European Journal of Education Studies ISSN: 2501 - 1111 ISSN-L: 2501 - 1111 Available on-line at: www.oapub.org/edu doi: 10.5281/zenodo.216479 Volume 3 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 A STUDY ON PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS OF PRIV“TE UNIVERSITY’S ENGLISH TE“CHING – A CASE STUDY OF A BEIJING PRIVATE UNIVERSITYi Zhao Jingya Beijing Language and Culture University, China Abstract: Aims: As a part of university education, college English teaching in private universities is important. The aim of this article is to conduct a survey about the English teaching in these private universities, trying to find out the problems in teaching and learning of English in these private universities, and analyze the deep reasons behind these problems, based on the teaching and learning of English at a university in Beijing. Study Design: This research has been undertaken both from qualitative (mainly from related theories and researches) and quantitative studies (including questionnaire survey, and interviews with teachers and students). The qualitative study could give a basic understanding about the teaching and learning of English conditions in private universities, while the quantitative research was aimed at getting precise statistics which could be used for evaluating whether the results from qualitative study were right or wrong. Data collection involved several research methods, such as document analysis, questionnaire survey, and interviews with teachers and students. Then, a deep analysis of the data was conducted to find out the problems existing regarding college teaching of English at a private university and to analyze the reasons behind these problems. Finally, the author suggested some solutions to solve these problems. Methodology: 1) Document analysis: the author could not come into contact with all private universities’ administrators to investigate this research and the author then turned to analyze their published papers in order to find out teaching and learning of English conditions in private colleges. 2) Interviews: the author interviewed some teachers and administration-related people about the English teaching and learning in a This paper is supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for Central Universities and the Research Funds of Beijing Language and Culture University. The project number is 16YCX 120. i Copyright © The Author(s). All Rights Reserved. © 2015 – 2017 Open Access Publishing Group 23 Zhao Jingya A STUDY ON PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS OF PRIV“TE UNIVERSITY’S ENGLISH TE“CHING – A CASE STUDY OF A BEIJING PRIVATE UNIVERSITY Beijing private university. 3) Questionnaire: the author conducted a questionnaire survey among 200 students about their satisfactory level on their teaching and learning of English. Results: Although private universities have made great improvements in teaching and learning of English, problems (such as unclear teaching objectives, the lack of scientific teaching methods, the shortage of advanced teachers, and students lacking in study motivation) still exist. Conclusion: We can solve these problems through the related theories and work together with the related people. Keywords: private college; English teaching and learning; problems and reasons; suggestions 1. Introduction With China’s economic and education reform, private universities are being built in China. Private universities are higher educational schools which are implementing undergraduate education but their financial supports come from non-government sponsored expenditures of education and they need new codes of management under new systems. Although private universities are facing challenges and difficulties, they will finally develop into fully dependent institutions of higher learning. Quality improvement in teaching and learning of students plays a very important role in a private university’s development. “s a part of university education, college English teaching is also important. Thus, it is very important to do research on teaching and learning of English in private universities. 2. Literature Review 2.1 Important Definitions A. Private Universities Specifically, private universities are higher education institutions run by Nongovernment sponsored institutions (including enterprises, institutions, and social organizations), based on non-state financial education funds. It is a concept in contrast with the public colleges which are run by the government. In China, the foundation of private universities can be dated back to 1980s and within about the last 20 years of development, private universities can be found in almost every province in China. As of June 21, 2013 there were 2198 private universities and 298 adult higher colleges in China. Those private universities play very important roles in education. European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 24 Zhao Jingya A STUDY ON PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS OF PRIV“TE UNIVERSITY’S ENGLISH TE“CHING – A CASE STUDY OF A BEIJING PRIVATE UNIVERSITY B. College English Teaching College English refers to English taught to these non-English major students who are studying in college. "College English", as the name suggests, refers to the teaching of public English compared with professional English teaching. College English teaching involves a wide range in teaching contents and a large number of students. It is a compulsory course to all non - English major students with a teaching scale more than other disciplines. We can see that college English teaching is very important in terms of college education. This study summarizes the features of English teaching in private universities on the basis of private university characteristics and the concept of college English teaching of English. College English teaching in private universities is performed by teaching public English courses that are taught to non-English major students who study in private universities based on non-state financial educational funds. 2.2 The Related Research about English Teaching in Private Universities Research about private university teaching and learning of English dates back to 1980s.The research on the problems of college English teaching in private universities mainly concentrates on the following aspects: A. Research about Private Universities’ Students with Low English Scores, Low English Proficiency, and Have Deviation in English Learning “ttitudes In articles like Analyze the Advantages and Disadvantages of Separating the Administration of English Test with English Teaching in Private Universities’ English Teaching [1], Research on Improving the Education Quality of the Private University [2] and On the English Teaching Reform in Private Universities [3] and so on, many researchers conducted analysis regarding the English proficiency of the students in private university. They found out that those students have low English proficiency and their self-training abilities are also low and their college entrance examination scores are about 100 points lower than those who received the admission in the first group and 50 points lower than