Inquiry into Chinese
Postgraduate English
Teaching Objective
Binli Zhao
Postgraduate teaching problems
in China
1. Time-consuming and low efficiency
(Cai, J. 2011; Dai, 2003; Cai, Y. 2011)
Declarative knowledge
Proceduralized knowledge
Postgraduate teaching problems
in China
2.large classes and different English levels in one
class (the number of Chinese postgraduates
has grown quickly from 92,200 in 1999 to
475,000 in 2009)
limited time for English lessons
the passive Chinese learning style,
resulting in low effectiveness in English teaching.
Postgraduate teaching problems
in China
3. At postgraduate level, general English teaching
is still required in the Chinese education system,
which leads to a waste of time, money and
intelligence
ineffective teaching programs, especially for
postgraduates at different English levels see no
differences in the postgraduate teaching
Above all, these Chinese teaching situations are
contradictory to the training objective of
postgraduates.
Objective of postgraduate teaching
 The Chinese Ministry of Education issued
“instructive opinions about revised postgraduate
training program” in 1998, which stressed the
training in postgraduates’ ability to use English
and read foreign language materials in their
fields. It also advocated adopting more heuristic
and seminar teaching styles and emphasising
postgraduates’ self-study and the training of
writing ability.
Empirical study
1. High school and university students’
questionnaire
Empirical study
 Note:1.interest 2. going
to college 3. reciting
texts, good sentences
and paragraphs for
writing 4. passive
College Students
High school Students participants in class 5.
teaching methods so-so
6. preferences for
teachers’ explanation 7.
in-class study 8. outclass study
250
The number of students
200
150
100
50
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9 10
contents of questionaire
Empirical study
2. Eight overseas Chinese postgraduates’
questionnaire
 difficult for Chinese students to read and
understand academic writings
 expressions sometimes mislead and confuse
the readers of the target language.
 inquiring ability and self-access language
learning ability are comparatively disadvantaged
Empirical study
 As most overseas students bring with
them linguistic, cultural, attitudinal, and
academic experiences (Leki, 1992), what
they actually need is help in transferring
these study skills to the target language
and adjusting them to a different
academic environment (Jordan, 1997)
Theoretical base
 Constructivist theory thinks how much
knowledge the learners acquire depends
on the learners’ own ability to construct
their knowledge and also suggests that
learners should learn mainly by
themselves under the guidance of
teachers. (Jonassen, D. H. & Murphy, R.
1999)
Course setting
Selective course
Research method
Academic activity
Cooperative discussion
Create authentic situation n
Academic
problems
E-learning
discussion
Self-access
learning
Teacher’s formative and summative assessment
\
Students’ meaningful paper construction