How to counter the ethnocentric effects of EFLin the Chinese

[Machjo]

I've noticed that EFL teachers in China focus so much on teaching the language alone, that they often seem to be completely unaware of aspects of the language that go beyond just using the language itself, such as racial associations (eg. only native speakers who are white, and speak with a North American or British accent are "real" english speakers. Or the idea that white native English speakers from North America or Britain necessarily celebrate Christmas and Easter, etc. etc. etc. This has gone so far that now it's about as easy for a Uighur or a Frenchman to teach in China as it is for a Canadian born Chinese, since one has the accent, but the other, the skin! I'd also had an extreme case of a Chinese coming to my English lessons because he was going to do business in France!?

Beyond the classroom, however, I'd come across Uighurs and a Belgian get offended when Chinese just assume they must be English speakers because of their skin colour.

Yet it seems that no one really considers these aspects of the English language in the classroom, and how to remedy or counteract the pernicious effect such EFL training is having on the wider Chinese society and its perception of the outside world.

I would be interested to explore this further and find ways to remedy the situation in the classroom. Among some ideas I've considered for younger learners and beginners is simply to be more sensitive to the cultural, ethnic and other contents of videos, flashcards, etc. as well as to try to present non-native accents from around the world. At higher levels, perhaps even include taped dialogues with common mystakes native speakers of various languages make along with accent to train students to be able to understand the language in real life. The teacher could also include topics relating to language issues for discussion in the classroom (while keeping it as non-political as possible, of course), such as the Quebec language issue and Bill 101, the Official English movement in the USA, linguistic seregatin between English and French in Cameroon, etc., so as to make the students more awae of the ethnic dimensions of the language.

One problem with some of these ideas, however, is that the immage of the EFL teacher being white, etc. is so ingrained, that this would probably have little effect, not to mention that there would even be great resistance to trying to implement such a program. Other ideas I've experimented with at various levels of the education system has been to try to introduce a second foreign language to counterbalance the ethnic dimensions of the English language. One example has been French, though I've found that French generally suffers from the same kind of pernicious prejudice infiltrating the roots of modern Chinese thought and culture. Another idea has been to introduce Esperanto classes, since they could just as easily be taught by a Chinese teacher and Esperanto hasn't got the same prejudicial baggage as English or French. But then the schools and students reject it as not being professionally rewarding, completely neglecting the educational value it would have in an educational curriculum aimed at conteracting an ever-pervasive ethnocentrism being fed by an EFL industry simply unaware of the deeper effects the English language is having at the roots of the Chinese world-view today.

I'd like to know if any of you have encountered similar situations and how you might have gone about trying to tounter the ethnocentric tendencies of the English language in China.

[LarryLatham]

I've noticed that EFL teachers in China focus so much on teaching the language alone, that they often seem to be completely unaware of aspects of the language that go beyond just using the language itself, such as racial associations (eg. only native speakers who are white, and speak with a North American or British accent are "real" english speakers. Or the idea that white native English speakers from North America or Britain necessarily celebrate Christmas and Easter, etc. etc. etc.

Yet it seems that no one really considers these aspects of the English language in the classroom, and how to remedy or counteract the pernicious effect such EFL training is having on the wider Chinese society and its perception of the outside world.

I'd like to know if any of you have encountered similar situations and how you might have gone about trying to tounter the ethnocentric tendencies of the English language in China.

Of course, anyone who has taught in Asia (or anywhere where existing tradition and society has a long history and where people tend to be "monoracial" for the lack of interracial mixing) has encountered similar attitudes. But are you stretching just a bit for blaming this on EFL classes? The attitudes exist quite outside the English classes, and I wonder if you aren't supposing that we white anglo-saxon English teachers should attempt socio-political training in our classes so as to remake our (Chinese) charges into the "good citizens" we think they should be as defined by our politically correct standards.

Aside from whether I agree with those standards, I don't think English language teachers are properly equipped to undertake such training of their students. Most would not have the skill-set, nor the intellectual basis, not to mention the permission of the society-at-large to go there. I should think there would be a great deal of resistance if not outrage from students, parents, local educators, local politicians, and national authorities (to say nothing of the population at large) to the idea that foreign teachers desire to make-over their social consciences.

Other than that, it's probably fine.

Larry Latham

[Roger]

Hello and welcome, machjo,

I have been reading your posts on another website and am glad to meet you here too.
As Larry said, your noble intention hardly fits into our brief. It's an aspect too big to be handled by the TEFL or TESL only. You may have noticed that your presence in China is sought particularly with a view of REINFORCING stereotypes such as English being a white-man's lingo.
The proper way of tackling false labelling would be for the Chinese to study GEOGRAPHY and WORLD HISTORY in tamdem, possibly with English as a medium of instruction. But this is quite impossible to demand from the Chinese education authorities; their own world views would be shattered.
Don't forget, the Chinese study English not for philosophical reasons; the money invested in the nation's English language skills is enormous, and they want a return on their investment: back in the Cultural Revolution days no one was thinking of the importance of doing business with the rest of the world, therefore English had no place in the national curriculum.
But English has been adopted, and even been made a quasi-compulsory subject; this is a double-edged sword for the powers-that-be. Remember 1989? How many students that fled abroad in the wake of the Tian'anmen Square massacre have returned since? Have you noticed that students have since 1989 been indoctrinated more heavily?
So, while we as individuals can to some extent influence the outlook of someur students the majority will adhere to what they have been taught (I mean 'told") in their Political Study lessons!
In a few decades, Chinese will bother much less learning English, and complacently demand that everyone coming to their country must know Chinese! Such calls have already been made.

[Stephen Jones]

It seems perfectly logical to me for a Chinaman wishing to do business in France to improve his English. English is what the French expect him to speak, and is the bridge language when two people who speak different languages speak.

Last I knw only 75 of scientific papers from French Universities were published in French.

[Machjo]

I put the queston up for discussion in french in the folowing forum: http://www.fenetreeuropetv.com/forum/

Sorry, it's in French though. I just put it up today, so have only got one responce so far. According to the answer, he's a frenchman who has met Chinese before, yet has never spoken to them in English. And in those cases in which they ded speak to him in a language other than French, then he's just ignore it cause he couldn't understand it anyway!

As a french speaker myself, I know how sentimental French speakers can be about their language. So I can only immagine a Chinese businessman trying to live his daily life in English in France. I can also tell you that most Quebecois aren't even functional in English likewise, and that's in an officially English-speaking country!

[Stephen Jones]

And somebody's just pointed out that his French company does all its business with the Chinese in English.

You've been twisting my words anyway. I never suggested that it would be logical for a Chinaman who wanted to live in France to learn English instead of French. I merely said it would be logical if you wanted to do business with French companies and others, since the hassle of learning a new language for each European country you would want to deal with would be too great.

A few years back it was considered ridiculous that the Spanish and Italians should speak to each other in English instead of in "Macaronica". Now nobody would bat an eyelid.

[Machjo]

Various opinions came in.