those who received the admission in the second group. Regarding the background of the increase in college admission, many students with low scores enter into private universities. In articles like Research on the Construction of New Model about English Teaching in Private University [4], The Special Orientation of the English Teaching Requirement in Private University [5] and Exploration about Reform of English Teaching in Private University [6], scholars also point that the majority of students in the same class fear learning English. They are weak in their abilities such as listening, speaking, reading and writing of English, which pose great difficulties and pressure on English teaching. European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 25 Zhao Jingya A STUDY ON PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS OF PRIV“TE UNIVERSITY’S ENGLISH TE“CHING – A CASE STUDY OF A BEIJING PRIVATE UNIVERSITY B. Research on Private Universities’ Ignoring Their Own Characteristics The book published by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China Measures for the Establishment and Administration of Independent Colleges [7] gives us a description about the developments and problems existing in private colleges. Private universities are higher education schools, which are implementing undergraduate education. The financial support of those private universities comes from non-governmental funds. They will finally develop into fully dependent institutions of higher learning. That is to say, those private universities make money from students. Thus in the process of administration, they tend to ignore the study conditions of the students, which may make things worse. Exploration about Current Situations and Models of Teaching Management in Private Universities [8] and How to Improve the Teaching Management Quality in Private Universities under New Situations [9] point out that the cultivation mechanism of the independent college is monotonous, and those universities do not give full attention to the advantages they have. C. Research about the Teachers’ Group Construction Needs to ”e “djusted in Private University In the article called Independent College English Teachers' Quality Report [10], Yu Feng & Hu Haipeng gives us a picture about the teachers’ basic conditions. 6.6% teachers are 51 years old or more; 10.1% teachers are between 36 years old and 50 years old, while 74.3% teachers are below 36 years old. About their educational background: teachers who received their doctorate degree diploma make up less than 0.4%; those who received their master degree diploma make up 29.8% and 69.8% teachers only received got their bachelor degree. About the academic research conditions: most teachers do not do any academic research and those who have published some academic papers are out of their career purpose. From this report, we can see that those teachers who teach in private universities, with relatively low education backgrounds, lack teaching experiences and they do not have enough academic research achievements. D. Research about the Monotonous Teaching Model of Private Universities Liu Haoran (2009) [10] Wuchangqing (2008) [4] say that nowadays the teaching models in private universities are still outdated. Namely, the teachers are in the leading positions in the whole class and students listen to their teachers without speaking a word. They also say that in most private universities, English is taught in large lecture classes and students have little chance to practice speaking, writing and so on. Zhao Changyu (2008) [2] and Zhangwenqin (2010) [11] make several suggestions on the monotonous teaching of English model. And PanQinghua (2010) [12] suggested that we must adjust the monotonous teaching of English model in private universities and we European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 26 Zhao Jingya A STUDY ON PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS OF PRIV“TE UNIVERSITY’S ENGLISH TE“CHING – A CASE STUDY OF A BEIJING PRIVATE UNIVERSITY should introduce new English models of teaching and improve the teacher’s quality at the same time. From the above analysis, we can find that teachers of English in private universities play a very important role in English teaching of English. So we should give those teachers teaching more training. Also, other problems still exist in private universities’ English teaching and learning. Thus, further research is necessary. 3. Methodology This research was undertaken both from (mainly from related theories and researches) and quantitative studies (including questionnaire survey, and interviews with teachers and students).The qualitative study could give a basic understanding about the teaching and learning of English conditions in private universities, while the quantitative research was aimed at getting precise statistics which are used for evaluating whether the results from qualitative study were right or wrong. Data collection involved several research methods, such as document analysis, questionnaire survey, and interviews with teachers and students. 3.1 Introduction about the Beijing Private University which I used for sample The Beijing private university is a full-time modern vocational education university approved by the Beijing Municipal Education Commission, combining engineering, professional higher education, vocational higher education, and vocational skills education. It was located in Shangdi Information Industry Park, Haidian District, Beijing and was founded in 1996. It soon became a famous private university with more than 16,000 students in 2015. This university soon became a model for other private universities. 3.2 Related Research Methods and Process Used in This Research a. Document analysis and class observation The author turned to analyze their published papers in order to find out the private college English teaching and learning conditions, because the author could not come into contact with all administrators to investigate this research. Then the author made summaries about the useful information. After communication with the concerned person, the author had the chance to observe 5 classes about their English teaching and study conditions and mainly focused on the teacher’s teaching teaching style and methods, class discipline and teacher-student interaction and students’ learning the textbook they used, their attitude in English class, their communication with their teacher and their attitude toward English assignments). The teacher and the students European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 27 Zhao Jingya A STUDY ON PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS OF PRIV“TE UNIVERSITY’S ENGLISH TE“CHING – A CASE STUDY OF A BEIJING PRIVATE UNIVERSITY were aware of the author’s presence, but the author only observed and made records objectively without participation in the English class. b) Interviews The author interviewed some teachers and administration-related people about the English teaching and learning at this Beijing private University. She then interviewed the vice president of this school to obtain a basic understanding about the English teaching and learning in this school. This interview was mainly based on the following questions: 1) Do you think this private university gives enough importance to the English teaching and learning (both in aspects about teaching resources used in teaching English and English teacher’s training? Can you give some comparison about the differences in English teaching and learning between this private university and those universities founded by the government? 