Although China has been rapidly developing in recent decades, there’s no doubt that our technology still lags behind advanced western countries. Therefore, it is necessary to master the world general technical exchange languages. Since China has joined WTO in 2001, English is more and more important and it plays a key role in communicating with foreigners. Therefore, the nation tables a proposal that the students learn English from second grade in primary school. Primary stage is also the best time to learn English.
But in the countryside, the policy has not been well implemented. Teachers’ low professional ability, poor school conditions, parents’ traditional concept and some other factors lead to the low level of the rural education in English(Dong Huai-hai 41-53). Therefore, family, school and government should attach great importance to this problem and take some measures to solve it.
II.The Performance of Urban-Rural Gap in Rural English Education
The urban-rural gap refers to the gap of social welfare, the difference of economic level, including GDP, per capital GDP and industrial structure, the disparity of the local education, the gap of social competition, the amount of life opportunities and the stability of life between the urban and rural areas. The result is education differences becoming the most important and prominent gap, especially in English.
According to the National Education Science “fifteen” project survey, the rural population with low educational attainment is much higher than the proportion of the urban. In the city, the population of high school, secondary school, college, undergraduate and postgraduate is 3.5 times, 16.5 times, 55.5 times, 281.55 times and 323 times higher than the country(Yao Jun 11-15). Education gap has become the most important gap between urban and rural areas. Education reflects the huge gap between urban and rural fair condition. As we all know, justice of education is a fundamental prerequisite for achieving social justice. In modern society, education has become an important basis for social stratification, linking with a person’s employment, income and future. From the huge gap between urban and rural education, the education, the great tool to achieve social justice, is at the risk of becoming a booster of social differentiation.
It is undeniable that the most obvious gap between urban and rural education is reflected in the teaching of English. English teaching activities in the city are put into effect as early as the reopening included in the scope of teaching focus. Thus all aspects of teaching, teaching planning, and curriculum design have been comprehensive and systematic improved. However, rural children learning English is significantly weaker than the lives of children in the city. They work hard, but due to the immaturity of a variety of teaching conditions in English listening, speaking and comprehension, the result is barely satisfactory. What is more, some children growth in rural have never heard the real foreigners speak English, so the pronunciations of English they know are all from their teacher. These teachers often don’t go through specialized English training. Thus, when rural children go to college, they are often with an psychological inferiority, not open, not good to express themselves, which ultimately causes the low employment rate of the rural children. 从城乡差距看农村英语教育(2):http://www.751com.cn/yingyu/lunwen_17015.html