中国英语研究及其对大学英语的教学启示

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Introduction

The author’s interest in Chinese English was first prompted by the book A Guide

to Chinglish, and then the interest was converted to the study of China English after

reading the article written by professor Zhang Peicheng (1995:16-21): The International

or Intranational Use of English and It’s National Varieties.

In China, the study of China English can be traced back to the 1980s. Professor

Ge Chuangui first presented the term “China English” in 1980. In the first ten years, it

seemed that the study of China English did not attract much attention from the English

circle of China.

But from the beginning of the last decade, a debate on China English has started.

Some scholars hold that China English is an institutionalized variety of English, while

some others hold that China English is a performance variety or an interference variety

of English. However there are still no sufficient conditions for China English to be an

institutionalized variety. It is only a hypothesis, so it needs to be proven in some ways or

other. This issue arouses the author’s interest to make a tentative study on China

English.

Another reason for the author to do research on this topic is that China English has

a great influence on intercultural communication and the College English Teaching in

China, especially on cultivating the students’ expressiveness of Chinese culture in

English.

Professor Wang Zongyan (1993:1-6) says that intercultural communication is a

dual-reaction. A lot of foreigners are interested in Chinese traditional culture, and often

ask some questions in this respect, such as something about Confucius and

Confucianism, Mencius and Qigong, etc.. However, many college students in China do

not pay due attention to it, and even some English teachers know little about that, so

they cannot give a satisfactory answer to these questions. This phenomenon is called by

Cong Cong (2000) the Chinese Culture Aphasia in intercultural communication. As a

result of Chinese Cultural Aphasia in English learning, the intercultural communication

is adversely affected. This indicates that there exist problems in College English

Teaching. Chinese college students have learnt English for many years but still cannot

express themselves clearly in English to foreigners, especially when they are talking

about topics concerning Chinese culture.

A Study of China English and Its Significance to College English Teaching

In order to find out the causes of this problem and seek solutions to it, the author

carries out a series of surveys by using questionnaires and tests. It is found that there

exists Chinese Culture Aphasia among college non-English majors. The causes of

Chinese Culture Aphasia are also investigated.

Fortunately, an increasing number of English teachers are aware that we need

English to explain Chinese culture and express our opinions on occasions of

international exchanges. If we enhance the practice of students’ self-expressive

competence in College English Teaching, we will certainly contribute a lot to China’s

intercultural communication. This is the role that College English Teaching should play

in English education.

China English, as an English variety, is an important carrier of Chinese culture in

intercultural communication. Therefore, it is fitting and proper that we introduce China

English into English textbooks so that students can be familiarized with English

expressions of Chinese culture.

This dissertation has altogether four chapters.

Chapter one is the literature review of the present study. In this chapter some basic

theories and some scholars’ opinions related to the study will be introduced. Topics such

as Kachru’s theory of globalization and localization of English, English varieties, the

presentation of the term China English, the relationship between language and culture,

and theories of intercultural communication are discussed.

Chapter two mainly studies China English and Chinese English. This chapter

includes the definition of China English, linguistic features of China English and

Chinese English respectively, the intelligibility and acceptability of China English, and

the relationship between China English and Chinese English.

Chapter three is mainly devoted to some research concerning College English

Teaching in China. Some questionnaires and tests will be carried out in this chapter to

find out the problems existing in current College English Teaching in China. The

problem of Chinese Culture Aphasia is discussed in great detail.

Chapter four is about the solutions and suggestions for the problems. The ways to

incorporate Chinese culture into College English textbooks and the principles of

incorporation will be discussed in this chapter. An experiment is conducted to test the

effectiveness of incorporating materials of China English into English classroom

teaching.

Introduction

To sum up, the dissertation has three aims. The first one is to prove the objective

existence of China English and to explore its nature. The second one is to find out

problems existing in College English Teaching, especially in the current college English

textbooks. These problems hinder successful intercultural communication in some ways

and impede the spread of Chinese culture in the world to a certain extent. The third one

is to try to solve the problems by means of incorporating the contents of Chinese culture

into English teaching, especially into college English textbooks, which also proves

important in college English education and in intercultural communication.

A Study of China English and Its Significance to College English Teaching

Chapter One

Literature Review

§1.1 World Englishes1: A Study of English Varieties

§1.1.1Globalization and Nativization of English

Although the question of English as a Lingual Franca is still debatable among

some scholars, the globalization (or internationalization) of English is actually on the

way. The globalization of English can be shown from the following facts:

It is reported that English is now spoken by about 470 million people all over the

world, and it is the official language of about 45 nations. It is also the most commonly

used auxiliary language in the world. The United Nations uses English not only as one

of its official languages but also as one of its two working languages. As a result,

English has become the most widely used language in the world

(http://www.bartleby.com/65/en/Englsh-lan.html).

The globalization of English brings about the nativization of English. The term

“nativization” (or “localization”) means “a process of language change by which the

new variety of English becomes distinct from the parent imparted variety, and from

other indigenized varieties elsewhere” (Kachru, 1992) That is to say, nativizaiton is the

process of language change in a non-native contexts where a language is adapted to this

contexts. When English is undergoing nativization, it bears new linguistic features at all

linguistic levels. Just as Kachru (1992) has pointed out that “once English was adapted

in a region, whether, for science, technology, literature prestige, elitism, or

modernization, it went through various incarnations that were partly linguistic and

partly cultural.”

