English education in China began with English missionaries in China at the beginning of 19 century, while English education in China generally began with the establishment of Shi Jing Wentong Museum in 1862 (Li Liangyou et al.,1988; Foucault, 1986). By 1903, foreign language courses were generally offered in large and medium schools in China (Foucault, 1986). 1964 after the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), the state formulated the outline of the seven-year foreign language education plan, which "put forward English as the first foreign language in the official documents of our country for the first time" (Hu Wenzhong, 200 1). 2/kloc-at the beginning of the 20th century, with Beijing's successful Olympic bid and China's accession to the WTO, the third climax of China people's learning English has arrived (Wang, 2002). Conservatively speaking, at least 200 million people in China are learning English, which is the highest in the history of human foreign language learning in terms of learning the same foreign language with the same mother tongue and the same cultural background. China has become a "superpower in foreign language teaching" (Zhang Jisheng and Zhou Ping, 2002), but whether it can become a powerful country in English teaching in the world requires the joint efforts of all my colleagues. As part of this effort, the purpose of this paper is to accurately grasp the context of English education in China and understand its development trend. We will first examine the world's macro-educational thoughts, then introduce the development trend of foreign language teaching theory research, and then describe the increasingly clear characteristics of English education in China.
Second, the world educational trend of thought
English education involves the largest population, the widest influence and the most globalization. Therefore, any English education research in China can not but bring the world educational thoughts into its field of vision. According to Wang (1998), there are eight major trends of thought in global education in the 20th century: "the trend of thought of science and technology in education; Economic orientation of education; The trend of lifelong education; Individualized educational thoughts; The ideological trend of social value orientation of education; The global value orientation trend of education; The trend of internationalization of education and the trend of informationization of education. " Some of them have been directly or indirectly reflected in the field of English education in China.
Since the middle of the 20th century, "science is the direct productive force" and "social and economic functions of science and technology" have become the mainstream. In the 1950s, the slogan "March on Science" sounded in China. After the reform and opening up, Deng Xiaoping put forward the scientific conclusion that "science and technology are the primary productive forces", and the Outline of Education Reform and Development in China defined the orientation of science and technology in China's education as a national policy. On June 5438+February, 2004, the Ministry of Education promulgated the first "Standards of Educational Technology Ability of Primary and Secondary School Teachers (Trial)", which means the continuation of China's educational technology orientation in the new century. College English Curriculum Requirements (People's Republic of China (PRC) Ministry of Education, 2004) puts forward: "Colleges and universities should make full use of multimedia and network technologies, adopt new teaching modes and improve the original single classroom teaching mode with teachers as the main part. The new teaching mode should be supported by modern information technology, especially network technology ... "It can be said that this is the embodiment of educational science and technology orientation in English teaching in China.
The economic orientation of education originates from the theory of human capital formed in the early 1960s. Although this theory equates people with things, which is detrimental to personal dignity, it emphasizes the decisive role of human factors, scientific and technological factors and educational factors in economy and production. This reasonable core enables it to be widely spread around the world, thus forming the trend of economic orientation of contemporary education, pushing governments of various countries to change from ignoring education to attaching importance to education, and then implementing the policy of "education first" and "education first". It can be said that the continuous warming of English fever in China and the rapid development of English education industry are the manifestations and products of this economic orientation in China.
The ideological source of educational individualization orientation is humanism. Contemporary existential educational philosophy, humanistic psychology and humanistic curriculum theory also support individualized educational orientation. Individualized orientation of education has been deeply rooted in the west, but China is cautious about it, which is determined by China's educational tradition, cultural background, political system and economic situation. In spite of this, China's educational programmatic documents also have a personalized orientation. For example, one of the basic concepts of English Curriculum Standards for Full-time Compulsory Education Senior Middle Schools (Experimental Draft) (Ministry of Education, 200 1) is to "highlight students' subjectivity and respect individual differences", clearly pointing out that "the development of students is the starting point and destination of English curriculum. English course emphasizes the student-centered concept in goal setting, teaching process, course evaluation and teaching resource development. Curriculum implementation should be a process in which students construct knowledge, improve skills, sharpen their will, activate their thinking, show their personality, develop their minds and broaden their horizons under the guidance of teachers. " Another example is "College English Curriculum Requirements" (People's Republic of China (PRC) Ministry of Education, 2004), which puts forward that the new teaching mode should make English teaching "develop in the direction of individualized learning and autonomous learning".
