A Study on the Primary English Education in Xiuwu County Rural Areas

【Abstract】：The thesis illustrates the problems of the primary English education in Xiuwu County rural areas. Keywords： primary English education; Xiuwu County; situations; solutions

I. Introduction

The thesis is based on the survey in which 288 students and thirty English teachers are chosen. During the survey， each school is chosen thirty-six students from grade three to grade six. Based on the survey， the thesis describes the situation of primary English education in Xiuwu County rural areas.

II Teachers

As is shown in chart I， seventy percent of primary schools in Xiuwu County rural areas have three or four English teachers， as each teacher is in charge of one grade which covers two or three classes. What’s worse， primary schools that have only one or two English teachers account for twenty percent. Only ten percent of primary schools have more than five English teachers.

First of all， to a large extent， the environment and conditions of the rural areas lead to this situation. Although a great number of English major students graduate each year， compared with the rural environment， they would rather work in urban areas where they can have favorable conditions and salaries. On the contrary， they feel that working in rural areas will limit their career development. What’s more， being accustomed to the urban environment， they think it is inconvenient for them to live in rural areas with restricted transportation and facilities.

Chart I " " " " " "

Chart II

As is illustrated in chart II， only fifteen percent of primary English teachers are professional English teachers including five percent graduating from university and ten percent graduating from Junior College. As for the unprofessional English teachers， forty-six percent come from Junior College， twenty-four come from University and fifteen percent come from Technical Secondary School. It is clear that primary English teachers in Xiuwu County rural areas have low academic backgrounds. There are three causes of the low academic backgrounds of primary English teachers in Xiuwu County rural areas.

To start with， teachers having high academic backgrounds are reluctant to work in rural areas because of the poor conditions and limited development. Besides， the primary schools in rural areas pay little attention to the English education. It is because of their little attention that they decrease the recruitment standards when employing English teachers. Last but not least， the government should be responsible for this situation because rural areas should enjoy the priorities in the policy and finance to attract English teachers. For example， government should issue the document of allocating English teachers and exchanging English teachers. Then with the help of the financial policy， primary schools can provide English teachers with better facilities and salaries.

III Students

The chart III vividly depicts that the older the primary students are， the less they like English. The percentage of students liking English descends from ninty-two percent in grade three to thirty percent in grade six. By three-year-English-learning， forty percent of students begin to dislike English. Moreover， there is a downward trend in the percentage of students’ understanding of English. Nevertheless， the percentage of students’ understanding of English merely increases by seven percent. When students are in grade six， seventy percent of students can understand English half. Furthermore， a great amount of students learning English depending on class， and seldom do they learn English out of class. According to the depiction， causes of the situation can be divided into three parts.

To begin with， teachers’ teaching methods play a significant role in students’ English learning. In rural areas， about eighty percent of teachers don’t adopt multiple and interesting teaching methods to relax the class atmosphere， to attract students， and to motivate students but make students recite words monotonously. Faced with the continual and boring words’ recitation， students are less interested in English. For another， the feedback of the class is an important part of English teaching. The older students become， the less students understand， which illustrates that teachers don’t make good use of the feeback to improve the situation and instruct the following teaching.

IV Students’ Learning Methods

Firstly， hardly do any students have a good habit of learning English. For example， except the homework of transcribing words， they seldom review English， let alone previewing English. Secondly， about ninety percent students recite words mechanically without understanding and using them. Even， some students read words in Pinyin， not knowing about phonetic marks. At last， more than half of students are afraid of presenting themselves and speaking English in class， for fear that they are laughed by peers.

VI Conclusion

By means of questionnaire， the thesis shows and analyzes the situation of primary English education in Xiuwu County rural areas. Firstly， primary schools in Xiuwu County rural areas are extremely lack of professional English teachers with high academic background. Secondly， there is a declining trend of students’ interests in English when they become older. Thirdly， there is something wrong with students’ learning methods.

Bibliography：

[1]Johnson， Keith. A Introduction to Foreign Language Learning and Teaching. Beijing： Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press， 2002.

[2]Wang， Qiang. A Course in English Language Teaching. Beijing： High Education Press， 2006.

[3]Gui， Shichun. [桂詩春]，心理語言學. 上海： 上海外語教育出版社，1985.