English Departments in Chinese Universities Purpose and Function.doc

1 english departments in chinese universities: purpose and function abstract: as a required subject from primary to graduate school, english has a special position in chinese education. this special position is a mixed blessing for english departments in chinese universities. it provides high-quality students in terms of english proficiency, while at the same time it overwhelms english studies as a specialist discipline with the demands of english language teaching (elt) for non-majors and general learners. english studies aims at an understanding of the cultures/civilizations of the english-speaking peoples. it is a philosophical education in the way in which english-speaking peoples structure their knowledge, their literary/political/legal/economic thinking, as well as a comparative study between chinese and english structures of knowledge. rigorous training in their specialized field should first give english majors technical control over the material they handle, and then make them conscious of their limitations. their discipline and training provide them with an instrument in their future work, and a habit, a frame of mind, and an awareness of methods and methodology. this training of potential specialists is therefore the basis of responsible citizenship, as academic rigor and discipline alert students to unreason in their society, and make them more amenable to a rational and efficient society. if elt is going to survive as a university subject, it must take on the character of humanistic/philosophical education, though it should retain its technical aspects at the same time. while the training of specialists in english studies and of students in other disciplines will never be the same, both the english department and english language teaching in a university context must contribute to a humanistic education. english departments in chinese universities often have a difficult time defining their own identities and purposes. this difficulty arises from the dubious status of english departments in chinese higher education - they never seem to have a fixed identity or status. they are defined mostly in relation to english language teaching (elt) in general, or to the use of english in other university departments or subjects. less often but more pertinently, they are defined in relation to english departments or east asian departments in british or american universities, or in relation to other humanistic disciplines in chinese universities. there is a vital difference between these two definitions: first between elt for non- majors and english department as an independent discipline for english majors, and then between language skills and humanistic education. but before defining the purposes and functions of the english department, it is necessary to review the general condition of english language teaching in china in recent years. english is not an official language in china, yet it is the number one foreign language. this is reflected in the special importance the government attaches to english language teaching. china has a nine-year compulsory education system, from elementary school to junior high school (chinese government 1986 1998: art. 2, 7 and 8)1. in this nine-year period, the ministry of education (moe) of the peoples republic of china (prc) requires that english education should start from third grade at elementary school level and that elementary school students should have at least four periods of english education per week. this requirement will be enforced in all cities and county seats by fall 2001, and in townships by fall 2002. (ministry of education 2001a: guideline, sec.1; requirements, sec. 2). in the most recent policy documents on criteria for english courses at the compulsory education stage, the ministry of education stipulates nine levels of english proficiency, among which the second is the level required for graduation from elementary schools and the fifth is the level required for graduation from junior high school2. in fact, the criteria goes beyond the compulsory education stage to stipulate that levels 8 and 9 are required for graduation and graduation with honours from senior high schools. apart from this, the moe also sponsors, authorizes, finances and coordinates the compiling of english textbooks for all levels, including even first grade in elementary schools, and many schools in more developed areas take advantage of this and start their english education from first grade3. because of these official guidelines and criteria, the level of english required for promotion to a higher grade, and the compiling of officially approved textbooks, english has become a standardized compulsory subject for all recipients of compulsory education. english courses are taken for seven to nine years at the compulsory education stage, and ten to twelve years before college4. 2 at college level, english is also a required subject. in the national college entrance examination, candidates are tested according to the requirements of senior high school english level two, as set forth by guidelines for english teaching in full-time general-purpose senior high schools (ministry of education 1999, sec. 2). in college, english is taught according to guidelines for the teaching of college english, which specify six levels or bands for english at college (college english teaching guidelines 1999, 3-1). fifteen years ago, there were separate guidelines for science and technology students (college english teaching guidelines 1985), and for liberal arts students (college english teaching guidelines 1986), both of which required students in key universities to pass the college english band four examination (ceb 4) before graduation, while allowing other universities to use their discretion to decide on the level required for graduation5. now, in the revised guidelines (1999), all university students are