English learning class in China: waning enthusiasm

In preparation for the summer Olympics of 2008, the authorities in Beijing, the host city and China’s capital, launched a campaign to teach English to residents likely to come in contact with foreign visitors. Police, transit workers and hotel staff were among those targeted. One aim was to have 80 percent of taxi drivers achieve a basic level of competency.

But enthusiasm for learning English has waned in recent years. According to an EF Education First, an international language-training firm, China ranks #91 among 116 countries and regions in terms of English proficiency. Just four years ago, it was ranked #38 out of 100. Over that time, its rating has slipped from “moderate” to “low” proficiency. Some in China question the accuracy of the EF index. But others note that this apparent trend is happening when China is also growing more insular.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, for example, China shut its borders. Officials and businessmen, let alone ordinary citizens, made few trips abroad. Long after the rest of the world began opening up, China remained closed. At the same time, China’s relations with the world’s biggest English-speaking countries soured. Trade wars and diplomatic tiffs strained its ties with America, Australia, Britain and Canada.

The mood is such that legislators and school administrators have tried to limit the amount of time devoted to the study of English, and to reduce the weight given to it in China’s all-important university-entrance exams. In 2022, a lawmaker proposed de-emphasising the language in order to boost the teaching of traditional Chinese subjects. The education ministry demurred. But a professor at one of China’s elite universities says many students consider English less important than it used to be and are less interested in learning it.

As China’s economy slows, people have become more cautious and inward-looking. Today, fewer Chinese are travelling abroad than before the pandemic. Young people are less keen on jobs requiring English, choosing instead to pursue dull but secure work in the public sector.

Then there are translation apps, which are improving at a rapid pace and becoming ubiquitous. The tools may be having an effect outside China, too. The EF rankings show that tech-savvy Japan and South Korea have also been losing ground when it comes to English proficiency. Why spend time learning a new language when your phone is already fluent in it?