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Understanding English Mania in China: Reflection and Inspiration

Received: 12 March 2021     Published: 12 April 2021
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Abstract

As the largest course of all the subjects, English education has long undertaken the most severe criticism from the society in China. The argument that English should be expelled from College Entrance Examination has been under heated discussion in recent years whenever the National People’s Congress is in session. There came forth a lot of debates that the importance of English should be devalued; And to a certain extent, suspicion from the public came that whether it is still necessary to improve English proficiency on a national standard. In September 3rd. 2014, the Ministry of Education announced new plan to College Entrance Examination which is labeled by shift the emphasis from English to Chinese in test. The changes of polices concerning its status and functions in many national and provincial tests have triggered more discussion towards English teaching, learning and testing. The public wonder if these reforms will cool down the English mania and change its status and function in the future. This paper makes an exploration on the history of the English mania, probes into the internal and external forces that boosted English mania in history and compares its development with the rest of the world. Through relevant document analysis and careful reflection, the paper tries to provide an overview concerning the status, function and features of English mania in China in history and today. It is believed that neither cooling down nor heating up is advisable for a sustainable development of English language learning.

Published in Humanities and Social Sciences (Volume 9, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.hss.20210902.13
Page(s) 51-56
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

English Mania, English Education, English Teaching and Learning

References
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[9] British Council. The Benefits of the English Language for Individuals and Societies: Quantitative Indicators from Cameroon, Nigeria, Rwanda, Bangladesh and Pakistan. http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/benefits-english-language-individuals-societies. 2010.
[10] Hashimoto K. The Japanisation of English language education: promotion of the national language within foreign language policy. In Tollefson J. W. Language Policies in Education: Critical Issues. Routledge, 2013, pp. 175-190.
[11] Mazrui A. Language and education in Kenya: between the colonial legacy and the new constitutional order. In Tollefson J. W. Language Policies in Education: Critical Issues. Routledge, 2013, pp. 139-155.
[12] Wei R.& Su J. The statistics of English in China. English Today, 2012, 28 (03), pp: 10-14.
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  • APA Style

    Yangfen Tong. (2021). Understanding English Mania in China: Reflection and Inspiration. Humanities and Social Sciences, 9(2), 51-56. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20210902.13

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    Yangfen Tong. Understanding English Mania in China: Reflection and Inspiration. Humanit. Soc. Sci. 2021, 9(2), 51-56. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20210902.13

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    AMA Style

    Yangfen Tong. Understanding English Mania in China: Reflection and Inspiration. Humanit Soc Sci. 2021;9(2):51-56. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20210902.13

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  • @article{10.11648/j.hss.20210902.13,
      author = {Yangfen Tong},
      title = {Understanding English Mania in China: Reflection and Inspiration},
      journal = {Humanities and Social Sciences},
      volume = {9},
      number = {2},
      pages = {51-56},
      doi = {10.11648/j.hss.20210902.13},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20210902.13},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.hss.20210902.13},
      abstract = {As the largest course of all the subjects, English education has long undertaken the most severe criticism from the society in China. The argument that English should be expelled from College Entrance Examination has been under heated discussion in recent years whenever the National People’s Congress is in session. There came forth a lot of debates that the importance of English should be devalued; And to a certain extent, suspicion from the public came that whether it is still necessary to improve English proficiency on a national standard. In September 3rd. 2014, the Ministry of Education announced new plan to College Entrance Examination which is labeled by shift the emphasis from English to Chinese in test. The changes of polices concerning its status and functions in many national and provincial tests have triggered more discussion towards English teaching, learning and testing. The public wonder if these reforms will cool down the English mania and change its status and function in the future. This paper makes an exploration on the history of the English mania, probes into the internal and external forces that boosted English mania in history and compares its development with the rest of the world. Through relevant document analysis and careful reflection, the paper tries to provide an overview concerning the status, function and features of English mania in China in history and today. It is believed that neither cooling down nor heating up is advisable for a sustainable development of English language learning.},
     year = {2021}
    }
    

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    AU  - Yangfen Tong
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    PY  - 2021
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20210902.13
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    JF  - Humanities and Social Sciences
    JO  - Humanities and Social Sciences
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    PB  - Science Publishing Group
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    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20210902.13
    AB  - As the largest course of all the subjects, English education has long undertaken the most severe criticism from the society in China. The argument that English should be expelled from College Entrance Examination has been under heated discussion in recent years whenever the National People’s Congress is in session. There came forth a lot of debates that the importance of English should be devalued; And to a certain extent, suspicion from the public came that whether it is still necessary to improve English proficiency on a national standard. In September 3rd. 2014, the Ministry of Education announced new plan to College Entrance Examination which is labeled by shift the emphasis from English to Chinese in test. The changes of polices concerning its status and functions in many national and provincial tests have triggered more discussion towards English teaching, learning and testing. The public wonder if these reforms will cool down the English mania and change its status and function in the future. This paper makes an exploration on the history of the English mania, probes into the internal and external forces that boosted English mania in history and compares its development with the rest of the world. Through relevant document analysis and careful reflection, the paper tries to provide an overview concerning the status, function and features of English mania in China in history and today. It is believed that neither cooling down nor heating up is advisable for a sustainable development of English language learning.
    VL  - 9
    IS  - 2
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • School of Foreign Languages, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China

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