Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-hgkh8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-27T13:11:43.174Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The statistics of English in China

An analysis of the best available data from government sources

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 September 2012

Extract

In the mid-1980s, Crystal (1985) lamented that there were no reliable figures available for the number of learners to whom English is taught as a foreign language in many regions of the world, and that ‘China has always been excluded from the statistical reviews, because of the shortage of information from inside the country’ (Crystal, 1985: 9). More recently, Bolton (2008: 6) similarly notes that because of ‘the absence of accurate language surveys’ academics have to make educated guesses regarding the total number of those learning/knowing English. The figure of the total English learners/users in China has been estimated to be somewhere between 200 and 350 million (cf. Bolton, 2003: 48; Kachru, 1997; McArthur, 2003; Zhao & Campbell, 1995; Graddol, 2006: 95). Fortunately, a national language survey in China conducted at the turn of the century does provide some hard statistics on the number of English language learners/users in the world's most populous country, and also sheds some light on the realities of use of English and English proficiency among the Chinese people.

Type
Original Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bolton, K. 2003. Chinese Englishes: A Sociolinguistic History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bolton, K. 2008. ‘English in Asia, Asian Englishes, and the issue of proficiency.’ English Today, 24(2), 312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crystal, D. 1985. ‘How many millions? The statistics of English today.’ English Today, 1(1), 79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crystal, D. 2003. English as a Global Language, 2nd edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Graddol, D. 2006. English Next. London: British Council.Google Scholar
Graddol, D. 2010. English Next India: The Future of English in India. London: British Council.Google Scholar
Hu, G. W. 2002. ‘Recent important developments in secondary English-language teaching in the People's Republic of China.’ Language, Culture and Curriculum, 15(1), 3049.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hu, W. Z. 2011. ‘Guanyu woguo waiyu jiaoyu guihua de sikao [Planning for foreign language education is imperative for China].’ Waiyu Jiaoxue yu Yanjiu [Foreign Language Teaching and Research], 43(1), 130–6.Google Scholar
Kachru, B. B. 1997. ‘World Englishes and English-using communities.’ Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 17, 6687.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, R. Q. & Hu, Z. L. 1999. ‘Xu [Preface].’ In Liu, R. Q.. Waiyu Jiaoxue zhong de Keyan Fangfa [Research Methods in Foreign Language Teaching]. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.Google Scholar
McArthur, T. 2003. ‘English as an Asian language.’ English Today, 19(2), 1922.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
National Bureau of Statistics of China. 2001. ‘Diwu ci renkou pucha gongbao (Diyi hao) [Release of the 5th national census statistics: Summary One].’ Online at <http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjgb/rkpcgb/qgrkpcgb/t20020331_15434.htm> (Accessed May 6, 2007).+(Accessed+May+6,+2007).>Google Scholar
SGO (Steering Group Office for Survey of Language Situation in China). 2006. Zhongguo Yuyan Wenzi Shiyong Qingkuang Diaocha Ziliao [Findings and Documents of Survey of Language Situation in China]. Beijing: Language Press.Google Scholar
Wang, D. L. 1999. ‘Waiyu diaocha de biyaoxing he kexingxing [The necessity and possibility of foreign language surveying].’ Yuyan Wenzi Yingyong [Applied Linguistics], (1), 1113.Google Scholar
Wei, R. 2010. ‘Bilingual education for majority-language students: A study of the factors affecting the initiation and implementation of a municipality-wide Chinese-English bilingual education project in Shanghai.’ Unpublished PhD Dissertation. Hong Kong: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.Google Scholar
Wei, R. N. & Su, J. Z. 2008. ‘Zhongguo neidi waiyu shiyong qingkuang diaocha fenxi [An analysis of foreign language use in Mainland China].’ Zhongguo Shehui Yuyanxue [The Journal of Chinese Sociolinguistics], (2), 924.Google Scholar
Wei, R. N. 2011a. ‘Woguo minzhong dui waiyu zuowei jiaoxue yuyan de zhichidu [Chinese people's support for using a foreign language as a medium of instruction: Empirical evidence from the Survey of Language Situation in China].’ Shijie Jiaoyu Xinxi [World Education Information], (8), 31–6.Google Scholar
Wei, R. N. 2011b. ‘Zhongguo dachengshi waiyu shiyong qingkuang diaocha fenxi [Foreign language use in Chinese metropolises: An analysis of evidence from a national survey with special references to Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chongqing and Dalian].’ Waiyu Jiaoxue yu Yanjiu [Foreign Language Teaching and Research], 43(6), 924–33.Google Scholar
Wen, Q. F., Su, J. & Jian, Y. H. 2011. ‘Guojia waiyu nengli de lilun goujian yu yingyong changshi [A model of national foreign language capacity and its trial use].’ Zhongguo Waiyu [Foreign Languages in China], 8(3), 410.Google Scholar
Zhao, Y. & Campbell, K. P. 1995. ‘English in China.’ World Englishes, 14(3), 377–90.Google Scholar
Zou, W. C. & Zhang, S. L. 2011. ‘Family background and English learning at compulsory stage in Shanghai.’ In Feng, A.W. (ed.), English Language Education across Greater China. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters, pp. 728.Google Scholar