1.1　English Teaching as a Foreign Language in Chinese Universities

1.1EnglishTeachingasaForeignLanguageinChineseUniversities

In1994,IbegantoteachEnglishasaforeignlanguage(EFL)inaChineseuniversity,where,asinalltheotherChineseuniversities,theCourseofCollegeEnglishiscompulsory.AccordingtotheChineseHigherEducationregulations,onceenteringuniversity,allstudentsmustcompletefoursuccessivetermsofCollegeEnglishCourse,andtheteachingis64hoursperterm.AsdescribedintheChineseEducationMinistry'sCollegeEnglishCurriculumRequirements(2007),attheendofthefourthsemester,studentsaresupposedtoachievethelanguagecompetencetopasstheCollegeEnglishTest(CET)band-4asabaseline,andthemorecompetentstudentscanpassCETband-6.AllthestudentsinChineseuniversitiesstrivetolearnCollegeEnglishCourseinordertopasstheseexaminations,becausewithoutaCETband-4certificatetheyarenoteligibleforabachelor'sdegreefromtheuniversities.

EFLteachersgiveinstructiononallthelanguageskills(i.e.,listening,speaking,reading,writing,andtranslating)intheCollegeEnglishclasses.ListeningandspeakingaretwonewskillsformostChinesestudentsattheuniversitylevel,becausetheEnglishinstructioninmiddleschoolsisbasicallyreading,writing,andtranslating.Nevertheless,whenstudentsgettouniversity,the64teachinghourspertermareequallydistributedamongtheteachingofthefivelanguageskills,andtherefore,listeningasabrand-newlanguageskillconstitutesthemaindifficultythatconfrontsChinesestudents.