关于小学双语教学现状以及实施问题的分析

论文总字数：38878字

摘 要

伴随着全球化进程不断加深以及社会经济的快速发展，双语人才的需求也在不断增加。以提高双语能力为主要目的的双语教学在全国范围内受到越来越多的关注, 成为我国当前教育改革的一大亮点, 也成为了我国小学教育研究的一个热点。作为中国适应国际化进程，并且培养具有国际意识人才的一个必要条件，双语教学在中国的实施已历经好长一段时间，但是我国小学双语教学的实施之路却走得并不顺利。

本文首先阐述了双语教学的具体含义，同时详细探讨了当前我国小学双语教学的现状,指明双语教学的重要性，而后指出了中国的小学在实施双语教学的过程中，在师资、语言环境、教材和课程设置几个方面存在的问题，并针对这些问题分别提出了具体可行的措施，包括加强双语师资建设，创设语言环境，开发双语教材和优化双语课程设置。

关键词：双语教学；中国小学；问题；对应措施

Contents

1. Introduction………………………………………………………………1
2. Literature Review…………………………………………………………1

2.1 The Definition of Bilingualism and Bilingual Teaching.................................2

2.2 The Significance of Bilingual Teaching..........................................................2

2.3 The Current Status of Bilingual Teaching in China’s Primary School...........4

1. Main Problems of Bilingual Teaching in China’s Primary School............4

3.1 Lack of Professional Faculty...........................................................................5

3.2 Lack of Favorable Teaching Environment......................................................6

3.3 Lack of Bilingual Textbooks...........................................................................7

3.4 Lack of Reasonable Courses...........................................................................8

1. Solutions to Bilingual Teaching in China’s Primary School......................9

4.1 Strengthening the Construction of Bilingual Teachers....................................9

4.2 Creating Learning Environment for Bilingual Teaching...............................10

4.3 Choosing Proper Teaching Materials............................................................12

4.4 Setting up the Course Scientifically..............................................................13

5. Conclusion………………………………………………………………..14

Works Cited…………………………………………………………………...16

1. Introduction

In recent years, with the deepening of economic globalization and China’s reform and opening up, bilingual talent cultivation, as the main purpose of bilingual teaching, has become a hotspot in the current education research in our country. In the meantime, it is also a new attempt to reform education in China. Thus, the rise of bilingual teaching is not only keeping up with the development of the times and cultivating bilingual talents for current economic construction and development, but also catering to the needs of education reform in China.

China has been dominated by examination-oriented education for decades of years, which has unfavorable influence on teaching and learning results, and also accounts for a low level of English teaching in China. China’s examination-oriented education has been widely criticized for being rigorous (Pepper, 1996:102 and Dello-Iacovo, 2007: 241-249). With the globalization and internationalization being a trend worldwide, examination for all-round development is drawing more and more attention in China. It is especially significant in the English related education so as to make our talents well adapted to this competitive world. Bilingual teaching has turned out to be an effective way of learning English and improving academic achievement.

The importance of bilingual teaching is becoming increasingly clear. As an important education base, primary schools have become a necessary part of education reform in China. The bilingual teaching in primary school education is thus of great importance. In order to accomplish study objectives, multiple methods of interviews, questionnaires and frequent interactions with students involved in the bilingual education programs, as well as opinions from previous published studies are used. This thesis studies the bilingual teaching materials, bilingual teachers, bilingual curriculum and bilingual teaching environment, and proposes concrete feasible measures for the bilingual teaching in China’s primary school.

2. Literature Review

Originated in the United States in the 19th century, in order to develop the early immigration education, the theory of bilingual teaching was first proposed in American education. And then according to the specific characteristics of their own languages, many foreign countries have implemented different bilingual policies and bilingual teaching practices. Bilingual education has been practiced at different levels of education from kindergartens to universities in China.

2.1 The Definition of Bilingualism and Bilingual Teaching

How to define bilingualism? According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English with Chinese Translation, a person who can speak two languages is defined as bilingual. In order to be a bilingual, people do not have to speak both languages with the same fluency. It is not uncommon for bilinguals, even those who are born bilingual, to be somewhat skilled in one language. We simply refer to bilingual as speaking two languages regularly (Hornby, 1984：1034).

