LI SHIGONG

As an educator and linguist, I often feel that foreign teachers of English as a Second Language (ESL) misunderstand their Chinese students. Clearly, throughout history, around the globe, there has always existed the teacher-student relationship. It is an archetypal human phenomenon. But not all archetypes are the same. This is especially true in China, because Western teachers' culture and the Chinese students' culture are alien to each other in many ways. Sadly, this dissimilarity can cause cross-cultural learning situations to become problematic. By identifying four main areas that can cause friction between foreign teachers and their Chinese students, misunderstanding may be avoided. The cultural discrepancies are:

Differences in social positions of teachers and students in the two societies. Broadly, this refers to how students and teachers are recruited. Regarding students: Are the educational institutions elitist or anti-elitist? What is the role of employers regarding education: Do they fund scholarships and grants to stimulate industry? Does the government prescribe the curricula? Who pays the education? Regarding foreign teachers: How much education is necessary for the teaching task they are contracted to do? How well do foreign teachers assimilate into the culture, in order to be happy and to be effective as teachers and foreign guests?

Differences in the appeal, relevance and status of the curriculum for the two societies. This, too, raises many controversial issues. For example, Western language methods now advocate the communicative approach, but Chinese often see no use for this methodology, unless the students intend to go abroad. Furthermore, Western teaching strategies may work more effectively if used by native English-speaking teachers, but that does not imply that these methods will be suitable for non-native English teachers. Many Chinese schools prefer the traditional grammar/text analysis approach. It has been highly venerated in China for centuries.