiary level. An appropriate integration o f the strengths from both CLT
and TCA, namely, an eclectic model, would, however, go a long w ay towards
addressing the problems. This eclectic model will be discussed in detail in Chapter 8.

As far as teaching methodology is concerned, the English Department under study

contains both a traditional approach and a communicative component. The former far
outweighs the latter because very few teachers have successfully adapted the
communicative component into their teacher-centred classes - Lan being the
exception. The observation o f Lan's class shows that she is trying to adapt the
communicative methodology to traditional classes but she needs to take the process
much further. As revealed in her class, she gave students more time to practise their
spoken English but there was no real interaction between speaker and listeners. She
undertook text analysis in a very traditional way with emphasis on structure and on
language points (See Appendix D -l for further information). The striking difference
in Lan's class was that, after text analysis, she attempted to reorganize the teaching
procedure and obtained a shift o f focus. That is, she converted the lesson used for
text analysis into communicative group discussion in which the text material was
used only as the background for this activity and the teacher receded somewhat. The
teacher's role became one o f helping the students complete the task and monitor the
process o f the activity by providing some necessary scaffolding.

Her experiment proves that proper integration o f communicative and traditional

methods can improve teaching and learning outcomes. On the other hand, it also
shows the persistent influence o f traditional language teaching as shown by the way
she undertook the text analysis. It has to be noted that grammar and vocabulary
should be taught only when necessary since the English majors students have learned

199
English at least for 8 to 10 years before being enrolled into the university, and they
have covered extensive grammatical points. Teachers did not have to analyse a
reading text sentence by sentence because it made an English class very dull. As
revealed in the classroom observation, the atmosphere in Lan's class changed after
students started participating in their own group activities. The progression from non-
communicative to communicative learning activities marked a distinct turning point
in terms o f stimulating students' interest, and engaging them in meaningful activities.
The atmosphere in traditional class was dull, but in communicative class it was
interesting and challenging.

For the rest o f teachers observed, the weight o f traditional language teaching
preconceptions is still heavy. In their class, students were given more time than
before for oral practice but the teachers still concentrated on grammar and discrete
language points although they used new textbooks. This clearly indicates that the
adoption o f a communicative view o f language is more important than using a new
textbook or introducing new teaching techniques. If teachers do not change their
attitudes vis--vis EFL teaching, the CLT approach will pass them by. Introducing
new methods for classroom activities is helpful but not sufficient. Adapting
approaches should start from the beginning o f curriculum design and should address
the accumulated, educational beliefs o f the teachers and the actual needs and
preferences o f students. Moreover, adaptation o f teaching methodology will be more
effective and welcomed by students if the theory o f learning and teaching from which
the communicative language teaching methodology is derived is reviewed and shared
among teachers and students. If both the teacher and the students are more aware o f
the beneficial functions o f interaction through communication with peers in class,
they would see the value in talking about rather than reading out their oral
presentations.

Chapter Summary

In this chapter, I have given an account o f classroom observations o f five teacher

participants and showed their similarities and discrepancies in terms o f their
classroom instruction pattern. A detailed comparison has been made between two
teachers, Lan and Shan, in terms o f the teaching methods they used in their classes
respectively. Following this, I also have discussed the four interrelated contributory
factors that have led to the discrepancy between what the teachers claimed to do and
what they actually did in their classes. In the next chapter, I will discuss how to
integrate CLT into traditional teaching methods in order to make the communicative
language teaching more appropriate for the Chinese EFL context.

201
 Chapter 8

G eneral discussion o f the survey findings in

this study: an eclectic approach

Introduction

This chapter proposes a possible solution to one o f the major issues in the findings
arising from this study: the disappointment the students experienced concerning their
level o f communicative competence, which was related to the old-fashioned
traditional teaching approach in the English language classes. A synthesis is
proposed which combines elements o f the communicative language teaching
approach with the elements o f traditional Chinese language teaching methods. I
discuss the rationale for this eclectic approach and then outline how it would apply to
the classroom instruction focusing on both the English language form and its
meaning, and classroom progression. I also suggest a pedagogical model for teaching
the comprehensive reading course using an eclectic approach. Finally I present the
challenges in adopting this approach in China.

8.1. The rationale for an eclectic approach to EFL education in

China

An eclectic approach here means the combination o f strengths from both the CLT
approach and traditional Chinese teaching practices which have proven useful and
effective in the past. The eclectic approach also includes the ideas proposed in
Context Approach (Bax, 2003). The context in which EFL learning and teaching
takes places is a crucial factor in the success or failure o f learners because contextual

202
factors hugely influence learners' ability to effectively learn a foreign language (Bax,
2003, see Section 2.3 in Chapter 2 for details).

As shown in the previous chapters, the survey findings reveal that although both the
students and teachers in this study are inclined to see classroom activities
emphasizing the real use o f the target language as more effective than those
emphasizing formal grammatical competence, they tend not to totally abandon the
traditional approach in favour o f CLT. Moreover, the notions underpinning CLT are
incompatible with the Chinese EFL context. These findings reflect the reality that no
single approach can cover all aspects o f English teaching and learning. In the case o f
CLT, various challenges confronting Chinese EFL teachers and students in their
attempts to use CLT have to be taken into account and a synthesis o f both approaches
should be created to suit the Chinese context. Given the fundamental challenges and
sociocultural differences as described in previous chapters, it is not desirable, and
can be even counter-productive, to sweep away traditional practices and put CLT in
their place. After all, a methodology is only effective to the extent that 'teachers and
students are willing to accept and implement it with good faith' (Hu, 2002: 102b),
and whether CLT is accepted or not is largely determined by 'the set o f values and
beliefs that teachers and students have been socialized into' (ibid).

As described in Chapter 2, CLT is a pedagogy o f foreign origin, some o f its tenets

and practices are incompatible with those found in the Chinese culture o f learning.
However, this does not mean that CLT has nothing to contribute to EFL education in
the Chinese context. It makes sense to look at those features o f CLT that are not at
odds with the Chinese culture o f learning. For instance, some o f the pedagogical
practices underpinning CLT, such as collaborative learning, cultivation o f socio-
linguistic competence, use o f authentic teaching materials, and language learning
strategy training, are in tune with many aspects o f the Chinese culture o f learning
which emphasizes collective orientation, socially appropriate behaviours and concern
for the right w ay o f doing things. Therefore these features can be integrated into the
prevalent Chinese pedagogical practices without threatening deep-rooted cultural
belief systems. For such a beneficial integration to happen in China, it is necessary
for Chinese EFL researchers and teachers to take an eclectic approach and make

203
'well-informed pedagogical choices grounded in an understanding o f socio-cultural
influences' (Hu, 2002b).

Some earlier studies show that the key issue o f innovation in EFL teaching
methodology in China is not to totally discard the traditional approach, but to
improve it (Harvey, 1985; Anderson, 1993; Rao, 1996; 2002; Wei, 1997; Wang,
1999; Han, 2001; Hu, 2002b). However, these studies largely focus on EFL teaching
for general purposes, that is, for non-English major students at college level. Given
the substantial differences in many aspects o f EFL teaching between English-majors
and non-majors as described in Chapter 1, the pedagogical practices suggested in the
above studies emphasize teaching techniques over socio-cultural and cognitive
aspects o f English teaching and learning - a key component o f communicative
competence model (Canale & Swain, 1980; Canale, 1983).

This study reveals that many students and teachers still find teacher-centeredness
effective in one way or another, depending on the nature o f the course and the
competence o f teachers concerned. Given the students needs, the demands o f society
and the fact that English reading course is still prescribed as a language lesson based
on a text, it is desirable to synthesize CLT with the prevalent traditional teaching
practices, and conduct the Intensive Reading (IR) or Comprehensive Reading (CR)
course within a textual discourse and a communicative orientation.

Wei (1997: 86) argues that the question is not to abandon the IR teaching method, but
how to use the method effectively and creatively. He claims that through the IR
method, the teacher may deliberately display a problem to stimulate the students
desire to deal with problems by themselves and to encourage students to develop a
good command o f useful phrases and expression. It is in the IR class that an initial
strong grammatical foundation is laid down, upon which ever increasing degrees of
fluency in English and general communicative competence may be developed (P.
82).

Actually what he calls for is a modified version o f English language teaching

practice which includes some components o f CLT. Harvey (1985), based on his
experience o f teaching Chinese college students in China, finds the constructive side
o f grammar instruction and learning in class. He asserts that:

204
 Chinese English language teaching methods cannot simply be dismissed as
'primitive, old fashioned or misguided'. There are a number o f obvious
historical, pedagogical and psychological reasons for them. What might be
called 'traditional' methods and skills are not fundamentally or necessarily
unworkable alongside modem EFL teaching methods. The idea that the two are
mutually exclusive is absurd. EFL in China needs W estern experience and
expertise, not Western dogma. A balanced approach and the use o f existing
potential both have a fundamental part to play in the development o f language
teaching in China (Harvey, 1985: 186).

The findings in this study support the above claims that the real issue is not to
abandon the traditional approach, but to improve and modernize it. In other words, to
reconcile it with CLT in such a way that both approaches complement each other.
O'Neill (1991) draws our attention to the characteristics o f English language lessons
that worked well using either TCA or SCA. He emphasizes that 'the critical skills
teachers need are to use their discretion to judge and select which o f the two types o f
approaches is most likely to yield fruitful results with a particular class at a particular
time' (P. 290) so that the two approaches are complementary to each other.

However, in reality, while trying something innovative in the classroom, it is quite

hard for teachers, even the so-called best teachers, to really know what works or does
not work for students at first. 'All they can do is sharpen their intuitions and instincts,
and try out various new ideas, but not abandon too quickly the things that seem to
have worked well in the past' (O'Neill, 1991: 290). Some Western L2 researchers
also call for an integration o f communicative methodology with traditional
methodologies in a highly principled way (Sampson, 1984; Pennycook, 1989;
Holliday, 1994; Larseen-Freeman, 1999; Pica, 2000). Pica (2000) stresses the
importance o f learning English for the purpose o f communication, and o f instructing
linguistic forms and rules through reading and listening to meaningful and
comprehensible input. Pica points out that the assumption o f 'acquiring a language
not only for the purpose o f communication but also through communication' does not
apply to all aspects o f language learning, particularly those involving complex
grammar rules or subtle socio-linguistic and pragmatic strategies (p.5). Pica argues
that when attention is focused solely on the communication o f a message, learners
are drawn almost exclusively to the meaning and comprehensibility o f input, and
only secondarily to the structure and forms that shape the input. Such experiences

205
can 'weaken opportunities for learners to notice how L2/FL structure relates to the
meanings o f messages they encode, how social norms are observed and maintained
linguistically.

Research has shown consistently that the most effective instruction is that in which
both meaningful communication and form are addressed (Brock et al, 1986; Harley,
1989; Lightbown & Spada, 1990; White, 1990, 1991; Lightbown et al, 1991 cited in
Pica, 2000: 8). Moreover, much has been written about the necessity and importance
o f choosing the right teaching methodology to suit a particular situation or context
since English teaching methodologies are not culturally-free nor culturally
transferable without proper adaptation (Sampson, 1984; Pennycook, 1989; Holliday,
1994; Huang 1996; Larsen-Freeman, 1999). Huang (1996), a Chinese EFL
researcher asserts:

Evaluation o f a particular method depends on many factors, such as language

and learning theories, teaching techniques, syllabus design and teacher and
learners roles. One factor that is often easily ignored is that o f context. A
method that can be considered beneficial in one context may not be so in
another. Furthermore, alternative approaches can be found for teaching
different language skills (p. 11).

Some Western researchers also support this view. For instance, Bax (2003) stresses
that although CLT has served a useful function in the L2 profession, particularly as a
corrective to shortcomings in previous methodologies, CLT has always neglected
one key aspect o f language teaching, namely the context in which it takes place. Bax
further suggests that the first priority is the learning context, and the first step is to
identify key aspects o f that context before deciding what and how to teach in any
given class. According to Bax, the context refers to the teacher's understanding o f
individual students and their learning needs, wants, styles, and strategies as well as
the course-book, local conditions, the classroom culture, school culture, national
culture and so on.

Taking account o f all these factors given as far as possible in each situation, the
teacher will be able to identify a suitable approach and language focus. The decision
will depend on the 'context analysis'. It may be that an emphasis on grammar is
useful to start with, or an emphasis on oral communication. It may be that lexis will

206
com e first. It m a y b e that group -w o rk is suitable, o r a m o re form al lecture m ode. The

ap p ro ach w ill p ro b ab ly be eclectic, in o rd er to m e e t d iffe re n t learner need s. In

co ngruence w ith the above p ro -in te g ratio n p o in t o f view s from b o th C h in ese and

W estern researchers m en tio n ed above, the findings in this stu d y sh o w that, in order

to ensure effective E nglish language teach in g and lea rn in g outcom es, n e ith e r the

trad itio n al n o r th e p u re C L T ap p ro ach can b e ad o p ted w ith o u t adequate m o d ific a tio n

to suit th e p resen t E F L tea c h in g situations in C hina at tertia ry level.

G iven the situation described above, C h in a n e e d s to co m bine C L T w ith the

trad itio n al approach. O nly in this w a y can E F L stu d en ts in C h in a b e n e fit from the

co m bined strengths o f the tw o approaches. A n y te a c h in g m eth o d o lo g y has its ow n

reaso n s to exist. E v e ry th in g depends on th e specific situations - th e 'context' in B ax's

term , w h ere the m ethods are u sed and popularised. It is up to th e teacher and learner

variables to determ ine w h ich m eth o d s, textbooks, and tea c h in g styles suit th em and

w ill fit in w ith the stated ped ag o g ical goals. In a w ord, b o th T C A and S C A h av e to

b e adjusted to suit th e C hinese E F L context.

T he p ro p o sed eclectic m odel, show n b elo w in F ig u re 8-1, com bines the strengths o f

th e traditional approach, C L T and th e c o n tex t approach, and treats the C hinese E F L

co n tex t as the m o st im p o rtan t starting p o in t for estab lish in g a suitable approach to

ensure effective outcom es o f E F L teach in g in C hina. T his a p p ro ach does not negate

the v iew that language is fo r co m m u n icatio n , b u t it qu estio n s the assum ed universal

ap p licab ility o f C L T. A s is ev id en t from the d iscu ssio n above, at p rese n t this

p ro p o sed eclectic m o d el m ay offer a m o re realistic fram ew o rk for E F L ed u catio n in

th e C hinese co n tex t th an m e re ly reje ctin g or em bracing C L T in a w h o lesale m anner.

8.2. Adequate attention given to balancing form and meaning

H av in g o utlined the ratio n ale for an eclectic approach, th is sectio n n o w exam ines an

im portant aspect o f a sy n th esized approach: balan cin g form and m eaning. A ctu ally

th is is one o f the m ajo r areas in w h ic h C L T and the trad itio n al ap proach diverge.

It is evident from this stu d y th at teachers and students b eliev e th at explicit

instru ctio n in gram m ar and structure is needed, alth o u g h m a n y students and teachers

207
feel too m uch focus p laced on th e gram m ar or lan g u ag e p o in ts m ak es th e teach in g

b o ring and pred ictab le (S ee C hapter 5 for details). S av ig n o n (1991) po in ts out that in

L2 or E F L d evelopm ent, com m unication cannot tak e p lac e in the absence o f

structure or gram m ar, b ecau se gram m ar is 'a set o f sh a re d assum ptions about how

language w orks along w ith a w illingness o f p a rticip a n ts to cooperate in the

n eg o tiatio n o f m eaning' (p. 268). W iddow son (1990) also n o tes th e im portance o f

adequate attention to form in L2 developm ent. H e argues that the w hole p o in t o f

language p e d a g o g y is th at it is a w a y o f sh o rt-circu itin g th e slo w p ro cess o f 'natural

language acquisition' and can m ak e arrangem ents fo r learn in g to h ap p en m o re easily

and m ore efficien tly th an it does in 'natural surro u n d in g s' (P. 162). O ther researchers

observe th at the ben efits o f explicit attention to lan g u ag e fo rm and structure w ill

p rev en t learners from fo ssilizin g u ndesired form s in th eir learning process

(L ightbrow n, 1991; L ig h tb ro w n & Spada, 1990; L ong, 1991).

In b alan cin g form and m ean in g , 'the trad itio n al ap p ro ach and th e com m unicative

approach are n o t m u tu ally exclusive' (H arvey, 1985:186). T he real pro b lem is how

the traditional m eth o d can w o rk w ell along w ith m o d e m E F L tea c h in g in th e C hinese

educational context. F o r instance, C L T focuses on m e a n in g and fluency, w hereas the

traditional approach em phasizes form and structure. H o w ev er, it w ould n o t be

d etrim ental to C hinese E F L learners i f teacher ex p lain ed som e gram m atical p o in ts to

enhance their u n d erstan d in g o f the link o f m ea n in g to the structure. H arv ey (1985)

rem inds us th at u n d e rsta n d in g th e gram m atical fram ew o rk o f a language is ex trem ely

im portant for L 2 /E F L learners.

H ow ever, teachers sh o u ld n o t p lace undue em phasis on g ram m ar and structure,

w hich can p rev en t learners from u n d erstan d in g th e tex t m aterial at a h o listic and

d iscursive level. G ram m ar is a to o l or reso u rce to b e u sed in th e com p reh en sio n and

creation o f oral and w ritten discourse, ra th e r th an 'rules to be learned as an end in

its e lf (R ao, 1996). In addition, the real purp o se o f adeq u ate g ram m atical explanation

should be aim ed at teach in g students how gram m ar ru les function, and thus show ing

students how th ey can u ltim ately u se such ru le s for real co m m u n icativ e purposes.

E xcessive em phasis on gram m ar analysis as rev e a le d in m y classro o m observations

in this stu d y could detract from d ev eloping the students' rea so n in g p o w e r and lead

208
th em to form ing a h a b it o f delving too deeply into th e m in u tia e in th e ir learn in g (See

C hapter 7 for discussion). T his im pedes the cu ltiv a tio n o f th eir com m unicative

com petence and h as a neg ativ e effect on d e v e lo p m en t o f th eir critical th in k in g

ability.

G ram m ar teach in g in E n g lish class should n o t be ta u g h t as an end in itself, but

alw ays w ith referen ce to m ean in g , social factors, d isc o u rse or a co m b in atio n o f these

factors (C elce-M u rcia & H illes, 1988). It is w o rth n o tin g th a t teachers should b e

sensitive to the needs and learn in g styles o f the stu d en ts and m ake ex p licit to

students the b en eficial functio n s o f integrating the c o m m u n icativ e com ponents w ith

the traditional approach. T his in ev itab ly req u ires teach ers to adopt appropriate

pedagogical strategies fo r a classroom p ro g ressio n in w h ic h b o th form an d m ean in g

is balan ced (See F ig u re 8-1 below ).

8.3. Synthesising the progression of classroom activities

In adopting an eclectic approach, teachers n eed to ad o p t appropriate ped ag o g ical

p ractices to ensure a sm o o th p rogression o f c lassro o m activ ities in w h ich b o th form

and m ean in g are p ro p erly dealt w ith. T h e aim is to co m b in e com m unicative

com ponents w ith th e ex p licit instru ctio n o f form a n d structure. F o r such a sm ooth

classroom p ro g re ssio n to h a p p e n in the C hinese co n tex t, th ere needs to be general

p edagogical guidelines fo r C hinese E F L teachers to follow . T his kind o f com plex

synthesis cannot be left to teachers' in tu itio n o r to tria l and erro r in th eir classroom

instruction.

L2 and E F L research ers h a v e p roposed d ifferen t ty p es o f in teg ratio n concerning

classroom p ro g ressio n fo r th e p u rp o se o f c o m b in in g c o m m u n icativ e and traditional

m ethods. Som e suggest a p ro g ressio n from c o m m u n icativ e to form al instruction

(B rum fit, 1978; E llis, 1982) w h ile som e o thers su g g e st a p ro g ressio n from form al

classroom in stru ctio n to co m m unicative activities (C elce-M u rcia & H illes, 1988;

Z hang, 1997; N unn, 1999), from the activities o f sk ills-g ettin g to skills-using (R ivers

& T em perley, 1987), an d from tex t-b ase d m ec h a n ic a l p a tte r drills to free

com m unication (P au lsto n & B rader, 1976; R ao, 1999; Ji, 2003). L ittlew ood (1984)

takes a m ore flexible stance and suggests that the seq u en ce o f p ro g ressio n o f

20 9
classroom learning activities is interchangeable rath e r th an a fix ed pattern and it is up

to the teacher to decide - b ased on such factors as the learners, the specific co n ten t o f

the tex t m aterials and the kinds o f activities.

M oreover, as rev e a le d in L an's class, teachers h av e a n alm o st free ch oice in d ecid in g

h o w m an y co m m u n icativ e activities th ey engage stu d en ts in doing. T h eir decisions

in this area are often m ad e on the basis o f th e ir o w n p ro fessio n al com petence,

classroom m an ag em en t ex pertise and the k n o w led g e an d info rm atio n th e y possess

about the to p ics or learn in g tasks concerned. F o r in stan ce, as L an w as able to speak

very fluent E n g lish and had particip ated in s ta ff tra in in g p ro g ram m es, she w as

confident about c o m b in in g com m unicative co m p o n en ts in to her instruction.

T herefore she spent m o re tim e on co m m unicative activ ities th an o ther teach ers w ho

m ay feel less confident. In this sense, it is v ery h a rd to sp ecify h o w m u c h tim e o r to

w h at exact degree an E n g lish lesson should b e spent on b o th traditional and

com m unicative m ethods. It depends o n th e co n ten t o f lesson, the teacher and the

students concerned. H ow ever, one th in g is c ertain th at the co m m unicative

com ponents sh o u ld b e an integral p a rt o f th e tea c h in g process. T ay lo r (1983) asserts

that students' n eed s and the dynam ics o f p a rticu la r classes b ecom e m a jo r factors in

deciding w h at to teach and h o w to teach it. A b o v e all, the tea c h in g m ethods adopted

b y teachers in class sh o u ld v a ry sig nificantly in a cco rd an ce w ith the co n tex t in w h ich

teachers find th em selv es w o rk in g (Sano et al, 1984; B ax 2003).

In order to m ak e such classro o m p ro g re ssio n m an a g e a b le for teachers, I w ould

suggest a m o d el for te a c h in g C om prehensive E n g lish R e a d in g course - th e dom inant

E nglish read in g course for E n g lish m ajors. T his m o d el w as o rig in ally p ro p o sed by

Z hang (1997) to deal w ith n ew m aterials in In tensive R ead in g class. B ut Z hang

focused m ore o n the p ro ced u res o f learners' rea d in g co m prehension, n am ely, pre-

reading and p o st-read in g , th an a sm ooth p ro g re ssio n th at can synthesize b o th form

and m ean in g d u rin g and after read in g stage in E n g lish class. T herefore I have

m odified and refin ed Z hang's 'pre-reading a n d p o st-rea d in g ' m o d el b y adding to it

the w h ile-read in g stage and tex t-b ased task learning and teach in g that em phasize

b o th co m m unicative aspects and explicit in stru ctio n o f language form and structure

in order to achieve a d esig n ated purpose.

210
Figure 8.1 The Eclectic Model: A Theoretical Synthesis

An Eclectic Model: synthesis

Eclectic M odel: T he ov erlap p ed areas in the ab o v e chart rep re sen t the

notions o f an eclectic m odel. T his synthesised m o d el focuses on cu ltiv atin g
learners' com m u n icativ e com petence b y e m p h asisin g the instru ctio n o f b o th
language form an d its use, including structures, functions, notio n s and
situations. T each in g m eth o d o lo g y should b e suitable to the C hinese E F L
context.

211
B ased on the m o d el in F igure 8-1 above, this eclectic m o d el for tea c h in g

C om prehensive R ead in g course consists o f th ree stag es th at can be u sed in classroom

teaching to cover b o th form and m ean in g (S ee F ig u re-8 .2 below ).

Figure 8.2. An E clcclic M odel applied to T each in g English Reading

T he Eclectic A pproach applied to reading in E nglish class

Pro-reading. ^ W hile-reading ___^ P ost-reading

Introduction Skim m ing C om prehension check-up
Ones!ions Scanning Interactive activities
Audio video aids Se mai Uic pi -ohle ms O ral pro d u ctio n
Syntactic problem s E valuating
D iscursive problem s O utside reading
Socio-ctdtara! hem s

1 1
Top-dow n P rocessing-^ 1 Bottoin-np processing
1
Synthesis

(Student information processing)

It is im portant to p o in t o u t that language teach in g is an organic p ro cess including

reading at the sy n tactical level (bottom -up stage) and read in g at the textual and

discursive level (to p -d o w n stage) as m en tio n e d in C h ap ter 7. T he to p -d o w n stage is

m ore significant in language teach in g b e c a u se it is this stage th at enables the

p rogression o f a sy n th esized approach to tak e place. T his stage requires the teacher

to m ake ad ju stm en ts in h is or h er teach in g p rac tic e to stim ulate learners to think, to

speak, to predict, to ju d g e and to analyse. T h e activities listed in F ig u re 8.2 do not

n ecessarily m ea n th at all o f them are to b e u se d in each lesson. It v aries dep en d in g on

the content o f a text, th e developm ent o f stu d en ts' linguistic com petence, the

tea c h e rs co m p eten ce and in dividual tea c h in g style. It should b e n o ted this m o d el is

different from th e C hinese traditional p ractices as rev ealed in th e classroom

observations in w h ic h th e teachers treated n e w w ords, p h rases and sentence structure

212
patterns as d iscrete language p o in ts and elab o rated upon them over-m eticu lo u sly

w hile th e gist o f th e te x t w as u su ally overlooked.

T he p ro p o sed eclectic m odel, on the contrary, is a im ed at h elp in g teach ers overcom e

this w eakness. P e rh ap s once C hinese teach ers and learn ers see th e b en efits o f this

new m odel, th ey m ig h t b e m ore in terested in try in g it, and th en even refin e it. This

can be inferred b y the findings in this stu d y th at b o th the trad itio n al ap proach and

C LT w ere c o n sid ered to b e effective in E n g lish classes g iv en b y co m p eten t teachers

(See C hapters 5, 6 & 7). T herefore, in this eclectic approach, th e p rev a len t C hinese

m ethods o f teach in g com prehensive read in g courses are th e starting p o in t and C LT

and C ontext A p p ro ach (C A ) are u sed to c o m p lem en t them . T he p u rp o se for such a

synthesis is to cu ltiv ate learners' com m u n icativ e co m petence. It sh o u ld be n o ted that

an eclectic ap p ro ach needs to be b a sed o n a m u ltifa ce te d v iew o f co m m unicative

activities in class. It should also seek to in co rp o rate student in p u t into th e learning

process. In som e cases, it is appropriate to focus on assigned tasks and sm all group

learning. In others, a w hole class form at is best. In still others, a com b in atio n is

appropriate. T h erefo re it varies w ith d iffe re n t v ariab les such as learners' E nglish

pro ficien cy level and kno w led g e about the to p ic u n d e r discussion, th e content o f text

m aterials, teach ers' com petence in target lan g u ag e, tea c h in g styles and classroom

m anagem ent skills. In short, it depends o n a p a rtic u la r co n tex t (B ax, 2003). The

follow ing sectio n p resen ts a m odel o f tea c h in g th e c o m p reh en siv e read in g course

using an eclectic approach.

T he choice o f the C om prehensive [E nglish] R e a d in g class to d em o n strate the

effectiveness o f th e eclectic m odel p ro p o se d in this C h ap ter arises fro m the follow ing

considerations:

First, the C o m p reh en siv e R ead in g L esson is the b a ck b o n e o f the course schem e in

the curriculum fo r b o th E nglish m ajors and no n -m ajo rs. A s the w ord 'com prehensive'

indicates, the 'C om prehensive R eading' lesso n is supposed to com bine m ultiple

language skills in th is course in co n trast to its p red e c e sso r 'Intensive R eading'.

('Intensive' ind icates p a y in g a large am o u n t o f atten tio n to a sm all am ount o f action

i.e. reading te x t m aterials). In o th er w ords, the em phasis is p laced n o t o n ly on

gram m atical stru ctu re and vocabulary, b u t also o n sp eak in g and w ritin g skills and

213
intercultural aw areness. O ther courses, ho w ev er, are m o re restric te d to specific

aspects o f E F L learn in g (e.g. L istening, T ranslating).

Second, another factor und erly in g th e im p o rtan ce o f th is course is the fact th at

E nglish m ajo rs h a v e to pass E M T -4 and h a v e to take E M T -8 in o rd er to achieve a

B achelor's D eg ree in the E F L u n d erg rad u ate p ro g ram m e, and the final exam in atio n

tests o f th e C o m prehensiv e R ead in g course co n tain item s m o st sim ilar to th o se in

E M T -4 and E M T -8 : a). Structure, b). V o cab u lary , c). C loze test, d). W riting, e).

R eading co m prehension, f). L istening, g). S peaking. (T h e last tw o item s 'L istening

and S peaking' at the m o m en t are o n ly c o n fin ed to E M T -4). T his co n solidates th e role

and im portance o f C om prehensive R e a d in g in th e m in d s o f b o th students and

teachers.

Third, for th e first 2 years o f th e u n d erg rad u ate p ro g ra m fo r E n g lish m ajors, the

C om prehensive R e a d in g course takes up ab o u t 57% o f the to tal o f 1,100 -1,160 class

hours desig n ed for E n g lish skill-based courses (E n g lish D iv isio n , 2000) so m o re tim e

is spent studying th is course than any o th er course g iving it a h u g e im p o rtan ce for

students alike.

8.4. Pre-reading stage

P re-reading o r p rev ie w in g activities b e g in w ith qu estio n s to b e initiated b y a teacher.

T he teach er w ill start the lesson w ith th o u g h t-p ro v o k in g questions rath e r th a n ask

these questions b y th e end o f each lesso n to test learners' u n d erstan d in g o f the text.

T hese questions sh o u ld b e aim ed at h e lp in g students b e tte r u n d e rsta n d the m ean in g

and structure o f a text, to relate students' rea d in g activ ity to th eir p rio r k n ow ledge

and experience, in crease th eir in terest in th e su b ject to b e rea d and enable th em to

read 'w ith a pu rp o se'. Q uestions b e g in n in g w ith When, Where, Who, and What can

p ro m p t students to look for specific in fo rm a tio n from the read in g m aterial w hile

those w ith Why and How can help th em to p ro b e m o re d eep ly into the in form ation

th ey are to read. In addition, such activities can help students p red ic t o r m ak e som e

'educated' guesses about w h a t is in the te x t and thus activate effective top-dow n

214
pro cessin g for read in g co m prehension (C hia, 2001). B ased on th e stim uli in a text,

such as the title, p hotographs, illustrations, o r subtitles, p re-rea d in g q u estio n s can be

used to encourage students to m ake p redictions about th e c o n ten t o f th e text, and help

students better und erstan d the p assag e th e y are g oing to read. A t this stage, teachers

should be aw are o f w h a t to ask and h o w to ask. N u ttall (1983, 1996) classifies

classroom qu estio n s into six types:

1. Questions o f literal comprehension : th o se w h o se answ ers are directly and

ex p licitly expressed in the text. T h ey can o ften b e answ ered in the w ords o f

the text.

2. Questions involving reorganization or reinterpretation', th o se requiring

students either to reinterpret literal in fo rm atio n o r to o b tain it from various

parts o f th e tex t and p u t it to g eth er in a n e w w ay , u sin g ele m en ta ry inferring.

3. Questions o f inference: th o se ob lig in g students to co n sid er w h a t is im plied

but n o t ex p licitly stated.

4. Questions o f evaluation: th o se asking for a co n sid ered ju d g e m e n t about the

text in term s o f w hat th e w riter is try in g to do and h o w far s/he h as achieved

it.

5. Questions o f personal response: th o se w hose answ ers d epend least on the

w riter b u t reco rd read er's reaction to th e text.

6 . Questions concerned with how writers say what they mean : th o se intending

to give students strategies for dealin g w ith a te x t in general (Pp. 132-133).

N uttall's c lassificatio n can help teach ers raise appropriate q u estio n s w h ich help

students u n d e rsta n d local and global m ea n in g o f a te x t as w e ll as h o w these

m eanings are expressed. F o r exam ple, in teach in g a text en titled International Trade,

teachers can assign students the fo llo w in g qu estio n s before th e y rea d the text: W hat

are th e reasons fo r international trade? W h y is it im p o ssib le for an y n a tio n to be self-

sufficient? W h at countries are m en tio n ed in th e tex t ( if any)? W h y does the w riter

m en tio n these countries? W hat is v isib le trad e? W hat is in v isib le trade?

To answ er these questions, students h a v e to deal w ith the tex t as an organic w hole,

sorting out m essag es and selecting and reo rg an izin g th o se that th e y ju d g e to b e the

215
m o st relevant and im p o rtan t to the questions th ey are going to answ er. H ere the

p assiv e read in g process o f input b eco m es an active p ro ce ss o f output. F urtherm ore,

teachers sh o u ld n o t h av e preco n ceiv ed rig id notions a b o u t 'correct' answ ers to their

questions. T hey should allow student in p u t to be g enuine, and possibly,

unpredictable.

8.5. While-Reading Stage

W h ile-read in g stage consists o f read in g a te x t tw ice, each fo r a specific purpose. T he

first read in g concerns tw o im p o rtan t speeding techniques, n am ely , sk im m in g and

scanning. T he train in g o f th ese skills is o f p articu lar im p o rtan ce b e c au se these skills

are n o t o n ly in dispensable for E F L learn ers but also 'in th e p ro ce ss skim m ing and

scanning, students' schem ata can b e activated' (X iang & W ang, 1999). S kim m ing

facilitates tex t process b y initiatin g students into the gist an d o rg an izatio n o f the text;

scanning is h elp fu l for seeking specific info rm atio n fo r th e p re-rea d in g questions

m en tio n ed above.

T he second rea d in g is a p ro b lem -so lv in g process. T h e p ro b lem s to b e solved in this

process o f read in g m a y inclu d e such dim ensions as 1. lexical and syntactic, 2 .

discourse, 3. sociocultural (S ee F igure 8-2). T hese dim en sio n s are d iscu ssed in detail

below .