Bilingual teaching is defined as using a second or foreign language in classroom to teach curriculum subjects (Cohen, 2000: 87, Baker, 1998: 105 and Hyland, 2006:154). Many countries, like Canada, USA, Japan, have carried out bilingual teaching since the 1960s (Zhang, 2003: 78-79).

Looking back on the history of bilingual teaching in our country, it first referred to the combination of minority language and Chinese in a school. It was aimed at showing national equality, speeding up the construction of economy and realizing the unity of the nation.

2.2 The Significance of Bilingual Teaching

“There has never been a time when so many nations need talk to each other so much. There has never been a time when so many people wish to travel to so many places. And never has there been a more urgent need for a global language” (Crystal, 1997: 97). However, the status of local language has not been threatened by the spread of English as a global language. It is necessary to maintain languages of identity. There are some arguments about the need for national or cultural identity while the opposites are those about the need for mutual proficiency. According to Crystal, this situation is the familiar one of bilingualism. Bilinguals can speak the global language linking themselves with the word community, and a regional language, giving them access to a local community. The two functions are complementary to each other, catering to different needs. Different languages serve different functions, so a world characterized by linguistic diversity will still exist in a world united by a common language (Crystal, 1997:99).

In terms of individuals’ income, benefits that individuals can get from bilingualism seem to be obscure in China. However, when it comes to individuals’ promotion requirement and future development, we actually benefit a lot from it. Since the reform and opening up, English has been the most important tool to introduce advanced technologies from abroad. “English is the main language of books, newspapers, airport and air-traffic control, international business and medicine, sports, pop music, and advertising. Over two-thirds of the world’s scientists write in English, and three quarters of the world’s mail are written in English.” Crystal writes (Crystal, 1997:176).

The social benefits that bilingualism has brought about tend to be obvious in China. With global economy developing rapidly, English is seen as a guarantee for the survival of Chinese society and the most ideal approach to quickly improving the practical English competence among Chinese speakers. Societies, which are made up of bilingual groups, are large and dense enough to be able to start business and trade with foreign countries, and promote the advancement of knowledge. In this aspect, an advanced bilingualism generates economic growth and gives China a chance to become a proper partner for trade on the world market.

In the broader context, benefits of bilingualism include the development of social morality, culture awareness, and anything which is resulted from it in increasing the possibilities of social welfare. A society with advanced bilingualism is more likely to accept different ideas. In China, a country with many ethical groups, bilingualism helps to form a more efficient government and create an increasingly open and democratic society which is tolerant of changes,.

The significance of bilingual teaching is the basis of setting goals for bilingual teaching. The purpose of bilingual teaching and training is to show its value in the field of education. Bilingual teaching, taking a unique position among educational programs in China, has aroused much controversy, and it will continue to be kept in the limelight. Though there has been much criticism of the implementation of bilingual teaching, various forms of bilingual teaching are being widely experimented throughout China. Bilingual teaching reflects the need of individual and society as a whole.

2.3 The Current Situation of Bilingual Teaching in China’s Primary School

On April 8, 2003, China issued a policy The Ministry of Education Guidelines for Starting Teaching Quality and Teaching Reform Project and Model Courses Development among China’s Primary School. The Chinese Ministry of Education has attached much importance to the bilingual teaching for primary school students and regulated that the courses of bilingual teaching should account for 5-10% of the total courses taken for students in primary school in China (Shao, 2003:32).

In China, most of the people speak only one language and only a small part of the population is bilingual. The development of English in China has been hindered by a number of social, economic and historic factors. Primary schools in cities like Beijing and Shenzhen, endowed with abundant capital and teaching resources, have a relatively high level of bilingualism. In other areas, like Shanghai and Tianjin, local government has promoted English training programs at the basic education level, providing primary school students with access to bilingual education. On the contrary, the English level of primary school students in areas like Guizhou and Gansu is much lower. English education offered at school in the southeast coast and remote northeast part of China also shows considerable discrepancy. Heilongjiang is one of the three provinces situated at the northeast part of China. The English related education in Heilongjiang, where even English teachers cannot pronounce the words accurately, is apparently inferior to that of some other provinces like Guangdong and Jiangsu. In minority areas, such as Tibet, where Mandarin is still unable to become a common language, it is impossible for English to be spread in these areas.