The trend of educational informatization is the inevitable result of the transformation from modern science and technology, especially modern information technology to modern educational technology. In the middle of last century, the early modern media information technology included slides, projectors, audio and video recording, language laboratories, movies, radio and television. , has been widely used in education; Since the 1960s, satellites have been used in education, marking a new stage of educational informatization. After 1980s, with the rapid development of new generation information technology such as computer, microelectronics technology, optical fiber communication technology and Internet, and its wide application in the field of education, global education informatization has become a reality and is rapidly deepening and developing. In the field of English teaching in China, the trend of informatization is particularly prominent, and informatization has become an irreversible development trend of English teaching in China. We will discuss this further later.
Third, the development trend of foreign language teaching research
Under the background of the above-mentioned world educational thoughts, since the reform and opening up in 1970s, English education in China has developed steadily and rapidly, showing some new development trends, and various viewpoints have been put forward in this field.
Shu Hezhuang Zhixiang (1996) pointed out that there are three major trends in the theoretical research of contemporary foreign language teaching: from studying how to teach to studying how to learn; From the study of language form itself to the study of language application and the cultivation of learners' language application ability; From the enthusiastic pursuit of communicative approach to the reflection and regression of traditional foreign language teaching methods and teaching contents.
Gao (1997) found that there was an obvious cultural turn in foreign language teaching when studying the relationship between foreign language teaching and culture, and pointed out that the relationship between foreign language teaching and culture showed three development trends: the teaching purpose shifted from simple language skills training to cultural learning and the improvement of cultural awareness in a broad sense; The teaching content has changed from a relatively narrow cultural understanding to a relatively broad understanding; The teaching perspective has changed from one-way target language culture to the interaction between mother tongue culture and target language culture.
Liu Runqing (1999) pointed out six aspects of the development trend of foreign language teaching research at the end of last century: the research object gradually transited from object to subject; From single-discipline theory support to multi-discipline theory support; From paying attention to teaching the form of language to teaching the meaning and function of language; Senior grade, from language skills teaching to content teaching; From labor-intensive teaching to high-tech intensive teaching, from process management teaching to target management teaching; From quantitative research to combination of qualitative research and quantitative research.
Guisen Tian (2002) put forward eight changes in foreign language teaching at the beginning of the new century: foreign language teaching research develops from a single discipline of foreign language teaching method to a multi-discipline direction; The focus of foreign language learning and teaching research has shifted from how to teach to how to learn; The content of foreign language teaching began to develop from language skills to content-based teaching; Foreign language teaching methods have developed from following a method system in the past to comprehensive and eclectic; Foreign language classroom teaching methods began to give students more attention; Foreign language teaching circles pay more and more attention to the standardization of foreign language teaching research methods; The way of presenting knowledge in foreign language teaching has changed; The ranks and learning purposes of foreign language learners have also changed.
China Foreign Language Education Research Center of Beijing Foreign Studies University (2002) pointed out in the Tenth Five-Year Plan that the development of foreign language education in China presents the following seven trends: foreign language teaching is learner-centered; Attach importance to the study of second language acquisition; Attach importance to the research of teacher training; Attach importance to the research of classroom teaching activities; Pay attention to content-based teaching; Attach importance to foreign language testing and evaluation; Using multimedia technology for online teaching.
The above viewpoints are different and echo each other, and * * * forms the mainstream theory, which has an impact on the development of foreign language teaching practice. But historically, the influence of theory on practice is sometimes positive and sometimes negative. What is the relationship between theory and practice? The traditional answer is that theory comes from practice, which is higher than practice and guides practice. This description obviously comes from the theoretical circle that has mastered the right to speak. Of course, there are different voices. For example, White (1988) said that practice driven by theory is not desirable at all, because practice itself contains extremely complicated factors. Schon (1983) also believes that the applied science model (in the teacher development model) regards theory as science, the theoretical researchers are superior, and teaching is regarded as the application of theory. Therefore, teachers are only tools for theoretical application, and teachers are of course lower than theoretical researchers, thus causing psychological and logical differences between theoretical researchers and classroom teachers. No matter what viewpoint, the author insists on one principle: any theory that tries to serve the English education practice in China must be rooted in the soil of English education practice in China. Therefore, studying the characteristics of China's English education practice should be the starting point of China's English education theory research.