1. Lexical and syntactic problems

W hile read in g silently, students w ill com e across n e w g ram m atical and structural

units, teachers give students an o p p o rtu n ity to p ick o u t th eir p ro b le m s including any

linguistic p ro b lem s o r sy ntactic p ro b lem s w h ich cau se co m p reh en sio n difficulties

(e.g. long sentences, new structures or expressions ty p ical o f a p a rticu la r w riter's

style). T eachers then ask students to raise th eir difficu lties and try to in terpret them

according to th e context. T his can be d o n e eith e r in d iv id u ally or in pairs. T h en these

p roblem s are p o o led and collected together. T eachers can ask stu d en ts to discuss

these listed p roblem s in pairs o r in a sm all group in o rd er to elicit various replies or

check h o w m u ch learners und erstan d th ese units. A t this stage, the m ain

m eth o d o lo g ical p o in t is that learners w o u ld be doing the pro b lem raising, discovery

and co m p reh en sio n rather than the te a c h e r covering the tex t in a sentence-by-

216
sentence m an n e r and pro v id in g answ ers to ev ery sin g le language p o in t w h ich m ay

not directly affect the learner.

F o llo w in g this pro b lem raisin g stage, teachers can sy nthesize th ese language

p ro b lem s and isolate m ajo r specific elem ents o f lin g u istic u n its for detailed

explanations from th e p o in t o f v iew o f eith er gram m ar o r stylistics, o r both. T eachers

p ro v id e students w ith exam ples to illu strate the u sag e and ask students to m ake

sentences w ith th e n e w v o cab u lary or g ram m atical item s. A ctiv ities at this stage m ay

include p rese n tin g different ty p es o f drills, and students can do th e exercises in pairs

or in a sm all group. T h ro u g h rep eated practice, students w ill be able to go bey o n d the

stage o f m em o rizatio n o f structures to w ard s u sin g th em in d ifferen t situations.

2. Discourse Analysis

D isco u rse analysis is carried o ut on tw o aspects: 1). h o w an idea is d eveloped (such

as topic sentence and support, cause and effect, c o m p ariso n and contrast,

g eneralizations and specifics, cohesion and coherence); 2). h o w one id ea leads to

another (introduction, developm ent, and conclusion). A t this stage, questioning

(m entioned above in p re-read in g stage), analytical, in d u ctiv e and ded u ctiv e m ethods

are u sed to m ax im ize th e students' opportunities to p ractise th eir analytical and

critical th in k in g skills, in w h ic h the students are fo u n d th em selv es to b e deficient in

this study. (S ee C hapter 9 fo r fu rth er discussion).

3. Sociocultural items

C ultural b ack g ro u n d k n o w led g e is also p ro v id ed in th is stage, w h ic h can help

students to g ain a b e tte r c o m p reh en sio n o f the text c o n ten t b y m in im izin g cultural

interference, and 'build n ew cu ltu re-sp ecific schem ata th a t w ill b e available to E FL

students o u tside th e classroom ' (C arrell et al, 1989: 89). It w ill b e especially

ben eficial i f teachers are able to c o m p are and co n trast b e tw e en the culture o f the

target lan g u ag e and that o f th e m o th e r tongue. T his w ill help m ak e th e students m ore

cu ltu rally sensitive w h en th ey re a d on th eir ow n.

A s is ev id en t above, this is in a striking co n trast to w h a t h ap p en ed in th o se classes

observed in this study: the teachers p a ra p h ra se d alm o st ev ery language p o in t o f the

tex t w h ich th e y thought m ig h t b e d ifficu lt to the students. H ence, teachers gave the

students so m u ch 'help' th at it b ecam e a cru tch that the students could n o t do w ithout.

217
T hat is, the students w ere led to form ulating w o rd -b y -w o rd rea d in g h ab its w hile

som e aspects o f learning lead in g to discourse com p eten ces are ignored.

T his w h ile-read in g stage also em phasizes the learners' n e e d fo r ex p licit structural and

g ram m atical p resen tatio n and rea d in g com prehension. T he m e a n in g o f a te x t is

em bodied in the language form . G iven the fact th at th e E M T -4 and the E M T -8 are

tw o m ajo r nation-w ide E n g lish tests for E n g lish m ajo rs at tertia ry level in C hina,

b o th the teachers and students are aw are o f the im p o rta n c e o f explicit structural

p resen tatio n in E n g lish class. C onsequently, ex p licit g ram m ar and structural

instru ctio n still rem ains an im p o rtan t p a rt o f E FL tea c h in g in class. H o w ev er, the

crucial p o in t is not to spoon-feed students as occurred in the classro o m observations.

A s revealed in the classro o m observation, m o st o f th e qu estio n s asked b y teachers

m ere ly req u ired an autom atic resp o n se (e.g. p a ra p h ra sin g n ew w ords). T h ere w as

little o p p o rtu n ity fo r the students to engage in p erso n al p ro b lem -so lv in g d iscu ssio n

w h ic h can act as an im p o rtan t c o n d itio n to enhance learn in g e x cep t in L an's class.

C andlin (1982) stresses th at [language] learning is a m a tte r o f m an ag in g problem s.

O ne w a y for teachers to encourage learn in g in learners is to co n sisten tly confront

them w ith p roblem s rath e r th an attem p t to rem o v e p ro b le m s in advance' (p. 39).

8.6. Post-reading stage

T his stage concerns p o st-read in g analysis and ch eck s students' com prehension,

consolidates their language skills and engages the stu d en ts in co m m u n icativ e group

activities. T his stage includes students' answ ers to th e p re-read in g questions, and

furth er questions raised b y teachers at th is p o st-read in g stage to check students'

u n d erstan d in g o f the text, fo r instance, tex t-b ased qu estio n s o f inference, questions o f

evaluation, questions o f p erso n al resp o n se and so on. T ak e th e above-m entioned

'International T rade' as an exam ple, after read in g th e p assag e, teachers can ask the

students a question o f evaluation: 'w hat does this w riter contribute to your

u n d erstan d in g o f International T rad e?' T eachers n eed to be aw are th at questions o f

this k in d are the m o st sophisticated o f all because it req u ires the students n o t m ere ly

to respond, b u t to analyse th eir resp o n se and d iscover th e ob jectiv e reasons fo r it, as

w ell as m easu rin g it against th e p resu m e d in ten tio n o f the w riter. To answ er the

question, the students cannot ig n o re the tex tu al evidence b u t th eir responses

essentially involve th em w ith the w riter. T eachers n e e d to ask the students to explain

21 8
w h y the tex t m akes them feel as th ey do. T eachers n e e d to ensure that students'

responses are b ased on correct u n d erstan d in g o f the text.

E v alu ativ e questions are also im p o rtan t w ith n arrative a n d d escrip tiv e texts, in w hich

the w riter m ay tell a story o r rec o u n t an event and th e n leav e it to the read ers to

figure o ut for th em the m essag e th e w riter intends to convey. U rquhart & W eir

(1998) claim that 'reading ab ility m u st go bey o n d pure lan g u ag e skills and includes

readers' p rag m atic skills to in terpret the tex t in term s o f th eir k n ow ledge and

experience o f the w orld' (p. 34, m y em phasis). In this sense, a fter students rea d the

text, th e y n eed to interpret th e m eaning, to resp o n d to th e tex tu al ideas and evaluate

the effectiveness o f th e text. T eachers should b e aw are th at, w h ile th e m ean in g o f the

text is em phasised, the issues o f h o w the m ean in g is p ro d u ced , in w hat language

form , and h o w students resp o n d to th e m ean in g and h o w th e y ev aluate effectiveness

o f the text, should b e also given adequate attention.

T he p o st-read in g activities can b e carried out in sm all groups or in pairs. T eachers

should m ak e sure th at a d iscu ssio n differs from a 'q u estio n and answ er' session in

that students should be encouraged to express their o w n (different) opinions on the

sam e topic. A t this stage, th e em phasis is on learners' a b ility to use target language

for co m m unication and exchange o f ideas. T h eir resp o n ses should be incorporated, in

an identifiable fashion, into th e learning process. C a n d lin (1982) observes that

efficient learning is n o t an iso lated b u t a so cialized a c tiv ity w h ere learners are

engaged in d iscu ssio n w ith others and w ith in th em selv es. 'L anguage learning

depends on this internal and ex tern al n e g o tia tio n and d ebate' (p. 38). T his in ev itab ly

leads to another im p o rtan t q u estio n reg a rd in g learners' critical th in k in g abilities

necessary to carry out m ea n in g fu l group discussions o n a given topic. A s rev ealed in

this study, students' p erceiv ed lack o f critical th in k in g co m p eten ce confined their

group d iscussion to a surface level rath er th an in an in -d e p th m anner. T his is a v ery

im portant issue and it is p articu la rly ad dressed in C h ap ter 9. W e believ e that unless

this issue is p ro p erly dealt w ith, the outcom e o f an eclectic ap proach w o u ld b e

com prised and learners' co m m u n icativ e com petence w o u ld b e underdeveloped.

To initiate and th en to guide th e discussion, teachers n e e d to set fo rth topics to arouse

students' interest and to assign students a learn in g task o r a tex t-b ased task - w hat is

k n o w n as 'task-based' learn in g and teach in g (W illis, 1996). W illis points out that

219
task -b ased learning com bines the b e st insights from C L T w ith an o rg an ized focus on

language form (W illis, 1996: 1). She defines ta sk as a c tiv ity w h ere the target

language is used b y the learn er for a com m unicative p u rp o se in ord er to achieve an

outcom e (p. 23). T ex t-b ased tasks require learners to p ro c e ss the tex t for m eaning in

order to achieve the goals o f the task. T his w ill in v o lv e reading, listen in g or view in g

w ith som e k in d o f co m m u n icativ e p u rp o se and m ay w ell in v o lv e talk in g about the

te x t and p erhaps w ritin g no tes (p. 68). T ex t-b ased task s sh o u ld aim to encourage

efficient read in g strategies, focusing in itially on retrie v a l o f sufficient relev an t

m ean in g for the p u rp o se o f th e task. W illis (1996) o b serv es that:

T ask -b ased learning entails b o th holistic p ro cessin g , th at is, gaining an overall

im pression, pick in g up d etailed linguistic clues - a co m b in atio n o f w h a t are
co m m o n ly called 'top-dow n' and 'bottom -up' p ro ce sse s (p. 75).

T his w ould m in im ise students' dependence on teach ers fo r 'all the rig h t answ ers' as

rev ealed in the classro o m observation. O n the contrary, e ach ta s k to be com pleted b y

students is a step on the ro ad to learner independence. T each ers can ask students to

p red ict or attem pt to reco n stru ct the content on the b a sis o f given clues from p art o f

the tex t w ith o u t h av in g read, heard, or seen th e w hole.

F o r instance, teachers can ask students to p red ict p ro b le m so lu tio n and story endings

b y u sin g a tex t w ith a situ a tio n -p ro b lem -so lu tio n -ev alu atin g pattern, nam ely, let

students read / h e a r /w a tc h o n ly parts o f a tex t w h ic h give th e situation and

problem (s). T hen teach ers ask students to w o rk in p a ir o r in a group to w o rk out a

couple o f alternative solutions o f th eir ow n, th e n evalu ate an o th er pair's or group's

solutions. W h en th ey h av e p resen ted their b e st solutions to each other during a report

phase, the class can b e ask ed to pred ict w h ich solutions are m en tio n ed in the original

text. T hey fin ally read /h e a r /w a tc h the w h o le p iec e and com pare and evaluate

(W illis, 1996: 77).

B y using a sequential text, teachers can give students m o st o f the tex t inform ation

and ask them to w rite an ending, or give an ending, and ask them to w rite the

beginning. T eachers can scaffold students b y g iving th em a few carefu lly chosen

w ords from the text. In d o in g this, it is im p o rtan t to n o te th at teachers should m ake

sure that students do n o t feel th ey have failed i f th ey p red ict som ething entirely

different from the original text. N o doubt, th is w o u ld help students im prove their

ab ility to m ake ju d g e m e n ts o n w h at they read, to express th eir o w n opinions and to

220
grasp th e structure o f a text. In a w ord, learners' analytical, creativ e and critical

th inking ability to g eth e r w ith th eir com m unicative co m p e ten c e w ill im prove

T hese activities and tasks m ay co v er inference, p rac tic a l reasoning, n e g o tia tio n o f

m eaning, problem solv in g and in form ation transfer, an d th e y m a y be carried o u t in a

nu m b er o f w ays: group-w ork, p a ir w ork, in d iv id u al w o rk and ro le play. T hey m u st

b ecom e a reg u lar p a rt o f a language program m e. In m a n y cases, a c o n d itio n and an

active atm osphere need to be created for th e p erfo rm a n c e o f th ese task s and

activities.

To sum up, it h as to b e p o in te d out th at i f teach ers k n o w h o w to m ak e good u se o f

p re-reading and w h ile-read in g stages to raise q uestions, offer b ack g ro u n d

inform ation, to solve p roblem s co n cerning lex ical, syntactic, discourse and

sociocultural aspects, this w ill help learners in itia te p o st-rea d in g discussions.

Students m ay be in terested in w h a t th e y are d o in g and th eir attention w o u ld b e

attracted since th ese activities w ill create a v iv id c la ssro o m atm osphere and enrich

their p rio r know ledge. W h at is m ore, it helps them to lin k th eir ex istin g k n ow ledge to

the tex t and directs th e m into a m u ch d eep er un d erstan d in g . A s m en tio n ed above, the

pre-reading questions are h elp fu l in that th ey help learn ers to m ak e a p red ictio n and

enable them to d ecide w h a t th ey look fo r (eith er the global m ea n in g o f th e tex t o r the

n ecessary facts and details). T h e w h ile-read in g stage is p ro b le m -so lv in g and it helps

students overcom e the d ifficulties w h ich m a y h in d e r th eir correct c o m p reh en sio n o f

the text. P ost-reading is o f great help in th at it d irects th em into a m u ch d eep er

u n d erstanding o f the tex t and encourages learn ers to use th eir ow n analytical and

critical th in k in g skills. In addition, co m m u n icativ e group activities can be o rg an ized

to achieve m ean in g fu l goals assigned to d ifferen t groups b a sed on the text content,

thus enhancing in teractio n in th e classroom b e tw e e n tea c h e r and students as w ell as

b etw een students them selves.

T h e striking d ifferen ce b e tw e en the above su g g ested p ro ced u re and the trad itio n al

teach in g or stu d y schem e o f preview, practice and review (yuxi, lianxi and fuxi) is

that the new p ro ced u re can rem ove som e o f th e b o red o m involved in the teaching

and learning p ro ce ss and in teg rate co m m u n icativ e co m p o n en ts into E F L classroom s.

A t present, w h a t h ap p en s in E n g lish class is th at students are asked to prep are (yuxi)

each lesson in advance, th e n go over it in class ( lianxi) and th en rev iew it ag ain later

221
(fuxi). T his n a tu ra lly leads to a certain lack o f in te rest since b y the tim e students
arrive in class, th e y h av e c o v ered the text anyw ay, so th e y sim p ly h av e to un d erg o a

rep etitio n o f w h a t th ey already 'know '. A ctually, as som e stu d en t interview ees

acknow ledged in this study, b y and large, th e y cam e to k n o w th at teachers w o u ld go

over texts in such m eticu lo u s detail in class that th e y ju s t looked up som e n e w w ords

in a dictio n ary rath e r than review ed th e tex t carefu lly b e fo re class. T h e y k n e w that

the teacher w o u ld tell them everything in class. It is n o t surprising th a t the students in

this stu d y found th eir E n g lish classes dull b ecau se th ese classes h a d alm o st 'no

discourse, no lan g u ag e use, b u t o n ly d isp lay o f lan g u a g e usage as sentence o r text

(W iddow son, 1983 cite in W ei, 1996: 56). In o th er w ords, the students w e re not

rea lly challenged , in tellectu ally o r pedagogically.

8.7. Challenges involved in the integration process

T he m odel p ro p o sed above is n ot w ith o u t ch allen g es fo r C hinese E F L teachers. T he

b ig g est challenge lies in the in tro d u ctio n o f th e com m u n icativ e com ponents,

especially the p o st-rea d in g co m m u n icativ e activities.

T he first ch allen g e is that teachers n eed to m ak e a conceptual shift co n cern in g the

nature o f E F L teach in g and learning, the roles o f the tea c h e r and the students in class.

T eachers n e e d to co n sid er the adoption o f things th at m ay b e in co n flict w ith their

ow n beliefs and v a lu e s co n cerning E F L education. In th is sense, a so u n d in-service

sta ff training p ro g ra m is u rg en tly n e e d ed to in tro d u ce teach ers to genuine

com m unicative activities in E n g lish class.

T he second ch allenge is to balan ce ex p licit gram m ar in stru ctio n and co m m u n icativ e

procedure. P ica (1994) cautions u s that in attem pts to upgrade the im p o rtan ce o f

group activities fo r m ean in g fu l E F L use, teach ers n e e d to be aw are n o t to dow ngrade

the contributions o f exercises w h ich focus on g ram m ar rules. H o w ev er, in the

C hinese context, as show n in the classro o m observ atio n s the rev erse is true: too

m u ch em phasis is p laced o n gram m ar w h ile little in teractio n is in itiated in an

effective m an n e r (S ee C h ap ter 6 fo r details). A n im p o rtan t issue h e re is how to

teach gram m ar in a co m m u n icativ e class, in o th er w o rd s, how teach ers can help

m ake gram m ar teach in g o r learning serve as a m ean s to the final ach iev em en t o f

222
com m unicative com petence. F or C hinese E F L learn ers, the classro o m is the sole

form al context for targ et language learning, o u tsid e w hich m ean in g fu l spoken

interaction m ay n o t b e available. T eachers n e e d to p la c e em phasis o n 'the n e e d for a

balance in the classro o m b e tw e en explicit g ram m ar in stru ctio n and m o re inductive,

com m unicative pro ced u res. Such an ap proach to m eth o d o lo g y can pro v id e

interesting and h ig h ly fav o u rab le results' (M o n tg o m ery & E isenstein, 1986 cited in

P ica, 1994: 65). In addition, P ica further quotes M o n tg o m e ry & E isen ste in (1986) as

saying th at 'the stro n g est gains in gram m ar learning w e re show n n o t am ong learners

w ho attended co u rsew o rk in gram m ar instruction, b u t b y th o se w h o p a rticip a te d in

b o th a g ram m ar-b ased course and a course w h ich inclu d ed L2 co m m u n icatio n

experiences ran g in g fro m classroom d iscu ssio n and c o m m u n ity trips' (cited in P ica,

1994: 67).

T he co m m unicative co m p eten ce m odel (C anale & S w ain 1980, C anale, 1983) view s

gram m atical co m p eten ce as a basis b ecau se a sou n d k n o w led g e o f g ram m ar h elps to

im prove other skills. G ram m ar h elp s language learn ers to u n d erstan d th e target

language. 'G ram m ar p lay s a v ery supportive ro le and w e can sa y th at it is a shortcut

to language acquisition' (A lexander, 2000 c ite d in Song, 2001: 55). S te m (1992)

asserts that 'language learning, besides o th er things, d oes in v o lv e p a y in g atten tio n to,

and ev entually m aste rin g th e form al features o f th e second language', (p. 143). It

should be p o in ted o ut th at draw ing atten tio n to gram m ar d oes n o t n egate

com m unicative language teaching. Instead, the focus should b e p la c e d on h o w to

integrate and m ak e the b est out o f d iffe re n t approaches m en tio n ed above. It is

m isleading to th in k th at gram m ar m istakes do not m a tte r at all i f th ey do n o t im pede

co m m unication in class. W h ile an accurate tra n sm issio n o f ideas is essential for

successful co m m u n icatio n , 'the n ecessary g ram m atical k n o w led g e gives students the

corrective and the y ard stick to m o n ito r and m easu re th eir ow n p e rfo rm a n c e' (Song,

2001:55). M oreover, sou n d explanations about the language can help students

develop a p ro p er w a y o f th in k in g in the targ e t language. In o th er w ords, it can help

reduce th e errors arisin g o ut o f the in terferen ce o f L I in E nglish lan g u ag e learning.

Som e studies in d icate that for C hinese E n g lish -lan g u ag e learners, 51% o f the errors

are id entified in re la tio n w ith the lea rn ers n a tiv e lan g u ag e in terferen ce w h ereas for

S panish E n g lish -lan g u ag e learners the p ro p o rtio n is ju s t 3% (Ellis, 1986: 29 cited in

S u & Z h u a n g , 1996: 52).

223
H aving o u tlined th e im p o rtan ce o f gram m ar in stru ctio n in E F L teach in g , I w o u ld like

to suggest the fo llo w in g principles co n cerning p ro p e r treatm en t o f gram m ar in E F L

teaching at u n iv ersity level.

1. Since college students have alread y learn ed b a sic gram m ar at elem en tary and

secondary level, b u t have not learned eno u g h to im prove learning and m o n ito r

th eir p erfo rm an ce, teachers should n o t ju s t p re se n t language p h e n o m e n a in a

m eticu lo u sly d etailed w a y or in an iso lated m a n n e r as rev ealed in th e classroom

o bservations fo r this study. O n the contrary, gram m ar tea c h in g sh o u ld be

reorganized in such a w a y th at it expands u p o n tex t contents, and explores the

use o f th e lan g u ag e in m eaningful co n tex ts so as to im prove learners' ab ility to

u se the language for com m unicative purposes. In so doing, teachers c a n help

brin g g ram m ar teach in g closer to th e rea lity o f lan g u ag e use rath er than k eep in g

it in the rea lm o f isolated linguistic item s. A c tu a lly this is co n g ru en t w ith both

the p re-reading, w h ile-read in g and p o st-rea d in g stages o f th e E n g lish read in g

class as m en tio n e d above.

2. In class, w h en u n k n o w n language p h e n o m e n a occur, teachers should explain and

w ork on th em with students as su g g ested ab o v e (S ectio n 8.5). D eficiencies in

g ram m atical k n o w led g e are u su a lly ex p o sed in students' speaking and w riting.

T eachers' co rrectiv e feedback is n e c e ssa ry and teach ers should b e able to tell

w here th eir w eak n esses lie and take rem e d ia l m easures.

3. In class, teach ers n e e d to p a y atten tio n to th e grad u al and cyclical d evelopm ent

o f learners' g ram m atical com petence w h ic h is m ain ly 'a gradual process o f

fam iliarizatio n and accom m odation' (S ong, 2001: 56). A s such, learn ed item s

have to b e sy stem atically recycled th ro u g h a v a rie ty o f co m m u n icativ e activities

and increased ex p o su re to the targ et lan g u ag e b e fo re th ey are internalised.

4. T he n o tio n o f flu e n c y over accu racy u n d e rp in n in g C L T in the com m unicative

activities advocates that teachers w ill n o t in te rru p t a student fo r m in o r m istakes

that do n o t h in d er com m unication. H ow ever, th is does n o t m ea n an outright

refusal to c o rrect m istakes. T eachers sh o u ld b e analytical in treatin g students'

224
 m istakes, e sp ecially oral m istakes, and guide stu d en ts sen sitiv ely out o f their

errors. Ju d icio u s error correction is n e e d ed to help learners to gain the

k n ow ledge to m o n ito r their ow n p erfo rm an ce, th u s c o n trib u tin g to learners'

language skills. T eachers m ay d ecide to n o te th e occu rren ce or reo ccu rren ce o f

an error and com m unicate to the students at a late r date, fo r exam ple.

5. To adopt th e ab ove-proposed eclectic m o d el, teach ers n e e d to be co m petent and

p ro ficien t in target language, and th e y also n e e d to m ak e explicit to students the

beneficial functio n s o f this approach. T each ers should n o t confine them selves

m ere ly to the textbo ok. In E n g lish class, tex tb o o k s should be re-created for

effective use (T sai, 2004). Inevitably, a textbook, h o w ev er w e ll designed, has

inherent lim itations. O 'N eil (1982) asserts that n o tex tb o o k can ex pect to appeal

to all teach ers or learners at a p a rticu la r level (p. 108). H e n otes th e significance

o f E n g lish lan g u ag e teacher's cre a tiv ity in e n h an cin g th e tex tb o o k 's function.

'The m o st im p o rtan t w o rk in a class m ay start w ith the tex tb o o k b u t end outside

it, in im p ro v isatio n and adaptation, in sp o ntaneous interaction in the class, and

d evelopm ent from that interaction' (O 'N eill, 1982:110). T his reflects the

co m m u n icativ e feature o f the p o st-read in g stage o f the eclectic approach.

M oreover, th e teachers' initiative in selectin g o r dev elo p in g th eir o w n m aterials

and p ro v id in g learners w ith a ran g e o f co m m u n icativ e tasks sh o u ld be

encouraged. T h ese tex t m aterials sh o u ld m ee t learners' needs since research

proves th at learners learn fast w h en learn in g m aterials are relev an t to th eir daily

life or future u se (Z hang, 2004).

In short, the above guidelines are e sp ecially ap plicable to the E F L teach in g for

E nglish m ajo r students at underg rad u ate lev el since th ey h av e alread y learned

E nglish for about eight to ten years b e fo re en ro llin g in a u n iv ersity o r college. T his

m eans th at th e y h a d b een exposed to alm ost all aspects o f the gram m ar rules. G iven

this fact, p erh ap s an effective w ay is to en g ag e learners in co m m u n icativ e task-based

activities in o rd er to activate all th o se lan g u ag e item s stored in th eir m in d s rather

than co ncentrate on the m in u tiae o f lan g u ag e p o in ts in a sentence-by-sentence

m anner as rev e a le d in the classroom o b serv atio n in this stu d y (S ee C h ap ter 7).

225
Chapter summary

In this chapter, I h av e outlined the ratio n ale fo r an eclectic ap proach in o rd er to m ake

C LT suit E F L tea c h in g in C hina at tertia ry level. I d isc u sse d th e issu e o f balan cin g

form and m ea n in g w h ile u sin g such an eclectic approach. A p e d a g o g ic a l m o d el for

the ped ag o g ical synthesis is p rese n ted in o rd er to in teg rate co m m u n icativ e

com ponents into th e traditional C hinese teach in g practices in E n g lish class. T he

p ro p o sed eclectic m o d el treats th e p rev alen t C h in ese m ethods o f tea c h in g the

com prehensive read in g co arse as a starting p o in t fo r th e synthesis, and the

co m m unicative com ponents o f C L T and C A are u se d to c o m p lem en t w h a t the

traditional tea c h in g m ethods leave out - n a m e ly the dy n am ic o f real com m unication.

I suggest th at su ch a synthesis can c o n trib u te to cu ltiv atin g learners' co m m unicative

com petence. F in ally , I h av e outlined an analysis o f p o ssib le ch allen g es inherent in

any attem pt to ad o p t an eclectic ap proach in E F L class. It is o b v io u s th a t m o re effort

is n eed ed to exam ine in greater detail m o re q u estio n s in the related area. F o r

exam ple, to w h a t extent do teachers th in k th ey can im p lem en t co m m unicative

aspects o f C L T in th eir ow n instru ctio n ? H o w w o u ld teach ers evolve from the

traditional classro o m to a co m m unicative classro o m ? W h at com m u n icativ e activities

w ould b est su p p o rt language learning fro m b o th teach ers' and students' perspective?

H ow can teachers c la rify the role o f ex p licit in stru ctio n o f gram m ar in the p ro cess o f

integrating co m m u n icativ e com p o n en ts into the traditional ap proach? Such

considerations p o in t to the d irection fo r p o ssib le fu tu re research.

226
 Chapter 9

Cultivating Critical Thinking Ability in EFL

Education

Introduction

From discussions in previous chapters, w e can see th at students' critical thinking

abilities p la y a critical ro le in enabling th em to engage in a fruitful com m unicative

activity. H ow ever, students' perceiv ed d e fic ie n c y in th eir critical th in k in g a b ility m ay

cast doubt o n the effective outcom es o f th e p ro p o se d eclectic m o d el in th e previous

chapter. T herefore, this ch ap ter focuses o n th e second issue arisin g from th e tw o

m ain findings in th is study: th e question o f h o w to develop E F L learners' critical

com petence in E F L education. T his c h a p te r first p rese n ts the ratio n ale for critical

th inking in stru ctio n in C hinese E F L p ro g ram m es b y d raw in g o n various theoretical

concepts. T hen a m o d el o f critical th in k in g instru ctio n in th e E F L classroom is

proposed. F in a lly discussed are th e cultural dim en sio n o f critical th in k in g instruction,

and the relatio n sh ip b etw een critical th in k in g co m p eten ce and the o th er com ponents

o f the co m m u n icativ e com petence m odel.

9.1. Critical thinking

C ritical th in k in g is an im portant elem en t o f the so ciocultural co m ponent o f

com m unicative com petence, as critical th in k in g o b v io u sly p lay s a central ro le in

analysing, evalu atin g and appreciatin g one's ow n and o thers' cu ltu ral practices,

hence, en h an cin g one's intercultural se n sib ility (S avignon, 2002; G ao, 2001; W en,

2000; B yram , 1997). Its im p o rtan ce is also o n e o f the tw o m ain findings arising from

this stu d y on en hancing C hinese E F L learn ers' com m unicative com petence.

227
T he d efinition o f critical th in k in g com petence is co m plex and research ers define the

term from d ifferen t perspectives. T he term 'involves o v e rc o m in g not o n ly intellectual

and cultural barriers b u t also p sy ch o lo g ical barriers' (C he, 2002: 84). P aul (1992)

states 'critical th in k in g , in contrast to ro te m em o rizatio n o r sim ple info rm atio n recall,

has as its goal, th e stim ulation o f analytical and evalu ativ e p ro cesses o f th e m ind' (p.

8). M oore and P ark er (1989) define critical th in k in g as 'the carefu l and deliberate

determ ination o f w hether to accept, reject, o r su sp en d ju d g m e n t ab o u t a claim ' (p.3).

T hey also co n sid er th at critical th in k in g in volves several skills o r abilities, including

the ab ility to listen and read carefully, to evaluate argum ents, to lo o k for and find

h id d en assum ptions, and to trace th e co nsequences o f a claim . S im ilarly, C ederblom

and P aulsen (1991) define critical th in k in g as a c o lle ctio n o f pro ced u res th at enable

one to m ak e decisio n s concerning w h a t to believe, a n ab ility th at th ey contrast w ith

passive read in g or listening and m ere disag reem en t (p .l) .

T hom son (1999) describes the fo llo w in g th ree ab ilities as 'im p o rtan t aspects o f

critical thinking': 1. the ab ility to u n d e rsta n d an d ev aluate argum ents, 2 . the ability to

m ake w e ll-rea so n e d decisions, 3. the ten d e n c y to b e fair-m in d ed (p.2). She also

claim s th at th ere are certain d istin ct skills inv o lv ed in the assessm en t o f argum ents

and in good decisio n -m ak in g skills such as rec o g n izin g reasons, conclusions, and

unstated assum ptions, draw ing conclusions, ap p raisin g evidence, and analysing

w ords, phrases, and concepts.

R uggiero (1998) rem inds us o f tw o m a in types o f a p p licatio n o f critical thinking

skills: critical th in k in g serves to 'm ake a decisio n ab o u t w h a t actio n w ill b e st solve

the p ro b lem or w h a t b e lie f about the issu e is m ost reaso n ab le, and th en evaluating

and refin in g th a t so lution or b e l i e f ' (p. 157). A s is evident, alth o u g h definitions o f

critical th in k in g diverge, n e a rly all em phasize the ab ility and ten d e n c y to 'gather,

evaluate, and u se in fo rm atio n effectively' (B eyer, 1985).

9.2. Critical thinking competence of English-Major students: the

status quo in China

A s rev ealed in th e findings o f this study, th e overall scenario in C h in a is not

228
encouraging as far as critical th in k in g ab ility is co n cern ed , p a rtic u la rly in E FL

education. P eo p le seem to h arb o u r the illu sio n th at u n iv ersity -lev el critical th in k in g

instru ctio n falls so lely into the realm o f p h ilo so p h y departm ents. E F L teachers do not

h ave to co n cern them selves w ith th e instru ctio n o f c ritical th in k in g skills in class.

Thus, critical th in k in g ability w as not officially in clu d e d into the E F L p e d a g o g y until

the revised n ational curriculum o f E n g lish language ed u catio n fo r E n g lish m ajo rs at

tertiary level (E nglish D iv isio n 2000: 13). W en (2000) a sen io r C hinese E F L

researcher, p o in ts out:

E F L teach in g [at vario u s levels] in the C h inese c o n tex t has p laced m uch
em phasis on d ev eloping stu d e n ts b asic linguistic skills b y im ita tin g in to n atio n
and pronunciation, recitin g chunks o f a good E n g lish p assag e and m em o rizin g
w ords and pattern drills. W hat is ig n o red in E F L teach in g is the fo stering o f
stu d e n ts critical th in k in g and p ro b lem -so lv in g ability, (p. 178).

T he findings o f this stu d y support h e r argum ent. T his stu d y rev eals th at even i f the

m ajo rity o f students expressed th eir p referen ce o f S C A o v er T C A , th ey voiced their

deep co n cern s about the 'inner em ptiness' o f th eir talk in group d isc u ssio n o r in p a ir

w ork w h ic h inev itab ly h in d ere d th e p ro ceed in g o f m ean in g fu l co m m unicative

learning activities in class. T his is p a rtly due to the fact th at students fin d it h ard to

m ake critical o r analytical com m ents on a given to p ic, w hich, in turn, is closely

related to learners' deficien cy in critical th in k in g ability. In a n interview , a fourth-

year in terv iew ee m ade th e fo llow ing com m ents on this issue:

In group discussions, w e fin d it h a rd to p ro v id e c h allen g in g o r n ew ideas,

esp ecially w h en w e find the to p ic u n fam iliar to us. It seem s th at w e are quite
w eak in m ak in g the critical com m ents n e c essa ry to c a rry team w o rk to a
successful conclusion. W e h a v e to ack n o w led g e th at w e h av e to feed ou r
m in d s w ith critical th in k in g skills. O therw ise, o u r en th u siasm fo r th e S C A w ill
dw indle, o r even w orse, it co u ld ex ert a n eg ativ e im p act o n o u r future career
[FS-15],

It can b e said th at in C hina, critical th in k in g is n o t an im p o rtan t p art o f the

curriculum o r standard teach in g m eth o d o lo g y , esp ecially in the E F L program m e

w here the do m in an t ped ag o g ical m o d el is tra d itio n ally teacher-centred. S tudents are

not, in general, en couraged to ch allen g e th eir teachers on w h at th e y teach. T his is

w ell reflected in m o st o f the lessons o b serv ed in this study. T he lack o f critical

th inking is also m an ifested in E F L students' academ ic w riting. Li (2002) h as

229
exam ined a large n u m b er o f 4th'y e a r E n g lish m ajo r students' dissertatio n theses in

C h in a and discovered students' d eficien cies in critical th in k in g in the E F L program .

