REFORM AMID CONTROVERSY

English also stands accused of harming the purity of Chinese language, with terms such as "bye bye" now part of daily speech.

Two years ago, a group of linguists petitioned for the removal of English words from an authoritative Chinese dictionary and inclusion of the Chinese equivalents instead.

The People's Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Communist Party of China, said in an editorial this month that the influx of imported words was harming the purity and health of the Chinese language.

Last year, Beijing decided to cut the value of English by shifting points to Chinese in college and senior high school entrance exams from 2016, sparking concerns among English teachers.

"For some of my students, the enthusiasm of learning English is higher than learning Chinese," said Wu Bo, professor of translation with China Foreign Affairs University," and they think very shortsightedly that it is no more important to learn Chinese."

"Students will treat English as a secondary subject," said Xu Hong, a middle school English teacher. "They will give it less attention and add to the difficulty of our work as the demands of English teaching have not changed."

But others are less pessimistic. Any reform will detract little from the importance people attach to English, said Chen Huiwen, vice president of Beijing No.2 Middle School.

"We will think of making some changes in class, such as focusing more on comprehensive English skills, rather than test results."

A Ministry of Education spokesman said last week that the plan to change the English test in the gaokao is still under consideration, but it will not downplay English education.