Foreign Language Education in China: When Reforms Meet Tradition

Authors

  • Yue Peng Queen's University

Keywords:

English as a foreign language, John Dewey, Communicative Language Teaching

Abstract

Abstract: Previous research has identified a discrepancy between intended pedagogical reforms and the reality of implementing them in the classroom, particularly for teaching English as a second language in China. The distinction between the conceptual foundation behind Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) and dominant local educational principles has been used to explain the difficulty of implementing reform. To gain a deeper understanding of the conceptual constraints on reform, this article describes the Deweyan educational principles behind CLT and the Confucian educational values that underpin the dominant language teaching approach in China. This article also provides a historical perspective of how the two streams of educational ideas have co-existed and interacted in Chinese education in general and in foreign language teaching in particular. This conceptual analysis and historical review provides a deeper understanding of the current status of English language teaching in China and the conceptual constraints on reform.

Author Biography

Yue Peng, Queen's University

Yue Peng is a Ph.D. candidate at Faculty of Education, Queen's University. Her research interests include language teacher cognition, language teacher education and task-based language teaching.

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Published

2018-12-09

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 2 (2018)

Section

Position Paper/Essai

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