东西方教育Ⅱ

Education: East and WestⅡ

The following passage is the second of three articles which compare Eastern and Western education styles. These comparisons are made from the point of view of Paul Unwin, a student who has studied Chinese in China and the UK. Here, he tells Bilingual Time about the differences between the higher education systems in the two countries in teaching foreign languages, and the benefits and disadvantages of each, and also his decision to begin a higher education course which requires study in two different continents.

he decision to begin studying Chinese was not one which I had to deliberate

over for a lengthy period when the right time came. I had withdrawn from my earlier studies in Fine Art in summer 1999 after the semi-completion of a BA Honours degree which I began straight after leaving school, with a view to taking some time out of education, finding a job, and considering my future possibilities (and hopefully maturing somewhat). It was during this summer which I made my first trip to China with a school friend, ostensibly because although we had both already long held a general interest in East Asia, yet in fact our first choice destination of Japan was financially ①out of bounds to us both...

After several years of manual jobs, punctuated by several more trips to China, I felt I had the desire to return to university and higher education, to study Mandarin Chinese. The course structure consisted of one year in London, a compulsory year in Beijing studying the language at a university there with other foreign students of Chinese (mainly Korean and Japanese, but including many different nationalities), and on return two more years study in London.

The first year in London of studying a foreign language so different from English is an experience which some students find harrowing and some adapt to quickly. The teaching method is similar to that which can be found in language schools all over the West - the main target of the first year of study is to give the students a basic working knowledge of the language so that when they arrive in China (where lessons will be taught in Chinese only), they will hopefully manage to ②keep their heads above water and slowly acclimatize to the language level. The final two years continue with language study but the focus is more academic.

Therefore, at first pupils practice language drills, and then are split into smaller group classes for the rest of the year where textbooks are used to practice reading and pronunciation. In addition to this, pupils are encouraged to speak out and ask questions. They also often work in small groups practicing short conversations with each other.

The way of learning Classical Chinese in the UK is one area of education where I think we should learn from the Chinese and sometimes use the method of habitual repetition. In London, Classical Chinese is taught in the usual Western way with tutors explaining articles, stories or poems step-by-step, asking students to try and translate certain parts and elucidating troublesome sentences. The student is then asked to carry on with the translation outside class to prepare for the next lesson. This slow, clear translation is of course essential, but at times I felt the rote learning of a short passage or poem would be beneficial to both remembering the meanings and grammar functions. In fact, I believe rote learning of short texts of modern Chinese may also be beneficial for the same reasons, especially during the early period of study.

Lectures in the UK take on much the same form as with the education system in China. If the lecture is large and is attended by many students, opportunities for questions are rare. If student numbers are small, sometimes a student may raise their hand and ask a question, or wait until the lecture has finished to enquire about points they are unclear on.

Language Lab listening lessons when I studied in the West differed quite strongly to my experiences with this kind of language teaching in China. In the UK, as in China, lessons mainly began with listening to recordings and perhaps making notes, then answering the teacher's questions relating to the recorded conversation or news item just heard. In China, these lessons could become frustrating as the majority of students - predominantly the Korean and other Asian non-Chinese students - would try to answer the teacher's question by regurgitating the relevant section of the recording by rote as well as their memories would serve them, and if at some stage their memory sadly let them down, would try to disguise their inability to answer correctly by mumbling in a barely audible voice. The teachers were no doubt aware of this but as this rote repetition seemed to be the accepted norm their answers were accepted and generally not questioned. On the contrary, when Western students were asked to answer, some attempted to convey the meaning but by using their own words - admittedly sometimes making a complete hash of it! ③To the teacher's credit, they all seemed to enjoy these attempts to answer in a different way, and without fail the teacher would seem pleased and verbally aid the student if they came into language difficulties when answering.

Other classes in China followed the same teaching pattern as the above. In the oral and reading classes, the non-western foreign students tended to recite passages in a bizarre regular beat monotone, paying no attention to punctuation or to the flow of a sentence. Tutors accepted this (maybe they could understand what was being said - I certainly had no idea), and never encouraged a student to change this method. Again, the more or less exact repetition of textbook phrases and sentences seemed suitable as answers. However there were, albeit rare, exceptions to this rule and some teachers did attempt to inspire students to find their own ways to express answers in Chinese.