required to pass at least tests at the college english band four level before graduation. some universities even set higher goals for their students, and the ministry of education (moe) has already authorized eight key universities to set their own examinations at a higher level than the college english band four examination6. in the new guidelines, students who have passed college english band four or six are required to study subject-based english (sbe) and are advised to go on to study advanced english (ae) (college english teaching guidelines 1999, 3-2). for the graduate schools of chinese universities, english is equally important. in order to be admitted into a graduate school, candidates must pass a very demanding standardized national english examination, which is defined as a test of the english proficiency of outstanding college graduates (ministry of education 2000: p.1). after being admitted into a graduate school, students must study english (or another foreign language) as a required course and must be tested before graduation in order to fulfil the requirement as stated in measures for implementing the regulations for academic degrees of the prc. doctoral candidates must pass tests in two foreign languages. (chinese government, 1981: art. 7-3 and 11-3) it must be admitted that english is not the only foreign language in chinese education. in the drive to promote english teaching in elementary schools, the ministry of education also expresses the wish to protect and support the teaching of other foreign languages such as japanese and russian (ministry of education 2001a, guideline, sec. 1). the moe even draws up guidelines for japanese and russian teaching in junior and senior high schools (ministry of education 1995a, 1995b, 1996a, 1996b). japanese and russian are also listed as subjects in the annual national college and graduate school entrance examinations. in measures for implementing the regulations for academic degrees of the prc, candidates for masters degrees are required to master one foreign language, while doctorate candidates are required to master two foreign languages, yet these measures do not specify which foreign language(s). theoretically, other languages, at least japanese and russian, which are treated officially on an equal footing with english in elementary schools and high schools and in all important national examinations, have the same chance as english. in practice, however, only english flourishes. as the moe actively promotes the teaching of english in primary schools, but only protects and supports the teaching of other foreign languages such as japanese and russian (ministry of education 2001a, guideline, sec. 1), few schools at the compulsory education stage give foreign language courses other than english. heilongjiang province was traditionally strong in russian language teaching, but in recent years the number of students who study russian has dwindled to such a point that experts predict that in a couple of years there will scarcely be any students taking the russian test in the national college entrance examination. so the russian department of heilongjiang university, which is one of the best russian departments in china, will have to enrol students who have studied only english. the reason given is that those university programs which are most attractive to students only recruit students who have studied english7. students and parents, therefore, often decide to give up russian in order to have better chances of being admitted by more competitive universities and programs. along with the unrelenting drop in the number of students, the number of russian teachers have diminished rapidly (wang 2000). in the city of beijing, three key universities define a dozen foreign languages as minor languages in their recruitment drive. the minor 3 language departments are given preferential treatment and are allowed to recruit students before most other departments. in beijing university, these minor languages include all eighteen foreign languages except english, and the respective departments recruit students who have studied no other foreign language than english in their previous school life8. so, practically all foreign languages except english are taught from scratch, starting with their writing systems. in contrast, when a student enters a university, he or she has usually studied english for between ten and twelve years. furthermore, he or she may have been exposed to english television channels, english daily newspapers, and english movies9. and in the near future, a university student must take some of the courses in english even in his/her specialized field10. so a student at college level may be quite an advanced learner of english. but what does this mean to english departments in chinese universities? this is undoubtedly a great advantage for english departments in chinese universities. with such high quality students in terms of english proficiency and such a favourable environment in terms of exposure to the language, english departments in chinese universities may achieve a full-fledged standing as a humanistic discipline, equal in academic status to english departments, or east asian departments in american or british universities, and to other humanistic disciplines in chinese universities. yet the flourishing of english language teaching and learning also poses dangers to the english department. first, english language teaching (elt) for non-majors has become such a popular area, such a big business and such a powerful industry, that university policy makers as well as the general public often ignore the distinction between english for non-majors and english for majors in the english department proper. the english department is sometimes overwhelmed by elt and has to cater to its needs. as elt is often not regarded as a legitimate academic discipline, the english department is also regarded as a training centre providing language