3) What are the problems in this private university and how you plan to resolve these problems? Then the author interviewed the director of Human Resources about the teacher’s information. The interview was mainly based on questions like can you give me a detailed summary about the education background of those English teachers? 2) What kinds of team building programs and training systems have been implemented in this private university? The director who is in charge of the English teaching was also interviewed. The author mainly asked him the following questions: 1) How do you organize the English teaching and learning and what do you think of it in this university? 2) How do you evaluate teacher’s teaching and students learning? Does the teacher have enough resources (like multi-media teaching equipment, books, and academic funds)? Then the author interviewed 10 teachers about their opinions about English teaching and learning in this university. The main questions were 1) are you satisfied with your work in this school and do you want to have the chance to have advanced study? What’s the biggest barrier you experience in English teaching? Do you think this private university gives enough importance to English teaching and learning? 4) Do you feel the English teaching and learning materials are appropriate for your students? 5) What kind of teaching methods and strategies do you use in your English class? 6) Can you give us brief summaries about the characteristics of your students and their learning conditions? 6) Do you make the teaching objectives according to the syllabus? 7) What are the problems in English teaching and learning in this university and can you give some strategies to deal with these problems? c. Questionnaire The author made a questionnaire survey among 200 students about their satisfactory level in their English teaching and learning in the Beijing private University based on those interview results. The contents of the questionnaire survey contained three parts. It was made up of 15 multiple choice questions and two open-ended questions related European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 28 Zhao Jingya A STUDY ON PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS OF PRIV“TE UNIVERSITY’S ENGLISH TE“CHING – A CASE STUDY OF A BEIJING PRIVATE UNIVERSITY to conditions of university aspects, teacher aspects, and aspects about the students themselves. 200 questionnaires were handed out and collected back. 130 male students and 70 female students participated in this survey. 4. Problems in English Teaching and Learning in the Beijing Private University Based on the data obtained through the above research methods, the author made a deep analysis about the problems that exist in English teaching and learning in the Beijing private university: 4.1 Positioning and the Teaching Goal is not Clear College English Curriculum Requirements [13] gives us a clear description about the teaching goal of college English teaching: college English teaching is an important part of higher level education and English should be required for all college students. The teaching of English should focus on basic knowledge of English and applied skills, cross-cultural communication and learning strategies, combined with multiple English teaching modes and methods, based on the theories of foreign language teaching. That is to say, the purpose of English teaching is to cultivate students’ English comprehensive application abilities, especially the listening and speaking abilities. But this situation should be based on the actual situation of college students and adjustments may need to be made. Many private universities do not have clear teaching goals in English teaching and they set English teaching goals based on imitation of some public university, but this is not appropriate. Because the English foundation of private college students is relatively weak, students have difficulties in basic grammar so we cannot force them to have a leap in English listening, speaking, reading, and writing. For example, at this private university in Beijing, 60% of students fear English learning and they do not have good English learning habits, which leads to deep frustration in learning of English. In this situation, the teaching goal of the private university should be to make adjustments according to the actual situations of students’ English proficiency. College English Curriculum Requirements [13] also proposed that the students’ proficiency and actual teaching may vary, so the college English teaching should be based on classification, guidance and make a consideration about students’ aptitudes. So the private university should make a clear understanding about the actual language proficiency of students and pinpoint their teaching goals based on those actual situations. 4.2 The Teaching Method is not Scientific Private universities keep their outdated teaching models with a teaching syllabus and monotonous teaching model. English teachers are the center of the whole class without European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 29 Zhao Jingya A STUDY ON PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS OF PRIV“TE UNIVERSITY’S ENGLISH TE“CHING – A CASE STUDY OF A BEIJING PRIVATE UNIVERSITY concerning the different English levels of students while the students listen to their teacher passively without speaking a word. And most classes are large group classes. The teaching equipment includes blackboards and chalk. What students need to do is to make notes and do assignments. This can easily lead to students’ losing interest toward English learning and they may not think about whether the teacher’s teachings are right or wrong since they never ask questions about their learning. In the Beijing private university, the students have a weak foundation in English. According to the entrance examination test, 80% students have a vocabulary of less than 1000 words. They cannot follow up the large group class (more than 50 students). In this large group class, the teachers and students do not have enough chances to communicate neither do students have enough time to express themselves. It is also difficult for teachers to control the discipline of so many students. What’s worse, those students have English class in their first and second semester study and in the third and fourth semester, they do not learn English at all, which worsens their probability of finding a job. 4.3 Private University, with Rigid Teaching Thought, Did not attach Enough Importance to the Cultivation of the Integrated Use of English One problem existing in current college English teaching is that the teaching thought relatively lags behind and it mainly behaves in the