A ccording to Li (2002), students' grad u atio n thesis sh o u ld reflec t n o t o n ly their

academ ic achievem ents, b u t also rev eal teach in g outcom es. H o w ev er, Li finds that

certain thesis problem s co n stan tly recur. A part from lim itatio n s in linguistic

com petence, students seem to show a lac k o f analytical, critical and creativ e th in k in g

ab ility req u ired to com plete th eir academ ic dissertation. Li identifies students' poor

critical th in k in g ab ility ex h ib ited in th eir d issertatio n s th ro u g h p ro b lem s in academ ic

w riting. T his is connected w ith p o o r n arrative and d escrip tiv e m odes w h ich

them selves directly require analy tical and critical com m ent, in clu d in g analysis,

synthesis, arg u m en tatio n and evalu atio n o f sources an d ideas (Li, 2002: 38).

P ersuasiveness in academ ic w ritin g is connected to critical th in k in g b ecau se 'w riters

m u st p red ict th eir audience's needs, and therefore b o th an ticipate counter-argum ents

and q u estion th eir ow n assum ptions' (R am age & B ean, 1999). H ow ever, as this

stu d y reveals, C hinese E F L m ajors at univ ersity level are found in com petent in

critical th in k in g abilities.

9.3. Root causes of deficiency in critical thinking

T he cause o f C hinese E F L m ajo rs' lac k o f critical th in k in g is m u lti-faceted and can

b e traced b ack to p re-u n iv ersity schooling. Its im p act o n the d ev elo p m en t o f learners'

co m m unicative com petence in E F L ed u catio n is substantial.

First, for students at p rim a ry and seco n d ary level, w h a t h a s su stain ed a pedagogical

curriculum has b e e n the n a tio n a l u n iv ersity entrance exam system . Indeed, for

p rim a ry an d seco n d ary schooling, so m u ch o f th e edu catio n al system in C hina

centres around this one exam that it exerts enorm ous p ressu re on th e life o f every

C hinese student. T he n ational ex am w ill determ ine a stu d e n ts future p o sitio n in

society. S tudents at p rim a ry and seco n d ary levels spend m o st o f th eir tim e p reparing

for it as th eir perfo rm an ce at it w ill affect the rest o f th eir lives. T he exam

overshadow s all th eir learning and students h av e little tim e for disagreem ent, or for

debate in the teach er-cen tred classroom . A n ed u cation focused alm ost exclusively on

230
the n atio n al co llege-entrance exam does little to p ro m o te or encourage critical

thinking.

Second, at u n iv ersity level, in prin cip le there should b e m u ch m o re o p p o rtu n ity for

in struction b ased on critical th in k in g as req u ired b y th e rev ise d E F L curricu lu m for

E nglish m ajo rs (E n g lish D iv isio n , 2000). H ow ever, in practice, it h a rd ly figures. Li

(2002) po in ts out:

F o r E nglish m ajors, E n g lish language is tau g h t and lea rn ed ju st as a kind o f

skill. Teachers m a in ly focus on p roviding stu d en ts w ith language skills rather
th an treating it [the target language] as a d iscip lin e o f b o th skills and
k n ow ledge as you w o u ld do o th er academ ic subjects. E n g lish is ju st learned as
wai yu (foreign language) rath er th an wai wen (fo reig n language + foreign
culture). D esp ite the fact that alm ost all o f fo reig n lan g u ag e universities or
colleges in C hina, in th e p a st few years, h a v e ren a m e d th e ir in stitu tio n s from
'foreign language u n iv ersities or colleges' to foreign studies u niversities or
colleges', th e y h av e n o t im p ro v ed m u ch in th e ir p e d a g o g y n o r curricu lu m (p.
38).

A s is ev id en t from the above quotation, urgent ch an g es n e e d to b e introduced. E arly

research on p sy ch o lo g ical sch em ata (a p erson's p rio r kno w led g e) suggests that

p erform ance in th in k in g task s is related to a perso n 's fam iliarity w ith the topic at h an d

(G laser, 1984; F ranklin, 1985; C arrell, 1987). O ther research ers also support this and

claim that a learner's fam iliarity w ith subject m atte r p lay s a n im p o rtan t role in his or

h er perfo rm an ce on th in k in g task s (K en n ed y et al, 1991). T his is significant w h e n one

considers th e natu re o f E F L ed u catio n at u n iv ersity level in C hina, w h ich fo r a long

tim e has focused on learn in g th e E n g lish language as a sep arate discipline, w ith o u t

including other fields o f th e social sciences.

T hird, in m an y cases, the te x tb o o k s fo r th e first tw o y ears o f the u n d ergraduate

p rogram fo r E n g lish m ajors co v er hum orous stories and p o p u lar science, thus

pro v id in g students w ith lim ited access to ideas o r in-d ep th topics w h ich are

susceptible to applying an alytical and critical th in k in g skills. A s W e n (2000) argues,

even in the oral E n g lish class, the topics are b y no m ea n s thought-provoking. It is not

uncom m on to find to p ics such as w h a t w o u ld y o u do i f you h a d a m illion dollars?

W h at are you going to do for the in co m in g sum m er / w in te r v acation? W h at gift(s)

231
do you p lan to give y our friend at h is o r h er b irth d a y p a rty ? T h ese to p ics are good for

learners to practise their spoken E nglish, b u t th ey p rese n t no challenge to the

stu d e n ts critical th in k in g and do not enhance th e lev el o f com m unicative

com petence.

F ourth, the m ajo rity o f u n iv ersity E F L teachers in C hina, w ho h a v e th em selv es b een

educated b y a system that does n o t encourage critical th in k in g , have little o r lim ited

experience or train in g in u sin g it in th eir E n g lish classes. T his is because, am ong

o ther things, 'm an y teachers them selves are n o t v e ry clear ab o u t w h at the term

critical thinking ab ility im plies' (W en, 2000: 178). T h is is m an ifested in th e teach in g

m ethods they em ployed for th eir classroom in stru ctio n - w h ich are still d o m inated b y

the trad itio n al teacher-centeredness. T ext m aterials are d e a lt w ith in a sentence-by-

sentence w ay, and often im p ed e learners from u n d e rsta n d in g th e tex t at a discourse

level. M o h an an (1997) rem inds us:

T he trad itio n al fram ew ork o f [EFL] ed u catio n th a t m o st o f us re ly on does not

p rovide for critical u nderstanding, and h e n c e does n o t facilitate critical
th in k in g .... S tudents are n o t in a p o sitio n to critic a lly ev alu ate the kno w led g e
p resented to them . A ll th e y can do is accept o r tru st w h a t is h anded dow n to
them , a situation th at is h a rd ly conducive to the p rac tic e o f critical thinking.

So it is n o t surprising that m an y teachers do n o t a tta ch im p o rtan ce to developing

th eir stu d e n ts critical th in k in g skills in th eir courses b e c au sc conventional teach in g

m ethods have ig n o red this aspect.

Fifth, ideological c o n fo rm ity has also p lay ed a ro le in th is dow n -p lay in g o f critical

thinking skills. C o m m en tin g o n the E F L tea c h in g in C hina, a C hinese applied

linguist, M ao (1996: 16-17) p o in ts out th at in C h in a th e social reality seem s to

dem and an o v erw h elm in g ly h ig h degree o f id eo lo g ical co nform ity, from literary

p ractitioners, p ro fessio n als, teachers and students. F o r m an y years, anything that

seem ed to ch allen g e d o m in an t p o litical disco u rse w as eith er m arg in alized or

silenced. T his has h ad a dev astatin g im p act o n social attitudes and academ ic

behaviours. It is w o rth n o tin g th at although th e p rese n t id eo logical clim ate seem s

m ore favourable to w ard s c ertain kinds o f cu ltu ral p lu ra lism and academ ic

individualism , teachers still fin d it hard to 'adopt a n e w approach, academ ic div ersity

o r a genuine fle x ib ility fo r th em selv es o r tow ard s stu d en ts' (p. 16). T his is because

232
'ideological conform ity, w h ich h as b e e n practised fo r such a long tim e, h a s cast a

long shadow and still in h ib its peo p le's b ehaviours' (p. 17).

C o nfucian m o rality h as also contributed to p e rp e tu atin g m o re rig id approaches. A

h iera rc h y o f p o w e r distrib u tio n is reflected in the classro o m and in the relations

betw een teachers and students. R espect for au th o rity and p o w e r relations in class

have left th eir m ark and students w o u ld n o t b e u sed to c h allen g in g th eir teachers.

T his is also reflected in students' learning styles. F o r instance, M ao (1996) rem a rk e d

th at C hinese students w ere tau g h t to accept au th o rity and th at m o st students w e re too

shy to challenge teachers o r books.

Finally, there is the leg acy o f m ethodological c o n serv atism w h ich ad v ersely affects

the developm ent o f learners' critical th in k in g skills. T rad itio n ally stu d e n ts needs

and in d iv id u ality are either d ecided for them , or sim p ly ignored b y teachers. T he

teach er sets th e rh y th m o f th e w h o le class and students are expected to tak e n o tes or

co p y th e correct answ ers from th e blackboard. This, o f course, leaves students little

space to question th e teacher. S tudents w ho h a v e b e e n tra in ed this w a y also expect

to b e inform ed o f facts w h ich can b e co m m itted to m e m o ry (M ao, 1996).

In short, critical th in k in g in students h as n o t b e e n e n co u rag ed in E FL p rogram m es.

T he nature o f C h in ese E F L learners' lack o f critical th in k in g is intricate and involves

m an y variables w h ic h n e e d to b e dealt w ith in a sy stem atic w a y in order to enhance

overall level o f th eir co m m u n icativ e com petence.

9.4. A new hope in the situation: social changes under way

T hings are b eg in n in g to change in C hina, alth o u g h slow ly. T here are several

developm ents w h ic h w ould lead us to ex p ect critical th in k in g to b e c o m e a m ore

v isible part o f e d u catio n in C hina. F irst, there is, w ith in C hinese society, a top -d o w n

refo rm u n d erw ay in E F L education, typified b y the p u b lish in g o f the rev ise d national

curriculum for E n g lish language education for E n g lish m ajors at u n iv ersity level

(E nglish D ivision, 2000). T h e n e w c u rricu lu m c learly req u ires th at E n g lish m ajors

n eed to develop th eir in tercu ltu ral co m m unicative co m p eten ce and also th eir critical

233
th in k in g abilities w ith in th eir E F L education. T he c u rricu lu m goals are stated as the

follow ing: (cf. E n g lish D ivision, 2000: 1-14).

1. S tudents w ill increase th eir u se o f analytical, critical and creative th in k in g

skills in E nglish, in clu d in g analysis, synthesis, evalu atio n and appreciation.

2. S tudents w ill b e able to evaluate th eir ow n and others' lan g u ag e experience and

ideas

3. S tudents w ill b e able to p ro d u ce correct [E nglish] lan g u ag e and to express

their ow n ideas and feelings in E nglish.

4. S tudents w ill develop th eir ow n intercultural c o m m u n icativ e com petence.

In addition, the form er C h in ese vice P rem ier Li L anqing has m a d e it clear that E F L

education, particularly, m u st u ndergo further refo rm since it h as a v e ry im portant

ro le to p la y in C hina's m o d ern iza tio n drive o f th e 2 1 st cen tu ry (P ang et al, 2002:

202). M oreover, th e p ast 25 y ears h av e w itn essed e x tra o rd in a rily rapid social and

econom ic change in C hina, acco m p an ied b y an u n p reced en ted enthusiasm for

learning E nglish. T herefore, there is a g ro w in g d e m a n d for co lleg e graduates w ith

n o t only a good com m and o f E n g lish b u t also critical th in k in g abilities.

M ore and m ore academ ic links either at institu tio n al o r at g o v ernm ental level h av e

been agreed b e tw e en C h in a and W estern countries. F o r instance, from 1997 to 2001

about 500 C hinese research ers and u n iv ersity teach ers in the field o f social sciences

benefited from th e E U -C h in a H ig h e r E d u catio n C oo p eratio n P rogram m e. T his

pro g ram is still un d erw ay a n d continues to b e n e fit m an y C hinese academ ic

professionals.

M oreover, each y e a r a g row ing n u m b er o f C h in ese co llege teach ers and students

trav el abroad to receiv e w h a t th ey see as 'a h ig h er q u a lity acad em ic degree'. T h is is

especially true o f th o se seeking p o stg rad u ate degrees in W estern countries. A t

p resen t in C hina, a degree from a foreign u niversity, esp ec ially from W estern

countries, is considered to b e o f greater v alu e than o n e from ev en a top C hinese

university. F o r this reason, fac u lty p o sitio n s at u n iv ersities in C h in a are in creasin g ly

being given to those w ho have com p leted th eir p o stg rad u ate studies abroad. O ne can

234
assum e that d u ring th eir tim e abroad, research ers an d p o stg rad u ates p e rso n a lly

experience critical th in k in g p e d a g o g y as practised in W e ste rn educational system s.

W hen th ey retu rn to C h in a and beg in teach in g at th eir h o m e institutions, the

educational p h ilo so p h y th a t th ey h av e experienced a b ro ad w ill affect their teach in g

styles. T hey m ay thus b eco m e 'm issionaries' fo r th e cau se o f critical th in k in g

instruction in E F L field.

9.5. Rationale for incorporating the notion of critical thinking into

English language education at university level in China

T he findings o f th is study reveal the n ecessity o f fo ste rin g C h inese learners' critical

th inking abilities in E F L ed u cation at tertiary level. T his w ill in tu rn enhance C hinese

E F L students' o verall co m m u n icativ e com petence. M a n y L 2 /E F L researchers h av e

advocated th eo retical concepts and strategies for th is area o f L 2 /E F L ed u catio n (Cf.

B yram , 1989, 1997, 1999; C ham ot, 1995; M ohanan, 1997; D av idson, 1998; C hen,

1999; V an der W al, 1999; L ittlew ood, 2000; S tapleton, 2001; C he, 2002; G ao, 2001;

Savignon, 2002).

F rom the persp ectiv e o f th is thesis, this ch ap ter focuses on th ree th eo retical concepts

w h ich m ig h t serve to estab lish th e in clusion o f critical th in k in g instru ctio n in E F L

education in C hina and enhance C hinese E F L learners' co m m u n icativ e com petence

at u n iv ersity level. T hree concepts are as follow s: 1. B yram 's (1997) 'critical cultural

aw areness education' w h ich is defined in term s o f o b jectiv es fo r d ev eloping learners'

intercultural co m p eten ce as an 'intercultural speaker' in L 2 or F L ed u catio n (B yram ,

1997: 53); 2. S avignon's sociocultural co m p eten ce (2002: 9-10); 3. G ao's (2001)

general n o tio n o f critical com petence. T he fo llo w in g is a detailed d iscu ssio n o f these

concepts.

9.5.1. Critical cultural awareness

B yram (1997) advocates th e n o tio n o f critical cu ltu ral aw areness w h ich 'entails a

learner's evaluating c ritic a lly and on the basis o f ex p licit criteria perspectives,

235
practices and p ro d u cts in one's ow n and o th er cu ltu res and countries' (p. 53). T he

objectives for E F L or L2 learners are to:

1. Iden tify and in terp ret explicit or im p licit v a lu e s in d ocum ents an d events in

one's o w n and other cultures;

2. M ake an evaluative analysis o f the do cu m en ts an d events w h ich refers to an

explicit persp ectiv e and criteria;

3. Interact and m ed ia te in intercultural ex ch an g es in accordance w ith explicit

criteria, n eg o tiatin g w h ere n e c essa ry a d e g re e o f acceptance o f th em b y

d raw ing u p o n one's know ledge, skills and a ttitu d es (B yram , 1997: 53).

In fact, the core em phasis B y ram m ak es h ere is th a t th e E F L or L2 learn er 'brings to

the experiences o f th e ir ow n and other cultures a ratio n al and ex p licit standpoint

from w h ich to evaluate'. B y ra m further com m ents o n th e p o sitiv e role o f E F L or L2

teacher in the p ro cess o f this developm ent, 'th ey [teachers] can en courage them

[learners] to m ak e th e basis for their ju d g m e n ts exp licit, and ex pect them to be

consistent in th eir ju d g m e n ts o f th eir ow n so ciety as w e ll as others' (B yram , 1997:

54). H e further p o in ts o u t that

F L T [education] is therefore concerned w ith c o m m u n ic a tio n b ut this has to be

un d ersto o d as m o re th an the exchange o f in fo rm a tio n and sending o f m essages,
w h ich h as d o m in ated com m unicative lan g u ag e tea c h in g in recen t years. E ven
the exchange o f in fo rm atio n is dep en d en t u p o n u n d erstan d in g h o w w h a t one
says o r w rites w ill b e p erceiv ed and in te rp re te d in an o th er cultural context; it
depends o n th e ab ility to decentre and tak e up th e persp ectiv e o f the listen er or
readers. B u t successful 'com m unication' is n o t ju d g e d so lely in term s o f the
efficien cy o f in fo rm a tio n exchange. It is fo cu sed on establishing and
m ain tain in g relatio n sh ip s. In this sense, the e fficacy o f co m m u n icatio n depends
upon u sin g lan g u ag e to dem onstrate o ne's w illin g n ess to relate (B yram , 1997:
3).

It is im p o rtan t fo r [E FL or L2] learn ers to b e able to see sim ilarities and

difference [b etw een tw o cultures] and to e sta b lish a relationship b etw een their
ow n and o th er system s, rath e r than im itate a n a tiv e -sp e a k er (B yram , 1997: 14).

B yram also refers to C hristen sen (1993) and G eertz (1975) as saying:

FLT [education] should n o t attem pt to ju s t p ro v id e representations o f other

236
 cultures, b u t sh o u ld concentrate on eq u ip p in g learn ers w ith the m ean s o f
accessing and analysing any cultural p ractices and m eanings th ey encounter,
w h atever th eir status in a society (B yram , 1997: 19).

A s is evident, these argum ents contrast stro n g ly w ith the teach in g m eth o d in the

culture course I o b serv ed in M ing's class, in w h ic h the tea c h e r focused on p ro v id in g

the students w ith info rm atio n about the target cu ltu re w h ereas learn ers a b ility to

analyse, synthesize, evaluate and critique is n eg lected (S ee C hapter 7 for discussion).

B yram (1997) asserts th at it is p o ssib le and desirable to com bine the fo llo w in g tw o

approaches in teach in g culture, th at is:

1. pro v id in g learners w ith rep resentations o f o th er cultures, and

2. p roviding learners w ith critical tools and developing their critical

understanding o f their own and other cultures and societies (p. 19, m y ow n
em phasis).

These tw o approaches sh o u ld form an in teg ral p a rt o f th e E F L curriculum for E n g lish

m ajors in China. W ithout such approaches C h inese E F L learners w ill not be able to

enhance th eir o verall level o f com m unicative com petence.

B yram (1997) fu rth er p o in ts out the advantage o f p ro v id in g learners w ith critical

tools to develop their critical u n d erstanding o f th eir o w n and o ther cultures. T h ey are:

1. To prep are learners for encounters w ith cu ltu ral practices w h ich h a v e not

b een p rese n ted to th em [in class], and, e sp ecially in the case o f [E nglish] as

lingua franca, [w hich] can n o t be anticip ated (e.g. cross-cultural

co m m unication in w h ich E nglish is used as a co m m o n language b e tw e en

non-n ativ e speakers).

2. T hrough learning m ethods o f analysis, learn ers can also be encouraged to

id entify the n ew w ays in w h ich p articu la r cultural practices and beliefs

m ain tain th e social p o sition and p o w e r o f p a rticu la r groups. T he analysis can

b ecom e critical as w ell as com parative, tu rn in g learners' attention b a c k on

their ow n practices, beliefs and social identities, (p.20)

237
T he quotation cited above is larg ely p ertin en t w h e n w e tak e into acco u n t the current

lingua franca status o f E nglish in the w orld, w h ic h 'encom passes local and
international co n tex ts as settings o f [English] lan g u a g e use in v o lv in g n ativ e -

norm ative and norm ative - no n n ativ e discourse p a rticip an ts' (A lptekin, 2002: 57). In

this context, m u ch co m m u n icatio n in E n g lish in cre asin g ly involves n o n -n ativ e

speaker - n o n -n ativ e sp eak er in teractions w hose cu ltu ral practices are m o st lik e ly n o t

presented to E F L students in th eir E n g lish and cu ltu re classes, n o r anticipated. A s

such, good critical th in k in g com petence w ill help E F L learn ers to com m unicate

effectively w ith others, and to u n derstand o th er cu ltu res w ith general em p ath y and

openness. W ad a (1999) claim s that although learn in g ab o u t various cultures is

im portant, it is im p o ssib le [for E F L learners] to learn about them all. T herefore, the

pragm atic goal o f intern atio n al u n d erstan d in g th ro u g h learn in g E n g lish is to develop

non-biased attitudes, and cro ss-cultural co m m u n ic a tio n skills rath e r th an m ere

factual kno w led g e ab o u t w o rld cultures (cited in K u b o ta, 2002:22). In this sense,

critical th in k in g co m p eten ce plays a crucial ro le in estab lish in g n o n -b iased attitudes

tow ards 'cultural otherness'.

9.5.2. Socio-cultural competence: cultural flexibility

S ocio-cultural co m p eten ce is the second integral stran d in dev elo p in g C hinese E F L

m ajors' critical th in k in g ab ility and overall com m u n icativ e com petence. By

broadening the v iew o f w hat C anale & S w ain (1980) id entified as sociolinguistic

com petence, S avignon (2002) advocates th e n o tio n o f 'socio-cultural com petence'.

She extends it w e ll b e y o n d linguistic form s an d tre a ts it 'as an in terd iscip lin ary field

o f in quiry h a v in g to do w ith the social rules o f language u se' (S avignon, 2002: 9).

She points out th at socio-cultural co m p eten ce req u ires 'an u n d erstan d in g o f th e social

context in w h ich language is used: the roles o f the particip an ts, the in fo rm a tio n they

share, and th e fu n ctio n o f the interaction' (ibid.). She asserts th at L2 o r E F L learners

in m u lticultural co m m unication sh o u ld b e 'sen sitiv e n o t o n ly to th e cultural m eanings

attached to the lan g u ag e itself, b u t also to social con v en tio n s co n cern in g language

use', such things as tak in g turns, ap p ropriateness o f content, nonverbal language, and

tone. T his is b e c au se 'these conventions in flu en ce h o w m essages are in terpreted' (p.

10). She em phasizes that for L 2 or E F L learners, in addition to cultural know ledge,

23 8
cultural sensitivity is essential.

Ju st k n o w in g som ething about the culture o f an E n g lish -sp ea k in g co u n try w ill

n o t suffice. W h at m u st be learned is a general e m p ath y a n d openness tow ard
other cultures, w h ic h m ig h t be subsum ed u n d e r th e term 'cu ltu ral flexibility', or
'cultural aw areness' (Savignon, 2002:10).

T herefore, so cio cu ltu ral com petence includes 'a w illin g n ess to en g ag e in th e active

negotiation o f m ea n in g along w ith a w illin g n ess to su sp en d ju d g m e n t and tak e into

consideration th e p o ssib ility o f cultural differences in con v en tio n s o f u se' (S avignon,

2002:10). G iven the context, critical th in k in g o b v io u sly play s a central ro le in this

cognitive p ro cess and contributes to analysis, e v a lu a tio n and a p p reciatio n o f one's

ow n and others' cultural practices. A co m b in atio n o f so cio cu ltu ral co m p eten ce and

critical th in k in g abilities, i f p ro p erly ap p lied in th e E F L p ro g ram m es, w ould

therefore enhances C hinese E F L learners' o verall c o m m u n icativ e com petence.

9.5.3. Critical competence

Gao (2001), an au th o ritativ e C hinese E F L scholar, claim s th at critical co m p eten ce is

im portant for E F L learners to m aster in learn in g fo reig n cultures since it is 'the

ability to exercise good control over cultural in fo rm atio n ' (p. 159). It is n e c essa ry for

'the effective p ro ce ssin g o f cultural in fo rm a tio n an d fo r the k in d o f p ro ce ssin g w hich

leads to a m o re ro u n d ed personality' (ibid.). In o th er w ords, E F L ed u catio n at

university level sh o u ld be also aim ed at leading to a p erso n al developm ent. A good

com m and o f critical th in k in g ability, w h ile n o t g u aran teein g p erso n al developm ent,

is a n ecessary c o n d itio n for such d evelopm ent. T o b e in real co m m an d o f the

know ledge req u ired for critical th in k in g co m petence, a lea rn er has to exercise

ju d g m e n t and go b e y o n d the specifics to see 'both the trees an d the w ood'. Gao

(2001) po in ts o u t th at critical com petence consists o f the fo llow ing com ponents:

1. C o m p reh en d in g co m p eten ce: en abling a learn er to u n d erstan d a cu ltu re w ith

both co g n itiv e insight and affective em pathy. T his entails th e ability to obtain

cultural in fo rm atio n from av ailable resources, to b u ild a cultural environm ent

co n scio u sly and determ inedly. T his is related w ith questions such as w h at a

certain th in g 'A ' is; w h at 'A' is m ad e of; w h y 'A ' is 'A'; and h o w 'A' is associated

239
 with 'B' and C .

2. E v alu atin g com petence: enabling one to assess available in fo rm a tio n w ith a

critical m ind. T his involves co m p ariso n o f n e w in fo rm atio n w ith k n o w n

in form ation, and is often related to qu estio n s such as in w h a t w a y 'A' is

c o n g ru en t w ith, com p lem en tary o r co n tra d ic to ry to 'B', etc.

3. In co rp o ratin g com petence: enabling one to in teg rate n e w in fo rm a tio n w ith

know n in form ation, and com bine them in one's ow n m en tal schem es so that

th ey w ill guide behaviour. T his is often related to questions such as h o w 'A ' and

'B' can b e com bined, and under w h a t co n ditions; w h a t one sh o u ld choose to

follow and h o w one should b e h a v e to attain a given o b jective in a certain

co n tex t (Cf. G ao, 2001: 158-159).

In reality, th ese above three com ponents o f critical co m p eten ce are in terrelated and

com plem entary. O n ly w h e n these th ree elem ents, alo n g w ith the o th er com ponents o f

the concept o f co m m unicative com petence, co m e into p la y in a subtle m anner, w ill a

p o sitiv e learning resu lt ensure. C learly, critical co m p eten ce w ill enhance C hinese

learners' overall co m m unicative co m p eten ce th ro u g h E F L education.

T he th eo retical concepts cited above c le a rly show th e significant ro les th at critical

th inking p lay s in L2 o r E F L learners' d e v e lo p m en t o f cultural aw areness and

sociocultural com petence, b o th o f w h ich w ill facilitate the overall ad v an cem en t o f

c o m m unicative com petence. H ow ever, it sh o u ld b e po in ted o u t th at the above

theoretical co n cep ts focus on the sig n ifican t ro les o f critical th in k in g in culture

learning and tea c h in g rath er than in n o rm al E n g lish language courses. T he follow ing

sections focus on h o w to teach and assess c ritical th in k in g in E n g lish classes. H ere

inev itab ly a q u e stio n arises: w h e th e r critical th in k in g c a n be tau g h t in class.

9.6. Is critical thinking teachable?

G iven the C h in ese cultural co n tex t as d escrib ed in C hapter 2, th e q u estio n has to be

asked w h e th e r critical thinking is teachable. M o h a n an (1997) asserts teach in g critical

thinking sh o u ld m ea n helping one acquire the a b ility to think critically, or help in g

240
one im prove the ab ility to think critically. I f teach ers can h elp th eir students learn to

paint, sing, dance o r p lay chess, th ey can also help students d ev elo p or im p ro v e the

a b ility to th in k critically (M ohanan, 1997).

T here is em pirical evidence th at teach in g learners to im p ro v e th e ir critical th in k in g

skills has p o sitiv e effects th a t are tran sferab le to a w id e v a rie ty o f situations

(H alpem , 1996; L azere, 1987; G ettings, 1999).

A cco rd in g to H alp em :

S u b stantial evidence concludes th at it is p o ssib le to u se ed u catio n to im p ro v e

the [learners'] ab ility to th in k critically, esp ecially w h e n in stru ctio n is
sp ecifically designed to en courage th e tra n sfe r o f these skills to different
situations and different d om ains o f kn o w led g e. In fact, it is d ifficu lt to id en tify
any aspect o f critical th in k in g th at co u ld n o t b e tau g h t and learn ed (H alpem ,
1996: 8).

L azere (1987) cites D u m k e (1980) as statin g th e p u rp o se o f critical th in k in g

instru ctio n at u n iv ersity level:

In stru ctio n in critical th in k in g is to be d esig n ed to achieve an u n d erstanding o f

th e relatio n sh ip o f language to logic, w h ich should lead to the a b ility to
analyse, criticize, and advocate ideas, to rea so n in d u ctiv ely and ded u ctiv ely
(D um ke, 1980 cited in L azere, 1987).

G ettings (1999) sum m arizes the sig n ifican ce o f instru ctio n in critical th in k in g as
follow s:

R ath er th an bein g good or b a d th in k in g , it w o u ld be m o re accurate to say that

critical th in k in g train in g teach es [learners] q u estio n in g or beh av io u ral
strategies th at can be ap p lied to u n d e rsta n d in g a n d resp o n d in g ap p ro p riately to
a co m plex situation o r problem . A s such, learning 'critical th inking' does not
m ake one 'think b etter' b u t to u n d erstan d so m ething m o re d eep ly o r solve
p ro b lem s m o re su ccessfu lly (R 148).

F o llow ing th is line o f reasoning, it is clear th a t critical th in k in g is teachable, b u t it is

b y no m ean s enough i f an E F L curricu lu m devotes to critical th in k in g one o r tw o

lectures, o r ev en a w hole m odule, b u t ignores it in th e rem ain in g m odules. In other

w ords, critical th in k in g should be in co rp o rated into the C h inese E F L curriculum

design and b e c o m e an integral part o f th e E F L program m es. O n ly th en w ill critical

thinking, as p a rt o f sociocultural com p eten ce, enhance C hinese E F L learners' overall

241
level o f co m m u n icativ e com petence. T his n a tu ra lly leads to an o th er im portant

question: how can one teach critical th in k in g in E F L p ro g ram m es at tertia ry level in

C hina?

9.7. How can one teach critical thinking in the EFL programme?

T eaching critical thinking in the C hinese co n tex t w ill prove c h allen g in g fo r b o th

cultural and ed ucational reaso n s as d escrib ed in S ectio n 9.3 o f this chapter.

R esearchers h a v e w ritten m u ch about the strategies o f c ritical th in k in g instruction

from differen t perspectives. I find th e instructional p rin c ip le s p ro p o se d b y C ham ot

(1995) m o st relev an t and usefu l for E F L ed u catio n in C hina. C h am o t (1995)

identifies five instructional guidelines th a t p ro v id e L 2 o r E F L students w ith the

o p p o rtunity to dem onstrate and develop th eir critical thinking. T h ese teaching

principles can p ro v id e the fram ew o rk for dev elo p in g the co n cep t o f critical th in k in g

in the E n g lish language classro o m aim ed at en hancing C h in ese E F L learners'

co m m unicative com petence. C ham ot's prin cip les are also co n g ru en t w ith the eclectic

m odel d iscu ssed in C hapter 7. C ham ot's five in stru ctio n al p rin c ip le s are o utlined

below .

1. Recognizing and building on students prior knowledge

L earning th eo ries tell us that w e learn b y m ak in g links betw een in fo rm atio n and w h a t

w e have a lre ad y kn o w n (G laser, 1984; F ranklin, 1985; C arrell, 1987; K e n n e d y et al,

1991). S tudents n eed to be rem in d ed th a t th ey alread y k n o w m u ch th a t can be related

to w h at th ey are n o w learning in E nglish. T h eir p rio r k n o w led g e is a v aluable tool for

helping th em learn n ew things. T eachers can ensure students' p rio r kno w led g e is

elicited th ro u g h discussion, b rain sto rm in g , sem antic m ap p in g and sim ilar activities.

2. Providing meaningful learning tasks

W hen teachers ask students to th in k in E n g lish , teachers m u st b e sure that students

have access to ideas and to p ics w o rth th in k in g about. T he learn in g activities that

242
need to b e arranged in class m u st be challenging, w h e th e r th e y are assigned b y the

teacher, developed collaboratively, o r chosen individually.

3. Engaging in interactive teaching and learning

C ham ot (1995:1) refers to in teractiv e teach in g as in stru ctio n a l p rac tic e involving

ongoing dialogues and inquiries, in w h ic h k n o w led g e is shared and constructed

rath er th an tran sm itted one w a y from teachers to learners. T each in g should b e

collaborative, in w h ich students and teach ers w o rk to g e th e r to discover, create and

expand their un d erstan d in g and skills rather th an fo cu sin g on know ledge

tran sm issio n from teacher to students in T C class.

4. Focusing on learning processes and strategies

T eachers n e e d to encourage learn ers' dev elo p m en t o f m eta -c o g n itiv e aw areness b y

asking students to describe th eir thoughts, ex p lain h o w th ey found an answ er, and

share their o w n techniques fo r learning. T eachers can also help learners b ecom e

aw are o f the learn in g strategies that can h elp them learn m o re efficiently. L earning

strategy instru ctio n needs to be ex p licit so th a t learners can b e co n scio u sly aw are o f

w h ich strategies w o rk b est for th em for d ifferent k in d s o f learn in g tasks. (Such

in struction is inadequately practised in C h in a at p rese n t as rev ealed b y the findings in

this study).