skills. second, the emphasis on the use of english is damaging to the english department. since the english department is not regarded as a legitimate academic discipline, it is expected to provide students with versatility in other fields. as a consequence of this, the teaching of the subject in english departments at chinese universities increasingly takes the form of english plus business, english plus journalism, or english plus foreign affairs. a host of university english departments have thus labelled themselves as being versatile by opening up to other disciplines. elt has indeed achieved remarkable results and a high level of specialization in china, but this enterprise is still different from the practice of the english department proper. the english department is centrally concerned with english language and literature, or in the case of harvard university in the united states, it is even the department of english and american literature and language, with literature first, and language second. so literature is an indispensable part of the english department. english departments in a chinese context are different from english departments in an american or british context in that the former are dealing with a foreign language, and therefore inevitably provide language training for their students. in western universities, english and linguistics are often separate departments, but in chinese universities, english language, english literature and english linguistics seem to constitute integral parts of an english department. in the official catalogue for university post-graduate disciplines and specialties, foreign language and literature as a primary (first-level) discipline is sub- categorized in terms of such secondary (second level) disciplines as english language and literature, german language and literature, french language and literature, russian language and literature and then foreign linguistics and applied linguistics (state council 1999). foreign linguistics and applied linguistics are apparently regarded as both akin to and relatively independent of languages and literatures, and the study of linguistics, especially applied linguistics, is often related to the study of elt in general. english linguistics thus has a special position in the english department: on the one hand, it provides a link with english language in the english department; on the other hand, it provides a link with elt in general. as both links are vital for the english department in the contemporary educational context in china, linguistics is indispensable to english as an academic discipline. yet since linguistics may eventually become an independent university discipline, as it often does in western universities, it is not able to provide, on its own, a legitimate academic identity for the english department. then what is there to provide a raison dtre for the english department? 4 in the english department of beijing university, about thirty to forty percent of the students will go on to graduate school upon graduation. yet among these students, a great number will pursue graduate education not in english, but in business, in law, in mass media, in education and in sociology. as to the other sixty to seventy percent who do not go on to graduate study, most of them will be employed in business, finance, and mass media, working in foreign ventures and joint ventures, in english-language newspapers and english-language television channels, in banks and finance companies, and in foreign affairs departments of governments and enterprises. but is this reason enough to say that the objective of an english department in china is to give the students a little bit of everything, so that they can become competent in every trade and in every occupation? is it reason enough to say that the objective of an english department is to produce versatile english language talents? the answer for me is obviously in the negative. it seems to me that the objectives of an english department in a chinese university can be defined as follows: first, the department must acquire an independent identity as a specialist discipline in its own right, justifying its existence as a legitimate academic entity; and, second, on the basis of the first, it must contribute to the general aim of university education in china, i.e., to contribute to the formation of responsible citizens. as far as the first objective is concerned, an english department should be able to provide training in basic language skills as well as in language as a science. a native speaker of english may, of course, speak and write very good english without any knowledge of rules of pronunciation and grammar, and a non-native speaker with language talents and proficiency may do the same. yet an english major is different from someone who learns the language through intuition or natural exposure so that he or she has complete certainty over rules of method and logic (weber 1919 1989: 10). an english major should be able to rationalize language acts, so that, for example, he or she is able to tell which sounds come from which movements of the speech organs, as such training is acquired in a course of english pronunciation and phonics. similarly, an english major might also be expected to explain why a given sentence is effective or ineffective in conveying certain meanings, as he or she will have been trained to logically analyze the grammatical, rhetorical and stylistic elements of given utterances. he or she is thus able to gain clarity and perceptiveness and avoid vagueness and imprecision. the specialized training in the reading of literature is important for an english major, both academically and culturally. the training in formal structural analysis will put students on their guard against impressionability and drawing hastily impressionistic conclusions. in an analysis of different literary texts, for example, trained students will be able to avoid simp