Tag Archives: foreign agony uncle

Real English fluency: just for fools?

Why study English in China vexes the masses who study for years without mastery. It baffles foreigners in China who find it hard to communicate even with college grads who have studied the language for more than a decade. This despondent letter from a cynical Chinese guy teaching English to fellow country people suggests that mastery isn’t the point. Language study is about memorizing just enough of it to pass standardized tests, and teaching means taking whatever steps needed to get there.

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Fear of being an informed fool

Chinese college students who show for lectures, sit in the front rows and finish their homework naturally know the answers to questions raised in class. But they are so afraid of the humiliation that would follow from a wrong answer, or from unpolished delivery of the right one, that they freeze up when given chances to shine.

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