China Emerges as a Dominant Force in Written English

American students lag behind their global peers in a subject where they should have an advantage – written English.

Two billion people worldwide are learning English, from China especially. On track as the world’s largest English-speaking country, China demonstrates an unsurpassed intensity to learn the language of business and information.

China seems to recognize what the United States seems to have forgotten: English is the language of opportunity and must be mastered. Human beings are now part of a global conversation. English is the language of problem-solving; it represents hope for a better future.

America’s future is tied to its capacity to reclaim its command over written English.

The State of American Writing Education

Calling today’s quality of writing in America a “crisis,” the Alliance for Excellent Education declared, “The majority of students leave high school without the advanced reading and writing skills needed to succeed in college and a career.”

The facts are grim. U.S. high schools graduate students who cannot write a five-paragraph essay. The Nation’s Report Card reveals that a mere 24 percent of American 12^th graders performed at a proficient level of writing in 2011. Writing scores on the SAT have declined an average of five points since 2011 and consistently represent the lowest student outcomes of any section of the test.

Last fall, The Atlantic launched an online series, “Why American Students Can’t Write.” In one case study of a struggling New York high school, the principal and faculty investigated why students were failing and reached a singular answer:

Bad writing. Students’ inability to translate thoughts into coherent, well-argued sentences, paragraphs and essays was severely impeding intellectual growth in many subjects. Consistently, one of the largest differences between failing and successful students was that only the latter could express their thoughts on the page.

The school made dramatic changes to how they taught writing, and student performance improved markedly.

Nationally, under new Common Core standards, elementary school students will be required to write informative and persuasive essays. “By high school, students will be expected to produce mature and thoughtful essays, not just in English class but in history and science classes as well.” While this may be an improvement in pedagogy, testing on the new standards illustrates how dismal current skills are:

Early accounts suggest that the new writing standards will deliver a high-voltage shock to the American public. Last spring, Florida school officials administered a writing test that, for the first time, required 10th-graders to produce an expository essay aligned with Common Core goals. The pass rate on the exam plummeted from 80% in 2011 to 38% [in 2012].

Clearly, English writing skills in America leave much room for improvement.

China Takes the Lead

Meanwhile, students around the globe grow more competitive. While the U.S. has lapsed into complacency with its presumed native-speaker advantage in English skills, other countries are taking measures to improve their opportunities in an increasingly global economy.

In December 2010, news outlets reported, “The results of a well respected global education survey (PISA) shocked the Western world this morning when China ranked first in the world in education, not only in science and math, but also reading.” In marked contrast, the U.S. ranked 26 out of 65 participating countries. Other international assessments echo this trend. In recent reading/math exams, “East Asian countries occupied the upper ranks in the comparison of more than 60 world education systems, far outperforming the U.S.”

China, in particular, leads the charge. China’s students are legally required to begin learning English in the third grade. Older Chinese students may study as much as 12 hours per day for three years to prepare for a single test (Gaokao, China’s national college entrance exam) on which 25 percent of the grade is based on English.

According to a recent audit by Grammarly, China is already surpassing the U.S. in English writing accuracy.

Implications

The U.S. needs to take action to improve writing accuracy among students and professionals. American educators and legislators will grapple with how to improve the teaching of writing in America. Meanwhile, however, graduates and job seekers must critically assess how to remain competitive with global peers who are well-schooled in English and hungry for success in the worldwide economy.

A recent Wall Street Journal article identified clear communication, which includes writing, as the top skill necessary for success in the 2013 job market. A Washington Post article reported that executives, consultants, and business leaders from various disciplines stress good writing skills as critical in today’s workforce. At the same time, however, these business leaders opined that writing skills among U.S. graduates have declined.

American job seekers must understand that they are not competing only with other Americans for work opportunities. Many of today’s employers seek talent globally. U.S. job seekers must hone their writing skills and consider new approaches. First and foremost, Americans must not assume their written English is better than their global competitors. Far from it.

Next, we must make quality writing a priority. From professionals to job seekers, English language learners to students, we are all responsible for the quality and content of our written communication. Proofread everything carefully, several times. Take advantage of courses, writing centers and online tools to enhance your writing skills or check for accuracy.

The time for complacency is over. America, let’s write well again!

About the Author

A self-proclaimed word nerd, Allison VanNest works with Grammarly to help perfect written English. Connect with Allie, the Grammarly team, and more than 550,000 Grammarly Facebook fans at www.facebook.com/grammarly.