5. Helping students evaluate their own thinking

In addition to teacher's assessm ent, teachers need to p ro v id e th eir students w ith

structure and tim e fo r th eir self-evaluation. U p o n com p letin g a learn in g task, learners

n e e d to reflec t on their accom plishm ents, p o n d er any p ro b lem s th e y encountered,

reflect on h o w th ey w ere solved and assess the effectiveness o f th e strategies used.

T his can b e done individually, and teach ers can ask learners to reco rd th eir self-

evaluations in jo u rn a ls o r learning logs; o r th ey can b e asked to co m plete checklists

or answ er open -en d ed questions. C ham ot (1995) claim s th at these types o f self-

evaluation activities help students to und erstan d th em selv es better, and w hen

243
collected and rev iew ed over tim e, such activities also help p ro v id e students w ith a

pictu re o f th eir ow n grow th, th at is, th e overall d ev elo p m en t o f th eir critical thinking.

M ey er (1986: 54) argues that teach in g the skills an d attitudes o f critical th in k in g

inev itab ly n ecessitates reth in k in g the role o f th e te a c h e r as lectu rer and reco n sid erin g

the am o u n t o f tim e spent on teach in g c o n ten t as o p p o sed to th e am o u n t o f tim e spent

on teach in g a p ro cess o f thought. M e y er (1986) also suggests th a t rath er than ending

one's tea c h in g w ith questions, teachers m ig h t do b e tte r to b e g in each teach in g w ith a

question. G ood questions can generate a real d iscu ssio n and enco u rag e students in

the fo rm atio n o f ju d g em e n ts (Pp. 59-60). In addition, tea c h in g b eg in n in g w ith

questions creates an atm osphere o f an ticipation and inquiry. A s d escrib ed in C h ap ter

8, asking students questions b e fo re the b e g in n in g o f a lectu re gives students

opportunities to offer their o w n h y p otheses before teach ers p rese n t theirs.

M e y er furth er rem in d s us that teach ers sh o u ld ex e m p lify b y c re a tin g the fou n d atio n

for a fram ew o rk o f analysis in class. T his is n o t to suggest th a t teach ers spoon-feed

their students b y o ver-sim plifying, b u t sim p ly th at th ey tak e tim e to structure the

in fo rm atio n th ey present. T his is v e ry im portant b e c au se o n ly w h e n students see

som e ord er or sense in things, are th e y m o re lik e ly to b e able to recall inform ation

and ap p ly w h a t th e y h av e learned.

9.8. Content-based teaching in the EFL class

In add itio n to the above in stru ctio n al p rinciples, an o th er area th a t prom otes critical

th in k in g is co n ten t-b ased E F L teaching. In line w ith the req u irem en ts o f the rev ise d

curriculum o f E n g lish language teach in g for E n g lish m ajors at co lleg e level (E nglish

D ivision, 2000), co n ten t-b ased courses in E F L p ro g ram m e n eed to b e in stru cted w ith

a p u rp o se o f fosterin g students' critical th in k in g co m p eten ce ra th e r th an pro v id in g

students m ere ly w ith bits o f differen t subjects, b u t students end up w ith learning

no th in g in detail. C o n ten t-b ased teach in g is defined as 'the co n cu rren t teaching o f

academ ic subject m atter and second (foreign) lan g u ag e skills' (B rin to n et al, 1989:

2).

244
A content-based pro g ram m e seem s to speak m ost d ire c tly to le a rn e rs b a c k g ro u n d

k no w led g e as w ell as interests. B yrnes (1991) po in ts o u t th e fo llo w in g advantages o f

content-based ap proach in L 2 / E L teach in g in the c la ssro o m -b ase d setting.

C o m prehension is m o re rea d ily associated w ith c o n ten t k n o w led g e th an it is

w ith linguistic know ledge. B y p ro v id in g v e ry ric h input fo r learners, on m ore
th an a linguistic level, one can enhance le a rn e rs a b ility to p ro d u ce appropriate
o u tp u t as w ell (p .364).

O M alley and C ham ot (1990) c o n ten d that a c o n te n t-b a se d ap p ro ach w h ich

em phasizes learning styles and strategies aim s to m ak e th e lea rn er beco m e aw are o f

th e process o f learn in g and em p o w er them fo r success ( O M a lle y & C ham ot, 1990).

In addition, learners w ill b e aw are o f pro cessin g tex tu a l m ea n in g and at the sam e

tim e exploiting and gaining insights from linguistics. E vidently, this w h o le process

w ill co n trib u te to th e m u tual en h an cem en t o f th eir co n cep tu al as w ell as linguistic

com petence i f the p a rticu la r su itab ility o f c o n ten t-b ased in stru ctio n is em p lo y ed in

th e E n g lish language classroom .

T each in g E n g lish v ia u sin g a m ean in g fu l co n ten t in v ites th e teach in g o f critical-

thinking skills. O ne o f the m an y advantages o f c o n ten t-b ased language pro g ram s is

th at 'this approach b rin g s som e o f th e im p o rtan t and in terestin g co n ten t to p ics from

different subject areas into the language classroom ' (R eid, 1998). To m ake content-

b a sed teach in g effective, C h in ese teach ers h av e a v alu ab le ro le to p la y in adopting an

innovative teach in g ap p ro ach for th eir classroom in stru ctio n in order to enhance

C hinese E F L learners' com m u n icativ e com petence. In this in stan ce, there is no

conflict b etw een this approach an d th e C hinese cu ltu ral and educational goals.

9.9. How to assess critical thinking

T he in tro d u ctio n o f critical th in k in g into th e E F L curricu lu m in C h in a w ill also

req u ire the in tro d u ctio n o f assessm en t criteria. T here are, ho w ev er, no un iv ersally

standard criteria in assessm ent o f learners' critical th in k in g a b ility in L2 or E FL

education.

245
Som e research ers assert th at critical thinking is tra n sfe ra b le across subjects (E nnis,

1998; Siegel, 1990,1997). 'T here are read ily id en tifiab le rea so n in g skills w h ich do

not refe r to an y specific subject m atter, w h ich ap p ly to d iv erse situations, and w h ich

are in fact the sort o f skills w h ich courses in critical th in k in g seek to develop' (S iegel,

1990: 77). H ow ever, 'there are no un iv ersally stan d ard criteria in assessm ent o f

learners' critical th in k in g a b ility in L2 or E F L e d u c a tio n (S tapleton, 2001: 514).

Stapleton (2001) rem in d s us th at although critical th in k in g has receiv ed a great deal

o f attention in L2 and E F L education, there has b e e n little tex tu al analysis and few

scoring guides fo r testin g critical thinking q u a lity in w ritte n [or oral] d iscourse (P.

514). T hough som e critical th in k in g tests exist, th ey ten d to b e test specific, w ith

criteria laid out that p e rta in to th e content o f the test its e lf (D av id so n & D unham ,

1997), such as th e E n n is-W e ir T est o f C ritical T h in k in g (E nnis & W eir, 1985)

involving a fictitious letter w ritten to a new sp ap er listin g reaso n s w h y park in g should

be m ade illegal o n a c ertain street. T est-takers resp o n d to th e letter w ith reaso n in g

that either refu tes o r supports the le tte rs argum ents. B u t this m o d el its e lf is test

specific, directly refe rrin g to th e logic u sed b y th e letter w rite r in the p a rk in g

exam ple (S tapleton, 2001). O ther tests (M cP eck, 1990) are desig n ed to m easu re

critical th in k in g ability, b u t th ey are often lim ited to m u ltip le -c h o ice instrum ents that

do n o t allow any p ro b in g o f th e reaso n in g b e h in d th e e x a m in e e s answ ers (D avidson

& D unham , 1997). T herefore, th ese tests h av e no w id e r applicability. E stab lish in g an

appropriate assessm ent stan d ard w o u ld be a critical c o n cern in the C hinese E F L

program m es.

In an attem pt to address the lack o f adequate c ritical th in k in g assessm ent in E F L

teaching, I suggest a m o d el p ro p o sed b y S tapleton (2001: 515-519). H is m odel

actually offers a sch em e th at can be used in assessin g an y E F L learners' d iscu rsiv e

w riting. C hinese teach ers can use this m odel to id en tify k e y elem ents o f critical

th inking disp lay ed in the stu d e n ts w riting [or oral p resentation] b y assessing each

p ap er o r speech fo r 5 m a jo r com ponents. S tap leto n (2001) ap tly sum m arizes this

m odel as follow s:

1. n u m b er o f argum ents,

2. extent o f evidence,

3. reco g n itio n o f o p p o sin g argum ents

246
4. co rresponding refutations

5. n u m b er o f fallacies (S tapleton, 2001)

T hese elem ents w ill n o w be ex am ined in detail

1. A rgum ent

T eachers first ev aluate and tally the n um ber o f arg u m en ts in each p a p e r in o rd er to

determ ine w h e th e r student-w riters have reached a co n clu sio n about the issues

because their co n clu sio n s indicate the p resen ce o f arg u m en ts. A lth o u g h it is exp ected

that m o st students w ill either agree or disagree w ith a c o n tro v ersial topic, a defin itiv e

conclusion is n o t considered necessary: S tap leto n also stresses that one can rem ain

undecided and still be a good critical thinker, p ro v id e d h e or she offers b a la n c e d

reasons and evid en ce for o n e s indecision. To id e n tify conclusions, teachers look for

claim m arkers such as 'I think' or 'in m y opinion'. A rg u m en ts can be tak e n to be

claim s supported b y reasons; unsupported claim s are m ere ly opinions (B row ne &

K eeley, 1994). I f the reaso n supporting a claim is d eem ed inadequate, th en the

argum ent is co n sid e red flaw ed. Sim ilarly, i f an e ssa y sim p ly restates an arg u m en t

from a given topic, case stu d y or the p assage u sin g th e sam e reasons, this w ill n ot be

taken as an arg u m en t b e c au se 'critical th in k in g entails going bey o n d w h a t has already

been stated' (B ro w n e & K eeley, 1994), to discover, develop, and clarify an argum ent

and the th in k in g p ro ce ss involved (R am age & B ean , 1999). Id entification o f

argum ents can b e b a sed o n sem antic structures and lin g u istic elem ents that ty p ic a lly

signal the p resen ce o f reasons, such as 'because' o r 'for th at reason.' O n the occasions

in w hich student w riters o n ly im ply th eir p o sitio n w ith o u t stating it explicitly,

S tapleton refers to C ram m o n d (1998) as say in g th at teachers can m ade ju d g m e n ts

about the w rite rs in ten t b y inferrin g argum ents b a se d o n k n ow ledge o f reasoning

structures that m ay n ot b e e x p licitly linked b y c o n ju n ctiv e devices. A rgum ents w ith

im plied claim s or co n clusions can b e c o n sid ered v a lid p ro v id ed th ey are supported

b y valid reasons.

2. E vidence.

247
T eachers can ev aluate and count each p iece o f ev id en ce in support o f a reason. In

order to estab lish the leg itim acy o f an argum ent, so m e sort o f p r o o f is req u ired as

support (B row ne & K eeley, 1994). T his can co m e in m a n y form s, in cluding p e rso n a l

experience, research studies, statistics, citing authorities, analogies, p o in tin g out

consequences, and p rec isely d efining w o rd s (B ro w n e & K eeley, 1994; L eki, 1995;

R am age & B ean, 1999). A lth o u g h these sources o f evid en ce v ary in strength, their

existence in any argum ent p o in ts to a student w rite rs u n d e rsta n d in g that argum ents

m u st be su p ported w ith evidence o f som e sort.

3. R eco g n itio n o f opposition.

T eachers can look for student w riters' re c o g n itio n o f the m u ltisid ed nature o f the

issues in question. T h ey can evaluate and co u n t each tim e an opp o sin g v iew is

recognized, as w ell as each tim e a w riter goes on to re fu te th e opposition. B ro w n e &

K eeley (1994, 2004:10) speak o f a 'w eak' and 'strong sense' o f critical thinking.

'W eak sense' critical th in k in g is described as a m eth o d o f 'resisting and an n ih ilatin g

opinions and a reaso n in g w h ich is differen t from yours', w hereas 'strong sense'

critical th in k in g 'requires us to apply critical qu estio n s to all claim s, in clu d in g our

ow n' (p. 10). B o th L eki (1995) and R am age & B e a n (1999) stress the im portance o f

analysing b oth sides o f an issue. A ccordingly, students w ill b e given c re d it for

recognizing o p p o sin g v iew s and refu tin g th eir rea so n in g as w ell as c h allen g in g their

support. T he reco g n itio n o f o ther or o p posite v iew p o in ts can b e id entified through

the presence o f specific structures such as, 'S om e p e o p le claim t h a t..., It is said t h a t .

. . how ever' etc.

4. Fallacies

'Fallacies' refe r to th e differen t types o f errors in reasoning, in other w ords,

argum ents are flaw ed. R am ag e and B e a n (1999) id en tify three b ro ad ty p es o f

fallacies in rela tio n to critical thinking and arg u m en tativ e w riting texts b a sed on

appeals to 1. p a th o s (e.g. em otional m isd irectio n ), 2 . ethos (e.g. attacking the

character o f the opponent), and 3. logos (e.g. h a s ty generalization on the basis o f too

little evidence) (Pp. 239-244).

248
4.1. F allacies o f p athos characterize flaw s in the rela tio n sh ip b e tw e en w h a t is argued

and the audience, one exam ple b ein g em o tio n al m isd irectio n .

4.2. F allacies o f E th o s characterize flaw s in th e rela tio n sh ip b e tw e en th e argum ent

and the ch aracter o f th o se involved in th e argum ent, o n e ex am p le b e in g attack in g the

character o f the opponent.

4.3. F allacies o f L ogos characterize flaw s in the relatio n sh ip b etw een the c laim (an

assertion in resp o n se to a problem ) and th e reaso n s o r evidence in an arg u m en t - one

exam ple being h a sty gen eralizatio n on the basis o f too little evidence.

T eachers can n o te and count these fallacies b y n am e. H o w ev er, S tap leto n (2001)

w arns that this p ro cess o f assessin g argum ents as fallacious is rife w ith difficulties. A

lack o f shared assum ptions and values am ong in d iv id u al teach ers can result in one

p erso n ju d g in g an argum ent as co m pletely logical w h ereas an o th er finds it fallacious.

N evertheless, ev e n w h ile one p e rs o n s fallac y can b e a n o th e rs lo g ical argum ent, at

som e p o in t a decisio n m u st b e m ad e about w h e th e r a rea so n supports a conclusion. I f

teachers find th at the gap b etw een reaso n s and co n clu sio n s is too w id e and

unconvincing, th e y can score a w riter's attem p t at co nstructing an a rg u m en t as a

fallacy.

9.10. Comments on this model

A dvantage

This m odel can b e u sed to assess critical th in k in g in relatio n to th e relev an t E F L

academ ic skills, such as w riting, oral p resen tatio n s, or p ractical p ro b le m solving. In

addition, in this in teg rated approach, it is e a sy fo r a lectu rer to assess the d eg ree to

w hich the learn er h a s processed rele v an t c o n ten t know ledge. It is a practical

approach, w h ich uses c learly defin ed an d tan g ib le assessm ent item s (e.g. an essay, a

presentation, etc.). It is quite operational. T h erefo re, it is suitable fo r u se in the

C hinese E F L c o n te x t as it sets m easurable goals.

249
Disadvantages

This m o d el is n o t w ith o u t its disadvantages: fo r in stance, for E F L students, th eir lack

o f skills in o th er academ ic activities (w riting, p re se n ta tio n and co m m u n ic a tio n skills)

m ay obscure th e le a rn e rs actual skills as a critical thinker. A ssessm en t th ro u g h other

m ed ia - such as p rese n tatio n skills - depends to a d eg ree on skill levels in o th er tasks,

w h ich m a y con fo u n d the assessm ent o f critical th in k in g a b ility in its ow n rig h t (V an

d e rW a l, 1999).

O n the part o f teach ers, isolating such rea so n in g elem ents in the texts o f C hinese

E F L learners' w ritin g is a daunting and tim e-c o n su m in g task. T his is e sp ecially so

w hen attention h a s to b e p aid to b oth co n ten t and structure. A s such, this is

dem anding for E F L teachers in term s o f th eir skills in critical th in k in g com p etence,

language p ro fic ie n c y and a broad ran g e o f k n o w le d g e in specialized areas. M oreover,

because o f th e su b jectiv ity inv o lv ed in evalu atin g th e elem ents o f critical thinking,

som etim es tw o exam iners are n eeded to score student w riters' p ap ers to ensure

reliability.

In addition, S tapleton's (2001) stu d y appears to p ro v e th at fam iliarity w ith a topic

enhances the n u m b er o f argum ents and the am o u n t o f evidence each student- w riter

advances; it does n o t appear to rev eal th e q u a lity involved, th a t is, to w h a t degree

fam iliarity w ith th e co n ten t could help each stu d en t-w riter to im p ro v e his or her

logical th inking and to avoid fallacies (p.521). T his rem ain s a p ro b lem to overcom e

given the in tric a c y o f the n o tio n o f critical th in k in g . O b v io u sly further research in

this area is required to im prove this assessm en t schem e o f critical th in k in g a b ility for

E nglish m ajo r stu d en ts at u n iv ersity level.

V an der W al (1999) tells us th at th e m o st u sefu l approach to assessin g critical

thinking skills w o u ld b e assessm ent strategies w h ic h w o u ld give th e learn er m e ta

cognition o f h o w h e or she engages w ith th e subject m aterial and w ith th e learning

process. A t th e sam e tim e such strategies w o u ld enable the integration o f cognitive

skills w ith o th er core skills such as w ritin g skills, p resen tatio n skills, rese a rc h skills,

and the use o f appropriate technologies, w ith the p u rp o se o f d e v elo p in g 'intelligent

thinkers' (R ussell, c ite d in H alp em , 1996: 25). C learly such an approach w ill help

250
C hinese E F L students to develop th eir critical th in k in g skills an d enhance their

overall level o f'c o m m u n ic a tiv e com petence' (C anale & Sw ain, 1980; C anale, 1983).

9.11. The relationship between critical thinking competence and

other components of the communicative competence model

A s m en tio n ed above, critical th in k in g is a core co m p o n en t o f sociocultual

com petence w h ic h enables C hinese E F L stu d en ts to m ee t th e ev ery d ay personal,

social and acad em ic dem ands o f a ra p id ly ch an g in g society. C h inese E F L students

require reg u lar p rac tic e in p ro d u cin g and ev alu atin g ideas d u rin g th eir learning,

especially in cu ltu re and content-based courses. O f course, this co m p eten ce functions

along w ith th eir u se o f the o th er co m p o n en ts o f th e co m m u n icativ e com petence

m odel, n a m e ly g ram m atical com petence, d isco u rse com petence, sociolinguistic

com petence and strategic com petence (C anale & Sw ain, 1980; C anale, 1983). It is

not enough fo r C hinese E F L learners ju s t to p o ssess a large b o d y o f know ledge, b e it

cultural or linguistic, literary o r w hatever. I f th e y w a n t to succeed, th ey m u st b e able

to apply su ch k n o w le d g e to the ch allen g e o f the situ atio n th e y are in - classroom

interactive activ ities, social occasions o r future jo b s.

W e m u st b e a r in m in d that k n ow ledge ab o u t targ e t cultures or foreign cu ltu res can

h ardly b e h a n d e d over to, o r dep o sited in, learners' m inds. C ritical th in k in g

com petence req u ires learners to learn to know . T his depends m ain ly o n the learners'

ability to abstract k n ow ledge from th e in fo rm a tio n provided. In addition, critical

th inking co m p eten ce could help develop learn ers' a b ility to g ain n ew know ledge,

including fo reign cultures, b y them selves. W id d o w so n (1990) p o in ts out that w h at

m akes the L 2 /E F L learning experience ra th e r m o re difficu lt for learners is th eir lack

o f schem atic k n o w led g e or so cially a cq u ired k n o w led g e w h ich n a tiv e speakers share.

T he learners' a b ility to gain k n o w led g e in d ep e n d e n tly is crucial in th e current

situations in C h in a w here E F L learners ten d to d ep en d on th eir teachers for 'correct

answ ers'. F o sterin g critical th in k in g co m p eten ce w ill, as Piaget h as n o ted, contribute

to the d ev elo p m en t o f learners' so cio cu ltu ral com petence b e c au se the im proved

ability to th in k critically can facilitate the learn in g process from 'the k n o w n to the

u nknow n' (P iaget, 1970 cited in C hen, 1999: 238).

251
R obinson (1985:23) tells us that in th e process o f learning culture, the kn o w n

know ledge refers to learners' ow n p refe rre d m eth o d o f in p u ttin g inform ation,

u n k n o w n k n o w led g e indicates the targ et culture's p referred m o d e o f p rese n tin g

m aterial (p.23). W h e n gaining kno w led g e about fo re ig n cultures, critical th in k in g

com petence can h elp C hinese E F L learners to em p lo y th eir ex istin g k n o w le d g e about

the ho m e culture to interact w ith n ew cu ltu ral input. C o rso n (1989) rem in d s u s that

the m ere p o ssessio n o f kno w led g e about a fo reig n culture does n o t equate to an

u n d erstan d in g o f it. 'O nly k n ow ledge o b tain ed w ith critical th in k in g c a n help learners

'rem edy m isu n d erstan d in g s, o r o verride certain co g n itiv e b iases th a t p erp etu ate the

percep tio n o f ap parent [cultural] differen ces' (R obinson, 1985: 62). T his p ro cess

clearly co n tributes to the dev elo p m en t o f learners' in tercu ltu ral sensibility, an

im portant p a rt o f sociocultural com petence fo r C h in ese E F L students at tertia ry level.

T he p ro cess o f critical th in k in g can also help learners adopt a m o re flex ib le attitude

tow ards 'unconventional w ays' o f d o in g th in g s un lik e th o se w ho o n ly k n o w th eir ow n

tradition b u t n e v e r th in k about alternatives (B en tah ila & D avies, 1989). T his attitude

'helps students to k n o w not o n ly o th er cu ltu res b u t also th eir ow n culture' (C hen,

1998: 244). M o reo v er, G ao (2001: 191) p o in ts o u t th a t the fo sterin g o f critical

th inking co m p eten ce can enhance the d ev elo p m en t o f C h inese learners' lin g u istic

com petence, esp ecially at the h ig h er stages o f E F L learn in g and th is can be reflected

in learners' reading, w riting and sp eak in g abilities. C haffee (1985) and H am m o n d

(1989) also rem in d us o f the im p o rtan ce o f p ro m o tin g critical th in k in g w ith in the

context o f im p ro v in g linguistic skills. A cco rd in g to C haffee (1985), it is crucial to

develop stu d e n ts reading, w riting, listening, and sp eak in g abilities along w ith their

ability to th in k critically. T hese abilities are in terrelated like co m m unicative

com petence itself, and how w ell w e do w ith one is d irectly related to h o w w ell w e do

w ith the o th er (C haffee, 1985: 244). T h erefo re, the dev elo p m en t o f critical th in k in g

ability w ill c learly enhance C hinese E F L learn ers' co m m u n icativ e com petence.

S avignon (2002) po in ts out th at a lth o u g h th e relativ e im p o rtan ce o f the various

com ponents o f co m m unicative co m p eten ce depends on th e overall level of

co m m unicative com petence, each is essential as all the com ponents are interrelated.

T hey cannot be d eveloped o r m easu red in isolation. R ather, w h e n an in crease occurs

in one area, th at com ponent interacts w ith other co m p o n en ts to p ro d u ce a

252
corresponding increase in overall co m m unicative com petence. W h atev er the relative

im portance o f the various com ponents at an y given level o f o v erall p ro ficiency, it is

im portant to keep in m ind th e in teractiv e natu re o f th eir relatio n sh ip - the w hole o f

co m m unicative com petence is alw ays so m eth in g o th er th an th e sim ple sum o f its

p arts (S avignon, 1983: 46) as illu strated in the B ucket M o d e l in C h a p te r 2

F inally, i f w e do n o t accept th at a college ed u catio n is m ere ly for em p lo y m en t

purpose, w e h a v e to acknow ledge th at it is also about learn in g to learn, th in k o n one's

ow n and in collab o ratio n w ith others, about p ro d u cin g co m p eten t p erso n s in term s o f

individual developm ent, an d ab o u t c o n trib u tin g to society. A student's existing

com petencies can b e exploited and ex panded for th e p u rp o se o f d e v elo p in g creativ ity

and change. In this sense, it is im p o rtan t to n o te th at th e in clu sio n o f critical th in k in g

com petence can help students develop a critical aw areness o r a critical spirit, th at is,

'a p ro b in g inquisitiveness, a k een n ess o f m in d and a d e d ic a tio n to reason' (Facione,

1998:7). F acio n e claim s th at a m ain p u rp o se, i f n o t the m ain purpose, o f the

collegiate experience, is to achieve a 'liberal education', w h ic h is ab o u t learning to

learn, to think fo r oneself, on one's ow n and in collab o ratio n w ith others.

L iberal ed u catio n leads u s a w ay fro m naive accep tan ce o f a u th o rity .... It

cu lm in ates in p rin cip led reflectiv e ju d g m en t. L earn in g critical thinking,
cu ltiv atin g th e critical spirit, is n o t ju s t a m eans to this end, it is p a rt o f th e goal
its e lf (F acione, 1998: 11-12).

To this end, an understanding o f th e m eth o d s, p rin cip les, theories, a n d w ays o f

achieving k n o w led g e w h ich are p ro p er to the d ifferen t in tellectu al realm s is needed

(Facione, 1998: 12).

9.12. Critical thinking culture and Chinese EFL Education

T he id ea th at critical th in k in g w ill im p ro v e one's lin guistic skills and one's ability to

ju d g e, to infer, to reaso n and to p e rsu a d e o thers seem s to be cu ltu rally specific. Som e

researchers p o in t out that since not all cultures value critical th in k in g to th e sam e

extent, and in th o se cultures w h ere it is n o t h ig h ly valued, critical th in k in g is u n lik ely

to enhance o n e s com m and o f the lan g u ag e o r o n e s ab ility to com m and others

through lan g u ag e (A tkinson, 1997). Indeed, the id ea th at critical th in k in g w ill

im prove o n e s linguistic skills and o n e s ability to p ersu ad e others seem s to be

253
cu ltu rally specific. A tkinson (1997) casts d oubt o n th e p ro sp ects o f success fo r

teach in g critical th inking in the E S L or E F L c la ssro o m b y m en tio n in g the lack o f

em pirical con firm atio n o f th e tra n sfe ra b ility o f critical th in k in g skills in this regard.

A tk in so n argues th at b ecau se critical th in k in g is a c u ltu ra lly specific social practice,

and one th a t m an y A sian cultures do n o t endorse, L2 and E F L ed ucators ought to be

v ery cautious about u sin g it in th e classroom (p .72). H o w ev er, som e other

researchers disagree and refe r to the en co uraging resu lts o f ho w L2 o r E FL teachers

h ave b e e n able to b ring critical th in k in g approaches to th eir ow n teach in g situations

in A sian E S L / E F L contexts (Siegel: 1989; D av id so n 1998: 122; S tapleton, 2001;).

T am thai (2000) characterizes w h a t is inv o lv ed in th e tea c h in g o f critical thinking,

and h is ch aracterization is v e ry m u ch in k eep in g w ith the fo reg o in g rem arks. H e

claim s that teach in g critical th in k in g is a m atte r o f tea c h in g students h o w to carefully

consider co n clusions draw n fro m evidence, h o w to deriv e vario u s consequences o f

such conclusions, and h o w to explore and w eig h altern ativ es to those conclusions

(P-191).

R um inski & H anks (1995) advocate th at teachers sh o u ld h av e a clear concept o f

critical th in k in g fo r the p u rp o se o f teach in g and evaluation. E n n is (1996 cited in

D avidson, 1998: 121) also argues th at th e p ro b le m fo r ed ucators is re a lly one o f how

and when to introduce critical thinking, n o t whether or not critical th in k in g has value

for p eo p le b elo n g in g to o ther cultures. D av id so n (1998) claim s th at in spite o f the

fact th at m an y societies disco u rag e criticism in som e co n tex ts, such as religious and

p o litical spheres, this does not m ea n th at critical th in k in g is en tirely absent from

these societies:

E ven i f one grants th e p o in t th at critical th in k in g is less p rac tise d in cultures

that v alu e silence, im itation, subm ission, and co nform ity, this fact does n o t
p rec lu d e the teach in g o f critical th in k in g to m em b e rs o f th ese cultures. Part o f
the E n g lish teacher's task is to p rep are learners to in teract w ith native speakers
w ho valu e ex p licit com m ent, in tellig en t criticism , and in tellectual assertion. In
short, critical th in k in g appears to b e som ething m o re universally relevant than
ju s t a social practice. I f som e cultures d iffe r in th eir p resen t ab ility to
a ppropriate the to o ls o f critical thinking, it is p ro b a b ly o n ly a d ifference in the
degree to w h ic h critical th in k in g is to b e to lerated in c e rtain spheres o f life.
(D avidson, 1998: 122, m y em phasis).

254
A lthough A tk in so n m akes a valu ab le appraisal o f w h e th e r it is appropriate to b rin g

critical th in k in g instru ctio n into the E n g lish language c la ssro o m in various cu ltu ral

contexts, from the above quotations, it can b e se en th at A tk in so n s concerns are

m isplaced. I f critical th in k in g re a lly is a cu ltu rally b a se d concept, as A tkin so n insists

it is, th en the E S L /E F L classro o m w o u ld seem to b e one o f th e m o st appropriate

places fo r critical th inking in stru ctio n (S ow er & Jo h n so n , 1999, m y em phasis). F o r

learning a language is n o t m ere ly a m atter or learn in g a v o c a b u la ry plus a set o f

gram m atical rules. L earning a foreign language is v e ry m u ch a m atte r o f learn in g

another culture, and an o th er w a y o f lo o k in g at th e w o rld (B yram , 1989; 1997) and in

this sense 'learning the w ays in w h ic h m em bers o f th e targ e t cu ltu re think, reason,

and act' (M cG uire, 1999). Indeed, one o f the m o st c o m m o n m istakes th at C hinese

E F L learners are p ro n e to m ak e lies in tran slatin g in to th e targ e t language, w ord-for-

w ord th e things th at th ey ten d to express in their n a tiv e language. T his in ev itab ly

leads to error and co m m u n icatio n failure far m o re often than it leads to

co m m u n icatio n success.

H av in g ex am ined the th eo retical foundations for critical th in k in g instru ctio n in

E nglish class, I w o u ld like to m ak e the p o in t th a t i f critical th in k in g is closely

associated w ith th e m odes o f self-ex p ressio n w h ic h p rev ail in m ajo r E nglish-

speaking cultures, th en E F L students n e e d to b e tau g h t critical th in k in g skills w hile

th ey are learn in g E nglish, esp ecially at u n iv ersity level. W h ite h ea d (1967) says th at

'the real fruits o f [higher] ed u catio n are the th o u g h t p ro cesses th at resu lt fro m the

study o f a discipline, n o t th e info rm atio n accum ulated' (cited in M eyer, 1986: 2).

M ey er (1986) also po in ts o u t th at one o f the p rim a ry aim s o f co lleg e education is to

m o v e students 'from a self-cen tred un iv erse, b ased on lim ited p e rso n a l experiences

and concrete realities, to a richer, m o re abstract, rea lm w h ere a m u ltip lic ity o f values,

visions and verities exist' (p. 27). S tudents cannot lea rn to th in k critically 'until th ey

can at least m om entarily, set aside th eir ow n v isio n s o f th e tru th and reflect on

alternatives (ibid.).

M u ch o f w h a t I h a v e discussed h e re about critical th in k in g in struction in E F L

ed u cation show s th at critical th in k in g is a v ital p art o f so cio cu ltu ral com peten ce and

w o u ld lead to th e en h an cem en t o f C hinese E F L learn ers' overall level o f

co m m unicative com petence. A s rev e a le d in this study, the d ev elo p m en t o f learners'

255
critical th in k in g a b ility is an effective w a y for students to o v erco m e th e sup erficiality

o f classro o m d iscu ssio n on a given topic. O n ly w h e n students feel th at th e y have

so m ething solid to say, and k n o w h o w to say it, w ill th e y b e able to engage in

m ean in g fu l group activities w ith th eir peers, thus m ak in g a co n trib u tio n to their

co m m unicative co m p eten ce developm ent.

It can b e seen th a t the eclectic m odel described in C h a p te r 8 and critical th in k in g

p e d a g o g y are in ter-related and co m p lem en tary to each other. T h e im p lem en tatio n o f

one ap proach entails en h an cem en t o f the other. H o w ev er, m ere a d o p tio n o f an

eclectic approach in E n g lish class does n o t g u arantee th e d ev elo p m en t o f learners'

critical th inking skills, n o r th eir co m m unicative co m petence. In a sim ilar w ay,

students' inadequate level o f critical th in k in g co m p eten ce w ill m ak e it difficu lt to

achieve the outcom es p resen ted b y the eclectic m o d el in C h ap ter 8 . T his is b ecau se

the eclectic m o d el req u ires students' engagem ent in in teractiv e activities in w h ich

th ey are expected to m ak e logical and critical ju d g m e n ts on th e tex t co n ten t th ey

have read, w atch ed or heard. H ere, a m ore im p o rtan t p o in t is to develop students'

autonom y and attitude as a critical thinker, that is, to ev aluate th e ir ow n o p inions and

to ask questions about th eir b eliefs a n d ju d g m en ts. O n ly in this w a y can C h inese E FL

students' co m m unicative co m p eten ce b e developed.

T eachers n e e d to p a y adequate atten tio n to the co g n itiv e aspects o f learners'

disposition tow ards critical thinking. T eachers also n eed to en courage th eir students

and m ake connections b e tw e en w h a t th ey h av e learn ed in class and th eir ow n

experience; to follow an ex ten d ed line o f th o u g h t th rough a series o f qu estio n s raised

b y teachers, to fo rm ju d g m e n ts, to be attuned to scepticism ; and to be percep tiv e to

th e rela tiv ity o f view points.

