“China’s English language policy for primary schools”

(School C and School D in China)

Presented by

Sarbast Zakhoy

SCHOOL

( C )

Name of school C

Category and location primary school in Town

Number of classes 15

Number of students 800Average of 53 students in each class

600 students and 200 students whose parents are farmers and the rest of them are migrant workers in Town.

Background of School C• This school had no English class in previous years.

After that, It started teaching English to ( 5th ) graders once a week in Fall 2003. Lack of English teachers was the reason why only 5th graders were offered English classes. This school had only one English teacher in 2003-2004 school year. This teacher said that it took her one school year to finish PEP Primary English student’s book1 in her 5th grade classes, which is used designed for one-semester use only.

School C was scheduled to implement the policy in Fall 2004-2005

• 3rd and 6th graders are learning English.

• School C has not been able to fully implement the policy so far simply because:

3rd graders 6th graders

Two classes / per week One class / per week

Class period/ 40 minutes Class period/ 40 minutes

1. School doesn’t have English teachers

2. School is facing pressure from its counterpart schools as a result

Two English Teachers and their background

• Two teachers teach English part-time. Both teachers hold a permanent position in school C and their responsibility is to teach either Chinese or math. 1. Chinese teacher 2. The other teacher

This teacher came to School C after graduation in 2003 with a two-year degree in Primary Education. The teacher was assigned to teach English without either relevant teaching experience or pre service training.

This teacher has a bachelor degree in a non education discipline. The teacher joined School C in Fall 2004 but will leave the school at the end of the 2004-5 school year.

Primary English Student’s book 2

• As a part of implementation policy, in spring 2005, teacher is teaching English to one 3rd grade class and two 6th grade classes. A total of 167 students from both grades are using the same textbook – Primary English Students’ Book 2.

School C & teachers

• No requirements from School C

• Teacher’s own decision

• Teachers are doing fine considering current situation

• School doesn’t know to what extent they are good

Place of English in the curriculumPc and Tc responded differently to the question regarding the place of English in the curriculum

Pc believes that English, like any other subjects in the curriculum, makes an irreplaceable contribution to student department

Tc thinks that English is an interest – oriented subject in School C.

English Language Learning Environment

Both Pc and Tc acknowledged the lack of an English language learning environment in school C.

Pc mentioned two contributing factors:

1. Little awareness of the importance of English among rural parents

2. Students speaking Mandarin to each other in their daily communication.

Parents attitude towards English

• According to Pc: Most parents support the new curriculum, but a few parents did say “ what is the use of teaching English in primary school?”

Some parents transferred their children from School C not because of English while because of the whole school.

Facilities Buildings and Classroom furniture in school C are old

No classroom is equipped with multimedia facilities

One reason that School C couldn’t improve its existing facilities is unavailability of space , no place for computers, because all classes are in use.

In summer 2005, School C will have the first Multimedia classroom.

English Teacher recruitmentSchool C was granted to quote position to recruit one English teacher for 2005 – 2006

Two full time English teachers are needed to fully implement the policy.

After, no prospective English teacher in regional university was willing to teach in School C

Under these circumstances, School C has developed a backup plan, to assign incoming Chinese or math teachers to teach English part-time.

These two teachers are chosen because they have a stronger back ground in English or ability of their teaching.

Future

School C aims to fully implement the policy in full 2005.

Pc believes that if School C can be reconstructed as planned, it will be able to attract good English teachers who can enhance ELT in the school.

The availability of English teachers will improve School C.

SCHOOL ( D )

Name of School D

Category and location Primary School in village

Number of classes 6 grades 21 or 22 students per class

Number of students 120 mostly from poor families

School D is independent from School C.

This School has no autonomy but relies on School C to recruit permanent teachers.

2004 – 2005 School Year

• School D has not yet implement the policy.

Principal D is aware of the importance of English to students: “ English is required in secondary school if students didn’t learn English in primary school, they would lag behind in secondary school” Other students learned English but you didn’t. You are behind the other. School D is incapable of incorporating English into its curriculum.

The excerpt shows reasons behind the reality:

I : Have you ever heard that all school should teach English?

Pd : parents said something: “Other schools had all started teaching English, but our school hadn’t.”

I told them there are several reasons:

1. We don’t have English teachers.

2. Our school doesn’t have funding.

3. We don’t have enough students. How could we possibly afford to teach English since we have only a small numbers of students? We are unable to do so.

Pd also mentioned that:In spring 2005, a parent requested that School D offer English classes.

School D received invitations for attending professional development programs in relation to ELT.

Pd said, “ There is nothing we can do.”

But these opportunities were wasted Pd explained: Our school couldn’t attend because we don’t have English teachers. We don’t know English. We learned some sample English when we were in senior secondary school and so on.

FutureSchool D is expected to implement the policy in fall 2005.

Pd knows that sooner or later School D should start teaching English.

But School D has not yet made any preparation for the future.

Pd thinks that it is School C’s responsibility to recruit permanent English teachers for School D if it is mandated to offer English classes.

Two village schools have already offered English classes, relying on temporary teachers. School D will not consider employing a temporary teacher because it doesn’t have funding to pay the teacher.

Pd’s attitude towards ELT can be further illustrated by the following excerpt.

I: You don’t know when your school can start teaching English

Pd: I don’t know . It’s hard to tell.

I: What’s your expectation?

Pd: My expectation. I don’t care. If every school teaches English, I, as a leader, should consider it. Otherwise, I don’t care.

I: Is there any pressure from counterpart schools?

Pd: Counterpart schools, right now we are not under big pressure. They haven’t started.

School C School D

Location Town Y A village

School Size 800 120

Average class size 53 21-2

English teachers 2 temporary 0

English learners 3rd graders; 6th graders 0

English classes per week 2 for 3rd graders1 for 6th graders

0

Length of an English class 40 min. n.a.

Extra curricular activities No n.a.

Facilities Poor Poor

The policy implementation in the two schools in the 2004 – 2005 school year

Policy implementation Partial No

The study attempts to answer the following research questions:

1. Have different types of schools been able to implement the policy?

2. What factors are affecting policy implementation?

3. What are the major problems arising in policy implementation?

4. What implications can be drawn?

2.What factors are affecting policy implementation?

Factors such as administrators’ attitudes toward ELT, teacher qualifications, school facilities, parent involvement, class size, and funding may play a role in affecting the quality of policy implementation.

1. Have different types of schools been able to implement the policy?....the result…..

Table 6 provides an overview of policy implementation among them, particularly striking gaps between the more privileged schools(i.e. Schools A and B) and the less privileged ones (i.e. Schools C and D).

DISCUSSION Research Questions

In the four schools, the teacher shortage is the major problem:

1. Teachers of other subjects are assigned to teach English without pre – service training; temporary teachers without teaching certificates, such as Tb1 and Tb4.

2. The teacher shortage problem is not only hindering policy implementation(e.g. School C and School D) but also affecting the quality of implementation School (e.g. School A and School B)

3. What are the major problems arising in policy implementation?

• Educationally disadvantaged students.

• The less privileged ones and more privileged.

• ELT at the junior secondary school level.

• Social stratification

4. What implications can be drawn?Disparity in policy implementation among the four schools is problematic in that have it could have undesirable impact on:

What are the roles and functions of a specialist English teacher on school ? Are they different from other specialists teachers?

?