3. Main Problems of Bilingual Teaching in China’s Primary School

According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, a large proportion of the world’s information is transferred in English. More than half of the world’s population regards English as the first language or communication language. In addition, most of the world radios, mail, international telephone, and computer material are using English. We can say that English has already been a common language in the world. In China, English, as a second language, has become an important part in the primary school education. In the teaching of oral English, how to stimulate students’ interest in English and let every student get a full, free, harmonious and comprehensive development, is a question that every primary school English teacher should be thinking about.

Many primary schools spend a considerable amount of time carrying out the bilingual teaching, and some may have made a few achievements, but it cannot be denied that there still exist some problems in the implementation of bilingual teaching in China’s primary school.

3.1 Lack of Professional Faculty

In America, teachers who can do the job of bilingual teaching should have a high level of English competence and a good command of subject knowledge. The certificate issued by the ministry of education is also a must for them. In China, however, most bilingual teachers are substandard.

Research shows that today’s bilingual teachers in China can be divided into three categories: the first are teachers who teach a specific subject, with a relatively high level of English, normally the CET6; the second are English majors, employed to teach curriculum subjects in English; the third are foreign teachers with high English proficiency and subject knowledge. Teachers of the first type are very common in primary school. Their professional knowledge is solid, but their English competence is not high enough to take this job. Teachers of the second type can not recognize the relationship between bilingual teaching and subject teaching. The third type know little about Chinese and Chinese culture (Chen Changwen, 2010:26).

In 2003, Jiangsu Foreign Language School was combined with thirty-three other primary schools in Suzhou to make the Bilingual Teaching Experimental School. After two years, in 2005, in order to check the results, teachers in this program were asked to give a demonstration lesson. It turned out that most bilingual teachers were not skilled at organizing class in English, and a small number was still teaching in Chinese.

Bilingual teachers’ workload is relatively heavy, which can account for the shortage of bilingual teachers. In bilingual textbooks, there are many professional terms, natural phenomena and scientific knowledge, which are very difficult to say in Chinese, let alone explain them in English. Bilingual teachers must carefully go through textbooks, and consult the dictionary in order to grasp the important and difficult points, and then impart them to pupils of different ages and levels using appropriate teaching method.

3.2 Lack of Favorable Teaching Environment

There are many factors influencing the quality of bilingual teaching, but teaching environment is something that is not allowed to be neglected. Linguistic environment plays an important role in acquiring and developing languages. If there was only the simple use of bilingual teaching in the classroom teaching, the role of improving teaching quality that the bilingual teaching attempts to play would be negligible. Only when a constructive bilingual teaching environment is set up, making the teachers’ teaching activities stand out, will the students’ study not just be a matter of form.

Nowadays, China’s primary schools are facing a common problem, namely a serious lack of teaching environment. Even in Shanghai and Beijing, bilingual teaching environment cannot match that in Singapore and Canada, let alone those second-tier cities. Students are still curious about teaching aids and multi-media. Modern equipment in school is insufficient and outdated, so most students still spend their spare time on the playground. What’s more, English activities in primary school are so rare that students do not have the chance to speak and hear English, except in class.

Because the status of bilingual teaching in primary schools varies with the areas, primary schools’ bilingual environment construction also has a big difference. Put in reasonable teaching environment, bilingual teaching will greatly influence students’ language learning. Too much theory knowledge from textbooks does not help students understand and grasp the real language, and the best way to acquire a language is being integrated into the language environment. The reason why we can master our mother language effortlessly is that we are in a strong Chinese environment. Our mother language is acquired by involvement instead of learning. Likewise, learning a foreign language also needs a favorable linguistic environment. Lack of language environment and atmosphere will impede the implementation of bilingual teaching in China. Chinese and English are two completely different languages, which makes the development of bilingual teaching become more difficult. The fundamental change of bilingual learning environment should reflect the change in the language environment.