The 'oral' class in China was perhaps where the greatest contrasts between Chinese and Western approaches to teaching a language orally existed. In the West, oral classes generally require the greater part of the lesson to be discussion or speaking of the foreign language ④in question. Sometimes students may use other materials such as texts or even short videos. Presentations are regularly given by students, but most commonly the students will either as a class, or in small groups, discuss a particular topic. In China, on enrolling, you could see the oral class textbook was as thick as, and in pretty much the same format as the reading, writing, and listening textbooks. This was the first indication that in China oral classes would be very different from those in the West. Our fears were unfortunately confirmed. The oral classes were taught in the much the same format as the others - oral participation was generally a bit greater depending on class levels, but the textbook remained sacred.

There are clearly benefits to both the education systems. For me personally, the reluctance of the other non-Chinese Asian students to actively participate and answer questions was a little frustrating, and in turn made me more reticent to speak out more often. On the other hand, sometimes I know I could ⑤do with a bit more self-discipline, and sitting down and learning the San Zi Jing off by heart would no doubt be a great help to my Chinese. With a language like Chinese, a great deal of patience and repetitive work is required if you are to succeed, so it's not hard to understand why our education styles differ.

deliberate /di`lib9reit/ vt.仔细考虑

lengthy /`leMFi/ adj.非常长的；冗长的

Fine Art 美术

ostensibly /4s`tens9bli/ adv.表面上

manual /`m2nju9l/ adj.体力的

mandarin /`m2nd9rin/ n.普通话；官话

nationality /,n2H9`n2liti/ n.国籍；民族

harrowing /`h2r9uiM/ adj.痛心的；悲痛的

working knowledge 应用知识

acclimatize /9`klaim9taiz/ vt.使适应；使服水土

classical /`kl2sik9l/ adj.古典的；古典文学的

tutor /`t(t9/ n.(大学)指导教师；辅导教师

elucidate /i`l(sideit/ vt.阐明；说明

rote /r9ut/ n.死记硬背

beneficial /beni`fiH9l/ adj.有益的；受益的

regurgitate /ri(:)`G8_iteit/ v.流回；反刍

audible /`5d9bl/ adj.听得见的

norm /n5m/ n.标准；规范

admittedly /9d`mitidli/ adv.无可否认地；公认地

verbally /`v/b9li/ adv.用言辞地；口头上

bizarre /bi`z3/ adj.奇异的

monotone /`m4n9ut9un/ n.单调

punctuation /p7Mktju`eiH(9)n/ n.标点；标点符号

albeit /5l`b1it/ conj.虽然

enroll /in`r9ul/ v.入伍(或入会、入学等)

① out of bounds 超越限度；禁止入内

② keep one's head above water免遭灭顶之灾；不负债

③ to one's credit 值得赞扬

④ in question 正被讨论

⑤ do with (前面与could, can连用)需要

东西方教育Ⅱ

下文是三篇对比东西方教育方式的文章中的第二篇。这些对比是以保罗・安文（一名在中国和英国学习汉语的学生）的观点来完成的。本文当中，他向《双语时代》讲起了两国高等教育体制在外语教学方面的差异以及各自的优缺点，并谈到了他开始学习一门高等教育课程的决定，而这一课程则需要在两个不同的大陆进行学习。

开始学汉语的决定，并不是一个我在合适

的机会来临时需要花很长时间来深思熟虑的决定。1999年夏，我产生了一个想法，即暂停一段时间的学习，找个工作，考虑一下我的未来前途（并指望着稍微变成熟一点儿），于是就放弃了先前的美术专业，而此前这个我一毕业就直接攻读的荣誉学士学位已经完成了一半。就是在这个夏天，在一位同校好友的陪同下，我第一次游历了中国，虽然表面上是因为我们长期以来都普遍对东亚感兴趣，但实际上是由于我们的首选目的地――日本让我俩在经济上都承受不起……

我做了几年的体力工作，其间又到中国旅行了几次，之后便感到我很想重返大学接受高等教育，学习一下汉语普通话。这一课程的框架是，在伦敦学习一年，在北京一所大学与在那里学汉语的其他留学生（主要是韩国人和日本人，不过也有许多其它国家的人）一道强制学习一年的语言，然后再返回伦敦学习两年。

在伦敦的第一年中学习一种与英语差别很大的外语，在有些学生看来是痛苦的经历，而有些学生则能快速地适应过来。其教学方式与所有西方语言学校里所能见到的那种方式是相似的――第一年学习的主要目的就是给学生传授这门语言的基本应用知识，以便在他们来到中国（在那儿只用汉语来授课）后，他们能有望勉强应付下去并慢慢适应那一语言水平。最后的两年会继续语言学习，不过重点更多是放在学术层面上。

