Abstract

Crazy English' (CE) is one of the most popular, radical, yet controversial English training programs in China. There has been a tension between CE advocates and the academics about whether CE can really help Chinese people learn English. However, for more than a decade, CE is clearly more than just a passing phenomenon. It seems that CE has become a 'subculture' in China (47). If CE offers anything new or valuable, we just cannot afford to ignore it. Thus a qualitative study was undertaken to identify the espoused concepts of CE in terms of foreign language learning and to examine its pedagogical practices. The study was framed by the examination of major views of language and schools of thought of learning theories. Results of data analysis show that CE classroom activities are underpinned by a blend of theoretical approaches and practices.

Highlights

  • With China’s increasingly active involvement in the process of economic globalization and international cooperation, English teaching and learning in China has become a nationwide endeavour

  • It seems that everyone wants to learn English, especially in big cities. To meet such huge demand for English learning, various private training centres have been set up to provide more educational accesses that were only available in universities

  • ‘Crazy English’ (CE) appeared in early 1990s and was founded by Li Yang in response to “the tragedy of traditional teaching” in China based on his personal learning experience [29]

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Summary

Introduction

With China’s increasingly active involvement in the process of economic globalization and international cooperation, English teaching and learning in China has become a nationwide endeavour. A typical scene of Li Yang’s public lecture, reported by Huang [25], is to get his audience motivated, force their mouths open, thrust their arms into the air and repeat the sentences he uttered in English at the top of their lungs. His way of learning English looked different, or abnormal, or somewhat crazy, his method was called ‘Crazy English’ [42]

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