Fourthly, the characteristics of English education practice in China.
Under the background of the world education trend, the response of foreign language teaching theorists and the change of China's national conditions, the English education practice in China presents a new development trend. According to the author's investigation, it can be summarized into eight characteristics: marketization, socialization, exam-oriented, colloquial, bilingual, informationization, virtualization and diversification, which are described below respectively.
marketization
China's economy has changed from a planned economy to a market economy. With this historic change in China society, the English education model in China has also undergone tremendous changes. Taking 1978 as the historical turning point, before that, the main theme of China society was class struggle, and then it became economic development. Before the reform and opening up, English education in China served politics, but after the reform and opening up, it served economic development. China's current economic form is a market economy, so English education is bound to be influenced and adjusted by changes in market economy demand. For example, due to the sharp increase in the total demand for English talents in the talent market, the variety is increasing, and the upsurge of foreign language learning is getting higher and higher. The Foreign Languages Department has opened more and more new majors, including foreign trade, business, science and technology, simultaneous interpretation, international law and so on. With the vigorous development of social English schools and the influx of foreign English training institutions, the English book market is extremely rich and diversified. All these indicate that English education in China has begun to enter the market-oriented era of synchronous development with social economy.
(2) Socialization
Socialization is the inevitable result of marketization, which is mainly reflected in the socialization of teaching subjects, teaching resources, teaching standards and evaluation methods. The socialization of teaching subjects shows that the original pattern of English education in schools at all levels in China, including universities, middle schools, primary schools and kindergartens, has been broken. At present, public schools at all levels, private schools at all levels, various social institutions and various training institutions with private capital and foreign investment coexist, compete with each other and complement each other. English teachers in the state-owned school system also participate in social class teaching activities on a large scale, which are organized by schools, employed by social educational institutions and run by teachers themselves. The situation of students is similar. They usually study English in regular schools, and have English classes in various training departments and cram schools in the society at night, weekends and holidays. There are also a large number of people in society who participate in various English learning projects in various ways, either for promotion or for finding a job. Educational resources-all kinds of tangible and intangible social material and knowledge forces, including teachers, school buildings and teaching materials-play a role in the whole social English education system inside and outside the school. Socialization of educational standards and evaluation means that the English proficiency standard that employers use in job recruitment is not only the level of academic qualifications, but also includes socialized English proficiency tests and English tests set by employers themselves.
(3) Examination-oriented
Although there are endless criticisms of exam-oriented education every year, exam-oriented education must have its irresistible historical reasons and practical needs. Maybe exam-oriented education is not as terrible as some critics say. After all, English education in China has been developing and prospering steadily. Perhaps this is the only realistic choice for English education in China in this specific historical period. In any case, the reality is unavoidable. From primary school to middle school, to university, and even to graduate students and doctoral students, they all learn English for the first time, such as English for senior high school entrance examination, English for college entrance examination, English for postgraduate entrance examination, English for postgraduate entrance examination and so on. In addition, TOEFL, GRE, IELTS and other international English tests driven by the upsurge of going abroad, as well as English tests of various grades, have become one of the unavoidable realities of English education in China. Various inevitable English tests have become a milestone for English learners in China. Objectively speaking, exam-oriented education has not only produced its inevitable negative effects, but also greatly promoted English education in China. How to deal with the negative impact of exam-oriented education is a long-term problem faced by English education in China.
spoken language
Before the reform and opening up, China's English education was mainly written, but since the beginning of the new century, the demand for direct dialogue between China people and foreigners has increased dramatically, and the importance of spoken English has become prominent. In view of this change in social demand, English listening and speaking ability is put in the first place in school and social English teaching, personal English self-study, English publishing industry, various mass media propaganda and official policy guidance. College English Curriculum Requirements (Ministry of Education, People's Republic of China (PRC), 2004) clearly states: "Among the above three levels, the requirements for college English teaching are divided into three levels, namely, general requirements, higher requirements and higher requirements, taking into account the vast territory of China and the great differences among regions and universities. In the cultivation of listening, speaking, reading, writing and translation, colleges and universities should pay special attention to the cultivation and training of listening and speaking ability. " The importance of oral English teaching has been completely established in history. English teaching in China has always been based on reading and writing. Whether we can keep pace with the times, get rid of the inertia of the traditional teaching mode and turn to the new English teaching mode of "giving priority to listening and speaking, paying equal attention to reading and writing" (Liu Runqing, 2002) to meet the new demand of China society for English application and English talents will be a severe test for English teaching in China.
