中国近代外语教学历史

The History of Foreign Language Teaching in China from 1912

to 1980

Abstract：This thesis states the developmental process of English teaching since the establishment of the Provisional government of the Republic of China in 1912 whose mainstream is the development of English teaching in China from 1912 to 1980. After several rises and falls, foreign language education especially English was still developing steadily in this period. In order to meet the challenge of the 21st century, it is necessary to know the importance of foreign language education and to review the history of it. We learn a lot from our history, e.g. English teaching of English major students can’t be limited into language skills only and it is essential to strengthen foreign language teaching in different levels.

Key Words: foreign language education, syllabus, development, characteristics After we entered into the 1900s, foreign language has been extensively spread in China. But due to the unstable situations and the changes of political powers, foreign language teaching was greatly influenced as well. We will illustrate the details in different stages.

Ⅰ. The History from 1912 to 1922

After the establishment of the Provisional government of the Republic of China in 1912, the Ministry of Education issued " Ren Zi Kui Mao Education S ystem” and some other acts of education, which contained some provisions about foreign language teaching. Foreign language teaching in this period was mainly about English and also French, German, Russian, Japanese and other languages. The characteristics of foreign language teaching in this period are as follows. Firstly, teaching purposes are very clear. The purposes of foreign language teaching are mainly about application and to promote the intellectual development and the accumulation of knowledge. Secondly, lessons are more. Foreign language classes in middle school were about 8 hours in 1903 and 1913. Foreign language classes in all grades were even more than Chinese classes. As for the teaching content of foreign language, it still emphasized the teaching of language knowledge. Language teaching in this period gave priority to reading and translation and there was also an increase in pronunciation, conversation, writing, and even learning of literature. But the focus was still the development of students' reading, translation and grammar skills. The grammar-translation approach was the main teaching method. But then in the early twentieth century, the direct approach was introduced to China. Hence the grammar-translation approach and direct approach coexisted in this period. Foreign language teaching in this period began to pay attention to students' learning initiatives and the effect of extracurricular learning in English. Besides the arrangement of foreign language classes took regional differences into account and it stressed the need to consider the conditions of different districts. Although foreign language was

mainly English, they can choose French, German or Russian in special circumstances. On the teaching materials, there were different types of teaching materials. Some were written by foreigners and some by Chinese. Materials are mostly selected from British and American literary works, and vocabularies are rather large.

It must be mentioned that the government of the Republic of China sent a large number of students to study in the United States, Japan, Britain, France, Germany and other countries. There were also many leading comrades in the Communist Party of China went to the Soviet Union to study. Thought for various reasons, the study abroad has brought great impacts on the development of foreign language education in China. First, students have learned the living language by study abroad, and it has changed the phenomenon of learning a foreign language mainly from books. Students brought a large number of foreign language books and they further enriched the content of foreign language teaching. Second, after returning the motherland, a large number of students were actively engaged in foreign language teaching and research work, and from which many famous foreign language educators came. Even those non-English majors, many were engaged in education and research work after they returned home. Most of them used the original foreign language books in classroom or taught in foreign languages, which played an important role in the development of foreign language education.

Ⅱ. The History from 1922 to 1949 (Foreign Language Teaching in the Period of KMT Rule)

In 1923, the Ministry of Education of the Kuomintang government implemented “the new educational system”, which turned the whole education system from the imitation of Japan to the imitation of the UK and the USA. During this period, the characteristics of foreign language teaching were as follows. First, the establishment of the curriculum standards was unified and canonical. Curriculum standards mainly included the teaching objectives, time control, syllabus, methods of implementation and so on. It also specified assignments, teaching focuses, and the objectives one should reach every year. This gave the foreign language teaching a clear reference for the implementation of the standards. Foreign language teaching gradually emphasized the development of the practical abilities. Therefore, the understanding of the purposes of foreign language teaching has stridden across the only purpose of tool function, i.e. not only develop students' skills of translation, reading and grammar, but also began to pay attention to the humanities of foreign language teaching and educational purpose. Third, learning resources were rather abundant and students’ exposure to the foreign language increased. There were many teaching materials, grammar books, readers and reference books were available written by Chinese scholars. In addition, the study of foreign language teaching was valued in this period. Articles, monographs, journals and academic groups on the study of foreign language teaching appeared in this period, and they begun to introduce and research on western linguistics and language pedagogy. Some experts and scholars have investigated and studied Chinese students' situation of English teaching.

Of course, foreign language education of this period has developed rapidly.

However, due to the social and political influence, there were also a lot of problems. For example, the implementation of curriculum standards or syllabus was ineffective. Schools and areas went their own ways for various reasons. In addition, the development of foreign language teaching in different areas varied greatly, e.g. city and rural, coastal and inland, Catholic schools and Non-catholic Schools, the KMT-ruled area and the liberated District and so on, were very different in foreign language teaching and teaching levels.

In the liberated District during the war of resistance against Japan and the war of liberation, the Communist Party of China attached great importance to foreign language education, from the original Japanese teaching for better fight to the establishment of the Russian Department in Yan'an University. The Yan’an foreign language school was established in 1941. Harbin foreign language school was founded in 1946, January and in 1949 the Beijing International Studies University, formerly the Beijing Foreign Language School was founded. All of these have trained a large number of foreign language talents for the establishment of new China and also accumulated valuable experience for the development of foreign language education of the new China. On this basis of these, after the founding of new China, a batch of new Russian colleges and foreign language schools were able to be established and developed rapidly.

