The importance of English in primary school education in China: perceptions of students

Abstract

English has become a compulsory subject from Primary Three in China since 2003 and is gradually being introduced even earlier into the curriculum in many schools. This highlights the official importance of English in both primary school education and society. However, although a compulsory subject, there are fewer English lessons than for Chinese and mathematics, the other core subjects. This raises questions about the real status of English in primary school education and whether it is really perceived as important. This paper firstly examines China’s current primary school English language education policy and discusses the implications for the primary school curriculum. Adopting a qualitative research design, which included six focus group interviews with students, the study investigated the attitudes of students toward the learning of English in the primary schools. The study was conducted in three different government schools with varied socio-economic status. Findings show the positive attitudes of children toward English education and their support for the early introduction of English; however, some feel that English is not as important as Chinese and mathematics. After reporting and discussing the different perspectives of the students, this paper concludes by considering the implications for English education in primary schools in China and other Asian countries.