(5) Bilingual
Bilingual teaching in China can be traced back to various missionary schools established by western missionaries in China in the19th century. Therefore, critics often dismiss bilingual teaching as "colonial education color", which almost completely faded in the 1950s and 1960s. At the end of 20th century, bilingual teaching rose again in China. Try bilingual teaching in some key kindergartens, primary schools, middle schools and famous universities in economically developed areas. At the beginning of the new century, the Ministry of Education's "Several Opinions on Strengthening Undergraduate Teaching and Improving Teaching Quality" proposed to "actively promote the use of foreign languages such as English for teaching" and "strive to set up 5%- 10% of foreign language courses within three years". Since then, bilingual teaching has developed rapidly. Some theorists agree with this. For example, Brinton et al.( 1989) thinks that bilingual teaching will directly promote students' English learning and improve their English level. Cai Jigang (2005) also said: "English is a tool. Only by learning scientific knowledge extensively through English as a tool and learning and using it in practical application can we really develop our English ability. I am afraid this is also the success of church college English teaching before liberation. " Of course, some people questioned, "Can non-language classes be more clear and time-saving in English than in Chinese?" (Wang Zongyan, 2005) The author thinks that bilingualism can increase the proportion to about 30% in university courses, but it should not be widely promoted in middle schools. Overflow does more harm than good, while moderate harm does more good. In any case, the choice of social practice has its own rules, and bilingual English teaching, a new thing, is the general trend and will surely become another booster of English education in China.
(vi) Informatization
Informatization mainly refers to making full use of modern information technology in English teaching. With the rapid development of modern information technology, its achievements include satellite TV, computer, network, software and various digital electronic products and technologies, which have been widely used in English teaching and learning, such as doing English problems on the computer, listening to English classes online, QQ English conversation, listening to English songs on MP3, listening to English short messages on mobile phones, watching American CNN and British BBC TV programs at home and so on. Information technology has brought us a wide variety of convenient and cheap English teaching resources. According to Hu Zhuanglin (2004), after experiencing oral civilization and reading and writing civilization, human beings are "entering the third period, that is, hypertext culture". Hypertext not only develops strengths and avoids weaknesses in dictation, reading and writing, but also creates and is creating methods of expressing, transmitting, storing and translating information that space and time do not have. It is this hypertext culture that has triggered the information development trend of English teaching in China.
At the beginning of the new century, the top English education officials in China have issued some new documents that can guide English teaching in China, such as English Curriculum Standards for Full-time Compulsory Education and College English Curriculum Requirements. The former puts forward "using audio-visual education and network resources to enrich teaching content and form and improve classroom teaching effect;" Using computers and multimedia teaching software to explore new teaching modes and promote personalized learning "(Ministry of Education, 2001); The latter recommends "Computer-based and Classroom-based English Multimedia Teaching Mode" and "Computer-based English Learning Process" (People's Republic of China (PRC) Ministry of Education, 2004). This shows that the top management has confirmed and promoted the trend of English teaching informatization in China. Making full use of the advantages brought by informatization will be one of the important means to improve teaching efficiency and teaching effect.
virtualization
Parallel to the trend of informatization is the rise of virtual English teaching. Informationization has brought about mass, diversity, openness, convenience, rapidity, cheapness, simplicity, autonomy, individuality and transcending the limitations of time and space. We call it "virtual English teaching", which corresponds to the traditional entity English teaching based on campus classroom teaching. Virtual English teaching can be divided into narrow sense and broad sense: the narrow sense of virtual English teaching refers to online English teaching, that is, English teaching courses conducted through computers and the Internet. Virtual English teaching in a broad sense includes not only English teaching in a narrow sense, but also all direct English teaching and learning through modern information technology means such as computerization, networking, digitalization, electronization, multimedia, informationization, mass media, satellite and modern educational technology, as well as other activities related to English teaching.
