Student and teacher attitudes about competence-based instruction in secondary English classes in China
Abstract
Recently China has begun national educational reform that focuses on development of key competences in all subjects, include English. This study explores student and teacher attitudes toward competence-based instruction in secondary-level English classes. 835 college freshmen at Yanbian University in Jilin, China were surveyed about their experiences in high school English. The results showed that high school English instruction is perceived as still mostly exam-focused rather than competence-focused, and that students consider exam-focused instruction to be a desirable goal. The results also showed that students are unclear about the nature of the key comptences in English. It is concluded that challenges for national educational reform in China include attitudes arising from local educational practices: Both students and teachers prefer exam-focused rather than competence-focused Englsh instruction, given the importance of performance on evaluations such as the national college entrance examination.