Ⅲ. The History from 1949 to 1980

After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, due to domestic political needs of economic construction and the effects of the following political movements at that time, there were many fluctuations of China's foreign language education policies. The development of foreign language education has undergone a tortuous process. This section will be divided into four stages to discuss the foreign language teaching of this period.

ⅰ. The Phase of Russian Dominance (1949-1956)

At the beginning of the establishment of new China, a thousand things were waited to be done. Due to the needs of political and economic construction, China implemented the policy of studying from the former Soviet Union. In order to learn from the former Soviet Union, first of all, we must cultivate a large number of Russian talents. So Russian was needed most at that time. Foreign language education in China had turned to Russian-dominated. In this situation, English and other foreign language teaching shrank rapidly. Thus, the period of 1949 to 1956 had become the golden 7 years’ development of Russian teaching and Russian teaching in China occupied a dominant position. In this period, the development of Russian teaching was vigorous, and English education in junior middle schools was cancelled so that foreign language education in middle school was on path of one-sided development. It also affected the foreign language education in universities. Such a decision was out of the needs of political and economic construction and there was nothing to be blamed. The problem was the inadequate consideration of the long-term needs on education. Considering from the national education at that time, English has gradually become the international language. It goes without saying that English is of great importance. However, the political and diplomatic policy of “standing on one side” in

this period led to the tendency of “standing on one side” on foreign language education. All of these had brought great loss on the development of foreign language education especially the development of English teaching. It also taught us a lesson on the policy of foreign language education.

ⅱ. The Phase of Preliminary Recovery of English Teaching (1957-1965) In 1956 the national foreign language education policy was adjusted and the Ministry of Education issued regulations on the recovery of junior and high school English classes which was a turning point of China's foreign language education. In June 1957, the Ministry of education issued the 1959-1958 Teaching Plan on Middle Schools. It stipulated the setting of foreign language courses in the first year of junior middle school in large and medium-sized city if condition allowed. Russian high schools and English high schools can be half and half. In some areas, Russian schools can be over half.

The Seven Y ears’ Plan of Foreign Language Education was enacted in 1964. It played an essential role in promoting the development of foreign language education. With the expanding of China's foreign exchanges at the beginning of 1960s, the central government was aware that we must carry out the foreign affairs deeply and extensively and absorbed the advanced science and technology experience all over the world in order to enhance China's international status and promote of the construction and development of China. Then the Ministry of Education issued The Seven Years’ Plan of Foreign Language Education in October 1964 with the joint efforts of concerned departments. Th e Seven Years’ Plan reviewed and summarized the 14 years’ foreign language education since the founding of PRC and it put forward the four principles on the development of foreign language education. First, specialized foreign language education and the common foreign language education were equally important. Second, schools and amateur foreign language education were both necessary. Third, English was identified as the first foreign language in school and the proportions of foreign language courses in higher institutions and secondary schools were needed to be adjusted energetically. Finally, when we were developing the quantity and adjusting the proportions of foreign languages vigorously, special attention should be paid to the quality as well. The Seven Years’ Plan also put forward specific targets and measures in the development of foreign language education. After the implementation of The Seven Years’ Plan, a new situation occurred in foreign language education in China.

ⅲ. The Phase of Severe Damage on Foreign Language Education (1966-1976) In June 1966, the Cultural Revolution broke out. China's cultural and educational career began to suffer significant damage. Foreign language courses suffered most. Foreign language institutions has stopped enrollment and foreign language teaching was basically cancelled. Even a few schools still opened English classes, learning content was all about the translation of political slogan. Foreign language teaching stood on the brink of collapse. Premier Zhou Enlai met teacher and student representatives four time from Peking University, Beijing Foreign Language College and other colleges and universities. He encouraged teachers and students overcome all kinds of difficulties and insisted on teaching and learning

foreign languages. In 1971 recruitment for students of Beijing Institute of Foreign Languages had been restored. Two years later, Shanghai People's Broadcasting Station and Beijing People's Broadcasting Station organized amateur foreign language broadcast in succession with some college English department and Education Department. Foreign language teaching was restored to some extent, but it was only in some universities. Language teaching in middle schools was almost completely stopped. We can say that ten years of the Cultural Revolution was the darkest time in the history of foreign language education in China.

ⅳ. The Phase of Recovery of Foreign Language Teaching

Ten years of chaotic time ended in October 1976, China’s foreign language education has been fully restored and begins to enter a new period. In 1977, a series of basic education theory and foreign language teaching directions were issued under the instruction of the central government. The Ministry of education started to organize experts for the compiling of the national textbooks of primary and secondary schools. Foreign Language College was changed i nto four years’ system. The National Radio and television began broadcasting English lecture. In 1978 the Ministry of Education issued the Full-time Ten years’ Middle School English (Russian) Teaching Outline (the Trial Draft). This outline is the only syllabus promulgated which includes two stages of primary schools and high schools in our country. This outline gives us a detailed description of the teaching purposes and requirements, teaching principles and methods of the foreign language teaching in primary and middle schools, and it also stipulates the specific teaching requirements and teaching contents from the third grade of primary schools to every grade in high schools. In 1978, the based on the modification of syllabus in 1980, the Ministry of education has issued The Ten Years’ Middle School English Syllabus (the Trial Draft).

The promulgation of these policies and syllabuses ended the chaotic situation of China's foreign language education, unified the thoughts, and stimulated the confidence of English educators so that foreign language teaching can be fully recovered. Foreign language education has entered a new stage of rapid development with the deepening of reform and opening up policy in China.

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