Research of English Teachers’ Teaching Strategies under a Key Competencies’ Context in China

Abstract

Since the OECD proposed introducing the concept of "key competencies," the term has been much debated by educational researchers and widely utilised in education worldwide. The researcher aspires to identify the teaching strategies of English teachers in China under a 'key competencies' context. This article first introduces the formation of the "core literacy" system and the process of its chinisation (practising a global concept to Chinese policy). Then it analyses the problems that exist in English language teaching methods in China. Subsequently, it explores the guiding role of 'key competencies' for modern English teaching from the shallow to the deep. After reviewing, the researcher finds that students’ lack of motivation to study and the deficiency of teaching methods are key problems to apply key competencies in English teaching, school managers’ lack of attention for schools and teachers to the application of key competencies is also remarkable. Based on the problems existing, the researcher proposes to contextualize the course content to develop students' language skills, enhance thinking orientation and lead students' quality of thinking and strengthen interaction and communications to activate cultural awareness.