3.3 Lack of Bilingual Textbooks

Bilingual teaching requires both foreign and domestic textbooks. However, some schools do not use the original foreign teaching textbooks, while domestic bilingual textbooks on the current market are not only difficult to buy but also expensive to purchase a full featured version. Statistical data show that most Chinese students can not afford the original English teaching materials. The photocopying of original English teaching materials has been underway in China, which can greatly reduce the costs. Most teachers and students can afford photocopied textbooks. However, such publishing houses are few in number, with only Li xin Accounting Publishing House, China Economy amp; Trade Press, Tsinghua University Press, and China Machine Press publishing the photocopied foreign teaching materials currently, and they only photocopy several fixed foreign textbooks. Most subjects don’t have photocopied foreign teaching materials. All in all, in order to prepare our students for the real English world, a good English textbook of its original version is a necessity. However, for some courses, textbooks of the original English version may not be suitable to the situation and course objectives while domestic textbooks cannot serve the purpose of bilingual teaching. To some extent, these facts hinder the development of bilingual teaching in China.

According to Chen Changwen, in terms of the use and influence of bilingual materials, English version textbooks published by People’s Education Press are the most influential. This series of books has been circulated among some areas, like Jiangsu, Shanghai, Beijing, Guangdong, and Shandong. In some other regions, however, this series of textbooks has not been widely used (Chen Changwen, 2010:37).

Primary schools are facing a serious lack of bilingual textbooks. Good bilingual textbook is the prerequisite of achieving the ultimate goal of realizing bilingual teaching in China’s primary school. Because of the shortage of bilingual textbook, teachers have to waste more time collecting data and preparing for teaching. And they can only choose bilingual contents according to their previous teaching experience and students’ level of acceptability. Knowledge which is difficult to explain in English will be sketched in Chinese. On the other hand, students can only passively accept the knowledge that teachers are imparting, but sometimes they cannot even understand the teachers’ explanation and get help from their own books. The enthusiasm of students’ learning knowledge autonomously is thus reduced.

3.4 Lack of Reasonable Courses

According to Chen Changwen, about one third of the primary students have taken only one bilingual course, and two thirds of the students have taken more than one bilingual course. Most of the bilingual courses are taken either in the third year or in the fourth year in China’s primary schools, with only one tenth are taken in the second year while none is taken in the first year (Chen Changwen, 2010:106). This is partly due to the courses arrangement. Bilingual teaching is usually not available for most of the courses in primary school.

Implementing strategic reform is a strong guarantee of success. Many primary schools start the implementation of curriculum reform from the intermediate upwards. This strategy gives bilingual schools more autonomy to make a change, to solve problems in the process of reform, but it also poses challenges to bilingual school’s ability to reform. Nevertheless, most primary schools, due to the bondage of traditional curriculum management system, can only passively accept instructions from above, having no say in curriculum decision-making and curriculum implementation. This weakens school’s ability to implement the course. Bilingual schools as the main body of curriculum implementation cannot fully achieve the desired effect.

In view of the current situation in China, subjects which can be used as bilingual teaching subjects are usually those with high activity and little language barriers, without taking examination and entrance exam, such as music, art, information technology, etc, because there is no unified teaching textbook for bilingual teaching in these subjects at present. The lack of teaching textbooks is the practical difficulty in many primary schools.

When practicing bilingual teaching, different areas tend to adopt the same bilingual teaching model, forgetting the fact that they are dealing with students of different levels.

4. Solutions to Bilingual Teaching in China’s Primary School

Considering the current situation of bilingual teaching in primary school, this thesis, browsing all kinds of books and papers, referring to bilingual teaching practice in regions or countries where bilingual teaching is underway, proposes some constructive suggestions.

4.1 Strengthening the Construction of Bilingual Teachers

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