On How to Bring Students Role in English Class into Full PlayKey words: passivityEnglish classteaching styletAbstract: Language learning and teaching can be an exciting and refreshing interval in the day for students and teachers. There are so many possible ways of stimulating communicative interaction. However, the teaching condition seems to be far from its point of satisfaction. For example, English teaching is still a tedious, dry-as-dust process. Chinese students are very passive in class. Students lack confidence in learning English. This paper will analyze the reasons why Chinese students are still very passive in English class and will give some advice on how to change this condition as well. 论文摘要：随着科技的进步，中国已经出现了许多互动交际教学的可行性方案。这不论是对于学生的学习还是教师的教学都是一件令人振奋的事情。然而当今的教学状况仍不容乐观，如教学过程的枯燥无味，学生在课堂上仍然处于被动的地位等等。当然这些跟我们的传统教学理念、传统的教学方法等不无关系 。本论文将着重探讨中国中学生在英语课堂上处于被动地位的原因，并提出一些改变该状况的可行性建议。1. Introduction China has seen an increasing demand for English in peoples careers and promotions since 1978 and particularly after Chinas entrance into WTO. Naturally, there is an impressive commitment to EFL teaching and learning from both teachers and learners. There is no doubt that much progress in English teaching and learning has been made in China in the last two decades. Seeing that, never in the nations history had so much money, time, effort, equipment and so on been invested in English language teaching and learning and never has so much international cooperation been involved in projects to train both Chinese EFL professionals and learners (Dzau, 1990, Cortazz&jin, 1996). 1 However, the outcome of the endeavors seems to be far from its point of satisfaction, especially in the field of English teaching and learning in the middle schools. As English course standard has pointed out, in the middle school, English curriculas general aim is developing independent study and cooperation, forming effective learning strategy, developing students ability to apply the language comprehensively on the foundation, emphasizing students obtaining English information, handling information, analyzing and solving the problems, especially paying attention to students thinking and expressional ability, forming cross-culture social consciousness and basic cross-culture social ability, and further opening students vision. However, a lot of problems still exist in English teaching and learning. For instance, students lack confidence in learning English; Students are still very passive in class. Although students achieve high-test scores, they lack creativity and a working knowledge of other fields.This paper intends to probe into the issue of the passivity of students in class and discuss the reasons why Chinese students are passive in the English class, and will also put forward some suggestions on it.2. Reasons for Students Passivity2.1 Chinese Tradition of Educational Concept.The passivity has first of all its root in the Chinese tradition of educational concept, which puts undue stress on the authority of teachers. Students are told from the beginning of their formal education that they should be obedient at school and listen to teachers attentively. Day after day they have got used to be an obedient “listener” and “receiver”, and even when they become grow-ups, they still heavily depend on their teachers.2.2. Academic Teaching Style Another main cause is the academic teaching style, which is characterized by teaching techniques of grammatical explanations and translation, and it is also known as the grammar-translation method. Take a secondary-school class for example. In the class the students are being tested on their homework. The teacher has written a series of sentences on the board: The child has (cross/crossed/crossing)the road. The boy was_ (do/did/doing) his homework, and so on. He asks them “Whats child?” “A noun.” “Whats cross?” “A verb.” “Whats crossed ? ”“Past participle.” “So what do we say? ” “The boy has crossed the road.” “Good.”This teaching method over-emphasizes on language structural analysis and tutoring of language itself, ignoring studentsspeaking and listening. As a result, Chinese studentsgrammar is much better than those in English-speaking countries. But their speaking and listening cannot compare with that of many developing countries. KeJun, 81, a senior member of Chinese Academy of Science and a famous expert in physics of materials, describes this teaching method with great vividness. He likens the class teaching process to that of making a roast Peking duck. He said: “We first drove students to the classrooms or labs, and then inculcated many things in them like force-feeding ducks. Finally we tested the students, pressing then into dried salted ducks. As a result, these students lack the ability to apply what they have learned and have difficulty in analyzing and solving problems.Under the guidance of such a teaching method, the s