因此，学生们最初是进行语言训练，然后在当年剩下的时间里被分成更小的小组来上课，而那时教材就被用来练习阅读与发音。除此以外，学生们还被鼓励发言和提问。而且他们还经常以小组的形式来活动，相互间进行简短的对话练习。

在英国学古汉语的方式，在我看来，是一个我们应该向中国人学习的教育领域，有时就该采用常背常诵的方式。在伦敦，古汉语是以常见的西方模式来教授的，即指导教师按部就班地讲解文章、故事或诗歌，要求学生试着翻译某些章节并解释疑难文句。随后，学生会被要求继续在课下翻译，为下一堂课做好准备。这种慢条斯理的翻译当然是必要的，不过有时我却觉得，以死记硬背的方式来学习一篇短文或诗歌对记忆语意和文法功能都是有好处的。事实上，我相信，出于同样的原因，以死记硬背的方式来学习现代汉语的短篇文章也是有好处的，尤其是在学习的初期阶段。

在英国，讲座的形式与中国教育体制中的差不多。如果是大讲座并且有很多学生参加，那么就很少有提问的机会。如果学生数量不多，有时学生可以举手提问题，或者是等到讲座结束后，去询问他们不清楚的要点。

我在西方所上的语音室听力课，与我在中国所体验的此类语言教学的差别是相当大的。在英国，与在中国一样，这些课主要是先听录音，也许还要做笔记，然后就对话录音或是刚刚听过的新闻回答老师的问题。在中国，这类课可能是令人沮丧的，因为大多数学生（绝大多数是韩国学生和其他非华裔的亚洲学生）会试图复述那些他们尽力强背下来的相关录音片段，以此来回答老师的问题，而如果某一次他们很不幸没有背下来，他们就会以一种勉强可以听见的声音喃喃而语，以此来掩盖他们不能正确回答问题。老师们绝对是清楚这一点的，但由于这种强记式的复述似乎就是通行模式，所以他们的回答得到了认可而且一般不会遭到质疑。与此相反，当西方学生被要求做出回答时，有些人就试着用他们自己的语言来表达其意――不可否认，有时候是会弄得一团糟的！值得老师表扬的是，他们似乎全都喜欢试着用不同的方式来做答，而老师看起来必定是面露喜色的，而且会在学生在回答过程中碰到语言困难之时给予他们语言上的帮助。

在中国，其它课同样遵循着上述教学模式。在口语和阅读课上，非西方的留学生往往是以一种奇怪而又有规律的单声调节奏来背诵段落，对于标点或句子的流畅性不加注意。指导老师对此是认可的（也许他们能明白那些发言内容――我肯定是不明白的），而且绝不会鼓励学生去改变这种方式。再者，对于课本短语和句子的这种几近准确的复述似乎适合用来做答案。然而，就这一定式来说，例外虽然很少，但还是有的，有些老师确实会试着鼓励学生以他们自己的方式来用汉语做答。

中国的“口语”课可能就是中西方在口语教学方式上的最大差异所在。在西方，口语课一般要求将课程的大部分时间用于讨论或开口讲那门所学的外语。有时，学生可能会用到其它资料，如教材，甚至是简短的视频。讲演通常是由学生来完成的，不过最常见的是，学生将以班级或小组的形式来讨论某一话题。在中国，你一入学，就会注意到口语课教材与阅读、写作和听力教材一样厚，而且几乎就是一个模式。这就是最初的暗示：在中国，口语课将与西方的口语课有很大差别。不幸的是，我们的担心得到了印证。口语课与其它课的教学模式差不多――根据课程级别不同，口语练习一般能再多一点儿，不过课本仍旧是至高无上的。

两种教育体制显然都是各有优点的。就我个人来讲，其他非华裔亚洲学生在积极参与和回答问题方面的不情愿，是有点儿令人沮丧，而且进而使我更加寡言，不能更多地发言。另一方面，有时我知道我可能需要再多一点儿自制力，而坐下来并将《三字经》用心记牢对我的汉语来说无疑是一大帮助。对于汉语之类的语言，如果你想学好的话，就需要极大的耐心和大量的重复性工作，所以就不难理解为什么我们的教育方式是有所差别的了。