To sum up, the overall d ev elo p m en t o f C h in ese E F L learners' co m m unicative

com petence cannot h ap p en w h e n teach ers deposit k n o w le d g e in th e heads o f their

students w ith o u t engagin g th eir critical th in k in g abilities. In this sense, b o th the

eclectic m odel p ro p o se d in C h ap ter 8 and the critical th in k in g p e d a g o g y d escrib ed in

this ch ap ter n eed to b e u sed in co m b in atio n to m ax im iz e th eir desired outcom es -

enhancing C hinese E F L learners' co m m u n icativ e com petence. T his is b ecau se a

student's critical th in k in g ab ility as a co m ponent o f sociocultural com petence, is

256
essential not only to the fosterin g o f indiv id u ality in th e student b u t also to h is or h er

general d ev elopm ent as a w h o le person, a p erso n w ith d ig n ity and in sig h t into

m o d em h u m an c o n d itio n (M eyer, 1986; B yram , 1997; C hen, 1999; G ettings, 1999;

V an der W al, 1999; G ao, 2000; W en, 2000).

Chapter Summary

In th is chapter, I h av e given an account o f d efin itio n s o f critical thinking an d the

current state o f critical th in k in g abilities d isp lay ed b y C h inese E F L learners at

tertiary level. A d etailed d e scrip tio n w as given o f th e vario u s factors co n trib u tin g to

C hinese E F L learners' p e rc e iv e d lo w level o f c ritical th in k in g ability. I h a v e also

discussed som e enco u rag in g social and p ed ag o g ical changes th at m a y help critical

th in k in g in stru ctio n to b eco m e a n integral p a rt o f an E F L p ro g ra m m e at tertia ry level

in C hina. I h a v e referred to th re e theoretical fram ew o rk s co n cern in g the im p o rtan ce

o f critical th in k in g instruction. I also addressed the issu es o f h o w to teach a n d assess

critical thinking in the E F L program m e. F in a lly I h a v e d iscu ssed the relatio n sh ip s

betw een critical th in k in g a b ility and the com p o n en ts o f com m u n icativ e com petence

m odel, and th e c o n tro v ersial to p ic o f cultural in flu en ce in h eren t in th e p ro cess o f

critical thinking in stru ctio n in th e C hinese c la ssro o m context.

25 7
 Chapter 10

Implications and conclusion

Introduction

A s stated in C hapter 2, C L T research has co n trib u ted m u ch to L2 o r E F L th eo ry and

to language tea c h in g m ethodology. In this thesis, I h a v e explored C h in ese E F L

student and teach er attitudes tow ards C L T and the tra d itio n al teach in g approach, and

the stum bling b lo ck s in v o lv ed in en h an cin g C h in e se EFL m ajo r students'

com m unicative com petence. A ll this is b a sed on th e findings o f the data collected

through both quan titativ e and qualitative su rv ey p ro ce d u re s described in C hapter 4. I

contend that m an y o f the principles u n d e rp in n in g C L T are in conflict w ith the

C hinese culture o f learn in g and its educational ph ilo so p h ies. B ased on the survey

findings in this study, I em phasize the n e c essity o f tea c h in g critical th in k in g for

E nglish m ajors in the E F L program m es at tertia ry level in China. F ro m a

m ethodological persp ectiv e, I propose an eclectic ap p ro ach w h ich synthesizes

com m unicative co m p o n en ts o f C L T w ith the C h in ese trad itio n al ap p ro ach in o rd er to

fill the lacunae in the latter. T his com prom ise co m b in es th e strengths o f the C L T , the

context approach a n d trad itio n al approach to suit the current C hinese E FL context.

M oreover, I su g g est a ped ag o g ical strateg y for th e teach in g o f critical th in k in g in

E nglish language classes b a sed on the qualitativ e data findings o f this study. In this

final chapter, I p o in t out th e im plications o f this stu d y and o ffer som e suggestions for

further research b e fo re m ak in g som e co n cluding rem arks.

10.1. Teacher training

T he findings in this stu d y rev eal that a sy stem atic tea c h e r train in g p ro g ram m e has to

be developed for C h in ese E F L teachers to u p d a te th eir kno w led g e o f m o d e m E F L

258
theories, the p rinciples underp in n in g C L T and th e p e d a g o g ic a l strategies for critical

th inking instruction in E nglish classes. P ain e (1995) rem in d s us that teach er

ed u cation is the 'm other tool' w h ich form s the c ru c ial p ieces in the b u ild in g o f

society. A lth o u g h tea c h e r education has receiv ed in cre asin g attention in C hina,

especially at tertia ry level, the qu estio n still rem a in s ab o u t h o w to develop these

program m es and m o d els o f tea c h e r d ev elo p m en t in an effectiv e w a y in the C hinese

context.

T his stu d y rev eals th e n e c essity o f estab lish in g stan d ard in -serv ice tea c h e r train in g

program m es n o t o n ly to fam iliarize C hinese tertia ry -lev e l E n g lish teachers w ith the

principles u n d erly in g C L T , b u t also w ith th e p u rp o se o f d evising p ed ag o g ical

strategies for critical th in k in g instruction. S u ch p ro g ram m es should address the

follow ing issues:

First, a teach er-train in g p ro g ram m e sh o u ld b e aim ed at clarifying th e ratio n ale fo r an

eclectic approach, w h ic h synthesizes th e c o m m u n icativ e w ith the traditional

approaches. A m eth o d o lo g y can only b e effectiv e w h e n teach ers are w illin g to accept

and im plem ent it. L ittlew o o d (1984) argues th a t o n ly after the ratio n ale is ex p lained

to a teacher, can h e or she select the rig h t p e d a g o g ic a l practices from his or her

repertoire and d e p lo y th em appropriately. T e a ch e r train ers and teach ers th em selves

should exam ine C h in ese ped ag o g ical co n tex ts and d ecide w h ich aspects can be

incorporated and w h ic h rejected. In tea c h e r-tra in in g p ro g ram m es, th ere should b e a

partnership b e tw e en teach er-train ers and teach ers to address the ch allenge o f the

constraints o f the C h in ese education sy stem and th e needs o f ped ag o g ical creativity.

M eanw hile, teach ers n e e d to b e guided in th e ir ex p lo ratio n o f C L T as to h o w th ey

can ap p ly a sy n th esized approach to th e ir o w n classroom instruction. H ow ever,

teachers sh o u ld n o t b e m isled into th in k in g th a t tea c h e r train in g is m e re ly a

collection o f n ew c lassro o m tricks fo r o rg an izin g so m e co m m unicative activ ities in

class. C o m m u n icativ e teach in g should b e u n d e rsto o d in a rou n d ed , h o listic w a y and

one w hich com bines co m m u n icativ e prin cip les w ith trad itio n al C hinese pedagogy.

Second, C hinese E F L teachers should b e g u id ed a n d enco u rag ed to be 'reflective

practitioners' (R ichards & L ockhart, 1994), th a t is, co n stan tly reflect upon th eir ow n

teaching practice. S u ch reflec tio n is a g reat source o f in fo rm atio n to assist teachers to

259
better u n derstand th eir u n d erly in g ped ag o g ical p e rsp ectiv es and im p ro v e th eir o w n

instructional p rac tic e (ibid.). T he findings in th is stu d y sh o w th a t the C hinese

tea c h e rs p ractice contrasts m ark e d ly w ith th e ir theoretical and ped ag o g ical

know ledge. T h eir relu ctan ce to ped ag o g ical in n o v atio n often resu lts from th eir ow n

learning experience and p ercep tio n s o f teach in g an d th eir o w n sense o f in se c u rity

regarding attem p tin g the un stru ctu red unknow n in class. T each er training

program m es n e e d to help C hinese E F L teach ers to ju d g e p e d a g o g ic a l in n o v atio n s on

the basis o f th eir u sa b ility and practicality. I f in n o v atio n s are rele v an t and applicable

to tea c h e rs specific situations, th ey are lik e ly to b rin g about changes in th eir ow n

classroom s. F u lla n (1991) rem inds us o f th e c o n fu sio n in h eren t in p re-p ack ag ed

training o r o n e-sh o t w orkshops: 'm ost form s o f in -se rv ic e train in g are n o t desig n ed to

p rovide the ongoing, in teractive, cu m ulative lea rn in g n e c e ssa ry to develop new

conceptions, skills, and beh av io u r' (p .85). E n h a n c in g C h in ese EFL learners'

com m unicative co m p eten ce requires lo n g-term c o m m itm en t o n the p a rt o f teachers

and teacher trainers.

Third, teach er tra in in g sh o u ld help teachers to dev elo p the n o tio n o f 'teachers as

researchers', to en courage teachers to engage in classro o m -b ased rese a rc h and apply

aptly their rese a rc h findings to th eir teach in g p ractices. In addition, teach er training

also needs to m ak e teachers aw are th a t effectiv e teach ers are n o t ju s t kno w led g e

transm itters b u t facilitators w ho assist th e d ev elo p m en t o f learn ers' independent

learning th ro u g h th e asking o f questions, op en d iscu ssio n o f ideas, and, above all,

critical thinking. T each ers have an im p o rtan t role to p la y in this p rocess. A n effective

teacher is one w ho adjusts h is or h er tea c h in g so as to engage students in the active

process o f c o n stru ctin g and c h allen g in g k n o w led g e, rath e r th an allow the

continuance o f p a ssiv e / recep tiv e and d e p e n d en t behaviours. E ffectiv e teach in g

should resu lt in a qualitative change in stu d en t th in k in g (P ratt et al, 1999). A v e ry

im portant p o in t here is that students are to be able to th in k differently, not ju s t know

m ore, at th e end o f teaching. (P ratt et al, 1999). L earn in g should b e un d ersto o d to be

a process o f acq u irin g inform ation, d isc o v e rin g new insights, and developing

analytical and critical thinking. T his p ro cess n e e d s to be facilitated b y actively

engaging students in discussion, a p p licatio n and a critique o f the su b ject or content

under instruction.

260
F ourth, teach er-train in g pro g ram m es n eed to d esig n a system atic p e d a g o g y to train

C hinese E F L teachers to teach culture courses in a cro ss-cu ltu ral and com parative

w ay. It is n o t enough to teach C hinese and W estern cu ltu res sep arately b y pro v id in g

learners w ith m ere cu ltu ral in form ation as the c lassro o m observ atio n s rev ealed in this

study (See C h ap ter 7 for discussion). To describe th e natu re o f teach in g the courses

o f cultural com parison, w e m ay com pare it to a n u c le a r fusion w h ic h can o n ly take

p lace w ith the adeq u ate encountering o f h ig h tem p e ra tu re and h ig h pressure. In the

case o f culture learn in g and teaching, this is also true. T each in g culture in a cross-

cultural and co m p arativ e w a y is to create co n d itio n s o f 'high tem p eratu re' and 'high

p ressure' fo r an adequate cross-cultural aw areness w h ich can fin ally lead to

com m unicative com petence dev elo p m en t and an in tern al change o f C h in ese E F L

learners.

G iven the fact th at m an y C hinese E F L teachers lac k adeq u ate cro ss-cultural

com petence, eith er p ractical or theoretical, n ativ e E n g lish -sp eak ers could u se fu lly be

invited to lecture on culture courses along w ith C h in ese E F L teach ers so th at the

latter m ay learn from th eir w estern counterparts. M y h o m e u n iv ersity , fo r exam ple,

like m an y o th er co m prehensive un iv ersities in C hina, h as not b e e n able to tak e full

advantage o f th e u n iv ersity 's h u m an reso u rc es for cu ltu re ed u catio n b e c au se o f the

boundaries and b arriers b e tw e en differen t d ep artm en ts and subjects o f study. T here is

lack o f p e d a g o g ic a l collab o ratio n b e tw e en the E n g lish D ep artm en t a n d other

hum anities d epartm ents. E n g lish m ajo r students h a v e to p a y e x tra tu ition fees for

each credit course th e y take in o ther d ep artm en ts ev en th o u g h th e y m eet the req u ired

criteria o f th e u n iv ersity w ith in the E F L u n d erg rad u ate p ro g ram m e at the onset o f the

5th sem ester. G iven th e current situation, it w o u ld b e help fu l to in v ite teachers from

other departm ents to teach E F L students courses o f cultural com parison. B ased on

m y ow n lectu rin g experience in D C U , Ireland, th ese cultural com p arativ e courses do

not n eed to b e given b y one lecturer alone fo r a w h o le sem ester o r even for a full

academ ic year. Instead, these courses can b e tau g h t b y a team o f lecturers including

C hinese E F L teachers, foreign teachers, and C h in ese teachers in other academ ic

disciplines. It is no harm i f som e sessions o f th e m o d u le are tau g h t in C hinese as long

as the course co n ten t is in a co n sisten t fram ew ork, w h ich p ro v id e s learners w ith

different cro ss-cu ltu ral theories and concepts, and creates an env iro n m en t for

261
learners to p o n d e r on these theo ries and th e content, and th en evaluate them

critically.

Finally, tea c h e r train in g also needs to im p ro v e th e cro ss-cu ltu ral aw areness o f

C hinese E F L tex tb o o k w riters or com pilers in th e p ro ce ss o f selectin g a n d organizing

cultural item s, d esigning classroom tasks and lin k in g critical th in k in g in stru ctio n to

tex t content. In C hina, especially at tertia ry level, m o st E F L tex tb o o k s for E nglish

m ajors are c o m p iled b y E F L teachers (apart fro m those im p o rted from native

E n g lish -sp eak in g countries). In th e C hinese E F L context, good lan g u ag e teaching, to

a co n sid erab le extent, virtu ally depends on good E n g lish textbooks.

A s n o n -n ativ e teachers o f E nglish, m o st C hinese E F L teachers are n o t v ery confident

about th eir co m m an d o f E nglish. T herefore, th e y req u ire not o n ly ex cellent course

books b u t also good su p p lem en tary source m aterials. E n g lish tex tb o o k s n eed to

contain functional, linguistic and c u ltu rally rela te d to p ics for learn ers to p o n d e r and

practise. F o r in stance, w h en learning th e p a tte r d rill 'asking fo r inform ation' or

c o nversation o p en er at a p a rty o r on a social occasion, tex tb o o k s n e e d to be

organized in such a w a y th at teachers c a n d iscuss a cultural v alu e co m ponent

'privacy'. T h e n a cluster o f sim ilar c o m m u n icativ e com ponents are g ro u p ed to g eth er

under the n o tio n a l u n it o f privacy fo r stu d en ts to reflec t on and practise. In th is way,

E nglish tex tb o o k s can bring to g eth er a strin g o f cross-cultural com ponents, a n d help

teachers to avoid in tro d u cin g culture in a frag m en tal and anecdotal m anner. W ith

regard to critical th in k in g instruction, tex tb o o k s th at deal w ith evidence, alternative

conclusions and argum entation w o u ld h e lp stu d en ts to analyse, ju d g e, and thus

develop th eir critical thinking. T he first step to w ard s this goal is to introduce into

textbooks n o t o n ly 'the conclusions accep ted in the academ ic com m unity, b u t also the

evidence and argum entation th at d em o n strate th e c red ib ility o r lack o f cred ib ility o f

these co nclusions and th eir alternatives (M ohanan, 1997). W e c a n sa y th at teachers as

tex tb o o k w riters h av e a crucial ro le to p la y in a dev elo p m en t o f C hinese E F L

learners' critical th in k in g skills as a fuel filter into en h an cin g learners'

c o m m unicative com petence.

10. 2. Organisational culture and its implications for administrators

262
In ord er to b rin g teachers' po ten tial into full play, it is im p erativ e th a t departm ental

leaders tak e th e initiative o f enco u rag in g EFL s ta ff to explore a h ealth y

organizational culture w h ich operates in th eir ow n in stitutions. S chool or

departm ental leaders are d ecision m akers o f p ed ag o g ical p ro ced u res and strategies in

a p articu lar E n g lish departm ent or school. T h ey sh o u ld tak e the lead in creating a

learn in g -en rich ed organizational environm ent, in w h ic h ex p lo ratio n o f teach er

percep tio n s o f w h a t th ey do and w h y th e y do it h o ld s pro m ise for u n d erstan d in g o f

the natu re o f E F L teach in g and learning at u n iv ersity level.

This stu d y rev eals th at m an y teach ers co n tinue th eir ro u tin e p ractices, d espite their

claim s that they w e re eager to learn fresh approaches and k e e n to inco rp o rate CLT.

M a n y earlier studies also show th at d ifficulties ex ist in p ro m o tin g ped ag o g ical

innovations in E F L contexts, in clu d in g tea c h e r or lea rn er resistance, learn in g and

teach in g c o n tex t (D am & G albrielsen 1988; A n d erso n 1993; N u n a n 1993; R ao,

1996; Li 1998; Sato & K lein sasser 1999). H o w ev er, m o re rare is the E F L research

w h ich reco rd s difficulties w ith in th e c o n te x t o f th e 'technical culture' in various

E nglish d epartm ents or institu tio n s, w h ich exam ines th e im pact o f school culture on

teachers' b eliefs and practices (K leinsasser, 1993). K le in sa sser p o in ts out a strong

co rrelatio n b e tw e en school co n tex t and teach in g p erform ance. M a n y v ariables such

as collab o ratio n am ong staff, goal setting, cohesiveness, ad m inistration, curriculum

design and tea c h e r in-service train in g in te rre la te to create a p a rticu la r school culture

that is eith er 'learning-enriched' o r 'n o n -leam in g -en rich ed '. T he m o re the school

environm ent o r institutional culture encourages collegiality, c o llab o ratio n and

com m unication, th e m ore tea c h e r lea rn in g o p p o rtunities and en th u siasm for

p edagogical inn o v atio n th ere are (K leinsasser, 1993). F reem an and Jo h n so n (1998)

assert th at rese a rc h on teach er ed u catio n sh o u ld focus m o re d ire c tly on th e school

context, th e tea c h e r (experience, k n o w led g e and b eliefs), and teach in g practices.

U n fo rtu n ately 'little research h as b e e n done w ith in this tripartite fram ew ork' (Sato:

2002: 75). It is clear that fu rth er rese a rc h in th is area is needed.

263
10.3. Curriculum design

In the rev ised n atio n al curricu lu m o f tertiary -lev el E n g lish tea c h in g for E nglish

m ajors, though th e cultural dim en sio n and elem ent o f critical th in k in g exist, a close

review o f the curriculum show s th at n eith er cu ltu re co u rse in stru ctio n n o r the

teaching o f critical thinking co m p eten ce h as b een tre a te d ad e q u ate ly in the syllabus.

O nly a few fragm entary statem ents can be found. T h e re should b e m o re attention

directed to w ard s the teach in g o f fo reign cultures and critical th in k in g , w h ich n eed to

be e x p lic itly ad dressed in term s o f th e m aterials to b e selected a n d tea c h in g strategies

to be u sed in class. T his is sig n ifican t b e c au se cultural in stru ctio n p lay s a decisive

role in ach iev in g the goal o f the E F L pro g ram m e (L iu 2003) and critical th in k in g

com petence is an integral p a rt o f so cio cu ltu ral com p eten ce as d escrib ed in C hapter 9.

B oth com p o n en ts w ill contribute to the overall d ev elo p m en t o f C hinese E F L

learners' co m m unicative com petence. T h e teach in g o f fo re ig n culture, critical

thinking and E n g lish language are in terrelated and com p lem en tary . In the E nglish

syllabi, th ere o u g h t to be m ore space fo r descrip tio n and co n c re te guidelines about

the ped ag o g ical strategies fo r tea c h in g culture, critical co m p eten ce and a synthesized

teaching approach.

T he curriculum should c learly sp e cify that in th e e d u catio n al process, th e

developm ent o f critical skills and the acq u isitio n o f k n o w le d g e overlap. T h e

in teg ratio n o f critical th in k in g skills into E F L curricu la sh o u ld tak e the follow ing

points into consideration:

1. A p ed ag o g ical fram ew ork is req u ired for relatin g critical th in k in g to culture

and lan g u ag e learning in E F L p ro g ram m es.

2. T each in g and g rading c riteria req u ire dev elo p m en t fo r u se as th e basis for a

shift o f em phasis in classro o m in stru ctio n from the current teach er-cen tred and

m em o ry -b ased m ode to one, w h ic h c a n activ ely engage stu d en ts in m eaningful

learn in g activities in sm all groups o r in pairs, so fo rc in g students to th ink

th eir w a y th ro u g h course m aterial.

264
3. A general critical th in k in g course can b e d e v elo p ed in collab o ratio n w ith a

hu m an ities departm ent. T his can serve as a gen eral core course for all students

and w ill com bine in terd iscip lin ary issues and g e n e ra l critical th in k in g skills.

W ith regard to the m o d el o f fo stering 'm ixed talents' b a se d on the current T E F L

situation in C h in a at tertiary lev el (S ee C hapter 2 fo r d iscu ssio n ), th is m odel o f

E n g lish plus specialized k n o w led g e is p o te n tia lly u seful. H ow ever, this

in terd iscip lin ary m o d el falls short at p rese n t in C hina, as teachers are n o t trained to

teach vario u s co n ten t courses th ro u g h E n g lish as the m o d el requires. G iven the

in terd iscip lin ary natu re o f teach in g co n ten t-b ased co u rses in E n g lish program m es,

one o f th e m ajo r constraints is w h e th e r E F L teachers are c o m p eten t in term s o f b o th

E nglish (in clu d in g m ethods to be used in class) and sp e cia liz ed kno w led g e to teach

these con ten t-b ased courses. I f n o t p ro p erly han d led , th is syllabus w ill divert

learners' efforts and en erg y aw ay from d ev eloping th e ir E n g lish skills w ith the result

that fostering co m m unicative co m p eten ce b eco m es a se co n d a ry goal or even

neglected. D u d ley-E vans & St. John, (1996) cau tio n u s th a t such an in terdisciplinary

n ature is b o th a stim ulating and ch allen g in g dem and fo r teach ers (cited in P an g et al,

2002: 204). C heng (2002) d irectly addresses th e pro b lem . H e po in ts out that the

teach in g o f B usiness E nglish, E n g lish plus Jo u rn alism , L aw and M ass M edia and so

on, in C h in a w ith in the fram ew ork o f E F L at tertia ry level is still at th e stage o f an

intuition- o r ex p erien ced -led academ ic activity. T he findings o f this study sh o w that

m ore research is n ecessary to in v estig ate the n a tu re o f b u sin ess E nglish w ith its

co rresp o n d in g teach in g p e d a g o g y in th e C hinese context. T his interdisciplinary

m odel needs careful co n sid eratio n in the c o n tex t o f E n g lish m ajo rs at tertiary level

rath er th a n m ere ly cobbling to g eth e r a pro g ram m e o f the tw o disciplines. O bviously

an in teg rated and synthesized ap p ro ach is needed.

C heng (2002: 264) argues th at w e sh o u ld b e cautious in our attem pts at using an

E n g lish dep artm en t fo r train in g 'v ersatile talents' th ro u g h 'E n g lish plu s X m odel', as

E n g lish dep artm en tal sta ff are n o t qualified to teach econom ics, business, law or

jo u rn a lism [in E nglish]. T he findings o f th is study co n firm C heng's (2002) rem arks.

C heng (2002) also argues th at 'the tea c h in g o f th ese [specialized content-courses] in

an E n g lish dep artm en t co u ld co m p ro m ise its in teg rity and its o w n w ork, in its ow n

academ ic discipline'.

265
To sum up, E nglish language ed u catio n for E n g lish m ajo rs sh o u ld co ncentrate on

d ev eloping learners' language skills and com m u n icativ e co m p eten ce as a core goal.

To receiv e specialist train in g from other d epartm ents such as In tern atio n al B usiness

o r L aw , E n g lish departm ents in th e C hinese c o n te x t n e e d to co llaborate w ith the

teachers in o th er relev an t departm ents for this p urpose. A bove all, E F L p ro g ram m es

should open up to E nglish studies. T his m eans the stu d y o f E n g lish -sp eak in g p eo p les

and cultures in general, in clu d in g literature, linguistics, and tran slatio n studies

(C heng, 2002).

10.4. Implications for native English-speaker teachers

T h e results o f this study h a v e im p licatio n s for nativ e E n g lish -sp ea k e r teachers

teach in g in C hina in term s o f classroom practice, syllabus and m aterial design, as

w ell as for native E nglish-speaker teach ers w ho tea c h C h inese students in a

m u lticu ltu ral classroom o u tside C hina. R ecen t years h av e w itn essed an increasing

n um ber o f C hinese students co m in g to Ireland to advance th eir E n g lish skills at

various language schools or stu d y for advanced degrees. A s rev e a le d b y th e p ilo t

survey in this study, C hinese learners' learn in g styles are con d itio n ed b y th eir ow n

culture and are quite differen t fro m w h a t th eir E n g lish -sp eak in g teachers w o u ld

ex pect o r appreciate (X iao, 2002). L ittle k n ow ledge about in tercu ltu ral sensitivity as

w ell as th e culture-based tea c h in g and learning styles can lead to a m ism atch o f

expectations and p ercep tio n s betw een teachers and learners in a m u lticu ltu ral

classroom .

T he findings in this stu d y su g g est th at m u tu a l aw areness o f the d ifferen t cultures o f

learning as w ell as a m u tu al sen sitiv ity for cross-cultural u n d erstan d in g is required.

S tudents h av e to develop a sense o f cultural sen sitiv ity to reflec t u p o n th eir ow n

learning styles and a stra te g y to en able efficient learning. T eachers also n eed to

develop aw areness o f th eir stu d e n ts h o m e culture in o rd er to enhance m u tu al

un d erstanding and efficient teaching. P ro sp ectiv e expatriate teachers teach in g

E nglish in C hina or n ativ e E nglish- sp eak er teach ers teach in g C hinese students in

th eir h o m e countries, need to b e aw are o f cu ltu ral differences in h eren t in teach in g

266
m eth o d o lo g y and need to h a v e a good u n d erstan d in g o f th e d isparities in v o lv ed in

teach in g and learn in g conditions in E F L and L2 context. T his involves e x p licitly

n o tin g the differences in learn in g and teach in g th ro u g h op en d iscu ssio n o f th e m utual

expectations th at teachers and C h in ese students have. F o re ig n teachers sh o u ld note

that the co m m unicative m ethods w h ich are effective in the tea c h in g o f E S L in their

ho m e countries cannot n e c essa rily tran sfer to o ther co n tex ts w ith o u t m o d ific a tio n or

adaptation.

M oreover, in light o f the ch allen g e o f d ev eloping C h inese E F L learners' so ciocultural

com petence, foreign teachers sh o u ld also describe in detail w h at com petence in

E n g lish really entails and ex p lain strategic rules for ach iev in g it and avoiding

co m m u n icatio n b rea k d o w n in the case o f C h inese E F L learners. In addition,

expatriate specialists in v o lv ed in C hinese E F L tea c h e r tra in in g pro g ram m es need to

be aw are o f a m ajo r so ciocultural gap in term s o f d iffe re n t ex p ectations w h ic h can

affect in-service tra in in g p ro g ra m m e s in C hina. F o r m a n y C h inese E F L train in g

organizers, teach er training m ean s E n g lish lan g u ag e im p ro v em en t in contrast to

W estern L2 or EFL specialists w ho em p h asize the d ev elo p m en t o f E FL

m eth o d o lo g ies (M aley, 1982, 1984; A nderson, 1993). Since in m an y cases, native

E nglish-speaker specialists are in v o lv ed in th e in -serv ice teach er train in g

program m es in o r outside C hina, a solu tio n needs to encom pass b o th C hinese E F L

teachers' expectations and W e ste rn trainers' aim s. A m o re flex ib le approach w ill

com bine the tw o aim s: b o th C h inese and W estern expectations.

A n d erso n (1993) rem in d s us th at expatriate teach ers m u st b e v e ry sensitive to

traditional C hinese m ethods and the needs o f teach ers and students and und erstan d

the lim itations an d constraints o f C hinese learners an d teach ers (p. 479). F ro m the

p ersp ectiv e o f in tro d u cin g C L T into C h in a at te rtia ry level, attem pts b y expatriate

teachers to help C hinese E F L teachers to in co rp o rate com m u n icativ e com ponents

into the trad itio n al ap proach w ill be m o st w elcom e. Li (1999) argues th at the

reso lu tio n to the problem , lies in th e establishm ent o f m u tu al u n d erstan d in g so that

com m on interests are to b e found and shared, sources o f p ro b lem s identified, cultural

differences u n d e rsto o d and resp ected , otherness tran scen d ed , and learning m ax im ally

enhanced.

267
10.5. Questions for further research

T he findings in th is stu d y raise questions and issues for fu rth e r research. S tudies to

exam ine or refine the ped ag o g ical advantages o f an eclectic ap p ro ach as d escrib ed in

C hapter 8, w o u ld en h an ce un d erstan d in g o f th e p ro ce ss o f su ch a synthesis, an d thus

contribute to cu ltiv atin g C hinese EFL learners' c o m m u n icativ e com petence. In

C hapter 9, w e argue fo r the in clu sio n o f the tea c h in g o f critical thinking skills in the

E F L curriculum for E n g lish m ajors. T his also raises qu estio n s an d issues for further

discussion. F o r instance, h o w can teachers' lan g u ag e use, in clu d in g q u estio n in g and

structuring, stim u late students to think critically? T o w h a t ex ten t does critical

th in k in g occur in E n g lish m a jo r students th ro u g h E F L teach in g ? To w h at degree is

critical th in k in g in flu en ced b y fam iliarity w ith c o n te n t in E nglish class? An

adequate assessm ent m easu re fo r critical th in k in g in stru ctio n also needs to b e

developed.

10.6. Conclusion

T he research fo r this th esis w as p rom pted b y m y p e rso n a l p ro fessio n al ex perience as

a u n iv ersity tea c h e r o f E nglish as w ell as m y d issatisfactio n w ith the current

outcom es o f E F L teach in g and learning at u n iv ersity lev el in C hina. T hese reflectio n s

com e at the critical tim e for C hina. W ith the b rea th ta k in g ly rap id econom ic and

social changes o v er the p a s t tw o decades, E F L ed u catio n , esp ecially at u n iv ersity

level, in som e w ays, com es to b e seen as the cataly st o f th e country's m o d ern izatio n

drive and indeed, th e re b irth o f th e C hinese nation.

T here are e v er-g ro w in g d em an d s for b ilin g u al u n iv ersity graduates w ith good

co m m unicative com petence. W h at happens w ith in the teach in g and learn in g o f

E nglish is th erefo re o f p aram o u n t significance. E n g a g in g in system atic data

collection and em p lo y in g rig o ro u s data analysis tech n iq u es is required to answ er

specific research qu estio n s in th is field. T h is study, b y ado p tin g such an approach,

d iffers from trad itio n al and non -em p irical E F L research w h ich m ere ly 'reports

268
personal experience in following new teaching methods, new textbooks, or new
curriculum' in China (Hu, 2002b).

In this thesis, 1 have set about examining how to enhance Chinese EFL learners'
communicative competence. Communicative competence is multifaceted as Canale
and Swain's (1980) and Canale's (1983) theoretical model with its four components
makes clear (See Chapter 2 for details). Chinese EFL learners' communicative
competence at present cannot be fully understood w ithout reference to both Chinese
culture and the current state o f English language pedagogy at tertiary level in the
Chinese context. On a cultural level, it is clear that the following aspects o f Chinese
culture affect EFL teaching and learning:

1. The Chinese culture o f learning and pedagogy.

2. Role o f teachers in class.
3. Role o f students in class.
4. Traditional attitudes towards learning.
5. The concept of'face'.
6. The notion of'good teachers' held by Chinese students.

As is evident in this study, the issue o f attitudes and beliefs held by Chinese students
and teachers is a complex one as is that o f classroom behaviours, teaching methods
and the application o f CLT in the Chinese context. How these notions subtly interact
is also difficult to define. What this thesis shows is that CLT and traditional Chinese
culture o f learning are in potential conflict in several important respects. They
embody different philosophies about the nature o f teaching and learning. They
diverge in their assumptions about the respective roles and responsibilities o f
teachers and students. They reward different qualities in students (independence and
individuality o f CLT vs. receptiveness and conformity in the Chinese culture o f
learning) and value different classroom activities (communicative activities vs.
teacher dominance). Given these fundamental sociocultural differences, it may be
counter-productive to attempt to sweep away traditional practices and simply adopt
CLT in their place. This is because a pedagogy which is effective and appropriate
must take account o f the social and cultural context and cannot assume that its tenets
are universally applicable.

269
The fact that the principles and practices underpinning CLT are incompatible with
those found in the Chinese culture o f learning, however, does not mean that CLT has
nothing to contribute to EFL teaching in China. It certainly makes sense to look at
those aspects o f CLT which are not inimical to the Chinese culture o f learning and
try to exploit them and integrate them into Chinese pedagogical practices. To this
end, teachers and students need to take a cautiously eclectic approach as suggested in
this thesis and make well-informed pedagogical choices that are grounded in an
understanding o f socio-cultural influences. From the findings, it is evident that these
aspects o f English language pedagogy require refinement in order to enhance
Chinese EFL learners' communicative competence. Problems that emerge are listed
as below:

1. Traditional Chinese teaching / learning styles

The traditional teacher-centred methods emphasise the bottom-up information

processing in reading English by focusing on a meticulous analysis in a textbook-
based approach involving a systematic unlocking o f the meaning o f each fragment o f
language. Consequently students are led to concentrate on individual language items
at the expense o f grasping the overall meaning at a discursive level. Personal
interpretations are not promoted or valued. Care and certainty are favoured above
quantity and experimentation, which, in Chinese, is expressed as Shao er jin g
[learning sparingly but in meticulous detail].

2. The traditional role of Teacher

Teachers expect their students to absorb rather than construct and they see as their
roles imparting knowledge to the students in class.

3. The roles of students

Many students still think that the main purpose o f going to class is to 'learn from the
teacher'. Correct behaviour in class is to listen attentively.

270
4. Ignorance of learners' needs:

Most teachers do not have a clear understanding o f what their students want to do
with English, either in class or in the future. The findings in this study show that the
teachers have merely assumed 49% o f their students' preferred classroom activities
and language learning strategies. The findings prove that it is not valid for teachers to
base instructional practices mainly on their own unaided intuitions. They need to
have a better understanding o f their students.