following aspects: On one hand, they do not solve well the contradiction between unity and diversity. For more than ten years, the developments and reforms of private universities teaching English, in fact, are based on the road of standardization of foreign language teaching. That is to say, they gradually establish and perfect a unified teaching outline and test system. The unified syllabus and test systems do play a positive role in terms of promoting college English teaching in China. But the unified outline and examination, to some extent, constrained the development of college teaching of English because they do not adapt to the development requirements of personalization and diversification of higher education. On the other hand, the cultivation of universities of English application ability is not enough. The syllabus clearly puts forward that the teaching goal of college teaching of English is to cultivate students' strong ability of reading and accurate listening, speaking, reading, writing and translation ability. It gives too much emphasis on reading ability and ignores other abilities, which leads to Mute English . It is obvious that this lagging behind teaching thought is no longer suitable for the rapidly changing society. Private College as a higher education form developed in recent years, has limitations adhering to the original thoughts on the teaching ideas (to achieve unity) seriously deviating from their own characteristics. The principle of private colleges is not out of public welfare purpose but for profit concerns for the operators. To some European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 30 Zhao Jingya A STUDY ON PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS OF PRIV“TE UNIVERSITY’S ENGLISH TE“CHING – A CASE STUDY OF A BEIJING PRIVATE UNIVERSITY extent, they will not give enough attention to non-professional major subjects which leads to great limitations to the private universities teaching of English. 4.4 Faculty Construction Is Insufficient The faculty construction is insufficient in private universities, which can be found from two perspectives: On the one hand, teacher's academic qualification is relatively low in the private university. That is they are low in their education background and are weak in competence and skills. Most teachers in the Beijing private university are fresh graduates or postgraduates, who have problems regarding their changing roles from being students to becoming teachers. In addition, many of them are not normal school students, without any systematic teachers training, effective class organization abilities, and English academic abilities. According to the interview with the director of Human Resources, 83.3 % teachers in this university only obtain bachelor degree diplomas from the common university undergraduate education, and only less than 15% of teachers hold their master degree diploma. Even some teachers are graduates from private universities. There are limited training opportunities for teachers in this school. On the other hand, private universities’ teachers have poor comprehensive abilities. The teaching ability is proportional to the teachers' quality. In the existing private colleges, many teachers have some deficiencies which are more or less common phenomena among these private universities (the University the author conducted research included). In the student questionnaire about teachers teaching and class observation, it was found that 1/3 of teachers in that private university have deficiencies in reading and writing (some teachers do not use complete sentences in class and they choose words or phrases instead). About 1/3 of teachers do not use English as the only teaching language in class, and their teaching focuses on grammar and words, taught in Chinese, which shows that those teachers are weak in spoken English. On the other hand, from the point of scientific research, teachers seldom do any academic research programs in this university. I cannot find any articles published in national journals. Academic research is an important way of cultivating the talent and improvement of the teachers' own quality. Standing in the forefront of scientific research, teachers can continuously put forward problems, find new research results, and use those findings to impart new knowledge to students. Secondly, scientific activities can promote classroom teaching, guide students extracurricular activities of science and technology, combining theory and better practice. Through the above analysis, it is not hard to conclude that private university teachers' quality is low and less scientific research activities involved. European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 31 Zhao Jingya A STUDY ON PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS OF PRIV“TE UNIVERSITY’S ENGLISH TE“CHING – A CASE STUDY OF A BEIJING PRIVATE UNIVERSITY 4.5 Private University Students Lack of Good Motivation and Study Method to Learning of English Those students have low English proficiency and their self-training abilities are also low. Their college entrance examination scores are about 100 points lower than those who received admission into the first group and 50 points lower than those who received admission into the second group. Students' English foundations are not good and study levels are uneven. With the enrollment expansion of colleges and universities in recent years, some students with weak academic foundations enter into private colleges and universities. For example in the private university the author conducted research at, students’ English scores vary from a minimum of 9 points to a maximum of 116 points. Also, most students fear learning English. Their English listening, speaking, reading and writing ability is generally not strong. Most students have a weak English base and uneven English proficiency. This creates many difficulties for basic English implementation and organization of teaching of English in the classroom. Through the results of interviews with the teachers, and students, we can observe that students experience problems in learning attitude, motivation, and learning method such as: firstly, most of the students think that English learning of English is dispensable. Secondly, some students think textbook knowledge taught in the classroom by their teacher is only to cope with the exam. Thirdly, some of the students want to learn English better, but have not found a good method. So, we have come to learn that there are so many problems in private college English teaching and learning that we must find out the deep reasons that lead to these problems. 