17. English Teaching in China
Some people say that English teaching in China is a total failure. After ten years of English learning, most graduates can’t properly communicate with foreigners, nor can they translate between languages with confidence, let alone write in English.
As far as college English teaching is concerned, there are three main reasons that help bring about the problem. To begin with, College English teaching is, to a great extent, teacher-centered, turning a language class into a lecture on grammar. It is still very common that the teacher explains every language point in detail, with students taking notes all the time. Secondly, culture is neglected in English teaching. Some outdated materials and a great deal of grammar exercises in the book mislead students to pay too much attention to separate words and grammatical rules. Finally, test-oriented education, in a sense, leads astray language teaching in China. For example, the nationwide College English Test is so over-emphasized in some colleges that teacher teach just for the sake of test, and students learn nothing other than testing techniques. As a result, students’ language competence is weakened though the passing rate has increased.
Therefore, in my opinion, English teaching in China should be reformed. The education should be oriented towards all-round development of personal qualities. And language abilities should be given priority in language teaching and learning.
18.We Need to Learn How to Learn
Influenced by the new marketing system, students have quite different opinions about the objective of their study. Some of them hold that a diploma is certainly something they are in college for. They believe that the diploma will enlarge the opportunities in their job-hunting. So their college life is almost focused completely on book learning.
Others tend to challenge themselves to learn more than a diploma requires. They believe that it is most important to widen personal interests and develop various abilities while at college. For this purpose, they have every reason to pride themselves on excellent academic achievements in subjects they teach themselves beyond their majors.
As a college student, I firmly believe that college is a place where we learn how to learn. We should take best advantage of the chance to broadly – math, history, and various other sciences, not merely for a diploma. On the other hand, it is also quite necessary that we take a wide interest in computer, foreign languages or other practical disciplines rather than just confine ourselves to textbooks, so that we could become versatile candidates in the future job markets. Only in this way can we keep up with the times.
