ELT in Chinese General Senior High School: An Analysis of Chinese ELT Textbooks

Since the beginning of the “Reform and opening up” era, the English language has been considered in China as an essential tool for the country’s modernization and economic development and it has been actively promoted within its education system. Due to its role in preparing students to sit the gaokao 高考, the “National College Entrance Examination” (NCEE), this contribution focuses on the Chinese general senior high school and English language teaching (ELT) in it. The aim is to highlight the influence that the English paper of this exam has on teaching and learning practices, ultimately defining them with its content and creating this way an effect of inconsistency between what is declared in the documents by the Chinese Ministry of Education and how English is taught in the classrooms. In doing so, this paper attempts to contribute to the academic discussion about foreign language teaching and language policy.