Of the Students, By the Students, and For the Students: Time for Another Revolution

Annually, China produces more than 5 million college graduates who have been compelled to study English as a foreign language for 10 to 17 years but graduate functionally illiterate, unable to produce comprehensible oral or written English.English is taught as a subject required to pass tests and not as a communicative language. The problems are identified, confirmed by post-graduate students and solutions are presented. The development and success of a remedial program designed for the collegiate level, Holistic English, is well documented by the students at top tier and second tier universities, as well as 3rd tier and vocational colleges in seven Provinces of China. This is a compelling story of a 30 year old failed program that reminds us of Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.