The “nativization” of English results in different varieties of English. The term

“variety of language” (or just “variety” for short) can be used to refer to different

manifestation of a language. (R. A, Hudson, 2000) As a result, localized forms of

English, such as Indian English, Singaporean English, Japanese English—the distinct

varieties of English, have emerged and used.

With China’s opening up to the outside world and its entry into WTO, English is

1The term “World Englishes” was coined by Kachru when talking about Indian English in 1970s. He uses the term

World Englishes to recognized the diverse pluralistic contexts within which communities and nations use English. In

1985, Kachru and Larry E. Smith issued a periodical concerning the study of the global spread of English, and the

periodical was named World Englishes.

Chapter One Literature Review

becoming increasingly important. In big cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, some

children learn to speak English at a very early age. Most educated youths can speak

English.

Since 1978, the diffusion of English has been promoted at a fast speed. Nowadays

there are more and more means for Chinese people to gain access to English in China.

There are many TV channels of English including CCTV 9 and many other local

English channels. English radio channels also open to Chinese English learners, such as

China Radio International (CRI). There are also various English newspapers and

magazines appeared within China including newspapers published in China and some

imported ones. The success of China in its bidding for 2008 Olympic Games and its

entry into WTO has accelerated the spread of English in China. English as an

International Language1has become an indispensable tool for the Chinese people to

communicate with the outside world. English has come to affect China in many aspects

such as, culture, economy, and life style.

As we have mentioned, the globalization of English will definitely result in

nativization of English, which means that different English varieties will appear.

Accordingly, with the nativization of English in China, a new variety of English－China

English has also come into being.

§1.1.2 The Presentation of the Term “China English”

In 1980, professor Ge Chuangui first used the term “China English” in his article

“A Talk on Chinese-English Translation”（Ge Chuangui, 1980）. At that time, some

foreigners said that there were some words which did not conform to the native

speakers’ in some English books published in China. These foreigners thought that those

words could not be used and said that they were Chinese English or Chinglish.

Professor Ge did not agree with that and pointed out that “the English language is a

language of English people, so every other nation should observe the rules of native

English. But every country has its own particular phenomena. There are also some

particular things of our own to be expressed, no matter in old China or in new China.”

Ge also gave some examples in his article.

From the Chinese history, we have the expressions like “四书”, “五经”, “八股文”,

1The term “International Language” was first used by L. Smith in his “English as an international auxiliary

language” in 1976.

A Study of China English and Its Significance to College English Teaching

“秀才”, “ 举人” , “ 进士”and so on. There are no ready-made words to express those

Chinese culture-loaded terms in English language. The above Chinese expressions can

be translated as “Four Books”, “Five Classics”, “eight-legged essay”, “xiucai”, “juren”,

and “jinshi”. The same are true of some peculiar things in new China, such as, “四个现代

化”(four modernizations) and “白话文”(baihuawen). Ge thought that those words were

not Chinese English or Chinglish but China English. (Ge Chuangui, 1980)

He held the view that China English was the inevitable product in expressing

phenomena specific to Chinese culture. He also admitted that it was difficult for

foreigners to understand these expressions, but with explanations, they could understand

them (Ge Chuanggui, 1980).

Professor Ge only advanced the term China English in his article, but he neither

studied it as an English variety nor did he give a definition to China English. But from

what he talked in the article, we can summarize the following features of China English:

1) China English refers to the vocabulary expressing phenomena peculiar to China. It

may cause some difficulty in communication, but can be understood with further

explanations. 2) English grammar rules must be obeyed when we use China English. 3)

China English is different from Chinese English.

After Ge coined the term “China English”, Wang Rongpei (1991:1-8) wrote an

article to prove the objective existence of China English. In his article, Wang believes

that “China English is an outcome of the combination of English language spoken by

native speakers and Chinese social culture. It is an objective existence. ” By Wang’s

argument, we can safely say that China English is also a variety of English and a

member of the family of World Englishes. In this big family, we have many English

varieties such as: Indian English, Japanese English and so on.

Since we have so many English varieties, the questions will arise: Are there any

differences or similarities between them? Can they be classified? In order to answer

these questions, let’s study Kachru’s Theory of Three Concentric Circles of World

Englishes.

§1.1.3 Theory of Three Concentric Circles of World Englishes

§1.1.3.1 A Brief Introduction of Kachru and His Researches

To know the founder of a discipline and his or her achievements is an effective

way to get into the discipline. So, if we want to study the theory of the globalization of

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摘要：

Introduction1IntroductionTheauthor’sinterestinChineseEnglishwasfirstpromptedbythebookAGuidetoChinglish,andthentheinterestwasconvertedtothestudyofChinaEnglishafterreadingthearticlewrittenbyprofessorZhangPeicheng(1995:16-21):TheInternationalorIntranationalUseofEnglishandIt’sNationalVarieties.InChina,t...

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