English linguistic imperialism and English learning in China英语论文.doc

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1、1.Powerful position of EnglishLanguage is the tool which is used to express certain opinions and communicate with others by human beings. All the languages should be equal in that they possess same function of commnication. There is not an advanced or a primitive language. But there are indeed some

2、languages that are more popular than others and then become dominant. English is one of them.English is regarded as an international language or even global language of world because of its wide use and dominant position.Among six billion of the global population, mother tongue of 380 million people

3、 is English. About 250 million people regard it as a second foreign language. According to the relative forecast,by 2050 a half of the world population very fluently. So far, English has been being used for global trade, commercial documents, governmental commnication, academic dissertation, tourism

4、, traffic transportation and so on. Besides,80% of globally electronic information is stored in English.About the leading role which English plays in international communication all over the world, a government Minister from Sri Lanka is quoted as saying that for one tenth of the money they pay for

5、“Star Wars” the Americans can get the whole of Asia listening to their president. English teaching is a bigger weapon in the armoury of the English speaking peoples than star wars.In the view of the Ford Foundations language projiects officer, English as a Second Language(ESL) was believed to be a v

6、ital key to development by Indonesia, Thailand,India,Turkey,Afghnistan,Egypt,Nigeria，Colombia,and Peru. In fact,many scholars think that the discourse accomanying and legitimating the export of English has been equated with progress and proserity.2.Why is English so popualr?In history there were sev

7、eral languages once taken as international languages.But up till now, why is English the global language,and not some others? About the question, I want to explain the reasons from socio-cultural perspective.It is well-known that a language becomes an international language for one chief reason: the

8、 political power of its speakers,particular their military power.However,in my opinino,it is more accurate to combine spread of language with overall power of a country,including politics and military.2.1 Political and Economic PerspectivesOn detailed conditions of this aspect, I want to take an exa

9、mple of the development of Britain and America during recent 200years.At the end of the nineteenth century, the British Empire covers nearly a third of the earths surface and British subjects are almost a fourth of the population of the world,becoming “an empire on which the sun never sets.”In order

10、 to strengthen the great achivement and govern the colonies conveniently, the British government forced the natives to speak English as a gurantor,as well as a symbol of unity.But international language dominance is not only the result of political and military power. To maitain and expand the domin

11、ance of English in the world,its more essential and practical to rely on powerful economy. After the Industrial Revolution,British began to enjoy its position as the workshop of the world.The linguistic consequences of this achievement were far-reaching. The new terminology of technological and scie

12、ntific advance added tens of thousands of words to the English lexion.Whats more,if those people wished to understand innovations from abroad,they also need to learn English first.That is to say, English became to “access to the new knowledge.”After World War Two,America became the strongest country

13、 in the world,especially in the economic field. I think many people must hear of “money talks”of America. In fact, the language in which it was shouting loudly and is still doing now is chiefly English.2.2 The Cultural DevelopmentWhen asked the reasons that so many nations have in recent years chose

14、n English as their chief foreign language in schools,one of them is related to the development of education.In the mordern times,many countries have realized progress and prosperity of a country must rely on the development of education, for which it can supply huge intellectuals to the advancement

15、of politics,economy, culture and other aspects. Therefore, lots of poor-developed countries,especially from central and estern ones, actively follow education of Europe and America.In this case, English has a great market on a global scale.Besides, nowadays the media is becoming the center of everyo

16、nes life-the press radio,advertising,and especially television. It enhances the linkage among different people, countries and parties.Just because of the enormous use, it also a tremendous role in the promotion and spread of English.3. The Influence of English Globalization.English globalization can

17、 be called “English Impeialism.”It has had a strong effect on less-developed countries,especially The Third Countries. Although English popularity or English globalization benefits the world in three aspects: (1) It provides a tool for people all over the world to communicate with each other. (2) It

18、 accelerates the economic development the whole world. Now the USA is the most formidable nation in the world, especially of its economy and science. Many a innovation and invention are from America. Through learning from it, lots of time and capital can be saved. (3) It adapts to the need of global

19、ization for present and future .However, every coin has two sides. English globalization also brings about great negative consequences.With the further deepning of economic globalization, western culture began to erode lifestyle, different set of values and world view of nonspeaking countries.About

20、this phenomenon, we call “English Hegemony”, which it means “English Imperialism”.In other words,it has won an overwhelming advantage over other languages.To some extent, other languages or people speaking others would be controlled.English Imperialism or hegemony generates and reproduces a number o

21、f adverse effects.As it follows:1 Inequality between English speakers and nonEnglish speakers.In most international communication,English is used dominantly, repressing the of other languages.As a result, nonEnglish speakers become only deaf and mute,unless they master English or interpreters transl

22、ate for them.2The impact of the hegemony of English is not limited only to languages and cmmunications,but its influence expands to cultural domains.There is no doubt that the United States is in a position to create,change and control culture,information of the world to their own liking,because the

23、y are the exporter of Americanmade cultural commodities. Eventually,it is leading to changes in the space of everyday life,but also make a number of people gravitate towards the American and western way of life.Whats more,it can produce the colonization of the mind,which controlls the inner world of

24、 nonEnglish speakers.3 Owing to English hegemony or imperialism,there is currently a sence of urgency among many applied linguists over the accelerated rate of language loss. Now there are approximately 6000 languages in the world.It is estimated that unless measures are taken, only 200 to 250 will

25、remain by the end of the next century.During the period of the British expansion and the American imperialism since the 17th century untill now, English has always been along with military, political and economic conquest. After military occupation,the language occupation occurred.From the socio-cul