5. Reasons That Lead To Problems Regarding English Teaching in Private Universities 5.1 The School Property Influence its English Teaching in Private University Private colleges and universities are depending on self-raised funds to run universities. The school funds, venues, students, and teachers are acquired from the market, which drives private colleges to the properties of the corresponding characteristics, which are different from public universities autonomy and inflexible operation mechanism. Private colleges in our country basically have the following limitations: A. Unlimited expansion in enrollment As is known, a non-government college depends on funding from multiple sources (personal or corporate social groups).The original intention of the operators is the pursuit of economic interests or or maximizing these interests in addition to the public education benefits. In this process, many colleges and universities neglect the teaching quality and the quality of students. Private universities with unlimited enrollment European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 32 Zhao Jingya A STUDY ON PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS OF PRIV“TE UNIVERSITY’S ENGLISH TE“CHING – A CASE STUDY OF A BEIJING PRIVATE UNIVERSITY expansion completely ignore the integration of internal resources, external resources, and the size of the faculties. What’s worse, school library construction cannot meet the requirements of students' learning, which seriously negatively affects student learning. B. The management system lacks integrity Private universities introduce those investors who have never been involved in the education of school management. These people know how to run a business, an asset, but when it comes to running an educational cause, their principles are sometimes contrary to education itself. Their management focuses on the benefits rather than the quality of teaching and student learning. 5.2 The Ambiguous Attitude of Students toward English Learning From the results of interviews with teachers and students, we can find the characteristics of private university students in the university where the author conducted his/her research: A. Students’ cognition of English learning The family conditions of private school students are relatively rich. They are spoiled from home, students’ self-discipline is poor, and their self-management abilities are weak, without clear goals of learning English. The students can't bear any challenges and failures. Because of their weak foundation in English learning, they can't express themselves in front of many students. They tend to attribute their poor English to their poor abilities rather than pay more efforts to English learning. B. The Students' English Learning Attitude Private college students, generally speaking, do not have good study habits.They generally believe that as long as they have entered into the university, there is no need to study hard. English is not a professional course. The only reason for learning English is to pass the English examinations. Due to social, family, and individual factors, private university students don’t form good learning habits and good attitudes toward English learning. 5.3 The Selection of Teaching Material is not Appropriate With the reforms of English teaching in college and the developments of a variety of teaching theories, along with college English teaching materials continuously changing, private college English teaching materials need to give full consideration to the characteristics of the students. For example, in the university where the research was conducted, 90/200 students feel that their teaching materials are too difficult to understand. In the process of the interview, many teachers also put forward that the textbooks are not suitable for the students. The textbooks they use have a high level starting point and large quantities of vocabulary, along with long and difficult text with demanding comprehension, placing more challenges upon the English teaching European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 33 Zhao Jingya A STUDY ON PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS OF PRIV“TE UNIVERSITY’S ENGLISH TE“CHING – A CASE STUDY OF A BEIJING PRIVATE UNIVERSITY process. ”ecause the students’ English foundations are poor, it is difficult for them to digest the knowledge in the textbooks, which makes them frustrated. 5.4 Teachers' Structure Is Imperfect The current non-government college faculty is composed of three parts: part-time teachers (postgraduate students from public colleges and teachers), retired teachers (from public universities), and the school full-time teachers (mostly fresh graduates). Although these part-time teachers have rich teaching experiences, they teach students for economic reasons and they do not teach very seriously. According to the communication with students and their work attendance provided by the director of Human Resources, sometimes they are absent with unreasonable excuses, which seriously affects the normal teaching order. Retired teachers, with rich teaching experience and a strong sense of responsibility, can ensure the quality of teaching. But their physical strength is not enough; the class reaction is relatively slow; the classroom teaching of information is not wide enough; and they are not willing to prepare a lesson to supplement new knowledge. All of these often lead to students having a low efficiency in English study. Full-time teachers in private universities are young without rich teaching experiences. Their classes are active with positive interaction with students. They can work with the students in a timely fashion and can tutor after class. But these teachers are hired after graduation and their knowledge reserves are insufficient. They can’t completely fit the requirements of higher education. To summarize, the teachers in the private university need improvement to meet their students’ learning of English needs. 6. Solutions toward Those Problems in Private Universities Teaching English 6.1 Attach Proper Importance to College English Teaching In response to severe challenges put forward by the 21st century and the new situations in colleges and universities (that is, expanding enrollment) and making the college English teaching reform smoothly, we must carefully study the college English teaching requirements. [14] College English teaching and learning should consider the differences between different areas and different universities. College English teaching can be divided into general requirements, high requirements, and higher requirements. College English graded teaching not only respects the rule of understanding, but also earnestly implements the classified guidance according to their aptitudes. The principle not only fully gives the teaching unit of teaching autonomy, but also fully embodies the principle of linking to the high school English teaching. [15] Although it did not give a clear definition for non-government funded colleges teaching English, but has certain guiding significance for private universities. In this case, our country's non-government European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 34 Zhao Jingya A STUDY ON PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS OF PRIV“TE UNIVERSITY’S ENGLISH TE“CHING – A CASE STUDY OF A BEIJING PRIVATE UNIVERSITY colleges must have a clear position on teaching English. Every college should establish their own teaching orientations in accordance with their students’ actual level of English proficiency. The normal requirements include: a. Listening: Students should understand teaching in English; should understand everyday English conversations, general theme