Non-majors improve

PARTICIPANTS at this year's national English speaking competition even fooled us. They proved that the assumption that English majors learn English better than anyone else is just wrong.

The success of non-English majors reflected the results of changes in college English language teaching in China, especially since 11 of the 24 finalists this year were non-English majors. Their usefulness became more convincing and their participation more vital when the results were announced: they accounted for four of the top seven and the top winner was an accounting major and the third, a business administration major.

A small sample of the appreciative audience who provided support for last week's big event in Nanjing.
 
At last year's national English speaking competition, only two of the top winners were non-English majors ¡ª they came in third and seventh. And, before that, non-majors seldom entered the top rank.

Luo Lisheng, the dean of Tsinghua University's English department and director of the Beijing College English Research Association, explains this increased competence, especially in higher-level events like the "21st Century Ericsson Cup" as the result of teaching reforms nationwide. Luo was the tutor of Liang Meng, who came in third in the competition.

The reason for the reforms, he says, is mainly the job market that wants not only people with expertise in certain fields but also good English speaking ability.

"More schools in China, especially the top ones, have begun setting up listening and speaking courses for non-English majors and teaching methods have evolved to improve oral communication skills. As the gap between English majors and non-English majors in curriculum and teaching methods narrows, some non-majors are catching up with their counterparts in the English department," Luo said.

At his university, he said, non-English majors can in fact attend courses for English majors as long as they meet the requirements. Liang Meng was one of those.

A new "Basic College English Teaching Requirement" is meant to put listening and speaking on the same level as the reading that was favoured in the past. Computers will be used to help in that. The Requirement is scheduled to be put into place in September. "If we can really put this into practice, there will be more non-English majors speaking idiomatic English, " said Luo.

But, if all college students graduate with the same skills, what use are English majors?

English departments and colleges like Beijing Foreign Language University (BFLU) and Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) have already been addressing this.

BFLU did some restructuring in 2001. One of the changes was a new School of International Business, created by merging the School of International Business with the School of English Language Communication. English majors now have to study finance, marketing and management.

At SISU, business administration and economic law schools were already established several years ago. These students are asked to take the same English courses as English majors in the first two years.

Gu Qiubei, who took first prize this year, is a fourth year accounting major at SISU. She impressed the judges with her good command of English and her scope of knowledge that allowed her to respond quickly with witty replies.

"With these reforms, the distinction between non-major and major will weaken and English will be used more to teach things other than English. And the difference between majors and non-majors will not be found in language skills but in specialization," explained Gong Longsheng, vice director of SISU's International Business Administration school.

That does not mean that English majors are a vanishing species. What they need is to increase expertise in linguistics or literature for research or teaching positions.