Are Our Chinese Students Better at English than American Students?

编者按：

      东北师大附中国际部英语教师Simon Lee 通过对东北师大附中IB英语教学的研究发现，对于那些即将进入美国和英国大学的学生来说，IB课程有助于培养他们的母语和英语的语言表达能力和思维意识、分析问题、解决问题能力、批判思维能力以及人文精神，拓展学生国际视野，培养学生的核心素养，能够使他们更快、更好地适应国外大学的学习生活。

     At the High School Attached to Northeast Normal University, there is an International Baccalaureate program – an education curriculum aimed at a globalist approach to education. Among the claims that it makes in its marketing is that the IB Diploma is proven to be a “better preparation for university” than other education systems with research suggesting that “students who participated in the DP during high school are more academically adjusted to the rigour and expectations of college.” (www.ibo.org). As a university Director of Studies in 2014 I chose to research this to find out whether it was true for Chinese students going to North American and British universities. The conclusions of my research dissertation were so overwhelmingly in favour of this (Lee, 2015) that I opted to leave university teaching to work at HSANNU on their IB program to discover more.

In IB, unlike A-levels or some other high school qualifications, students have no chance to avoid subjects that require strong English language usage (language, literature, humanities, etc). However the IB exams are clearly designed as summative tests of curriculum based achievements which is what has been described as “the most effective assessments for college admissions and have important incentive or signalling effects.” (Atkinson, R. and Geiser, S. 2009). 

The positive assessment of the IB curriculum is nearly universal. 17% of all international schools, offer the IB Diploma Program (International School Consultancy Group, 2014). The educational researcher Varner reported that over 91% of teachers who responded at British Columbia strongly agreed with the statement that the IB “provides good preparation for university entrance” (Varner 2009: 108). Wray conducted research on the effect of the ‘extended essay’ on students after they had arrived at either Warwick University or Birmingham University. Generally, as with Conley et al.’s test subjects, Wray’s subjects “felt that the extended essay experience had taught them a lot, especially in terms of being critical and independent.” (Wray, 2013).

What are these key components that makes the IB so successful? As just mentioned there is ‘an extended essay’ but Chinese IB students graduating from American universities also credit TOK and English B as contributing to their success (Lee, 2015).

          i.Extended Essay.This is actually described on the IB website as “practical preparation for undergraduate research.” (www.ibo.org). It involves a 4,000 word paper on an area of interest relating to one of the student’s six subjects (every student must study a math course, a humanity subject, a science, their native language, another language, plus one other subject. ). Personal academic responsibility, critical thinking, formulation of research questions, finding source texts and supporting/ referencing skills are among the skills it requires. 

       ii.English B. These are language courses (that at Higher Level requires literature studies as well) that require students to study and be able to produce over twelve text types (including speeches, articles, reports, proposals and interviews) and to produce researched coursework (www.ibo.org). There is also an oral component. This naturally draws comparison with other language teaching systems which address “the demands of multiple literacies on students’ academic experiences.” (Hyland, 2006:17). English B refers to the fact that English is their ‘B’ or second language.

         iii.Theory of Knowledge is a compulsory course where students consider different ways of ‘knowing’ and how we can evaluate whether what we believe or are told is based on reliable data.

The research conducted by Conley et al. at the University of Oregon, on behalf of EPIC (an organisation designed to empower students in their academic choices), asked undergraduate students to indicate how adjusted they felt to the academic , social and emotional requirements of university by placing stickers on a scale (Conley et al, 2014:15). While emotionally and socially the results were similar, academically all of the IBDP students stated that they were adjusted before they entered university while over half non-diploma students either stated that they needed a year to adjust or were still adjusting. Follow up research indicated that time management and exam preparation were areas where IB students were significantly more likely to feel confident and students indicated that this was particularly due to having done an extended essay, the Theory of Knowledge course and language/literature in their IBDP (idid. 16).

With all this evidence of success, with 100% of graduating students leaving to study outside the mainland at universities as illustrious as Harvard and Cambridge, why now is HSANNU’s IB program taking this a step further? The school is about to offer English A as well as Chinese A. This means that some students will be taking two language courses designed for ‘native-like’ language students. It seems like HSANNU is disadvantaging their students. Surely they cannot possibly score as highly as mother-tongue language users? Doesn’t this mean that their results will go down? Not necessarily. 

We are already discovering that at IGCSE (the external exams that students take in the first year of high school), students are capable of getting the top grade even in first language exams where they compete against native language users. Some students actually score higher. If you take second language English course, probably assessment of vocabulary and grammar will constitute part of the criteria for mark awarding, just as with the ‘gaokao’ or English proficiency exams like TOEFL. However mother language tests are not looking for the same attributes from the students. They value critical thinking and the ability to express concepts and analysis clearly. Many of our top students are able to think in deeper and more nuanced pathways, and have the language to communicate freely and effectively (even if not entirely error free). Just as with the IGCSEs, we therefore anticipate some of our top students being able to match (or improve) their IB English B mark by switching to English A. Their attractiveness to foreign universities is likely to increase as they are seen to outperform native speakers, not only in math, science and humanities but even their own language. There are exciting days ahead for Chinese youth and we need to keep innovating the curriculums and courses we offer to keep up with them.

Bibliography

Atkinson, R. and Geiser, S. (2009) ‘Reflections on a Century of College Admissions Tests’ (www.ohio.org; accessed 30/6/2015)

Bergernon, L. (2015) ‘Diploma students’ enrollment and outcomes at US postsecondary institutions 2004-2008’ (available at www.ibo.org; accessed 11/11/2015)

Conley, D., McGaughy, C., Davis-Molin, W., Farkas R. and Fukuda, E. (2014) ‘International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme: Examining College Readiness (available at www.epiconline.org; accessed 11/11/2015)

Hyland, K. (2006) ‘English for Academic Purposes: an advanced resource book’ (Routledge: Abingdon)

International School Consultancy Group (2014) ‘New data on international schools suggests continued strong growth’ (available at www.monitor.icef.com; accessed 11/11/15)

Lee, S. (2015) ‘To what extent does the IB contribute to the academic success of Chinese mainland students at universities in North America and the UK’

Lee, M., Leung, L., Wright, E., Yue, T., Gan, A., Kong, L., Li, J., (2014) A study of the International Baccalaureate Diploma in China: program’s impact on student preparation for university studies abroad’ (available at www.ibo.org, accessed 30/6/2015)

Tarc, P. (2009) ‘Global Tensions, Enduring Tensions: International Baccalaureate in a Changing World’ (Peter Lang Publishing: New York)

Varner, E., (2009) ‘So you want to be an International Baccalaureate School’ (SE Publications: Montana)

Wray, D. (2013) ‘Student perceptions of the value of the International Baccalaureate extended essay in preparing for university studies’ (available at www.ibo.org; accessed on 17/04/2014)

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2018年5月8日