Complexities of English Curriculum in China: Confucianism as Pedagogy

Speaker: Dr Huizhong SHEN (University of Sydney)

In this talk I will start with identifying some issues arising from teaching and research in the Chinese EFL classroom. Pedagogically, there appears to be an overlook of, though often subconsciously, learners’ own language and culture in constructing their bilingual identities in language learning. English learners and their teachers often have an aspiration to acquire a native-speaker English. In research practice, this misconception is reflected in a focus on learner English (English in development) measured by the yardstick of a native-speaker English standard. After presenting some related empirical studies I will then reframe teaching and researching English in China by bringing together familiar traditional Confucian principles and Western learning and language learning theories. Within such a framework, it is argued that a contextual localized approach would better facilitate the learning process, in which Chinese EFL learners may be able to develop a broad linguistic and cultural repertoire for optimal learning outcomes. More importantly, the new framework informed by Confucian principles aims to set realistic and achievable goals for both language learners and teachers, who may also need to see language learning and teaching as a process of developing and displaying unique bilingual and bi-cultural traits