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When the issue of English teaching in China is concerned, it is important to understand contemporary Chinese society in the era of globalisation. Contemporary Chinese society can be portrayed from the following two angles.
On the one hand, from all sorts of the public media, it is obvious that contemporary China presents the features of a modern society. For instance, "change", "development", "competition" and "action" are the most frequently used words in all situations. The Chinese traditional culture has been challenged and great changes have taken place, as Lao Kaisheng states,
"the most significant feature of the Chinese society in the past 20 years is that China has stepped into the developing process toward modernization. This step brings changes not only to the society, but to all individuals. As modernization is a holistic social revolution, it brings changes in all aspects of the Chinese society" (Lao Kaisheng, 2000:31).
The changes in the social ideology brought changes in education as well. Of all the changes, Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) is a typical example, which has attracted great attention from the authorities and ordinary people, because English is regarded as a fundamental tool in pursuit of modernisation and globalisation. Therefore, politically and economically, efforts have been made as to how to cope with globalisation, and in the field of education, changes and development were the norm. As Liu Xinke (2002) states, "developing a better understanding in education and reforming the present educational system is the only solution to the educational problems in China" (Liu Xinke, 2002:211). In the field of TEFL, changes in syllabuses, textbooks and teaching methods were promoted (see Chapter 2).
On the other hand, greatly influenced by Confucius, the Chinese traditional culture has remained its important position in contemporary Chinese society. Westernisation has been criticised, for "(it) brings great disadvantages to the development of Chinese culture and society" (Liu Xinke, 2002:221). In the field of education, Chinese traditional culture is regarded as essential "for establishing a unique society with typical Chinese preference" (Wang Binzhao, 1999:6). Scholars with this view insist that the role of education is to continue and develop Chinese traditional culture and to introduce the essence of other cultures (Zhong Qiquan, Jing Zhengyang & Wu Guoping, 2000).
Therefore, as westernization and globalization have spread all over China, Chinese traditional culture and the education of such culture still play their roles. The harmony between human and nature is encouraged. The needs of all people, not those of individuals, are respected. The stability of the whole society is highly stressed (Liu Xinke, 2002). At the practical level, education and teachers remain the highest position. Moral education is developed and humanism is promoted (Wang Binzhao, 1999), though it has been widely accepted that the development of education in China is far behind that of the western countries due to its lack of creativity (Wang Binzhao 1999; Zhong Qiquan, Jing Zhengyang & Wu Guoping, 2000). Another issue needs to be noticed is that traditional education has been challenged in terms of its content (e. g. knowledge and knowledge system etc.) and the teaching process at the classroom level. In this research, the contradictions as such in the era of globalization are reflected in the fieldwork and will be discussed in later chapters.