lectures; should understand a speed slower than English radio and TV shows. b. Speaking: Students should use English to make communication in the learning process, to discuss a topic, to make conversation about daily life, and should make a brief speech about familiar topics after preparation. c. Reading: students should understand basic general topics of English articles and their reading speed should reach 70 words per minute. d. Writing: Students should complete the general writing task, describe their personal experiences, give perceptions and feelings surrounding events, should write common practical writing, make a general topic outline, and write no less than a 120 word essay in half an hour. e. Translation: Students, with the help of a dictionary, should perform EnglishChinese translations about a familiar theme or article. The English-Chinese translation speed should be about 300 words per hour. Students should make Chinese-English translations at the rate of about 250 Chinese characters per hour. There should be no major language errors and the understanding in the translation should be accurate. f. Vocabulary: Students should master 4795 words and 700 phrases, of which 2000 words are active vocabulary, namely the students should be able to apply these words in both oral and written expression on the basis of cognition. ”ecause private school students’ foundation is poor, so they can also adjust their requirements according to the actual need. Shu Dingfang & Chen Suyan [16] gives us a specific description about how the University of Nottingham makes evaluation regarding each student and teacher in teaching English. Students and teachers work together to further understand and make clear English learning objectives, learning resources, and comprehend learning styles after entering into university. Private universities should learn from this model. 6.2 Private Colleges and Universities Ought to Introduce Scientific Teaching Models, Updating Teaching Content The traditional teaching models are not suitable for private colleges teaching English. So we need to start with a successful teaching model with appropriate content. Private colleges teaching English patterns and designs can be summarized by the following principles: the principle of cohesion, culture and originality. Therefore, in the reform of private universities, we must avoid the tendency of blindly following the transplanting of Western second language theories and practices when we introduce the new college European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 35 Zhao Jingya A STUDY ON PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS OF PRIV“TE UNIVERSITY’S ENGLISH TE“CHING – A CASE STUDY OF A BEIJING PRIVATE UNIVERSITY teaching of English methodology. One of the characteristics of private college students is the lack of autonomous learning ability, so it is important to strengthen the cultivation of a student’s autonomous learning ability. “ccording to domestic and foreign scholars, research findings on foreign language, autonomous learning can be divided into several aspects:  Attitude: learners are responsible for their own learning and actively devote  themselves to learning.  strategies in order to finish their learning tasks independently. Ability: the learners should cultivate English learning ability and the learning Environment: the learners should be given plenty of opportunity to exercise their own learning ability. Positive learning attitudes, independent learning abilities, and rich resources are the main components of autonomous learning. Private universities should focus on cultivating and correcting the students' learning attitude, changing the idea of undermining attitude toward learning English. They should let the students know that language learning not only meets the needs of working environments and social cohesion but also has a great significance in self-improvement and the realization of their values. The most important methods to cultivate the students' independent learning ability is changing students' learning mentality, establishing the confidence of students' learning, so students who don't like learning English can find the fun of learning and form the habitats of autonomous learning. The school should create a good learning environment and should attach great importance to the construction of campus culture, which will promote the construction of study style. Campus culture refers to a school that has a specific cultural atmosphere and spiritual environment. Private universities should regularly hold English contests, English corners, English interactive activities, and invite some famous people to make speeches. All of these ideas will make sure that students are immersed in in a strong cultural atmosphere of learning English. 6.3 Strengthen the Cultivation of Teachers' Ability The teachers’ faculty construction is the key to ensure the quality of private college English teaching. To build a highly efficient unified team of teachers of English, we should pay attention to the following: a. Promote orderly continuing education training and pay attention to the cultivation of teachers' mental health. Private universities should make improvements respecting their teachers’ abilities to teach, be innovative at the core of their teaching, provide overall planning and distribution of training year by year and should also attach great importance to teachers' latest knowledge on enrichment and improvement. European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 36 Zhao Jingya A STUDY ON PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS OF PRIV“TE UNIVERSITY’S ENGLISH TE“CHING – A CASE STUDY OF A BEIJING PRIVATE UNIVERSITY b. Emphasis on teachers’ team construction, and improve the foreign language teachers' scientific research ability. Private college teachers, most of which are young, take the double pressure of family and society. They are very busy with the realization of the interests of the individual in or after the teaching process .Thus to improve the teaching quality; they must build a team of teachers. First of all, we should understand the purpose of each teacher, and make sure that every teacher can find a sense of belonging and sense of worth as they teach. [17] The academic research should meet the needs of teachers' personal development; ensure that the teachers' professional knowledge, teaching methods, theories and practices can make improvements, meeting the needs of social development. 6.4 Develop the Students' Learning Interest, Motivation and Study Method In the process of English teaching, teachers should integrate theory with practice. The example should combine the actual life and be vivid, which will help students understand better the content of what they have learnt. Teachers should make use of aids teaching skills efficiently and give full play to the function of the language lab and multimedia. Language learning is a process of exposing to input and giving output. In today's modern teaching, input is not only teachers’ spoken language and the students' study. Many schools have multimedia teaching equipment and the students can view the film, learn English songs by audio-visual way of learning English. Finally, private college English teachers should pay attention to the students' learning psychology. They need more patience with their students and timely communication with the students. In the actual teaching, the teacher adjusts the progress of the class according to student's psychological change. 