On Macro-Planning for China s English Education from Elementary to Tertiary Levels in the Era of Globalization MEI Deming ZHAO Meijuan Abstract This p

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2 On Macro-Planning for China s English Education from Elementary to Tertiary Levels in the Era of Globalization MEI Deming ZHAO Meijuan Abstract This paper explores the mechanism of macro-planning for China s English education from elementary to tertiary Levels in the backdrop of the accelerating trend of globalization. China s formal English education begins with the school age, even as early as the onset of kindergarten education in some areas, develops full fledge with the secondary school education, and keeps up at the college level, branching out into English for Non-English-Majors and English for English Majors. This long march English education program consumes more or less 18 years of an individual s most robust life, contributing to less than desirable English language proficiency for communicative purposes. Worse still, this long march, more often than not, turns out to be a journey that repeats itself at various levels of formal schooling. To remedy the 1

3 inefficient syllabi of English education in China, we propose a three-stage overall plan for formal English education in China, namely, Happy English for the elementary school level, General English for the secondary school level, and Professional English for the tertiary level, each with a clearly-defined focus, but consistently centering on the development of the student s communicative competence grounded on the appropriate linguistic competence and substantiated by sufficient cultural knowledge. In particular, the Happy English education provides an interesting, daily-life syllabus for young learners; the General English education offers well-structured courses with general knowledge-based contents and stresses the mastery of the grammatically accurate system of the English language appropriate real life communication. The Professional English education requires college students to further their English development in specialized areas of the students concurrent academic majors or in areas of their strong personal interest, and encourage students to use English for acquiring updated knowledge and learn about the advances in fields of their studies and research. Key words: macro-planning English education three stages 2

4 3 MEI Deming ZHAO Meijuan 1 <

5 4 2 < 3 4 < pp.19-22

6 5 Richards, J. C. & Rodgers, T.S. Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. New York: Cambridge University Press, < 5

7 1 7 Flege, J.E., Yeni-Komshian, G. H., & Liu, S. Age constraints on second-language acquisition. Journal of Memory And Language, 1999, ( 41): Schumann, J.H. Affective factors and the problem of age in second language acquisition. K.Croft. Readings on English as a Second Language: For Teachers and Teacher Trainees. Cambridge, Mass: Winthrop,

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9 1 12 Krashen, S. Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Pergamon Press, Swain, M. Three Functions of Output in Second Language Learning. Oxford: Oxford University 8

10 Press, Kramsch, C. Context and Culture in Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press,

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14 5. Richards, J. C. & Rodgers, T.S. Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. New York: Cambridge University Press, Flege, J.E., Yeni-Komshian, G. H., & Liu, S. Age constraints on second-language acquisition. Journal of Memory And Language, 1999, ( 41): Schumann, J.H. Affective factors and the problem of age in second language acquisition. K.Croft. Readings on English as a Second Language: For Teachers and Teacher Trainees. Cambridge, Mass: Winthrop, (4)pp pp Krashen, S. Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Pergamon Press, Swain, M. Three Functions of Output in Second Language Learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Hammer, J. The Practice of English Language Teaching. New York: Longman, 13

15 Kramsch, C. Context and Culture in Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Wallace M. Training Foreign Language Teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,

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第七届中国英语教学国际研讨会中国英汉语比较研究会英语教学研究分会 ( 原中国英语教学研究会 ) 将于 2014 年 10 月 24-26 日在南京举办第七届中国英语教学国际研讨会 2014 外研社杯全国英语演讲大赛 2014 外研社杯全国英语写作大赛全面启动坚持科学的大学英语教学改革观输出驱动输入促成假设构建大学外语课堂教学理论的尝试建设大学生真心喜欢终身受益的精品课程突出思辨能力培养将英语专业教学改革引向深入主办单位外语教学与研究出版社合办单位教育部高等学校大学外语教学指导委员会教育部高等学校英语专业教学指导分委员会 2014 外研社杯全国英语演讲大赛