26、tural perspective,colonizers have often institued language policies based on the view that their own language and culture were better than those of indigenous groups.Take an example of how political economic and educational conditions result in language shift. In 1893,the Hawiaiian monarchy was over

27、thrown by U.S.businessmen after a military attack and then the economic position of Hawiaiians had been earlier drstically weakened through a “land division”plan which led to much of the Hawiaiian lands falling into hands of missonaries,businessmen and political advisors. Given a much weakened polit

28、ical and economic position,during the first half of the 20th century many Hawiaiians saw assimilation into American language and culture as the only viable avenue for ensuring their childrens future economic wellbeing. In addtion,Britain and the USA establish a hegemonic situation in which the parti

29、cipant structures, questioning styles, social organization of lessons of the mainstream culture are valued over those of the cultural communities of indigenous population. Under this circumstance,the natives will have to give up their own language to learn dominant English so as to survive in the ne

30、w economic society of cut-throat competition.And with the time passing by,those using indigenous language become less and less and the majority of them are old.When the old dies,.the language dies with them.4. English Education in China.English education doest have a long history in China,whose deve

31、lopment is very slow.Until 1980s, with the implementation of reform and open, the population of English just make great progress.Nowadays English teaching in China is quite hot and going to be a new industry. There are many institutes offering English teaching. They can be classified into two major

32、categories: (1) official institutes, ()private institutes. The official English teaching refers to English teaching provided by the normal national education system,which includes every kind of educational institute supported by the government,such as the primary school,the middle school,the high sc

33、hool,the university and the other forms of college educational institutes. The official English teaching system takes the major jobs of teaching English.Although the number of those learning English is on a large scale,some problems exist in English education.At present,English learning and teaching

34、 has become the forcus of the language teaching and has won more attention than Chinese.The result is the level of Chinese of the public is deteriorating and the status of English is promoted. Some Chinese people even think that English is better than Chinese and they just encourage their children t

35、o learn English from very early age,some around two or three.In addition,the students in middle schools and high schools have the same amount of time of Enligsh lessons and Chinese.But at their spare time they spend much more time on Enligsh.In universities few of them set Chinese courses except the

36、 departments of Chinese.As for these malpractices,necessary measures should be taken to maintain the main status of Chinese and avoid the danger of language shift and language change and even language loss.About it, I want to analyze it from two perspectives: the Governmental and nonGovernmental ins

37、titutes.4.1 Approches from the Governmental PerspectiveFirst, the government should clearly define Enligsh as foreign language. Some linguists suggest that Enligsh should be a second language for Chinese people.In my opinion,its unnecessary. That foreign language and second language are usually the

38、former colonies or occupied by Enligshspeaking countries,and Enligsh is usually the official language.However,China doesnt possess this experience. So far Chinese government and people just view Enligsh as a tool for wider communication.Second, Ministry of Education should take administrative measur

39、es to lighten pressure of Enligsh teachers and free the mind of Chinese students from the shackle of Enligsh hegemony. In fact,grasping Enligsh is different from being dominated by Enligsh. Currently Enligsh is just a foreign language which is more widely used than Chinese.But we absolutely dont hav

40、e to subordinate to Enligsh. In contrast,what we should do is to maintain peoples loyalty to Chinese.Third,what the government can do is to cultivate Enligsh teachers of hige quality.People engaged in Enligsh teaching in China are large in quantity,but poor in quality. Therefore, the government shou

41、ld train more qualified Enligsh teachers. Those ones should know how to teach the language following the requirement of the national language policies and they can to fulfill the task of teaching Enligsh and maintaining Chinese simultaneously.Last, governmental restrictions on cultures of Enligsh sp

42、eaking countries,especially the United States should be carried out.Culture and language has intimate relations.Language is part of culture and an expression of culture.Culture is more diversified and beguiling than language. Culture has the ability of penetrating and influencing unconsciously.Our s

43、tudents should be educated more Chinese literature and Chinese.China is one of the oldest countries in the world with a long history.The poems in Tang and Song Dynasties,the drama in Yuan Dynasty,and the novels in Tsing and Ming Dynasties are all the distillate of Chinese culture.4.2 Approches from

44、the Non-Governmental PerspectiveThe language strategists and elites who are related most closely to language planning are the linguists and language teachers.They play a direct role in the process of language affairs.If they have some actions on the language choice or promotion,a large portion of th

45、e public will follow for their actions are more practical than the governmental policies in written forms. This is nongovernmental language planning.First,As English teachers, in the process of English teaching,ones should add some Chinese philosophy, Chinese history, Chinese religion and Chinese ar

46、ts and literature.That is to say, Chinese culutures are the content and English is the media.Because communication is mutual,we should not only teach English to Chinese,but also tell Chinese students how to present our Chinese culutures and traditions to foreigners.Second,as for Chinese language,we

47、should make the public realize the deterioration of the ability of Chinese people to use their native language. Chinese writers, scholars and linguists should give warning about the situation and appeal for a movement of Chinese improvement.These elites of Chinese language are quite influential and

48、authoritative in this field and their suggestions and warnings will be helpful to some extent.At the same time, Chinese teachers play an essential role. Chinese teachers should first perfect their Chinese language ailities and other intellectuals can also make some contributions for the promotion of

49、 Chinese.Conclusion:This dissertation has investigated English linguistic imperialism and English learning in China,and in the meantime offered some approches to govern English linguistic imperialism and guide English learning efficiently. To meet the demand of modernization,we must learn English to know the world,but traditional culture of China shouldnt be abandoned.We can also show Chinese culuture to foreign countries while learning English. In othe