Page 30 - ELG1903 Mar-Apr Issue 464

IATEFL special .

T
Teach ineach in

China
China

Mark Krzanowski talks to Lisa Magloff

about the challenges and opportunities Mark Krzanowski feels that teaching EAP in HE institution
to do something which is new and different, such as exper
on the EAP agenda at Chinese universities.

ecent years have witnessed listening or speaking it is a shock to the system through extracurricular activities such as
an unprecedented growth in to these students. poetry nights, dubbing competitions, and
the delivery of Transnational Anyone thinking of teaching in China will TED Talk-like events. In my experience,
Education (TNE) courses also need to be prepared for dealing with a these activities make students less self-
Rworldwide. This is especially true monolingual and mono-cultural class. The aware and able to produce language more
of English for Academic Purposes (EAP), Confucian system of values have somehow spontaneously, without feeling constrained
Foundation and dual degree courses offered made Chinese students relatively shy, because by the rigour of the classroom.
by Anglophone universities in China. you need to always be harmony-seeking, I also found that students would often drop
consensus-seeking. by to have a chat with me in the office later in
What has created this growth in TNE To cope with this, teachers should be the evening between 6 and 9 pm, because by so
courses in China?
able to demonstrate how students work doing they didn’t feel stress or anxiety and
Mark: This is linked to the fact that an internationally. This can be done by showing would communicate much more confidently.
investment in a university degree in an ‘Inner videos of a classroom and by engaging students
Circle’ country is now too costly for most in kinaesthetic activities and collaborative What qualifi cations should tutors of TNE
international students, who instead wish to work in pairs or groups. Still, students in EAP in China have?
opt for a more affordable option at home. China are often surprised by teaching methods Mark: I have found that relatively few tutors
A number of British universities have that include active student involvement. in the TNE collaborations in China have
developed a niche market for TNE in China. adequate teaching qualifications, be it at level
This is buoyed by China’s economic status How do you compensate for the 5 or level 7. I appreciate that this is largely
and the growth of a large middle class with a differences between the Chinese because it can be difficult to persuade people
penchant for high-quality education with an and western EAP classrooms? to go and work in China.
internationally-recognised endorsement. Mark: A lot can be done outside formal Some British Unis do have very strict rules
teaching in the classroom. For example, and they ensure that the English teaching staff
What are the main challenges in EAP
courses as part of TNE in Chinese
universities?
Mark: One of the main challenges is the MIMI THIAN/UNSPLASH
difficulty in replicating the conditions
and teaching environment of the partner
university. This is especially true when it
comes to resources, as access to the internet,
research and to some types of books can be
limited.
Also, student progression may be slower
because students are not surrounded by
everyday English-speakers. Students may
also come with a different set of skills and
proficiencies from what EAP teachers are used
to in other areas. For example, the Chinese
educational systems, before students enter
HE, tend to neglect speaking and listening in
favour of reading and writing. Students can Mark Krzanowski suggests that one way to overcome the shyness of Chinese
write reasonably well, but when it comes to students is to use collaborative work in pairs or groups.

30 March/April 2019