A university professor recently filed a report with China's Ministry of Education revealing numerous mistakes in a range of university-level English teaching materials and exposing problems in the national textbook compilation industry.
Shi Bing, a professor of English at Beijing Forestry University, told the Global Times on Tuesday that most of the teaching materials he analyzed for the report have problems with grammar, tenses, spelling, style and logic in addition to containing factual errors.
The report examined 26 sets of domestic university-level English textbooks and related materials that are widely used in Chinese universities, including top institutions such as Peking University and Nanjing Normal University.
For example, one sentence read, "Physical exercises is the best way to avoid getting sick," but the word "exercises" should be singular. Another textbook stated, "The Bastille fell in 1879," when it actually fell in 1789, Shi noted.
One textbook compiled by a senior professor and a top Chinese expert in English studies has about 26 mistakes, he said. "This shocks me because it does not match the reputation of these colleges."
Although the education ministry responded to Shi in late October to tell him that the authorities have passed his report on to the publisher to correct the mistakes, Shi said the key problem is not with the textbook publishing industry but with university teachers themselves.
"This reflects that either the English level of some university teachers is not high enough to notice the mistakes in their own work, or these people lack a sense of responsibility. Also, it demonstrates that the compilers are not familiar with what they are going to teach in the university," Shi said, adding that the current system allows any university professor to compile teaching materials without imposing particular English level requirements.
There is also a degree of misconduct in the industry, as some authors allow others to compile books in their names, Shi said. He claimed that the education ministry is preparing to issue new guidelines clarifying which kinds of teachers can compile teaching materials.
