A Comparative Study Of College English Education Between China And Japan From The Perspective Of Language Education Planning

Along with the development of globalization and education internationalization, English education has attracted worldwide attention. China and Japan have deeply realized the significance of improving their national English competence for future development. At present, reforms in China have improved national English education. However, we still have not formed a systematic and independent English education theory, which directly leads to a consequence that English education in China is time consuming but less efficient, and the English competence of the students still cannot meet the need of modern society. Therefore, it is a big challenge for policy makers and education implementers to seek for a better English education plan and mode. Japan and China are neighboring countries and both belong to "expanding circle" English learning countries (countries that learn English as a second or a foreign language), and Chinese and Japanese people have many similarities in English education. Japan is one of the most economically and educationally developed countries in the world. English education in Japan has experienced a long history and got great achievements, though it still has its shortcomings. Aimed at the problems in English education, Japanese government proposed a five-year "Action Plan to Cultivate Japanese with English Abilities" in2003, where they began to implement a comprehensive reform in English education and put forward a series of reform measures and goals, which to some degree improved college English education in Japan. Therefore, as a non-English speaking country, current English education planning in Japan is in many ways comparable with that of China.Based on Baldauf and Kaplan’s theoretical framework about Language Education Planning, the author makes a through comparative study of college English education between China and Japan in terms of the goal of college English education, college English curriculum, personnel, selecting of teaching materials, teaching methods, and evaluation. The significance of this research lies in that the author tries to analyze current situation of college English education in China and Japan from the perspective of Language Education Planning, and explore the advantages and disadvantages of college English education of them, which makes great sense to China in promoting college English education planning and reform and strengthening English proficiency of future citizens, so as to meet the need of modern society.