5. Misconception of CLT

The results o f this survey reveal that many teachers equated CLT with the teaching
o f spoken English. Others regarded CLT simply as a teaching method that did not
require grammar teaching. M any teachers simply viewed CLT as increasing student
talk time and decreasing teacher talk time in class

6.Teaching culture in English class

The traditional teaching method o f going over the text sentence-by-sentence still
dominates the culture course, as Ming's class revealed. The teaching and learning
outcome o f this course was not satisfactory as the interview data revealed that many
o f the student informants complained about the way the course was delivered.
Teaching here consisted o f text-reading, explaining grammar, structure, language
points, and translation o f terms, names and places whereas more meaningful
methods, such as comparison and contrast from an intercultural perspective, class
discussion, and interaction between teachers and students, were seldom attempted.

7. Teachers' competence

Teachers' own levels o f intercultural sensitivity and competence undermine the

effectiveness and quality o f the teaching o f culture in EFL programmes.

8. Textbooks

271
Some culture textbooks widely used by English departments at university level in
China consist o f many aspects o f simplification and stereotypes which over-simplify
the notion o f intercultural exchange (See Appendix D-2 for textbook samples).

9. Deficiency in critical thinking ability

The English majors' perceived deficiency in critical thinking ability has prevented
them from meaningful engagement in a small group discussion. This may also have a
negative impact on their future career. It is also a serious obstacle to the
development o f Chinese EFL learners' communicative competence. From the
findings, it is clear that teachers need to teach critical thinking skills in their classes.

This study also shows that the teaching o f critical thinking is practically absent in the
EFL classrooms because it does not figure in teacher training programmes. This issue
of critical thinking instruction in EFL programmes is important, because critical
thinking, as we have shown in Chapter 9, is a vital component o f sociocultural
competence and the necessary starting point in true communicative competence.
Critical thinking pedagogy should thus become an identifiable part o f the EFL
educational system in China.

The eclectic model suggested in Chapter 9 can be seen as a first attempt towards
cultivating Chinese English majors' communicative competence including critical
thinking ability in the EFL programmes. However, further research is needed so as to
refine the model and prepare Chinese EFL majors to meet more effectively the
challenges o f the 21st century.

As this thesis has shown, pedagogical innovations in the EFL education make
considerable demands on those in front o f English classes - the Chinese EFL
teachers. Every educational system has an element o f self-perpetuating inertia; and
China is no exception. Attempts to adopt CLT in the Chinese context where
authentic resources are limited, teachers' workload is heavy, and radical changes are
viewed with suspicion, would demand o f teachers an extraordinary level o f expertise,
together with much sustained energy and enthusiasm. As revealed in this study, we
can expect that the future o f EFL and communicative teaching in China is bright, but

272
it will need to acknowledge the investment required to train Chinese EFL teachers so
that teachers and students can become aware o f their respective roles. Furthermore, it
is not only teachers' professional language-specific preparation that needs to be
addressed, but also curriculum design, textbook writing and testing systems.

W estern teaching methodologies which claim to be universally valid and therefore

dismiss the importance o f the local context are unlikely to be successful on their
own. As this thesis reveals, a major EFL pedagogical shift o f sustained consequence
can be achieved only through a culturally responsive reform. Any successful
application o f a communicative approach to English teaching in China for the
purpose o f enhancing learners' communicative competence needs to be premised on
a careful analysis o f the Chinese classroom context. As described in this thesis, there
are many factors that impinge on the w ay Chinese EFL teachers teach English.
Obviously these factors need to be addressed before communicative teaching can be
properly and successfully adopted in China. It is hoped that this thesis provides not
only pedagogical models o f practical application for EFL teaching in China at
tertiary level, but also a clear presentation o f the various challenges confronting EFL
education for English major students and teachers.

This study also implies the need for coordinated research between teachers and
researchers at various levels so that university teachers' experience and expertise can
be fed into pre-college EFL teaching. Cooperation in research between Chinese
teachers and their foreign counterparts should be strengthened so as to exploit the
positive aspects o f both and promote international professional exchanges.

This thesis also argues that efforts have to be made to improve all o f the major
components o f EFL education rather than artificially dealing with one aspect in
isolation. In other words, a revamped curriculum, an updated syllabus, new
textbooks, revised tests, and more research, all w ill modify considerably the edifice
of EFL education in China. There is a clear need for solid research that can
objectively and comprehensively assess the benefits and potential problems o f the
proposed changes. While the importance o f teaching about the target culture in EFL
programmes is recognized, care has to be taken in order not to present foreign values
and beliefs as universal truths to be embraced without discrimination. At the same

273
time, the teaching o f home culture has to be emphasized, too. In short, this thesis
contends that an eclectic approach and inclusion o f critical thinking instruction in
EFL reform w ill go a long way towards addressing some o f these issues.

There is also an apparent need for upgrading the professional competence o f Chinese
EFL teachers at university level. It is obvious that without qualified teachers, no
matter how good the curriculum, syllabuses, textbooks and English tests are, the
development o f EFL teaching will be hampered and the enhancement o f Chinese
EFL learners' communicative competence compromised. Tremendous efforts and
resources are needed to improve EFL teaching in these areas in China. Progress has
been made in the EFL reform, but much remains to be done: no less than China's
future and that o f enriching pedagogical practice depend on it.

274
 Bibliography

Adamson, B. 2002. Barbarian as a foreign language: English in Chinas Schools.

World Englishes, 21 (2): 231-243.

Adamson, B. & Morris, P. 1997. Focus on curriculum change in China and Hong
Kong: the English Curriculum in the Peoples Republic o f China. Comparative
Education Review, 40 (1), 3-26.

Allwright, R. 1984. The importance o f interaction in classroom language learning.

Applied Linguistics. 5: 156-171.

Alptekin, C., and Alptekin, M. 1984. The Question o f Culture: EFL teaching in non-
English speaking countries. EFL Journal. 38 (1): 14-20.

Alptekin, C. 2002. Towards Intercultural Communicative Competence in ELT. E L T

Journal, 56 (1): 57-63.
Anderson, J. 1993. Is a communicative approach practical for teaching English in
China? Pros and Cons. System, 21 (4): 471-480.

Atkinson, D. 1997. A critical approach to critical thinking in TESOL: TESOL

Quarterly, 32, 1, Pp. 71-94.

Bachman, L. F. 1990. Fundamental Considerations in Language Testing. Oxford:

Oxford University Press.

Bailey, K.M. 1983. Competitiveness and anxiety in adult second language learning:
looking at and through the diary studies. In H.W. Seliger and M.H. Long (Eds.).
Classroom Oriented Research in Second Languages. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.
Pp.67-103.

Barkhuizen, G. P. 1998. Discovering Learners' perceptions o f ESL classroom

teaching and learning activities in a South African context. TESOL Quarterly, 32 (1):
85-107.

Batstone, R. 1995. Product and process: Grammar in the second language classroom.
In M. Bygate, A. Tonkyn, and E. Williams, (Eds.). Grammar and the Language
Teacher. London: Prentice Hall. Pp. 224-236.

Bax, S. 2003. The end o f CLT: a Context Approach to language teaching. E L T

Journal. 57 (3): 278-287.

Bentahila, A., and Davies, E. 1989. Culture and Language use: A problem for foreign
language teaching. IRAL. 27 (2): 99-112.

Beyer, B. K. 1985. Critical thinking: W hat is it? Social Education. 49: 270-276.

275
Biggs, J. 1998. Learning from the Confucian heritage: So size doesnt matter?
International Journal o f Educational Research. 29: 723-738.

Bond, M. H. 1991. Beyond the Chinese face: insights fro m psychology. Hong Kong:
Oxford University Press.

Borg, S. 2003. Teacher cognition in language teaching: a review o f research on what

language teaches think, know, believe and do. Language Teaching. 36 (1): 81-109.

Breen, M. P. & Candlin, C. 1980. The essentials o f a communicative curriculum in

language teaching. Applied Linguistics. 1: 89-112.

Breen, M. P. 1998. Navigating the discourse: on what is leam t in the language

classroom. In W. A. Renanda, & G. M. Jacobs. (Eds.). Learners and Language
Learning. SEAMEO Regional Language Centre, Singapore, Pp. 115-143.

Brinton, D.M., Snow, M.A. and Wesche, M.B. 1989. Content-based second
language instruction. New York: Newbury House Publishers.

Brock, C., Crookes, G., Day, R. & Long, M., 1986. The differential effects o f
corrective feedback in native speaker-nonnative speaker conversation. In: Day, R.
Editor. Talking to Learn. Newbury House, Rowley, MA, Pp. 229-236.

Brown, J. D. 1988. Understanding research in second language learning.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Brown, P. & Levinson, S. D. 1987. Politeness: Some Universals in Language

Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Brown, M. N., & Keeley, S. M. 1994. Asking the right question. Englewood Cliffs,
NJ: Prentice Hall.

Brumfit, C. J. 1978. Communicative language teaching: an assessment. In P.

Strevens. (Ed.) In Honour o f A.S. Hornby. Oxford. Oxford University Press.

Brumfit, C. J. 1984. Communicative Methodology in Language Teaching.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Burnaby, B. & Sun, Y. 1989. Chinese teachers views o f W estern language

teaching: context informs paradigms. TESOL Quarterly, 23 (2): 219-238.

Byram, M. 1989. Cultural Studies in Foreign Language Education. Clevedon,

Avon: Multilingual Matters.

Byram, M., Morgan, C., & Colleagues. 1994. Teaching-and- Learning Language-
and-Culture. Clevedon, Avon: Multilingual Matters.

Byram, M. 1997. Teaching and Assessing Intercultural Communicative Competence.

Clevedon, Multilingual Matters Ltd.

276
Byram, M & Risager, K. 1999. Language Teachers, Politics and Cultures.
Multilingual matters.

Byrnes, H. 1991. In Search o f a sense o f place: The state o f the art in language
teaching methodology. In J.E. Alatis.(Ed.) Linguistics and Language Pedagogy: The
State o f the art Georgetown University Round Table on Languages and Linguistics.
Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press. Pp. 289-301.

Campbell, K. & Zhao, Y. 1993. The dilemma o f English Language Teaching in the
Peoples Republic o f China. TESOL Journal, Summer, 4-6.

Canale, M & Swain, M. 1980. Theoretical basis o f communicative approaches to

second language learning and testing. Applied Linguistics 1 (1): 1-47.

Canale, M. 1983. From communicative competence to communicative language

pedagogy. In J.C, Richards, & R. W. Schimidt. (Ed.). Language and
communication, New York: Longman, Pp.2-27.

Candlin, C. N. 1982. Principles and Practice in Communicative Language Teaching.

Foreign Language Teaching and Research. 4:36-44.

Cao, W. 1998. Two Layers o f English culture teaching. Waiyu jiaoxue yu yanjiu
[Foreign Language Teaching and Research] 115 (3): 10-14.

Carrell, P. L. 1987. Content and formal schemata in ESL reading. TESOL Quarterly,
21: 461-481.

Carrell, P. L. & Eisterhold, J. C. 1987. Schema theory and ESL reading pedagogy.
In M. H. Long, & J. C. Richards. (Eds.) Methodology in TESOL: A Book o f
Readings. New York: Newbury House Publishers. Pp. 218-230.

Cederblom, J. & Paulsen, D. 1991. Critical Reasoning: Understanding and

Criticizing Arguments and Theories, Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Celce-Murcia, M. 1991. Language and Communication: A time for equilibrium and

integration. In J. E. Alatis. (Ed.). Georgetown University Round Table on Language
and Linguistics. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press. Pp. 223 - 237.

Celce-Murcia, M., Domyei, Z. & Thurrell, S. 1997. Direct approaches in L2

instruction: A turning point in communicative language teaching? TESOL Quarterly.
31 (1): 141-152.

Celce-Murcia, M., & Hilles, S. 1988. Techniques and Resources in Teaching

Grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Chaffee, J. 1985. Thinking Critically, Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Chambers, A. & O' Baoill, D. P. 1999. Intercultural Communication and Language

Learning. Dublin: IRAAL.

277
Chamot, A. 1995. Creating a community o f thinkers in the ESL/EFL classroom.
TESOL Matters. 5 (5), 1-2.

Che, F. S. 2002. Teaching critical thinking skills in a Hong Kong secondary school.
Asia Pacific Education Review. 3 (1): 83-91.

Chen, S. 1999. The Teaching o f Cultures in Foreign Language Education ( Waiyu

jiaoxue zhong de wenhua jiaoxue) Beijing: Beijing Language and Culture University
Press.

Chen, S. Q. 1988. A challenge to the exclusive adoption o f the communicative

approach in China. Guidelines, 10 (1): 67-76.

Chen, S. 2000. Yuyan wenhua jiaoxue chelie yanjiu [esearch on Teaching Strategies
fo r Learning Language and Culture]. Beijing: Beijing Language Teaching and
Research Press.

Chen, Y. D. 1996. The Psychology o f the Chinese Classroom. Teaching English in

China. 28: 7-8.

Cheng, X. T. 2000a. Culture o f Learning and ELT in China. Teaching English in

China. 23 (1): 47-48.

Cheng, X. T. 2000b. Asian students' reticence revisited. System. 28 (3): 435-446.

Cheng, Z. X 2002. English Departments in Chinese universities: purpose and

function. World Englishes. 21 (2): 257-267.

Chia, H. L. 2001. Reading Activities for Effective Top-down Processing. Forum 39

(1): 22. Available online at URL: http://exchanges.state.gov/forum/vols/vol39/nol/
[Retrieved 28th Oct. 2003]

Chomsky, N. 1965. Aspects o f the Theory o f Syntax. M. I. T. Press.

Chow, R. 1991. Women and Chinese Modernity: the Politics o f Reading Between
West and East. Minneapolis: University o f M innesota Press.

Clark, M. A. & Silberstein, S. 1977.Toward a realization o f psycholinguistics

principles for the ESL reading class. Language Learning, 27 (1): 136 -137.

College English Syllabus Revision Team. 1999. College English Syllabus fo r

Students o f Arts and Sciences. Shanghai: Foreign Language Education Press.

Corson, D. 1989. Foreign Language policy at school level: FEL and cultural studies
across the curriculum. Foreign Language Annals. 22 (4): 323-328.

Cortazzi, M., and Jin, L. 1996. English Teaching and Learning in China. Language
Teaching, 29 (2): 61- 80.

278
Cotton, I. 1990. W hy Intensive Reading Hinders the Development o f Both English
Language Teaching and English Language Learning. ELTN ew sletter, (20): 49-52.

Dam, L. & Gabrielsen, G. 1988. Developing learner autonomy in a school context. A

six-year experiment beginning in the learners first year o f English. In H. Holec
(Ed.). Autonomy and Self-directed Learning: Present Fields o f Application.
Strasbourg: Council o f Europe. P p.19-30.

Davidson, B. W. 1998. Comments on Dwight Atkinson's A Critical approach to

critical thinking in TESOL: A case for critical thinking in the English language
classroom. TESOL Quarterly, 32:119-123.

Davidson, B. W. & Dunham, R. A. 1997. Assessing EFL student progress in critical

thinking w ith the Ennis-Weir critical thinking essays test. JA L T Journal, 19: 43-57.

Davis, A. 1989. Communicative competence as language use. Applied Linguistics. 10

(2): 157-170.

Davis, L. 1999. Doing Culture: Cross-cultural Communication in Action. Beijing:

Foreign Language Teaching an Research Press.

Dong, Y. F. 1986. The Guiding principles in compiling College English. Wai Yu Jie
[Journal o f Foreign Language World], 23 (2): 20-24.

Dong, Y. F. 1992. College English Teaching - what we have done and what we are
looking forward to .[Wai Yu Jie (Journal o f Foreign Language World].4 (3): 23-26.

Domyei, Z. & Thurrell, S. 1991. Strategic Competence and how to teach it. E L T
Journal. 45: 16-23.

Domyei, Z. & Thurrell, S. 1992. Conversation and Dialogues in Action. Hemel

Hempstead. England: Prentice Hall.

Dubin, F. 1995. The craft o f materials writing. In: P. Byrd. (Ed.) Material Writer's
Guide, Heinle and Heinle, Boston. Pp. 64-78.

Dzau, Y. F. 1990. Teachers, students and administrators. In Dzau, Y. F. (Ed.).

English in China. Hong Kong: AIP Press.

Ellis, G. 1996. How culturally appropriate is the communicative approach. E L T

Journal. 50: 213-218.

English Division o f the Advisory Committee for the Teaching o f Foreign Languages
for Foreign Language Majors. 1999. The history o f FL education for FL majors at
tertiary level: FL development along with the founding o f P. R. China. Wai guo yu
[Foreign Language Journal]. 5, Pp. 2-7.

English Division o f the Advisory Committee for the Teaching o f Foreign Languages
for Foreign Language Majors. 2000. English Curriculum fo r English Majors in

279
Chinese Universities and Colleges. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and
Research Press.

Ennis, R. & Weir, E. 1985. The Ennis-Weir Critical Thinking Essay Test. Pacific
Grove, CA: Critical Thinking Press and Software.

Facione, P. A. 1998. Critical Thinking: W hat it is and why it counts. California

Academic Press (CAP). Available online at URL:
http://www.insightassessment.com/pdf_files/what&why98.pdf. Retrieved on Dec.
16th 2003.

Fang, X. & Warschauer, M. 2004. Technology and curriculum reform in China: a

case study. TESOL Quarterly. 38 (2): 301-321.

Fei, X. P. & Duan, L. L., 1993. Foreign language teaching: the traditional methods
and the communicative approach. Xiandai waiyu [.Modern Foreign Languages]. 59
(1): 37-39.

Feng, A. W. 2000 The Unveiled Syllabus - the Cultural Dimension o f College

English Teaching in China. Unpublished doctoral thesis for School o f Education,
University o f Durham, U.K.

Fotos, S. 1994. Integrating grammar instruction and communicative language use

through grammar consciousness-raising tasks. TESOL Quarterly, 28, 323-351.

Fotos, S. 1998. Shifting the Focus From Forms to Forms in the EFL Classroom.
E L T Journal 52 (4): 301-7.

Fowler, F. J. 1995. Improving Survey Questions Design and Evaluation. Thousand

Oaks: SAGE Publications.

Fox, C. A. 1993. Communicative Competence and beliefs about language among

graduate teaching assistants in French. Modern Language Journal. 77: 313-324.

Franklin, A. J. 1985. The social context and socialization variables as factors in

thinking and learning. In S.F. Chipman, J.W. Segal, & R. Glaser (Eds.), Thinking
and Learning Skills: Vol. 2. Research and open questions. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence
Erlbaum. Pp.81-106.

Freeman, D., & Johnson, K. E. 1998. Reconceptualizing the knowledge-base of

language teacher education. TESOL Quarterly. 32: 397-417.

Fu, K. 1986. zhongguo waiyu jiaoyu shi [A History o f Foreign Language Teaching
in China]. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.

Fullan, M.G. 1991. The New M eaning o f Educational Change. New York: Teacher
College Press.

Gaffield-Vile, N. 1998. Classroom Ideas: Creative W riting in the ELT Classroom.

Modern English Teacher. 1 (3): 31-35.

2 8 0
Gao, H. H. 2000. A study o f Chinese EFL learners strategy competence in oral
communication. Foreign Language Teaching and Research. 1:53-58.

Gao, Y. H. 2001. Foreign Language Learning: '1 + 1 > 2'. Beijing: Beijing
University Press.

Gardner, R. C. & MacIntyre, P. D. 1993. A student's contributions to second

language learning. Part II. Affective Factors. Language Teaching. 26: 1-11.

Garrett, P. L. & Shortall, T. 2002. Learners evaluations o f teacher-fronted and

student-centred classroom activities. Language Teaching Research. 6 (1): 25-57.

Gettings, R. E. 1999. Some questions on teaching critical thinking, social studies and
global studies in Japan. Journal o f Hokusei Gakuen Women's Junior College. (36):
145-149. Available online at URL:
http://www.ipc.hokusei.ac.jp/~z00323/priv/pub_pres/2000_someguestions.html
[Retrieved 19th April 2004].

Glaser, B. G. & Strauss, A. L. 1967. The discovery o f grounded theory: Strategies fo r

qualitative research. New York: Aldine Publishing Company.

Glaser, R. 1984. Education and Thinking: the role o f knowledge. American

Psychologist. 39: 93-104.

Glesne, G. & Peshkin, A. 1992. Becoming Qualitative Researchers. New York:

Longman.

Gow, L., Kember, D. & Mckay, J. 1996. Improving Student Learning Through
Action Research into Teaching. In Watkins, D., & Biggs, J. (Eds.) The Chinese
learners: Cultural psychological and contextual influences. CERC and ACER.

Griffee, D. T. 1999. Questionnaire construction and classroom research. Available

online: http://langue.hyper.chubu.ac.jp/jalt/pub/tlt/99/jan/griffee.html
[Retrieved 12th July 2002],

Gudykunst, W. B., & Kim, Y. Y. 1992. Communicating With Strangers: An

Approach to Intercultural Communication. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Hadley, G. 2003. Sensing the winds o f change: An introduction to data-driven

learning. Niigata University o f International and Information Studies. Available
online at URL:
http://www.nuis.ac.jp/~hadley/publication/windofchange/windsofchange.htm
[Retrieved on 17th Nov. 2003],

Hall, E. T. 1973. The Silent Language. New York: Anchor Press.

Hall, E.T. 1976. Beyond culture. New York: Doubleday.

281
Halliday, M. & Hason, R. 1976. Cohesion in English. Harlow and London:
Longman.

Halliday, M. 1979. Towards a sociological semantics. In C. J. Brumfit. & K.

Johnson. (Eds.) The Communicative Approach to Language Teaching. Oxford:
Oxford University Press. Pp. 27-46.

Halpem, D. F. 1996. Thought and Knowledge: An Introduction to Critical Thinking.

(3rd ed.). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.

Hammerly, H. 1982. Synthesis in language teaching. Blaine, WA: Second Language

Publications.

Hammer, M. R. 1999. A measure o f intercultural sensitivity: The intercultural

development inventory. In S. M. Fowler. & M. G. Mumford. (Eds.). The
Intercultural Sourcebook: Crosscultural Training Methods. Yarmouth, ME:
Intercultural Press. (Vol. II, Pp.61-72).

Hammond, E. 1989. Critical Thinking, Thoughtful Writing. (2nd ed.). New York:
McGraw-Hill.

Han, Z. Q. 2001. Teaching Intensive Reading W ithin a Textual Framework.

Linguistics, Culture and Education Research. 1:160- 164.

Harvey, P. 1985. A lesson to be learned: Chinese approaches to language learning.

ELTJourna., 39 (3): 183 - 186.

He, Q. X. 2002. English Language Education in China. Available online at URL:

http://www.miis.edu/docs/langpolicy/chl5.pdf. [Retrieved 6th Feb. 2003].

He, Q. X. 2002. Unpublished speech at the Seminar 'Improve English language

teaching for English majors in the comprehensive universities in China' Nov. 23-24,
2002. Nankai University, China.

He, Q. X, Yin, T. S. & Liu, H. P. 1999. Comments and suggestions on reform in

EFL education for English majors at college level. Wai yu jiaoxue yu yanjiu [Foreign
Language Teaching and Research]. 1:24-28.

Hinkel, E. 1999. Culture in Second Language Teaching and Learning. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.

Hird, B. 1995. How communicative can English language teaching be in China?

Prospect, 10 (3): 21-27.

Hofstede, G. 1986. Cultural Differences in Teaching and Learning. International

Journal o f Intercultural Relations, 10: 301- 320.

Hofstede, G. 1991/1994. Cultures and Organisations: Intercultural Cooperation and

its Importance fo r Survival - software o f the mind. McGraw-Hill International
Limited.

2 8 2
Hofstede, G. 1980/ 2001. Cultural Consequences. Thousand Oak, Sage Publications,

Holliday, A. 1994. Appropriate Methodology and Social Context,

Cambridge University Press.

Howatt, A. 1984. A History o f English Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford

University Press.

Horwitz, E. K., Horwitz, M.B. & Cope, J. 1986. Foreign language classroom anxiety.
Modern Language Journal. 70(2): 125-132.

Howe, S. 1993. Teaching in Vietnam. Interchange 22: 29-32.

Hu, G. W. 2002a. Recent important developments in secondary English-language

teaching in the People's Republic o f China. Language, Culture and Curriculum. 15
(1): 30-49.

Hu, G. W. 2002b. Potential Cultural Resistance to Pedagogical Imports: The Case o f

communicative language teaching in China. Language, Culture and Curriculum. 15
(2): 93-105.

Hu, W. Z. 1994. W hy linking cultural learning with English Language teaching? In

W. Z. Hu (ed.) Culture and Communication. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching
and Research Press. Pp. 126-134.

Hu, W. Z. & Gao, Y. H. 1997. WaiYu jiaoxue y u Wenhua [Foreign Language

Teaching and Culture]. Changsha, China: Hunan Education Press.

Huang, L. P. 1996. How to make the EFL classroom more communicative. In G. Z.

Xu. (Ed.) EL T in China: papers from Tianjin Conference. Beijing: Foreign Language
Teaching and Research Press. Pp. 242-256.

Huang, X. Y. 1996. A personal understanding o f some main teaching approaches and

methods in language teaching. Teaching English in China. 28: 11-14.

Hymes, D. 1972. On Communicative Competence. In J. B. Pride & J. Holmes (Eds.).

Sociolinguistics. New York: Penguin.

Jacobs, G. and Farrell, T. 2001. Paradigm Shift: Understanding and implementing

change in second language education. TESL-EJ 5 (1): 1-16. Available on-line at:
http://www-writing.berkeley.edu/TESL-EJ [accessed 12th April 2004],

Jennings, K. & Doyle, T. 1996. Curriculum innovation, teamwork and the

management o f change. In J. Willis & D. Willis. (Eds.). Challenge and Change in
Language Teaching. Oxford: Heinemann. (Pp. 169-177).

Ji, L. Z. 2003. Listening Activities for Effective Top-down Processing The Internet
TESL Journal, Vol. IX, No. 11. Available online at URL:
http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Lingzhu-Listening.html [Retrieved 22 Oct. 2004]

2 8 3
Jia, D. L., 1989. Implementing the communicative approach in English teaching in
China. Xiandai waiyu [Modern Foreign Languages], 43 (1): 27-32.

Jin, Lixian. 1992. Academic Cultural Expectations and Second Language Use:
Chinese Postgraduate Students in the U. K. - A Cultural Synergy. Unpublished PhD
thesis to School o f Education, the University o f Leicester, U.K.

Jin, L. X. & Cortazzi, M. 1998. Dimensions o f Dialogue: Large Classes in China.

International Journal o f Educational Research 29:739-761.

Johnson, K. & Morrow, K. 1981. Communication in the Classroom: Applications

and Methods fo r a Communicative Approach. Essex: Longman.

Johnson, K. E. 1994. The emerging beliefs and instructional practices o f pre-service

English as a second language teachers. Teaching and teachers education. 10 (4):
439-452.

Karavas-Doukas, E. 1996. Using attitude scales to investigate teachers attitudes to

the communicative approach. ELT Journal, 50 (3): 187-198.

Ke, W. L. 2003. (Ed.) A Concise Encyclopedia o f Chines e-English Dictionary.

Tianjin: Nankai University Press.

Kennedy, M., Fisher, M., & Ennis, R. H. 1991. Critical thinking: literature review
and needed research. In L. Idol & B.F. Jones, (Eds.), Educational Values and
Cognitive Instruction: Implications fo r Reform. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Kent, D. B. 1999. Speaking in Tongues: Chinglish, Japlish and Konglish.

KOTESOL Proceedings o f the Second Pan Asian Conference 1999, Seoul,
http://www.kotesol.org/pubs/proceedings/1999/pacprol97.pdf
[Retrieved 30th Oct. 2003]

Kern, R. G., 1995. Students' and teachers' beliefs about language learning. Foreign
Language Annals. 28: 72-92.

Kleinsasser, R. C. & Savignon, S. 1991. Linguistics, language pedagogy, and

teachers technical cultures. In Alatis, J. E. (Ed.) Linguistics and Language
Pedagogy: The State o f the art Georgetown University Round Table on Languages
and Linguistics 1991. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press. Pp. 289 -
301.

Kleinsasser, R. C. 1993. A tale o f two technical cultures: foreign language teaching.

Teaching and Teacher Education. 9: 373-383.

Kramsch, C. 1993. Context and Culture in Language Teaching Oxford: Oxford

University Press.

Kubota, R. 2002. The impact o f globalization on language teaching in Japan. In

284
Block, D and Cameron, D. (Eds.). Globalization and Language Teaching. London:
Routledge. Pp. 13-28.

Kumaravadivelu, B. . Language-learning task: teacher intention and learner

interpretation. English Teaching Journal. 45 (2): 98-107.

Kumaravadivelu, B. 1992. Macro-strategies for the second and foreign language

teacher. Modern Language Journal. 76: 41-49.

Kumaravadivelu, B. 1993. Maximizing learning potential in the communicative

classroom. E L T Journal, 47: 12-21.

Lam, A. 2002. English in Education in China: policy changes and learners

experiences. World Englishes, 21 (2): 245 256.

Larsen-Freeman , D. 1986/2000. Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. ,

New York: Oxford University Press.

Larsen-Freeman, D. 1990. On the need o f a theory o f language teaching. In J. E.

Alatis (Ed.), Georgetown University Round Table on Language and Linguistics.
Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press.

Larsen-Freeman, D. 1999. On the appropriateness o f language teaching methods in

language and development. The Fourth International Conference on Language and
Development. Viet Nam. Oct. 13-15, 1999. Available online:
http://www.languages.ait.ac.th/hanoi_proceedings/larsen-freeman.htm
[Retrieved Oct. 22nd, 2003],

Lazere, D. 1987. Critical Thinking in College English Studies. ERIC Digest.

Available online at URL:
http://www.ericfacility.net/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed284275.html
Accessed 15th April 2004.

Leki, I. 1995. Academic Writing: Exploring Processes and Strategies. (2nd Ed.). New
York: St. Martins' Press.

Leng, H. 1997. New Bottles, Old Wine: communicative language teaching in China.
English Teaching Forum. 35 (4): 38-41. Also available online at URL:
http://exchanges.state.gov/forum/vols/vol35/nol/p39.htm

Lewis, R. D. 1999. When cultures Collide: M anaging Successfully Across Cultures.

London: Nicholas Brealey Publishing.

Li, D. F., 1997. 'Absolutely not the same': the potential and problems o f
communicative language teaching in China. Unpublished doctoral thesis to
Department o f Secondary Education, University o f Alberta, Canada.

Li, D. F., 1998. It's always more difficult than you plan and imagine: teachers'
perceived difficulties in introducing the communicative approach in South Korea.
TESOL Quarterly. 32: 677-703.

285
Li, G. Y. 1989. Do CLT and traditional methods match each other? - Comments on
the methodology o f teaching the English majors Basic English at the college level.
Waiyu jie [Journal o f the Foreign Language world]. (1) and (2).

Li, L. Y., Zhang, R. S., & Liu, L. 1988. Zhongguo yingyu jiaoyu shi [A History o f
English Language Teaching in China], Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language
Education Press.

Li, M. S. 1999. Discourse and Culture o f Learning - Communication Challenges.

Paper presented at the Joint AARE-NZARE 1999 Conference in Melbourne, 27
November- 2 December, 1999.

Li, W. 2000a. Dimensions o f bilingualism. In Li, W. (Ed.). The bilingualism reader.

London: Routledge. Pp. 3-25.

Li, W. 2000b. W hat do you want me to say? On the Conversation Analysis approach
to bilingual interaction. Language in Society 31(2).

Li, W., Zhu, H., & Li, Y. 2000. Interpersonal harmony and textual coherence in
Chinese business interaction. Multilingua, 20\ 285-311.

Li, X. J. 1984. In defense o f the communicative approach. E L T Journal, 38 (1): 2 -

13.

Li, Y. S. 2002. On the English teaching reform form students' graduation thesis.
Tianjin Waiguo yu xueyuan xuebao [Journal o f Tianjin Foreign Studies University].
(3): 38-41.

Lightbown, P. & Spada, N. 1993. How Languages are Learned. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.

Lin, Y. T. 1938. The Wisdom o f Confucius. New York: Random House, The M odem
Library.

Lincoln, Y. S. & Guba, E.G. 1985. Naturalistic Inquiry. Calf. SAGE Publications.

Littlewood, W. 1981. Communicative Language Teaching: An Introduction.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Littlewood, W. 1984. Integrating the new and the old in a communicative approach.
In Das, B. K. (Gen. Ed.) Communicative Language Teaching (Anthology Series 14).
Singapore: Singapore University Press. Pp. 171-191.

Littlewood, W. 2000. Do Asian students really want to listen and obey? E L T Journal,
54 (1): 31-36.

Littlewood, W. 2001. Students Attitudes to Classroom English Learning: A cross-

cultural Study. Language Teaching Research. 5 (l):3-28.

286
Liu, D. L. 1998. Ethnocentrism in TESOL: Teacher Education and the Neglected
Needs o f International TESOL Students. E L T Journal 52 (1): 3-10.

Liu, J. 1997. The new role o f observing classes and its implications. Wai Yu Jie
[.Journal o f the Foreign Language World], 66 (2): 14-17.

Liu, J. 2002. Negotiating Silence in American Classrooms: Three Chinese Cases.

Language and Inter cultural Communication. 2 (1): 37-54.

Liu, L. Z. 2003. A New Perspective on the Goals o f TEFL in China. J7?e Internet
TESL Journal, Vol. IX, No. 11, November 2003. Available online at URL:
http://iteslj.org/Articles/Liu-Goals.html

Liu, S.C. (ed.) 2000. To be a good learner. Bell, 1: 3. (Newsletter o f English

Department, Nankai University, P. R. China).

Long, M. H. 1983. Does Second Language Instruction make a difference? A review

of literature. TESOL Quarterly. 17: 359-382.

Long, M. H. 1991. Instructed interlanguage development. In L. Beebe (Ed.) Issues in

second language acquisition: Multiple perspectives. N ew York: Newbury House.

Long, M. H., & Sato, C. J. 1983. Classroom foreigner talk discourse: forms and
functions o f teachers questions. In H. W. Seliger & M. H. Long (Eds.) Classroom
Oriented Research in Second Language Acquisition. Rowley, Mass.: Newbury
House. Pp. 268-285.

Long, M. H. 1991. Focus on Form: A design feature in language teaching

methodology. In K. de Bot., R. B. Ginsberg, & G. Kramsh (Eds.) Foreign Language
research in cross-cultural perspective. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Pp. 39-52.