The essential feature of virtual English teaching is man-machine cooperation, which is different from traditional entity teaching. Obviously, virtual English teaching in a broad sense has entered the daily life of hundreds of millions of people and has become an important supplement to the traditional campus entity English teaching. Human society has entered the digital age. With the emergence and rapid development of emerging information technologies such as grid computer, the third generation Internet, wireless Internet and satellite TV, virtual English teaching will become more economical, practical, fast, convenient, diverse and humanized, and will be more popular. The author boldly predicts that virtual English teaching, a century-long change in English teaching, will be integrated with traditional campus entity English teaching in the near future and become one of the two mainstream ways of English teaching. In some aspects, virtual English teaching may even replace physical English teaching.
(8) diversification
Diversification is one of the mainstream development trends in China today. In line with this mainstream trend, English education in China is also showing a diversified trend. This trend is mainly manifested in English teaching needs, educational institutions and teaching subjects, teaching media, teaching materials, English language, teaching models and educational concepts.
1. Diversification of English education needs
The diversification of English education needs is first reflected in some industries that have direct and strong demand for English, such as foreign trade, foreign trade and foreign affairs, foreign-funded enterprises, tourism and other social institutions and organizations. With China's further deepening of reform, opening up and economic globalization, industries such as culture, education, health and sports will also join the internationalization process to varying degrees, which will inevitably lead to the diversified demand for English talents from different industries, majors, fields, levels, specifications and styles, and will inevitably trigger and promote the diversified trend of English teaching in China.
2. English educational institutions and teaching subjects are diversified.
Before the reform and opening up, educational institutions mainly included state-owned primary schools, middle schools and universities. After the reform and opening up, private capital and foreign capital began to be allowed to enter the education industry, and English teaching is the most demanding and fastest growing in the education field, so new capital naturally poured into the English education industry first. There are various levels and types of private schools, social institutions, short and fast training centers, cram schools, summer camps, etc. The diversified capital gave birth to a diversified scene.
In diversified teaching institutions, in addition to teachers with traditional English major background, a large number of teachers with non-English major background teach other professional courses in English in bilingual teaching; Many native English speakers flock to China to teach English courses and other professional courses in schools or social institutions at different levels. There is also a class of English teachers in China who are not English majors but are proficient in English exams. This kind of "test English teacher" is very popular among the students of social education institutions specializing in English test-oriented training. It can be seen that the sources of English teachers in China are diversified. This is especially true for English learners in China. In today's China, besides primary school students, middle school students and college students, there are also kindergarten children, white-collar and blue-collar workers of foreign-funded enterprises, bosses and employees of foreign trade and economic cooperation enterprises, and many civil servants, lawyers, accountants, engineers, professional managers, artists, journalists, models, presenters and foreign businessmen who are interested in entering the international stage and market for a raise and promotion. With the upsurge of English learning in China, it has become a general trend for English learners to become more diversified.
3. Diversification of English teaching media
With the development of informationization and virtualization, the teaching media has developed from "a blackboard and a piece of chalk" in ancient times to the great integration of tradition, modernity and information technology in three different periods. Traditional media include visual teaching AIDS (such as teachers' body movements, oral language, printed matter, blackboard, chalk, objects, models and specimens, etc.). ) and schematic teaching AIDS (such as pictures, drawings, cards, wall charts, charts, maps, road maps and photos). ); Modern teaching media include visual media (such as slides, projections, etc. ), audio media (such as radio, audio-visual media, such as television, movies and videos) and single media systems (such as language laboratories). ); IT teaching media include VCD, DVD, MP3, mobile phones and multimedia systems (such as computers and wired local area networks). ) and hypermedia systems (such as the Internet). With the continuous development of science and technology, the diversification of teaching media has become a part of English teaching in China.
4. Diversification of English textbooks
The diversification of English textbooks is mainly manifested in the diversification of textbook sources, carriers, contents and brands. With the deepening of education reform, the situation of "one textbook for the whole country" has completely changed. At present, the book market provides an unprecedented variety of teaching materials, reference materials and supplementary resources. In addition to local books, more and more original English books have been introduced. Moreover, on the basis of the huge increment of traditional paper texts, various electronic teaching materials have appeared, and audio-visual materials have also developed and increased on a large scale due to the application of digital technology. The content of teaching materials tends to be diversified, from simple general English, that is, nuclear English, to English in various professions and industries. The brands of English textbooks have also changed from a few monopolized time-honored brands such as Xu Guozhang English and New Concept English to competition among many brands.