7. Conclusion This article is an attempt to conduct a survey on the English teaching conditions in private universities based on the teaching and learning of English in a Beijing private university. Trying to find the problems that existed in the college teaching English of private university, the author analyzed both from qualitative and quantitative studies. Data collection involved several research methods, such as document analysis, questionnaire survey, and interviews with teachers and students at the Beijing private university. Based on the results received from document analysis, questionnaire survey, and interviews, the author found that (1) The teaching goal is not clear. (2) The teaching method is not scientific. (3) Private university, with rigid teaching thought, did not attach enough importance to the cultivation of the integrated use of English. (4) Faculty construction is insufficient. (5) Private university students lack good motivation and study methods regarding English learning. The author analyzed the reasons that have European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 37 Zhao Jingya A STUDY ON PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS OF PRIV“TE UNIVERSITY’S ENGLISH TE“CHING – A CASE STUDY OF A BEIJING PRIVATE UNIVERSITY led to the problems from several perspectives. At last, the author has given four suggestions to solve these problems that are to attach proper Importance to college teaching of English; introduce scientific teaching models, updating teaching content; strengthen the cultivation of teachers' ability and develop the students' learning interest, motivation and study methods. The author is confident that the research would help the Beijing private university in improving their college teaching of English as well as the other private university teachers of English to learn something about their teaching from this research. References [1] Liu Xiaoli. (2009) Analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of separating the administration of English test with English teaching in private universities’ English teaching. Examination Journal, 26. [2] Zhao Chang Yu. (2008)Research on improving the education quality of private universities. Journal of Forum on Contemporary Education,12. [3] Wang Yunxia. (2010) On the English teaching reform in the private university. Journal of Science. [4] Wu Changqing. (2008) Research on the construction of new model about English teaching in private university. Journal of Crazy English (Teachers), 01. [5] LiZuHua&ZouLi. (2007) The special orientation of the English teaching requirement in private university. Journal of Education about Private University. [6] Li Yongfang. (2009) Exploration about reform of English teaching in private university. Journal of Hubei University of Economics (Humanities and Social Sciences). [7] Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, (2008) Measures for the Establishment and Administration of Independent Colleges. [8] Song Li & Guo Yingfu. (2011) Exploration about current situation and models of teaching management in private universities.Journal Theory and Practice of Contemporary Education, 05. [9] LiWei& SuXingren. (2004) How to improve the teaching management quality in private universities under new situations. Journal of Southwest University for Nationalities (Humanities and Social Science),05. [10] Liu Haoran.(2009) How to improve the English teaching quality in private university . Journal of China Educational Technique & Equipment, 04. [11] Zhang Wenqin (2010) The existed problems and reasons and related strategies on those problems in English teaching in private university. Journal of China Urban Economy, 11. European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 38 Zhao Jingya A STUDY ON PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS OF PRIV“TE UNIVERSITY’S ENGLISH TE“CHING – A CASE STUDY OF A BEIJING PRIVATE UNIVERSITY [12] Pan Qinghua. (2010).Problems and strategies in English teaching reform in private university.Journal of Education Research Monthly, 11. [13] Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China. (2007) College English Curriculum Requirements. [14] Shu Dingfang&Zhuang zhixiang (2004). Modern foreign language teaching theories and methods. Shanghai: Shanghai foreign language education press. [15] Wang Shouren. (2008). To further advance the implementation of college English teaching reform.Journal of Foreign Languages in China, 01. [16] Shu Dingfang & Chen Suyan. (2009) the successful road to college English teaching. Jornal of Foreign Language World, 06. [17] Dai Weidong&Wang Xuemei. (2006). Construction of foreign language teaching system with Chinese characteristics. Jornal of Foreign Language World, 04. Appendix A Survey about the English Teaching and Learning Conditions in a Beijing University. This questionnaire is used for a research about the teaching and learning of English conditions in Beijing private University, for the purpose of finding out the problems in teaching and learning of English in these private universities and analyzing the deep reasons behind these problems. Firstly, thank you for all your support and cooperation about this survey. The questionnaire results will be used only for research purpose and all students will fill this questionnaire by secret ballot. So please answer all questions objectively, based on the actual situation. And if you have any doubt about the purpose of this questionnaire or any questions about this research, please feel free to connect with the author. This first part of the questionnaire is about your personal background information. (This part is used for knowing your study of English related background without involving any sensitive personal information, please answer every question objectively). 1. Gender: Male Female 3. Your Major: 4. You College Entrance Examination Record: 5. Your College Entrance Examination English 2. Age: Record: Part Two (survey about teaching and learning of English in this university. Please answer each question with the most appropriate choice). European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 39 Zhao Jingya A STUDY ON PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS OF PRIV“TE UNIVERSITY’S ENGLISH TE“CHING – A CASE STUDY OF A BEIJING PRIVATE UNIVERSITY 1. Are you satisfied with the resources for study English in this university? ( ) A. Yes. There are enough resources (like audiovisual system platform) for studying English. B. There are computers and PPTs used in the English class. C. No, the only resources for study English is blackboard. 2. Your English teacher’s educational background? A. My teacher is a non –major graduate of English, with few English teaching experiences. B. My teacher is a major graduate of English from language or normal universities with rich English teaching experiences. C. My teacher is major postgraduate or doctor of English. 