Long, M, H. & Crookses, G. 1992. Three approaches to task-based syllabus design.

TESOL Quarterly. 26: 27-56.

MacIntyre, P. & Gardner, R. 1989. Anxiety and Second Language Learning:

Towards a Theoretical Clarification. Language Learning, 39: 251-275.

MacIntyre, P. D. & Gardner, R.C. 1994. The subtle effects o f language anxiety on
cognitive processing in the second language. Language Learning. 44 (2): 283-305.

McGuire, J. M. 1999. Is Critical Thinking an Appropriate Educational Philosophy

for Korea? Available online at URL: http://www.aks.ac.kr/EngHome/files/ed8.htm
[accessed Oct 28th 2003].

Mackay, W. 1965. Language Teaching Analysis. Bloomington: Indina University

Press.

Maley, A. 1982. W hatever Next? Some Recent Currents in Foreign language

Teaching. Waiyu jiaoxue yu yanjiu [Foreign Language Teaching and Research]. 2:
39-50.

287
Maley, A. 1983. XAN A D U ... A miracle o f rare device: The teaching o f English in
China. Language Learning and Communication. 2 (1): 97-103.

Maley, A. 1984. Reconciling Communicative with Traditional Approaches to

Language Teaching: Can it be done? Foreign language Teaching and Research. 57
(1): 42-48.

Manthison, S. 1988. Why triangulate? Educational Researcher, 17 (12): 13-17.

Mao, L. M. 1994. Beyond politeness theory: 'Face' revisited and renewed. Journal o f
Pragmatics, 21: 451-486.

Mao, S. H. 1996. To Kill Mockingbird o f Uncritical Thinking in the Literature

Classroom. Teaching English in China, 28: 15-19.

Markee, N, 1997. M anaging Curricular Innovation. Cambridge University Press,

Cambridge.

McGroarty, M. 1984. Some meanings o f communicative competence for second

language students. TESOL Quarterly, 18: 257-272.

McGuire, J. M. 1999. Is Critical Thinking an Appropriate Educational Philosophy for

Korea? Available online at URL: http://www.aks.ac.kr/EngHome/files/ed8.htm
(Accessed Oct 28th 2003).

McPeck, J. E. 1990. Teaching Critical Thinking. London: Routledge.

Meyers, C. 1986. Teaching Students to Think Critically: A Guide fo r Faculty in all

Disciplines. San Francisco and London: Jossey-Bass Publications.

Mohanan, K. P. 1997. Teaching Critical Thinking. CDTLink, National University o f

Singapore. 1, (1). Available at URL:
http://www.cdtl.nus.edu.sg/link/janl997/criticl.htm [Assessed 15th, April 2004].

Moore, B. & Parker, R. 1989. Critical Thinking: Evaluating Claims and Arguments
in Everyday Life. (2nd Ed). Mountain View, CA: Mayfield.

Niu, Q. 2001. Re-examining the role o f input and the features o f optimal input.
Teaching English in China. 24 (3): 6-11.

North Project Group. 1998. Reflections on reform in foreign language education in

China. Wai yujia o xu e yu yanjiu [Foreign Language Teaching and Research]. 3: 5-9.

Nunan, D. 1988. Syllabus Design. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Nunan, D. 1989. Understanding Language Classrooms. New York: Prentice Hall.

Nunan, D. 1991. Language Teaching Methodology: A Textbook fo r Teachers.

Prentice Hall.

288
Nunan, D.1992. Research Methods in Language Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.

Nunan, D. 1993. From leaming-centeredness to leamer-centeredness. Applied

Language Learning. 4: 1-18.

Nunn, R. 1999. Encouraging Students to Interact w ith the Teacher. The Internet
TESL Journal, Vol. V, No. 12. Available online at URL:
http ://iteslj.org/T echniques/Mohamad-T estingReading.html
[Retrieved Sept. 16, 2002]

Nuttall, C. 1983/1996. Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language. Oxford:

Heinemann.

O Malley, J. M., & Chamot, A. 1990. Learning Strategies in Second Language

Acquisition. New York: Cambridge University Press.

O'Neill, R. 1982. W hy Use Textbooks? E L T Journal, 36:2: 104-111.

O' Neill, R. 1991. The Plausible myth o f leamer-centeredness; or the importance o f

doing ordinary things well. E L T Journal. 45 (4): 293-304.

Oxford, R. 1990. Language Learning Strategies: What Every Teacher Should Know.
N Y : Newbury House

Oxford, R., & Anderson, N. J. 1995. A Cross-Cultural View o f Learning Styles.

Language Teaching. 28: 201- 215.

Paine, L. W. 1995. Teacher education in search o f a metaphor: defining the

relationship between teachers, teaching and the state in China. In M. B. Ginsburg &
B. Lindsay (Eds.). The Political Dimension in Teacher Education: Comparative
Perspectives on Policy Formation. London: The Falmer Press. Pp. 76-98.

Pang, J. X., Zhou, X. & Fu, Z. 2002. English for International Trade: China enters
the WTO. World Englishes, 21 (2): 201-216.

Paul, R. 1992. Critical Thinking: basic questions and answers. Think. Available at
URL: http://www.criticalthinking.org/University/questions.html
[Retrieved 12th June, 2003]

Peacock, M., 1997. Comparing Learner and Teacher Views on Classroom Activities
for EFL. Paper presented at International Association o f Teachers o f English as a
Foreign Language (IATEFL) Conference, Brighton, UK, April 1997.

Penner, J. 1995. Change and conflict: Introduction o f the communicative approach in

China. TESL Canada. 12 (2): 1-17.

Pennycook, A. 1989. The Concept o f Method, Interested Knowledge, and the Politics
of Language Teaching. TESOL Quarterly 23 (4): 589-618.

289
Pica, T. 1994. Questions from the language classroom: research perspectives. TESOL
Quarterly. 28 (1): 49-79.

Pica, T. 2000. Tradition and Transition in English Language teaching methodology.

System, 28 (1 ): 1-18.

Pintrich, P. R. & Schunk, D. H. 1996. Motivation in Education: Theory Research,

and Applications. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Printice Hall.

Price, M.L. 1991. The subjective experiences o f foreign language anxiety: interviews
with anxious students. In E.K. Horwitz.,. & D J . Young, (Eds.). Language Anxiety:
From Theory and Research to Classroom Implications. Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
Prentice Hall. Pp. 101-108.

Pratt, D.D., Kelly, M., & Wong, W.S.S. 1999. Chinese Conceptions o f 'Effective
Teaching' in Hong Kong: Towards Culturally Sensitive Evaluation o f Teaching.
International Journal o f Lifelong Education. 18 (4): 241-258.

Ramage, J., & Bean, J. C. 1999. Writing arguments. Boston: Allyn & Bacon

Rao, Z. H. 1996. Reconciling Communicative Approaches to the teaching o f English

with traditional Chinese methods. Research in the Teaching o f English. 30 (4): 458-
471.

Rao, Z. H. 2001. Matching Teaching Styles with Learning Styles in East Asian
Contexts. The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. VII, N o.7. Available at URL:
http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Zhenhui-TeachingStyles.html
[Retrieved 18th Oct. 2002]

Rao, Z. H., 2002. Chinese students' perceptions o f communicative and non-

communicative activities in E F L classroom. System, 30 (1): 85-105.

Reid, S. 1998. Teaching Critical Thinking. CELE Journal. 6: 17-22.

Also available at URL:
http://www.asia-u.ac.jp/english/cele/articles/Reid_Critical_Thinking.htm
[Retrieved Oct. 2003].

Richards, J. C., & Rodgers, T. S. 1986/2001. Approaches and Methods in Language

Teaching - A Description and Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Richards, J. C. & Lockhart, C. 1994. Reflective Teaching in Second Language

Classrooms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Richards, J. C., & Schmidt, R. W. 1983. Language and Communication. Harlow:

Longman.

Riley, M., Wood, R., Clark, M., Wilkie., E., & Szivas., E. 2000. Researching and
Writing Dissertations in Business and Management. Thomson Learning.

290
Rivers, W. M. 1968. Teaching Foreign-Language Skills. Chicago: The University o f
Chicago Press.

Rivers, W. M., 1981. Teaching foreign language skills. Chicago: University o f

Chicago Press.

Rivers, W. M. & Temperley. 1987. A Practical Guide to the Teaching o f English.

Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Robinson, G. L. N. 1985. Cross-cultural Understanding: Process and Approaches

fo r Foreign Language, English as a Second Language and Bilingual Educators. New
York: Pergamon Press.

Ross, H. A. 1993. China learns English: language teaching and social change in the
People's Republic. Yale University Press.

Ruggiero, V.R. 1998. The art o f Thinking: A Guide to Critical and Creative Thought
(5th ed.). New York: Longman.

Rumelhart, D. E. 1980. Schemata: The building blocks o f cognition. In R.J. Spiro,

B.Bruce, & W.F. Brewer (Eds.), Theoretical Issues in Reading and Comprehension.
Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Ruminski, H, J., & Hanks, W. E. 1995. Critical thinking lacks definition and
uniform evaluation criteria. Journalism and M ass Education Educator, 50 (3): 4 -11.

Salili, F. 2001. Teacher-student interaction: attributional implications and

effectiveness o f teachers evaluative feedback. In D. A. Watkin, & J. B. Biggs,
(Eds.) Teaching the Chinese Learner: Psychological and Pedagogical Perspectives.
Hong Kong / Melbourne: CERC and ACER. Pp. 77- 98.

Samovar, L.A. & Porter, R.E. 1995: Communication between cultures, (2nd Ed.).
Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Sampson, G. P., 1984. Exporting language teaching methods from Canada to China.
TESL Journal, 1 (1): 19-32.

Sano, M., Takahashi, M., & Yoneyama, A. 1984. Communicative language teaching
and local needs. E L T Journal, 38 (3): 170-177.

Sato, K. & Kleinsasser, R. C. 1999. Communicative language Teaching: practical

understandings. The Modern Language Journal. 83 (4): 494-517.

Sato, K. 2001. Power o f Networks: Creating Continuous Learning Opportunities.

Explorations in Teacher Education online. 9 (2), (November 2001). Available at
URL:
http://www.jalt.org/teach/articles/Newsletter_files/Nov_2001/November_2001_title.
html [Retrieved 11th Dec. 2003].

291
Sato, K. 2002. Practical Understandings o f Communicative Language Teaching and
Teaching Development. In Savignon, S. (Ed.) Interpreting Communicative Language
Teaching: Contexts and Concerns in Teaching Education. Yale University Press. Pp.
41-81.

Savignon, S. 1983 / 1997. Communicative Competence: Theory and Classroom

Practice - Texts and Contexts in Second Language Learning. Addison-W esley
Publishing Company, Inc.

Savignon, S. 1990. Communicative language teaching: definitions and directions. In

J. E. Alatis (Ed.), Georgetown University Round Table on Language and Linguistics
1990. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press. Pp. 205-217.

Savignon, S. 1991. Communicative language teaching: state o f the art. TESOL

Quarterly, 25 (2): 262-277.

Savignon, S. 2002. (Ed.) Interpreting Communicative Language Teaching: Contexts

and Concerns in Teacher Education. Yale University Press.

Scarcella, R. C. & Oxford, R. 1992. The Tapestry o f Language Learning. Boston:

Heinle and Heinle.

Scollon, R. & Sollon, S. W. 1995. Intercultural Communication: A discourse

Approach. Oxford: Blackwell.

Scott, C. S. 1980. Some first impressions o f EFL teaching in China. TESOL

Newsletter. (September) 14 (6): 11-14.

Seliger, H. W., & Shohamy, E. 1989. Second Language Research Methods. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.

Shi, L. 1998. Negotiated Interaction In Teacher-led Versus Peer Group Adult ESL
Discussion. TESL Canada Journal. 16 (1): 54-74.

Shortall, T. 1996. W hat learners know and what they need to know. In J. Willis and
D. Willis, (Eds.), Challenge and Change in Language Teaching. Oxford:
Heinemann. Pp. 31-41.

Siegel, H. 1989. Why be rational? On thinking critically about critical thinking

(Institute for Critical Thinking Resources publication), 2 (1). Upper Montclair, NJ:
M ontclair State College.

Siegel, H. 1990. Informal logic, and the nature o f critical thinking. In J. E. McPeck
(Ed.), Teaching critical thinking. London: Routledge. Pp. 75-85.

Skehan, P. 1996. Second language acquisition research and task-based instruction. In

J. Willis and D. Willis, (Eds.), Challenge and Change in Language Teaching.
Oxford: Heinemann. Pp. 17-30.

292
Smith, P. B. & Bond, M. H. 1993: Social psychology across cultures. Hemel
Hempstead: Harvester.

Sower, C., & Johnson, W. 1999. Critical Thinking in an East Asian Context
KOTESOL Proceedings o f the second Pan Asian Conference Seoul, 1999.

Snow, M., Met, M. & Genesee, F. 1989. A conceptual framework for the integration
o f language and content in second / foreign language instruction. TESOL Quarterly,
23 (2): 201-217.

Song, B. 1995: What does reading mean for East Asian students? College ESL, 5 (2):
35-48.

Song, M. M. 2001. Developing a sound policy for the treatment o f grammar.

Teaching English in China, 24 (2): 55-56.

Spratt, M. 1999. How good are we at knowing what learners like? System, 27:141-
155.

SPSS. 1988. SP SS-XU ser's Guide. Chicago: SPSS Inc.

Stapleton, P. 2001. Assessing Critical Thinking in the writing o f Japanese university

students. Written Communication 18, 4: 506-548.

Stapleton, P. 2002. Critical thinking in Japanese L2 writing: rethinking tired

constructs. E L T Journal, 56 (3): 250-257.

Stefani, L. A. 1997. The influence o f Culture on classroom communication. In L.

Samovar, & R. Porter. (Eds.) Intercultural communication: A Reader. Wadsworth
Publishing Company, Pp. 349-362.

Stephens, K., 1997. Cultural stereotyping and intercultural communication: working

with students from the People's Republic o f China in the UK. Language and
Education, 11 (2): 113-124.

Stem, H. H. 1983. Fundamental concepts o f language teaching. Oxford: Oxford

University Press.

Stem, H. H. 1992. Issues and options in language teaching. Oxford: Oxford

University Press.

Su, D. F. & Zhuang, Z. X. 1996. (Eds.). Xiandai Waiyu Jiaoxue - LiLun, shijian yu
Fangfa [Contemporary Foreign Language Teaching - theory, Practice and
Methodology]. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.

Sun, G. Y. & Cheng, L. Y. 2002. From context to curriculum: a case study o f

communicative language teaching in China. TESL Canada Journal, 19 (2): 67-86.

Swan, M. 1985. A critical look at the communicative approach. ELT Journal. 39 (1):
2-12 and. 39 (2): 76-87.

293
Tang, J. 1986. San shi er nian lai de zhong xue wai yu jia o cai [Thirty-two years o f
secondary school English teaching materials],la Curriculum, Materials and
methodology Association. (Ed.) Zhongxue waiyu jiaocai he jiaofa [Foreign language
materials and methodology fo r secondary schools]. Beijing: Peoples Education
Press. Pp. 49-60.

Tanthai, M. 2000. Teaching Logic for Critical Thinking. In In-Suk, Cha. (Ed.).
Teaching Philosophy fo r Democracy Seoul: SNU Press. P p .185-199.

Taylor, B. P. 1983. Teaching ESL: incorporating a communicative, student-centred

component. TESOL Quarterly. 17 (1): 69-88.

Thomson, A. 1999. Critical Reasoning in Ethics: A Practical Introduction. London:

Routledge.

Thompson, G. 1996. Some Misconceptions about communicative language teaching.

E L T Journal. 50: 9-15.

Ting-Toomey, S. 1989. Identity and interpersonal bonding. In M. K. Asante & W. B.

Gudykunst (Eds.), Handbook o f international and intercultural communication.
London: Sage Publications.

Ting-Toomey, S. 1999. Intercultural Conflict Competence: Eastern and Western

Lenses. Available online at URL:
http://www.cic.sfu.ca/forum/STingToomeyJulyl31999.html [Retrieved 9th
Dec.2003]

Triandis, H. C. 1995: Individualism and collectivism. Boulder, CO: Westview.

Trompenaars, F. & Hampden-Tumer, C. 1997. (2nd.Ed.) Riding the waves o f culture:

understanding cultural diversity in business. London: Nicholas Brealey Publish.

Tsai, Y. H. 2004. The Creative Use o f Language Textbooks: Rationale and

Recommendations. Hwa K ang Journal o f TEFL, M ay 2000. Available online:
http://www.hkjtefl.org/2000-Tsai-Creative.html [Retrieved September 2004].

Urquhart, S. & Weir, C. 1998. Reading in a second language: process, product and
practice. London: Longman

Van der Wal, A. 1999. Critical thinking as a core skill: issues and discussion.
HERDS A Annual International Conference, Melbourne, 12-15 July 1999. Available
online at URL:
http ://www.herdsa.org.au/branches/vic/Comerstones/pdf/vderW al.PDF.
[Retrieved 9th Dec. 2003].

Van Lier, L. 1996. Interaction in The Language Classroom: Awareness, Autonomy

and Authenticity. Longman, Harlow.

294
Wang, F. 2001. Teaching intensive reading within the framework o f modem
psycholinguistics. Teaching English in China. 24 (3): 55-59.

Walsh, S. 2002. Construction or obstruction: Teacher talk and learner involvement in

the EFL classroom. Language Teaching Research 6 (1): 3-23.

Wang, Y. P. 1999. Towards developing the students socio-cultural competence in

College English Teaching. Wai Yu Jie [Journal o f Foreign Language World], 73 (1):
43-47.

Wang Z. Y. 1994. Test analysis on sociocultural knowledge. In W. Z. Hu, (Ed.)

Culture and Communication. Beijing. Foreign languages teaching and research
Press. Pp. 108-118.

Wang, Z., L 1985. Some examples o f making use o f the grammar-translation

method. Modern Foreign Languages. 29 (3): 47-49.

Wang, Z. R. 1999. Trends o f EFL in China. Foreign Languages Journal. (6): 36-41.

Walsh, S. 2002. Construction or obstruction: teacher talk and learner involvement in

the EFL classroom. Language Teaching Research, 6 (1): 3-23.

Watkins, D. A, & Biggs, J. 2001. (Eds.) Teaching the Chinese Learners:

Psychological and Pedagogical Perspectives. Hong Kong and Melbome:
Comparative Education Research Center (CERC) and The Australian Council for
Education Research Ltd. (ACER).

Weddle, P., De Capite, C., & Costa, A. 1990. Critical thinking: The thinking that
masters the content. Tenth annual conference on critical thinking and educational
reform. Sonoma: Center for Critical Thinking and M oral Critique.

Wei, L. B. 1997. In Defence o f Intensive Reading. Teaching English in China. 29:

86-90.

Wen, Q. F. 2000. (Ed.) Testing and Teaching Spoken English. Shanghai: Shanghai
Foreign Language Education Press.

Widdowson, H.G. 1978 .Teaching language as communication. Oxford: Oxford

University Press.

Widdowson, H. G. 1990. Aspects o f language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University

Widdowson, H. G. 1996. Authenticity and autonomy in ELT. E L T Journal. 50: 67-

68 .

Willis, J. 1999. A fram ew ork fo r task-based learning. Harlow, Essex : Longman,

White, J. C, 1989. Negotiating communicative language learning in a traditional

setting. E L T Journal, 43 (3): 213-220.

295
White, L., 1990. Implications o f leamability theories for second language learning
and teaching. In: Halliday, M.A.K., Gibbons, J. and Nicholas, H. Editors, 1990.
Learning, Keeping and Using Language, Vol. 1. Benjamins, Amsterdam.

White, L., 1991. Adverb placement in second language acquisition: some effects o f
positive and negative evidence in the classroom. Second Language Research 7 (2):
122-161.

Whitley, M. S. 1993. Communicative Language Teaching: An incomplete

revolution. Foreign Language Annals, 26 (2), 137-153.

Wolfson, N. 1983. Rules o f Speaking. In J. C. Richards, and R. W. Schmidt (Eds.)

Language and Communication. Harlow: Longman.

Wong-Fillmore, L. 1985. When does teacher-talk w ork as input? In: S. M. Gass.,

Susan M. & C. Madden. (Eds.). Input in Second Language Acquisition. Rowley,
Mass: Newbury House.

Woodward, T. 1996. Paradigm shift and the language teaching profession. In J.

Willis & D. Willis, (Eds.), Challenge and Change in Language Teaching. Oxford:
Heinemann. (Pp. 4-9).

Wu, X. D., & Fang, L. 2002. Teaching Communicative English in China: A case
study o f the Gap between teachers' views and practice. Asian Journal o f English
Language Teaching. 12, Special Issue, Pp. 143-162.

Wu, Y. A. 2001. English language teaching in China: trends and challenges TESOL
Quarterly, 35 (1): 191-194.

Xiang, Q. J. & Wang, Y. M. 1999. Towards a realization o f a holistic model o f

teaching reading in the EFL class in China. Teaching English in China. 36: 46-50.

Xiao, H. Y., Medd, H., & Fearon-Jones. 1996. British Studies in China: An
Introduction to the New Textbook on contemporary Britain Developed at Guang
Dong Foreign Studies University. Teaching English in China. 27: 89-93.

Xiao, L. F. 2001. Teaching English Cultural Background: Introducing the Target

Culture into the Chinese Secondary English Classes. A PhD dissertation submitted to
Faculty o f Humanities, the University o f Tampere, Finland.

Xiao, L. X. 2002. Bridging the mismatch between native-speaking teachers

teaching styles and Chinese students learning styles: a cross-cultural perspective.
Paper presented at the Seminar in Dublin City University, Language Service, Ireland
on 22 June 2002. First Available at URL (July 2002):
www.dculs.dcu.ie/seminar2.htm

Xiao, L. X. 2003 (in press). Thoughts on cultural conflict in the Classroom: The Case
o f TEFL in the Chinese Context. Paper presented at Royal Irish Academy
Symposium: Intercultural Spaces: Language, Culture, and Identity. 7th-8lh Nov.
2003. Dublin City University, Ireland.

296
Xu, J. S. 1991. Zhongguo renkou shuzhi yu jingji fazhan [The Population Quality
and Economic Development in China]. Renkou yanju [Population Research
Journal] 4: 10-17.

Yao, N. Q. 2001. On raising cultural awareness and developing innovativeness. Wai

yu jie (Journal o f Foreign Language World). 1:14-18.

Young, D. J. 1990. An investigation o f students' perspectives on anxiety and

speaking. Foreign Language Annals, 23: 539-53.

Zhang, B. 2000. Culture learning in foreign language classroom. Teaching English

in China. 23 (1): 50-53.

Zhang, L .L. 2004. CLT in China: Frustrations, M isconceptions, and Clarifications

Hwa Kang Journal o f TEFL, May 2004 http://www.hkjtefl.org/2004-Zhang-
CLT.html [retrieved August 31, 2004

Zhang, S. J. & Yang, Z. 2000. Higher Education for Foreign language majors in the
new Century: crisis and solutions. Wai Yu Jie [Journal o f Foreign Language World]
3: 2-7.

Zhang, Y. 2003. A text-centred approach to English reading. Teaching English in

China. 26 (4): 51-55.

Zhang, Z. Y. 1997. Intensive Reading: Getting Your Students to See the Forest as
well as the Trees. Forum. 35 (1). Also available online at URL:
http://exchanges.state.gOv/forum/vols/vol35/nol/p40.htm#page_top [Retrieved 28th
Oct. 2003],

Zhao, Y. B. 1996. Increasing Learners Cultural Awareness. Teaching English in

China. 27: 63-65.

297
 Appendix A -l

Questionnaire for a pilot study

(English version)

Questionnaire for Chinese Students learning English in the American

College Dublin (ACD) and Dublin City University Language Services
(DCULS) Ireland, May 2002

1. In English class, I like to participate in group work with 2-4 people, e.g.
English dialogues, group discussion, role play.
2. In group work, I like committing m yself to achieving our common goal with
my peers.
3. When working in a group, I like to help keep the atmosphere friendly and
harmonious.
4. In group work, I do not like to 'stand out' by voicing my opinions or asking
questions.
5. Sometimes I feel nervous answering a question in class because I am afraid of
being wrong.
6. In class or in group activities, I like to prepare what I want to say in English
mentally before I speak.
7. I work especially hard when my own success will benefit me and other
people (e.g. m y family or m y relatives).
8. In English class, I like a teacher-centred teaching method employed by
teachers.
9. In English class, I like a student-centred teaching method employed by
teachers.
10. In English class, I like to do simulation test exercises and listen to my teacher'
explanations.
11. In class I see the teacher as somebody whose authority should not be
questioned.
1 2 .1 see knowledge as something that the teacher should pass on to m e rather
than something that I should discover myself.
13.1 expect my teacher rather than m yself to be responsible for evaluating how
much I have learnt.
1 4 .1 like to be active and to speak English when I am working in a group.
15.1 have enough confidence in improving m y English to m y desired level
within 1 or 2 years in Ireland.
16. I like to take part in a group-work with foreign students in a multicultural class, e.g.
classroom discussion, role-play.
17.1 like to take part in a group-work with Chinese students in class, e.g. classroom
discussion, role-play.
18. I like to study English in a class with 6-8 persons.
19. I like to study English in a class with Chinese learners only rather than in a
multicultural class.
20. When m y peer answers questions in class, I murm ur the answer to myself.
21. Apart from finishing assignment assigned by teachers, I have m y own study
plan.
2 2 .1 plan m y schedule to ensure that I will have enough time to study English.
2 3 .1 have clear goals for improving m y English.
2 4 .1 think about my progress in learning English so as to find out my own
strengths and weaknesses in this regard.
2 5 .1 assess m y own learning strategies to find out m y weaknesses and the ways
to overcome them.
2 6 .1 use different learning strategies for different learning activities in my
English study.
2 7 .1 select and read the English language text materials that match m y own
current English level.
2 8 .1 think about my own personality so as to find out my strengths and
weaknesses with regard to English language learning.
29. In reading English, I try to understand every single word.
3 0 .1 like to read English newspapers, magazines and novels outside o f class.
31.1 read aloud the text materials outside o f class.
3 2 .1 try to analyse the grammar and structure o f the sentence when I cannot
understand the text.
3 3 .1 recite large chunks o f good English text materials.
3 4 .1 often listen to English radio broadcast or tapes outside o f class.
35. I intend to understand every single word when I listen to English.
36. When I come across a new word in listening to English, I intend to remember
its pronunciation and look it up in the dictionary afterwards.
3 7 .1 like to answer questions in English in English class.
3 8 .1 often see English films, DVDs or watch TV programs outside o f class.
3 9 .1 like to speak English with my peers or teachers outside o f the classroom..
4 0 .1 talk to m yself in English outside o f class.
4 1 .1 often keep a diary, take notes or write letters or emails in English.

2
 Appendix A-2

Questionnaire for English Majors at Nankai University, China

(English version) September 2002

This questionnaire is designed for research purposes only and is done on an

anonymous basis. All the information will be kept confidential. Answer the
following questions in terms o f how much you agree or disagree with them. Do not
answer how you think you should be, or what other people do. There are no right or
wrong answers to these statements. W ork as quickly as you can without being
careless. This usually takes about 20-25 minutes to complete.

grade age________ gender_______ undergraduate____ postgraduate______

Please write the response (1, 2, 3, 4, or 5) in the bracket at the end o f each statement,
which tells how much you agree or disagree with the statement.

1. Strongly disagree
2. D isagree
3. N eutral
4. A gree
5. Strongly agree

1. In English class, I like to participate in group work with 2-4 people, e.g.
English dialogues, group discussion, role play.
2. In group work, I like committing m yself to achieving our common goal with
m y peers.
3. I like m y teacher to divide the whole class into several small groups in which
we do teacher-directed group work.
4. In English class, I like listening to m y peers give English oral presentations of
interesting stories or information that are well-prepared outside o f class.
5. In group work, I like to ask and answer questions in English.
6. W hen working in a group, I like to help keep the atmosphere friendly and
harmonious.
7. In group work, I do not like to 'stand out' b y voicing m y opinions or asking
questions.
8. Sometimes I feel nervous answering a question in class because I am afraid of
being wrong.
9. In class or in group activities, I like to prepare what I want to say in English
mentally before I speak.
1 0 .1 work especially hard when m y own success will benefit me and other
people (e.g. m y family or m y relatives).
11. In English class, I like to learn about W estern cultures including their w ay of
life, social customs, etc.

3
1 2 .1 like learning English.
1 3 .1 am interested in the cultures o f major English-speaking nations.
1 4 .1 learn English because I want to know about the economic, social, political
and technological developments in other countries o f the world.
15.1 learn English because I want to find a good job.
1 6 .1 want to be enrolled in the Master degree program.
1 7 .1 want to go abroad for advanced study or work.
18. In English class, I like a teacher-centred teaching method employed by
teachers.
19. In English class, I like a student-centred teaching method employed by
teachers.
20. In the English Intensive Reading class, I like m y teacher to deal with the text
materials in a sentence-by-sentence way.
21. In English class, I like teacher-guided and text-related discussions on such
topics as population problems, m y favourite books, films, or how to be a
better learner o f English.
22. In English class, I like to watch English language films or videos, and then
discuss them in groups with teacher' facilitation and guidance.
2 3 .1 learn a lot about western cultures from m y English classes.
24. In English class, I like to do simulation test exercises and listen to m y teacher'
explanations.
25. In English class, I like my teacher to ask students text-based and thought-
provoking questions to keep the lesson interesting in order that students have
chances to practise their spoken English.
26. In English class, I like my teacher to translate some difficult paragraphs of
text materials into Chinese to enhance my comprehension and translation
skills.

27. * D o you like a teacher-centred teaching method in English class?

Yes No Please state your reasons why you like or do not like it.

28. * Do you like a student-centred teaching method in English class?

Yes No Please state your reasons why you like or do not like it.

29. If I cannot think o f a word during a conversation in English, I depend on my

native language to explain it.
3 0 .1 try to relax m yself whenever I am feeling afraid o f using English,
especially oral English.
31. When I can't think o f a word during a conversation in English, I use
gestures.
32. W hen I can't think o f a word during a conversation in English, I use a word or
phrase that means the same thing.
3 3 .1 have at least one peer with whom I often practise English.
3 4 .1 like to participate in extra-curricular activities in which I can practise my
oral English, e.g. English comer.
3 5 .1 like after-class activities in which I can practise my English writing skills,
e.g. drama group and newspaper group.
36. M y knowledge about Western culture(s) mainly comes from English
classroom teaching and learning.
3 7 .1 like to read English language text materials which cover W estern cultures.

4
 3 8 .1 encourage m yself to speak English even when I am afraid o f making a
mistake.
3 9 .1 give m yself a reward or treat when I do well in English. For example, I
reward m yself by going to a restaurant, etc.
4 0 .1 remember new words by thinking o f relationships between what I already
know and new things I learn in English.
41.1 use new words in a sentence so I can remember them well.
4 2 .1 link its Chinese meaning to a new word to help me remember the word in
English.
4 3 .1 expect m y teacher rather than m yself to be responsible for evaluating how
much I have learnt.
44. In class I see the teacher as somebody whose authority should not be
questioned.
4 5 .1 see knowledge, as something that the teacher should pass on to me rather
than something that I should discover myself.
46. In English class, the teaching method used by the teacher is very important to
students English study.

The follow ing statements (47-56) consist o f some o f difficulties confronting Chinese
learners o f English at tertiary level in adopting communicative activities. D o you
think they might be difficulties fo r you in using communicative activities in China?
What is your opinion?

4 7 .1 do not have a clear long-term aim o f learning English, and lack motivation.
48. M y learning styles are too rigid and inflexible.
4 9 .1 have few opportunities to practise m y English.
50. There is a lack o f authentic English materials, audio and visual.
51. The idea o f finding a good job after graduation from the university exerts
heavy pressure on me.
52. We lack chances to speak English in class.
53. EMT-4 (English Major Test-4) and EMT-8 exert heavy pressures on me.
54. Teachers place too much stress on the structure, grammar and reading
comprehension in English class.
55. The English language textbooks are not compatible with the requirements of
the student-centred approach in English class.
56. We have little knowledge or information about Western cultures.

The follow ing consists o f language learning strategies involved in EFL learning
process. Please answer in terms o f how well the statement describes you.

57. Apart from finishing assignment assigned by teachers, I have m y own study
plan.
58.1 plan m y schedule so I will have enough time to study English.
5 9 .1 have clear goals for improving m y English.
6 0 .1 think about my progress in learning English so as to find out m y own
strengths and weaknesses in this regard.
61.1 assess m y own learning strategies to find out m y weaknesses and the ways
to overcome them.
6 2 .1 use different learning strategies for different learning activities in my
English study.

5
 63.1 select and read the English language text materials that match m y own
current English level.
64. I think about my own personality so as to find out m y strengths and
weaknesses with regard to English language learning.
65. In reading English, I try to understand every single word.
66. I like to read English newspapers, magazines and novels after class.
67. I translate the English text materials into Chinese to enhance my
comprehension.
68. I read aloud the text materials after class.
69. I try to analyse the grammar and structure o f the sentence when I cannot
understand the text.
70. I try to guess the meaning when I cannot understand the sentence.
71. I recite large chunks o f good English text materials.
72. I often listen to English language radio broadcast or tapes.
73. I intend to understand every single word when I listen to English.
74. When I come cross a new word while listening to English, I intend to
remember its pronunciation and look it up in the dictionary afterwards.
75. I like to answer questions in English in class.
76. I often see English language films, DVDs or watch TV programs after class.
77. I like to speak English with my peers or teachers outside the classroom..
78. I talk to m yself in English outside o f the class.
79. I often keep a diary, take notes or write letters in English.
80. I prepare what I want to say in Chinese before I speak it in English.
81. While listening to English, I intend to remember the meaning in Chinese to
enhance m y understanding.
82. I intend to prepare what I want to write in Chinese before writing it in
English.

The follow ing open-ended questions consist o f several aspects o f EFL teaching and
learning. Which aspects do you think need the most improvement in order to upgrade
English language teaching quality at tertiary level? Please answer in the order o f
importance.

83*. <1> Teaching methodology, <2> learning styles, <3> textbook materials,
<4> testing system, <5> syllabus design, <6> In-service teacher training, <7>
after-class activities in which oral English is practiced, <8> English speaking
environment around.