5. Diversification of English standards
In the early days of English development, it was generally believed that British English was standard English. After World War II, Britain weakened, the United States rose, and the influence of American English gradually expanded, challenging the status of British English as standard English. At the end of last century, English gradually established its position as an international common language, the concept of standard English gradually faded out, and the concepts of "international English" or "world English" began to appear. For example, the English announcers of Radio China International include native English speakers from Britain, the United States, Canada and Australia, and native English speakers from China. In the English education market in China, many ethnic English compete on the same stage. "The educational standard of English has changed from' a star' to' a galaxy'" (Gao, 2000).
6. Diversification of English teaching modes
Theoretically, various new model ideas are constantly emerging. For example, Peng Qinglong (1999)' s "three-dimensional oral teaching method", Wang Chuming (2000, 2002)' s "writing length method" and Yang Hehu (2003)' s "continuous writing teaching mode". Some also put forward a new macro model for English teaching in middle schools, such as Zhang Zhengdong's "three-dimensional teaching method" (1999); Others put forward new general modes of college English teaching, such as "student-centered thematic teaching mode" by Ying Huilan and others (1998) and "multilateral college English teaching mode" by Xie Bangxiu (2002). According to the national syllabus, there are task-based teaching mode advocated by English Curriculum Standards for Full-time Compulsory Education Senior Middle Schools (Ministry of Education, 200 1) and computer-based and classroom-based English multimedia teaching mode introduced by College English Curriculum Requirements (Ministry of Education, People's Republic of China (PRC), 2004).
In practice, different regions and schools adopt different teaching modes: some insist on grammar and translation teaching and adopt the ancient and eternal grammar translation method; Some are still practicing, insisting on the popular listening and speaking method in the 1960 s; Others use task-based approach to carry out communicative ideas to the end, and so on. Most teachers, in their own classes, adhere to the principle of pragmatism and adopt a compromise method (Fan,1999; Liu, 2002), foreign things serve China, the past serves the present, and he serves me. There is not only a return to the traditional method basis, but also a fanatical pursuit of popular methods. The most representative thing in the new century is that Shanghai University has conducted two years of experiments on the reform of various teaching modes of college English, and students can freely choose among various teaching modes (Mao et al., 2004). No matter what the final result is, the reform experiment itself has shown the world that the pluralistic era of English teaching mode in China has begun.
7. Diversification of English education ideas
In addition to the above diversification, there is also a more essential diversification of English education concepts. From adhering to the traditional view of language knowledge and language skills (such as Li,1995; Dong Yafen, 2003; Luo, Shi, 2004), with modern language function view and language communication view (such as Wang Cairen,1996; Xu Qiang, 2000; Dong Yafen, 2003), and then to post-linguistic culturalism (such as, Gao,1997; Liu Runqing, 1999), cognitive view (such as Liu Runqing,1999; Yuen San Wong,1999; Cao, 2003) and constructivism (such as Zhong Shuneng, 2004; Tianxing, 2005), etc. On the concept of English education, English teaching in China presents a diversified development trend of multi-form, multi-pole and multi-direction. In particular, we should applaud the diversified development trend of this concept, because it is very important for the development of English education in China and even any other cause, including economic prosperity, social progress and national rejuvenation. In a sense, China's reform and opening up since 1978 is actually the beginning of the process of diversification of values, and the great achievements made since the reform and opening up are also the results of diversification of values.
Verb (abbreviation of verb) conclusion
Looking at the above trends, we can see that English education in China is prosperous and full of vitality in the new century. Marketization introduces commercial mechanism, which injects strong economic impetus into English education in China; Socialization has opened up more channels and more development space for English education in China. Exam-taking is helpful to establish competition mechanism and objective evaluation criteria; Spoken English makes China English education bid farewell to the embarrassing situation of "deaf-mute English" completely; Bilingual system has created a new way for English education in China. Informationization has given wings to English education in China. Virtualization marks that English education in China has opened a new era in which classroom learning and autonomous learning go hand in hand, and physical teaching and virtual teaching develop in parallel. Diversification is an inevitable reflection of the great social changes in English education in China in the past few decades, and it is also an important task for English education in China to continue in the new century. Gao (2000) put it well: "In the past half century, people's way of thinking has gradually shifted from absolute to relative, from monism to pluralism, from intolerance to multiculturalism." Openness is the last word, development is the last word, and change is the norm. English education in China is changing and developing with unprecedented openness.