3. Are there enough English reading materials (books, newspapers and all kinds of English Journals in your campus’ library? A. There are lots of English reading materials and we can read the latest English newspapers and English journals. B. There are many examination oriented books, but no newspapers or English journals. C. There are only few English textbooks and English exercise books. 4. Are there any English related activities (English speech contests and English songs contests and so on)? ( ) A. There are a lot of English related activities in my campus (English clubs, English speech contests, English –Chinese translation contests and so on). B. There are some examination related activities (exam training activities, exam imitation) C. There are no English related activities and no English study atmospheres 5. Does your school consider College English Test 4 as one criterion for your graduation? ( ) A. Yes, College English Test 4 score is related to my Bachelor's degree certificate. ”. In our school, college English score is not required for ”achelor’s degree certificate, but all the students are required to take part in College English Test4. C. No, in my school college English Test 4 is a personal matter. 6. Do you think that you teacher of English has qualified knowledge and teaching qualification to teach you in English? ( ) European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 40 Zhao Jingya A STUDY ON PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS OF PRIV“TE UNIVERSITY’S ENGLISH TE“CHING – A CASE STUDY OF A BEIJING PRIVATE UNIVERSITY A. Yes, my English teacher has rich teaching experiences and adequate academic knowledge. ”. My English teacher’s has qualified knowledge in English but he does not have enough experiences C. My English teacher’s knowledge and teaching experiences in English are both unqualified, I do not think he is good enough to teach me and he makes all kinds of mistakes in class. 7. Does your English teacher adopt various teacher methods (multi-media, class games and task-based teaching and so on) to make English learning more interesting? ( ) A. My teacher of English is humorous, and adopts all kinds of teaching methods. His class is quite interesting. B. My teacher of English teaches us according to the syllabus and the class is not so interesting but the class is in order. C. Our teacher of English just reads the materials, adopts cramming methods of teaching. The English class is boring. 8. Does your English teacher adopt all kinds of methods to encourage student to learning English? A. Our English teacher not only imparts the examination knowledge but also pays attention towards cultivating our English ability and he often shares with us movies, songs and novels done in English. B. Our English teacher only cares about the exam content and our English score and he do pay attention to our preparation of the examination. C. Our teacher of English does not communicate with students after finishing their teaching task 9. Which of the following items is more close to your teacher’s attitude toward English learning? ( ) A. English is very important for your major study and your employment, so you should learn English well and know about the western culture. B. English is not as important as your major related curriculums. The only objective of learning English is to pass the English related exams. C. English learning is difficult for you and you do not have a good foundation of English, so why don’t you put all your effort to major related English and before the final exam, I will give you the test content. European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 41 Zhao Jingya A STUDY ON PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS OF PRIV“TE UNIVERSITY’S ENGLISH TE“CHING – A CASE STUDY OF A BEIJING PRIVATE UNIVERSITY 10. Does your teacher cut down the English teaching according to the exam? ( ) A. Never, my English teacher always gives us teachings of English according to the syllabus and we also have additional content for English culture. B. My teacher of English sometimes cuts down the inappropriate content and replaces them with more interesting English content, but all exam-oriented. C. My teacher of English always teaches us according to her plan neither the syllabus nor the exam. 11. What’s your biggest motivation for study English? . A. The interests toward English and western culture. B. I regard English as equipment and also it is related to my employment. C. Exam is the only drive for me to study English, no exam, no English study. 12. How long do you spend studying English weekly? A. About more than 15hours B. About 10-15 hours C. Less than 10 hours 13. Do you think the textbooks of English are suitable for your English level? A. The textbook of English we use is too difficult for me and I feel overwhelm by it. B. The textbook of English we used is a little higher than my English proficiency but, that is the point I need to learn, so I think the textbook is appropriate. C. The English textbook is too easy or I have no idea about the textbook, because I do not know what the textbook plans to impart. 14. Do you have your own English learning method? A. I have a lot of English learning methods and sometimes our English teacher imparts in us some self-training knowledge and now I can train myself in study of English. B. I have some English learning methods, but I feel that it is not enough and I hope the teacher can impart some more knowledge about improving on my English study of English. C. I have no methods of learning English and I cannot learn English by myself and hope the teacher of English can discipline my study of English. 15. Are you satisfied with your learning of English here (including the campuses learning equipment and teaching faculty in English)? ( ) European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 42 Zhao Jingya A STUDY ON PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS OF PRIV“TE UNIVERSITY’S ENGLISH TE“CHING – A CASE STUDY OF A BEIJING PRIVATE UNIVERSITY A. I am very satisfied with the learning of English and study here, and both the learning equipment and teaching stuff in English are excellent. B. I think the learning equipment and teaching stuff In English are not very good, but I accomplished my aim about the English learning. C. I am not satisfied with the learning and study of English here at all. Part Three (Open Question): 1. Are there any other problems about teaching and learning of English in your University? 2. Do you have any ideas about how to improve the teaching and learning of English in you university? European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 1 │ 2017 43 Zhao Jingya A STUDY ON PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS OF PRIV“TE UNIVERSITY’S ENGLISH TE“CHING – A CASE STUDY OF A BEIJING PRIVATE UNIVERSITY . Creative Commons licensing terms Author(s) will retain the copyright of their published articles agreeing that a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0) terms will be applied to their work. 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