84*. O f the fiv e basic skills in English language learning, that is, listening,
speaking, reading, writing and translating, which skills do you think you need the
most improvement now? Please specify in the order o f importance.

85*. Are you content with the current teaching methods used by your teachers o f
English in English class? Please explain.

86*. What are the major problems confronting you in learning English so far?

6
 Appendix A-3

Categorisation of the items of the student questionnaire

1. Students attitudes towards working in group in class

Question items: 1, 2, 3, 4,
2. Students attitudes towards speaking out in class
Question items: 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 7,
3. Students' function-based learning strategy
Question items 77, 78.
4. Students nature o f motivation:
Question items: 10,12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 47,
5. Students attitudes a towards teacher-centred method in English class
Question item: 18,
6. Students attitudes towards a student-centred method in English class
Question item: 19,
7. Students attitudes towards communicative activities in class
Question items: 21, 22, 25,
8. Students attitudes towards non-communicative activities in class
Question items: 20, 24, 42,
9. Students attitudes towards learning target culture in EFL programme Question
items: 11, 23, 36, 37,
10. Compensation strategies:
Question items: 29. 31. 32
11. Social strategies:
Question items: 33, 34, 35,
12. Students attitudes towards authority in open class
Question items: 43, 44, 45, 46,
13. Major difficulties encountered in students' learning process
Question items: 40, 41, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56,
14. Meta-cognitive strategies
Question items: 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64,
15. Form-based strategies:
Question items: 65, 68, 69, 71, 73, 74,
16. Function-based strategies
Question items: 66. 70. 72. 75. 76. 77. 78. 79.
17. Students attitudes towards dependence on LI
Question items: 26, 67, 80, 81, 82.

7
 Appendix A-4
Questionnaire for teachers of English Majors
(English version) September 2002

This questionnaire is designed for academic research purpose only and is done on an
anonymous basis. All the information will be kept confidential. Answer in terms o f
how well the statement describes your students except the six questions in the open-
ended section. Do not answer how you think you (your students) should be, or what
other people do. There are no right or wrong answers to these statements. W ork as
quickly as you can without being careless. This usually takes about 20 minutes to
complete.

Please write the response (1, 2, 3, 4, or 5) in the bracket at the end o f each statement,
based on your judgement.

1= Strongly disagree
2= Disagree
3= Neutral
4= Agree
5= Strongly Agree

Note: No.3: Neutral, by neutral, it means you feel that you somewhat agree and
somewhat disagree about the statement.

In English class] I think th a t_______________________ .

1. Students like to participate in group work with 2-4 people, e.g. English
dialogues, group discussion, role play.
2. Students like my teacher to divide the whole class into several small groups
in which we do teacher-directed group work.
3. Students like listening to my peers give English oral presentations o f
interesting stories or information that are well-prepared outside o f class.
4. In group work, students like to ask and answer questions in English.
5. In group work, students do not like to 'stand out' by voicing m y opinions or
asking questions.
6. Students like to learn about W estern cultures including their way o f life,
social customs, etc.
7. Students like a teacher-centred teaching method employed by teachers.
8. Students like a student-centred teaching method employed by teachers.
9. In the English Intensive Reading class, students like m y teacher to deal with
the text materials in a sentence-by-sentence way.
10. Students like to watch English language films or videos, and then discuss
them in groups with teacher' facilitation and guidance.
11. Students learn a lot about western cultures from my English classes.
12. Students like to do simulation test exercises and listen to my teacher'
explanations.

8
13. Students like my teacher to ask students text-based and thought-provoking
questions to keep the lesson interesting in order that students have chances to
practise their spoken English.
14. Students like my teacher to translate some difficult paragraphs o f text
materials into Chinese to enhance my comprehension and translation skills.
15. If students cannot think o f a word during a conversation in English, students
depend on Chinese to explain it.
16. W hen students can't think o f a word during a conversation in English, they
use gestures.
17. W hen students can't think o f a word during a conversation in English,
students use a word or phrase that means the same thing.
18. Students like to participate in extra-curricular activities in which they can
practise their oral English, e.g. English comer.
19. Students like after-class activities in which they can practise their English
writing skills, e.g. drama group and newspaper group.
20. Students like to read English language text materials which cover Western
cultures.

The follow ing statements (47-56) consist o f some o f difficulties confronting

Chinese learners o f English at tertiary level in adopting communicative
activities. Do you think they might be difficulties fo r your students? Please
answer in terms o f how well the statement describes your student.

21. Students do not have a clear long-term aim o f learning English, and lack
motivation.
22. Their learning styles are too rigid and inflexible.
23. Students have few opportunities to practise m y English in English class
24. There is a lack o f authentic English materials, audio and visual.
25. The facilities o f the language lab are inadequate.
26. Students lack chances to speak English in class.
27. EMT-4 (English Major Test-4) and EMT-8 exert heavy pressures on students.
28. Teachers place too much stress on the structure, grammar and reading
comprehension in English class.
29. The English language textbooks are not compatible with the requirements o f
the student-centred approach in English class.
30. Students have little knowledge or information about W estern cultures.

The follow ing consists o f language learning strategies involved in EFL learning
process. Please answer in terms o f how well the statement describes your
students.

31. Apart from finishing assignment assigned by teachers, students have their
own study plans.

32. Students have clear goals for improving their English.

33. Students think about their own progress in learning English so as to find out
their strengths and weaknesses in this regard.
34. Students think about their own personality traits so as to find out their
strengths and weaknesses with regard to English language learning.

9
 35. Students translate the English text materials into Chinese to enhance their
comprehension.
36. Students often listen to English language radio broadcast.
37. Students often listen to English recorded tapes.
38. Students like to answer questions in English in class,
39. Students like to speak English with my peers or teachers outside the
classroom.

O pen-ended Questions
Please give your own opinions o f the following questions as detailed as you can.

1 *. Do you like a teacher-centred teaching method in English class?

Yes No
Please state your reasons why you like or do not like it._______________

2*. D o you like a student-centred teaching method in English class?

Yes No
Please state your reasons why you like or do not like it.

3*. As learning a foreign is learning its culture at the same time, much effort
needs to be done to integrate the teaching and the learning o f foreign cultures
into EFL programs.
Yes No

4*. Textbook content needs to be renewed in order to serve the communicative

language teaching methods in English class .
Yes No
Comments:

5*. Students often keep quiet in English class, I think that communicative
teaching methods are hard to achieve a satisfactory outcome.
Yes No

6*. Which aspects o f the follow ing items do you think need to upgrade most in
order to improve the outcomes o f English language teaching in China? <1>
Teaching methodology, <2> learning styles, <3> textbook materials, <4>
testing system, <5> syllabus design, <6> In-service teacher training, <7> after-
class activities in which oral English is practiced, <8> English speaking
environment? Please write down the number in the order o f importance.

10
 Appendix B -l

The Mean Value and Standard deviation of Student

Questionnaire data (N = 210)

Item 1 3.98 Item21 3.98 Item43 2.81 Item63 3.68

.88 .95 .99 .93
Item2 4.36 Item22 4.13 Item44 2.26 Item64 3.46
.74 .90 .90 .99
Item3 3.90 Item23 3.61 Item45 1.91 Item65 3.36
.95 .98 .82 1.04
Item4 3.74 Item24 2.71 Item46 4.11 Item66 3.49
1.13 1.17 .98 .98
Item5 3.80 Item25 4.19 Item47 3.41 Item67 2.38
1.03 .85 1.13 .98
Item6 4.49 Item26 3.27 Item48 3.47 Item68 3.05
.71 1.26 1.01 .97
Item7 2.99 Item29 2.97 Item49 4.18 Item69 3.67
1.10 1.11 .92 .96
Item8 3.38 Item30 3.51 Item50 3.47 Item70 3.73
1.14 1.02 1.21 .84
Item9 3.60 Item31 3.25 Item51 3.70 Item71 2.54
1.04 1.05 1.09 1.04
Item i 0 4.31 Item32 3.89 Item52 3.90 Item72 3.48
QO

.87 .91
OO

1 .0 0
Item i 1 4.56 Item33 2.43 Item53 3.17 Item73 3.18
.66 1.23 1.16 .97
Item l2 4.21 Item34 2.78 Item54 3.48 Item74 3.15
.92 1.20 1.02 1.18
Item i 3 4.29 Item35 2.90 Item55 3.79 Item75 2.93
.87 1.12 .87 1.02
Item l4 4.06 Item36 2.99 Item56 3.70 Item76 3.76
.93 1.10 .94 1.04
Item l5 4.48 Item37 4.30 Item57 3.91 Item77 2.60
.92 ,82s .91 .98
Item i 6 3.97 Item38 3.73 Item58 3.34 Item78 2.85
1.39 1 .0 0 .92 1.04
Item l7 3.25 Item39 2.91 Item59 3.39 Item79 2.77
1.29 1.21 .96 1.04
Item l8 2.80 Item40 3.44 ItemO 3.35 Item80 2.68
1.15 1.06 .91 1.08
Item i 9 3.56 Item41 2.89 Item l 3.32 Item81 2.36
.97 1.12 .91 1.05
Item20 3.04 Item42 2.63 Item62 3.56 Item82 2.56
1.22 1.18 .92 1.16

1
 Appendix B-2

16 Items showing significant differences by the One-Way

ANOVA Test Across 5 student sub-groups

N = 210 df F-value ANOVA

Sig. P < 0. 05
Q Item 1 4 3.235 0.013

Q Item 5 4 2.829 0.026

Q Item 8 4 4.475 0.002

Q Item 18 4 3.514 0.008

Q Item 20 4 3.513 0.008

Q Item 24 4 4.152 0.003

Q Item 26 4 3.176 0.015

Q Item 29 4 5.344 0.000

Q Item 33 4 2.688 0.032

Q Item 42 4 3.306 0.012

Q Item 50 4 3.005 0.019

Q Item 50 4 3.005 0.019

Q Item 54 4 3.210 0.014

Q Item 54 4 3.210 0.014

Note: The number o f questionnaire items in this table corresponds with their ordinal
order in the student questionnaire.

2
 Appendix B-3

The ANOVA Post Hoc Test between student sub-groups

Item Significant difference Sig.

Betw een sub-groups P<0.05

01 2nd year G 4th year U 0.005

08 2nd year G 4th year U 0.017

18 2nd year G 4th year U 0.025

2nd year G 2nd year U 0.005

20
1st year G 2nd year U
0.033
2ud year U 1st year G 0.022
24 2ud year U 2nd year G 0.003
0.038
2ud year U 3rd year U
2ud year U 4* year U 0.006
29
2ud year U 1st year G 0.000
2ud year U 2nd year G 0.004

33 2ud year U 4th y earU 0.029

42 4th year U 2nd y earG 0.011
50 2ud year U 2nd y earG 0.020
2nd year U 3rd y e arU 0.034
54 2nd year U 4th yeaer U 0.017

Note: The number o f questionnaire items in this table corresponds with their ordinal
order in the student questionnaire.

3
 Appendix B-4

A comparison of Mean Value and standard deviation

between student and teacher groups

Mean Standard Dev. Mean Standard Dev.

Item S /T S /T Item S /T S /T

01 3 .9 5 /3 .7 0 0 .9 0 /0 .9 3 47 3.42 /2.93* 1 .14/1.01

03 3.89/3.55* 0 .9 5 /0 .9 1 48 3 .4 8 /3 .2 9 1 .0 2 /0 .8 4
04 3.72/3.45* 1.1 3 /0 .9 0 49 4.24/3.80* 0 .8 7 /1 .1 2
05 3 .7 9 /4 .0 8 1.0 4 /0 .9 9 50 3.55/2.75* 1 .1 9 /1 .2 5
07 3 .0 0 /3 .0 6 1.1 3 /1 .0 8 51 3.74/3.40* 1 .0 8 /0 .9 4
11 4.57 /4.3 8 * 0.65 / 0.64 52 3.96/3.22* 0 .8 8 /1 .0 2
18 2 .8 5 /3 .1 2 1.16/1.01 53 3 .1 8 /3 .4 6 1.15/1.01
19 3.53/3.03* 0 .9 7 /1 .1 2 54 3.52 /2.58* 1.01 /1 .1 0
20 3 .0 7 /3 .1 9 1.24/1.11 55 3.81/3.51* 0 .8 5 /0 .9 6
22 4.15/3.55* 0 .8 6 /1 .2 5 56 3 .7 4 /3 .4 9 0 .9 1 /0 .9 8
23 3.63/3.90** 0 .9 7 /1 .0 4 57 3.89/3.12* 0.92 / 0.84
24 2.78/3.36** 1.1 7 /0 .9 0 59 3 .3 9 /3 .1 6 0 .9 6 /0 .9 0
25 4.20/3.94* 0 .8 4 /0 .7 5 60 3.32/2.81* 0 .9 1 /0 .6 6
26 3.33/2.93* 1.2 5 /0 .8 9 64 3.21/2.67* 1 .0 3 /0 .6 4
29 3 .0 2 /3 .0 2 1.13/1.01 67 2 .3 9 /2 .4 1 0 .9 8 /1 .1 0
31 3.27/2.80* 1 .0 5 /1 .0 6 72 3 .5 0 /3 .5 8 0 .9 9 /0 .8 7
32 3.88/3.57* 0 .8 5 /0 .6 8 73 3 .5 0 /3 .5 7 0.99 / 0.77
34 2.78/3.54** 1.19 /0 .8 5 75 2 .8 9 /2 .8 6 1.01 /0 .9 5
35 2.90/3.54** 1.1 2 /0 .8 8 77 2 .5 7 /2 .4 0 0 .9 7 /1 .1 2
37 4 .3 3 /4 .2 8 0 .8 1 /0 .7 8

Note: The number o f questionnaire items in this table resembles their ordinal order in
the student questionnaire.
Items with * indicate the students score was higher than that o f teachers.
Items with * * indicate the teachers score was higher than that o f students.

4
 Appendix B-5

Mann-Whitney U Test between students and teachers

(P < 0.05)

Item N o . Mann-Whitney Z Sig.

(2-tailed)

03 4 1 0 7 .0 0 0 -2 .5 1 4 0 .0 1 2 *
04 4 2 4 0 .5 0 0 -2.191 0 .0 2 8 *
11 4 3 6 9 .5 0 0 -2 .1 3 3 0 .0 3 3 *
19 4 1 5 5 .0 0 0 -2 .4 0 7 0 .0 1 6 *
22 3 5 3 9 .0 0 0 -3 .7 9 8 0 .0 0 0 ****
23 4 2 6 7 .0 0 0 -2 .1 4 7 0 .0 3 2 *
24 3 5 8 9 .5 0 0 -3 .5 8 2 0 .0 0 0 ****
25 4 1 5 1 .0 0 0 -2 .4 7 9 0 .0 1 3 *
26 3 4 6 1 .5 0 0 -3 .8 4 7 0 .0 0 0 ****
31 4 0 2 3 .0 0 0 -2 .6 7 5 0 .0 0 7 **
32 3 8 8 7 .5 0 0 -3 .0 5 4 0 .0 0 2 ***
34 3 4 3 5 .0 0 0 -3 .9 1 9 0 .0 0 0 ****
35 3 7 2 1 .0 0 0 -3 .3 1 9 0 .0 0 1 ****
47 3 8 7 5 .0 0 0 -3 .0 0 7 0 .0 0 3 ***
49 4 2 2 1 .5 0 0 -2 .3 1 4 0 .0 2 1 *
50 3 5 8 2 .0 0 0 -3 .6 1 3 0 .0 0 0 ****
51 3 9 0 0 .5 0 0 -2 .9 5 5 0 .0 0 3 ***
52 3 2 5 8 .0 0 0 -4 .4 5 2 0 .0 0 0 ****
54 2 9 9 4 .0 0 0 -4 .9 0 3 0 .0 0 0 ****
55 3 9 1 8 .5 0 0 -2 .9 8 9 0 .0 0 3 ***
57 2 6 4 7 .5 0 0 -5.731 0 .0 0 0 ****
60 3 4 3 2 .5 0 0 -4.041 0 .0 0 0 ****
64 3 3 4 9 .5 0 0 -4 .1 5 0 0 .0 0 0 ****

Note: ****ps0.001; *** P^0.003; ** P<0.008; * P<0.05.

Item numbers in this table resembles their original order o f the ordinal numbers in
the student questionnaire.

5
 Appendix B-6.

A comparison of Mean value between students and teachers

6
 Appendix B-7 (N = 210)
Frequency Table of Student Questionnaire (No. 1-14)

1 F requency Percent 8 F requ en cy Percent

2 13 6.2 1 14 6.7
3 44 21 2 32 15.2
4 87 41.4 3 63 30
5 66 31.4 4 63 30
Total 210 100 5 38 18.1
Total 210 100
2 F requ en cy Percent 9 F requ en cy P ercen t
2 4 1.9 1 5 2.4
3 21 10 2 30 14.3
4 81 38.6 3 51 24.3
5 104 49.5 4 82 39
Total 210 100 5 42 20
Total 210 100
3 F requ en cy Percent 10 F requ en cy P ercent
1 2 1 1 5 2.4
2 14 6.7 2 1 0.5
3 51 24.3 3 26 12.4
4 78 37.1 4 70 33.3
5 65 31 5 108 51.4
Total 210 100 Total 210 100
4 F requency Percent 11 Frequ en cy P ercen t
1 4 1.9 2 2 1
2 33 15.7 3 13 6.2
3 44 21 4 61 29
4 61 29 5 134 63.8
5 68 32 Total 210 100
Total 210 100
5 F requency Percent 12 F requ en cy Percent
1 2 1 1 2 1
2 25 11.9 2 9 4.3
3 49 23.3 3 32 15.2
4 70 33.3 4 67 31.9
5 64 30.5 5 100 47.6
Total 210 100 Total 210 100
6 F requency Percent 13 F requ en cy Percent
2 6 2.9 1 2 1
3 8 3.8 2 9 4.3
4 74 35.2 3 18 8.6
5 122 58.1 4 79 37.6
Total 210 100 5 102 48.6
Total 210 100
7 F requency Percent 14 F requency Percent
1 16 7.6 1 1 0.5
2 58 27.6 2 11 5.2
3 69 32.9 3 45 21.4
4 46 21.9 4 71 33.8
5 21 10 5 82 39
Total 210 100 Total 210 100

7
 Appendix B-7
Frequency Table of Student Questionnaire (No. 15-26)

15 F requency Percent 21 F requency Percent

1 5 2.4 1 6 2.9
2 5 2.4 2 6 2.9
3 18 8.6 3 42 20
4 38 18.1 4 88 41.9
5 144 68.6 5 68 32.4
Total 210 100 Total 210 100
16 F requency Percent 22 F requency Percent
1 22 10.5 1 2. 1
2 16 7.6 2 10 4.8
3 25 11.9 3 30 14.3
4 31 14.8 4 84 40
5 116 55.2 5 84 40
Total 210 100 Total 210 100
17 F requ en cy Percent 23 F requency P ercent
1 19 9 1 1 0.5
2 47 22.4 2 28 13.3
3 56 26.7 3 66 31.4
4 39 18.6 4 71 33.8
5 49 23.3 5 44 21
Total 210 100 Total 210 100
18 F requency Percent 24 F requency P ercen t
1 31 14.8 1 37 17.6
2 54 25.7 2 57 27.1
3 68 32.4 3 58 27.6
4 40 19 4 45 21.4
5 17 8.1 5 13 6.2
Total 210 100 Total 210 100
19 Frequ en cy Percent 25 Frequency Percent
1 6 2.9 1 1 0.5
2 18 8.6 2 9 4.3
3 75 35.7 3 27 12.9
4 75 35.7 4 86 41
5 36 17.1 5 87 41.4
Total 210 100 Total 210 100
20 F requ en cy Percent 26 F requency Percent
1 25 11.9 1 21 10
2 47 22.4 2 40 19
3 62 29.5 3 53 25.2
4 47 22.4 4 54 25.7
5 29 13.8 5 42 20
Total 210 100 Total 210 100

8
 Appendix B-7
Frequency Table of Student Questionnaire (No. 29-40)

29 F requency Percent 35 Frequ en cy Percent

1 24 11.4 1 17 8.1
2 43 20.5 2 72 34.3
3 76 36.2 3 58 27.6
4 49 23.3 4 42 20
5 18 8.6 5 21 10
Total 210 100 Total 210 100
30 F requ en cy Percent 36 F requ en cy Percent
1 7 3.3 1 17 8.1
2 26 12.4 2 62 29.5
3 65 31 3 53 25.2
4 77 36.7 4 63 30
5 35 16.7 5 15 7.1
Total 210 100 Total 210 100
31 F requ en cy Percent 37 Frequ en cy Percent
1 13 6.2 1 2 1
2 35 16.7 2 6 2.9
3 70 33.3 3 18 8.6
4 71 33.8 4 85 40.5
5 21 10 5 99 47.1
Total 210 100 Total 210 100
32 F requ en cy Percent 38 Frequ en cy P ercen t
1 2 1 1 5 2.4
2 10 4.8 2 18 8.6
3 49 23.3 3 56 26.7
4 97 46.2 4 81 38.6
5 52 24.8 5 50 23.8
Total 210 100 Total 210 100

33 F requ en cy P ercent 39 F requency Percent

1 53 25.2 1 25 11.9
2 74 35.2 2 63 30
3 40 19 3 53 25.2
4 25 11.9 4 43 20.5
5 18 8.6 5 26 12.4
Total 210 100 Total 210 100
34 Frequ en cy Percent 40 F requency Percent
1 27 12.9 1 8 3.8
2 77 36.7 2 29 13.8
3 44 21 3 73 34.8
4 40 19 4 62 29.5
5 22 10.5 5 38 18.1
Total 210 100 Total 210 100

9
 Appendix B-7
Frequency Table of Student Questionnaire (No. 41-52)

41 Frequency Percent 47 F requ en cy P ercent

1 16 7.6 1 10 4.8
2 75 35.7 2 46 21.9
3 58 27.6 3 32 15.2
4 39 18.6 4 91 43.3
5 22 10.5 5 31 14.8
Total 210 100 Total 210 100
42 F requency P ercent 48 F requency P ercent
1 44 21 1 3 1.4
2 55 26.2 2 45 21.4
3 59 28.1 3 39 18.6
4 39 18.6 4 96 45.7
5 13 6.2 5 27 12.9
Total 210 100 Total 210 100
43 F requency P ercent 49 Frequ en cy Percent
1 13 6.2 1 2 1
2 79 37.6 2 16 7.6
3 60 28.6 3 13 6.2
4 50 23.8 4 91 43.3
5 8 3.8 5 88 41.9
Total 210 100 Total 210 100
44 Frequency Percent 50 F requency Percent
1 41 19.5 1 49 4.3
2 96 45.7 2 54 25.7
3 51 24.3 3 21 10
4 21 10 4 81 38.6
5 1 0.5 5 45 21.4
Total 210 100 Total 210 100

45 F requ en cy Percent 51 Frequency Percent

1 63 30 1 6 2.9
2 118 56.2 2 32 15.2
3 17 8.1 3 33 15.7
4 9 4.3 4 86 41
5 3 1.4 5 53 25.2
Total 210 100 Total 210 100
46 F requency Percent 52 F requency Percent
1 6 2.9 1 1 0.5
2 13 6.2 2 22 10.5
3 15 7.1 3 27 12.9
4 94 44.8 4 108 51.4
5 82 39 5 52 24.8
Total 210 100 Total 210 100

10
 Appendix B-7

Frequency Table of Student Questionnaire (No. 53-64)

53 F requency Percent 59 Frequ en cy P ercent

1 12 5.7 1 5 2.4
2 60 28.6 2 34 16.2
3 49 23.3 3 68 32.4
4 59 28.1 4 81 38.6
5 30 14.3 5 22 10.5
Total 210 100 Total 210 100
54 Frequ en cy Percent 60 Frequ en cy Percent
1 3 1.4 1 5 2.4
2 41 19.5 2 31 14.8
3 50 23.8 3 76 36.2
4 84 40 4 81 38.6
5 32 15.2 5 17 8.1
Total 210 100 Total 210 100
55 F requ en cy Percent 61 Frequ en cy Percent
1 3 1.4 1 5 2.4
2 15 7.1 2 31 14.8
3 43 20.5 3 83 39.5
4 112 53.3 4 73 34.8
5 37 17.6 5 18 8.6
Total 210 100 Total 210 100
56 Frequency Percent 62 Frequ en cy Percent
1 2 1 1 3 1.4
2 30 14.3 2 29 13.8
3 32 15.2 3 51 24.3
4 112 53.3 4 102 48.6
5 34 16.2 5 25 11.9
Total 210 100 Total 210 100

57 F requency P ercen t 63 F requency Percent

1 1 0.5 1 2 1
2 16 7.6 2 24 11.4
3 43 20.5 3 50 23.8
4 91 43.3 4 97 46.2
5 59 28.1 5 37 17.6
Total 210 100 Total 210 100
58 F requency P ercen t 64 F requency Percent
1 4 1.9 1 6 2.9
2 33 15.7 2 45 21.4
3 79 37.6 3 60 28.6
4 75 35.7 4 73 34.8
5 19 9 5 25 11.9
Total 210 100 Total 1 0.5
210 100

11
 Appendix B-7

Frequency Table of Student Questionnaire (No. 65-76)

65 Frequency Percent 71 F req u en cy P ercent

1 7 3.3 1 32 15.2
2 39 18.6 2 81 38.6
3 65 31.0 3 55 26.2
4 70 33.3 4 36 17.1
5 29 13.8 5 6 2.9
Total 210 100 Total 210 100
66 F requency Percent 72 F req u en cy P ercent
1 4 1.9 1 7 3.3
2 29 13.8 2 27 12.9
3 71 33.8 3 66 31.4
4 72 34.3 4 79 37.6
5 34 16.2 5 31 14.8
Total 210 100 Total 210 100
67 F requency Percent 73 F req u en cy P ercent
1 39 18.6 1 6 2.9
2 83 39.5 2 49 23.3
3 62 29.5 3 72 34.3
4 21 10 4 67 31.9
5 5 2.4 5 16 7.6
Total 210 100 Total 210 100
68 F requency Percent 74 F req u en cy Percent
1 8 3.8 1 17 8.1
2 55 26.2 2 52 24.8
3 80 38.1 3 51 24.3
4 53 25.2 4 62 2935
5 14 6.7 5 28 13.3
Total 210 100 Total 210 100

69 F requency Percent 75 F requ en cy Percent

1 5 2.4 1 16 7.6
2 20 9.5 2 54 25.7
3 52 24.8 3 84 40
4 96 45.7 4 41 19.5
5 37 17.6 5 15 7.1
Total 210 100 Total 210 100
70 F requency Percent 76 F requ en cy Percent
1 3 1.4 1 5 2.4
2 13 6.2 2 21 10
3 53 25.2 3 51 24.3
4 109 51.9 4 76 36.2
5 32 15.2 5 57 27.1
Total 210 100 Total 210 100

12
 Appendix B-7

Frequency Table of Student Questionnaire (77-82)

77 F requency P ercen t 80 F req u en cy Percent

1 25 11.9 1 33 15.7
2 79 37.6 2 56 26.7
3 69 32.9 3 77 36.7
4 30 14.3 4 33 15.7
5 7 3.3 5 11 5.2
Total 210 100 Total 210 100
78 Frequ en cy Percent 81 F req u en cy Percent
1 19 9 1 46 21.9
2 58 27.6 2 82 39
3 84 40 3 50 23.8
4 33 15.7 4 25 11.9
5 16 7.6 5 7 3.3
Total 210 100 Total 210 100

79 F requ en cy Percent 82 Frequency Percent

1 25 11.9 1 43 20.5
2 56 26.7 2 65 31
3 82 39 3 54 25.7
4 36 17.1 4 38 18.1
5 11 5.2 5 9 4.3
Total 210 100 Total 1 0.5

13
 Appendix C -l

Comparison of attitudes towards TCA and SCA

between teachers and students

Teacher N = 50 TCA SCA

Student N = 210
YES 32% 59%
Teacher
NO 61% 33%

YES 31% 70%

Student
NO 58% 25%

TCA: Teacher-centred approach

SCA: Student-centred approach

Appendix C-2

Students opinions about the current teaching methods

used by teachers in English classes

Current English Teaching Students

method in English class N = 210
Like 46 22%

Dislike 160 76%

1
 Appendix C-3

Teacher's responses to the open-ended questions in the

questionnaire

1. Do you like a teacher-centred teaching m ethod in English class?

Yes No
Please state your reasons w hy you like or do not like i t . _______________

2. Do you like a student-centred teaching method in English class?

Yes No
Please state your reasons why you like or do not like it.

3. Learning a foreign language means learning a foreign culture and both language
and culture teaching should be integrated in TEFL program.
Yes No.

4. The English textbooks should have to be revised in order to suit CLT approach in
the classroom-based setting.
Yes No.
5. In the English class students often keep quite and it is hard to adopt student-
centred approach in the classroom.
Yes No.

6 <1> Teaching methodology, <2> learning styles, <3> textbook materials, <4>
testing system, <5> syllabus design, <6> In-service teacher training, <7> after-class
activities in which oral English is practiced, <8> English speaking environment?
(Please write the number in the order o f priority)

2
 Teachers attitudes towards open-ended questions

Item s No. 1 2 3 4 5 6*

Total Yes 32% 59% 96% 94% 49% See

N=50
No 61% 33% 4% 6% 51% Below

Teachers' responses to Question 6*

The answers are listed in the order of priority rated by the teachers:

1. In-service teacher training

2. Teaching methodology
3. English speaking environment
4. Textbook materials
5. Learning styles
6. After-class activities
7. Testing system
8. Syllabus design

3
 Appendix D -l

Similarities / differences between teachers' instructional

practices and their explanations

Similarities and Differences Participants' Explanations

in teaching practice

Focus o f instruction mainly on Students expected to learn more

language form s and content o f from teacher
texts1. Pre-prepared written speech would
Lan Students under tight control in to accuracy and high-quality
doing text-based activities homework.
Students read their oral Students' proficiency in English
presentation rather than talking was not good enough.
about it Students didn't want to make errors.
Communicative activities in Students liked working in a small
groups or in pairs on a group in m y class.
designated topic2.

Focus o f instruction mainly on The aims and objectives o f the

language form s and content o f course was prescribed and had to be
texts followed via the textbook.
Students under tight control Students were now given more time
doing non-communicative text- than before in class to practise oral
Shan based activities English
Students read their news report 'Teaching sparsely but well' (shao
rather than talking about it erjin g ):
Oral English class teacher should
No interaction between teacher be responsible for students' oral
and students took place English ability, not me.
Students' proficiency in English
was too weak for successful
communicative activities in class

1Italics in this appendix indicates the similarities in teaching methods used among
the teachers observed.
2 Bold font in this appendix refers to the difference in teaching methods used
between Lan and the other four teacher participants in this study.

1
 Focus o f instruction mainly on Class time was limited, students
language form s and content o f could do cultural comparisons after
texts class.
The aim o f this course was to
M ing Students under tight control provide students with information.
Textbook was the main source
No interaction between teacher teachers could rely on to finish the
and students took place prescribed job in class.
Students' knowledge about Western
culture was inadequate for cultural
comparison and contrast in class.

Focus o f instruction mainly on Students kept quiet in class, making

language form s and content o f it hard to engage them in
texts communicative activities.
Cai Students did not seem to like SCA.
Students under tight control M y teaching would be evaluated on
how much students had learned
No interaction between teacher about the content o f the texts and
and students took place their knowledge o f business terms.
Students' knowledge o f the content
was too limited for meaningful
group discussions in class.

Focus o f instruction mainly on The nature o f this course was to

content o f texts provide knowledge o f the content
C hang rather than acquisitions o f skills.
No interaction between teacher The objective o f the course was
and students took place designed to impart specific
knowledge to students.

2
 Appendix D-2

British Reserve

Sir Eric helped him self to bacon and eggs. Hester poured out his coffee, and they
sat down at the breakfast table. Sir Eire unfolded The Times, Hester opened her
letters. Once Hester asked her husband if he wanted any more coffee. Otherwise
they did not talk.
At 8:30 am Sir Eric looked at his watch.

Well, I must be off, dear.

He kissed Hester on the check and his man-servant drove him to the station. The
platform was full o f middle-aged men wearing dark suits and carrying umbrellas.
Like Sir Eric, they all had neatly folded newspapers under their arms, either The
Times or the Telegraph. A few were wearing bowler hats.
They hardly greeted each other, though most o f them knew one another, at least
by sight. They did not shake hands.
The train came in, and they all got into first-class compartments. As soon as Sir
Eric sat down, he unfolded his Times. So did the five other men who were with
him . The two walls o f newspaper which stretched across the compartment were
not lowered until the train approached Waterloo an hour later. Not a word was
spoken.
The return journey at 5:15 p.m. was no different, except that Sir Eric and his dark-
suited companions were now reading evening newspaper.

Source:

He, Tian, 2001. yingyu xuexi beijing zhishi [Cultural background fo r English study:
Britain and Australia] 3rd edition. Beijing: Beijing University Press. Pp. 21-22.

3
 Appendix D-3

Are Americans Materialistic?

Americans have one o f the highest standards o f living in the world. Because they
spend so much m oney for goods and services, Americans are often accused of
being materialistic, o f valuing above all else money and the things it can buy. O f
course, advertising encourages people to keep buying things far beyond what they
need. Sometimes purchases are made in order to keep up with the Joneses, to
show friends that one can afford a bigger house or a fancier car. Expensive
possessions are symbols o f the owners financial success. In the mid 19th century,
the American author Henry David Thoreau advised his readers, simplify your
needs! But 20th-century Americans have moved in the opposite direction. Now just
as Thoreau predicted, many find that their possessions own them. They must work
hard to make enough money to pay for and maintain the house, car, TV, stereo,
computer, and many other things they consider necessities.
In defence o f the materialistic American, one expert on American culture points
out, ... however eager we are to make money, we are just as eager to give it away.
Any ... disaster finds American writing checks to relieve distress...G enerosity and
materialism run side by side.

Source:

Meng Ji-you. 2001. yingyu xuexi beijing zhishi [Cultural background fo r English
study: America and Canada] 3rd edition. Beijing: Beijing University Press. Page 129
-130.