Application Of Second Language Acquisition Theories To English Language Teaching In China

Over a long period of time, English has been oriented as a foreign language in China and taught as a subject of knowledge. However in recent years, along with the development of foreign SLA (second language acquisition) research and the gradual increase of its influence over language teaching and learning, some Chinese scholars in this field have begun to reconsider the orientation of English language teaching in China. Can English be regarded as a second language, or can we apply the SLA theories to Chinese English language teaching practice?This thesis mainly discusses this fundamental issue in the field of present English language teaching in China, i.e. whether English should be taught as a second language or a foreign language, so as to find out a way of English language teaching which properly suits the conditions of China.Chapter One distinguishes the concepts related to second language acquisition and foreign language learning and studies the nature of foreign language teaching and learning, and points out the significance of studying modern SLA theories.Chapter Two introduces main second language (L2) learning theories and discusses briefly the important theoretical assumptions, implication and application of these L2 learning theories to Chinese foreign language teaching and learning.Chapter three analyzes the history, characteristics and assessment of major methods in foreign language teaching and explores the possibility of using these methods to Chinese foreign language teaching.Chapter four mainly illustrates how we should adapt these SLA theories and language teaching methods to the solution of major problems existing today in China in order to meet the demand of the Information Age in the new century.