Exporting Language Teaching Methods from Canada to China

Abstract

ESL specialists at the present time have no conceptual framework to guide them in deciding whether teaching methods developed in one country are appropriate for the educational systems of other countries. Because of the lack of such a framework, three problems are emerging as Canadian and Chinese ESL specialists wrestle with the difficulties involved in exporting Canadian teaching methods to the People's Republic of China. These problems stem from not seeing development as multidimensional, from confusion about the relationship between scientific and educational theories, and from the worldwide presence and ac- THE NEED FOR A FRAMEWORK ceptance of technocratic imperialism. Some responses are suggested to the educational practices of modelling and memorization in China. It is suggested that these practices are not dysfunctional within the current educational theory in China that places high value on certain types of teacher-student interactions and on human interactions mediated by shared values which inhere in the canon of texts known as Marxism Leninism-Mao Zi-Dong thought. It is suggested that the teaching practices ESL teachers observe in China are not trivial or accidental, but inherent and important in the fabric of Chinese society.