Open the Door to English with Your Native Language: The Role of the Mother Tongue in English Language Teaching in China Von der Philosophischen Fakultät der Rheinisch-Westfälischen Technischen Hochschule Aachen zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades einer Doktorin der Philosophie genehmigte Dissertation vorgelegt von Tong Wu aus Shenyang, China Berichter: Universitätsprofessor (em) Dr. paed. Wolfgang Butzkamm Universitätsprofessor Dr. phil. Rudolf Beier Tag der mündlichen Prüfung: 08.03.2010 Diese Dissertation ist auf den Internetseiten der Hochschulbibliothek online verfügbar. The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking. – Albert Einstein (1879-1955) Acknowledgements I was born during a time when the destructive “Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution” had just ended in China and when it was still extremely rare for girls to receive higher education in the country. However, my dear grandfather had given me the nickname “Dr. Wu” before I could speak my first word. I have grown up with high expectations from my family. Although today my grandfather can no longer share part of my life with me, I really wish that he could be proud of me, and be happy to see my dream come true, a dream that was also his. Though the writing of a Ph.D. dissertation is an individual work and only my name appears on the cover of this dissertation, I could have never reached the heights and explored the depths without the wholehearted support and generous help of a lot of genuinely inspiring people. They have made the successful completion of this dissertation possible and because of them my Ph.D. study has been an unforgettable experience. My deepest gratitude is to my supervisor Professor Dr. Wolfgang Butzkamm for his guidance, encouragement, criticism, inspiration and patience, which contributed tremendously to whatever merits my dissertation may have. I have been amazingly fortunate to have a supervisor who not only encouraged me to be critical and independent, but also taught me how to keep focused and meticulous in research. I am also very grateful to Professor Dr. Rudolf Beier for taking his valuable time to evaluate my dissertation. I would also like to sincerely thank the people who allowed me to conduct classroom observations and interviews in their schools and institutes, which offered me a precious opportunity to gain valuable first hand experience with the conditions and situations of present-day methods of English language teaching. I wish to acknowledge the help I got from Director Wang and his staff in Education Bureau, as well as the teachers and pupils at No.145 and No.51 middle schools from Dongling District, Shenyang. I would also like to express my special gratitude to Dr. Frühauf, Dr. Pieper, Dr. Zhang from the Sinicum of the Landesspracheninstitut, Bochum. I am also very thankful to Dr. Zhao and other teaching staff in the Chinese Department of the University of Bonn. I would also like to thank Mrs Bäumet of the Gutenberg school in Sankt Augustin. I profited a lot from valuable discussions with all of them, which broadened my perspectives and deepened my understanding of the developments as well as problems in today’s English language teaching. I am also greatly indebted to Mr. Dev Biddlecombe and Mr. Simon Rawles for their careful and tireless efforts for assisting me with proofreading this dissertation. I owe a special note of gratitude to Mr. Dev Biddlecombe for being amazingly approachable at the final stage of my Ph.D. study. Finally, and most importantly, my heartfelt thanks go to my family – my grandma, parents, brother, sister-in-law, as well as my lovely niece and nephew. Their unconditional love, unwavering support, great understanding, continuous encouragement, and endless patience were undeniably the bedrock upon which my study in Germany has been built. Their unflagging belief in me gave me the strength to vigorously pursue and achieve my dreams and to fearlessly tackle challenges head on. Table of Contents Table of Contents Introduction............................................................................................................................................. .....1 Chapter 1 The History of English Language Teaching in China......................................................5 1.1 The Tradition of Foreign Language Learning in China (13th century-1840).......................................................5 1.1.1 Pidgin English..................................................................................................................................................6 1.1.2 The Role of the Mother Tongue in Pidgin English.........................................................................................8 1.2 The Introduction of Formal English Language Teaching in China (1840-1949) .................................................9 1.2.1 English Language Teaching in Missionary Schools .....................................................................................9 1.2.2 English Language Teaching in Government Schools..................................................................................10 1.2.3 Development and Decline of Pidgin English ...............................................................................................13 1.3 The Soviet Union's Influence on English Language Teaching in China (1949-1966).........................................14 1.3.1 Background....................................................................................................................................................14 1.3.2 Syllabus..........................................................................................................................................................17 1.3.3 Organisation of Lessons................................................................................................................................18 1.3.4 Pedagogy........................................................................................................................................................19 1.4 English Language Teaching in China during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976)..........................................22 1.4.1 Background....................................................................................................................................................22 1.4.2 Organisation of Lessons................................................................................................................................23 1.4.3 Pedagogy........................................................................................................................................................23 1.5 New Developments in English Language Teaching in China (1977-present) ...................................................24 1.5.1 Restoration ± Series 1978..............................................................................................................................24 1.5.2 Modernisation ± Series 1982.........................................................................................................................27 1.5.3 Globalisation ± Series 1993...........................................................................................................................29 1.6 Summary................................................................................................................................................................34 Chapter 2 Examining the Other Side of the Coin............................................................................ ...35 2.1 Early Missionaries in China: What Can We Learn from Their Chinese Language Learning Experiences?....35 2.1.1 Difficulties of the Chinese Language............................................................................................................35 2.1.2 How Did the Early Missionaries Learn the Chinese Language?................................................................37 2.1.3 Principles in the Study of the Chinese Language among Early Missionaries...........................................44 2.2 Teachers as Learners.............................................................................................................................................45 2.3 Summary................................................................................................................................................................49 Chapter 3 Controversy over the Role of the Mother Tongue in English Language Teaching in China................................................................................................................................ ............................51 3.1 Brief Review of the Mother Tongue Controversy Worldwide...............................................................................51 3.1.1 Does L1 Learning Equal L2 Learning?........................................................................................................52 3.1.2 What Sort of Exposure to L2 Leads to Learning?........................................................................................53 3.1.3 Is L1 a Help or a Hindrance?........................................................................................................................54 3.2 What Do Neuroscientists Say about the Human Brain and Language Acquisition?.........................................56 i Table of Contents 3.3 The Mother Tongue Controversy in China...........................................................................................................60